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JANUARY - Mommy was able to spend her birthday up in Denver at the
Genealogy library doing research on her favorite hobby. That evening after driving home, Sam
brought Grammy and Grampy by for a small cake/cookie party. Sam got Mommy some very special gifts
from the store. They included some beef jerky, a small package of foot massage cream, and a small
pad of paper. They were very endearing gifts!! Sam also got to build a very large snowman at
Grammy's house. There was not as much snow at Mommy's house. Sam, Mommy and Grammy also went to
a Monster Truck Rally at the World Arena. |
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FEBRUARY - Mommy attended Sam's Valentine's day party at Preschool.
This was Mommy's first chance to make a home-made treat for school and she found a fun recipe
for a frosted rice krispies cupcake. They ended up being delicious and Mommy had one too!!
During the party all the children exchanged cards and treat bags and then we ate lots of good
food. Sam also had bags and treats for all the kids in his daycare class. |
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MARCH - Mommy and Sam began the month of March by flying our
first kite together. It was a lovely brisk day and the wind was just right. Sam chose a Superman
Kite to fly. During Spring Break this month. Sam, Mommy and cousin Haley decided to go to the
mountains for some skiing. This was both Haley and Sam's first time. We chose Winter Park and
purchased a lessons package for all three of us. We spent the first half of the day skiing
on one of the ski slopes and then during the second half of the day Sam and Mommy went down the
bunny slope time after time while Haley skied as many times as she could down more Green slopes.
We all did very well and enjoyed ourselves immensely. |
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APRIL - Sam had a very nice Easter this year. Grammy and I took
him to his first big church service at the in downtown Colorado Springs. We sat very close to the stage and
he loved to see the choir and band. He did very good sitting through the service but became a little
weary of it all near the end. He then went home to enjoy a delicious home cooked Ham dinner. Sam's
birthday is also in April. This year he wanted a cowboy themed party. I planned it for 24 April,
with a pony, but due to late snowstorm we had to cancel. We held a family party for
him on the 25th (his birth date) and then held the party the next week on 1 May; however,
the pony lady could not make the party. But we had a "rootin'-tootin'" good time anyway!! |
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MAY - Sam celebrated a very warm Mother's day with Grammy and Mommy. He
went to shop for Mommy and bought her all of these very nice gifts from the Dollar store. Sam also
celebrated the last day of Preschool at Goldcamp Elementary on 19 May 2004. He attended Ms. Hollicker's
class. The class had a final picnic at Bear Creek Park on the last day of school. Sam also became
part of his first soccer team The Flames through the YMCA. At this age the teams do not keep
score at the games, but the kids have lots of fun nonetheless. Sam spent a lot of his game-time
running around the gym (not chasing the ball), talking to his friends, and stopping to tie his shoes. |
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JUNE - To celebrate Grammy's birthday Sam first took her to the
new in Woodland Park Colorado.
The museum was very exciting and Sam loved to see all of the dinosaur bones, and the old movie monster
poster exhibit (Godzilla is one of Sam's favorite movies right now). Sam also took Grampy on his
first camping trip to near Fort Garland, Colorado. Sam and Grampy enjoyed fishing (with a plastic
fish on the end of Sam's pole), playing in Medano Creek, hiking up the sand dunes (we look like
we're in the Sahara), having an ice cream social at the campground, his very first
campfire, and finally a ride on a horse as we were leaving to come home. Sam loved staying in
his pop-up trailer that our '95 Toyota Camry pulled the 200+ miles
to the campground.
|
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JULY - Sam had swimming lessons this month to prepare him for spending
a week at the Lake George cottage in IN. He loved his teacher Miss Lindsay; however, he could stand
on the bottom of the baby pool and he spent most of his time walking rather than swimming. Near
the end of July Sam went to Indiana to enjoy a week at his family's
on Lake George.
Sam's friends Mary (12) and Mike (10) Morton were both there as well as their parents. Sam played
in the water with all of the older kids; swimming out to the diving dock (wearing a life jacket,
of course), boating, tubing, fishing, and just generally having a great time. Sam finally
caught his first fish. We kept it for a while and then let it go. Unfortunately
Grandpa had to do a lot of chores around the cottage and Mommy was suffering from a terrible cold. |
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AUGUST - Sam had a very nice quiet August. He spent time playing
around the house and preparing himself to begin Pre-Kindergarten at Greenshades Nursery School.
