The Joy of Love... last day

28 the future
Well, I wasn't able to stick with it like I had hoped but it did give me a goal somedays.  It let me look at my life differently and appreciate some of the little things of my life.
Today's task... the future.  I wasn't sure how to capture this.  It did, however, get my wheels turning and thinking about the future.  What does life hold for Sam?  Who will he grow to be, meet, love?  
Today he caught a ball.  More than once.  I felt my heart grow.  I know it seems like no big deal, but to me it was amazing.  My kid can catch a ball.  That's soul food for a PE teacher momma!  I suddenly started picturing him shooting the winning basket, intercepting a pass and scoring a touch down, doing a crazy scissor kick and scoring on the best goalie in the league... then I came back to earth to see my bright eyed boy holding his Dora ball waiting for mommy to be ready to catch.
A good friend of mine said to me today "Can you believe that you and Shaun have made the sweetest little boy ever?"  I truly can't.  I can only dream of the person he is going to be.  I don't know if he'll be a super star or famous or brilliant, but I do know he will make the lives of all the people who meet him just a little better.  He has a little sparkle to him that makes him special.  I'm proud of my babe, more than anything.  Look out world, Samuel Connolley is growing up fast and has big plans for you!

The Joy of Love - day 22 (using 26 theme)

26 the bromance
Here is a very typical example of life at my house...

On Thursday, the boys and I made snow ice cream.  My very crafty friend had the 'recipe' on her page a long time ago, and when the snow started to fall on Tuesday I put a bowl outside to catch us some ice cream making ingredients.  It truly is super easy to make... I did it with two very crazy toddlers and we had a huge success.  The ingredients are simply milk, sugar and vanilla mixed together until sugar is dissolved and then snow is slowly added until the consistency is right.  Loved it!  And actually very tasty! 
Important tip*** Be aware of where you are getting your snow from!  Avoid foot traffic areas or anywhere pets could go.  We caught ours in a bowl so it never touched the ground.

Super simple ingredients.

Taste testers...

Stamp of approval!!!  

The Joy of Love - day 21

21 hands
I've fallen behind, but oh well.  


Hands are one of those things that make moms like me wonder... what will these hands do one day?  What will they make?  Who will they hold?  Will they like sports or will they like music and art?  Who will hold these hands in 25 years wanting to be with him forever?  So many things to wonder and dream about when I look at his hands...
Today we did a wonderfully messy craft and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to catch my little Sam's hands in action. 

The Joy of Love - day 17

17 staying in
Blog... what blog?  Oh yes, my blog!  How I've missed you.  Been nursing a little boy back to health and trying to stay warm in another cold snap, on top of Teacher's Convention.  So much to do, so little time.  The topic for the 17th was 'staying in', however we went out for Sam's bday.  Then the 18th was 'going out' and was supposed to be a picture of Shaun and I out and about spending time together alone... not a chance!  And today was 'when they're gone' but we never left the house today as it is VERY cold out and Sam is still quite ill.  So today we stayed in, and I used today as my day 17 topic.

Sam helping Shaun beat the egg whites for our waffles.  So cute!

A story from Sam's birthday... Shaun's family came to visit on the 17th for Sam's actual birthday.  Sam was napping when his parents arrived and woke up still tired and feeling crumby.  He rolled around on my lap, ignored everyone, cried... overall a miserable little character.  Not too long after, Sam's brother and his brother's girlfriend got to our house.  Sam saw him coming and yelled "Uncle Chris"... first thing he said all afternoon.  He was so excited and happy to see Chris and soon remembered Robyn and they became BFFs too.  Thank goodness they came or Mom, Dad, Gramma and Grandpa would have spend the afternoon with a real grouch!  Uncle Chris, best birthday gift this little boy could have asked for!

The Joy of Love - day 16 and 16

15 kiss and 16 together (self-portrait)
Ooops... another late entry.  And I'm cheating and combining two themes with one picture.  Baby is sick, so I just don't seem to have the time or energy like I did last week.

Geeze I love this man.

Here are a few shots from Sam's last day of swimming lessons.  His daddy came to swim with him for 'graduation day".  Our little fishy!

Best game... chase the ping pong ball around the lazy river.  Sam's a champ!

I know these are the best pictures... the light at the pool is a little tricky and these were taken from quite a long way away and then cropped.  Regardless, check out Sam's jump-ability!  Crazy!

Post swim lesson play.  Parker is trying to transfer water from her watering can to Sam's through the spout. 

We passed!!!!  Our 'duck' graduates and their proud daddies.

P hanging out in the hot tub.

Happy to swim, Sam relaxes in the hot tub after a lesson well done.

The Joy of Love - day 13 and 14

After a crazy busy birthday bash day, I fell behind on the photography assignment.  I did days 13 and 14 today.  I also got some shots of our family at For the Love of the Animals event at the zoo where we went and wished the animals a Happy Valentine's Day.  
13 routines

After a cup of milk we head upstairs.  First stop, potty.

Brush teeth

Quick play in the tub.

SHARK!

Blow bubbles (or drink water)

Wash hair.  Next stop, bed.  Ahhhh, another night-night success.

14 wedding band/jewelry

Baby two years old, wedding bands over 5.5 years old.  Each year is even better than the last.

Some Valentine's day fun...

