Row-Wers


Sam loves flowers. He asks at least once a day to go see the flowers in our yard.  He points to the front door and says "row-wers" and then comes back inside yelling "row-wers" to whoever didn't go out with him.  He also has a ladybug ornament in the flower pots that sit outside the living room windows that he must say "Hi-ya" to at least once a day. 



Here we are in the backyard one morning (the only time we can stand to be outside), smelling the flowers in our garden, and then in Gram and Pops' backyard, smelling more flowers.  Both Pops and Daddy have a green thumb, so chances are Sam will successfully grow his own row-wers someday.


Happy Fourth of July!


Sam had an All-American Fourth of July. Gram, Pops and Uncle Andrew met Sam, Daddy and I in downtown McKinney for a picnic and a parade on the square.

Sam did great during the parade - he waved to the floats and even waved the flag Pops got for him. The motorcycles were a little loud and scary, so it was a good thing Gram was there. He shared an ice cream with Daddy and met a puppy named Zack.

The weather was a little warm and humid, but not bad for Texas in July. We had some cloud cover and a breeze and no rain!

Last year Sam was too little to enjoy the 4th, but he definitely had a good time today. Happy Birthday America!
Had to take his shirt off to eat strawberries...       Playing with the ball Uncle Andrew brought him



Dad bought Sam some ice cream to help him cool off, and we all know how Sam loves "sssk-eam"
                     The motorcycles were sooo loud!
This is how all our family photos would look if I were 6'3", but I'm up on a curb today!

Khaki, gray and black??  You guys!!

Zack the "bow-wow-wow-wow"

Happy Fourth of July 2010 from Sara Straka on Vimeo.






A Birthday Dinner for Daddy


Happy Birthday Daddy! The day's celebration started off with a certain toddler jumping into bed with a balloon card, waking up a sleepy Daddy and a sleepy schnauzer.  Then I made us all a birthday brunch and we spent the rest of the day lounging around the house.



That evening, Jeff and Kathy took us all out for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Mi Cocina, and we all ordered the same thing we always order - brisket tacos. So yummy!












Sam was a good boy for two reasons:  food and Danielle.  His dinner kept him happy for a while, and then when that ran out, Danielle and her pinwheel pencil kept him happy.  Thanks lady!



After dinner the Mi Cocina staff brought Brian a birthday flan, complete with a candle and a song.  What fun!

Family Dinner


Sam sat at the head of the table - a very loooong table. We all got together at a big pre-Easter dinner Saturday night at a barbeque restaurant in Duncanvillle.  Sam had lots of fun with his family - he met Danielle for the first time, fed him dinner and kept him entertained with multiple drinking straws.  Hollie rubbed his head (he likes that), he and Uncle Bill exchanged kisses, and then Sam and Aunt Bell fed each other Cheerios.  And, of course, both of his aunties gave him money for his piggy bank - lucky duck!

Cousins


How cute are these cousins? Sam met Dean and Danielle over Easter weekend. They came all the way from sunny California. They said they hadn't been around babies much, but you wouldn't know it. They were naturals. They fed him, played ball, peek-a-boo and even entertained him with tunes on the piano. Those are some pretty special cousins!

Brian and I couldn't believe how grown up the "kids" were.  We reminisced about the time he and I flew to California (seven years ago) so I could meet Dean and Danielle.  Look at how young we all were!


Thanks Dean and Danielle for coming to Texas to meet Sam.  Sam thought you guys were the best!
 













Sunny Spring Day




The kids had fun at the Arboretum. Sam felt green grass for the first time and it took him a while to feel comfortable sitting in it. He did everything in his power to keep his hands and feet from touching it. He also had his first popsicle - strawberry - a treat that Claire was nice enough to share with him. The kids played in the frog fountain, rolled down the big hill and roamed through "Texas Town". You would think that would wear us all out, but no, we still had enough energy for a bubble party in the backyard when we got home. I think we all slept well that night after all that fun in the sun!

































Arboretum Day from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Baby Sam

Some very special ladies came to visit "Baby Sam". They loved Sam, and Sam loved them...and all the attention. They read stories, played toys, blew bubbles and sniffed flowers. Mommy wishes they lived closer because these ladies have major babysitting potential in their future. Thanks for visiting KC fam. Hope to see you soon.

Flowers

Spring is here. We all took a trip to the Arboretum when our special Kansas City visitors were here.  While most of the trees were still bare, there were lots of flowers in bloom.  Because I took sooo many pictures there, this post is just for all the pretty flowers, trees and other plants we saw there.  Next post - kids playing and enjoying the beautiful spring weather!

Uncle Randy!

Sam had a special visitor at our house this Christmas.

Uncle Randy.


Sam and Randy quickly became friends.

 

We had so much fun.


And Randy took lots of pictures.  Sam's good at posing for pictures.


We played and played.


He brought cool toys, too.


He stayed at our house for lunch and dinner!


And then, lucky us, we visited Uncle Randy again two days later.



Granny Nell was there, too.



