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!

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!

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

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.

What does the chicken say?

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!

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."