Sammy's "toe toe's"

Well it is going to be a big week for Sammy next week. Right now he is enjoying his cast free foot. At his last appointment they decided he could be cast free for 2 weeks until his surgery. We go in very early Tuesday morning to have his tendon lengthened. The Dr says it's a very quick little procedure and that once the put the cast back on he won't really notice that they did anything. In & out. . . except for the fact that it's in LA! Luckily Thad got the day off and will be coming with us. After the surgery he will be in the cast for 4 weeks and then there is talk of "special shoes" but we'll see after he gets the cast off if that is necessary.

I thought i'd also post a picture of the 100% finished product in the kitchen. The drywall up and painted and the trim back up on the cabinets. Yay!

Thads Projects

I realized halfway through his post that it mostly all about Thad. Being that it was Valentines weekend, and I usually write mostly about the kids, I thought it would be nice to give a little shout out to my wonderful husband who makes all my little ideas and projects a reality.

Thad was supposed to go on a scout camp out this weekend, but due to the winter storm warnings for the area they were going to, the camp out got canceled, and it turned into a fabulous weekend. Thad had friday off and since we had nothing planned for the weekend he started into our list of projects. The list has grown since we got our tax refund ;) But Thad installed the over the range microwave I've been wanting since we moved in. As you can see from the pictures the cabinets were put up with that in mind, but for some reason the people who lived here never put one in. But what they did have was this weird "nook" for lack of a better word, that hung down below the rest of the cabinets and sat pretty much on top of the microwave on the counter. Lame. So Thad fixed it this weekend! Also, as you can tell from the picture it's not 100% finished. He still needs to put up the drywall to cover the vent but I was so excited to have it in and working that I had to post pictures anyway.

Here's the before with the awkward gap above the stove and nook above the microwave.

And here is the after with all the added counter space!


Thad has just been on a roll lately. After a little bit of harassing(from me) about planning a camp out valentines weekend he decided to do something very cute and give me a gift earlier in the week. So he got a cute frame and put a bunch of pictures of the kids(and one of the old us) in it. You can't tell from the picture but the frame has this really cool effect with the pictures, every other one is right at the front of the glass and the other are at the back kind of shadow-boxy. And yes, he wrote a poem to go with it.


Other than the great projects, we had a mellow relaxing weekend. We went to Rosemary's for dinner with Thads parents Saturday, and to an intense scary movie with some friends way past my bedtime Friday night. We had dinner with the rest of Thads family Sunday at his grandparents and just hung out.
And just for your enjoyment, here is the latest photo comparison of Thad and Sammy.

artsy fartsy bumbo

So Thad and I came up with this idea for a different way to hang something artsy in the dinning room. We used to have two small van Gogh prints on this one wall, but replaced it with this one bigger print, that we cut up and mounted on wood and then hung. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but it's pretty big. I love it!
Excuse the glare.

Sammy seems to be growing so fast. He has gotten the hang of the bumbo chair now and loves to sit on/at the table with us at dinner time.


Now that his cast is only knee high he will stand if you hold him up, which is something he couldn't do before. He's not as strong as Andi was at this stage, but like I said, the cast was hindering him before. He has also transitioned himself to an earlier bedtime these last two weeks. I didn't even try to make it happen, he just started crashing at 8 pm and waking up at 7 am. Life is good ;)

Photo Shoot

We borrowed Thad's Dads sweet new camera this weekend and had a photo shoot with the kids in the yard and around the house. It is amazing how much difference a good camera makes in the pictures. We took about 500 picture in less than an hour, here are some of the highlights.


I really can't believe how grown up she is getting. Right now she loves to color, paint, play dress up, shoot nerf guns with daddy, help mommy in the kitchen, play on the computer, ride her bike, sing, watch anything with music and dancing, and play with Sammy. She knows all her letters and number to 10 and talks like such a little grown up.


Okay, so that last one obviously was not part of the shoot, but it is a perfect example of who he is these days. He is just so happy all the time. He is only unhappy if he is left out of the action and loves to sit with Daddy and check everything out. At 3 months he is 15.5 lbs and growing so fast.

One of these days we will get a real family shot done, but for now these pictures were a lot of fun.

