Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas Recap

Here is a recap in pictures starting with Christmas Eve. We had a wonderful Christmas and kept very busy visiting family and hosting get togethers. Of course Samuel made it extra special - the magic of Christmas through a child's eyes is something I look forward to experiencing every year!

Here is Samuel on our drive to Advance, NC for a Christmas Eve celebration with a lot of my relatives (mom's side).

We stopped for lunch to visit with more family and introduce them to Samuel. It was nice to see everyone one again (Aunt Carol, Ralph and Carrol).Here here we are with my mom and grandmother. Samuel wanted to PLAY, not take pictures.Here are just a few of my family. There are about 35 of us (or more) and it always makes for FUN reunions. Although this year is bittersweet without my grandfather who passed away in June. We all miss him!
Christmas morning - our little guy fresh from the crib checking out the goods.He loved his ball and kept pointing to it saying, "ball, ball ball"... He also loved the cool chair Mum mum and Pup pup gave him! Thank you guys.


Here he is testing out the chair. He loves climbing in and out of it and sitting in it when we are in the recliner.


Story time in his new chair...




Henry and Samuel enjoyed the great weather on Christmas day. They played with bubbles, balls and opened more gifts.


After a busy day and warm bath, Samuel took a load off...all he needs now is a remote:).



Friday we had my mom, step-dad, brother and his girlfriend over for dinner. We had a nice visit.

Samuel loved his new rocking horse from Mimi and Papa - as you can tell by his expression!


Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas Update

Wow, I think this has been the busiest December we've ever had! Christmas parties to attend and host, family functions, playgroup celebrations and so much food everywhere! This past weekend we had a great time joining all the other last minute people in the shopping frenzy. The mall was packed and the people were more like a colorful blur as they sped in every direction loaded up with bags.
On Sunday my dad and stepmom came over for lunch and we had a nice visit. Of course Samuel had lots of attention and loved doing his "tricks" for everyone and getting lots of claps and praise. It was too short, but we enjoyed the time we had.


On Sunday night we decide to bundle up and head to Meadows for the train/lights! It was about an hour drive, but well worth it. A lot of people had the same idea because we had to wait in traffic just to park for about 40 minutes. Then we had another line for the train, but it went fairly quick and in the meantime we sipped hot chocolate and looked at the amazing lights. It was SO FUN to watch Samuel take everything in on the train ride. He was truly in AWE as you can see in the pictures. It almost made me tear up just seeing the wonder and amazement on his little face. Although we didn't make it home until 10pm, it was a blast!
Here is a picture of some of the lights - I think this was a jack in the box.
Samuel's mouth is literally opened in awe as he is staring at the lights!!

He did not want to turn and look at the camera here - just let him see the lights people!
Papa and Mimi joined us in the fun since they live only 15 minutes from the show. They had as much fun as Samuel.
This is just a random picture of Samuel doing one of his new favorite things - scribbling! I am not the type of mom who wants her frig free of clutter and magnets - I already have his first "drawing" hung with pride.


Monday, December 15, 2008

More pics from Samuel's 1 year picture session

Here are a few more pics from Samuel's 1 year photo session. We picked out 25, but these were some of our favorites...




















Saturday, December 13, 2008

My Blogswap Gift!

My blogswap gift arrived late yesterday afternoon as Brian and I were about to head to a Christmas party. Although we were already a bit late, I HAD to rip open the box and see its contents. Mrs. Jan "Jenius" Reber had my name and did an incredible job picking out so many adorable, festive items to bring a little Christmas cheer. First, I opened the cute round box to find four winter Christmas mugs (and you know I love my hot drinks!). Next, I found a container of YUMMY looking hot chocolate which will be enjoyed in my Christmas mugs very soon. Mrs. Reber also added some tea and cute holly Christmas towels (I needed some of these). To top it all off, I received some of Mrs. Reber's delicious sugar nuts - they almost did not make it into the picture because Brian was devouring them. Oh, and one last surprise - the kid's Christmas video that none other than Mrs. Darla Reber Seckman stars as a little girl. Samuel is going to grow up thinking his "Auntie" Dolly is a star!

Thank you so much, Mrs. Reber, for the thoughtful, useful and fun gifts!! I love them all!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We drove up to PA last Wednesday to spend the holiday with Samuel's Mum mum and Pup pup. We had a wonderful time and Brian's parents were gracious hosts as always. They spoiled us with all sorts of yummy foods throughout our stay and we had fun playing Scrabble and Uno once Samuel went to bed. We actually celebrated Christmas during our time together so we fit a lot in. Samuel visited all the neighbors and even felt his first snowball. Thank you for a wonderful visit, Mum mum and Pup pup!!

Below are a few pictures of our time together:

Here are Mum mum and Samuel getting a little cuddle in before we headed out to dinner.
Samuel got into opening gifts. Mostly he enjoyed pulling off the bows and trying to put them on the tree (his own version of a Christmas ornament).
A very sneaky look here ... Notice Nittany in the background - they were fast friends.

