One Cheesy Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM THE MAN!!!  Our big boy Sambo turned 6 years old in May.  He wanted to have a Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party (and I wanted a low maintenance party!) so away we went to the land of crazy children and beeping arcades.  We gave Sam his bike before we left and he was very excited.  He was the "Super Hero" of the party and won TONS of tickets in the ticket blaster (an enclosed, tube thing that blasts tickets up while the birthday kid is inside.  They keep however many they can catch.)  He was absolutely thrilled to be drowning in presents and wrapping paper at the end.  That kid seriously made bank that day!

Some things we love about Sam:

- Sam is a super sweet older brother to Cade.  He will cheer up Cade when he starts to cry in the car and loves to help him learn new things, like how to say "fart."

- Sam loves to be adored.  Really, who doesn't?? But once you start complimenting Sam on how well he's doing at something, he works extra hard to keep being good.  As he says, "Mom!  I was good and never did any of the bad things!" (Those bad things refer to Taekwando class when he spontaneously makes farting noises without realizing it, gazing off into la-la land when the instructor is telling him something to do, and wrestling the other kids down.)

- Sam loves Skylanders (a video game), anything Lego, and surprising people.  He lives for these three things.

- We learned that he LOVES corn on the cob.  He will shave down 5 large cobs in about 3 minutes.  He gets really into it and closes his eyes while his fingers turn the cob around trying to keep up with his chomping teeth.

- Sam has no body fat.  Well, probably SOME, but not much.  As a result, he is constantly cold and loves to snuggle up with blankets and wear hoodies even in the middle of summer.  It has also effected how he swims - he's a "sinker."  Floating has always been hard for him, but he has managed to learn to doggie paddle this summer with no floaties.  Yay!

- Sam says the cutest prayers.  He always goes down the list of things he did that day with "And thank you for 'dat we could go swimming, and 'dat the popsicles were good, and 'dat I want new goggles..." 

- Sam loves to cuddle.  He can still fold up like a mini pretzel in your lap even though his legs are growing much longer than they used to be.  It really is incredible the spaces he can still fit into.