A Crabby Party!

On Saturday we celebrated Sam's first birthday with a crab themed party!

Tierney of Tints and Prints by Tierney created this invitation (obviously the information has been changed), which I just loved.  I randomly took that photo of Sam one afternoon while he was sitting in his wagon, and thought it would look perfect on a birthday invite.

We had about 30 friends and family members join us for the celebration.  Seven of the guests were kids (Sam's friends and cousins) and the rest were adults.  Kurt grilled burgers, hot dogs, and brats and my mom and I made a bunch of different salads and sides.  We had cupcakes and cookies for dessert.  Here are a few pictures from the day!

Sam helped my cousin Kourtney frost the cupcakes!

Birthday banner made by yours truly

 Close up of the banner

 Found this on Pinterest and loved it!

 Having some lunch

 I got this cute shirt made for Sam from someone on Etsy.

 Sam and his god-mother

 Getting ready for the big birthday song!

 Diving right in!

 It's all fun until someone gets frosting in the eye!

 Our fam

 Cran pinata

 Sam and his cousins waiting for the goodies from the pinata

 Choosing some treats

 This pinata was made for little kids, so you pull strings and one string opens it up.  My dear husband thought that was totally lame.

 So, our nephews did some hitting after the fact

 Sam and his buddy Grayson

 Sam with friends Grayson and Brennan

Ending the night with some water!

Even though it was a hot, hot day (in the low 90s), everyone had a great time!  We borrowed a canopy from some friends and I had a bunch of pools filled for the kids.  Inside, I set the AC to 60!  

I still can't believe my little guy is already 1!  New mommmas, cherish every day...it goes so quickly!

My One Year Old!

Happy Birthday to Sam!!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Sam's first birthday, along with Mother's Day, with both sides of our immediate families.  The birthday boy was in such great spirits all day!  He loved all the attention and just being around so many people who love him dearly.

We went to brunch at a restaurant on the water and couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day- sunny and the low 80s...perfection!  After brunch, we headed outside to take some pictures.  

 The birthday boy and his daddy!  Don't you love his "Birthday Boy" pin?

 Full of smiles on his special day!

  

Our happy family!

He looks like such a toddler!  On a side note, Sam has started to try to sit "Magic 5" or "Criss-Cross-Applesauce!"  I sit like that all the time and apparently his babysitter does too!

 Family pic on the dock.  I was super nervous about taking this photo...the dock was moving like crazy!

We then went back to my parents' house to continue the celebration.  After a little nap, it was time for cake, ice cream, and presents!

 Sam was a little unsure about the candle!  

 But he dug right into the cupcake!  He literally picked it up like it was a ball and shoved the icing part into his mouth.  Love my little sweet tooth boy!

 Giving mommy a taste!

 He's in Cupcake Heaven!

Checking out some of his birthday presents.  He got a Scout!  Can I just tell you how precious that thing is?!  I highly recommend a Scout or Violet.

What a fabulous day for celebrating Sam's first birthday and my first Mother's Day!  I couldn't have asked for anything more.  We can't wait to continue the celebration in two weeks with more family and friends.  

Sneak Peek!

Last Sunday we had Sam's one year pictures taken!  A friend of a friend had an opening for a mini-session at a local park.  This park was a former amusement park, so it has so many fun possibilities for photographs. My in-laws actually have many fond memories of visiting there as kids, which made this location even more special for us.  I checked my e-mail a few minutes after we got home from the shoot and we already had a sneak peek!  

Here's our birthday boy during the "cake smash" portion of the session!

Thanks so much to Dottie Millwater Photography!  I can't wait to see the rest!

What a difference a year makes!

One year ago today, at exactly this time, we were headed to the hospital getting ready to meet our baby boy!  Little did I know he wouldn't make his appearance until nearly 40 hours later!  

What a difference a year makes!  I cannot believe my little boy will be one on Sunday!  

Step by Step!

Yeah, those are lyrics of one of my favorite New Kids on the Block songs from back in the day, but it's also what's going on over at our house recently.  Last night, Sam took six (!!) steps in a row all by himself!  Well, mommy and daddy cheering him on and coercing him with a sock that he really, really wanted helped too!  It was awesome!  He's been so close to walking for like a month or more, and last night was really the first time that he walked more than one step without the help of one of us, his dinosaur walker, or some other push toy.

There is video of this momentous occasion, but I'll spare you of my screaming and fanfare!  I'll try to get it on video again and attempt to restrain myself from freaking out this time!  :)

For now, here's a cute pic of my boy and his pup doing their neighborhood watch!

Spring Break!

via

We're on Spring Break this week!  We aren't traveling, but it will be great to just be home getting caught up and spending time with my little love bug.  
On deck for this week:

- Lunch with a friend

- Dinner with some friends

- Playdate

- Trip to "Bunnyland" at a local orchard

- Possibly some outlet shopping one day

- Celebrating Easter with both families

Have a wonderful week!

Mini Egg FAIL!

These little eggs of joy are one of my favorite Easter candies.  I love the crisp of the outer shell and the smooth chocolate inside.  They are my guilty pleasure of this season.

