Where Did July Go?

I can't believe it's been a month since I last sat down to do this. In that month, we've had a great 4th of July with Mark and Walker and Frazier at the River (minus the day I spent in bed with a stomach virus...uggh), celebrated Sam's birthday (about 7 different ways - see various pictures below!), soaked up lots of snuggles during my last few weeks of maternity leave, returned to work, and had Caroline's first day of school!

Rather than type a big wordy update, I'm going to let the pictures do the talking in this update with minimal interruption. We'll do a more complete post soon, but wanted to get these sweet pictures up!

Sweet pictures of Caroline getting stronger and sitting up!

The first of many birthday celebrations for Sam... in North Carolina with Nana and Papa over July 4th weekend. He LOVES his fireman hat and fire truck!



We're missing pictures from the River (Auntie Walker has promised to send hers!), but have these sweet pictures after our return home on the 4th.
Caroline wearing her adorable ruffly outfit from the Hathaways...and falling over during her photo shoot!




Sam and Caroline playing on the floor in Sam's room in their July 4th attire!
What a sweet little face from our growing girl!

And then the birthday extravaganza continued! We let Sam open a small present each morning of his "birthday week." The kid really loves opening presents, perhaps even more than the presents themselves. He had fun wearing these silly bands all week, though!

In the class tradition, I took cupcakes in to Sam's school on the last school day before his birthday. Sam, who believes that the whole point of birthdays is to eat cupcakes, was THRILLED!
Sam and Liza with their cupcakes!

Chip and Phy came over that evening to bring Sam his birthday presents - a super-fun track for his Thomas trains, and some delicious Cars-shaped cupcakes, mac-and-cheese molds, and turkey meatloafs! Phy had a lot of fun with the Cars cupcake pan!

Sam and his sweet buddy Liza shared a birthday party on Sam's actual birthday out at the beach. It was overcast all morning, but the rain held off for the party, and the kids didn't let it keep them out of the water or the sand. It was a fun little morning with all Sam and Liza's bestest buds.

Caroline slept through most of the birthday party but woke up in time for a little snuggling with Dad.

Sam & Aunt Mere-Mere...
This sweet little birthday boy sure does love the beach!

Ashley and Brady were in town to meet Caroline and help Sam celebrate, and Sam had fun playing with all his new (and old) toys with Brady! This pirate ship was our big present for Sam, who loves being outside despite the crazy Florida heat...so we figured we'd better find a way to help make outside play a little bit cooler!

Once all the birthday celebrations were done, we relaxed back into normal life for a couple more weeks!

Kiddos having fun playing on the floor at home :)

And a few final sweet pictures of Miss Caroline, who is now 3 months old! She has had her first two days of daycare and loves it so far. It's mom who's having trouble being separated from her!

We'll do a better update soon... Lots of love to all!

Overdue for a Catch-Up!

It's been a long time since we've posted, and we've been busy! Caroline turned two months old yesterday, and she's becoming such a big girl. Sam, meanwhile, continues to be a hilariously fun little man. I know it's a cliche, but times REALLY flies when you have little kiddos. I have to remind myself to slow down and appreciate it :)

About two weeks ago, we went out to the beach for a couple days to see the Hathaways. We had fun at Ragtime with Katie & David Thursday night, then Sam had a blast playing with Cohen on the beach Friday. Henry came over after his naptime and all 3 boys played at Chip and Phy's house. Sam was SO EXCITED to see the boys, and he wore himself out having a good time with them! (Sadly, we forgot our camera, so we don't have any pictures!)

No rest for the weary, though, because the next morning we packed up and headed to NC for a week with all the Stricklands! It was SO NICE to spend a week with family that we don't see nearly often enough. Having a full week gave us plenty of time to catch up (in between running around after all the kids!)

Sam loved, loved, loved playing with Nana and Papa and all his second cousins. We owe credit to Uncle David for most of these photos. Although we remembered our camera this time, we were having too much fun to pull it out of the bag and take pictures!

