A Celebration for Sam!

Sam's birthday celebrating started off with a bang when he opened his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toy.  He shrieked "GOOFY!" when he opened it.  I loved his reaction to every gift.  

Elmo piggy bank, no way!! Of course he loved the present I bought after the fact for a dollar more than any other gift.

 He's got books, and cycles, and more Mickey Mouse crap than he knows what to do with.  

The first part of his birthday was sadly spent running errands for the diabetes walk.  He didn't seem to mind too much.  He is my little errand running buddy after all.

He couldn't wait to take that airplane off his cake and play with it.

We were in full Mickey-mode for the family party.

Sam was looking so grown up but then he popped that freaking binky in his mouth.

He was having a really good hair day too, I might add.

The Ross Family gave him this very appropriate Mickey sweatshirt.

He had tons of presents to open and was so excited.

Every boy needs a monster truck.

And a train.

And of course a lap top.

Everything was going great until we took the binky away to get a picture without it.  Sam has got the 2 year old tantrum form down!

My mom got him this giant Micky which he was initially terrified of.

He slowly warmed up to it and started squeezing it's nose.

Now they are best friends!

This is just some of the family members in attendance. 

"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you...

Happy Birthday dear Sam,

Happy Birthday to you!"

Make a wish Sammy-Boy!!

I think he wished that he didn't have to take anymore pictures because he refused to look at the camera the rest of the night.  Sorry everyone if I missed you with Sam.  He was being two, what can I say!

He had a darling moment with Grandma Yvonna.

He was a total nut with Grandma Jackie.

And a little punk with Grandma Jeri!

Speaking of nuts, Jack and Sam are like two peas in a pod.

I had to tell these two my hair was on fire to get them to look at the camera.  That explains the deer in the headlights look.

I finally got some decent pictures around 10 p.m. 

Sam and his bro's

It was a great day, celebrating all things Sam.  I hope he had a great birthday. I sure love my little Sammy-Boy. My goal is to get rid of the binky by his next birthday!  

Happy Birthday Sam!

My little angel baby Sam came into our family 2 years ago.  This picture captures his presence in our lives perfectly.  He is the center of our family, the comic relief, and the source of so much joy and laughter.  Hank and Max adore him and love watching him achieve each new milestone in toddler-hood.  They look after him and protect him like big brothers should.  I had these pictures taken a few weeks ago and not surprisingly, Sam wasn't a fan of holding still and looking at the camera.

We had the pictures taken at Wheeler Farm which worked to our advantage since Sam is an animal loving fool.  He was so excited to see the "neigh".  Getting on his little tricycle which he calls his "cycle" and going to see the "neigh" is still a daily ritual for us.

Once all the picture taking was completed, we let Sam roll around in the dirt.  He's such a boy!

Sam is the best little boating baby I've ever seen.  He loves the boat and every time he sees it he says 

"boat...so fun!".  We've taken him on so many boating adventures this summer and he just rolls with it.  He's even become a little blondie from all the sun.

He has his favorite little spot on the boat and doesn't really move from there.  Just recently he's been more interested on getting in the "wa wa".  I have a feeling he'll be water skiing before his big brothers!

He loves to be outside.  He has a knack for finding old bikes and tricycles in our garage and storage shed.  The goggles and the binky really complete his biker look.  Such a little ham!

He found this little 4-wheeler in our garage the other day and scooted the entire way to the bus stop, with no shoes.  I guess that's what happens with your third kid.  Shoes are optional.

He went through a phase a few weeks ago where he refused to put both arms in his pajama shirt.  I have no idea what that was about.  As you can see from the pictures, his green binky is still around.  His addiction to his binky is getting worse I'm afraid.  I set a goal for myself to get Sam binky free by his 2nd birthday and I've failed miserably.  Honestly I can't bare the thought of taking it away from him.  It's like taking his best friend away.  I know it needs to go and it will...at least by the time he goes to preschool!

I've previously mentioned how obsessed the boys are with Sam but Sam is equally obsessed with Hank and Max.  He is constantly looking for them.

Max plays so cute with Sam.  He will jump on the tramp with him when no one else will.  He takes him upstairs and plays with him and is so patient when Sam constantly turns the Wii off during his games.  Max was made to be a big brother.

