Freeman's Farm

Another year of pumpkin picking and kettle corn eating and miniature pony petting at our favorite pumpkin patch - Freeman's Farm in Galena.

Catch Up

Our $9 water fun play area. We got it on clearance just as summer came to a close...

We saw an MG parked alongside the McDonald's drive-thru, which reminded me of Dad, who had an MG Midget when he was young. Nice looking car.
Sam on our way to his first day of school.
Sam's class listening to one of his teachers, Miss Lynn.

Rich took us downtown to see his new office building a couple weekends ago. The kids played in a couple of Nationwide's parks and had a good time.


Sam is in deep and profound love with Transformers now, especially Bumblebee. We've told him no toys until his birthday, but honestly it was so sad to watch him trying to transform dolls and boxes and campers that Rich broke down and bought him a cheap Bumblebee over the weekend. He brought it home, showed it to Sam and we've never seen such a happy face on that kid. Ever.


To keep things even, and because Lena is in deep and profound love with cats and anything cute and furry, Rich got her a cat that meows and purs and closes and opens his eyes, complete with a comb. She was pretty happy about it, too.

Sam the Artist

Only a couple weeks in preschool and my son is already drawing like a pro. Just look at these sweet drawings he made all by himself just this morning.

Mommy (not sure why my hair goes all the way around my head, unless that is a portrait of how I look when I wake up):


Miles (notice the cat ears and the tail right between his legs):


Lena (he made everything smaller for her):


Lori (the first in a series of his favorite person):


Lori and Sam:


Lori (floating upside down), Daddy (the big one), Sam (the small one) and a flying meatball (courtesy of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, one of Sam's favorites):

First Day of Preschool? Really?

Yes, really.

Sam had his first day of preschool on the 6th of this month.

Preschool. My baby boy is officially in the school system. He's beginning his journey away from us now; to have his thoughts and opinions shaped by others, to make friends and to learn how to develop relationships, to find his own way in the world, to find out who he is in that world - his place, his voice...

Alright, I'm over-dramatizing. It's preschool, not college. But it is the beginning of the road that leads there.

I'm trying to find a balance between my overwhelming pride and excitement for his future and my paralyzing fear of leaving him in the hands of others. I guess that stays around forever when you're a mom, right?

Anyway, I thought I would add some of Sam's very first first-day-of-school photos to my crazy neurotic ramblings. That was the point of this post, after all.