Harmonica Skills

Here is a video of some clips of Sam's harmonica lessons from Caroline on his birthday. He now loves playing her harmonica! Just click on the "Harmonica Video" link below to see it on YouTube.

Harmonica Video

Happy Birthday Sam!

I can't believe that he is already TWO! We had an adventure filled birthday that included two birthday parties, lots of cake, attention, gifts, and only a little bit of sleep. Great Grandma, Great Grandpa, Aunt Bev, and Aunt Judy came to visit all the way from Wisconsin to celebrate with us. Mom's cousins Rachel and Fran even came to visit this week from Florida. They are all staying at the lake while they are here visiting so we spent much of the day at the lake with them.

Yesterday morning we woke up and headed to the lake. Although Sam was a little disappointed that we didn't take any of the boats out, he had a fun time playing with his great grandparents and aunts and just getting to know them better.

After having lunch with them, I took Sam to school so he could enjoy a little birthday party with his friends and teachers. Sam was so proud to introduce me to many of his playmates at school. I didn't realize that he knew everyone's names--but as soon as we all sat on the class rug to say the blessing for the snack, Sam started spouting out names and pointing to the children who belonged to those names! I'm glad I now know the other students in the class better so I can start asking Sam about them specifically. I am officially now known as "Sam's Mom". As soon as I joined the children on the rug many of them pointed to me and exclaimed, "Sam's Mom"! My friends all told me that time would come when I would no longer be known as April, but as my son's mom. I'm proud to now be called "Sam's Mom". The birthday party at school was a success. The children enjoyed the cupcakes I brought....

and then they enjoyed singing and dancing to a Happy Birthday music montage. I wished I had my video camera with me to record that image. All the children singing (more like yelling) and dancing on the rug together was quite a sight. This was of course after they ingested the sugary cupcakes and had a nice boost of energy. Eventually they settled down and the teacher read them a story that they all loved. Sam really likes listening to his teachers read books so I didn't want to take him home with me until story time was over. It was a fun time for all.

After leaving the party at his school, we came home for a few minutes of R & R and then went back to the lake for the second half of Sam's birthday celebration.

My mom made an adorable cake...

...much cuter than my cupcakes!

We ate a delicious meal and then Sam opened his presents!

There were lots of books, money for a bike helmet, Mr. Potato Head, a remote controlled T-Rex dinosaur, a hat, a Braves shirt, and of course his prized, new golf club. His new tricycle is on the way... we ordered it for him but it hasn't arrived yet.

We sang "Happy Birthday" and he blew his two candles right out!


This was a fun birthday for Sam. He knew that it was a special day and seemed to understand that we were singing to him when we sang. He loved opening the cards just as much as the gifts! In fact, this morning I noticed he went to his stack of cards and started "reading" them like they were mini-books. Sam has grown so much in the past two years. I can't even begin to imagine what the next year will hold for us. We love you Sam!

Reading the Morning Paper

I couldn't resist taking this picture this morning. As many of you know, Sam loves golf and anything that deals with golf. We drive by Jones Creek neighborhood and he sees a tiny sliver of the golf course and he starts chanting "golf course, golf course!"--in his own accent and dialect, of course. Lately, Augusta has had many great photos of the Augusta State Golf Team in the news because of their amazing second time championship. Alan and I are amazed that even when there isn't really a golf club or ball in sight, somehow, Sam knows that those are photos of golfers or of a golf course.

Well, this morning as we were eating breakfast. I was reading the newspaper and Rory McIlroy is, of course, on the front page of the paper and the front page of the sports section for his outstanding performance at the US Open.

Sam sees this picture in the newspaper and insists on getting his hands on it. The next thing I know, Sam is sitting at the breakfast table "reading" the newspaper. Then he finds a picture of a baseball player and gets just as excited as he did Rory's picture. All through breakfast, he kept scanning the paper like it was the most important news. It was very cute!

I thought it was a cute little moment this morning...just thought I'd blog about it :)

"Graduation" from Baby Swim Lessons

Yesterday was Sam's last swim lesson. For the grand finale, we brought the video camera and Alan and I got to sit pool-side to watch our little guy swim. I think he was distracted by the camera and having both of us down by the pool. At previous lessons, we had to sit in the house and watch from a window because he wouldn't go to his swim teacher if we were right there.

I think he did pretty well considering his young age. Here is a video of some of the highlights from his last lesson: swimming and kicking with his teacher Ms. Theresa and going down the water slide. All the other students in the class asked to go down the slide at the last lesson and after Sam watched each and everyone go down, he decided that he wanted to try it. I think you'll see from the video that once was enough for him :) I'm proud of him for being so willing to try new things--even when they look a little scary.

