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.

amy and painting and saying weird stuff.

so, i have been thinking a lot about the future. for instance, when i am a teenager, my voice will be different. mom and i discussed this a while ago, but i keep thinking about it and bringing it back up. also, i told mom that i want a mustache. why? because i like mustaches. or maybe i will have a whole beard and a mustache. i will definitely be more hairy when i get older. i will get lots of leg hair and chest hair when i am about 65. also, when i turn five, on november 26ith, i will be 4 years older than elisabeth for one whole day. until she turns 2 on the 27ith. i think that my mom has been enjoying these conversations, because they make her laugh a lot.

i am in a new class at my school, where me and about 10 girls learn about letters and math. it is a special class for the smart kids, but my dad said i should not tell people that. i go to that class every day from 3:00-3:30. Mr. Justin thinks i am pretty smart. the other day, he asked us to write the letter A, and i wrote A, B, C, D, and E, until i ran out of paper.

my hamster, amy, is getting really big. here are new pictures of her.

and this is my new favorite hobby. elisabeth and i got to paint the other day, and i keep begging to paint some more. my mom just looks really tired when i ask if we can paint again, every 45 minutes or so.

i am full of good questions.

this morning, i asked my mom:

"why is there a mothers' day and a fathers' day, but not a kids' day?"

at first she looked kind of irritated, and said, "because every day is kids' day."

then she laughed and said she asked her mom the same question. but she was 7 or 8 then, and not 4.

i swallowed an airplane.

last night, i woke up and barfed at 3am. then at 6. then at 7:30. then at 9.
then later, i felt okay enough to eat some lunch and drink some gatorade.
then i threw that up at 1.

i told mom that i feel like i "swallowed an airplane." she laughed, because i am funny. not because i am sick.

update: i managed to eat and retain a small amount of dinner. so far.

my best friends

a couple weeks ago, we had church at a park. these are my best friends, avie and zane.

vintage sam

amber made animations from pictures she took of me a couple years ago. mom thinks they are hilarious.

you have to click on the pictures, and that will take you to another thing you have to click, but eventually, you should see pictures of me rocking it out.

if the clicking does not work, leave a comment, and my mom will try to fix it.

AMY

today, mom picked me up at my school. i was outside playing on the playground, and i did not really want to go home yet, until mom told me there was a super surprise at home for me: a pet! i asked what it was, but she would not tell. i said, "is it a monkey??" and she laughed pretty hard. i went and told ms. charlotte and also my friend destiny that i had a pet waiting for me at home.

turns out, it is not a monkey, but still pretty cool. it is a little bitty hamster, and i named her amy. mom and britney found her today at a yard sale. she is only about 6 or 8 weeks old. when she gets to be 48 months old, she will be huge, like my dad. mom said that is not true, but i will wait and see. she is a dwarf hamster, and she is still too small to make the exercise ball roll around. mom said that i can NOT make the ball roll for her. i helped clean the cage out and i put the bedding in there and also some food. amy looks super cute when she holds her food between her feet and nibbles on it. she is going to live in my room!