Lately

We have been enjoying some wonderful times as a family lately.  The weather has finally warmed up (yes I said finally when it is still February.  There is a reason I moved to Georgia and that is because I fully expect it to be warm this time of year).  Here are some pictures of our time outside:

Sam has really enjoyed riding bikes with his "neighbors."  He refuses to call Essa and Reshawn by their names, he just refers to them as "neighbors."  Unfortunately on this day, there were some bike issues and Essa was doing his best to fix his bike and Sam was an eager learner.

Our good friends Brent and Claire told us a story a few weeks ago that Abby, pictured below, declared her intentions to one day marry Sam.  Perhaps this is the beginning of a budding relationship.  They are definitely two peas in a pod and love to boss each other around!  Sound familiar to anyone?

Maya and Sam have loved playing in the backyard.  Maya has rediscovered the sand box and can play in there for hours.  She absolutely loves pouring anything into anything.  She can sit and pour sand into a bucket as long as we would let her.

Sam loves to jump off just about anything.  Here he is jumping off of the deck.  For those that know Sam, you know that he is not the most adventurist child.  However, he has been working on being "brave" lately and has been doing good at it.  In a future blog post you will see him riding bike down the our front hill.  He is also trying to conquer his fear of dogs.  Having a dog move in next door is helping him do that.

These are the "JJs" that Sam purchased for Maya's birthday with his own money.  Maya loves them and Sam is really proud of picking them out for her.  One morning, while Sam was doing his chore, Maya insisted on going outside with him, with no jacket on.  

Sam's first chore has been to take out the compost.  He mostly enjoys it and does it when we ask him to. He did tell me at one point: "I only take out compost on Sundays."  He has since moved on from the statement and we enjoy seeing him have some responsibility around the house.  I can't wait until he can mow grass!