Merry Christmas!

This past weekend, Peter, Sam and I had our own little Christmas with just the three of us since Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are full of family gatherings. It was a lot of fun to watch Sam open up his presents because he definitely got the hang of it this year. They had been under the tree for a few days, but he didn't realize what fun was hiding inside! Once he got going, he wanted to open everything, even gifts not for him, so we had to put those aside.






We wish a blessed Christmas to all our friends and family!

Some pictures from the last few weeks...

We went to visit my dad on his birthday, and Sam got to go on a tractor ride with Grandpa!

This was the second annual Christmas cookie baking party! This year both of my grandmothers joined in on the fun too.
Peter had to work until 9 on his birthday, but we did get to go out to dinner and a movie the weekend before (thanks for babysitting, Candace!), and we met up with some friends at Majors.
This is what our computer looked like the day before my big final project was due for school after I set it on the ground and got the biggest electrical shock of my life. Ouch! Thankfully, I found a way to get it to work again after consulting the manual, and I did not lose the final project!
Amy & Luke closed on their house in Apple Valley last week. Yeah! Sam was pretty tired after moving all those boxes and furniture, so he took a little nap on their living room floor.

Friday night we celebrated Christmas with my dad's extended family. You'll see Sam below with his second cousin, Devon, who is a cutie! He was born just four days before Sam's first birthday.

Saturday was the party for my mom's side, but we missed that one due to the bad weather. At the time the party was starting, our road had still not been plowed and three cars had gotten stuck right outside our front door within a one hour period!

December 13th and 14th

Happy Birthday Mom (Grandma Kim)!

and

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to Amber!

As you can see, December is a busy birthday month. Today we celebrated my mom's birthday by helping her set up her Department 56 Christmas village. She hasn't put it up in a couple years because it is A LOT of work - it has 79 houses in it! It is pretty impressive once it's all done.

December 9th

Happy 30th Birthday Peter!

We love you!!!

Love,

Kristin & Sam

December 3rd

Happy Birthday Dad (Grandpa Roy)

and

Happy Birthday Danielle

We hope you both have a wonderful birthday!!!

It's been awhile...

Life sure keeps us busy. I have no idea how I'm going to keep up with everything once I start working again! I'm officially done with classes next week, and then I start student teaching and Sam starts daycare :-( at the end of January. It'll be hard to be away from him, but I think he'll like the new toys and the socializing. We just stopped by there today to drop off some paperwork and meet the other kids. Of course, in our short visit, Sam managed to get pushed down by a bigger kid and ended up with a bloody lip! He's okay though - just needed a little TLC and a kleenex.

Sam is 18 months old now, and so far he says the following words (though I'm sure I'm forgetting a few):

baba (for sippy cup or milk)

cheese

wawa (water)

please (though it there's no "l" so it sounds like "peas")

shoes

door

all da (all done)

baby

puppy

dada

mama

snow

eye

ball

car

tree

hi

bee

He uses this last word not only for pictures of an actual bee but for anything that is tiny - ladybugs, pieces of fuzz, crumbs, a piece of hair. He gives me these things and says "bee" and wants me to do something with them. There are lots of other words he will say when we ask him to repeat after us, but he doesn't necessary use them on his own. For instance, if we ask him to say Uncle Reed, he'll say "uh-oh wee".

We have taught him some baby signs, and he seems to pick up on these right away. He knows signs for milk, more, hungry, all done, please, thank you, and apple. It just melts my heart when he uses these. Especially when he uses the sign for please and says please at the same time - it's just so darn cute! He also likes to help us around the house now, like unloading groceries and putting them away.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my parents house - Sam's favorite things to eat were fudge, cranberries, and pumpkin bars - he refused everything else. The next day, we forced him to have a strict vegetable only diet, so hopefully things are now back to normal, but see how happy he is when filled with Thanksgiving goodies:-)

We got to meet little Emmalyn on Friday - she's so sweet and tiny! Her mom, Lisa, and I have been friends since 7th grade!

We have our Christmas tree up now. My grandmother gives us a Minnesota Zoo ornament each year (she's been a volunteer there since 1979), and they are always made out of wood, so those are the ornaments that are kid-safe and near the bottom of the tree. So far, Sam likes to point at them and talk to them and he's pretty good (most of the time) about not taking them off of the tree, so I think he's on Santa's good list this year:-)