Sam dancing

Sam dancing.

Sam and Tiger

Sam and Tiger playing (mostly).

Samuel Mark's 1st Birthday!

On February 8th, Sam turned 1 year old! I took the whole day off work to spend it with Sam & prepare for his little birthday party. There wasn't enough room in our home, even though it was a fairly small party, so we held it at Gma & Gpa Briden's house.

I painted Sam a little 1st Birthday shirt, with a big yellow #1 candle on top of a cupcake. :) (You can kindof see it in these pictures). We had soup & sandwiches for dinner & I made my 1st attempt at a little boy's birthday cake. :) I had a hard time deciding what the cake should look like but decided to go with Mickey Mouse, since he had been watching Mickey Mouse's Club House on Saturday mornings lately. :)

Sam's 1st birthday cake...He just picked & poked at it a bit first, trying to figure out what it was & what he was supposed to do with it... But he soon figured it out & once he did the cake was demolished!! :)

Here he is, happy with his accomplishment!

This is the video of everyone singing Happy Birthday to the Birthday-Boy!

On the evening of his birthday & party there was a snow storm rolling in. We got just a couple inches in Topeka, but down to the south (where Gma & Gpa Adams live) they got almost a foot of snow! They -& also Uncle Ryan & Aunt Jill- weren't able to come to the party because of the weather. We still had a pretty good turn out though. Great Gma & Gpa Shirley came from up north in Axtell, Ks, Uncle Josh, Lynette & Uncle Andrew, Gma & Gpa Briden, Mommy & Daddy, and also Aunt Sara (my cousin & Sam's birth mom) were all there to help Sam celebrate! It was a good time.

Sam was getting tired by the end. After cake he got a bath in the kitchen sink & then opened his presents. By the end of all that, he was a pretty tired boy. We packed everything up, bundled up the boy, & headed home once all the fun was over...& within just a couple minutes in the car, Sam was fast asleep!

A Little Boy & His Best Friend :)

Sam & our 'puppy' Tiger have become good buddies. We were a little nervous in the beginning about how Tiger would do with a baby in the house, but she's been SO good! She is surprisingly patient with Sam as he pulls & tugs on her. Lately he'll grab a fist-full of her hair to pull himself up into a standing position...& surprisingly enough, she lets him! Every once in a while she'll get sick of him & make sure to be on the opposite side of the room as he is, but you can't blame her!?! ;-) Here's a video that was taken a few weeks ago (I don't remember when) of the two of them playing...

Little Book Worm :)

Tucked away between the window & curtain with one of his favorites. :)


He has his own little shelf behind that big toy full of his books. He goes through his books several times each day. :) He's figured out how to flip through all the pages...& then tosses them all over the house! ;-)

Samuel's 1st Christmas

Sam buttering up Santa. :)

We took Sam to the mall to get his picture taken with Santa. He thought Santa was pretty amusing. :) They had taken a few pictures of him with the 'traditional' smile in Santa's lap, but then Santa started playing with him & we just couldn't resist choosing this picture instead. :)

Sam had a busy first Christmas, with all of the trips to various family gatherings. He had 3 in Topeka, trips to Axtell & Reading, Ks, & a visit from Gran, Grammy & Ted who travelled all the way from southern Utah. Here are just a few pics from the family festivities...

Sam playing with Uncle Ryan.

Hangin' out with Uncle Josh.



Chatting with Gran. (Great Grandma Austin)



Samuel with Great Grandpa Shirley.

Sam got to try Great Grandma Shirley's homemade -from scratch- noodles for the very first time. They're a family tradition & they're awesome! :)

This was actually taken before Christmas, but I had to post it anyway. :) Grandma Briden bought him this cute -& totally silly- moose hat as kindof an early present. (It's hard to see in this pic because it's a little blurry, but the hat has little antlers. ;-) ) He gets lots of grins & giggles from people when he wears this. :) Hey, I'm his Mom, I get to take embarassing & silly pictures of him!!...it's my duty as a parent, right?? ;-)

In this pic Sam is hanging out with Brady, the son of a very close childhood friend of mine. Brady is reading Sam a story. Sam was attentive for a little while...before he started rolling around in the seat as Brady tried to read. :) I have a video of this, I'll try to post it later.

And, of course, the Christmas gifts! Sam made a pretty good haul. Here are a few pics of him playing with some of his new toys...

...& here he is sneaking into his presents before they're wrapped! :-)

Silly Sam Cheezing :)

For the past several weeks, whenever Sam sees that his picture is about to be taken he purposely gives this huge, silly, open-mouthed grin. Almost every time!! It's so funny...but it takes a few tries if we want to get a 'normal' picture of him. :)

Here are just a few pics of our little 'cheeze ball'...

(chereo in his mouth)

(okay, so Mommy might have encouraged this one). ;-)

Such a silly boy! He sure makes things more fun!