Sammy's 2nd Year Birthday Tour: RIF (Reading Is Fun)

One of the great honors Sammy can bestow on someone is asking them to read to him. While back home for his birthday tour, he asked just about everyone to read to him.

Grandma and Granpa read to Sammy...

Grandpa reads a book about Elmo and Ernie counting...

Aunt Susie reads the "Wheels on the Bus" to Sammy...

Chris, Sammy, and the Wheels on the Bus...

Aunt Liz the "Wheels on the Bus"...but is she singing it?

Uncle Jim likes the Wheels on the Bus too...

Aunt Brenda and Sammy have a good time with a book...

Sammy's 2nd Year Birthday Tour: Arriving in NY

After going to Massachusetts first, Sammy's next stop was in New York state to see his grandparents and the rest of his family there.

Sammy's Grandma & Grandpa R. ...

Sammy tells a joke...

Sammy with his Grandma R, Michele, and aunt Jaime....

What could they all be looking at?

Sammy "flies through the skies" to the Wiggles song..
...or perhaps he is demonstrating how we got from Minnesota to NY...

Sammy sleeps...

Our Son...the Pop Star...

Sammy put on a show for us earlier today...

It's only a matter of time before he has groupies...

ImmerSHAHn...

After recently reading Kermit Roosevelt' Jr's book on the 1953 CIA operation "AJAX" (the overthrew of Iran's democratically elected government to place the Shah in power), Paul has become somewhat obsessed with learning more about Iran and the Shah. What happened? Was he the despot he has been accused of? Could it have been avoided? How do you pronounce "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?" Iran certainly is more of a mess now.

Anyway, Paul immersing himself in book after book on the Shah was bound to have a side effect. The Shah recently appeared in one of Paul's dreams to instruct him on interior design (apparently H.I.M. favors Herman Miller...it goes without saying Paul should not eat before going to bed). The amazing thing about the Shah in his dream was that the descriptions Paul's read about him so far are uncannily accurate...go figure.

Did the real Shah own a Herman Miller Eames lounge chair & ottoman?

Aunt Anne & Aunt Diane Visit Sammy for Breakfast

Yesterday Sammy's Aunt Anne & Diane came to visit for breakfast. We went to the Pannekoeken restaurant. As most visits with Sammy's aunts, this one was far too short. He looks forward to seeing them again.

Some video from their visit...

Juice...

Moving onward with technology we've upgraded to a Sony HDR-CX7 HD video camera. It's pertty cool...about the size of a can of Pepsi.

Here's a short video we took of Sammy today...

Juice...

Sammy's 2nd Year Birthday Tour: Grandma & Grandpa's

Next stop on Sammy's birthday tour back east was his Grandma & Grandpa R's house. More to come!

Grandma & Grandpa R eagerly awaited Sammy's arrival...

Sammy's 2nd Year Birthday Tour: Massachusetts

For Sammy's second birthday, he and Michele traveled back east to visit with relatives. First they went to Massachusetts to visit his aunt Jaime. Michele's cousin Justin drove up from New Jersey to go to the New England Aquarium with them. Michele and Sammy stayed there a few days before heading to New York State.

Michele, Sammy, his aunt Jaimie, and Justin at the New England Aquarium...
...is that little mermaid stalking Sammy?

Inspired by the Wiggles, aunt Jaime and Christopher "do the Tiger..."

Sammy finds room behind aunt Jaimie's sofa...

A master of onomatopoeia in his own right, Justin reads to Sammy
"Mr Brown Can Moo, Can you? (Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises)"

An impressed Sammy realizes Justin can truly make noises like Mr. Brown...

Sammy, Michele, and aunt Jaime...

Sammy on the move...

This week Michele and Sammy took advantage of our credit card rewards to fly back home (since Sammy is just a hair short of being 2 years old, this is his last free flight as a lap child). They first went to Massechusetts to visit Sammy's aunt Jaime. Always the ambassador of tolerance, Sammy wore a Yankees cap in the heart of Red Sox territory.

Notice the "fries" in Sammy's hand...
...yes, he recognizes what the Golden Arches are....

Hugh would have thought so (redux)?

Who would have thought so? While 20/20 co-host Barbara Walters has since moved on to moderating battling vixens on "The View", her other half Hugh Downs now peddles "the world's greatest treasure of health secrets" on infomercials. With Paul's knack for finding strange things on TV, he again found Hugh on TV this past weekend with..

