stocking stuffer fun times

for Christmas, we picked up nany and then went over to grandma and pappy's house for a few days.

my cousins came up on Christmas Eve, and we had dinner and opened presents. i discovered that i really really like ham and scooters.

on Christmas day, we opened stockings and presents from mom and dad and santa. i got this neat glowy sword, and my mom and i took a bunch of pictures with it, in a dark room. that was a pretty good time. it's hard to be completely still!

thank you to everyone for the awesome presents!

hey, it's been a while!

in case you were all wondering, my dad and i got back to arkansas safe and sound, like two weeks ago.

my pappy's operations went pretty well, and he is already doing a lot better.

i was a really good helper in texas. i missed my mom and my sister, but i only cried when i saw the road from our airplane, right after we took off, and i thought i was watching them drive away. that was pretty sad.

otherwise, it was really a great time, and i told my dad that lubbock was my favorite place ever in the history of time. i'm not sure we'll be moving there anytime soon, though.

when we flew back to the airport in oklahoma, my mom and my sister, and my aunt and uncle and all my cousins were there to meet us. my cousins all wore hats, because pappy was wearing a hat. i gave elisabeth a big hug and kiss, because i was really glad to see her.

leaving on a jet plane

tomorrow, my dad and i are flying down to texas together, for almost two weeks. i was telling Holly about it tonight. "we are going down because my dad's dad is having surgery. he has to get his brain taken out. " Holly just laughed. it wasn't supposed to be funny. maybe he isn't really getting his brain removed. dad says that pappy has to get electrodes put inside his brain. and dad and i are going there to help grandma and pappy. we will go get them food, and take them places, and help with whatever we need to help with.

anyway, since we are leaving tomorrow, we had to take Christmas card pictures tonight. it was an interesting photo shoot, but not entirely unsuccessful. we actually got a pretty good one, but i can't put it on here, because then your Christmas card would not be a surprise. these are some kind of funny ones.

tree!

today, it was time to get Christmas decorations out!

first, we painted some candy cane ornaments for this year. i asked if we had real candy canes to eat, but mom said we don't have any yet.

i climbed up in the ceiling with mom, and i was really brave and not that scared, unless i looked down. i helped get the boxes down, and then i helped put all the ornaments on the tree. there's a thing with ornaments and lights on it above my door to my room now, too!

i'm a good helper, since i'm 5 now. elisabeth didn't really help. she pretended to talk on a santa claus ornament phone. dad helped, when he wasn't busy making weird faces in the backgrounds of all the pictures.

here's an off-subject question for you: is God made of a bunch of eyeballs, since he can see everything? i asked that today, but mom didn't really answer. i thought maybe you would know.

happy thanksgiving!

so, thanksgiving gets all mixed up with my birthday and my sister's birthday around here. thanksgiving was her birthday, and the day before was my birthday. next year, my birthday will be thanksgiving, and hers will be the day after. see, it's kind of confusing.

we woke up on thanksgiving morning, and i played my new nintendo ds (hooray for birthdays!) while sort of watching the macy's thanksgiving day parade. i was mostly just humoring mom instead of watching it, but i did see a cool spongebob balloon, and garfield.

then i put on my indian vest and headdress that i made in my class. i did a rain dance and lots of poses, to celebrate my 1/64th of choctaw heritage. i refused to put my nintendo ds pen down while i was dancing.

then we went to my grandma and papa's house, where there was more cake and some cool balloons, and of course a lot of thanksgiving food. i helped grandma make the crescent rolls, like i do every year. the cake and pie and rolls were good, but i'm not a big fan of the casseroles and stuffing and all that. my mom made my cake with strawberries in it, and covered in whipped cream, just like i wanted!

Dear Sam,

(the following is a note from my mother)

when you wake up in the morning, you will be five years old.

that is really hard to believe. we remember when you were little bitty, like in these pictures.

Here are five memories from your life, in honor of your 5th birthday:

1. For halloween in past years, you've been a plague of frogs, pac-man, batman, and spiderman.

2. you woke me up one morning by writing on my forehead with a sharpie.

