Posts Tagged ‘Family’
2nd Birthday Blowout!
Holy Cow Folks! The party just ended! I had to finally kick the grandparents out after 3 weeks… No choice, the house is falling apart. We’re still finding people passed out under piles of Sam’s toys. We had kids swinging from the chandelier and adults on all fours. We had two birthday cakes that absolutely demanded we eat at least one piece from each. I found a policeman’s holster, no gun yet, and there’s a goat locked in the upstairs bathroom. There’s two strangers living in my car and something has been making funny noises from my shed. The turkey baster has been used, but the two toilets haven’t. There’s also the rotten smell coming from the basement and the neighbor is missing, but I am sure those two things aren’t related. I do have some good news! The mystery meat in the buffet turned out not to be my aunt’s cat as we found it in the microwave…
So all in all, it was a typical Irish 2 year-olds birthday party.
Belated Xmas Wrap Up!
It’s taken me a little longer than last year to write a Christmas round up, well, mainly because the post Christmas-I’m-fed-up-with-anything-Christmas feeling I get lasted a little longer than usual. Don’t get me wrong, we had a wonderful and happy Christmas with family and friends. Things couldn’t really have gone better, but I think the Xmas burn out is due to the fact that this year was Sam’s first real Christmas. Last year, he was like a bump on a log, sitting and watching all the merriment and traditions happen around him. He barely touched some wrapping paper. This year was a completely different story. He’s almost two, and the hyper-active, ever inquisitive little guy was fully in the Christmas spirit: which burned us out!
Back from Holidays!
Hey everybody! No the blog is most definitely not dead! Yes everyone is doing just great! We were just away from our online lives a little bit for the holidays! And now that those depressing, dark and long January days are now here, it’s time to shut out the real world once again, and delve back into our digital persona’s to help make us forget the cold outside.
Since I didn’t do this before the holidays, Melissa, Sam and I hope you all had the best of holidays! We can, however, still wish you all a very happy, healthy, successful, sexy and rich New-Year!!!! You can re-arrange those characteristics in the order of your preference 
So, check back in soon, for some Holiday Hijinx as I am waiting on my bro to get me the pictures he took over the holidays! Come on brotha!!!
Until then, here’s a family pic we took in our pyjamas one night in front of the tree. Ahhh, cozy winter nights, snuggled with my loves! Nothin’ beats it folks! Nothin’ I tells ya!!!
Getting Ready for the Fat Man
My little Xmas Elf!
Well we are now in December and the season is upon us and so far, Sam has not disappointed. Melissa and I really get into the spirit of things, as you can see on the left, and we love the goodwill that flows this time of year… Too bad it’s not year round eh? Now I realize that this isn’t the first Christmas we’ve had with Sam, but this year he is much more aware and active than his younger self was last year. This is a huge difference for us, not only the way it brings us back to our own childhoods and the innocent wonder of the season, but also on a level of parent alertness that was previously, seemingly, dormant. Take for instance, the Christmas tree… Continue reading here…
Halloween: Haunted Happenings
Well folks, it was a crazy Halloween… and I am pooped out! So for now, only some pics. But soon I will throw together a nice vid to see Aunt Ingrid in action, in her finished form! So here are a bunch of pics to tide you over as I am now going to bed!
(Click the images for larger)
I’ll be back later in the week when I wake up!
Take care all!
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High Flying Lad, Low Lying Dad
Sam in his flight suit! Geckos!!!
Hey folks, it’s been a while, but I just got so busy with certain projects that were time sensitive that the blog took a hit. Aunt Ingrid is a big reason for this, and I’ll be posting more on that for sure, but the other time bandit that’s been infecting our little lives is, well Season 4 of Bones on DVD. Good characters and good writing a TV show make! Can’t get enough, which is what makes it so dangerous to own on DVD: you watch ’till you drop! Oh well, things are looking to lighten up however, and I think we should be back on track! Big news this week: Sam can fly!!!
End of Summer
We are a couple of weeks past the official end of the summer season, which brings with it mixed feelings. On one hand: summer is awesome. The weather, overall, wasn’t that bad and we had some good times with family and friends in all sorts of place and all sorts of situations. On the other hand: Fall is awesommer! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I am a Halloween nut! Slowly but surely I am indoctrinating Melissa into the ways of All- Hallows-Eve, and hopefully Sam will be into it later on… Melissa and I are currently working on a couple projects for our Halloween display, which gets bigger every year. So Fall is a fun time for us but before we welcome those chilly nights, and leaves rustling in the wind, lets say goodbye to another summer with a smattering of pics that I’ve neglected to post.
