Second Fiddle

When I left for work today, Sam was sitting on the furthest east couch cushion, wearing his long sleeve hockey shirt and slick exercise pants (the prior nights p.j.'s,) watching a t.v. show. I got a pretty wimpy, half-hearted hug on my way out the door.

When I got home and pulled in the driveway, Sam came running out to the car with his usual burst of welcoming enthusiasm. But then he proceeded to give me another hurried wimpy hug and turned and ran inside. As he was running in he called to tell me he had to get back before he missed more George (Curious George.) By the time I got inside, Sam was sitting on the furthest east couch cushion, wearing his long sleeve hockey shirt and slick exercise pants, watching a t.v. show.

Here's the picture of the two Zombie T.V. Kids.
In fairness to their mom, these were the only two shows the kids watched all day.

Swiper No Swiping

I suggested to Samuel that we start calling Natalie Swiper because she really is a master swiper. A handful of times within the last week I've given both Natalie and Sam a treat and Natalie, my little sugar baby, immediately downs hers. Sam sometimes will hold onto his for a little bit. When he does, Natalie watches closely for the right minute when he's distracted and quickly grabs it out of his hand. The last time this happened, I recovered the treat, gave it back to Sam, and within 60 seconds Natalie had swiped it again. She's also become very good at moving around the chairs to get whatever she wants off the counter. So the other day I made rolls to take to a funeral and carefully counted out 1 dozen in each bag but didn't close them so the rolls wouldn't sweat. However, every time I turned my back I ended up having to recount what seemed like less rolls to find that I only had 10 or so rather than 12. Later I found about 3 rolls around the kitchen with a couple nibbles on each.

Another funny Natalie story. She loves to whisper secrets in our ears. She will often say "I tell secret," then carefully move my hair away from my ear, lean in close and whisper her "secret." However, you can anticipate with 100% accuracy what her secret will be - "I want treats." Tonight after a couple of her secrets, Nate told her to tell him a different secret. So Natalie walked around to his other ear to tell her same secret differently.

Bathroom Buddies

Sam is just starting to come out of a scared phase that he's been in for the past few weeks. Whenever he needed to go to the bathroom, or into another room, he would complain that he was too scared to go by himself. After a little while, Natalie started volunteering to go with him. As long as Natalie goes with him, that's usually enough for Sam to not be scared. Now Natalie will be right in the middle of her lunch or something and as soon as she hears Sam mention anything about being scared, she jumps right up and says "I come Sam."

Another funny one from Sam the other day. Nate had made us breakfast and Sam was really liking it, so Nate told him he had to "kiss the cook." When Sam protested, Nate insisted that "that's the rule." Sam then looked at me and, smiling, asked "How do you break a rule?"

How Precious Life Is

Our hearts are broken this week for a good family in our ward. Kerri Thompson, a beautiful young mom died last Friday from unforseen medical complications after giving birth to her third little girl. It has really shaken me, and I have had a hard time comprehending that this really happened - that this sweet girl is no longer on this earth who three weeks ago sat at my house with me while our kids played, talking about her anticipation of the birth of her baby. My heart aches for her husband and little girls, and I naturally want to cherish my little family as much as possible as the fragility of life hits home. As my thoughts return to that little family over and over throughout the day, I pray that Heavenly Father will give them comfort and understanding. I know that He is the source of true comfort.
So, here's to cherishing my kids. We are loving the fall leaves right now, so here's a few pictures of them. Natalie playing in a neighbors leaf pile, a Sunday walk down gorgeous State street in Farmington, and Sam and Natalie playing in the leaves at the park (we have been loving Thursday morning park day with the other ward moms and kids).


And here are a few funny things I wanted to write down:

• Natalie is really interested in bums lately - she loves to talk about her bum, watch when I change other kids diapers, when family members are going to the bathroom, etc. A few times now she has embarassed me by loudly pointing out that she can see the bum of a stranger at the mall who is sitting down or bending over and has on really low pants.
• Natalie is super helpful and will sometimes make teaching Sam to pick up after himself hard because she's so eager to clean up do things for him.
• While visiting with my neighbor Julie the other day, Natalie hugged me and told her "My mommy." Julie said, "Yes she's your Mommy. Is she Sammy's Mommy too?" To which Natalie responded. "No. My Mommy. Sammy's Daddy."
• While jogging today, I commented on a tree with pretty red leaves and Sam said "Yeah, it's pretty as a girl." I thought that was so cute! (It felt really good to jog since I haven't much lately).
• Sam was playing on PBS kids online today. I went into the kitchen to work on dinner while he was listening to a "Jaker's" story and would come back in to check on him every couple of minutes. We've had lots of talks about not clicking on other things because there are bad pictures and things on the internet, but we continue to have to have those talks as he doesn't always listen. One time when I came in he hurried and covered up the screen with a guilty look on his face. I had a really hard time not laughing when I saw that what he was covering up was a page in the "Jakers" story where the cow rips his pants and the pig takes a picture of his underwear. Apparently Sam kept going back to that page, and felt a little guilty about it. It still makes me laugh to think about it. However, I have to admit that I am more than a little nervous for when my little "Palladin" is a teenager.
• There are a couple more I would add, but I better leave those for Nate as he doesn't like me using up all the things he wanted to write about in his words.

Caterpillar Friend

Sammy loving his caterpillar we found today. Don't mind the finger he's using to hold up his new friend (Nate's insert). The plan is to keep him and watch him turn into a butterfly, but Sam's hoping that doesn't happen too soon because he likes him just the way he is. After an abrupt cold spell, we've been loving getting outside in the perfect weather this week. Today we had a fun walk on Lagoon Trail watching the buffalo and elk and looking for caterpillars. I love when Sam will say all of a sudden "I feel happy inside," as he did while triumphantly heading home with his new friend.

Siblings!

One of the things that brings me the greatest joy is seeing the love between my two sweet kids! Of course Sam and Natalie can fight just like any siblings do, but they have always had a special friendship that I am so grateful for. I love to see them playing together, helping each other, and just loving each other!

Happy Fourth Birthday Samuel

Here's our little skateboarder dude having fun with his new Diego helmet, elbow/knee pads, and mini skateboard. Also going to town on the ring-pop from the Prisbreys. He was very lucky and had phone calls from, Bek/Lily and Emma. A present sent all the way from Taiwan from Aunty Emy. m&m's from Al next door. A special visit from Grandpa Miller. Charity and Grandma came to play, AND he had a party with 5 neighbor friends. The 6 energetic little boys, plus Natalie, had a fun treasure hunt with a pinata at the end that Nate and Sam made together. Shawn is also working on another pinata to do with the Millers later this week. Sammy is obviously a much loved little boy!

Natalie and Samuel Singing

I don't know why I'm not getting the sound to work on this, but I thought Natalie's dancing was worth keeping it on anyways!

Sam's First Primary Talk

Sammy gave his first Primary talk Sunday on "Serving in his Family." He wasn't nervous at all and did really well. He said that he feels good inside when he serves in his family. He used these pictures to help him remember some ways he serves in his family: Helping Natalie-getting her blanket out of her crib, opening things, etc., Feeding Kitty and helping with other chores, Teaching Natalie words and things, and Making Mom and Dad happy by saying nice things and being kind.