Happy 2nd Birthday! (posted 3/26)

Boy, did this guy have fun at his party!

He got lots of great presents and had a ball being the center of attention! The highlights of the party - - big turtle, little turtle and "Aunt Bail" (Aunt Bell). He's mentioned her name almost every day since. Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated our little boy's birthday, and a special thanks to Gram who saved all of my Sesame Street toys all these years. It made decorating for this party very easy - and very retro!!

              Waiting, waiting, waiting for Granny...                         Finally!  They're here!!

Pinch, pinch, pinch!

Enjoying birthday snacks with Gram

                               Great-Grandma                                  Having a blast being the center of attention!

Cowboy Sam made an appearance, much to the delight of the Grannies and Grandpas

He liked his cake this year!

               Helping Mommy put the finishing touches on the birthday cupcakes before our guests arrived!

                                             Our Sesame Street friends helped us celebrate!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Birthday Ice Cream (posted 3/24)

Sam's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. Even though his party was coming up, we still wanted to celebrate this special day.

We took Sam down to see Gram and Pops and then we all went out for ice cream - yogurt, actually. Very yogurty yogurt. Sam loved it, though!

Snow Days (posted 3/20)

It started about 3:30 in the morning...t

he tap-tap-tap of sleet against the window. Then the wind started blowing harder and harder. One thick sheet of ice later, we were trapped inside for what felt like FOREVER.

We made the best of it, huddling on the couch to keep warm.  The power went out for a short time, so we quickly took showers before the hot water ran out.  We weren't out of power more than a few hours, and once it was back on we kept busy by making cookies, watching cartoons and playing games.  We also built a fort, "Sam's Fort" we called it, and it was a great place to have lunch, snacks and read books.

While it was a fun adventure for the first few hours, it got old fast.  And by the fourth day of being inside with an almost-two-year-old I was climbing the walls.  We were all climbing the walls.  No one had really anticipated the storm would be quite that bad and for that long, so we were short on food, activities to keep us busy and patience!  There were no winter walks or making snowmen this time - it was all ice and very very cold outside.  And inside, the house was a

disaster

.  It's a good thing this kind of weather is unusual for Texas - I don't think I could handle being cooped up like that more than once in a great while...

Snow Day

It snowed a few inches here in North Texas this weekend.

Though much of it had melted, we took Sam on a Winter Walk through the neighborhood today. We looked for snowmen, touched many snowflakes - "shno-pakes" - and taught Sam how to walk slowly over the icy patches. He didn't like the snow on his fingers, but he did like stepping in it, listening to the crunch-crunch and seeing his own footprints behind him. It was great to get out after being cooped up all day Sunday.  And what a cute little snow-bunny he makes!

Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve!

We spent the day at Gram and Pops' house.  They set a festive table and fixed a yummy dinner - Mushroom Crab Soup and homemade Cheese Bread.

Sam used my baby Sesame Street china set!

We got out the Play-Doh while Gram cooked - thanks to Daddy for taking pictures of us

and our Play-Doh creations!

Sam got some pretty awesome gifts - too many to mention!  He hadn't had a nap all day and started to have a melt-down right around present-time, so we put him in his crib (where he screamed) and the grown-ups quickly opened gifts from each other.  After his crying spell, Sam felt a little bit better and opened the rest of his presents, sans pants.

(Gram and Pops gave Sam his own rake for

when they work in the yard

...)

When we got home, Daddy had to put together the present we got for Sam.  We wanted it to be ready when he woke up Christmas morning.  We've been coloring and having tea parties on the floor for too long, so we got Sam a little table and chairs for the living room.  He loves it! 

We Drove 52 miles for a Singing Christmas Tree and a Burrito

Really, Santa, REALLY?

Let's just say things didn't go according to plan last Tuesday. Despite the cold drizzle that fell from the sky and the fact that all three of us were worn to a frazzle from a hectic day, we decided to trudge out to Allen to see Santa and have a little Family Fun Night. What really happened is something completely different. It's a long story involving electronic check-ins, miscommunication and poor planning on the part of Santa's Little Helpers.

As a result there is no Santa & Sam picture - yet.

It wasn't our fault.

It wasn't even Santa's fault.

We're over it.

We made the best of the night and tried a new place to eat - Freebirds Burritos. The staff there was outstanding and gave Sam a sticker that HAD to go right on the front of his Christmas sweater. (

whatever

...) We also discovered a huge Christmas tree that sings Christmas carols, and Sam spent a good twenty minutes dancing in front of it, entertaining his shivering Mommy and Daddy.

We decided it was worth it.

Thanksgiving with Granny

Sam's trying really hard to say "Granny Nell".

He's getting there and had lots of chances to practice the other night when we went down to Duncanville for a quick Thanksgiving visit. Not only did Granny make a fantastic pot pie for dinner, she had lots of toys and teddy bears to play with.  But as it turned out, Sam's favorite toys that night were Granny's piano and full-length mirror. Might Sam be a musician someday? He looks pretty comfortable with those piano keys. Or perhaps he'll be an actor. Just look at that expressive face!

The Big Orange Pumpkin Patch

It was SO big, and SO orange, we had to go twice! 

The first time we went to Celina's famous Big Orange Pumpkin Farm, Brian and I took Sam on a Sunday afternoon, after waking Sam up from a short afternoon nap (a nap on Mama, no less). Late afternoon naps tend to make Sam cranky, as do naps cut short because we wake him up. He enjoyed the farm just not as much as we had expected. There was a lot of whining.

A lot of whining.

