Holiday Shoots

For Sam, Christmastime has arrived early.  

We met up with some Lens Baby friends for a couple of holiday shoots this week and we are officially in the Christmas Spirit!

Recognize this porch with the black door?  

I brought some baby here

last year

- don't know where he went to!

So pensive...

This counts as a big pile of leaves here in Texas, so we had to have a little fun with them!

Had to include this one, even though it's not Christmas-y.  This is Chester, Chestnut Square's resident cat.  He really had fun with all the kids that day.  He'd run away when they chased him, but always came right back for more. Sam and I were the last to leave and while I was packing up all the props I noticed them sitting so quietly together.  I grabbed my camera and quickly snagged a couple shots of these two boys right as Chester was snuggling up to Sam.  It almost made me reconsider my feelings about cats.  Almost.  I guess any cat who likes my boy this much must be pretty okay so I'll make an exception for Chester!  He even got in our car, twice, while I was loading props.  Sam's eyes were huge when he saw Chester hop in the front seat!  I think we'll have to go back soon and visit our new little friend.

It's a Pa-wade!

A very memorable parade, indeed.

We returned to the exact same parade spot we snagged last fourth to watch McKinney's parade Monday morning. Sam was in a little bit of a funk, for some unknown reason, so his pictures didn't turn out particularly "smiley". But the parade was a success overall...ask him what we saw that day and he will tell you every time, "fire twucks, motorcycles, and horse poop!"

Happy Fourth!

image credit:  Daddy

image credit:  Pops

image credit:  Daddy

Neighborhood Parade

Our Fourth of July celebration started off right in our own neighborhood.

Saturday morning we walked down to the same corner we were at last year to watch our neighborhood's parade.  There were fire trucks, police cars and kids on bikes throwing candy!  That night Gram and Pops and I took Sam to see our fireworks display by the big bass lake. It was an awesome show and Sam did great. He fussed right at the end (just in time for the grand finale) but that's never a surprise on a no-nap day. I carried Sam home -

all the way home

- he was sound asleep, dead weight and sweaty!

The next day we just had to make a pa-wade with our trucks and cars and Sesame Street friends.  Everyone loves a parade!

Mother's Day

We had a nice, relaxing Mother's Day this year.  Brian got up early to make me breakfast and had Sam bring me a flower from the bouquet he bought, along with a funny card (which was addressed to "Mum"), into the bedroom when I first woke up.   "Here you go, Mama", he said! 

We enjoyed an awesome breakfast - eggs, sausage, bagels with salmon and cream cheese, juice and coffee - before heading out to meet Gram and Pops for a picnic at Frisco Commons. Andrew, Great-Grandma and my Uncle Brad joined us, too, and we had fun eating lunch and taking a walk in the windy, but pretty weather. Sam was such a patient boy that we finished our day at the park with some time on the giant wooden playground. Sam did the silly stairs with Gram, the swings with Pops and the horsies with Andrew.

Jan and Emil sent me the sweetest card and Nell and I chatted on the phone later that evening.  Thanks, too, to Brian and Brad for the flowers.  It was fun photographing something new for a change and they look great in the house!  The two pictures of Sam at the bottom of the post are from the Mother's Day Tea at Sam's school.  His teachers did a great job of celebrating us moms and Sam enjoyed showing me the puzzles he plays with at school!

Easter

Finally - Easter pictures!

A small Easter basket at home, then off to Gram and Pops for another basket and a backyard egg hunt!

A Visit from Granny

Granny Nell stopped by this week with some Easter surprises.

She brought Sam some fuzzy baby ducks that quack when you squeeze them and some Sesame Street critters. Needless to say Sam was quite happy! She stayed for lunch and had some alone time with Sam while I met with our insurance adjuster and contractor. Sam read her books, and they shared a cookie snack while watching Oswald. What a fun visit!

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! 

Dear Santa

Get me outta here!