Sam liked Uncle Randy a lot - we think he reminded Sam of his Daddy.




We read stories, played and had a nice chili supper.




Then we had to go. 
It was hard saying goodbye. 
It made us all a little sad.
But we know we'll see Randy again soon.

Thanks for visiting, Uncle Randy.  You made our Christmas special!

Happy Birthday Pops

Happy Birthday, Pops! We celebrated Pops' 60th birthday this past Saturday. We went out to eat and then back to Gram and Pops' house for cake and ice cream. Sam was a good little boy and we had lots of fun.
licking the sugar packets





eating at the restaurant

laughing with food in our mouths



playing toys with Pops after dinner




Uncle Andrew

 

Hugs for Gram
Hugs for Pops (Sam is very into hugging right now)


presents for Pops

Christmas, Part II of II



We didn't have to dream of a White Christmas - we had a real one.  Because of that, we ended up spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Gram and Pops house. It was just too icy and windy to drive home. 

Sam had lots of fun opening presents on Christmas Eve, and we all enjoyed a cozy dinner of mushroom-crab soup, salad and bread.  Sam slept really well in Gram and Pops' crib...Sophie kept us up throughout the night, but we kind of expected that. 

Christmas morning we had a nice breakfast looking out on the snow, then spent the rest of the day hanging around, watching TV and eating snacks.  With hardly any room left in our tummies, we finished the holiday off with a ham and sweet potato dinner!

Enjoy the pictures and video of our little guy's First Christmas! 

















































































Christmas with Gram and Pops 2009 from Sara Straka on Vimeo.


Christmas, Part I of II



We had a very nice Christmas celebration at Granny Nell's house last night. We had a nice steak dinner, opened presents, and played with Baby Sam. He got lots of neat presents; I'd tell you what his favorite one is if I knew - I think they're all his favorite! If I had to pick, I'd say the Noisy Car book (it makes noise) and the Gymboree musical instruments. Those were cool!

Sam did really good, considering he can't take a nap there.  After our dinner he took a quick snooze on Daddy's lap, but woke up again in time for a little more playtime with Granny.

 











Christmas with Nell and Vic 2009 from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Christmas Shopping

We did a little Christmas shopping this weekend. Christmas window shopping, that is. I took Sam to NorthPark Center this weekend and we invited Gram and Pops to join us.  NorthPark is a very well-known shopping center, the oldest and largest in Dallas.  It has fountains and sculptures and the kinds of shops you usually only see in fancy magazine ads! Gram and Pops brought me here to see the Christmas decorations, from the time I was a tiny baby, so it was nice to be able to bring Sam as well. While some things have changed, there was a lot that felt very much the same!




Pops, Sam and Gram in front of one of the many Christmas trees placed throughout Northpark.


 Sam was ooohing over these guys:



They are mechanical, and I remember coming to Northpark to see them when I was very small.


 He really, really liked the moving sculpture.  Such a guy.


Whose presents are these, flying overhead?


 Why, it's Santa Claus and his reindeer!  Santa and his crew are made of very old nuts, shellacked marshmallows and other petrified bits.  We know they are at least thirty-something years old...


 Rudolph, with your nose so bright!


There were no penguins, as there were when Momma was a little girl, but they did have ducks and turtles.  That's two of the three WonderPets!




 It was love-at-first-sight for the salesgirl at the Nasher Sculpture Center Shop, so she had to find lots of fun toys to make Sam laugh.


Because our timing was a little off, we didn't make any of the puppet shows like we'd planned. But that was okay.  Sam enjoyed a snack in front of the gingerbread house and met a couple of babies while we listened to the Plano Civic Chorale sing Christmas carols.

There were lots of fun things to touch, too, like these very soft cactus forests. 




They looked like little Christmas trees, and we felt like GIANTS!


But the best thing about the day was that Mommy's sweater had buttons.  Go figure.

We'll be back next year, for sure, although we might try for a weekday instead of a Saturday afternoon!  And next year we'll make the puppet shows and, if he wants to, we'll take Sam to the Miniature Train Show.  Can't wait!

Family, Food and Fun



What a wonderful First Thanksgiving we had with our baby Sam. Happy to have Papa Emil and Grandma Jan with us, we spent the day eating, playing with Sam, chatting and eating some more! Gram and Pops prepared a great feast and Sam entertained us all. He looked so handsome, too!

Enjoy these photos and a short video of our Thanksgiving Day with our special guests and of course, Samuel!
































If you listen carefully, you can hear baby Samuel snoring in the video. 
Looks like somebody had too much turkey!

Too Much Turkey from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Facebook Friends


Sam recently met his Uncle Jeff. They became friends right away. He brought Sam a neat-o Mickey Mouse Halloween book that has cool sound effects.
Dell came over, too, and we all had a nice time, spending the day together, playing toys, reading books and eating good food. The boys watched sports while the ladies chatted and played with Sam. Sam was really good, and didn't have a meltdown until the very end of the night, when it got pretty late. Since there were quite a few pics from the night, I made a collage for easier viewing. Enjoy!