Our little ham!

Visit w/ the PA V's!

We had a wonderful visit with Brian's parents over the last week. Samuel loved spending quality time with his Mum Mum, Pup Pup and Nittany. We spent a lot of time playing, eating and laughing. We also frequented the neighborhood pool which Samuel loved. Thanks for the great visit guys!! We had a lot of fun!! Here are some pictures to highlight the past week (and two videos):


Samuel LOVES cars, trucks, buses, lawn mowers and anything that MOVES. Below Samuel and Pups play cars on the porch. He loved playing with everyone. Samuel and Nittany were fast friends. Here Samuel takes a play break for a quick snuggle.

Etch a Sketch fun! Samuel loved drawing on his toy and the rest of us had fun playing hangman on it.

This was taken on the way to church Sunday. Samuel loved having his playmates in the backseat with him.

Below is a short video of Nittany and Samuel...



Below is a short clip from this morning...

Good Times!

We've had a busy, fun week/weekend! We were fortunate enough to have Mary, Dolly, Annabelle, Adeline and Baby Michael stay with us for the week. It was fun to watch the kiddos play. The time flew by and was filled with lots of action from Kindermusic class and lots of pool time to living room dance parties and sidewalk chalk fun. We ended our time together with a yummy Melting Pot dessert celebration for Mary's birthday - thanks so much for coming guys! On Saturday, we attended our good friend Henry's birthday party. Henry and Samuel hang out almost everyday and are adorable buddies. We were at the hospital the day Henry was born and vice versa, so it's sentimental to see these two grow up together. Jessica out did herself with a safari themed party that blew everyone away. There were awesome decorations and food, but she also organized a complete safari for the kids plus coconut water balloon races. Creative! Here are a few pics from our week...

After dinner, we turned on the music on and the dance party began! Annabelle and Dolly did a wonderful dance show for us then everyone joined in. Ring around the Roses was a hit with Samuel & Adeline... These two friends were really funny to watch....

Could Michael be any cuter?!?! He is such a darling little boy - I could eat him up!

Here are the kiddos about the hop in the pool! We had about 4 - 5 trips to the pool and everyone had a great time.

Water babies!

A shivering little Samuel nice and snug in a beach towel...

Our final night with a bang - Melting Pot dessert! Happy Early Birthday, Mary!!

Samuel's face says it all - best friends in the making! Happy Birthday Henry!

The safari was just about to begin, but first the kids were given hats, fans and backpacks containing a flashlight, sunglasses and a safari map (among other things)!

The birthday boy wasted no time looking for his safari animals....

Here Samuel is checking out the picture containing his animals to search for - we found them!

Fun Video

Boston

Brian and I were able to get away for a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We had a lot of fun touring Boston and going to a Red Sox game. We definitely missed our little guy, but it was nice to have some time to focus on each other too. Plus, he was in wonderful hands with Mimi & Papa! We walked all around the city and loved seeing all the cool sights. We took a "Duck Tour" that lasted 1 1/2 hours and showed us all the history of Boston. The food in Boston was incredible and we definitely indulged:). It was fun to have no agenda and just do whatever we felt like doing. The game was a huge highlight and not just because of the food (I love ballpark food). It was a neat experience to be in Fenway Park even if they did lose that night. The last night we were there, we went to dinner with Brian's sister, Lynnette. She took us to an awesome Italian restaurant that we thoroughly enjoyed. We were able to spend a few hours catching up with her which was nice. Brian made sure we hit the yummy pastry shops for some of the famous cookies he loves so much.
Here are some pictures of our trip.
We walked all around the city and ended up by Fenway Park on game day. There was a fun buzz in the air and Brian was in heaven.
This was on the Duck Tour. I had very few pics from this because a downpour.

The Duck took us for a jaunt in the water which was fun....

Here we are on the Duck (our reflection at least)....

Game night!! We were excited as you can see...

Fenway Park...

Tradition calls for the song, Sweet Caroline, to be sung every game. It was cool to hear thousands of fans getting into it.

We had a great time with Lynnette on Sunday. She is a lot of fun. Here she is singing with the local musicians....they loved her!

Fun with Friends

The last 3 days Samuel and I were blessed enough to spend with two of my best friends (Mary & Dolly) and their families. We arrived on Monday and Dolly's sister Dawn was kind enough to let all of us stay at her beautiful home - she's a great hostess! We could not wait to let all of our kids play with each other! It's very surreal to watch the next generation in action and think back to when we were just "kids" in college. Wow - time flies. We definitely soaked in our time together. On Monday we had dinner out and met up with our friend, Angela, for Mexican. Afterwards we spent some time with members of Roscoe & Mary's church (NorthStar) and then stayed up until 2a.m. catching up. Tuesday we had a great time getting out for lunch and a little pampering thanks to Mary's mom who stayed home with the kiddos and let us get mani/pedi's together. It's such a gift to have lifelong friends who you can walk away from feeling refreshed and encouraged. Even more important, the influence these Godly women have on Samuel's life - priceless. I'm one thankful girl!
This picture (below) was taken within the first 5 minutes Mary arrived with the girls. Looks like someone is really interested in the cute blond...I'll let you know how these two "made out" in another picture. Beautiful Dolly with Annabelle and Michael. This little boy is adorable and SO SWEET I could eat him. Annabelle was such a good example to the younger kids - someone raised her right (and could she be more gorgeous?)!

This was taken on Tuesday night (Dawn, Kim, Dolly, Me, Angela (taking the pic) and Mary). We had to catch the Bachelorette Premiere!

So, these two continued to play together so well - they were adorable.

Time to go in for the kiss!!

These two are going to best buddies....

Our pampered feet....

Our pampered nails....

What a great trip!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there who I love and admire! I feel blessed to have so many amazing women in my life who have influenced me as a wife and mom for the better. I have watched you through the years as you cared for your own children and weathered the storms with grace and patience. How true it is that it takes a village to raise a child and I'm thankful Samuel is surrounded by Godly women who love him almost as much as his mama:).

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! It started out with a day with MY mom. We grilled out, played on the Wii and enjoyed each other's company. Thank you, Mom, for being such a caring, precious mom & Mimi - I love you!! Happy Mother's Day to my sweet mother-in-law too - we love you a lot and look forward to lots of great quality time in June!

Today was a lot of fun - I woke up to my hubby sneaking out to get me my favorite coffee at Dunkin Donuts. He definitely spoiled me in many ways on this special day and I felt very loved.

When Samuel woke up, I told him how much I loved being his mommy - one day he'll comprehend that more, but I definitely always want him to know that. I want him to know I love all the things that make up who he is from his big, fun personality to his sweet little heart and his fiesty, all-boy nature.

Here are some pictures (out of order) from this weekend. Again, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all those amazing moms out there!

This picture was taken before church with the flowers from Brian and Samuel....

After church the boys treated me to a yummy brunch (since it was around 11am). Samuel loves using his own spoon and does it well, but we forgot to pack one so he used a big spoon. Obviously, it is a lot more to handle:)...

On Saturday, I told Samuel on the drive over that he could give Mimi her flower when we got to her house. He was so proud to hand his little flower over!

Mimi & Papa bought a kitchen set for Samuel to use while at her house. He had a blast!

Hershey and Tiggy decided to take a wagon ride with Samuel. I think he liked the furry company!