Being a pirate and a fort!

Well, the weather here is still COLD so Sam and I keep trying to think of ways to stay entertained. Sunday night, we built a fort. Both of us loved it, although Sam thought he was supposed to climb up on the couch and jump on the roof of the fort, which did not make me very happy! Mommy then changed the fort to an open plan with a "sea" for jumping into. That seemed to work for both of us!

Sam, laying in the "sea". I was hiding. Can you see me?

Saturday, I went to a class called "Be a Pirate". I had SO much fun! Mommy had signed me up too late and the class was full, but since it was so popular they opened another session!

We made eye patches and handprint pirates, heard a pirate story, played pirate games, raced pirate ships and did a pirate obstacle course to find treasure (that was my favorite!). Here are a few pictures Mommy got...

Making the handprint pirate...

Walking the plank...you had to watch out for the sharks in the water!

Last weekend I went to the Lego movie with Daddy AND Sam and I got to go swimming at the hotel where G&G Hyland stay sometimes. It was a great weekend! 

A little bit of everything!

Well, this post will be a few random things that we have been up to. First up was making my valentines for school. Mommy almost forgot to space it over a few nights, but luckily she remembered! I got a little tired of writing on the second night. Sam had to do a project too! He loves anything with paper and pens. 

On Valentine's Day, we set up Sam's new toddler bed. Ever since he started going to school bedtime has been HARD. He has to be rocked until he is completely asleep or he won't let you leave the room. Since he can climb out of his crib, there wasn't much point in having him stay in that :)  The first few nights have been a bit rough. Daddy does better with it than Mommy. It took Mommy 2 hours to get Sam to sleep the first night she did it, but less than an hour the second night (that does include reading books too). Hopefully it will keep getting better, and Sam will stay in the bed for longer each night. He is making it about 3 hours at a time right now.

He does love the bed though and gets quite the collection of blankets and stuffed animals in it.

Saturday, I had my Clown'n Around event at school! There were games, pizza, a child entertainer and balloon animals. I had a blast!! There were lots of people there, and Sam was very over-stimulated when we got there, which meant he was VERY naughty. He did NOT want to wait in lines for the games, did NOT want to hear the child entertainer, etc. Daddy took him home after an hour. Thank goodness Grandma and Grandpa Hyland came, and I got to stay and do all the stuff with them (Mommy had to work at one of the games).

Mommy only got these 2 pictures since it was so busy and she was chasing Sam for the first part :)

Sunday, Mommy took us to Play N Wisconsin. Sam hadn't been there since he was a tiny baby so this was really his first time. He LOVED it! He did not stop moving the whole time we were there.

Strong Sam!

The slides are really fast there so we had to catch Sam on most of them. I wanted to catch him too, and Mommy warned me that Sam came down so fast that I shouldn't. Well, I went to catch him anyway  and Sam's head slammed into my teeth. I cried for close to 10 minutes. Sam, he went to a spot under the playset, laid down (we think to evaluate what happened) and then after 10 seconds took off running again. We are opposites in a lot of ways!

Sam had school on Monday and this week he did much better than last week (lots of crying last week). He still cried, but when Daddy and I came to pick him up, he was being silly at the door and wasn't trying to escape! They said he did really well after snack time, and asked if he had had breakfast since he did so well after snack, and Daddy had to tell them that Sam eats almost all morning and then doesn't eat much the rest of the day. He loves breakfast(s)!

Mommy's Trip and Fun at Home!

Mommy got to go on a trip to see Kate & Kevin and baby Owen a couple weeks ago. It was the first time any of us had been apart for that long. Daddy, Sam and I did well at home, but I think we missed Mommy :)

Here are a few pics of baby Owen from Mommy's visit...isn't he adorable?

Mommy got to babysit him one night so Kate and Kevin could go to dinner. Here they are reading...

Sam and I continue to get a little stir crazy. The other night, we pulled out all the blankets and pillows from all 3 bedrooms, and made this great pile to jump on.

Sam thought it was a ramp for his car....

Mommy and I got Just Dance 4 for the Wii from the library. We have had fun dancing! Sam wanted to join in so Mommy gave him the DVD remote. At first he was excited, but then he realized that it didn't do anything and wasn't so happy.

Sledding? Maybe in 2015!

This past Sunday, the temperatures were above freezing so we were determined to try sledding again. We went to a smaller hill this time AND took Daddy, but Sam and I were still not digging the steep hill. Apparently, G&G Hyland's is the only hill we like :)  I went down with Daddy once, but you can see the snow spray in this picture that hit my face so I was done after one time.

Sam was walking around talking about a turkey that we saw on the ride there. He wouldn't go down the steep hill even once!

The other side of the hill was less steep so I went down that one by myself.

Daddy and I raced down. Look out for the tree, Daddy!

Daddy convinced Sam to go with him down a smaller hill. Sam had fun on that one.

Then we were done sledding and it was on to playing on the park toys.

They have a little "island" at this park too so we hiked around that, and I climbed this steep hill! Sam tried too, but he didn't quite make it.

Monday, Sam had his 2nd day of "school". I got to go along to drop off since I didn't have school for the holiday. Daddy warned me that Sam would cry when we left him, which he did. I was not liking that, and I had tears in my eyes when Daddy and I got back to the truck. I don't like to see my little brother unhappy. Sam made it through the 2 hours though and the teachers said he goes in phases of playing and participating and then bursting into tears for a little bit. For a boy who has only been around family and not been in a daycare setting, he is doing pretty well though. 

Sam in school and MORE snow!

Sam has had some big events in the past week. Monday, he started "school". He goes to the Y or the HAWhy as I say it for 2 hours one day a week. The first day, he cried when Daddy dropped him off (which was expected), but he calmed down after about 5 minutes the teacher said. While Daddy was dropping him off, he escaped out of the room and kept yelling, "go, Daddy, go drive!". When Daddy and I went to pick him up, Sam started crying again, and I hauled him over the baby gate to rescue him. I get very worried and concerned about Sam. Sam also started saying Joey this week. Originally when he said my name, it was Gee-Gee, then it went to Jay-Jay and now finally Joey. 

Here is Sam eating oatmeal with Bob the Builder. 

Daddy took school pictures of Sam. He was very proud of his backpack!

We have been getting so much snow this winter. Sam and I love it! Mommy took us out to shovel after supper one night, and we were having great fun playing while the snow kept coming down.

Look at the rosy cheeks!

Happy 2014!

We have been slowing down a bit and trying to do some things around the house. Sam was helping with this project...

Mommy loves the new shirt I got so she took a picture of me posing...

We have been working on potty training a little bit with Sam. He can go #1 really well on the potty, but since he is the opposite of me in most everything, he won't go #2 on the potty so it was getting a little (lot) messy with wearing underwear. We're still trying though!

We had the Hyland Family Christmas this past weekend. It will be very nice when Sam can be trusted to play with the other kids. He did have a lot of fun playing at Madigan and Teagan's house!

Taking a break from the playing on Daddy's lap.

Here is Sam showing Uncle Jay the "tot game" on the Kindle.

Sunday morning, the first thing I had to do when I got up was work on putting together my new Star Wars legos. I had a great time!

It's been so cold this week that I haven't had school Monday or Tuesday and Sam, Daddy and I haven't left the house at all. Tomorrow I am back to school, and hopefully this weekend it will be nice enough to do some sledding! Happy New Year!