Sam Park’s It
A sure fire staple of toddler entertainment for summer has got to be the neighborhood park. Hands down, the easiest, cheapest and quickest of the available activities with which to keep your youngsters happy. Parents love them for the previously mentioned reasons, and kiddies love them for the slides, swings, monkey bars and the sand! Bloody sand that gets everywhere! Being rookie parents, our first visit to the park was end capped by us arriving at home, hauling an exhausted Sam inside, sitting him on the couch and removing his sandals… that were full of sand! 
Sammy’s Cheese Chair
The chair...
During the week, our routine is pretty standard: get home from work, get in the house, get some food in our bellies, get Sam in a bath and get him into bed. It’s not always that straight forward, we do throw in some good old on-the-floor playin’ around time, but that’s the gist of it. And while we go through this daily grind, Sam has pretty much been nice enough to play on his own and let us prepare supper undisturbed… unless we forget to give him his cheese! This kids loves the mozzarella and he knows when it’s time for it. We have barely all shuffled through the front door and Sammy-pants B lines right for the kitchen to stand at the counter where we cut his cheese. He also has a little plastic bowl that he goes and fishes out of his toy pile and gives it to the cheese-cutter. Then an impatient finger points into the bowl expecting his snack. Naturally, to keep the peace with his grumbling belly, we comply and drop in about a dozen little cubes for him to munch on. Sam likes a quiet meal, so he used to look around for someplace to sit while eating, usually in front of the sink or fridge, because he has to see what we are doing in the kitchen. But sitting in front of the sink or fridge is a recipe for toddler trouble. So, the we bought him the chair.
Sam likes his chair.
We place it near us in the kitchen and when he gets his dairy payment to leave us alone for a bit, he grabs his bowl and heads for the chair. At first,
Just sittin', eatin' cheese...
we needed to pick him up and sit him down on it. But Sam wasn’t going to take this pampering any longer; he wanted to do it himself! Now I don’t have a video of this yet, but when I do I’ll throw it up here. It’s the funniest thing to see. He walks up to the chair, stops about two feet away, turns around so his back is to the chair and slowly walks backwards until his heels hit the chair. Now, his reversing isn’t very good yet because he doesn’t look back at where his going; he looks up at you with a smile like he’s saying “Hey, check me out! I’m backing up man!” When his heels hit a part of the chair, his butt drops… And so does the bowl of cheese cubes! 
He’s missed the chair and cheese goes flying! We still find these little, hard and dried up cheese cubes under sofas and furniture across the house! He does manage to wedge his cheeks on the chair properly after a couple of tries. He then sits down with a smile and a new bowlful of cheese to watch us get his supper ready.
Hey! Get off my Dads grass!!!
On some evenings, maybe it’s the food were preparing or the pre-dinner conversation that bores him, he picks up his chair and puts it at the front door of the house! Our front door has a big glass window inset, so he just loves looking out onto the world while scarfing his mozza. He’s our very own little old man, guard person. He yelps when he sees a dog or cat, and talks out loud when people walk by. He’s even knocked on the glass to get people’s attention, and when he does, they usually wave to him which is all he needs to flash back his cute little smile. It’s pretty neat as a parent to see your child grow up and be so aware of his surroundings. While Sam can only speak about five words, he understands a whole lot more! And yet, when he does something an adult would do, we are surprised. Not through doubt that he’d never do the things he does, just astonishment at the fact that this little guy, only a year before, couldn’t even roll over. Now he’s yelling at people to get off my grass! 
Clearly, he’s letting us get to know him a little more every day, quirks and all, which is great! He makes us laugh cause not only does he do funny things like this, but he knows they are funny and laughs with us. My kind of guy!
Don’t forget to laugh folks! Have a great weekend… cause Sam may be watching YOU!
Checkin' out the neighborhood.
Sammy Goes Bargain Hunting!
On a beautiful Saturday morning, around 6:30 A.M., Sam begins to stir in his play pen. You see, we’re at my folks house and when we sleep over, Sammy-boy gets the couch. Well, he gets the toddler equivalent anyways: the folding playpen. He’s not crazy about it, but after an exciting night with his Nanny and Grandpa, Sam is pooped out and sleeps pretty well regardless of his sleeping quarters. So the sun has barely crested the watery horizon when he decides that we should all wake up and start the day. He doesn’t just start crying and yelling like any other kid. No, our Sam stands up gripping the side of the pen, which lines up to about his nose, and with a hopeful voice blurts out: “Papa?!?” Yep, he asks for me. A house full of people, but he asks for me. Groggy Dad, who went to bed late watching movies, has to now get up and entertain, feed and change the alarmingly full diaper of his excited, wide-awake son. Now hearing him call my name in his clear, little voice as it cuts through the early morning quiet of the house is quite a heart warming thing to hear, it really is. The pamper-packer just woke up and he’s asking for me. I love it.
But I’d love it more around 7:30 or 8 o’clock!