Can you believe it is already time to start thinking about holiday cards? I am so proud of myself because for once, we got our pictures done before Thanksgiving which means I may actually get my cards ordered on time! My friend Angie took our pictures this Monday and they turned out great. I don’t want to show them off yet (you’ll have to wait for our card!), but here is one sneak peek!

So now onto picking the right card! This year I am participating in the Shutterfly blogger promotional (full disclosure: I will be getting 25 free cards by writing this blog post). They have a lot of really cute choices this year and their prices are very reasonable. In fact, if you order your cards by November 16th, you can use the code CARD40 and get 40% off your entire order!

They have great holiday greeting cards, which are my family’s choice since we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah around here. I love this bright and cheerful card:

And they also have some traditional Christmas cards that are really cute too. I just love this “retro” style:

And did you know you can get your holiday party invitations at Shutterfly too? I know a lot of people send online invitations, but sometimes it is fun to get a little formal, especially around the holidays! Isn’t this one cute?

So quick! Go order your holiday cards right now! And make sure to send us one 🙂

We had a great THIRD Halloween with Sam! (See pics of his first two Halloweens at the bottom of this post.)

On Friday, we went to an amazing party thrown by my neighborhood MOMS club.

Then today, we went to see the Halloween parade (featuring a HS marching band and students from the local elementary school) with Sam’s good friend Eliza and my good friend Karla.

Last night, Sam helped us carve our pumpkin.

This afternoon, we headed over to the community center for some pizza and socializing.

Then, with Daddy home early, we headed around the neighborhood to trick or treat and check out the cool decorations.

And finally we went to our friends Matt and Rachel’s house to celebrate with Sam’s favorite baby, Baby Maya. Sorry, no photos. I guess I was over picture taking by this point!

*****

Here’s Sam’s first Halloween:

Here’s his second Halloween:

Happy Halloween, everybody!

Last Sunday we had Sam’s birthday party! It was a blast and now all Sam can talk about is parties, presents and cupcakes. I had fun sticking to the theme of “things that go.” Unfortunately we weren’t able to get many pics of the kids, including Sam because it was so crazy. But here are some good before pics!

Coffee table entertainment:

Sam-style interior decorating:

Party favors (tags designed by Ben):

Cupcakes!

Menu created by Ben:

Shirt created by me:

On the menu: pasta salad, Texas caviar, car, plane, & truck-shaped PB&Js, pimento-cheese sandwiches, fruit-kabobs with car shaped cut-outs.

Oh, and transportation-themed wine for the grown-ups!

At least we got a pic of Sam enjoying his cupcake:

And since I am uploading pictures, I figured it was about time I posted pics from Sam’s cousin Ella’s Princess Party. Sam and I went down to Atlanta in July to help Ella celebrate her 3rd birthday and I just never got around to posting the pictures. We had a great time!

Pre-partying (Princess Ella was laying on the bed waiting for her nails to dry):

The set up:

Punch and juice:

Princess wands:

Amazing princess cake made by Ella’s Aunt April:

Flower-shaped PB&Js:

Crown-shaped, pink rice crispy treats

Fruit and cheese skewers:

Arts and crafts activities:

Happy birthday, dear Ella!

Sam was WAY into the ice cream.

Post-party cousin love.

Sisters!

Today is Sam’s SECOND birthday!! What a big boy my little baby is turning into! I will have his two year post up in the next few days but I just wanted to give a little update on how his day is going so far.

Sam has been really excited about his birthday all week. He keeps saying “Happy birthday!” and if you ask him a question about his birthday (no matter what the question is), he will answer with “two” or “cupcakes!” Sam had school this morning so at noon I came in to bring ice cream sandwiches for all the kids. Sam’s teacher always mentions to me that Sam is a great eater and eats all of his food so fast. At home, he can be kind of a dawdler so I was surprised to notice that he was the first to finish his ice cream sandwich by about 5 minutes. I think my nickname in daycare when I was his age was “truck driver” because of how much I ate, so I guess it’s genetic!

Miss Mallory also told me that today in music class they sang, “Happy Birthday” to Sam. Apparently he got very embarrassed and his cheeks turned red! Just like mommy 🙂

After school we stopped by the grocery store to grab a couple things. Sam ran up to the teller and said, “Hi! I’m two!” He is certainly milking this birthday thing for all it’s worth…and he doesn’t even know that he is going to get presents tonight yet!

This Saturday we headed out to Cox Farms for their annual Fall Festival. This was our first year so we weren’t sure what to expect. Although it wasn’t the most authentic farm experience, there was a ton to do and we all had a great time.

