Into the Woods...

In high school I was active in the drama department and my favorite part of the year was the musical.  My junior year we did "Into the Woods" and now every time we go to the Houston Arboretum the title song keeps rolling through my head.

"Woods" as Sam likes to call the place is a great favorite with us. There are VERY few places in Houston where you can go outside and feel like you don't live in a concrete jungle. This is one of them. It even smells like a forest there. Often we pack a lunch and hit a trail, any trail, and just roam for a few hours. Sam loves it. Last week we went with our playgroup and he had great fun being the tour guide. He paid special attention to Kennedy (who was at the end of our little string of Moms and kids) to make sure she was okay and keeping up. He definitely is starting to have a thing for pretty girls. This includes our sitter/nanny Amy (who he asks for all day. "Mama go sleep, wake up, AMY!") and fortunately, at least for the moment, Mommy. He's still very much the snuggle-bug he was as a baby. I always wonder if that's because I wore him, breastfed him, stayed home with him, etc., or if that was just his nature to start with. Hmm...

Dad has been very busy with work and I have been very busy with school. Sam has been busy with...jumping, trains, running, balls, cars, letters, numbers, words, sidewalk chalk, tickling, and pillow fights. He loves to be around other kids, make people laugh, and even more touching, he tries to comfort others who are sick or hurting. He loves church now and is getting more and more curious about the mysterious place called "school". His vocab has exploded and he is talking SO much more. This includes reasoning and of course the funny phrases that make you want to explode with laughter when you need to keep a straight face.

For example, we were taking Caspian for a walk and he broke away from my hand and took off. I took Sam home, then started trying to find him and round him up. I came back and as we were going up the stairs Sam said "D you make me CRAZY!" Gee, I wonder where he heard that.

We went to the Arboretum again Wednesday and Sam learned to cross the rope bridge. I had to help stabilize it, but other than that he did it all by himself! Here's some video of it....

Learning to cross:


Actually making it:

The Third Person

Last night Sam said his name for the first time. We've been trying to get him to do that for what feels like ages! He uses all the sounds necessary for other words so we knew he could do it, the little turkey just didn't feel like it I guess. Now he likes to say it, sometimes referring to himself in the third person. What a goofball. We got some video of it so I'll try and post it (along with so much else) soon. :) We took Sam to a giant train show last weekend and before that we did A Day Out with Thomas thanks to Nonnie and Bubbie. The boy LOVES his trains. I often get woken in the morning with him standing by the bed holding out Thomas and saying "TOOT TOOT" rather loudly.

Among his other achievements are being able to "read" all of his letters (U and W are causing a little trouble but we're working on it) and he can count to ten (but likes to exclude 6 and 7). Hide and seek is his favorite game, and he loves running, jumping...anything requiring movement! He's also started making sure I do not call him a "bay" (baby) he is a "boy".

All else is pretty static in our house: school, work, playing trains, occasional sleep. Sam got the kiddie tummy bug that's been going around but has recovered and is pretty much back to normal. David has a business trip this week so it's just Sam and I (and Miss Amy, thank goodness!) The next 2 weeks I've got several papers and exams so until Nov. 8th I'll be in a constant state of "AHHHHHHH!!!" and at the library as often as possible.

See you on the other side!

What is a Fish's Favorite Color?

Blue! At least, it is if you're a fish in one of the tanks at the Galleria...

Last weekend we took Sam to play there and stopped to look at the "Me-yo Ush" (Nemo Fish). David was wearing a bright blue shirt and the fish all gravitated towards him. We made him move to the other side and they did it again. And again. And again. Sam thought it was hilarious.

We went again on one of the super-humid-hot days this past week and I had a blue sweater with me and decided to see if it was David they liked, or the color. David is very attractive but they went gaga for the sweater too. Sam and I went over to a different tank and tried it there, same thing. Sam kept taking my sweater all around the tank; those fish needed a nap by the time we left I'm sure!

Sooo, either the folks that feed them wear blue, they are attracted to the color blue, or they really like members of the DeGroot family. I have plans for another test at the zoo sometime this weekend. Regardless, if you're in Houston, happen to be at the Galleria, and are wearing blue try it out. :)

Port A - The End

So here it is...the final Port A post for 2010. It's a little bittersweet - it was the last loose-end from our trip.  Sam is still asking for "pool beach", poor kid. Now it's really over...until next year! :)

I posted while we were there about Ava, Sam and I digging clams and watching them burrow. These next few  pictures are of that.

