What did you do this weekend?

Thats right, Cheri and I dropped it old school. Let me splain. Before Sam came along it was not unlike us to pick out a project and knock it out with the quickness. This included the deck at our old house, hardwood floors, and other little projects. Since Samuel came along our projects have still been scheduled, but the time to do them is missing.

This weekend we decided to start the "back stoop" project. This is something that Cheri has wanted to do since we moved in here 4 years ago. I knew that this could be done in a weekend and vowed to do just that. So, with Sam occupied chasing bugs, which is his new thing, we set forth and built the stoop. He did help a little bit here and there, hammering and drilling. Mostly his skills were utilized in the dirt digging department. We knocked out the stoop in 2 days, no sweat.

Yesterday was Sam's official homecoming anniversary. June 2nd last year he landed on US soil for the first time. He came home to find Daddy, Grammie, Grammie Re, Pop Pop, Uncle Joe, Aunt CoCo, Bella, Aidan, and Evan at the airport waiting to see him. He was so tired and spent a lot of time on my shoulder. His first American meal that night was lasagna, and he even slept in his big boy bed. The next morning he woke us up at 5ish standing in the toy box at the end of his bed crying. I think that is the last of the anniversaries for a while.

Gotcha!!

Today is Sam's "gotcha" day. This is the day, exactly one year ago that the country of Russia gave us the keys to Sam. We had a party with all of his closest friends and right now he is coming down from a sugar high. He walked around all day knowing we were going to have a party for his gotcha day, and some how thought we were supposed to go to Chucky Cheese for all parties. Maybe next year. Its been a great year and that little guy has grown so much. He loves to play with all his friends so much.

He and Mommy had a whirlwind weekend together as I was riding in the mountains of western VA. The ride was called "mountains of misery" and it was. There were several brutal climbs where I was going only 3 MPH, but some great descents where I got up to 44 MPH. I highly recommend it if you are looking to kick your own butt.

Table for 3

Yesterday we loaded up the car and went to the Parade of Homes. The parade is a tour of brand new homes that are fully decorated and landscaped. We took Sam with us and knew it would be a nice little challenge. He was branded a terrorist and banned from Parade of Homes till he is 18.

So afterward we set out to find some dinner. After passing by some several nice prospects we settled on a Japanese steakhouse. This place took reservations, but we didn't have one. So, after waiting what seemed like an eternity we were seated at a nice table near the sushi bar. I'd say it took Sam 4 minutes to spill his apple juice. Turns out the restaurant is not really set up for kids. Sam is normally very good in restaurants, but he does require some attention. The rest of the meal was pretty uneventful and Sam had a great time sampling the food. He even tried sushi and after initially spitting it out (on Mommies plate), he regained his composure and finished it. The best part of the evening was watching him eat with chopsticks. He had a fork, but we were using chopsticks, so he was going to use them. Did pretty good too.

Lastly, this is Cheri's first mothers day. Sam and I got her some flowers and chocolate covered strawberries, and Sam made her some things at school. She is our favorite Mommy, and we love her.

One year anniversary

Exactly one year ago today, our little family met for the first time. Its strange to think we mark things in years when so much happens every single day. I can't even begin to think of all the things we have done, things we have seen, things we have learned, or things we have heard in the last year. Before this day a year ago, Sam, otherwise known as Petr was a friendly little guy living in a baby house in Moscow. We knew about him on paper, deeply searching his scarce medical records for any signs of anything. We had a 5 minute video on VHS that showed Sam at two stages in his life. It was a whirlwind leading up to this trip and when we finally got on the plane to Moscow, it started to come together.

I still remember clearly standing in the little locker room outside of Sams classroom waiting for our first encounter. He came out of the room wearing a spongebob squarepants shirt, blue shorts with pink leggings underneath, and a pair of hard shoes. Cute as can be.

and thats as quiet as he has ever been!

Love that kid!

Easter

Sam had a great time with all of his Easter baskets this weekend. He had one from the bunny, one from Grammy Re and Pop Pop, one from Grammy, one from Uncle Rich and Aunt Rachel, and a bonus package from Uncle Jerry and Aunt Susie. We have enough candy! Uncle Rich got the "cool" gift award in the form of a turtle that shines constellations from its shell. Sam does not get out of bed when the turtle is on. Its pretty cool to watch when the lights go out.

We made it to church with our pockets stuffed full of candy and ready to roll. Sam's favorite part of the service is when we all stand up and sing, he fit right in. Afterwards we went over to Grammies for a ham dinner, and more candy. We discovered that the squeeze tube of sweet tart candy was like catnip to the boy. Just one dab and he is off running!

The renovation is wrapping up! We are painting the cabinets and trim now and most likely will be done painting the colors by Saturday. yeah!

Fire in the hole!

Whew, it was a whirlwind day on the ol ranchero. It actually started last night when Sam went over to Grammies for a sleep over. He loves going over to Grammies and has no problem saying goodbye to us when we drop him off, might be something about candy....Anyway, this morning I ran in the Shamrock half marathon while Cheri stayed home and kept on chugging on the renovation. After I got home we went over to church so Sam could have some big fun at the easter egg hunt. Well, I say hunt, but it was more like an easter egg pick-up party as they were littered all over the lawn. He had a great time picking up as many eggs as he could and chucking them in his basket. They had a jumpy blow up thing and hot dogs as well, a great time was had by all.

The title of this post is Fire in the hole, because that is what I say to Sam before I fire up the nail gun. When he hears it he immediately drops whatever is in his hands and high tails it to the couch. I don't want to abuse it, but its pretty cool when I shout it and he runs. Thankfully, we are almost done with the nail gun for this project. Actually, we are down to patching some holes in the wood and then priming and painting to wrap this little project up. We still need to put doors on the cabinets, but that will have to wait till we figure out what style we want.

The circus and other things fun

Just let me get these cobwebs out of the way before I start this entry.....The circus came into town last weekend and we decided to give it a go. First things first, PETA would like you to know that 26 elephants have died in the 100 plus years of the circus and they are not afraid to hand your kid a flyer. I wanted to ask them if any clowns were injured, but Cheri would not let me. We went with Sam's friend Kelsey on opening night and they had a great time. The circus is a great place to spend some hard earned cash and we did just that. Sam really loved the clowns and the horses and the dogs and the elephants. It was fun to see him laugh and interact with the other kids.

Speech therapy is going well. Every Wednesday he gets on a bus at school and takes a short 5 minute ride to a public school to meet Ms. Laura for 30 minutes. His school is great about making sure he is out front and waiting for it. His english is improving and we can usually figure out what he wants quickly.

The renovations are going as planned. We figure we need one more big push to get the job done. It will all be worth it in the end. Just not sure what we will do next....