Baby Shower, Reunion and lots of fun!

What an incredible couple of days! On Friday, Samuel and I arrived in Lynchburg, VA for 5 days with my best friends and their kids for our annual reunion and a shower for our dear Dolly. It was SO FUN to watch our kids play together while we played together!:) The first night we had a pizza party at the Reber's and then prepped for Dolly's big day. The shower was so much fun and we really enjoyed spoiling Dolly. Saturday night we went to a local favorite--Osaka's for dinner and met up with some more of our old college friends--Joel, Joy and their new baby, Jett. Sunday night Dolly and Leland hosted a fun cookout with family and friends. It was fun to have the babies together and just catch up for a few hours. We had another dinner party on Monday night at the lovely Johnson home. It was a great few days. Thanks to everyone who made our time in VA so nice. A special thank you to Dawn, Dolly and the Reber family for hosting us all!




Below are tons of pictures, starting with Dolly's shower. Here are Mary and Teecy about to hang the balloons--sorry, Teec, I didn't notice your eye were shut until I downloaded the picture.
We served a plated lunch of chicken, tuna and egg salad with cheese, fruit and bread. Dawn ordered the chocolate on chocolate cake which was also a hit.
Here is Dolly with Caroline, Annabelle and Lola-Reese. They loved watching her open gifts.
Dolly received so many nice things! Little Michael is set!
Could she be ANY CUTER? Talk about a HOT MAMA!

15 years of friendship....What can I say? I love knowing no matter how far apart our lives geographically take us, we can aways count of one another for anything.
I look forward to a lifetime of friendship with you girls! Samuel and Roy Austin had a little time to play together.

Mary and I took the kiddos to Liberty for a little tour of our old stomping grounds. What numerous memories we've made on that campus! It was surreal thinking back to when we were college kids as we strolled our own kids through the buildings.

Future LU students.... If they attend Liberty, Samuel and Dolly-Jane will start the same year! Is there are future for these two? Time will tell:).
More bonding....
After a crazy, fun-filled, active five days, this boy was T-I-R-E-D! He was such a good boy during our trip. I admit I was a little nervous going without Brian for so long, but it was actually uneventful--thank goodness!


The following videos were taken during the trip and we figured family would especially enjoy seeing them. The first two feature Samuel babbling. He can say babababa, mamamama, and dadadada, but his obvious word of choice is captured in the videos.

This last video features my friend, Kim Handy, making Samuel giggle--he loved her!

Happy Birthday Brian and more updates...

Happy Birthday, Brian!! Well today my sweet husband celebrated another year of life. He is a wonderful husband and father and we love him dearly. I appreciate how hard Brian works at every thing he does. This guy does not have a half-hearted bone in his body. We love you, Brian!
To remind him of his big day, I sang "Happy Birthday" (Marilyn Monroe breathy version) each time we spoke on the phone. That gave him a good laugh during a busy work day! We had a nice dinner tonight at one of our fav's--Bonefish Grill. After that we came home and I gave Brian his gifts and birthday cake. We are about to devour it.:) Yep, that's right, we have double the dessert! Our dear friend and neighbor, Jessica, made Brian a homemade cheesecake for his birthday. She is a GEM! Two weeks ago she brought over homemade apple crisp. She is an OUTSTANDING cook and we reap the benefits. We love you, Jessica!
Below is a picture of my sweet Samuel on his 8 month birthday taken yesterday--where has the time gone? When I rock him at night and he cuddles up to me I just close my eyes and try to freeze the moment....I know he is growing up so fast.
This picture was taken tonight as we played. He gets tickled at the funniest things, like a strange sound we make or when we play peek-a-boo. It's so fun to hear him laugh!
"Don't worry, Dad, I have these nifty handles to hang on too."
Today Samuel had an allergic reaction to something (not sure exactly what). I snapped this pic for the doctor even though it's hard to really see the severity of it. He's had these reactions a handful of times and they are so random. We did find out he is allergic to milk.

