Spongebob Party - Preparations

Sam decided that he wanted to have a Spongebob theme for his 5th birthday party.  So it was time to transform the house into an undersea waterworld.

Check out the cool cake and cookies that Mom baked:

Sam's Second Party

Sam's second of his three birthday parties was held in a quiet ceremony at home on December 4.  In an improvement over Dad's birthday, the cake did not get dropped on the floor.

Sam opened a few small presents, then had a cupcake and for the next few days played some Twister.

Sam's First Birthday Party

Sam's first birthday party was held at school on December 4.  Everyone enjoyed their mini ice cream sandwiches.

Snail Chicken

Sam would like everyone to see his cool snail chicken that he got at BK.

Merry Christmas

Ready For Church

This is what happens if you tell Sam he can pick out his own clothes for church.

Family Uno

Pete and Sam had a fun time playing Uno Attack with family after Thanksgiving dinner.

The following evening they joined Sarah to put on the second of their two nightly Webkinz shows:

Junior Toastmasters

Pete's class at school is doing Junior Toastmasters.  Essentially this means that he got to make a 3-4 minute speech to the class on a topic of his choice.

Pete chose to speak about Virginia Beach.  He practiced twice over the weekend and gave the speech on Monday morning.  His score on the speech was 46 out of 50.

On a related note, Pete can frequently be seen wearing his basketball uniform around the house.

Getting Ready

Pete and Sam helped get the ornaments on the Christmas tree this year.  Their favorite new ornaments were the puzzle balls that Dad brought back from Germany.  They assembled the balls, and then hung them on the tree.

Three Lakes Park

Pete and Sam had a fun time at Three Lakes Park.  It is located near Richmond.  They stopped there on the journey to Virginia Beach for Thanksgiving.

They found one geocache there, after searching for about 15 minutes.  Pete and Dad also went looking for a second geocache, but didn't have enough time to walk around the third lake.  They did take the pictures shown below on their brief excursion.  They will look for the other geocache next time.  There is also a nice Visitor's Center there.

Opposites

Dad: Sam, what is the opposite of disobedient?

Sam: Indisobedient

Pete in Goal

Pete bided his time all year hoping to play goalie for his soccer team.  He was pleased to finally play goalie for all 3 games in the final day's tournament.  He had an outstanding record, only giving up 2 goals in 3 games.

King of the Pumpkin Patch

The above picture of Pete at the pumpkin patch brought back memories of this earlier one from when Pete was 5:

Aren't You Forgetting Something?

December 4, 2008 - early in the morning

Sam comes into Mom and Dad's room and taps Dad on the shoulder to wake him up.

Dad: Hi Sam

Sam: Aren't you forgetting something?

Dad: What?

Sam: To wish me a Happy Birthday!

Kids and Leaves

The kids on the street got together to jump in some leaves.

They then proceeded to Pete and Sam's trampoline for some more serious leaf action.

Sam Halloween Party

Sam and Dianna enjoyed the Halloween party at Sam's school.

Sam AR Tests

Here is Sam reading Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants.  He has started going in to Pete's class at school and taking Accelerated Reader (AR) tests.  This was the first book that he was tested on.  He is currently at the 4th grade reading level.