At the zoo... watch out for the lemur!  Sam doesn't trust that bug eyes fur ball one bit!

The message Sam left for the tiger... for some reason we drew an elephant.  Maybe tigers like elephants as much as us, either way, it's the thought that counts.

Peaceful lunch in the old butterfly house, which is now a BEAUTIFUL lunch area filled with plants, flowers and water.  Ahhhhhh, if only I could eat lunch there everyday.

This was after Sam nearly fell into the little pond and a sweet Asian mom saved him.  Oooops.

HIPPO!

All played out!  Sam fell asleep in his wagon on our walk out.  That's when you know you've had just the right amount of fun!

Valentine's Day 2011... all wearing our vday shirts.  Shaun and mine have Sam's hand print and Sam's has a heart made out of my thumb prints.  Cute and easy gift idea.

Boy oh boy do we love this little person!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

The Joy of Love - day 11 AKA SAM's Bday Bash

11 dreams

Dreams... I think Shaun and I were successful in creating (with help from my friend Stacey) the birthday party of Sam's dreams.  It was a Sesame Street theme (Sam's a big fan) and I think it was a hit.  Sam spent most the party wondering around in a daze.  Maybe it was because there were 14 other toddlers in his house or maybe it was because he couldn't believe how awesome it was!  I think it was probably a combination of the two, but all in all it was a CRAZY fun time.
Once again, I have to give kudos to Stacey.  She did many of the small finishing touches that made it extra special.  The ideas Stacey DREAMs up are amazing... seriously I think you should start making money off your talents, Stac!
We had friends travel from a long way to spend the day with us and never in my DREAMs did I think all the people I invited would be able to make it.  My sister and her little baby even came to take in some of the fun.  I think Brielle will DREAM beautiful DREAMs of her peaceful baby girl after seeing so many wild little boys!
Shaun gave me a hard time putting up so many of the birthday party photos... I narrowed it from 150 to my favorite 52 and then down to these ones.  Less is not more in this case, MORE is MORE.  Not sure, but there might be more added... :)

The party favors.

Birthday cake... definitely did not turn out exactly like we had hoped, but Shaun and I had fun making them.  Tip: If you want BOLD colours, go with gel dye vs dye drops.

One of the 5 stations: BIG BIRD'S BOOKS (complete with elmo beanbag chair and Sesame Street books).  We also had a ME LOVES COOKIES! station that was a very simple pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey style game; ERNIE'S RUBBER DUCKY TUB (pictures of this station are in this blog); ELMO LOVES HIS CRAYON AND PLAYDOH TOO (colouring sheets that I printed off the Sesame Street website which is amazing if your kids are into SS); and finally OSCAR'S TRASH TOSS (also with pictures below).

Party brought to you by the letter S and the number 2!

More kid treat bags, so cute.

Kids get to work colouring!

P trying to use her beauty to get that balloon away from Sam... 

Nate and Matty chillin' wondering where their brother is...

Oh hey Luc!  There you are!

Mac loving a game of balloon toss.

Parker goes for the jello jiggler.

Sam a little skeptical of his jello S... didn't take long before he was loving them!

So much like brother... Sam gets distracted and Smith snags the good stuff off his plate.  Swiper!  No swiping!  Oh wait, this is a Sesame Street birthday, not Dora!

Blowing out his candle.  CAKE TIME!

Jack went for it! 

Smith takes an aggressive stance on cake consumption!

Parker being dainty.

Lincoln not too sure about this cake...

Logan LOVES cake.  

Gavin dives it!

Bennett thinks the icing is the best part.

Sam takes his time.

Too cool!

Best idea!  Created a Oscar trash can out of a large tupperware bin and tinfoil.  All the gift wrap was thrown in the 'trash' after each gift.  Fun and helpful!

Party goes under the table.  Payton, Parker, Smith, Jack and Sam played under this table for at least 15 minutes.  FYI - my super handy husband built this table and it was perfect.  Perfect height and size for the kiddos to colour, play playdoh, eat and play under.  Perfect.

This is Ernie's Tub.  I envisioned kids taking turns with the little net fishing out rubber ducks and playing with bubbles.  My vision was WAY off.  It got CRAZY!

Back in the kitchen, sweet Baby S continues to sleep.  All day.  Seriously, alllllll day.  The loudest and craziest party in my tiny house and she slept through it.  Such a good little girl.

Ok, the tub was a hit.  It got way too intense for the little girls.  Water everywhere!  Soaking wet kids.  Smith even dunked his whole head in.  These guys take their ducky fishing seriously!

Parker returns with the net to try to show them how to do it right... thanks for trying P.

Couple photos out of place... its very hard to add things if you've forgotten them on this blog.  A couple more shots of Sam's buddies!

Logan stops for a water break!

I could take pictures of Avery all day.  Pretty little face.

Jack found the perfect seat.

Sam and Payton playing playdoh.  BFFs.

An attempt at a group shot... not only were the Alexander triplets missing, but Lincoln and Logan escaped and Jack HATES the idea of a group shot.  Meh, there's always next year!

Good bye friends... thank you soooo much for all the fun.  We sure do love you guys.

And as I crawl into bed tonight, I'll think about how two years ago I couldn't have DREAMed what Sam's second birthday would be like.  It's even more wonderful than I could have imagined.