So far, Sam's embraced Christmas and all its traditions - trees, cookies, ornaments and lights. Until today. Sitting on a bearded stranger's lap while another stranger, wearing a silly elf hat, squeaks a dog toy at you is not on Sam's list of "fun-things-to-do". But it's pretty much what we expected.

He fell on a toy block last night and bruised his cheek a little. For a split second we worried it would show up in his Santa picture, then we decided it won't matter because he'll be screaming. And scream he did.

Several nice parents in line behind us commented that this picture will be our favorite Sam and Santa picture in twenty years or so. As awful as it is, we're pretty sure they're right!

Once the Santa ordeal was over, we were ready for some fun. We took Sam to Santa's Village, did a little shopping, and had another burrito for lunch. Best of all, Sam did some more dancing around the singing Christmas tree.  What a day!

Wondering if Sam's grown much in the last 12 months?  Check out last year's Santa photo, side-by-side with this year's photo.  Good Golly!

Spritz a la Sam

Meet Sam, our Spritz Sprinkle-Shaker extraordinaire.

Christmas offically doesn't begin until the first batch of Spritz come out of the oven. This year, Sam was our little helper, and he did a great job of shaking the sprinkles and "pretty balls". When Gram asked Sam, "Do you want green or red?", Sam eyes got big and he shook his head YES, so green

and

red is what he got, one color for each hand. Our cookies have never looked prettier!

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.

Kih-Kih-Mee

Oh kih-kih-me, oh kih-kih-mee,

You're full of many "no-no's".

Actually, Sam's done very well with the ornaments and the tree. We didn't put one up last year because he had just started crawling and was trying to pull up on things. But now that the initial excitement and urge to pull off all of the "bawls" and "yights" has passed, Sam is enjoying his tree, gently touching the branches and "bear-wees", and pointing to all of his ornaments including "Gee's bird" and "baby Zeezus".

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!

When The Birds Were The Bees

Buzzzzzz.

The day I got Sam's bee costume at our local children's resale shop, I stopped at a thrift store in town, just to look around. I found a bee "body" for grownups for $1.99. It was looking like Sam and I were meant to be a pair of sweet honeybees for Halloween this year. Brian asked if I could get my hands on some yellow duct tape so that he could join in the fun. A quick trip to the craft store for some duct tape, pipe cleaners and yellow pom-poms and our costumes were complete!

We invited the grandparents over to the hive for dinner and trick-or-treating. Sam made it just halfway down the block, stopping at only a few houses for treats, but that was plenty for us, too. We all ended up sitting on our porch with dessert and coffee and passed out candy to the neighborhood kids by the light of Daddy's second awesome jack-o-lantern.

What a Happy Halloween!.

Halloween, Round One

I think Noah would have welcomed this cute bee onto his ark with open arms. 

Sam got to dress up for Mother's Day Out today. The kids could either be someone from the Bible or an animal on Noah's ark.  We had already found this cute bee costume, so we were all set for today.  Sam loves bees and has for a long time.  He can't say his zzz's yet, but he has a bee sound all his own and points out bees, real and otherwise, everywhere we go. 

We are planning on taking him trick-or-treating this Sunday.  Granny Nell and Vic and Gram and Pops are coming over to help us celebrate and I'll be taking lots of pictures for sure.  Until then, here's a preview of our little bee.  We took these pictures out front this morning before we left for school.  I like how they turned out, but I'm kicking myself for not getting a shot of his stinger.  Oh, well...on my to-do list for Sunday!

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. 

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.

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 New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

Sam had a great first day of 2010 - Gram and Pops came over for dessert and coffee to help us complete our New Year's Day celebration.
They brought gifts for Sam...of course they did, right? Because it's been, what, less than a week since they last gave him presents. Somebody's getting spoiled - it's peach puffs, cheesy snacks and best of all, another BALLOON!  Food and balloons - no better way for Sam to start off the new year!

Happy New Year!

Love,

The Strakas

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.