a day out with thomas OR how to make your kid so tired he ends up face down in the gravel

to be honest, i never really thought much about these kiddie events, but we thought it would be a fun way to spend a morning with sam. so last friday mike took the day off, we packed up some provisions, and we set out to the "a day out with thomas" event at the cuyahoga valley scenic railroad.
despite the fact that sam's got trains at home he had a great time driving around on the train tables once he could finally find an abandoned engine (and this took a while, let me tell you. he was EXTREMELY patient, and i was mighty proud of my sam standing there watching carefully for his turn and not having a tantrum because there weren't any engines free for him to play with. sometimes it's just as well to have a somewhat reserved three year old.)
there was a forklift and a few other small vehicles that they were letting kids get into and pretend to drive (also a hit). and after we ate a bit of lunch (so glad we packed something healthy rather than relying on what i can only assume was highly overpriced junkfood), we finally boarded thomas for our ride.
the trains were nice (as in air conditioned and quiet), and the ride was just long enough so that sam saved his fidgety sillies for the last five minutes. i can only say that this part was definitely geared to the 2–6 year old thomas fanboys (sam knows about thomas and enjoys watching the show occasionally, but he's FAR from fanboy status.) still, he liked the ride and had a good time. 
afterward we walked around and saw the miniature train displays, rang a big train bell, perused the bouncy houses (sam refused to go in alone), and sam got his temporary tattoo. 
at this point we were all feeling a bit hot and tired, but sam was keen on revisiting the forklift and buggy, so we went back over and sam played around a while longer. we probably should've tried to make a graceful exit at this point, but instead we pushed our luck and sam ended up face down in the gravel with another bonk on the head (a small cut on his left eyebrow—that left side of his head really takes a beating) and a scraped up knee. he was clearly way past "done". we found the first aid tent where they cleaned and bandaged up our boy (and where i proceeded to get entirely too dizzy to stand), and then quickly made our way to one last stop at the porta-potties and then home.
sam was out like a light within minutes of getting back in the car, and he didn't protest leaving until he woke up at home a couple of hours later.

some more photos from the day:

though i'm not sure we'll do the thomas event again, we did have a good time. we'd actually like to try going on one of the non-thomas rides sometime in the near future.

in the vroom vroom room

mike was kind enough to hang sam's frames in his new room during today's nap. so the last thing to tackle is the issue of book storage.

the sammy relocation project

today during naptime we moved sam's bed and rearranged the furniture in the spare room so that it's now officially sam's room. luckily everything seemed to fit just the way i'd imagined it, so it didn't take long to get it all into place. the only things left to do are finish up his new artwork for his frames and hang them, and then figure out how we're going to handle the lack of bookshelves. 
right now all of sam's books are still in his old room, which is fine for the time being, but i think sam ought to have some book storage of his own. since floor space is at a premium (even in the "big" room), i was thinking something like this or this to hang over the futon, though maybe that doesn't put them well enough within reach. i also thought something like this would be super clever (and cute!) i guess we'll just have to see what we can come up with. i am currently wishing that the rest of the house was as put together looking as sam's new room, because it is most certainly NOT.
in the meantime, we still have another room to tackle, and it's in a state of real wreckage (even worse than most of the rest of the house, if you can believe it). it has become the storage area for all that is waiting for the little lady to appear, and none of it (except for the lovely labeled bins of clothing from aunt missy) is organized whatsoever. i have a feeling that the fresh coat of paint and this new rug will help put it in a more pleasing light. i've got new curtains on my mind, and some ideas for a bit of artwork for her walls. i'm also thinking about testing my spray-painting skills. of course, i'll have to find the time to fit in all the craftiness that is on my to-do list, which means i really ought to get off the computer and tend to the project at hand.


oh...i nearly forgot to tell you about the big reveal. mike woke sam up from his nap telling him there was a surprise waiting for him upstairs. sam said, "is it a cookie?" well...no, but he still seemed mighty pleased, and if his bedtime was any indication, we have successfully transitioned this boy into his new big boy room. (huzzah! and a HUGE sigh of relief!)

