Big Night

Clifford came to our Family Museum tonight. Sam was pretty excited. He was telling Andrew before we left the house-
"My going to go to Clifford. And he give me a hug. And my say 'I'm Sam'."
He also kept saying that Clifford was going to be 'real' at the museum. The real Clifford.

Andrew told him to get a picture of him with Clifford to send to him. (Andrew is working in the ER tonight, so he was taking a pre-shift nap while the kids & I went to the museum.) We walked in and saw this statue, Sam ran right over and sat down on Clifford's paw and smiled, waiting for me to take a picture. Of course, while I maneuvered the stroller through the crowd, got the camera out, waited for it to turn on and the flash to charge, Sam was distracted by all the other cool stuff and kids walking by.

One of the exhibit things was a manual conveyor belt to take dog bones up into Clifford's bowl. The kids all thought it was a slide, so they put the bones down. Sam had been eyeing it for a while, finally snagged a bone, and held on tight waiting for the other kids to finally give up the coveted spot so he could push it down the 'slide'.

There was a little stage area with these dog 'costumes' and musical instruments. This was a wooden box with half-bone shapes cut in it. It sounded pretty cool. Sam stayed here drumming for at least 3 times as long as he stayed anywhere else.

We were on our way to get bones (sugar cookies) when Sam spotted this and had to stop to build a castle and match seashells.

Emily loved all the excitement and bustle. (Apparently knees are fascinating to watch pass by) Several people (kids & adults) randomly commented on how smiley and happy she was. Multiple times each. She is a sweet little gal.

The long-anticipated hug. And much worked-for.
(Side story: We had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner. Sam wanted to put the toppings on by himself. I told him that whatever he put on, he had to eat. We had talked about having to hurry so we could go see Clifford before he left, etc. Sam shoveled on over half the carrots, 2/3 of the cheese, a couple spoonfuls of coconut, and half the almond slices. And some tomatoes. Then he refused to eat it and started walking around the room. We went back and forth, getting him to come sit down, him refusing to eat, saying he didn't want it, didn't like it, didn't know how. One time he said he couldn't eat it because he had to hurry and didn't have time. Finally he said that he didn't want to eat the almonds, so I told him to take them out. He said he didn't know how. A recurring theme of late. I finally took them out myself, because I really wanted him to be able to go, but didn't want to back down from the previous terms of the agreement. He sat and ate and we left only 50 minutes later than planned.)

They had these cool little dog headbands for the kids. After Sam got his, then made another craft, he wanted to go back and get a Chloe one for Emily. He's such a sweet brother. (If he gets a sample or sticker or something from someone he tries to get one for Emily, too. And often tries for one for me & Andrew.) In this picture he is saying that Emily doesn't like it, so he's trying to take it off for her.

He was so cute walking around with his ears on. 

Still happy and smiling away. She was doing the foot-clap. Ya know, when babies get so excited and flail around and end up clapping the soles of their feet together. Then she saw the camera and stopped to pose.