Below are some pictures from a play date with Jessica and Henry. When I first brought Samuel home, Henry wasn't so sure of him because Henry had always been my buddy and here I have this new little guy in my life. However, we've pushed through the growing pains and there is enough love for all! Henry is still my buddy!

Here are the two buddies posing nicely.... (check out Samuel's bottom teeth!)

Samuel: You sure are big and cool!

Henry: I like you, little dude, but you're embarrassing me!
Samuel: Seriously, I can't believe I'll be as big as you one day!

Henry: Don't worry, I'll show you the ropes.

Samuel: I like your nose (he LOVES noses).
Henry: Let's PLAY!

Friends forever....

God Bless America!!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous 4th of July weekend! We spent the day at my mom's house and had a good ole fashion BBQ with all the fixin's:). We are going to relax today and tomorrow and have friends over for another cookout. It's so nice to have a long weekend with the family. Here are some snapshots from yesterday:


Here we are on the porch before leaving for my mom's. Samuel was all smiles.


Yes, I did coordinate our outfits the night before to show off some red, white and blue for America's big day! Notice my mom in the door reflection trying to get Samuel to look at the camera--hilarious!
Here is Samuel practicing his steps. He LOVES to stand. When we try to put him down in a sitting position he stretches his legs out to stand--so funny.
This below picture is classic! I had just put Samuel down for a nap and came down to see my step-dad and Brian snoozing away. Notice their neck pillows and how their ankles are crossed the same way. I had to laugh! With all three boys in peaceful slumber, my mom and I snuck out for some 4th of July shopping! Of course we found lots of goodies for Samuel.
Samuel loves Mimi's dogs. He squeals at them and tries to grab them (poor dogs!). Here he is mid-grab.

Again, Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!!

Swingtown--Let's get it off the air!

A pastor friend of mine brought this to my attention and I was appalled! He copied an excerpt that is on the bottom of this post of a new show entitled, Swingtown. You may be like me and haven’t heard of it.

This show glamorizes open sex, porn, drug use and rips at the core of the institution of marriage. As a new mom it upsets me even more to see what is bombarding our children today.

Please contact your local station manager and let him know how you feel!

From Swingtown 1st show….
“Last Thursday CBS premiered a new summer program, “Swingtown” which is being touted by the network as “intriguing, summer fun”.
“There is nothing “fun” about the show - rather it is repugnant and destructive and one of the worst, if not the worst, show we’ve seen on network television. “Swingtown”, set in 1976, portrays “open marriage” and group sex as not only commonplace, but also as a boost for marital intimacy. And it ignores the facts regarding the addictive, damaging impact of pornography and gives the message that porn use, even by young boys, is no big deal.
The show opens with Tom, a married commercial pilot, bringing home a young stewardess to engage in group sex with his wife, Trina. The three are shown in bed together, as he has sex with the stewardess.
Another scene is of two boys approximately 13 years old. One of the boys finds a large box of his father’s porn magazines in the basement and they are shown ogling copies of Penthouse. When the father catches them with a magazine, he simply tells his son and the son’s friend,”Don’t let your mother catch you with this. She’ll have a coronary on the spot.” He then proceeds to hand the magazine back to his young son with a pat on the head.”

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of the daddy's out there! We had a nice weekend and made sure the dad in our house felt loved. We spent some time at the pool, ate some yummy food and gave Brian some gifts. Samuel definitely loves his Papa and I'm thankful to have such a great partner to raise our little fellow. Below is a recap of our day!

We took Samuel to the pool for the first time this week and he loved it! However, he did NOT love the sunglasses we got him (except to chew on)!
Here our the boys in the pool today. It was so bright that I took tons of pictures in hopes we'd get a good one since I had no idea what I was snapping.
I finally got him to put the glasses on (crooked, but oh well) long enough for a quick snapshot. They were off as soon as he could get to them.
For Father's Day and other special occasions I like to make Brian's favorite dish. This cannelloni recipe was passed down from his Italian grandmother. As soon as we were married I got a copy! It's very time consuming, but well worth it. For dessert we had Brian's fav, Cherry cream cheese pie. I think the V's need a few extra trips to the pool to work all this off!!
Samuel loves to stand and although he gets wobbly after a short time, he is starting to hold himself up for short periods. I was excited he balanced long enough for me to get this picture.

