Pictures From Sam's Party

September 16, 2014

We held a small party for Sam's first birthday. Small, but perfectly sized for a little baby.

I'm pleased as punch he wore the crown for most of the time. Typically he rips hats off immediately.

By random chance Jack had made a matching crown in preschool this week for their Friday Hat Day. I'm glad he had something to wear that matched the birthday boy. It's really hard for it not to be your birthday. Look on my flickr page for many sad-older-brother moments.

I went with easy decorations. I whipped up flag bunting from old fabric this week, got some flowers on clearance, and stuck to a small color palette. There's only a couple birthdays where the mom gets to choose the scheme, so I picked my favorite colors!

Traditional spaghetti.

Followed by favorite food - yogurt.

When the mess hit critical mass and Jack was prancing around the table I decided to move on to dessert.

Jack = ecstatic. Sam = what's going on?

Sam = What the...what do you want me to do with this?

Thank you Amanda, for knowing I would want a cake shot :-D

Ah ha! Sam easily caught on to the idea.

Jem was super helpful with cleaning during the party.

A quick tub rinse and then we moved onto presents!

Again, it's SO hard to be the non-birthday boy.

Balloons are the most bang for your buck at a party. Kids of all ages go nuts for them!

Even with all the new presents, Sam loves to do laps with this hand-me-down car.

Beautiful blue eyes.

Attempts at family portraits were awful as expected. Here are the best results. Many more takes are on my flickr site if you want to take one for yourself. As derpy as they are, I'm glad to have updated pictures of all of us.

Happy Birthday Sam! Now the fun REALLY begins!

Happy First Birthday!

September 13, 2014

Lunches

September 3, 2014

Nothing special. Just a glimpse of typical lunches as Maison Mason.

PS: still climbing. After several attempts he decided he could not get into this upper cubby.

PPS: yes, that's a new outfit. Only serve a baby yogurt if you are willing to change and sponge bathe in the middle of the day. I had already wiped him down twice mid meal on the top photos.

Sam the Mountain Goat

September 2, 2014

Sam is not showing signs of walking like I expected by now. He cruises like a champ. He goes from sitting to squatting to a stand, and back down, without using his hands. But he still flops to the floor when I try to lead him around by the hand. Call it independence, I guess.

However, one thing he can do is CLIMB. Observe:

His favorite place to hang out in the kitchen. He has figured out how to get in and out all by himself. I think of it as a hobbit hole.

Below, I tucked this chair back in the table. He immediately pulled it out and mounted up.

Walking into the kitchen and seeing this below, I pulled out my camera, baffled that he managed to climb up on the step stool. Did I even leave the stool at the counter? Hmmm, maybe should move that knife. . .

CRAP! YES! GRAB THE KNIFE AND GRAB HIM BEFORE HE FALLS OFF! WHY ARE SO MANY GLASS OBJECTS NEARBY??

For the record, I snapped this then lunged forward, catching him just as he stepped his left foot off the stool and into the air. (Note the previously removed burner knobs. That happened when we came back from preschool drop-off to the smell of burning rubber. SOMEONE had turned on the burner when a hot pad was on top. Jack denies it and I believe him. That leaves one suspect.)

In summary, thank you Grandma Betty for the new baby gate. Thank you very much indeed.

Lois Hyer Cook

September 2, 2014

My grandma, Lois Cook, passed away Friday night. She had been in hospice care, so we were expecting it. But that doesn't make it any less sad.

Lois was a quintessential grandmother. She was everything warm and happy and cozy to me. As I became an adult the visits to Layton became a lot less frequent. But I'm happy that my boys have both met her, even if they won't remember her well. I love her and I look forward to celebrating her life with all my maternal family this weekend.

Tap Class

August 28, 2014

Today was our second tap class and it was so much fun! We both felt immense progress in one week, even without practicing at home. It was just a relief to know where the studio is, what the room and teacher look like, what the vocabulary is, and what the class structure will be. With all those stressors gone we could loosen up and enjoy tapping.

My falaps were rough the first week. My left side felt immobile - I couldn't get it to do what I wanted! It's like my brain and foot weren't on speaking terms. This week my left foot was in a better mood and I could get the rhythm going.

We worked on the same combination at the end of class from the week before. I took a video so I could practice at home. You might enjoy it too, even if it isn't a video about the boys being cute. ;-)

Darn Amanda hid behind me the whole time, but you can watch her a little too. I totally biffed the shuffle ball change on the second run. But still, can you believe this was just our second class? Tap is so fun!

1 comment

Derpy Hobbit

August 27, 2014

Sam's birthday is coming up. I wanted to do a photo shoot and make nice cards for him, like I did for Jack's party invites. After mulling over a party theme I decided to go simple - gardens. Flowers, plants, sort of a Beatrix Potter / Sam Gamgee theme. Then I decided I had to re-knit a sweater for Sam. I made him this one last year but he outgrew it before the weather turned cold. I unraveled it, bought a second skein, and spent the last week hurrying to knit it up. He had all those fevers in the meantime, so it's just as well I waited. Then I had to visit two garden stores to find some decent flowers to stage the photo.

Finally today, with a beautifully overcast sky, I was ready to take some pictures.

Sam was not in the mood.

I was going to hide these. I shared them with Ben who was laughing so hard he had to share them with his office mate too. After reflection, I see how gloriously doofy they are. They need to be seen.

And finally, my personal favorite:

Oh, my beautiful child!

Grown-ups doing kid things!

August 27, 2014

Ben is great about helping me get out away from the kids for some fun. This week Amanda and I ventured to a tap class. I've wanted to learn to tap since college. Now seemed like the perfect time to try. We did some research and decided to try TAPS professional studio in the Baker neighborhood of Denver.

It was super fun. Also super hard. Tap is very much the opposite of everything I learned in ballet and modern. I haven't felt so inept about dance in decades. I can't wait to go to class again! Maybe I can sneak some pictures next time.

Last night I procured a babysitter for a date to the Alamo. They were showing The Monster Squad with special guest: star of the movie Andre Gower. I'd seen Monster Squad some years ago, probably at a Halloween movie marathon. It's a horrible 80s kids movie. The famous line that every quotes (and yelled along in the theater) is "Wolfman's got nards!" That about sums up the film. Here's the trailer if you are interested in learning more:

I was not going to attend with friends until Trevor sent this reply to Brian's invitation, that I hope he won't mind me re-printing:

The City Market in Grand Junction used to have a video store. This video store was where I'd spend most of my time if I got pulled into grocery shopping. It wasn't particularly large, so I'm not exaggerating when I say I think I saw everything that was worthwhile in that store, and knew where the videos were stocked better than the clerks. The Monster Squad was my favorite. From the box alone it had everything that would appeal to an eight year old boy: Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula and a group of kids that saves the day. The problem was very often the video was absent behind that oh so alluring case.

I would only learn about 6 years later why. Brian's Mom worked in the pharmacy there. And anytime I wasn't hoarding that VHS, he was.

I'm in.

I'm a sucker for nostalgia so that convinced me. Well, that and some time out with my husband. And an Alamo experience. And a Royale with Cheese. And a Coke Zero as big as my head. And free cookies. They gave theater members free, freshly baked, gooey cookies. Mmmmm . . .

Anyway, now you know why this meeting was sort of sweet.

Thumbs up from Van Helsing.