Friends

Lately Andi seems to have a renewed interest in Sammy. She thought he was cool when we first brought him home and asked to hold him every time he woke up, but after a week that wore off. Then she pretty much didn't care if her was around unless he was stopping me from doing something with her and then she wanted him back in bed. But this last week or so she wants to sit on the couch and hold him by herself.


And this one is just the best morning face, I had to post it ;)


She really likes him these days. In fact, some of you might know that she is super cranky if you have to wake her from a nap instead of letting her wake up on her own. But I had to last week to get some errands run, and I discovered the trick to waking he up and having her happy is to lay Sammy on the pillow next to her. She hears him and just rolls over and smiles and kisses him. He seems to like her to and always gives her a big smile when she gets in his face.
On a totally unrelated note Thad and I have an ongoing argument on a nightly basis just about. I won't tell you the opinions on the matter cos we want your un-biased input. First question is, do you have assigned sides of the bed? and if so, is trading sides an option?
Next question, Do you kick and flail to un-tuck the covers at the foot of the bed because it restricts your feet, or do you leave the covers tucked in?
I'm fairly certain the comments will back up my opinion on the matter, but we'll see ;)

Andi's Birthday

Saturday was Andi's first real birthday party. I say real because it's the first time we sent out invites to her friends. She is into Tinkerbell these days so we made Tinkerbell invitations and had little fairy wands in the goodie bags. Andi has been talking about her party for weeks and inviting everyone she saw. " You come to my party? I almost 3." Here are a few pictures from the party.

playing pin the tail on the donkey

playing in the tunnel with Nicholas and Caidence

blowing out the candle on her cupcakes that she kept calling pancakes

we really thought cupcakes would be easier/less messy than doing cake and ice cream, but she proved us wrong.

All in all she had a wonderful day and loved all her presents. Especially the Tinkerbell doll and jewelry box. Thanks to everyone who came and made her feel so special!

I told you I've been taking pictures!

Andi looking so grown up on her first day in Sunbeams!

Wearing mommy's "boops"

This is what happens when Thad helps her with the dress up clothes. I know it looks like she's doing the triple snap, but Thad was telling her to growl and that's what happened.

More playtime with Daddy.

Dude on his playmat

I finally pulled the swing out of the shed and he loves it.

But his favorite place is the changing table. He could be crying at the top of his lungs and then you lay him on the table and he's all smiles.

I feel like a slacker for not posting any pictures but this post is basically just my excuses as to why I haven't posted. I have been better about taking pictures of the kids but the cord to connect the camera is on Thads desk at work. I have also been getting things ready for Andi's first real birthday party that will be happening Saturday, the big 3. And taking care of a very sick Sammy, who we found out this afternoon has RSV. Poor little guy is miserable, but hopefully now that we have the breathing treatments started he'll start to improve. I promise a more detailed, entertaining, picture filled post next week.

Christmas Week

Christmas has come and gone again, and I sorta feel like saying "we survived!" Partly because we were not deathly ill this year like we have been the last few(I had a cold but nothing major). And partly because of all the running around to the many festivities. Christmas eve we were at Mom & Dad B's for the traditional dinner, music, and Santa letter. This year we added a nativity to the program that was unintentionally hilarious. At least it was unintentional on the kids part, but I think Thad and Jacob(who played the innkeeper, two shepherds, and the donkey) hammed it up on purpose. Of course I did not take pictures, but I do have some of Christmas morning at our house.
We drug Andi out of bed at 6 (luckily Sammy had already eaten and gone back to sleep). She did not want to get up. Even after I carried her down the hall to the tree she just laid on the floor stretching and whining. After a few minutes though she saw the chest of dress up clothes and got excited about presents and being awake.