The beautiful, imaginative Miss Ava...

We had a surprise baby shower for two lovely ladies on Girl's Night. Somehow although Girl's Night was on Sunday we all managed to keep it a secret the ENTIRE weekend! Amazing.

The decor...

The "Brainiacs" and "Sexy Beach Bodies" (We played Taboo and those were our super-cool team names. The Brainiacs lost.)

The rest are from Monday morning before we left.

Sam and Archer had a great time playing while we were there. We had Sam's trains/track with us so between everybody's toys there was a lot of fun to be had. I missed getting a picture of our other roomies, the Prewitts. Their son Mason is very creative and probably enjoyed the trains more than anyone. This year we roomed with people I had never met so it was really great getting to know some new, sweet families.

This is Archer's "why are you suddenly getting camera-happy" face...

They played like I imagine brothers would...

Sam on the balcony giving me his smoldering look. Aunt Sissy told me that when David was younger he would give her this exact look when she told asked him to do something he wasn't sure he wanted to do. How fitting, I had just told Sam he HAD to stay on his bottom.

Sweet smile...

David was wonderful and did all of the car-loading. Sam and I stayed inside and just played with the camera.

We had a wonderful trip and can't wait for next year! It'll definitely be great not to have to study while I'm there ;)

Port A - Part B

Dad putting the "John Hampton" necklace on Sam.

Pico and Jonesie

This is the obligatory family shot I make David and Sam take. A candid, not-facing-the-sun, picture actually turned out better than....

The say cheese, facing-the-sun picture. Oh well.

The 2010 Port A Everybody shot

How many parents does it take to get a shot of all the kids?

Here's what Sam thought of the whole process...

And what we ended up with...the usual photo of [insert # of kids] crying children :)

The annual toddler race. We thought for sure Sam would at least be in the running this year, especially since running is just about all the boy does.

But as you can see Macy won by leaps and bounds, followed by Matt and Josh. Like last year Sam sort of teetered off to the side. He's fast, he just didn't care.

And then it kicked in and he won the congeniality prize. Most of the kids kept running back and forth having race after race. Sam just never really got into it. Next year I'm sure he'll leave everyone in the sand dust!

What do you do with 50+ sandy Longhorns and their kids? Throw them into the pool! Going to the beach, hosing off and then jumping in the pool is the standard flow of the days we spend there. Food and sleep are thrown in there somewhere too :)

Port A - Part A

I read an article recently that discussed a research study that found multitasking actually helped students to retain more information and perform better. So, in an attempt to improve my American Political Thought paper on Lockean institutions here is the first part of our annual UT Port Aransas trip! :)

These aren't exactly in order....

We always stay at La Mirage, and Allison Brown magically makes it all happen. She literally takes care of everything. Thanks Al!

This was our setup, the tents provided shelter from the sun, rain and toddler's flinging sand...most of the time.

As usual, moving sand around was a primary occupation while on the beach, as were silly faces.

Sports were played....

Massive trenches were dug...

The kids watched Finding Nemo Friday because it decided to pour buckets on buckets of rain. They all loved it. Finding Nemo (or Me-yo as Sam calls it) is his current favorite movie so he was super-excited. I think it rained every day that we were there, but most of the time it was during nap time and didn't spoil our fun! :)

The Condo's have a playground and Sam went down backwards for the first time after watching Brooke do it. I don't think he's gone down the "normal way" since. The playground was a nice backup for when it was raining. It's always a big hit.

The Dismount.

Something about Sam in this picture makes him look very grown up to me, I'm not sure why. 

The Clam Show

We're having a great time in Port Aransas with all of our proud, burnt-orange, longhorn friends. I'll do a picture and sum-up post in a few days but this morning had to have been one of the best times we've had. Ava R. and I were sitting in the waves with pitchers full of sand and seawater catching clams and watching them burrow down. We must have been at it for at least an hour. At some point I finally got Sam to come over and he started calling it "show!" and asking for "more show!" The name "show" caught on for all of us and now when he asks to go to "Beach...Pool..." we've added "Show!" to the list of things he wants to do. Ava and I already have a clam-catching date for next year. So precious! :)