hello again, third trimester

here i am at 27 weeks (and still with the wacky hair. i really should do something about that.) the jumping bean proceeds to jump, kick, and dance often (as does sam, who makes sure she's getting a constant soundtrack of beatles, disney songs, and music from the star wars movies to dance to).
and speaking of sam, he is developing quite the penchant for interesting headgear. here he is wearing mike's black shorts on his head (his "darth vadar mask"):

and here is a photo that was taken after i asked him to put on his pull-up for naptime:

my favorite anecdote from this week is from monday morning. on our way to the train stop sam said, "my heart is broken. it has spicy things in it." it sounded like he had heartburn (though i doubt he could get heartburn from the mini-wheats he ate with mike). there were no more reports of broken hearts since.
i know i say it often, but if sam's little sister is even half as amusing as her big brother, we are in for LOTS of entertainment.

making—mother's day tote

sam the ham

the artist at work

"hand painted" with love

the finished project

i thought we'd share a little project sam and i cooked up for gramma h for mother's day. i thought this tote bag would be the perfect showcase for one of sam's paintings. so we went to the craft store where sam picked out some paints, and after a little coaxing he got down to work. it didn't take long before his hands (and at least one ear) were covered in paint and he declared this work of art complete.

i think he did a rather nice job, but my favorite parts were definitely watching sam ham it up for the camera and declare "that was fun!" while i helped him scrub his hands (mostly) clean.

i hope gramma likes her tote (though i know she's got a plethora of bags, i also know that they do wear out after a while...)

happy mother's day, mom! i am more appreciative of all your amazing skills and patience every day, and i'm not sure how you managed to (more than) survive the four of us. one of these days i hope my kid(s) will think i'm as cool as i think you are. you rock!

making—freezer paper stencils

i've been dying to try freezer paper stencils for ages (i swear i've had this roll of freezer paper stacked away in my cupboard for more than two years), but i was recently trying to figure out ways to make sam's old white onesies seem a little bit more special (before they get handed down) and decided that this is the perfect opportunity to finally give this stencil thing a go.
i'm still not quite sure what i want to put on the onesies (can't do initials because she hasn't got a name yet, don't want to do hearts or flowers or other girlie stuff because that's just too, i don't know...the word boring comes to mind), so i thought i'd just experiment on my own t-shirts first (and even this was a stretch when it came down to it, hence the triangles).
i think the end result was okay. you can totally see places where i should've pressed harder with the iron when ironing on the stencil (or been more careful with the paint, or both), but now that i've done one, i'm totally hooked. i want to stencil everything!
i love this inspiration, and i pinned a tutorial here.
now what are you waiting for? i'm sure you've got an old, boring tee with a stain on it just waiting to be upgraded, don't you?

best ever

there was a package waiting for us when we got home from the library/playground today. sam was sure it was a garbage truck, and was very keen to see what was inside. when i was done unpacking the flowers, he was still hoping that there would be something more and seemed a little disappointed that the box was empty. until i offered to give him the box, to which he said cheerfully, "there was a bewer box in the package!" and climbed right in.


i'm enjoying the lovely flowers from my sweet boys, but the best gift is a kid with a supersized imagination.

bits and pieces

a couple little updates:
- as if to exemplify his obsession with star wars, sam has started referring to mike as master. which of course means that mike is referring to sam as young padawan. sam also said that i'm like qui-gon jinn (because of my hair, not my beard or my awesomeness).


- painting has begun, and "grandma's room" is slowly being converted to "sam's room". i'll miss that cheerful yellow-y color, but i'm willing to sacrifice it so that sam can have his beloved blue walls. sam's comment on seeing his room in progress was, "wow. wow." when mike said that there really wasn't much to see yet, sam replied, "i know. but i like it."


- we're now into double-digits for the little sister countdown. we'll be 26 weeks as of tomorrow, and one more week until we hit third trimester territory. woot! am already listing things i'm looking forward to (top of the list: sleeping on my stomach.)

can i see your 3po?

i took this video of sam showing me how c3po walks the other day and posted it on facebook, but i thought i should post it here too.
if i haven't emphasized sam's star wars obsession to the proper degree, any conversation you have with him will do so. about half the things that come out of his mouth these days have to do with star wars, or one of the characters. tonight he told us that his name is "sammy luke skywalker" and mike's name is "daddy luke skywalker".