thehipstudio.com rocks!!!

With Steph's permission, I'm posting a few more photos from Sunday's session.

Birthday Party & Photography Session

Kelly & Abigail- 1 year

This weekend we celebrated cousin Kelly's 1st birthday. Samuel and Andrew had a great time playing superheros in the basement while Abby and Kelly entertained the adults upstairs by climbing in and out of the rocking chair. Both girls seem to be fascinated with chairs right now--it must be a one year old thing!

On Sunday we had a photography session with Stephanie. Man, is it work to get a decent picture of my kids. Abigail is at a tough age because she will not sit still for more than a few seconds before she takes off. Samuel on the other hand likes to be funny and irritate his sister (and mommy) so although we did not get the "perfect" picture with both kids sitting on a bench looking at the camera smiling, I think this one is even better...... can't you just see their fun-loving personality?Steph did an amazing job and really captured their personality. I will cherish these photos always! You can view 4 more on her photography blog. http://thehipstudio.blogsome.com

Pretty girl...wanna see my teeth?

Abigail 14 months old.

Would you like to count my teeth? Just click on my picture to make it bigger. Don't forget, I have two top molars that you can't see!

Working out with daddy.

Today, as Tom was going downstairs to workout Samuel insisted on going with him. "Daddy, I need to lift weights, too!" He was very serious about it for the first 2 minutes at least until he discovered all of his "old" toys piled up in a corner.
Tom and I have a habit of dumping the toys that he no longer plays with down there without him knowing...I think out secret is out.

beach pictures!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We're back & look who can swim!!!

We had a great time with the Griffith's this weekend! We spent a lot time at the pool, and we went to the beach one day. Fun, fun times and what great memories!

All of the girls (Olivia, Hannah & Haley) started swimming this summer...Samuel did not like the fact that they could go under water and swim. On Saturday, after getting upset with the girls because they kept going under water and leaving him behind, I suggested he wear his goggles and put on arm floats. The arm floats lasted less than a minute before he flung them off, but he loved putting his face in the water with his goggles. Within 10 minutes of him taking off all floats, he was swimming! It was amazing how fast it happened. He wasn't going to let those girls leave him behind!!! Here are a few pictures of our swimmer!!!

And a few of Abigail on the beach....I'll post more photos tomorrow.

We're headed to the beach!

Have a great weekend!
I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share on Monday.

Facts about S&A

Just a quick blog to record some things that the kids are doing/saying right now. Then when I go to scrapbook later, I'll remember!

Abigail:
*Her top two molars are coming in. The one on the right side is completely in and you can feel the left one barely poking through. All of Abby's teeth on the right side of her mouth have come in quicker than the ones on the left! She has a total of 11 teeth.

*She's sleeping through the night and has been for several months. She still takes two 2-3 hour naps a day (sometimes she takes one nap only, depending on our schedule that day.)

*Since she had ear tube surgery on May 9th, she hasn't had an ear infection.

* We don't hear "mama" or "dada" too often (sometimes mama when she's whining) but she does attempt to say "thank you" if you listen closely--- it sounds more like "da do." She's not a big talker, she much prefers to grunt, point....and grunt some more if you do not react to her first grunt and point.

*She can point to her eyes, nose, mouth, ears & belly button.

*She loves to read and flip through books.

* She's in size 4 diapers and her foot measures about a 4.

* She loves to wear necklaces and bracelets.

*She can eat with a fork!

*Waves "bye bye," blows kisses, gives hugs.

Samuel:
*His foot measures around a 11.5 and he wears size 5/6 clothes.

*He's allergic to cats--poor guy!

*He LOVES superhero's, transformers & building with Lego's.

*He thinks that every race or game we play, he should win.

*He can write his name

*Every morning, as soon as he hears Abigail make a noise, he runs into her room and climbs in bed with her. If she wakes up with a stinky, he reports back to me quickly, if she doesn't they play for about 15-20 minutes.

* He's a proud big brother. When we meet a stranger, he always introduces Abby first---"This is Abigail. Isn't she cute?"

*He loves to go on hikes and explore.

I'm sure I'll be adding more to the list later...

It's my birthday...

Don't worry, I didn't know either until this afternoon when Samuel informed me. Much to my surprise, I had many many presents waiting for me. I even had a "special" wrapped one.

Setting up!

One by one he handed the presents to me. He was so excited to see my reaction to each gift. "Now mommy, here's a bear blanket to keep you warm...This is a superhero that you can play with... oh, and here are some blocks so you can build a tall tower." Can you guess what was in the wrapped package? A blueberry pie made out of playdoh..delicious.

