The joys of cardboard

We seriously should have just bought Samuel a box for Christmas...

My Manly Man

Since Samuel was enjoying playing with mama's make up bursh, lipstick and head band so much...

We decided to teach him a little more manly way to primp...

Nashville

Also, during the holiday season, we spent a week in Nashville with my parents (minus an overnight in Birmingham for New Years). Sam and I drove back with them after Christmas and Bud met us there later in the week. We had a blast going out to eat (my favorite way to eat!), shopping, meeting up with Great Grandma P, going swimming in the hot tub, and just hanging out. It was great to hang out and (as mom says) "just do life together." :)

Here are a few highlights from the trip and a few additional pictures from Christmas in B'ville... stomping on the ottoman with G'daddy, modeling his new boots while petting "gaga" (Holly) whom I think he loves even more than Clara (if that's possible), riding Wowo's shoulders, at Pancake Pantry (!!!) making a mess of his "Bears in the snow" (pancakes, cut out like bears, with chocolate and powdered sugar... a big mess), blowing bubbles, cuddling with Gigi after being out in the snow.

New Years 2010

Samuel welcoming the new year last year...
And this year...

Not much difference except for his size :)

We met up with several friends from college in Birmingham for our new years celebration (Christmans, Rippetoes, and McDowells for those of you who know us from Covenant). Bud and these guys have gotten together for New Years every year since college, but this was the first year in a while that the wives could make it too! We were missing several of the west coast guys, which meant less video games :), but will hopefully get to see them in June for a wedding. And, as you can see from the pictures, life has changed a little since this tradition began. Sam had a blast tying to keep up with the big kids! Pictured above... twins Maggie and Eva (2.5), Ian (also 2.5, but a few months younger than the girls), and Ellie (4).

It was great to catch up with you all! Look forward to seeing everyone again soon!

Snow Days

Here are some pics of Sam in the snow over the past few weeks... For those of you not around here, we've had a lot of it already this winter (Global warming?!?). Kids have been off school all week this week and there is still a significant amount of snow on the ground (not by Spencer Iowa standards, but by Arkansas standards). As much as I like the snow, I'm ready for the kids to get back to school... they crowd our indoor play places (McDonalds, Barnes and Noble, Jump Zone, and the Library) and I hate that my teacher friends have to go into June now! But, Sam is enjoying kicking the snow, trying to shake it off his mittens, and watching Clara run in circles through it. We attempted sledding, but our sled popped and a snow angel, but he hates to lie on his back :). So, for now, I bundle him up, send him out to kick it around with Clara for a minute or so while watching through the window in the warmth of my home (except for today because it's way too cold!)... then spend another little while unbundling him and trying to steal some cuddles while he warms up (usually unsuccessfully).

Christmas

Christmas eve... baking cookies for Santa (I went the easy route and bought the ready to bake kind... they are so easy and so good!), reading his Christmas book (Twas the night before Christmas pop up book), posing in his PJs with daddy, setting up the nativity as papa read Luke 2, and opening his christmas pjs. Some Christmas eve activities not pictured... church (he sat through the whole service!), a nice ham dinner with family (my parents and sister were here for the whole weekend!), mama, Aunt wowowo (Lauren), and Gigi opening their Christmas pjs, and watching a movie.

Christmas day... Checking out the SNOW on our white Christmas, running to see his presents, playing with some presents, trying on his backpack, opening a gift one piece at a time and saying "ooo" each time he ripped off a piece of wrapping paper, Wowowo helping with his stocking, cheesing it up for the camera, and playing with more Christmas presents! He made out REALLY well :) Some activities not pictured... the rest of us opening gifts (there were people here besides Sam if you can believe it... I just didn't take any pictures of the rest of us), Sausage souffle (A Christmas tradition), serving lunch at the Salvation Army (while Sam napped and Gigi babysat... next year hopefully he can join us), playing in the snow (Or taking 30 mintues to get dressed, running out in the snow for 2 minutes while mama took pictures, and then running back in to warm up by the fire), and another movie (although the tradition is to go to a movie, we stayed in this year).

It was a fun Christmas! Sam was a blast opening his presents and even got into giving gifts to others a little bit. I look forward to many more years of carrying on these great traditions!

17 Months Old

First, the out takes...
Then, the real pic...

I'm so far behind on blogging... sorry my faithful readers!

Samuel turned 17 months when we were out of town last week. Thus being behind on my posts. He is at such a fun age right now. He continues to change so much each month. I wasn't sure if I would continue to make his monthly update posts after a year, but there's so many new things each month still. I write these more so I can look back than anything, but a few of you might care :) They have come in handy when trying to remember certain things! So, here's how Samuel grew in his 17th month of life...

- He said "gigi" and "g'dada" (my parents) a couple of times. He's quite stuborn and most of the time just keeps his mouth closed and says "Mm-mm" when asked to say anyones name. But, a couple of times he said "tje-tje" (Gigi) and "tje-da-da" (G'dada). He also said "wo-wo-wo-wo" for Lauren (as in Aunt L0Lo). Anyone whose name starts with "k" is "k-k-k" right now too. And, he once said "ga-pa" when asked to say grandpa. We're still working on grandma, "Aunt Alyssa in Africa," Gretchen, Tim and other friends and family's names. I love hearing him try new words... he has the cutest voice.

- He also says his name... or some version of it. When asked, "what's your name?" He says "buel" as in saMUEL, but with a B :). It's so cute!

- He continues to enjoy looking through pictures and books and pointing to everything having us label whatever or whoever he sees. He points to something, says "mm-mm" until we tell him what it is. It's fun to have him figure out that everything has a name.

- He loves to play "ah-ah" (outside), although with the massive amounts of snow (by Arkansas standards) we've had here lately that hasn't happened much. But, when I do bundle him up and let him go out (while I watch through the window), he likes to kick the snow with his boots and watch Clara go CRAZY running around in it.

- His love of Baby Einstein has hit a new level. He asks for it constantly, whenever he's awake and even attempts to put it on himself if I won't do it for him. I found 3 cd's in the DVD player yesterday that he had put there... one on top of the other. He's a pretty smart little boy!! I'm finding it difficult to not let him watch it all day long... especially if I have stuff to do. But, for now, we limit it to once or twice a day. I've tried other videos from the library, but nothing is nearly as facinating to him as the Baby Einstein collection. Which is fine with me because they are a lot less annoying for me than many of the other options out there!

- He's figured out praying before meals. He used to just put his hands together when we said "amen," but now does so for the whole prayer.

- His new favorite game is to ride on Papa's foot around the house. I let him walk in walmart today and he went straight to my foot and sat down on it. I'm not nearly as good at it as papa, so he fell off after a couple of steps. It's quite a good workout though!

- He loves to "sing" (do the motions to nursery rhymes and dance while we sing)... "itsy bitsy spider," "patty cake" (Grandpa's version), "open shut them," are a few of his favorites. He'll even do "patty cake" by himself. We'll hear him from the back seat of the car saying "boom boom boom" (part of patty cake according to Grandpa Lutz's version :)) and then throw his head back giggling. He tried to do "itsy bitsy spider" motions by himself today at the lunch table and ended up with cranberry sauce in his hair when he got to "out came the sun" :). We sang our way through Walmart today. I often wonder what people think of me when I pass by them singing "twinkle twinkle little star"... Oh well, I don't care :)

That's all I can think of for this month. Stay tuned for Christmas and New Years posts!!