Near Labor Day Sam decided to go to the
. The fair was not very
crowded this year and the weather was beautiful. Sam was able to milk a cow, see all kinds
of farm animals and home-made goods, tractors, a draft horse-pull, riding the fun fair rides,
and of course lots of fair snacks!! MMM!!! |
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SEPTEMBER - Sam has started out his month by flying out to IN
with Grammy and Grampy to close up the cottage for the summer. Mommy is at home working :(. Sam
had a slight disaster while there when he tripped over a tree root and crashed his head into
the tree trunk. Grammy called Mommy and informed her that he cried a bit but he was very brave. I
guess I just assumed the wound was not that bad, but when I finally took off the bandaid at home I saw
a very nasty gash which has left a small scar on his forehead. Mommy has a similar scar in just
about the same place from when she tripped on the stoop in FL as a baby and broke her noggin open.
Mine required stitches. Near the end of the month we all decided to go to the
in Penrose, CO to
pick some fruit (apples and blackberries) and pick put an awesome pumpkin for carving
next month. The day was absolutely glorious and we had a wonderful time riding the tractor to
the apple orchards and eating them right off of the tree. They were so warm and tasty and we
stuffed ourselves with those and slow-roasted BBQ brisket. YUM!! |
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OCTOBER - Sam and Mommy grew a bunch of pumpkins in our new garden
this year. But when Momma put them in the little cart outside our front door, the squirrels
proceeded to eat them up. So we weren't able to use those for carving. This was the first year
that Sam actually participated in the pumpkin carving for Halloween. He liked to dig the "guts"
of the pumpkin out. This year he wanted a bat on his pumpkin. So Mommy carved that for him. Sam
and Mommy had a big pumpkin, a little pumpkin, and a scary white pumpkin. Unfortunately the
evening Mommy set the pumpkins out someone came and stole one :( ! After that, they had to sit
inside the house until Halloween. Sam was The Lone Ranger (one of his favorite shows) on Halloween
and Mommy was Tonto. The evening was lovely, chilly but not exceedingly cold. Hats and gloves
were optional. But about 15 minutes after we finished a very cold snowstorm moved into the area
and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in an hour (so goes the weather in CO). Sam again
trick-or-treated on Millionaire's row and this time he was able to do about 2-3 blocks before
he just began to wind down. During our rounds we saw a group of twin boys, all dressed as
cowboys!! We also saw a candy-giver dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean),
and he was very convincing. Sam was so tired after trick-or-treating that he didn't even look at
his candy when he got home! |
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NOVEMBER - In November, Sam began playing basketball. Sam had a bit
of trouble shooting baskets overhand but he was very good underhand. There were lots of great
new kids to meet including Dion and Christian, two of Sam's favorites. Coach Ben, Coach "T", and
Coach Patrick all helped the kids have a wonderful time. Special kudos to Coach Ben for having such
patience with all the kids, especially Sam, who got very frustrated not being able to make
baskets. Grammy hosted Thanksgiving this year at her house and we gobbled lots of food until
we were stuffed! The day after Thanksgiving Sam and I got out out large Christmas tree and
decorated the entire house for the holidays. Sam helped out immensely putting all of the
Christmas balls on about 2 branches. The rest of vacation was spent resting and having lots
of Jammy days. Sam also lost his very first tooth this month. It was one of the ones on the
bottom. The dentist said he thought it was very early for him to be loosing his teeth! The
tooth fairy came through with a whole $1 for that tooth and Sam was thrilled!! |
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DECEMBER - Sam finished up his Basketball games near the middle of
the month. During the last practice Coach Ben brought out a bouncer for the kids to play in.
And after the last game we had a small ceremony to pass out medals for all of the kids!! Sam
and Grampy made the trek to the Christmas parade in downtown Colorado Springs and had a great
time with just the boys. Mommy and Grammy decided to stay warm this year. Sam also went
with his family to see Polar Express on the big I-Max screen. The movie was AWESOME and Sam loved
seeing it in 3-D with the train seeming to come out of the screen right up to your nose! On the
Saturday before Christmas Sam's family always gets together with Auntie's family to exchange gifts.
This time we decided to go to Casa Bonita and all of the kids had a BLAST! They were able to eat,
open gifts, and then take Sam to see the cliff divers and play videos in the game room while
we were able to catch up on Auntie's life. At daycare, Sam and a few of the other boys were told
my a group of the girls that they were so bad that Santa would put them on his bad list and not
bring them any toys!! Sam was very worried about this until her received a letter from Santa
confirming that yes he was on the good list. On Christmas morning, by the lights on the
Christmas tree (at 5:30 a.m.) Sam saw that Santa brought him everything he had asked for. A
remote-control T-rex, a Batman suit, and a telescope. The year ended quietly and Sam actually
stayed up until midnight to see the fireworks on top of Pikes Peak. I didn't think he
would make it so I didn't plan anything special or take any pictures, oh well, I'll know
better for next year. |
| More miscellaneous pictures of Sam in 2004:
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