Superman Saved the Day

Tonight Mom and I were doing our usual: dinner, playing, and being SILLY! Well, let me correct that. Mom is silly and I'm goofy. If you get that wrong, I will correct you. Anyway, where was I? That's right. Mom and I were being silly and goofy, respectively. We played with Tinkertoys, sang some songs, 

then hammed it up for the camera. 

All was fun and games until I noticed something SCARY. 

Mom was still all grins and it was coming CLOSER!

A HUGE FURRY HEADED MONSTER was headed DIRECTLY towards Mom and me. AHHHH!!! There was much screaming, mayhem and chaos, until....

SUPERMAN appeared!! He zipped through here, 

and ran through there, 

and in a flash he was gone. 

With his superhero powers, he had tamed the furry headed monster into my little Sprouty. 

We love our little Sprout. 

I hope you enjoyed hearing of our adventures this evening. If you hang out with Mom and me, be expecting laughs and the unexpected. It keeps us smiling and on our toes. 

For the Birds

Mom and I stayed home sick today. I was running a fever when she picked me up from daycare yesterday so I was automatically out for 24 hours. Mom and I made the most of it. We colored with markers, watched a Barney video and "The Little Engine That Could" movie, played with some of my new toys, made some popcorn, drank some hot tea, and cuddled. Towards the end of the daylight hours today, we slipped outside for some fresh air and to do a little project. We hung up another bird feeder for the birds. 

 It took us a little bit to figure out how to fill it without spilling seed everywhere. Sprout was on standby for clean up duty. We enjoy watching the chickadees, cardinals, titmice, nuthatches, blue jays, and of course squirrels graze from our other feeder - an open tray. We're interested to see if this one with a different seed will attract other birds. 

Thanks Aunt Sydney for the bird feeder. We love it!

2011 Sealed with a Kiss

Over our Christmas holiday travels, Mom, Granny Linda, Aunt Lelley and I went to meet my new friend, Miss Vivian Kate. Vivi is the beautiful daughter of my mom and Aunt Lelley's childhood friend, Suzanne.

At first, Miss Vivi wasn't too sure about me. No need to worry.  

 I poured on my charm, flashed my big pearly whites, and let her touch and smell my hair. 

 The intoxicating smell and silky softness of my hair fell over Vivi.

 She warmed up to me. 

 Before long, she was smitten. 

I sealed our experience with a big smackeroo right on the lips. Happy New Year Vivi! 

The Mice Needles Have Been Clacking

My tailors are mice, 
Their needles are clacking. 
They sew really nice
While I'm out backpacking.
We have a good time
And we run a tight gig.
We sew lots of stuff
Even though we're not big.
This fleece is quite warm
I assure you my friend,
Now if you will excuse me 
I have mice to tend. 

Ryan Williamson, The Mouse Works 

Mom and I like to support local shopping spots. Mom found Mouse Works a few years back and we've been rocking our Mouse Works hats ever since. Ryan has partnered with a fleece manufacturer to get their scraps. He uses these scraps to make his wonderfully colorful and FUN creations. He is very resourceful and committed to the environment. His waste each year fits into ONE grocery bag. This year we gave a few hats for gifts.

 Evelyn with her doggy hat

 Peter with his animal hat and Sarah with her doggy hat

 Alex with his baby bunny hat

Shelley and I with our doggy hats

Christmas at Granny Linda and Grandaddy's

I'm happy to tell you that Santa did in fact find me at Granny Linda and Grandaddy's house! 

I was dinner entertainment for my great aunt Nancy on Christmas Eve.

Before settling into bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head, I set out some gingerbread men for Santa, then slept solid until Christmas morning. Mom was thankful. 

Santa must have been watching me closely all year because I was good and got LOTS of toys as a result. Mom and I will be making room for the new with a trip to Goodwill for my gently used toys. Mom and I have talked about it, and I'm happy to share with those not as fortunate as me. 

I had a blast rough housing with Grandaddy, playing with my cousin Brody on Christmas afternoon, dancing while my cousin Lacie played her fiddle, 

 and playing with my consignment-store-find kitchen from Granny Linda. 

Mom, Paul and I headed back to Roanoke on Tuesday afternoon. I was asleep before we were at the end of Granny Linda and Grandaddy's road, slept through the drive, and crawled into my bed for another 1-1/2 hours. In need of some outside play time, we finished off the day with a bike ride through the park and dinner at Grace's. 

Wednesday evening Aunt Lelley read books to me and played and played. 

I'm a lucky little dude. 

Santa, catch me if you can!

On Friday December 23rd, Paul, Mom, Sprout and I were northbound for Charlottesville, a little bit closer to the North Pole than Roanoke, but according to Mom, still a LONG way away.

I cheesed it up with Alex and Paul,

opened some awesome gifts from Paul's family, played and played with Peter, Sarah and Evelyn downstairs, 

found a worm in the sandbox, and 

enjoyed the train beneath the Christmas tree at Gretchen and Jimmy's house on Christmas Eve.











Then Mom and I choo-chooed out of C'ville bound for Granny Linda and Grandaddy's house.

Santa Sightings

On December 9th, Mom picked me up from daycare and we headed downtown for the Dickens of a Christmas parade. We conveniently found ourselves near Uptown Joes where we picked up some dinner and I scored some chocolate milk and a doughnut! 

 Mom and I stayed warm in our fuzzy hats while we watched the parade. 

 I mastered waving at the people in the parade and drinking my chocolate milk. We got a hug from our friends Sarah and Emma who were in the parade! 

 I munched on my holiday sprinkles doughnut while we took in the festivities and window shopped at the Roanoke Market after the parade. 

 On Saturday, we headed back downtown to the Virginia Museum of Transportation. I found SANTA!! We had a little chat. I think I'm still on the "good" list because he told one of his elves to give me a monster truck. 

 I love watching the model trains.

 I test drove a Virginia Tech racecar.

  I played with some cars. Please notice that I lined them all up. It's my modus operandi. 

 We rode the Santa Express - a real train with two cabooses and a two baggage carrier cars. We rode in the baggage carrier car. My monster truck and I thought this was fun!

After the train ride, I played outside on all of the transportation climbing apparatus for a bit, and then Mom was ready for lunch. I was NOT! I screamed and screamed and screamed while Mom just kept on walking through the museum. I was afraid I was going to lose her, so I followed her even though I was MAD and STILL screaming. Once in the parking lot, Mom thankfully stopped, and we had a little chat. Let me rephrase that. Mom talked to me very sternly. 

Despite my screaming episode and not feeling too happy with how I had treated Mom, I really wanted to "check out some more cool stuff" downtown. Here is what I offered her. I promised to be good if we went to a restaurant. If I started misbehaving, we would go home. Mom took me up on my offer and the macaroni and cheese at Macados was YUMMY! and I behaved!

I hope Santa was watching me while I was at Macados and maybe not so much while I was screaming at the museum. Santa, I'm done with my screaming (for 2011). I do believe in you Santa!!