HOME SWEET HOME

Welcome to our home!

Many people have been asking to see pictures of our first home, so here they are!

This is the lovely lake view from our backyard. Sam loves to see the ducks and cranes that make their home here. (We are planning on putting up a fence soon)

This weekend Aaron went fishing with some friends, and he caught a flounder and a mackerel! We had a fish-fry yesterday, and Aaron made a delicious coconut batter for our fresh fish. YUM! Way to bring home the bacon, I mean fish, honey!

Birthday Extravaganza!

Our wonderful child turned two on September 5th! Happy birthday Sam! We love him and are so blessed to be his parents.

Sam loves every kind of sport under the sun, so I thought I'd try my hand at a sports themed cake. Ta-Dah!

Included are his favorite sports, with the top tier dedicated to his most favorite: golf. It is my first try at fondant, so if you squint your eyes when you look at it, it looks much better. :)

Sam was pretty excited about the real golf ball, he kept grabbing it off the tee - making it very difficult to get a picture with the ball and tee intact.

Birthday boy blowing out candle

Sam also really loves all kinds of boats: sailboats, pirate ships, etc. To celebrate his birthday, we took him on a boat out to a remote island. Several dolphins escorted us on our trip!

They liked to play in the wake.

We were so lucky to have this island all to ourselves most of the time we were there. It was a beautiful day at the beach!

We swam, snorkeled, and built sandcastles.

Perfection.

Happy Birthday Sam! We love you!

Buccaneers and Big Bird

We had a fantastic weekend in Tampa. We went to a pre-season NFL game to cheer on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We sat below the huge pirate ship and it was a lot of fun. Throughout the game, they would throw necklaces and t-shirts to eager hands below. Sam loved it! Sam has had a fascination with all kinds of boats lately, and so to combine a pirate ship with watching football was the perfect storm of pure joy for our little Sam-man (And daddy too).

Sam cheering on the Buccaneers

And having fun with Daddy

We also spent some time at Busch Gardens while we were in Tampa. Sam was so excited to see all of the Sesame Street characters!

We had a wonderful time!

Sam learns so many new words every day, it is such a fun stage!

Cute things he has said this week:

The other day I walked over to him while he was playing and asked him, "Hey, whats going on?" and he replied "Not much." Thats it. "Not much." Like he is suddenly all grown up and playing with cars is so tiresome that he dismissively says, "Not much." Sorry kiddo, I need you to stay a toddler a lot longer! :)

Yesterday, while playing with two trucks, he had the red one say to the blue one, "I love you." And then he took the blue one and said "I love you too!" to the red one. He is so fun and loving, he tells us he loves us all the time. My favorite is when I will be sitting working on something, and he'll run really fast right by the room I'm in, and then he'll stop, and peak his head back in, and say "I love you Mommy" and then run off again. I'm one lucky Mommy. :)

Among Friends

This is a common sight at our house. Sam's best friends are Winnie the Pooh and Buzz Lightyear. While Sam sits at this chair, he usually insists that Buzz and Pooh are there beside him. It is pretty cute to see Sam share his snacks or read books with his two "friends".

As cute as this is, it is also at little bit heart breaking to see. We are new in our area and haven't made any friends yet for Sam to play with. (Granted, little kids are few and far between in our retirement town) Sometimes we'll see other kids when we go to the park, and Sam will run up to them and say, "Come on guys! Lets play!" And then he'll take their hand and run with them to the playground.

Sam is such a friendly and loving child, we are so grateful for him!

Rise and Fall of a Sugar High

Happy Birthday to Aaron! We love you!

Behold the Chronicle of the Rise and Fall of a Sugar High:

Birthday boy blowing out his candles.

Sam hesitantly takes his first bite...

Loves it and eats some more.

The sugar high begins.

Sam devours more cake.

Takes a break to share some with Daddy.

Crashing.

Accepts Defeat.

The End.

But the beginning of a tummy-ache.

Sharks and Sunsets

As we have been exploring our new surroundings, we've come across some pretty neat places. This week, we went to the Fishermen's Village. It is right on the water, and if you are there when the boats come in from a day of fishing, the fish that they caught are displayed for all to see on the docks.

There is plenty to do in the village, including an Aviation and Military Museum that we visited. Sam loved seeing all of the war airplanes, and the kind folks running the museum loved Sam, so they gave him an American flag. It was pretty cute!

After we walked around the Fishermen's Village, we took a sunset cruise in the ocean. Sam LOVED riding in the boat. He was so excited! He found a boy on the boat and immediately went to his side, excitedly asking question after question.

Sam-"Hi! A boat! Vroom!"

Boy-"Yes, we're on a boat."

Sam-"See a shark?"

Boy-"Nope, no sharks."

Sam-"See a turtle?"

Boy-"Nope, no turtles."

Sam-"See Nemo?"

Boy-"Nope, no Nemo."

It went on like this throughout the boat ride. It was pretty funny to see him successfully interact with someone without me translating.

The other day as I was getting Sam dressed into a blue, plaid, button-up shirt, Sam said: "Cool shirt Mommy! A blue shirt! Cool!" This is the first time Sam has made any acknowledgement towards the clothes he wears, and I couldn't believe my ears when he said it. Is my toddler really growing up this fast? Yikes!

One Proud Wife

As promised, here are some pictures from Aaron's graduation. I am so proud of my husband, and all of his accomplishments.

I can't help but think back to the day we drove our moving truck away from everyone and everything that was familiar to us. I was 7 months pregnant and Aaron was about to begin graduate school. As Aaron's family waved goodbye to us as we drove away, we were suddenly afraid. Afraid of starting a new life across the country, afraid of having a baby with no family around, afraid of the difficulties graduate school would bring...afraid of being adults. But, here we are. We made it through the graduate program, with a diploma and a toddler to show for it.

Between classes, somehow Aaron managed to work at a job, as well as spend time with his wife and son. He did an exceptional job, and I know that he will continue to do an exceptional job at whatever he does. I am one proud wife.

Aaron passed his boards a few days ago, so he is now certified! Thank you for working so hard sweetheart. We love you.

We were lucky enough to come spend some time with the Aaron's family for the Fourth of July, and we are having a wonderful time. It is so fun to see Sam play with his cousins. He is still working on learning to share, so thank you Jen and Nicole for understanding that it is a work in progress, and that he loves his cousins even if he has a hard time understanding the concept of sharing :) Next time we come, the cousins will see an improvement, I promise! :)

We are heading back East tomorrow, and even though we are still a little bit afraid of the uncertainties ahead of us, we are excited to begin yet another new chapter of our life.