There were lots of animals to see. Sam really liked petting the cow,

Watching the chickens,

And spying on the noisy pigs.

We had a fun time on a bumpy hayride and then Sam and Daddy went down the slides again and again.

Sam was surprisingly willing to pose for several pictures.

He loved seeing his favorite character, Elmo.

And he had fun playing conductor.

After all the fun, it was time for some hard work. We headed over to the farm-chores section so Sam could pump some water,

Tend to the chickens,

Ride his tractor,

Milk the cow,

And do something important with corn kernels (sorry, we’re not farmers so we may be missing some of the technical lingo).

At the end of all our fun, we got to pick out pumpkins to take home.

And play on the pumpkin scale!

(Sam is 30 lbs, if you’re interested.)

I am sure we’ll be back again next year!

I was going to wait until Friday to post this video, but I have basically given up my “Happy Friday” posts, so I thought I would just go ahead and share this one with y’all right away!

Sam has us cracking up all the time these days with the silly things he says or the funny things he does. I love when I start laughing and Sam looks at me with his eyebrows raised and a huge smile. It’s like he’s saying “I like that you’re happy but I really don’t get what’s so funny!”

Here are some of his most recent gems:

• This morning Sam was impatiently waiting for his toaster waffles to be done and kept asking “Ready? Ready?” I told him that he needed to wait for a DING! and then they’d be ready. A minute later he walked over to me, and sneakily said, “DIIIING! Waffles ready!”
• At dinner the other night, he looked over at Henry (our dog) and announced, “No pet Henry’s penis. Pet Henry’s hair!” Apparently he had learned an important lesson earlier that day when petting Henry.
• Sam has devised his own classification system. Things are either heavy or baby. All day long he’ll classify things into these two categories. “Heavy jump!” after a doing a big jump. “No! Baby fork!” after I accidentally give him the big fork.
• He loves to do anything he has seen us do. He walks around the house with oven mitts on and then gets frustrated that he can’t pick anything up. He imitates daddy doing push-ups (basically just nods his head while exhaling deeply). And he loves to pucker up and put chapstick on his lips… and all over the rest of his face.
• Today at lunch with Deirdre and Evie, Sam and Evie had their own little game of footsie going on. They just kept tapping their toes together and cracking up.

Everyday it is something new! I hope he is always this entertaining!

Late in August we went to Northern California. It was planned as a fun vacation but since my grandma passed away in July, we held her memorial service while we were there. It was pretty sad to be there without Grandma, especially since I know she was really looking forward to seeing Sam again. But it was nice having the chance to celebrate her life and to visit with my grandpa and other family.

After spending a few days up in the mountains, Ben, Sam, and I drove south to the Bay Area. Ben had some work stuff to do, so Sam and I tagged along for fun. We had a great time exploring San Francisco with Cousin Lani and visiting with Ben’s aunt and uncle, who graciously hosted us for a few days.

Sam enjoying the cool air on the plane ride:

Beautiful Lake Almanor:

Nana, Sam, and me:

Sam and Nana:

Fireman Sam:

Friendly fireman (Sam’s hero):

Sam with Auntie Nikki:

Hiking through the mountains:

Sam and Great-Grandpa Gene:

Of course, we had to stop at In ‘n Out on our way down to the Bay Area:

In front of the Ferry Building. Sam got 100 compliments on his cool shade style:

Sam LOVED the pigeons, especially the way they flew up when he chased them:

Can’t beat the CA views:

Cousin Lani:

Learning to play keyboard with Uncle Mike:

Eating a delicious meal at Inn Kensington. He finished everything on his plate and some of our food too!

Goodbye California!

Sam now has two weeks of preschool under his belt! It has been progressively harder to drop him off because now he knows the routine and knows that I am leaving him there. By the third day, he started crying when we pulled into the parking lot. It is so hard to see him upset but I know (from spying on him and talking to his teacher when I pick him up) that he has a great time while he’s there.

Yesterday he did much better at drop off. He whimpered a little but there were no tears. When Mrs. Mallory asked him if he was ready to go in, he reluctantly said “aye” (that is still how he says yes) and walked over to her with open arms as if saying, “pick me up and let’s get this over with.” Mallory and I both cracked up.

Sam has already gotten to do a lot of the fun, messy stuff he doesn’t get to do at home, like painting. I found these adorable pictures on the parents’ website. I hope they come through:

Oh, and here is Sam enjoying that famous cookie snack from his first day of school: