Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Early Trip to See Santa!!

Upon the suggestion from Santa during our visit last year, we went to take Sam's picture with the Jolly Ol' Elf himself before Thanksgiving this year.  There was NO LINE, and it gave Sam plenty of time to acclimate to the environment of The Galleria before we gave him over to Santa.  I am SUPER pleased because we have the same Santa as last year!  :o)  

I was so surprised to see how big he looked sitting there with Santa this year.  Here is last year's picture for comparison!  Look at how much he's grown!!!!

Latest Round Rock Trip

Sam and I just returned from another trip to Round Rock.  While we were there, Sam learned that he could easily climb onto Nana and Papa's coffee table.  He really found that to be a fun activity.  

 He started exploring his nasal cavity.  :o)

 He got a new tent!  His green tent had been recalled, and when I returned it to the IKEA here in Houston, they did not have any other tents in stock.  We went to the IKEA in Round Rock, and they had one that resembles a circus tent in stock.  Here he is trying it out for the first time.

 He also got a dump truck from Nana and Papa that he liked to drag around with him.

 We also got Nana a set of shelves while at IKEA.  After assembly, Sam adopted the bottom shelf as his very own place to hang out.

 First introductions were finally made between the cousins!  Here is Sam checking out me feeding little B.

Sam and his Uncle Bud!

 Hey!!  I remember this!  Here, I will show you, it swings like this...

 Little Baby B!

 Getting a ride from Uncle Bud in the basket of baseballs.

 Giggling with Uncle Bud

 While in Round Rock, I also helped throw a baby shower for Tiff at Round Rock Cafe.  Here is the lovely mother-to-be with her super cute cake!  Can't wait to meet Baby Mokry #3!

Houston Zoo with Cousin Emma!

While Cousin Emma, Aunt Kim and Uncle Tom were in town, we all went for an outing to the Houston Zoo.  Here is a quick family picture.  I look MUCH more excited than the guys to be at the zoo.  :o)

 Emma thought Uncle Eddie was HILARIOUS!  

 Posing with the Chimp

  It has really been an amazing thing to watch with Sam... every time we go to the zoo (we are members, so we go quite often when it's cooler outside) Sam becomes more and more aware of the animals.

 Daddy and Sam checking out some other monkeys.

 We even got to feed the giraffes!

As most of you know, Sam has a tendency to check things out with one finger.  Here he is checking out the giraffe statue (AGAIN!) with one finger.

For those who didn't see the first picture, here he is last April checking out the same statue.

 Aunt Kim's friend Julia joined us at the Zoo with her little boy.  Here they are getting some lunch.

 And here is Uncle Tom and Emma in front of the jaguar.

All in all, we had a great time at the zoo!!  

Dewberry Farm

To continue our fall activities, today we went to Dewberry Farm in Brookshire, Texas.  We went with the Mom's Groups that I am a member of, and since Eddie is home he got to go with us!  With the cool front that blew in last night, it was SO windy so we had to bust out the hoodie for Sam and the sweater for me.  :o)

Here is Sam and Dad in the haystack.

 Sam really took a little longer than usual to acclimate to all of the activity today, so he wanted to hang out with us for a little while.  

Our first activity was the Barrel Train. Since Sam is still a little dude, I had to ride along, so here we are ready to go!  

Self-Picture on the Barrel Train

SO...There were these swinging tubes.  Daddy thought it would be a good idea to let Sam crawl in - like his tunnel...  this QUICKLY backfired as Sam stopped crawling about four feet into the tube and wouldn't move.  Here is a nice stranger who was helping Eddie out by climbing in to retrieve our son (and her adorable little boy supervising the extraction.)  

Off we went to the pumpkin patch where Sam got to pick out his own little pumpkin.

 Checking them out closely!

He found one!

 

 He's starting to fade, but he loves his pumpkin (and his Daddy!)

He got his second wind and off my boys go to see the petting zoo!

Feeding the goats... look at how close of an eye he is keeping on those goats!

He was really interested in these goats.

Checking out the chickens

Catching a ride on Dad's shoulders back to the car.

And he's out!

Halter Farm

We went for a fall trip to Halter Farm today with the Miertschins.  There was a hay ride, petting zoo, pony rides, "haunted" woods, a "trackless train" ride (a train pulled by a riding lawn mower)  :)  Sam didn't ride a pony, but he did get to pet one!  :)

Here's a picture of the whole family on the hay ride into the facility.

 Sam really enjoyed running around and touching all of the pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.  As usual for him, they all got the one fingered treatment.  :)

Here we are trying to pose for a picture in the pumpkin patch, but it was super bright and there were pumpkins that still needed to be touched by Sam.  :)

And off he goes!

As the afternoon wore on, Sam was getting really overheated, so Dad fashioned some cool, wet rags to help cool him down.  He put one inside his collar and on his head.  It really helped, his little red cheeks got lighter.

Here he is with the air conditioner blowing on his full blast in the car and making his hair stand on end.  You can always tell he had a good time when he is almost asleep before you leave the parking lot!  :)