Sam the Firetruck

There he is. My little firetruck. (NOT a fireman.) He looks grumpy here, but he actually had a pretty good time. Sam's neutral expression tends more towards a scowl, so if you don't know him well sometimes it's easy to assume he's in a constant state of irritation.

Here is the closest we could get to having him help with the pumpkins. I was a little surprised that he wasn't more adventurous than Ben, but it turns out the messy part that I thought they would love was a horrible ordeal. Oh well, live and learn.
Here's my little axe murderer heading for his first house and his first victim. I'm not sure why it looks so dark in this picture, it was not that dark when we left.
It's easy to forget how little he is till I see him from a distance waiting on our neighbor's doorstep in his (admittedly over-sized) costume. Doesn't he look cute though?
After about three houses he got tired and insisted he needed to be carried. I sent Glen back for the wagon. He was quite happy to yell "Trick or treaty!" from his comfy seat, and then watch while Ben did all the work collecting the candy.
In all honesty, I think Sam prefers our old method of trick-or-treating, which is driving from house to house visiting our friends. This takes much longer and we usually only make it to six houses before Glen and I get tired of taking the boys in and out of the van in their costumes, but there isn't nearly as much walking and we let them eat candy in between houses while we're driving. I can understand why a little one might be able to last a lot longer with this method. His big brother likes going door to door though, so we kept the friend visits to just our friends who live in the neighborhood and one quick stop at Ben's new preschool friend's house on our way to Boston Pizza. Maybe next year Sammy will be able to keep up with Ben a little better. If not, there's always the wagon.

Still No Birthday Pictures...

... But to tide you over here are some pictures that were taken at Easter time that I've been meaning to post for a while now. (I'm working on the birthday post next.)

We didn't go home for Easter, so I made as much of the family as possible come to us. I love that Dad can go places again. Ben and Sam both really love having Gramma and Grampa at our house. The only trouble was that the boys both got sick on Good Friday, and since I thought it was food poisoning we all thought Mom and Dad would be safe to visit. Sigh. It turns out none of us were safe, and if we'd known what that flu was going to be like we all would have run very far and very fast to get away.

Sammy got lots of play time in with Grampa this Easter. Sadly, I'm pretty sure he's the one who made Dad sick, but since everyone is feeling better now we won't think about that.

Here he is helping his Grampa fix our tub. "Here you go!" Oh man. Don't you just love handy guys? I do.

And another picture of Sam and his Grampa playing outside. Grampa is great because he thinks of fun things to play... Like, poke the snow with a stick. That's a fun one.

Here's my little tiger playing with his brother. Sam just loves it outside. Sometimes it almost seems like he's a whole new child once he gets into the great outdoors. He just seems so much more relaxed. We're all really looking forward to summer. Okay... I am. But they would be if they had any idea that summer comes after spring and it means paddling pools and icecream cones on the deck.

(Don't all those pictures of snow make you wish winter was back?)

And here's my littlest Easter Buddy... On the hunt. He's so cute when he's not using permanent ink to decorate my furniture or pooping on my floor.

Sliding

One of my Christmas presents was this fancy sled. I let Ben come on it too... But only because Mommy and Daddy made me.
Then Daddy climbed on. That ticked me off a little bit.
Mommy and Ben went for a slide first.
Aunty stayed at the top of the hill to keep me company.
Then Aunty took Ben. Sigh. When do I get to go?
Finally.
Going down was easy and going up... Was just as easy.
It's good to be little.
Wo! This thing sure goes fast with all these people on here!
Aunty had to rest after that one. It was pretty intense.
Ben got some snow in his face when Mommy and Aunty had to put on the breaks. It took him a little while to cheer up.
Yup. It's good to be little.

Yah! Move there Aunty! Giddy up!

Nothing like a free ride and a nice stick to keep you company.
Good times.

Mommy says once it isn't -52 we'll go again. I can hardly wait!

Christmas Pictures

Merry Christmas everyone! It's been a long time since my last post. Someone should tell my mommy that my blog is important too... Oh well. Enjoy the pictures!

Me and Uncle Neil.

Me and my new monkey from Aunty Ang.Me and Dada.