She had to try on all the jewelry before she could move onto another gift, but her favorite of the morning was the Nerf gun that she could actually load and shoot herself. She flipped out when she opened that one. I do't have pictures yet of her playing with her gun, but here is one of her playing with Daddy's new long range Nerf sniper rifle, complete with scope and those tri-pod leg thingy's.
We were at my parents house by 7 am and did the present thing with them. Then had a great breakfast and raided our stockings, or as Andi called it, Candy sock. Then we headed to Thad's parents for present at 11, and from there to my granparents for dinner, and finally home around 6 in the evening. In all the running around I missed Bobby's phone call!
Sammy was very cooperative the whole day and mostly slept through the present opening parts, which I loved because we were able to open gifts with Andi and not have to try to do it all one-handed ;)
Friday things slowed down a little but we did go to Rosemary's with the Bulkeley gang and to the park. Then dinner at my parents because my mom's family was getting into town for the Crowley Christmas which happened on Saturday. And all of these events are why I feel like saying "we survived!"
Sam had his 2 month check up today and his first round of shots. He did really well for the shots and only cried untill I picked him up. He is 23 inches long and 13 lbs which puts him in about the 85%.

5 years and counting

Saturday Thad and I celebrated our 5 yr anniversary. Nothing super exciting, just dinner and a movie, but it was soooo nice to go out just the two of us. Thad also surprised me this year with REAL jewelry. He gave it to me early because Andi spoiled the surprise. He came home from work monday and said he had some Christmas shopping to finish and took Andi with him. I guess he wanted a girls perspective because he let her make the final decision between two things. Of course the first thing she says when she came home was "Hey momma, we got you heart necklace." Completely disregarding the whole secret and surprise conversation she and Thad had on the way home ;) I remember when 5 years seemed like forever and even waiting the whole year for Christmas to roll around again took so so long. But the last 5 years have flown by so quickly I can hardly believe it. For those who complain that i never post pics of myself here are a couple comparison shots.

5 years ago in the good ol King Henry courtyard

Yesterday in the good ol living room

Ugh! And now we see why I don't post pictures. I still have baby weight to loose, I need a tan, and I need my long hair back I think.
Anyway, other events of the week. We went Christmas caroling with my family and some friends for FHE and Andi thought it was the greatest thing ever. We had our ward Christmas party on friday night which was nice. And we are officially 100% done with christmas prep. Everything is wrapped and ready to go.
Sammy gets a new cast Wednesday morning, so we'll get to see how he is progressing. Last time the Dr seemed impressed so we hope he continues that way. Here are a couple of cute shots from the week. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Thad thinks he's going for the cookie. . . I think pacifier

This was his cute Sunday before Christmas church outfit. Of course he wore pants, but this was after his nap at home. I made a big deal of coordinating outfits for church and then failed to get a picture of it. Don't worry we were stinkin cute in our red and black.


He broke out into a big smile and we almost caught it. This is it fading away, but we should get some good smile pics soon, he does it a lot now.

Picture Fiasco

So I decided this year we would get a good picture of the kids and send it out as our Christmas Card. So last week we dressed them in coordinating outfits, curled And's hair and attempted a little photo shoot. It was dumb! Andi would not quit squirming and Sammy did the usual peaceful sweet face until we'd snap a picture. Here's a sampling and the fiasco.



This is the only one I think turned out semi-decently. . . but it's not edited yet.


After this disaster I decided there would be no Christmas card this year. I didn't want one of all 4 of us because that would mean finding coordinating outfits in our closets for all of us, and lets face it, I still have quite a bit of baby-weight to get rid of, so I really didn't want to do a picture. But Thad talked me into trying a whole family one because then we'd be able to hold the kids and make them look nice. So here are the results of that attempt.

Only one of these has been edited yet, can you tell which one ?


Sunday was Sammy's Blessing day and we were lucky enough to have both our parents, two sets of grandparents and a couple of siblings there to share in the day. Of course I did not remember to bring my camera, but don't worry Mom B is always prepared and took pictures, I just don't have copies yet. Here is the one we managed to take before we went to church of Sammy on his big day.Same outfit as the Christmas pictures I know, but it's stinkin cute!

Other than that I can't believe that Sammy will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. It really seems like we just brought him home. Thankfully though he decided that 5 weeks old was a great time to start sleeping through the night. I didn't want to mention it before and jinx it, but he's done it for a week straight now. We put him down between 9 and 9:30 and he wakes up at 6. Babywise is magic! Plus he's just a very good peaceful baby and he'd probably sleep all day too if I let him.
The shopping part of Christmas is totally done. Now we are just finishing up a couple of projects and we will be completely done with 2 weeks to spare! The cards are one of those projects but if you don't get one do not assume we snubbed you, I probably just didn't get them out ;)