3. the first thing you really started deliberately drawing was pac-man. you were two, and you were obsessed. for about two years, you consistently drew pac man and ghost monsters. they evolved over time, beginning with teeny, tiny, barely discernable little circles, and then getting bolder later, sometimes with hats, sometimes with teeth covering their whole bodies, sometimes with legs like a spider. it's been fun to watch your motor skills develop with the evolution of pac man. Here are a few of the later ones.

4. you've had and named four pets so far. Nemo, Packter, Copster, and Amy.

5. your favorite songs over the years have included Tunak Tunak, Numa Numa, Around the World, TROGDOR, and Here Come the Geese. you're a super dancer and singer. you've got rhythm, kid!

we love you as much as ever.

love, mom, dad, and elisabeth

thankful for God

the other day, my mom and betty picked me up from school. mom said, "it is probably the last nice day of the fall (it turns out, it was), so we should go do something fun." we grabbed the camera and some snacks and drove down to devils den. i asked mom why it is called that, and she said that one of the caves is called devil's den. i wonder if the devil lives in there. we didn't find out.

anyway, we had a good time. i tried to get this guy's axe, but it turns out, it was stuck to him.

then we went and threw a bunch of rocks in the water. i liked to throw the gigantic ones in there. i am pretty strong.

and also weird and can make good faces. mom told me to make a silly face, so i made about seven hundred of them.

then betty got wet, and mom said it was time to not be by the water anymore. she ate some mud and found out that it does not taste very good. i do not eat mud or boogers. a girl in my class eats her boogers.

then we pretended to be cats and pretended to be in jail and pretended to sleep and rolled down the sidewalk. by that time it was dark, and so we loaded up and headed home.

on the way home, the moon came up, and it was round and orange. ahead of us was a full moon, and behind us was a neat sunset. mom kept saying how pretty that was, and i said that it sure was pretty. and that it must be because it is almost thanksgiving.

then we had this conversation:

mom: "sam, what are you thankful for?"

me: "God."

mom: "that's a good thing to be thankful for."

me: "hey betty, are you thankful for God?"

elisabeth: "yeah."

updates on life

i have an invisible brother named thomas. tonight i took some pictures of him, but i did not upload them yet. chances are, you would not be able to see him anyway.

today at school, isabelle bit me. mom asked if i bit her back, and i said that no, i used my words and told ms. charlotte. i only cried a little bit. i have a bruise and everything!

my favorite movie ever is spiderman 3. we are going to get spiderman 1 from netflix in about a week, once my mom finally returns juno. i will tell you if i like it or not.

i was the black spiderman for halloween. i got tired of wearing the mask really quick, because it made my head super sweaty. i walked around and got a little bit of candy, and then i just wanted to play. i think my dad was sad that i did not get more candy. my sister was a dog, and my dad was a clown ape, and my mom was my dad. apparently my family is kind of weird.
then that night after trunk or treat, we drove down to my grandma and papa's house, and my mom had a craft show the next day. we went to see her, and there were guys with swords outside, showing us their moves. and also, there was a guy inside playing music, and he let a bunch of kids play along with him. that was a really good time.

good week

today, my mom picked me up at school, and while we were walking out, a lady told mom that i can read better than any four year old she has ever seen in her life. apparently being able to read is not normal, but i think it is a good time, so i will keep doing it!

my teacher, ms. connie, asked me to bring the hardest book that i can read, so i brought in my charlie brown encyclopedia. i read that to ms. connie, and she might have learned a thing or two about reproduction, because that is on page 3. anyway, she said that her boys could read when they were little, so i remind her of her boys. she also said one of her boys has a runny nose, and so i guess i probably remind her of him for that reason too.

so, guess what i did EVERY single day this week?? i took a nap at school. this is unheard of. before this week, i only took a nap one day this whole year so far. i am just really tired. my mom said that she is super proud of me, and so after school she and i went to sonic, and i got a green apple slush, which was pretty yummy. mom got a lemon berry slush, and she was excited, because they were half price. then, we went to the park and i rode my bike, and we threw rocks in the water and swung and pretended to eat in pretend restaurants. it really was a good time.

now, i should go to bed, but mom wanted to post these pictures of me making weird faces that she just took. i took one of her too! she was so proud of my picture taking skills that she defied the urge to delete every picture of herself.