Scooting and Scandel

Here is a video of Sam showing off his getting up/getting down and scooting all by himself. Gotta love $1 toys from Target that he loves!

The second half of the video is a little bit scandalous and probably should be rated at least PG-13. We are getting a little concerned about how close Sam and Jaelyn are becoming.

Sam's First Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures of Sam enjoying his time at the North Georgia Cabin with his friends! Check out shutterfly for some more.






Here are some pictures of Sam eating. This was not part of his Thanksgiving feast (he did have mash potatoes and mac-n-cheese for the first time on T-day) but they show how much Sam loves food. He loves it so much that he sometimes hoards it all in his hands!

Happy Thanksgiving

We just wanted to say happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We are looking forward to our annual Thanksgiving tradition of going to a cabin in North Georgia for the weekend with our friends. We hope everyone has a restful weekend.

Here are some pictures of Sam ready for his first Thanksgiving turkey!

Uncle Shawn, the Eagles Fan, Visits

Uncle Shawn did his duties and further entrenched Sam in Eagles fan-dom. Here is a picture of Shawn and Sam together and a little video of Sam enjoying his new favorite toy!

Sam is Moving!

We are continually amazed at how fast Sam learns what we call new tricks!! We posted a video of Sam scooting a little bit last week, here he is showing his improvement into what Amy's mom referred to as the Army crawl. He is also showing off how he has learned to put one foot in front of the other to get places while we hold him up. Enjoy!

Grand Parents Visit/Enjoying Fall

Sam had some special visitors this weekend who showered him with lots of love. Here are some pics of the weekend with Mom and Ed. Sam also continued to get better at his new tricks: scooting, pulling up, and added one more, putting his feet in front of one another as if he was walking. We are continually amazed at how Sam learning so many new things.

30th Birthday Bash

Last night our friends and family in Atlanta celebrated four of us turning 30 years old. Katie, Duffy, John, and I all have either turned 30 in the last month or, in my case, will turn 30 soon. The attitudes of turning 30 range from Katie being glad she is 30 because she feels that she will get more respect at work, to Duffy's indifference, to Jeff's skeptical attitudes towards not being in his 20's anymore, and finally to John's grand proclamation that he will not eat desserts in his 30's (feel free to answer the poll on the side to this question).

We thank our Atlanta community so much for taken care of us and loving us. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and seeing the pictures of all of us growing up, and yes, even a little dancing after all the party guests had gone home. Thanks to Hilary and Amy for planning a great shin-dig. Here are some pics of the evening.

Daddy Jungle Gym

Sam has enjoyed using daddy as a jungle gym the past few weeks. In the last day or so, Sam has thought it would be a good idea if he started standing up while holding onto to me. Can you say child proofing the house this weekend? Just in time for his Mom Mom and Grandpa Ed to come and help to!!

Scooting

Sam has started to realize that he can actually make his body move to where he wants it to go. He doesn't always go in a direct path, nor would we call what he is doing crawling, but he definitely is moving. Enjoy the video. Also, there are more pics on Shutterfly

Halloween Costume Debacle

Here is the halloween costume gathering going terribly wrong. It looks like Owen is treading on Sam's territory a little bit.

Fall Retreat in the Mountains

This past weekend while Sam and Katie were in California, I was working at the Mission year solitude retreat. It was hardly hard to be working giving the beautiful surroundings. Here are a few pictures of the fall colors in full force!

Fun in the Tub

I wrote a while back about Sam's tub troubles. We've really turned a corner, and now bath time is Sam's favorite time. Here a few pictures to share - I think he's ridiculously cute when he's naked! Thanks to Caroline for the great new tub!

Sam is passionate about his toys. He tries to play with all of them at the same time, so he ends up with toys in both hands all the time. This evening he decided to maximize his fun by having his toys in both hands and his mouth!

Sam's on the Road Again

This weekend Sam and I went to Los Angeles to celebrate my dear friend Sarah's wedding. Though it was a really quick trip, we had a great time. We spent the weekend with my old dear friend, Caroline. We hadn't seen each other in years, and it was great meeting her little boy, Mitchell, and spending time with her family.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Manhattan Beach and walked out on the pier. Sam has now seen the Atlantic and the Pacific - not bad for seven months. Here are a few pictures from Sarah and Billy's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and great party! They are amazing people!

Halloween Fun

Tonight was Sam's first Halloween! He decided (with a little help from Grammy) to be a monkey this year. His sidekick, Jaelyn, was a banana. They were quite a pair, but I'm not sure if they even knew what was going on around them. We spend the evening in Capitol View with the Beigel's and Tramel's. All of the kids kept us laughing and we had a great time. Here are a few pictures, and there are more posted on Shutterfly.