Here is the link to the video I posted on YouTube.

Swimming Lessons 2011

Great job, Sam!

Splish-Splash!

Sam started swimming lessons last week. The lessons are every day for a 8 days and I was warned ahead of time, that moms often find it harder than the children. It amazes me how right they were. They also said--give it three days and he won't be crying anymore. In three days, Sam went from crying for the entire hour to willingly and happily stepping into the pool with his teacher.

I'm not ready to say that he is swimming, yet. He knows he needs to kick his legs, pull his arms, and hold his breath. Floating on the other hand isn't coming easily to him. He'll jump off the stairs and glide for about 2 -3 feet before he starts going vertical. He has no fear, unlike me. On the 3rd night of swimming lessons, he followed the big boys (6-7 years old) to the diving board Sure enough, he went off the diving board! He was cautious but very eager to jump in the water. His teacher held his hand as he went in the water and he went back two more times! I'm still afraid to jump off the diving board--maybe that's where his cautious spirit comes from. His eagerness definitely comes from his daddy!

Here are some photos that I took through the window as we watched him last week.







Alan and Sam enjoy playing with each other at the pool, too. The noodle and boats are his favorite pool toys. He likes to hang out by the stairs and push off the stairs and "swim" to me or Alan. Here are some pictures of Alan and Sam playing together.

Sam's First Musical Instrument?

Here is another short video of Sam and doing one of his favorite activities--dancing and playing the bongo drum.

Sporty Sam

I know it's been ages since I last posted--I'm working on a couple that are back dated that I'll post soon. It's been a very busy couple of months!

But, I made a short video last night and I couldn't wait to share it with our family and friends!

I posted it to youtube, so I hope you don't have any trouble viewing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Rbp2PNaiw

I can't get the link to work properly, so you'll have to copy and past the url into your browser. Sorry! I'll keep trying to fix it.


Sam continues his passion for all things sporty--golf, soccer, baseball, football, basketball. It's fun to watch him actually start playing the sports now! Do they have soccer teams for 2 year olds??

We are loving everyday with him and thankful to have him in our family!

Weekend with Penny

Last weekend Sam's teachers handed me a bag with 2 notebooks and a stuffed penguin. They informed me that we would be taking care of the class pet this weekend...it was our turn. The class pet is Penny the stuffed penguin. I don't know if they play with Penny at school or not, but Sam definitely knew her and loved her from the start of the weekend until the moment I handed her back to his teachers.

While Penny was in our care, we were instructed to take pictures and complete the class scrapbook with an entry of pictures and a story about our time with Penny. I felt pretty insecure when I looked through all the elaborate scrapbooking done by the other moms. I've never been very creative in this area.

The first night we had Penny we went to Lakeside Basketball game. Sam loved watching the game...it fit right in with his obsession with balls and basketball hoops! He intently watched the game while holding on to his dear Penny.



The next morning he and Penny did their morning exercises. Here is a shot of Sam doing squats with Penny.



and one of him just loving on her...



Then on Sunday, we watched the Packers beat the Bears and make it to the Superbowl!



We had a great time with Penny this weekend. Sam was sad to send her back to school!

Eighteen Months

Just look at the face on this young man...doesn't he look like a teenager with attitude? Is he eighteen months going on eighteen years?



Our baby boy is quickly turning into a little man. He's already eighteen months old and I think he is in the early stages of the "terrible twos". We see more and more of his funny, sweet, loving, and sometimes stubborn personality every day. The eighteen month check up went well last week. He is growing taller and taller! Alan and I never expected a child of ours to be in the 90th percentile for height and Sam is there! He is still hovering around the 25th percentile for his weight.

I've enjoyed a long winter vacation from work. It seems that my vacation this year just kept going and going. We had 2 weeks off for Christmas holidays and then went back to work for 4 days and then a snow and ice storm hit the area and we were blessed with another 2 days off from school! I have to admit, I felt a bit of cabin fever and was ready to go back to work...then Sam's cold hit and a few days later the ear infection. So after only 2 days of work, I took another day off to take care of Sam right before the long Martin Luther King weekend. I think I've said this before, but I'll say it again.

Stay at home moms have hard jobs.

I found it difficult to get anything done. The only time I could get things accomplished was during nap time. Even trips to the grocery store take longer with a child in tow. We are starting to get back into a routine again and it's been hard for Sam to re-adjust to getting up early and going to school every day. He's become quite the "mama's boy" after all the time we've spent together the past few weeks. I'm not complaining though, it's makes me feel good to know that he loves me. I wish I could bottle that up and save it for his teenage years :)

Here are some pictures from one of our snow days.




Stay tuned for pictures from our weekend with Sam's class pet, Penny :)