Life of a Sampson: Beginning of Fall

Lyla shopping with Mommy. We found a puppy (plastic) at Old Navy and Lyla was obsessed. She hollers at puppies anytime she sees them but is usually too scared to go up to them and has a little freak-out session if they come near her. This one was just her style! :)

Play date at the mall playground.

I got to help with a triathlon for kids with special needs. We were assigned to a buddy and completed the entire race by their side. It was so much fun. My buddy was awesome!

Gorgeous day at the park. While these two certainly have their sibling rivalry moments, the sweet ones outnumber the bad.

Our neighborhood had a block party. Noah loved playing with the big bubbles.
I had made a game of yard yahtzee for the event (a 2x4 cut in squares and painted to look like dice). On the way to the party, Noah asked where we were going. When I replied, "To a block party," his response was, "Ooohhhh!!!! That's why we needed to bring our blocks!" Hilarious.

Yummy cupcakes!

Chocolate cupcake followed by gelato...we had a bit of a wild child that night! :)

And then our big event...Noah rolled out of bed at the end of September and broke his collarbone!

After a trip to the pediatrician, who referred us to an orthopedic surgeon, and xrays there, the broken bone was confirmed (the the bump and the bruise forming had pretty much already told us), and Noah was put in a figure 8 sling for 5 weeks. The doctor told us nights would be the worst, as it would be hard for him to find a comfortable position. But we were incredibly blessed! The first night, Noah woke up around 3am crying. I helped him roll over and he slept until morning. The next night, he slept all night with some ibuprofen in him, and night three and after he slept all night without meds! I thought dressing him would be tricky so my friends collected button-down shirts from their sons, but Noah refused to wear them and by day 2 he was in a regular t-shirt with barely a whimper. We kept joking that the hardest part of it all was trying to keep his body calm and limit his running and jumping! He bounced back amazingly well, and we are so thankful! (We also joked that we were thankful about the timing of it, since it happened just a few days before our insurance policy deductible started over and we had already hit our out-of-pocket max for the year!) :)

Fall means football in our house, which is met with different reactions from each gender in our family. We went to the high school football game (just two nights after Noah broke his collarbone), and each time the band paused during their pregame performance, Lyla said, "More? Again? Please?" The above was her reaction when they marched off the field. Pure distress! Meanwhile, Noah was loudly asking, "Where's the football? I can't see it!"

Trying to see the band better during halftime.

Clapping along.

Grandma sent new activities to try to keep Noah entertained in a less-active way. He loved the special treatment from her and so many other loved ones who spoiled him big time while he was healing!

Fall also means pumpkin cream cheese muffins and vanilla chai lattes...a rare treat! But Lyla and I were celebrating me getting my flu shot (hey, any excuse I can make!)

We took a trip to the zoo. It was colder than I was expecting in September and my children were slightly underdressed. But we still had a blast and they didn't complain.

If you visit our zoo in the first hour, you can ride the carousel, touch the stingrays, and visit the children's area for free. Usually we only arrive in time to hit up one of these options. This visit, we got all three! Waiting in line to see the stingrays...

Noah loved it, but Lyla wasn't too sure. This was a first for Daniel, and he may or may not have been even more giddy and excited than Noah. :) Lyla did finally work up the nerve to stick her hand in, and when she touched one, it splashed her. That didn't make the cold air feel any warmer since her jacket was fairly soaked!