Happy Birthday Sam!

So, my post is a little late for this one but life got overwhelming the last week or two so I am taking a pass.

Sam you are 4 years-old now and you are awesome. You are one of those kids who just makes people smile. I never know what I might get from you. There is no hiding who you are or what you are feeling. You are my boy who will crawl up in my lap for a snuggle and hug one minute and then the next whack me in the head for no particular reason. You are not a morning person or a night time person. You are a middle of the day kind of guy. Until about a year ago you were a huge mama's boy. There was no one in the world like me in your eyes. Now, I am chopped liver and your big brother can't be beat. Most days you won't let me take your picture and find it entertaining to make me work for a photo. Shoot, we bought a faster camera just so that I could get a shot or two of you from time to time. One day when you have serious middle child syndrome and try to complain that we just didn't love you enough and take pictures of you, know that it was not for lack of effort. In fact, I get leery on Kid's Day Out and preschool photo days because they seem to always make mommies prepay. I just never know what you will do. So far, most of the time you have not even faked a smile. Don't get me wrong buddy, you are a happy little boy. But, you know what you want and want to do and anything outside of that is simply a distraction.
You are boy down to the bone. I am reminded of it everytime you smile. One of your front teeth is grey (dead) and the other one is a creamy white color (also dead). Those teeth are chipped too. You just run head first into life. Most of the time, not if, but when you fall down you pop right back up and say, "I'm okay. That didn't hurt." You take some pretty good spills but you rarely stop for medical attention. You might miss something:)
You are an amazing part of our family. You provide so many laughs. I never know what you are going to say or if you are going to say anything for that matter. You can spend hours in silence simply pointing at what you want. (When you were just beginning to talk you left part of words off. We worked hard to figure out what you were trying to say and at times you just pointed. We later found out that you spoke broken like that because you just couldn't hear. We got you tubes and away you went. Our house has not been the same since! I love it!)
I do treasure our conversations. Some days, you are very quiet but others, I can't get a word in. I can pick you up from preschool and they will say that you didn't say one word but then you get in the car and you talk nonstop all the way home! And boy, your take on the world is spectacular.
Right now you are a bit bossy but in a funny kind of way. You might ask me a question but before I can even answer, you tell me what to answer. You ask me for something to eat knowing all the while what you want. But, you want it to be my idea so you make me list off a series of items. Then when I list that one you wanted you reply, "Well, ok!" as if I talked you into something. You love silly words like diaper and underwear. I can't have a serious hygiene discussion with you because you simply think it is all hilarious!
You are a treat my friend. I love you more than I could ever explain. You are sleeping right now with a batman mask on that you got for your birthday. I see many days ahead that I will be taking a superhero to run errands.
Happy Birthday Sam! Thank you for an amazingly humbling and wonderful 4 years. Every day is an adventure with you. Mommy loves you.

PS - I chose this music (Funkytown and Bad Day) to start things off because Alvin and The Chipmunks are some of your favorites. At times I think you believe you are Alvin.

Ike

I wanted to take a moment to recognize the smallest member of our family, Isaac or Ike. He is only 9 months old so his current actions rarely make the blog. So, I wanted to get him a little face time and let you know what a truely joyful baby he really is. I love all of my boys but if I am honest with myself and you, Will and Sam were a little tough in their baby years. They seemed rather annoyed that they couldn't do all the things their little minds thought of doing. Today, they are amazing and really very good and sweet little boys. I am thankful I didn't set them out in the "Free Puppy" box.
Ike on the other hand is really quite content most of the time. He just really desires love in its truest form and asks for little else. Ok, so he wants food alot but he gets a pass there. He is a growing boy! Anyway, the boys dress him up as King Isaac so they can be his knights. We dress him up as a Steak and Shake waiter. Through it all, he just sort of grins and rolls with it. He is a delight and I wanted to give him a moment in the spotlight. I think I also wanted to get this down so that if and when he does hit a difficult period and I am ready to pull his and my hair out, I will be reminded that he has quite a deposit built up in the bank of goodness.

PS - I am sure most of you watch the news and are aware of a little storm brewing out in the ocean, Hurricane Ike. He looks to be a booger of a storm and he may actually be bearing down on the part of Florida where my parents live:( (Say a prayer for them.) I am a little concerned for us here in Arkansas too though. I fear that we also should be preparing for Hurricane Ike. He is a little storm right now but in no time he will gain strength and we better bar the doors and windows because Hurricane Ike Chism will be tearing this place up!

Lemonade

This past weekend, we went to Springfield to relax and hang out with some family. There are details that I could share and will when my blogging window is not so small (sleeping baby!). However, I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of the kids and their entrepreneurial spirit.

I think one time, a couple of years ago, Will requested to have a lemonade stand. Well, that day was like 25 degrees so I told Will that although it was a very good idea we might want to wait until it was hot so that people would want some refreshment. Hm mm, he took that to heart and now on every 95+ degree weather day, he wants to have a stand. This was the case last week but we were heading out of town to Springfield, so I suggested having one at Granny and Papa's house since they get a lot of traffic on their street. That seemed like an OK idea to Will so I am not sure it this qualifies us as a franchise or chain or even him as a traveling salesman but we were open for business on E. Vincent St. (I am thankful the government only requires paying taxes over a certain amount because I would hate to try to figure out how to pay in AR and MO;))

Anyway, here are some pictures of the little business. There was some false advertising involved when they listed the stand was for the poor. The kids might feel they are poor but I would beg to differ. There was also a little confusion on how to split profits. These kids are no dummies but with some gentle negotiating, everything worked out great and no feelings were permanently damaged.

In the various pictures you will find Sam(3), Aaron(3), Lexi(6), and Will(6).

PS - For those CFOs out there, the kids did alright. Granny and Papa have some very nice neighbors who took pity on the children and wanted to help out the "poor". I think Granny and Papa lost money though. Granny provided the supplies and lemonade making expertise and Papa ran security duty (they are 6 and 3, you never know when one of them might want to flag down a car by just jumping into the street!).