Sammy Thursday

My little sweetie loves him some books. And stickers. And Toy Story.

At least once a day I will find him over in his play area reading books to himself. It is his self-imposed "alone time". Today he chose to read his Toy Story sticker book. He recently discovered that there are numbers in this book. My boy also LOVES numbers.

In fact, when he saw this photo he said , "Seven . . . . Sam"

Sam is a closed mouth talker so a lot of times people don't understand what he is saying or they think he doesn't talk. We are guilty of underestimating him. Over Thanksgiving, Granny and I discovered that Sam knows ALL OF HIS LETTERS!!! It is the craziest thing. I've never worked with him on it. He just picked it up. You can spread all 26 letters on the floor out of order and he can identify every single one. Even if they are backwards or upside down.

Now, if we could just get him to open his mouth. :)

Cutie Pie

As you can see the obsession continues . . .

I have started a list of all of the fun things I could put on these suckers. Let me tell you, some of them are pretty funny (or snarky) if I do say so myself.

There may be a large number of these babies departing from Austin come Valentines Day . . .

Own Personal Brand of Crazy

About once a week I instant message Ben and tell him I'm going to take up a new hobby.

He loves it.

Not really.

Today I decided that I was going to make stamped jewelry. I've done it before but I wasn't super thrilled with the results. Today it was time to conquer the craft.

Then I got sidetracked.

You see, I like the little bead dangles that go with the jewelry and my local craft store simply did not understand my vision. So I made my own. It only took a dozen beads, ten head pins, a Diet Coke and countless mini Reeses Cups. So instead of one hobby, Ben got to finance two new hobbies.

Lucky guy.

Fridge

Because we are post-doc apartment dwellers, our kitchen is TINY.

I utilize the side of our fridge to hang stuff for two reasons.

First, I hate opening the fridge and having a bunch of junk fall off.

Second, I like to keep recipes close at hand. You can't see it but my stove top is literally 24 inches away.

Here is a list describing what you will find hanging on the side of my fridge. This is so much less embarrassing than what is INSIDE my fridge.

1. Three hand drawn pictures from my almost 5 year old niece Miriam. We are best buddies. That's what she told me. Love the girl. She has discovered that if she sends me mail, I will send her mail. My nephew Cameron (age 6) made a similar discovery regarding email. I will have to post about that one later. So funny. Please notice the reoccurring themes in Mimi's drawings. Rainbows, flowers and butterflies.
2. Two different Cafe Rio magnets. They aren't doing me much good in Texas. Neither is the magnet for Jordan View Dental which also operates in Utah
3. Recipes for: Carmels, Tomato Sauce, Crema Verde Enchiladas, Twice Baked Potato Casserole, Peanut Butter Creme Pie, Butter Toffee and Refried Beans. Not all are visible, but believe me, they are there.
4. Two digital thermometers. The cords are in the drawer next to the fridge. I love these things because they have an alarm that sounds when you reach the desired temperature. Priceless when making candy or cooking meat. Especially Thanksgiving turkeys.
5. A picture of Sam Earl's college Jeep. Notice the word "Poop" on the hood of the jeep. Yes, Ben was the responsible party. No, I'm not really sure why this is hanging on our fridge.

Cowlicks

Sam is in desperate need of a haircut.

I was going to cut it at Thanksgiving but Ben thought we should try growing it out.

Ben never wants to get a haircut.

I was left to deal with this before church.

What you don't see is Ben's cowlick.

Haircut tomorrow.