4 Years Old!!

It's hard to believe, but Sam is now 4! I can't believe how fast time flies. I can still remember bringing him home from the hospital. We love our crazy little guy! He starts preschool in September and it makes me want to cry. He's definitely not a baby anymore. We had Sam's party the day before his actual birthday- he had been talking about his party for months! His original birthday ideas included three parties- all with different themes. Where he got the idea that he would be having more than one party is still unknown. :) Luckily he decided on Toy Story, and I was happy with his decision. I have wanted to do a Toy Story party for him for a few years now, but they never really had any Toy Story decorations. Thanks to TS3 there's stuff EVERYWHERE now! I think maybe I wanted a Toy Story birthday more than he did. :)

He got SO many great presents! He was very serious when he was opening them. I'm not sure if it was because he was nervous or embarassed, but I had to give him a minute to "absorb" each present before I could snap a picture. He's such a funny kid. I just hope people didn't think he was ungrateful or didn't like them- I just think he was overwhelmed by all of the cool stuff! I told Manuel that I am so thankful so many people love our kids. I know that may sound weird, but I didn't have a lot of extended family/family friends around when I was growing up, so it means a lot to have so many people care about my children. I was very grateful for the people that made an effort to attend/acknowledge his birthday- I am sure attending a 4 year old's party isn't the most exciting thing, so a big thanks to the people that we love for making Sam's day special!

Opening presents is very serious work.:)

As soon as we cleaned up and brought all of the presents
inside Sam had to open everything!
Even Manuel wanted to play with the presents. :)
I love this picture!

Here are a few things about 4 year old Samuel:

-He is currently working on letter recognition. His favorite letters are S, X, and O

- He loves to play his guitar and sing songs. He also likes to dance while doing both. :)

- Sam likes to help Daddy work on the Bug

- He LOVES to play make-believe. Sam is always a different character. His favorites are Buzz, Mario (as in Super Mario Bro.), Iron Man, and Spongebob. There are others, but these are his top favorites. He really gets into character too- he won't even respond to you if you call him Sam. You must use his character name, and refer to everyone else as their assigned character names as well. Mateo is usually Woody or Luigi, and very often I am Jessie and Princess Peach.

- He can spell and sight read a few words. I wish this had something to do with my efforts, but it really doesn't. One day he looked at a piece of paper and asked, "Why does that have my name on it?" We have also learned that spelling certain words won't work anymore because he knows how to spell them (Thanks to Toy Story he knows how to spell "toy"- thanks a lot Woody!).

- Sam is a big helper around the house. Just today he helped me unload the dishwasher. Unfortunately he isn't tall enough to reach the cupboards so a lot of dishes ended up on the counter, but I really appreciate his efforts. :)

-He loves to play games. His favorite is, "I love you more than _____" Right now, he loves me more than trees with pineapples. Crazy kid.

- His favorite movies include but are not limited to: Toy Story (all 3)

Monsters Inc

Cars

The Herbie movies

We love our crazy Samuel! Still can't believe he's 4, but we're looking forward to watching him learn and grow. Happy Birthday Sam... I mean Buzz... Mario... Iron Man... We love you!