Bonding with Pup pup - they had a great time together!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Puppy Party



Here is a slideshow that tells the story of Samuel's birthday party. The birthday boy started out overwhelmed, but warmed up in time. His favorite part was listening to everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to him. His grin was ear to ear. Today, we are exhausted, but it was well worth it!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Happy 1st Birthday, Samuel!!



Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy! One year ago today we held our little blond baby and heard that cute little cat cry that melted our hearts. The past 12 months our hearts and lives have never been so full. Samuel, we've loved watching you learn new things, say new words and grow into a toddler (although you'll always be my baby!). There is nothing more wonderful than walking into your room in the mornings to see you standing in your crib with a huge excited grin ready to conquer the day. You bring so much joy and we love you to death! Have a wonderful birthday sweet boy!! Love, Mom & Dad

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today Samuel and I made a special trip downtown to visit with the birthday girl. We had a yummy lunch at Seaboard 18. It was quite fancy for a one year old, but Samuel did great. Next we headed to Logan's to see all of the Christmas decorations. It was beautiful! I think Samuel would have jumped in the Christmas trees had we let him. His pointer finger was going nuts as he "talked" to all the cool ornaments. We tried to get pictures at Logan's, but it was seriously impossible to get Samuel to look at the camera long enough. Who could blame him with all the sights to see?! We ended the visit at my mom's office where she had a blast showing off her grandson. Everyone stole a squeeze or kiss from Samuel and he was happy to oblige. Happy Birthday, Mom! Thank you for for being a wonderful mother and grandmother. Samuel and I are blessed to have you in our lives!



Here he is definitely thinking, "What should I get into first?"...


He decided to make himself useful and type up a memo. Notice the gorgeous roses sent by my step-dad - nice touch!


Samuel was intrigued by this fake puppy my mom keeps out for young visitors.




Saturday, November 1, 2008

Friday, October 31, 2008

Fun Stuff

We really got some mileage out of the cow costume this week. Tuesday the kids dressed up for Kindermusic and it was a lot of fun. Samuel even had a surprise visit from Daddy which made his day! He could not stop saying "Daddy" and pointing to him.
I've been practicing the animal sounds with Samuel in hopes he'd have a "Moo" down by Halloween, but to no avail. However, he did get the chicken sound down. We'll ask him what the chicken says and he'll say, "bock, bock, bock" - too cute.

Here is Samuel with his rooster friend, Sawyer, at Kindermusic.

Avery and Samuel always have fun in class beating the drums, shaking the shakers and pulling up on everything in sight.
Miss Dree obviously has a captive audience. These boys stare at her like she's an angel. She is great with kids!



Samuel and his surprise visitor...

Samuel and Avery always take time out to explore the premises. Here's my little cow making sure we are all still watching him.


Here we are tonight before meeting up with our playgroup to circle the neighborhood. There were TONS of kids which made for a fun time.


Samuel quickly got the system down....look cute, get candy. We let him work his magic and later consumed the profits.




It was way too chaotic to get everyone together for a group photo. This was our best effort!


Sunday, October 26, 2008

Dad V's 70th celebration and a Fall Festival with friends

This was a fun weekend! Brian's family flew in for my father-in-law's 70th birthday and to celebrate Samuel's birthday 2 weeks early. Dad V's best friend, Bud, also spent the weekend with us. He drove down from MD and the old friends had a lot of fun catching up and sharing stories from their 54 years of friendship. Samuel hit the jackpot with lots of adorable outfits (even a Penn State outfit) and some cute toys. I hope the birthday boys felt very special and loved. It was a great weekend! I'll share the weekend through the following picture captions.

Here is Samuel before we went out to dinner Thursday night wearing the Boston Red Sox hat his Aunt Lynnie gave him. I love the baseball on top of the hat--too cute! Here we all are at the Angus Barn. This is one of our favorites, so we officially celebrated Dad V's big birthday here. We even went around sharing things we loved about the birthday boy--his affirmation love tank was overflowing.
That's some candle!!
Here are the birthday boys with their cake...Samuel is wearing his Penn State gear for the big game later that night (they won).
We loved having our good friends and neighbors over to celebrate with us. Henry and Samuel had a blast taking turns in the wagon. Henry loved pushing Samuel around as fast as he could. Here is Samuel with his first little cake...he was hesitant at first, but it didn't take too long...


I think someone warmed up! He had cake and frosting from head to toe, but it was well worth it!

Once we said goodbye to the V's, we got ready for an outing with our good friends, Tom, Merritt and Winnie. We dressed the kids up and headed to our church Fall Festival. Below is my cute little chocolate milk cow before we headed out. Be on the lookout for many more cow pics as we are dressing up for Kindermusic on Tuesday and Halloween on Friday.

Winnie is the precious little bumble bee. These buddies were true sports with the costumes...no complaining!The pony rides were a hit! The kids loved them...look at that little happy face. He cried to get back on the ponies once his ride was over.

I had to laugh at this picture. It looks like Winnie's saying, "Come on, Samuel, look at the camera!" and Samuel is looking at her hand on his arm like, "Watch it, sister."