Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving 2008 was a busy event. We must have had over 25 people throughout the day come through our house. It was wonderful to have friends and family over.

While Paul's mother was at the Mayo (for back surgery this past October), she obtained for herself a new "daughter" named Veronica (one of the nurses at the hospital). Veronica is of Italian descent and she and Paul's mother seemed to hit it off. Veronica came over with her husband and her (real) mother for dessert on Thanksgiving night. Paul's mother continues to reassure her children that she won't leave them for a new family.

Diane the pie maker...

Dinner as Sammy saw it from the end of the table...

Michele and Sammy...

Johanna...

Chris enjoys dinner...we think...

The first ever annual Thanksgiving Day pie parade...
...Michele, Linda, Anne, Diane...

We had a ukulele trio with Kevin, Ryan, and Sammy...

Paul's mother with some of her new family members...
...and a few legacy ones...

Diane realizes she is no longer the number one nurse in the family now...

Sam-o-lantern...

Sammy's Grandma D is here visiting (while recovering from an operation at the Mayo) and helped him carve pumpkins earlier this week.

Sammy explains his technique...

"I envision the final work of art and just remove the excess to release it."

Sammy working the pumpkin...

Grandma D and Sammy celebrate Halloween spirit with his trademark "silent scream"

Boo!

Son & father...

You got a friend in me...

Sammy was the Lone Ranger for Halloween this year. His friend Shannon was an astronaut. She and her parents (also known as Linda & Tom) came over tonight for some trick-or-treating. When they stood next to each other, it was kind of like "Toy Story" with Buzz(ette) Lightyear and Woody.

Both Shannon and Sammy had a great time trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. The weather was perfect...dry, in the 60s...the leaves were crunchy under our feet.

Shannon and Sammy-er--the Lone Ranger...

They tend to get silly when together...

A picture perfect evening for Halloween...

Getting the candy...

The pleasant Plum Witch presented peanut butter candies while the postiched puppy played...

Comparing their loot...

Who was that masked man?

The Lone Ranger Rides Again...

When asked what he wanted to be for Halloween, Sammy did not hesitate: The Lone Ranger

"Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear..."

The Lone Ranger participated in Sammy's annual day care Halloween parade...

The Lone Ranger paused before embarking on another adventure...

He told his mother how he would brave the scary castle to rescue the Princess of Rochester...

The scary castle that the Lone Ranger faced to rescue the Princess of Rochester...

Even the Lone Ranger is human...
...briefly he recoiled in fear before overcoming it...

After rescuing the Princess of Rochester, Sammy told her of his heroic adventure...

The gracious and grateful princesss grabbed and grasped the Lone Ranger in a thankful hug...

Fathers' Day 2008

Sometimes it takes walking a mile in a man's shoes to see what their life is like...or as Father's Day approaches, the kinds of sacrifices a father makes for his children. Having Sammy come into our lives was a life changing event...both in the demands it makes on our lives, the joys we experience, and the greater awareness we now have for what our parents did for us. We often dream of having a parent who is president of the country, or who owns the local ice cream shop...but often times the greatest hero is the man who lives a quiet decent life (and shares his ice cream with us).

To Paul's father (Sammy's Grandpa D) and Michele's step-father (Sammy's Poppa): Happy Father's day. Thanks for always being there for us...and Sammy. We love you both very much.

Paul's father taking a lunch break to play with Paul and his brother David...
...circa 1969

Paul and his brother David watch as their father assembles the moon train...
...circa 1971

Grandpa D (Paul's father) and Sammy...
...sharing an ice cream break in Rapid City, South Dakota....
...circa 2008

Sammy and Poppa (Michele's Dad)...
...sharing an ice cream in Rome, NY...
...circa 2008

Easter Egg Hunt 2008

Grace Lutheran Church had an Easter Egg hunt put on by their youth group last Saturday. They "hid" several thousand eggs for the small children. Sammy was a bit shy with all the people around, but he survived...

If you listen carefully, you can hear other kids crying and screaming...

The Easter Bunny meets Sammy...

The day before Easter, we awoke to a winter wonderland. A local church had an Easter egg hunt with a guest appearance by the Easter Bunny, so we took Sammy (video to be posted later). Sammy was not too thrilled with the Easter Bunny, an aversion based perhaps in the relentless attacks made by the local hares on Paul's landscaping.

It looked more like Christmas than Easter...

Is this the rabbit that ate our flowers?

A compromise, Michele sits between them...

Duelin' ukuleles...

Sammy imagines himself on a album cover...
...notice the religious tattoo on his hand...
...which he received at the Easter Egg Hunt...

Later on in the day Sammy helped Michele & Aunt Diane colour eggs...

New Years with Sammy!

Sammy was excited to bring in 2008! His Aunt Annie came down from the Twin Cities to help celebrate. Of course, we were all in bed by 10:30pm, but so it goes.

About the only excitement we had was when Paul couldn't sleep because of the popping noise the siding on the house was making from the extreme cold. When he looked outside to see what it was he noticed Anne's car's dome light was on. So Paul went into the guest room to wake up Anne to get her keys. Anne who had ear plugs on, woke up screaming. The next thing you know it was a Marx brothers movie.

Aunt Annie in her New Years outfit...

Sammy almost doesn't recognize his Aunt...

Aunt Annie puts New Years garb on Sammy...

Sammy with an ice-cream face and Aunt Annie...

Sammy drank one too many milks...

Sammy and Michele...

The morning after...Sammy looks no worse for the wear...

Veto recovering from...well we're not sure...
...in some ways he is like Snoopy from Peanuts...

Family Pic From Thanksgiving

Here's a family photo from last year's Thanksgiving when most of us could make down to Austin.

Left to right, front to back....
First row: Sammmy 22 months (Named after Paul's father)
Second row: Dominic 14, Paul's father Samuel, Pauls' Mother Carmel, and Celine 9 1/2
Third row: Diane, Tricia 14, Andrew 12, Michele, Anne
Fourth row: Jacci, David, Russell 18, Paul

Sledding Sammy...

Today we took Sammy outside to Soldier's Field Park for some sledding. As one would expect, we did the pulling and Sammy did the riding.

Sammy smiles when he hears we are going sledding...

"Faster Daddy! Faster!"

At home in the frigid tundra, Sammy laughs at the dropping temperatures...

Michele gets ready to put Sammy back in the car...
...it got too cold for us...not for Sammy