Streaming with Sam

Here's a short stream of consciousness post on what it's like 

playing and pretending with our boy these days:

Quietly playing in his room.

We walk back to check on him and find this…

To the untrained eye, this looks like a kid holding a cd case near the backside of a dairy cow night light, but that is not so.  It's actually a camp fire (the night light), and he's roasting marshmallows on his marshmallow roasting stick.  Flaming and burned until they are black, just the way he likes them.  Oh, and no one can go to a campfire without a cowboy hat, so the hat is necessary to the scenario and all who attend.

So, of course, Daddy and I put our hats on and attended the camp out too.

 We got our books out and read scary stories by the fire.  Who knew that Elmo could be so spooky?

And all the animals also wanted to gather around the campfire, so they were neatly arranged so that everyone made a perfect and equidistant circle around the cow, I mean campfire.

 Then, we took turns asking everyone about their day.  Apparently, things didn't go well today for Denny, the elephant, because he didn't make good choices and had to go to the sad board.  Monkey had to do some extra jumping jacks today, and penguin got to be first for Show-And-Tell.  

Never a dull moment!

Sam's 3rd Birthday

Several months ago, Sam started saying, "I wish I could have a fishing party at my birthday."  And, since birthdays are a big deal in this house, a fishing party is exactly what he got!  We invited some little fishing buddies to a "guaranteed success" fishing party at PawPaw's pond.  

Our celebrating began at the playground while we set up the tables and food

 and waited for all our guests to arrive.

Sam's menu:

Campfire hotdogs and chips,

Worms-n-Dirt Cake cups,

and a rockin' roasted marshmallow s'mores buffet

"Travel tackle box" party favors for all our little fisher-people :)

It was a real treat to see our sweet girls again.

Love that sweet smilin' girl!

And, as a surprise bonus, the whole Norwood crew came for some fishing fun!  

  

Sam is one blessed little boy to have such great friends.

This is the only way to go when you need to roast a bunch of hotdogs quick.

We put the hotdogs over the fire and loaded up to GO FISHING!

Most of the crew rode on the wagon to our "honey hole" fishing spot.

Michael made all the kiddos their own cane poles with little bobbers and hooks.  We suited every little person up in life jackets, baited those hooks, and the race was on.  Who would catch the first fish???

Why, Kayden, of course!  Even not feeling well, this kid can reel 'em in!

Sam was next... then I lost track.  

There were fish coming in left and right!  

As soon as we took them off the hooks, another one was being pulled up.

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day (well, maybe about 10 degrees cooler), 

but it was a beautiful afternoon with some super great friends and family.

Someone had the fisherman's touch....

Kelten's big catch of the day

I'm pretty sure the dads had just as much fun at the party as the kiddos.

Back to swingin' and eatin'

If the success of the party was judged by how dirty the birthday boy got...

I'd say we hit a home run in this guy's book!  

Happy third birthday, little fisherman.

Thanks Ashley Miller for the fabulous pictures!  Your willingness to help allowed me to take a break from the camera and enjoy the day with my little guy.  You are awesome!

Healthy and Happy at Home

Sorry for the delay in posting an update on our sweet girl.  It's been pretty busy around here, and Momma is tired, but happy, oh so happy.  All my babies are home and safe in their beds at night.  Or, as my Grammy says, "Lucy's finally got her caboosey at home!"  Lucy's platelet levels are holding steady, and we are told this whole thing is just, over.  She is healed.  No long term effects.  It's just a rare thing that has worked itself out now.  God is good!

These are some photos from the hospital the night before we brought Lucy home.  Nani brought Sam up to meet his little sister for the first time.  I've heard stories of siblings welcoming (and not so welcoming) their new baby into the family, and I have to say Sam is a natural big brother.  

He loves Lucy so much!

Sam brought the bunny rabbit he made for Lucy to the hospital to give to her.  

And, Lucy had a present for Sam too.  Sam has been wanting "Charlie" the steam engine for his collection.  I guess Lucy was listening, and that's just what she gave him when they met.

Nani got a chance to finally hold her healthy granddaughter.

Be still, my heart! 

 Sam wanted to hold Lucy's hand and sing to her.  Together with Daddy, they sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul" to little Lucy while she slept.  I thought my heart was going to swell out of my chest!

I'm not sure it gets any cuter than this!  

What a blessing it is to have two healthy, happy babies!

By lunch time on Sunday, we were home with our girl.  Nani, Anamana, and all the boys were waiting to welcome us home (and hold the baby.)  All the boys are so very good with Lucy.  

She is a lucky little girl to have so many boys who will watch out for her.  

Sam wants Lucy to be a part of everything he does.  We were reading books before bed, and we HAD to bring baby Lucy with us.  So, off to Sam's big boy room we went to read until both kiddos had fallen asleep, together.  

Did I mention what a great helper Sam has become?!?

One morning, the house fell a little too silent, so I called out, "Sam, what are you doing?"  A small reply from another room said, "Oh, I'm just pumping..."  So, I put down what I was doing and found Sam in Lucy's room, like this... He's proud to help out however he can, my boy.

He feeds Lucy her bottles and even asks to "burp" her.  I'm amazed at how fast he is catching on to all this new baby stuff.  He sure is a smart and compassionate big brother.  

I am thankful for all the prayers of our friends, family, and even caring strangers who supported us through a stressful start.  And, most importantly, I am grateful to a loving God who has granted us the desire of our hearts.  Everything is right in my world.  My babies are healthy and happy at home.