And I'm pretty sure we made the hayride fairly unpleasant for three other families. The massive crowds didn't help anybody's mood either!

But when we went with our playgroup, on a weekday, we pretty much had the place to ourselves and Sam had a bit more fun!  He enjoyed running around, feeding the goats and playing on the pumpkins.

Do I look like I'm ready for the hayride to be over?  Because I am.

And with both trips to the farm, we got to pick a small pumpkin straight off the vine.  Happy Fall!

Happy Birthday Gram

Happy Birthday Gram!

We had fun celebrating with you!

Pumpkin Carving

Daddy carved us one great pumpkin.

Sam was only mildly interested in the carving part and wouldn't have anything to do with the touching the slimy seeds part.  But he did enjoy looking at the lit pumpkin - even asked Daddy to light it first thing the next morning. 

Up, Up and Away

Well, not away so much.  But definitely up and up.

Sam recently experienced his first Plano Balloon Festival - kind of one last hurrah for the summer. We all know he's a big fan of balloons (see

here

), but this event took it to a whole new level!

He got to see skydivers,

feed Pops some goldfish,

eat some ice cream (of course),

and then it was down on the field for an up-close look at some balloons!  There wasn't enough wind for the balloonists to take off, so they let us on the field to get a better look!  Even better than a launch, in my opinion!

Another first - Sam's first bus ride!

It was humid and hot, but Sam had a blast watching buh-woohs!

Whee!!

Just some swingin', slidin' and climbin' on a sunny Sunday afternoon!

My Boys

These guys are way too photogenic, especially when together. Friday night, after some ice cream at Beth Marie's, we took a stroll around the square and hung out on the courthouse steps. And, of course, Sam collected "baw-uhls" again, his new favorite treasure.

Wake Up Call

Mama loves naptime. But getting Sam up after a nap is fun, too. Here Daddy has filmed us getting Sam up from a nap on two different days.

Gram noticed the other day that Sam likes to "take roll". Maybe he got some teacher-gene from me. Whenever he wakes up he runs down the list of whoever is not in the room. In these videos it's Mama and Woof-Woof. When Sam and I get home from running errands, he calls for Woof-Woof and Dada from the driveway. As soon as Gram gets him out of the car at her house, he asks for Pops and Andrew. He likes to know where his fans are!


Wake Up Call from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Sunday Best

A couple of Sundays ago the Straka Family headed out to church. Two of us loved it.  One of us didn't. 

Not a big surprise who didn't enjoy our Sunday outing very much, I'm sure.  It was Baby Sam's first time not being with Mama, Daddy, Gram or Pops and he had a hard time.  It was difficult dropping him off - I had Brian take him back, knowing that there would be enough crying without throwing my disappearing act into the mix.  We were given pagers that would vibrate if we needed to go back and get him, which thankfully never buzzed.

The minute the service was over, Brian and I looked at each other and said "He made it!".  We hurried back to his room only to find him red-faced and sobbing.  As he waddled over to me saying "Muh-mah, Muh-mah in his odd French-like accent, the nursery workers explained he cried for the first ten minutes, then calmed down, only to rev up again a few minutes before we came back.  Those poor ladies.

He sure looked dapper before we left though, didn't he?  I wish I'd taken a picture of him when we got home - shirt crumpled, hair sticking out all over, red cheeks, sweaty, exhausted.  That would've been a great before-and-after.  And his nursery teacher said the following few Sundays might be worse because he'll remember what happened that first week.  I wouln't be surprised if we end up getting buzzed after all...

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.

Flyboys

Sam's got the bug. "Airplane, airplane!" he calls whenever he sees one fly across the sky.  He spots them way before his dad and I do.  He always waves, too, and says, "bye-bye now".

Brian had the idea to take him to McKinney Airport to watch some planes take off and land.  Sam sure was captivated.  So was his daddy for that matter.  I love planes, too.  As long as I'm not in them and my feet are planted firmly on the ground...

More Swimmin', More Picnicn'

We had a picnic on Memorial Day at a spot we'd picked out over three years ago.

We have lots of little parks in our neighborhood with benches and shade. We chose to picnic at the park that Gram and I drove by one day back when Brian and I were house-hunting and she said, "If you move here I want to take my grandbaby on a picnic right there" - so we did!

This was Sam's first time at our neighborhood pool and he had a great time. Gram put him on the side of the pool and he "jumped" to her on the count of three, he swam on his tummy with Pops, got a horsey-ride from Daddy, and bopped around the pool with Mama. I think his favorite part was the walk-through water fountain area. My favorite part was that Sam slept great that night!

A Picnic and a Dip

Sam had his first picnic last Sunday. Daddy found a nice Audubon park just a few minutes from Granny's house and it turned out to be a great place for a picnic. Sam sat at the picnic bench like a big boy and we all enjoyed a nice lunch. We blew lots of bubbles then took walk through the butterfly garden.

By the time we'd finished our walk we were all hot and sweaty, so we went back for a dip in Granny's pool! We weren't planning on swimming so Mama and Daddy had to borrow swimming suits and Sam just swam in his diaper. Boy did it get heavy! But Sam seemed to enjoy the water, for the most part.

A Picnic and a Dip from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Lunch on the Patio

Granny Nell came over for a Happy Birthday/Happy Mother's Day lunch a couple of weeks ago. We ate outside under what Daddy called our "Starbucks" umbrella. We all ate Mama's chicken salad, even Sam, and then enjoyed some ice cream, of course! Sam showed Granny how he helps mow the lawn and water our herbs, then we blew some bubbles which were so tiny and sticky that they stayed on the walls for days!