By Wednesday, Sam was completely exhausted from playing on the beach, so Clay took him to Beaufort for a change of pace to look at the boats. Once there, they decided to take a ride on the ferry, and Sam was in heaven.

Aunt Tricia and Aunt Sandra planned so many cute activities for all the grandbabies. They decorated hats, played with bubbles and toys, and made "cousin shirts" -- bright yellow t-shirts they decorated with each others' handprints. So adorable!

While Sam was busy playing on the beach, boating, and crafting, Caroline soaked up some time with her grandparents...especially Nana, who showered her with love and attention!

And Clay managed to find some time to sit and relax...a real luxury these days! :)

And I enjoyed the gloriously cool weather. It was in the low 60's most nights we were there, and it was SPLENDID.

David, a long-time Hockey fan, has adopted the Bruins since he arrived in Boston, so he & Dad had fun watching the Stanley Cup finals all week.

All that cheering is exhausting...

And the family celebrated with an early birthday cake for my cousin Drew (my "birthday twin" - we were born on the same day 11 years apart and have celebrated together at the beach every year for as long as I can remember!) and I. Huge kudos to Emily for the amazing birthday cake complete with a fondant boat and sand castle!

We traveling back Saturday night, and we celebrated Father's Day at home with Clay. We were all pretty tired, but it was a great day! Clay got to relax and watch the U.S. Open, and the kiddos (okay, mostly Sam) showered him with homemade cards and presents.

I can't say enough about how amazing a father Clay is. He is the rock of our family, and I couldn't imagine going through life (especially this parenting adventure) with anyone else. I used to think holidays like Mother's and Father's day were cheesy holidays created by Hallmark. That may still be true, but now that we're parents I'm so very grateful to have a day set aside to celebrate and be thankful for the wonderful fathers in our lives.

And, finally, a few cute pics of the kiddos at home from the past couple weeks. We tried for weeks to get a cute picture of Sam beside our dogwood tree, and now we can't get him to STOP posing in front of it. Every time he walks by, he stops and says, "CHEEEEESE!"

Sweet Caroline!

Happy Memorial Day!

It just didn't feel like Memorial Day not being at the River. I can't remember the last time we weren't there for the weekend...but this year, with a 5-week-old, we were not quite in enough of a groove yet to take on the adventure of an 8-hour drive each way within 3 days and sleeping with two pack n' plays in one room, especially knowing we would be getting up with Caroline twice at night (and therefore probably getting up with Sam twice at night too!).

We missed everyone, but we had a good low-key weekend here in town. We spent plenty of time at the BEACH! Sam had an indescribably fun time. He had a great time playing on the beach with Phy (who is, by the way, the only adult with enough energy to keep up with Sam!), and Miss Caroline got some snuggle time with Chip.

Here's sweet Caroline snoozing in her tent and enjoying the ocean breeze...

Sam running to check out the super-exciting SAILBOAT!

..and playing in the sand!

We spent yesterday at home and had a fantastic Memorial Day cookout. Delicious pork tenderloin with pineapple and mango salsa (Clay hasn't had many chances to cook in the last month, but when he does, it's delicious!). Sam took a marathon nap yesterday, and when he woke up he and Caroline spent some time hanging out in his crib. He showed her all his favorite toys and books. It was so, so sweet.

Sam holding Caroline very gently :)

It was a great Memorial Day weekend. Mom missed the River, but we'll be up that way later this summer (hopefully when we're all a little more rested and a little more settled in normalcy :)!

We'll sign off with some sweet pics of Caroline from today. She's giving us tons of happy smiles, but of course I can't manage to catch one on camera. I did get one the moment BEFORE she smiled and one the moment AFTER. Smiles or no smiles, these pictures of Princess Squishycheeks are pretty sweet (look out Henry Hathaway! In another month or two, she just may give you some competition in the sweet-cheeks department!)