Here are some other tidbits about my darling little Sammy-boy at this stage of his life

• He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and sleeps with Pete, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto every night.
• His obsession with motorcycles, "cycles", is still going strong.  Every time I mention Grandma or Grandpa to him he assumes they are on their cycle. 
• Speaking of Grandma and Grandpa, he is in love with all of them.  He is by far my most affectionate child.  He loves going to his grandparents house.
• He is talking so well.  He can say most words and he really understands when I talk to him.  He's starting to put together 2 and 3 words at a time.
• He is a sleeping genius.  He sleeps 10-12 hours at night and takes a 3-4 hour nap every afternoon.  I can't tell you how grateful I am to have such a good little sleeper.  
• He is terrified of the car wash.  He screams the entire time.  That's my excuse for why I have such a dirty car.
• He has a new obsession with the movie "Paranorman".  He calls it "zombies" and requests to watch it all day long.  I can't believe it holds his attention like it does.  Perhaps his cousin Jack is rubbing off on him!

Now that Hank and Max are at school every day it leaves some quality time for me and Sam.  I really cherish that time.  He is such an easy going kid.  He keeps himself entertained better than Hank and Max ever did at this age.  Since we've been spending so much alone time it's made Sam an even bigger mama's boy then he was before.  I can't say that I mind it.  I know it's only a matter of time before he prefers Randy like his brothers do.  I can't help but remember the circumstances surrounding Sam's birth this time of year.  I lost my grandma just two short days before Sam entered the world.  I miss her everyday.  She would get such a kick out of Sam.  His loving personality, his big brown eyes, and his sweet little voice I know she would've just died over.  I'm so grateful to have him in my life.  He came at a time when our family really needed something to be happy about.  I just love my little boy so much and I'm so blessed to be his mommy.  Happy Birthday my darling angel baby!

An End To A Fabulous Summer!

Although it's still over 90 degrees most days, Labor Day has passed and school is in session, therefore summer is officially over.  Our last weeks of summer went by in a flash.  Here are some highlights.

The kids have been wanting to go to an Owlz game all summer so we finally went.  Hank didn't want to leave until the bitter end and Max and Sam kept themselves occupied at the playground.

Hank's favorite player on the Owlz...Hank Yates!  

We paid my carni-workin' sister a visit at the Utah County Fair.

I must say Sarah makes those waders look good.  She let the boys battle it out in the balls probably 10 times each.  They had a blast.

I had the brilliant idea one day while I was drying my hair to have a multi-family yard sale to raise money for JDRF and Team Hank.  I had done pretty well with my fundraising but I had to do something more.  It was much more work than I imagined but I had so much help from my family to get it organized.  I couldn't have pulled it off without them.  Rick and Anna were here visiting and they sacrificed their vacation time by spent hours helping at the yard sale.

Here was just a portion of the items we were selling the night before the big day.

The most remarkable thing about this yard sale was the fact that all my family was there at 7:30 a.m. ready to help.  Because of their donations and generosity along with my incredible friends and neighbors we were able to raise 1,200.00!  I am still so amazed by that number and I'm so glad it was so successful.

After the yard sale, Randy took Rick, Anna, and the boys out on the boat.

 

Max is really perfecting his skills on the ski tube.

Hank loves when Rick is in town.  He wants to spend every minute with him while he is here.

Like father like son!

Cool Cousins

Rick had his very own cheering section as he tried out the wake board.

Anna took this cute picture of the boys on the party boat!

We got the boat out again last weekend after waiting out a little storm.  

 Max and his ski tube were at it again.

He was doing all sorts of tricks with the handle.

Hank has had some serious wrecks on the tube this year and was not ready to get back on.  He kept himself entertained by taking selfie after selfie on my phone.  Hopefully we can get him back out before we store the boat for the winter.

Sam wanted to get in the "wa wa" so bad so Randy handed him to me and Hank and Max jumped off the boat to join us.  I love that picture of me and my boys.  I also got to try out the wake board.  I'm feeling much more comfortable on it.  It is so much fun!  The only negative thing about being a boat owner is that I haven't played golf this summer.  There is only so much time in the day.  Hopefully this fall I can find my way to the links.  After our boating trip, Max lost his first tooth! 

I remember when that tooth came in!  Max was so excited to put his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy.  He can't wait to loose another one.

I'm sad to see summer come to a close but we have had one of the best ones yet.  We've lived life to the fullest and created some incredible memories.