"...an extraordinary book that is turning the health world on its ear"
...move over Mayo Clinic!
(scary: Hugh is wearing the same suite/tie as in his 2006 infomercial)
(scarier: after solving flatulence in his 2006 infomercial, what is left to cure?)

Tickle Me Sammy...

This past Saturday took Sammy up to the Twin Cities to see his aunts...and Elmo! Sesame Street Live presented "When Elmo Grows Up." The show had many of our favorite Sesame Street songs (such as "I Love Trash!"). Sammy, not knowing what to expect, lit up as soon as the show began.

Sammy, Aunt Diane, & various Muppets...

Bert sings his song about park rangers...

Sammy sporting his new Elmo shirt...

Aunt Diane shows Sammy how to aim high...

Sammy managed to get his hands on Aunt Annie's phone...
...and actually dialed to various strangers who answered their phones...

Stuffed Animal On A Wall...

Some big game hunters have large stuffed cats on the walls of their studies. We don't go on safari, yet somehow we have a very large cat on one of our walls...at least some of the time.

For a reason unknown to us, Veto will sometimes sit in the opening between the kitchen and the stairway to the basement. The opening was made when we replaced all the doors on our first floor so Veto could go up and down without needing any door-opening assistance. Paul hasn't finished painting the stairway to the basement, so that side is not painted yet...but he's "working" on it.

Veto will sometimes sit in the opening like this for a good long while...

What he's thinking about as he sits there we don't know...
...perhaps he just likes gazing down the stairs...

The other end of the big 18 pound cat...as seen from the kitchen...

Thanksgiving 2007 In Retrospect...

The family that sings together stays together...

A Case of Misplaced Identity

This past Christmas Eve, Paul went out with his sisters Anne & Diane to Hy-Vee to pick up some items for dinner. In all the rush, Paul lost his wallet (containing his driver's license, credit card, bank card, a key to the house, etc.). We searched all over with no success. Calls to Hy-Vee found no wallets turned into lost and found. Of course, couple of day later Michele found his wallet -- tucked under a towel in the clothes hamper. So all is well...though Paul had already gotten new cards issued.

The following is a real conversation between Michele and Paul:

Michele: Paul, I found your wallet.
Paul: Where was it?
Michele: In the clothes hamper under a towel.
<paul hits head on wall>
Michele: Don't worry, these things happen.
Paul: Oh, it's not that.
Michele: Then what is wrong?
Paul: Well, I was all worried someone had stolen my identity.
Michele: And the good news no one did...so why so glum?
Paul: Well, now I feel kind of rejected, like no one would want to steal my identity.

This is not Paul's license...

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

One Way to Offend the Appliance Gods...

One way to offend the appliance gods is to make the wrong kind of ritual offering to them. So to be more specific, giving the appliance gods the following will actually anger them:

• $3.55 in change
  
• 2 of Sammy's socks
• 1 cap of a pen
  

That's what the service man found in our washing machine drain trap. Apparently they accumulated over the last year and eventually prevented the washing machine from draining water. So if you can imagine how King Kong got very angry when his offering of Ann Darrow was not there...that is close to how angry our washing machine got with the above offering.

Apparently socks clogging the drain in the side loader washing machines is something that tends to happen with baby socks.

Sammy Claus in Wardrobe...

A few weeks ago Michele was dressing Sammy for the day. She put on a red shirt and Sammy spotted his Santa hat. He put on his hat and we caught a few photos:

Sammy is full of Christmas spirit...

Sammy Claus...in partial wardrobe...

Our Little Man...

In addition to the "Santa" portraits we had taken of Sammy, we also had a few shots taken with him wearing his lobster sweater (from L.L. Bean). Most everyone would agree Sammy gets his great looks and personality from his mother.

We call this his "anchorman" pose...

Sammy hams it up for the camera...

Christmas 2007: There's a New Sheriff in Town...

This year Santa brought Sammy a spring rocking hose. He seems to be quite partial to horses. Our house was the last one in the neighborhood to be visited by Santa this Christmas this morning...as assembly took him quite a while. We'll post some video in a few days (or so). But here are some Christmas day photos of Sammy and his new steed.

Sammy climbs on his mount...

His horse is not yet tame/broken and takes off on him...
...but Sammy laughs in the face of danger...
...hang on Sammy, we've grown quite fond of you!

After a few minutes (and miles) his horse is now tired and tame...

Sammy smiles to the gentry as he passes by...