Canines have arrived!

After the last bout of teething - talk about a nightmare - Sam's canines are almost fully descended! His right canine is peaking thru the gum and the left should be out within a week!

Wacky Wednesday

Who has more hair... Mark or Sammy?

Sam's new swim suit!

Thanks to Grandma (Daddy's mom) for Sam's fabulous new swim suit! He wore it to water play last week and all the teachers said how cute he was =)

I guess I can tell you now.....

I didnt want to jinx myself so I kept it hush but Sam STTN (slept thru the night) 3 nights in a row - Tues, Wed, Thurs - it was great! Then it was over! haha Oh well.... nice while it lasted! Fri and Sat he only woke once though which is fine with me and actually Friday night/ Sat morn was awesome! He went to bed at 7pm and woke at 3:30 to nurse - then went back down. I woke up and looked at the clock - it was 7:55!!! I got scared for a minute because Sam has NEVER slept that long nor stayed in his crib very long after waking - So, I ran in his room and he was just sitting there with Nelson and playing with his new crib toy (see pic to right) !!! He gave me a big smile and we stareted our day! Then he took a nice 2 hour nap for mommy too! He has been taking 3 hour naps at daycare all week.... must be a growth spurt!

So, the STTN was short lived but much enjoyed.....

Ketchup!

Ketchup makes everything taste better, right? We all do it... put it on your eggs, burgers, noodles, chicken, whatever you please... so I figured eventually Sam would do the same thing... just not at 10 months! Tonight for dinner he had vienna sausages and green beans and beans - he ate the beans but wouldnt touch the green beans or the vienna sausages - I was eating meatloaf and it had ketchup on it, so to be funny I put some of the ketchup on the "hot dog" and he ATE it! LOL So, I gave him more and he ate all of it with ketchup. Then I put some on a green bean and he gobbled it right up! LOL

See! Everything does taste better with ketchup!

Families are like cookies

You know how when you haven’t had a cookie in a long time and so your thinking, eh, it’s just a cookie, I’m not missing much – but then you have a bite and you realize how good the cookie is and how much you missed them…. That’s how I feel after this weekend, I miss having cookies.

We headed to Altoona and Portage, PA for the Vandzura Family Reunion. Mark’s brothers (Boone and Matt) flew in from Yellowstone with their wives and kids, and his sister Becky came up from Greensboro with her family. Then add in all the aunts and uncles and cousins and we had a house full… or three! Mark’s family is spread out across the country so we pretty much see everyone once every 2 years and so you kind of get used to it. But then you all gather together and see how grown up the kids are, see the newest additions, hear about jobs and news, and dance recitals that you missed and your heart sinks…. You realize just how much you have truly missed everyone =’(

We had a blast! Lots of great food, beer, wine, stories and of course no reunion would be complete without a few rounds of Bare Foot and Wild (card game). The reunion is usually a week long but with everyone’s schedules it was only Friday thru Tuesday (for most people), a few of us left Monday. So, we made the most of our time and took about 1000 pictures – lol. I was excited to show off Sam to all his aunts and uncles and extended family – most had never seen him in person and Sam did pretty well. He is getting a touch of stranger anxiety and wants to stay with his mom or dad most of the time – the rest of time he wants to be on the floor crawling, checking things out!

Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Zac, Patrick, Boone, and Hart

Elle, Boone, Karen, Mark

Group shot - the silly one!

The outcasts! We all married into the Vandzura Family

Billy, Jan, Karen, Gina, Polly, Jean, Bill

Group shot with Grandma Toncler

Evolution..... Mark, Josh, Jonah, Sam

Cousins

Jacob, Hart, Elle, Jonah, Zac, Sam, Patrick, Sarah, Josh

Monday afternoon we said our goodbyes and as we drove away my heart ached – not sure when we will see everyone again and Sam is too young to remember his cousins, aunts and uncles – I wish we all lived closer and could see each other once a month rather than every year or two. For now I will show Sam pictures of his extended family so he can learn who they are and know that he is loved very much.

I think I am going to go have a cookie…..

Wacky Wednesday

I like to call this one, Elvis: The Early Years

Sam is one sweaty kid! He had just woken up from his nap and his head was soaked and mark ran his fingers thru it and this hair-do came to be - lol - then I saw his lip curled up and thought "Elvis"! haha