A special Happy Father's Day to our dad's as well. We love you and are so grateful for all the years you invested in our lives (and continue too).

Update and a Fun Family Visit

First of all I wanted to thank all of you who prayed for and inquired about my grandfather. He passed away Sunday a week ago in Hospice surrounded by family. It's been a rough week and we'll miss him dearly. We are so thankful he is with the Lord and we are holding on to that!

Brian's parents and sister came for a visit last Thursday/Friday and we have had a blast with them! Of course Samuel was the focal point and everyone enjoyed playing with him. We grilled out, shopped and attended Henry's 2nd birthday party (Samuel's buddy). The V's little dog, Nittany, was a hit with Samuel. He giggled every time Nittany came near him. Poor dog though--Samuel's "playing" included ear pulling and his version of a hug which is trying to grab Nittany with both hands. I captured some of Samuel's moments with Nittany below. The V's leave tomorrow and we'll miss them. We've had a lot of fun together and they've been a big help!

Below is a family shot. Notice Samuel checking out Nittany and Nittany nervously looking behind to make sure his hair does not get pulled again.
Here is Samuel just up from a nap, still in his sleep sack having a ball petting Nittany.
Below is Samuel's new face--he gets so excited his whole face smiles and he wrinkles up his little nose and squeals.
Here is Auntie Lynnie with a very sleepy boy--he loves that thumb!
Samuel loves to be toted on daddy's shoulders, tossed in the air, tickled or just anything that involves a thrill and movement. He is constant motion and there is never a dull moment. He is doing new things practically everyday and I can't get enough of this little guy!

5 year anniversary, 2 teeth and 1 trip to the beach!

As you can see from the title, we had a lot going on this weekend! Brian and I decided to celebrate our 5 year anniversary at Carolina beach. We arrived around 1pm on Friday and Samuel was not a happy boy! His nose was running like crazy, he was sneezing and just feeling lousy. He was very tired, but was not able to sleep for being uncomfortable. We were sure the weekend was going to be a rough one. In the afternoon, he perked up a little so we took him to the beach. He was very inquisitive as he is about everything. He could not understand what all this new stuff was, but he was going to try to find out! He liked having his toes in the water and just stared at the ocean and sand for a long time. I can't imagine seeing this grand sight for the first time! We took a long walk on the beach and then came in for some playtime. As Samuel and Brian were playing, Samuel gnawed on Brian's nose and I heard a yelp. This is how we discovered why our boy was feeling icky--his two bottom teeth came in!! We could see the white tops and feel the rough edges. We couldn't believe our baby was cutting teeth! Later that evening we ordered dinner in and sat on the deck with the ocean as our backdrop--it was very relaxing. Saturday we went to the park and had a nice day before heading to downtown Wilmington for dinner. We walked along the riverfront and Samuel soaked in all the new sights and sounds. Oh, and over the course of the weekend we played 28 games of backgammon (20 of which I won--sorry BJV!) It was a great weekend!!


Samuel taking in the ocean--not sure what to think at this point so he sucks his fingers as he ponders it all.
He liked getting his toes wet....
This is when we discovered he got his first 2 teeth in!!
Here we are on the front porch of the Pilot House after dinner--it was yummy! Here is a picture from our wedding day. I can't believe how quickly the last five years have gone by. I remember our wedding day like yesterday! The best memory was walking down the aisle to Brian knowing we were going to be lifelong partners. I remember butterflies in my stomach thinking about where life would take us and knowing there was no one else I'd want to have by my side. Five years later, I feel the same way--Happy Anniversary, Brian!!