What's up Doc?!

Mr. Bunny and his side kick Ms. Cottontail

One of the perks of being a parent and pet owner.. dressing them up and taking pictures. Raven cooperated much better than Samuel did.

Happy 7th Birthday Mariah!

Mariah turned 7 on March 14. She's an amazingly intelligent, creative litte girl and we love her to pieces. I have pictures of myself posing just like this on my birthdays from the time I turned 8. They are of me sitting in that very same chair, at the exact same table, in the same house. W-O-W!

Random Pics

This is what happens when toddlers eat peaches. They get cool new hair dos!
Yummy peachy fingers.

Samuel hugging his baby. He has two actually. He's started pretend feeding them and has even offered them his pacifier... quite the sacrifice for this little guy. ;)
Samuel's current obsession.. well one of them at least. Vacuuming.
We usually don't turn it on. He just pushes it around the house. I guess it's our fault that he is this way. We do vacuum quite a bit b/c Raven sheds so much. Seriously people. I have never seen a child so obsessed with vacuum cleaners in my life. He whines for them daily.. sometimes all day. The site of them alone would scare most toddlers but not Samuel. I think he loves the noise more than anything. I made the mistake of going down the vacuum cleaner isle at Target recently. He was leaning out of the cart reaching and whining for them. You'd have thought it was something cool like a toy or food but nope just boring old vacuum cleaners. Strange!

Look Who's Walking

Samuel has been working on walking for the past 2-3 weeks now. He's finally getting the hang of it. Every day he walks more and more. He's carrying around his socks in this video. I guess he thought that would be a fun thing to do.

Happy Birthday Poppy!

Poppy would have turned 94 today. It goes without question that we miss him and think of him often. He comes to us in the tiniest of ways in our every day lives. A picture, an item, a poppyism. They come unexpectedly most of the time. They bring a lump to my throat, a tear to my eye and tug at my heart. I think we all have that special someone whose memory resides permanently in our minds and hearts. Poppy is that person for me.
I love you Poppy and I look forward to seeing you again.

Go faster daddy!

Samuel loves to be pushed around in the laundry basket. We chase the dogs around the house and he loves it.. more than they do I'm sure.
Watch out mama here I come!

Valentine's Day Haircut

The trip to get Samuel's first "real" haircut started off well. We took him to a place that's just for kids so they had lots of cool toys and things to distract him. I'm sure he was wondering what he had done to deserve to be in such a cool place. "Was it the dog food I ate or standing in the tub that got me such an awesome reward!"
Samuel got to sit in a cool firetruck to get his hair cut. As you can see, he was still calm at this point and thoughts of getting the worst torture imaginable hadn't crossed his mind... YET! He seemed a little suspicious that something not so fun was about to take place.Misery setting in.

Okay.. now that his hair is wet it's time to comb it and see just what a mess mama had made. As I said, this is his first "real" haircut. I couldn't stand watching the pathetic trim I had given him grow out any longer. If he could've run away at this point I think he would have.

Samuel's really starting to get upset at this point. He was trying to lean away from her but she kept combing and it was driving him nuts. I was trying to distract him with bubbles, the TV.. anything.. but nothign worked.

Now the ultimate torture has begun.. the cutting. He was so upset but there was no turning back now. I tried to distract him with his pacifier, Mardi Gras beads, food.. nothing worked. He was downright miserable but the torture.. I mean haircut.. continued. Samuel stopped crying for about 2 seconds when another stylist across from him started blow drying this little girl's hair. Typically, he likes the hairdryer. When I use it in the morning I always point it at him and he loves it. Of course, this time he hated it.

He's almost done and is 100% miserable and upset. He could see what was going on in the mirror so I'm sure that didn't help. Poor little guy.

The torture has come to an end and he is finally calming down. I'm sure he's thinking "What a lousy Valentine's Day gift!!!"