Look at all my presents!!!

A birthday's not a birthday without cupcakes, now is it?;-)

...now, if I only knew how old I was turning today!!!
**BTW-My birthday is in January**

Sibling Sweetness

"Hey guys, give eachother a kiss." Samuel puckered up but Abigail decided she wanted to blow her kiss.

(something she has just learned to do)

"What are you looking at?" - "I don't know, what are you looking at?"

"I'll tell you a secret...but don't tell mommy."

Summer fun!

GO...GO...GO...that sums up our weekend!


FRIDAY
Friday morning we decided to go to Downpour water park in Sterling. It's a relatively small water park with several big water slides in the main pool. It also has a zero-depth entry play pool (for younger children) that has interactive play features all around but best of all it has a huge bucket that dumps 1000 gallons of water every 3 minutes. The kids had a blast!


Friday night I had a nice evening with several of my closest girlfriends. We caught up on our scrapbooking projects, ate yummy snacks, had a glass of wine okay maybe two glasses and best of all had some much needed girl time!! Thanks for hosting, TAG.


SATURDAY
Saturday we took the kids to our neighborhood pool. Tom and I were amazed at how much Samuel has changed since we were at the beach in July. He has always loved the pool but for some reason when we were at the beach he refused to jump into the pool. Today, he was on fire! That's all he wanted to do. At one point I looked over, and he had his face emerged in the water. He asked if I would count to see how long he could hold his breathe. Abigail is a little fish as well--she has no fear. The little toot refuses to go in her cute little hippo float that I was so excited about. I guess she doesn't want to be stuck in a float when she can be in my arms splashing and kicking away. I can't say that I blame her. :-)



As we were getting ready to leave, we looked over and Samuel had Tom's shirt (on backwards) and his hat on. He's such a funny kid. So here is Samuel pretending to be daddy!




Saturday night we attended a 40th birthday party. We had a babysitter come to my parents house to watch Samuel, Abby, Jac & Colm. Samuel & Jac always have the best time playing together. When we arrived home around 11pm the boys were wide awake having a good old time. You know, I had forgotten what it was like to go out with my husband. I think that's something we need to do it more often. ;-)


SUNDAY
I attempted to clean my messy house in the AM--then I remembered reading a quote on my friend Steph's blog. I didn't want to waste anymore time so I left the mess and decided to have a little time for myself and scrapbook!

"A clean house is a sign of a wasted life" :-)


Tom and Samuel went on a long hike together. Since Abby and I couldn't join them, Samuel took his camera along. Here are two pictures from the hike. There's apparently a HUGE fish in the photo on the right.

After the boys returned from their hike we headed over to our friend Lisa's house for a BBQ. The kids played with water toys and had a great time together.
We did discover while at the BBQ that Samuel is in fact allergic to cats-I guess he gets that from me...poor guy. By the time we got home he was coughing and wheezing and his eyes were red and swollen. Doesn't he look like he's been in a fight? This just confirms what we suspected. Several weeks ago we had a similar incident while we were at a friends house. I was hoping it was just a fluke. I will talk to his doctor soon to see how we should handle this. I have a special inhaler and nose spray that I use before I go into a house with cats so hopefully they can give him the same thing.

Marrying Alexa

S-If I marry Alexa, does that mean I have to stay w/ her?

M-Yes honey, you would have your own house like Mommy & Daddy.

S- but she has all that girlie stuff.

M-Well, maybe she will let you bring some of your boy stuff.

S-You mean we can have boy and girl stuff in our room?

M-Yep!

S-Would you miss me?

M- Of course I would miss you but mommy and daddy will visit you all the time...like when we visit Grandma'ma & Papa and you can always come visit us, too. But sweetie you aren't getting married anytime soon!

Fun in the sun!

Abigail and I had a great time today while Samuel was at a friends house! This was her first time playing in our turtle pool. Of course, once she figured out how to climb in and out of it that's all she wanted to do.







You don't know how many times we have had to pry open Abby's mouth to get dog food out of it! She loves playing in Isabelle's food and splashing in her water bowl. Poor Izzy!

I don't wanna go to school...

Lately, Samuel has been a little pill when I try to wake him up for school. It's amazing the excuses he comes up. This was our conversation this morning.

M-good morning, it's time to get up

S- I don't want to go to school today. My tummy hurts.

M-why do you think your tummy hurts?

S- from the cookie I ate last night

M-then maybe you shouldn't eat anymore cookies for dessert.

S-my stomach feels better...but I still don't want to go to school.

M-why?

S- because Grace always tries to hug and kiss me and that's gross!