Imagine my heartbreak when I recently had a terrible Mini Egg experience.  I bought a bag (my second third...who are we kidding!...of the season) at Target the other day.  When I got home, I opened them bag up to have a couple for a treat.  The shell was soft and almost mushy.  The inside chocolate tasted like chalk.  Bleh!!  They were terrible.  It was almost like they had melted and rehardened.

I went on the Hershey's website (can we also talk about how I had no idea Cadbury was a Hershey company?!) and filed a complaint.  Who does that for a $2.00 bag of candy?!  I was really disappointed though!  Yesterday, I got this back from a customer service rep:

Thank you for contacting us about CADBURY MINI EGGS Candy. I am sorry you were disappointed and appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

Chocolate contains cocoa butter which makes the product sensitive to heat, humidity, and changes in temperature. Exposure to these conditions may cause a harmless discoloration on the surface of the bar known as cocoa butter bloom. At excessive temperatures chocolate can melt, causing the bar to look misshapen and tan in color with a loss of flavor. To help our products reach you in good condition, we have printed instructions on our shipping cases to inform all distributors of the proper handling and storage of our products.We apologize for the problem you experienced with our product. You will receive reimbursement by postal mail in two weeks. We appreciate your loyalty as a consumer.

So, it looks like a couple dollars are headed my way from Hershey.  Good thing I already went back to Target and got another bag!  One bad experience won't keep me away!

Green with Envy!

We hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Our day was very low-key, but that's exactly what we needed.  Kurt's been in Vegas all weekend, so it was just Sam and I at home.  We started out with swim lessons in the morning.  Since Kurt's away, I had to get in the pool with Sam.  This was my first time and WOW!  He's a mover in the water!  There were several times that I thought for sure that I was going to drop him because he's so wiggly.

After swimming, we came home, had lunch, and then Sam took a three-hour nap.  I admit that I actually took a nap, too.  Apparently I needed it because I was out!  

After naptime, we went to a really nice playground nearby.  It was packed, so we only stayed for about 20 minutes.  Sam got some swinging and rides down the slide in.  

Then, we went to the mall for a while.  Gymboree is having a good sale now, plus I had an additional 20% off coupon, so I stocked up on some summer clothes for Sam.  I don't know if you can see on his shirt in the pictures above, but it has Kermit the frog on it and says, "It's Easy being Green!"  We walked through Build-A-Bear and saw they had an adorable Kermit puppet.  I decided Sam needed it as a St. Patrick's Day present and he loves! He loves puppets!  After some Chick-fil-a for dinner, we headed home for a bath.

Gone are the days of all-day drinking and partying (who am I kidding...those were gone a long time ago!) on St. Patrick's Day!  Oh well, we had fun anyways!

Double digits

 Ten months ago today, this little guy entered our lives!  Part of me can't believe he's ten months old already and another part feels like he's always been part of our lives.  He such a joy!  Happy, active, smiley, funny...just a few words to describe our Sammy Doodles.  

 Sam has loved this nice weather!  He's such an outdoors boy!  The other day, we spent probably two ours outside and he was as content as could be.  He loves going for walks in the stroller or in his wagon, watching the neighbor kids play in their yards, and looking for birds and planes in the sky.  

 We're headed back to the pediatrician on Thursday for a quick check to make sure his ear infections are all cleaned up.  I have a feeling he weighs right around 20 lbs.  He's still in size 3 diapers, but wears size 4 at night.  Sam's wearing 9 month clothes.  He's eating pretty much everything we eat.  It's getting to the point where he has no interest in being fed by spoon.  I just hope he's getting enough food, since he still drops a lot on the floor.  

 Sam is sleeping about 11 hours straight through at night and takes two two-hour naps each day.  He's halfway finished with his second session of Waterbabies and still loves the pool!

 Little Mister is getting very close to walking.  He's cruising all over the place and walking with assistance from his "dinosaur walker" or mom or dad.   This week, he's started standing by himself for a few seconds at a time. 

Sam loves musical instruments (especially the marakas) and when we sing songs.  He's still not too interested in books, but we still read a few each day.  His giggles are absolutely contagious!

Happy 10-month birthday, Sam boy!!  We love you!!!

Cousins

I recently saw someone post something on Facebook about cousins being your first friends.  I truly believe that!  My cousin Kourtney, who is about 17 months older than me, was my first friend.  There are pictures from nearly thirty-two years ago of her holding me when I was just a few weeks old, and most recently, there are pictures of the two of us on her wedding day in November.  

I'm so glad that Sam has cousins whom he can grow up with.  His cousins, Jack and Will, are almost five and three, so that makes all three boys two years apart. Last night, we went over to Kurt's parents' house to celebrate Jack's early birthday (he's a St. Patty's Day baby!).  Now that Sam is active and mobile, it's neat to see them interact.  The older boys love "Baby Sam" and I can tell Sam already admires his cousins.  He loves to sit and watch them.  They live about 3 hours from us, so we don't see them as often as we'd like, but I've learned from my relationships with my cousins that distance doesn't matter.

Here are some pictures of the cousins from our impromptu get-together last night.  

 The three boys: Will, Sam, and Jack (Will was sad that the presents were for his brother and not him!)

Sam wanted to help his cousin open his birthday presents!

 Having a cupcake...and making a mess!

Rub-a-dub-dub, Three boys in a tub!

These are the days to remember!