Samuel's Baptism

We joined Christ Community Church in September and had been praying about Samuel being baptized. I wanted our family to be there (as much as possible) and knew many of them would be here over Christmas. We had Samuel baptized the Sunday after Christmas and it was so special. Son, we promise to raise you with a foundation of Christ, we will pray with you, disciple you and put you in the presence of those who believe as we do! We love you so much!

What would a beautiful rainy day be without...

A fun family game of cornhole! I gave this set to Ryan a few years ago for Christmas, and now that we have a home and a yard we are finally able to play it! Alan, Ryan, John and I played several rounds after Christmas brunch and tried to play as fast as possible because it started misting almost right when we got out there. I am pretty sure we all were able to be on a winning team...I think Ryan maybe was on the winning team each time! But fun was definitely had by all!

Samuel and RuRu were our cheerleaders...I thought it would be fun to take a picture of them as well...didn't quite think through the picture and took it through the screen...oh well!

Wordless Wednesdays

A fun family Christmas

We had such a wonderful several days full of family! Ryan's parents arrived Christmas Eve and my parents came the day after Christmas. There was much passing around of Samuel, laughing, playing and celebrating. We did miss having Stephen, Tiffany and Zach here, but what a great family we have!

Merry Christmas Eve

I know that we are all so very busy, but I wanted to take a moment and just remember all the great memories I have had on the celebration day of our Savior's birth! Growing up we always would spend Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family, having a wonderful dinner, reading the story of Jesus' birth from Luke, singing Christmas carols and listening to my Gigi pray for about 15 minutes! My family has always been so important to me and is such a huge part of my life and I am so thankful to have added family to my list! Ryan is (obviously) so important to me, and with him I inherited a whole new family! Ryan's parents will be joining us on Christmas day, and I couldn't be happier! They are going to get to enjoy Samuel all day, which they are so very excited about. We'll also get to read the story together, just like I always have! Being our first Christmas with Samuel we have talked a lot about traditions we want to keep and new ones we want to start as our child(ren) grow up! Of course we will always emphasize the celebration of Christ's birth and his ministry here on Earth, the importance of love and joy that family brings, and we might even throw Santa in there as well! I feel so incredibly blessed to have such a great family that is founded in the message of Christ and to have a husband that wants to carry that on to our new family! Thank you, Lord, for the sacrifice of your Son and the hope that it brings all people that one day we can sit in Heaven and worship you! Merry Christmas, friends and family! I love you all!

It has been a while!

I know I haven't written in a while, we've been busy getting the house ready for Christmas, throwing the best gingerbread house party ever, and some final touches to the house! So an update, we are great, Samuel is getting bigger every day and is such a joy, John is doing great here, and we can't wait to see our family here in a week! Below are some pictures of the past couple weeks!

Keeping with tradition

My grandmother made my mom and uncles stockings when they were just babies and then made all of the grandchildren's. When Ryan and I were engaged she began working on his. A few years later my brother, Stephen, got married but my grandmother just didn't think she was going to be able to make Tiffany's stocking, so I stepped up to the plate. I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into, but it was really fun and I know that I will enjoy keeping up with this family tradition. When I found out I was pregnant with Samuel I knew it was time to begin the next stocking. I completed the cross stitching last night and sewed the back on this afternoon. Below is the end product and all of our stockings hanging on our mantel!

Samuel's eating peas and carrots!

Samuel started eating cereal a few weeks ago and is doing so great. Last week we tried carrots and he LOVED them...he even got a little upset when he had emptied the jar! Below are some pictures of him eating!

This is his TRUE reaction to peas. We literally snapped this right after he swallowed his first bite! I think he's going to grow up eating all his veggies!

some cereal shots

he is definitely getting a big belly!

bath time and spikey hair, he likes to stick his hands in his mouth and then all over his head when they are covered in cereal, but no other time!

Just a few pictures of Samuel

Wordless Wednesdays

A few things

I haven't had access to my camera cord or internet on our computer (due to the big move) so I wanted to add a few pictures of what has been going on lately! I will add some pictures of the house as I get more stuff put away...it is kind of a reck right now!

Samuel and his Bebe. She came to help me box up our townhouse while Ryan was at a conference in Atlanta. Samuel loved having her!

Samuel was a duck for halloween. Unfortunately it was about 80 degrees that day, so he was only in his costume for about 10 minutes so we could snap some photos!

Our friend Stephanie's birthday is halloween and they decided to have some people (and their kids) over to grill out and then trick or treat together. We decided to get a photo of all the kiddos together before we went out! They were so cute and we had so much fun!

Just a little cameo of our stud. He is getting so big so fast! Samuel is now very vocal and seems to still be a very happy baby! We love it!

video of Samuel's cereal experience

Samuel's first cereal!

We went to the doctor last week and we got a great report. Samuel is doing so great! We were given the ok to start him on cereal, but decided to wait until we got moved...no need to add to many things to the already overflowing plate! There are a few pictures and a video at the end! We were quite entertained!

This was our 2nd attempt. About halfway through he was opening his mouth and trying to get it down...most landed on his belly or all over his hands because he kept grabbing at the spoon! The major plus to the cereal is that he slept from 8pm to 7am last night!

Fall Festival

Our church had a fall festival last Sunday. The kids dressed up, played in the bounce house, went down the big slides, guessed the weight of pumpkins and so much more! It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun!

Liz and Charlotte (the skunk) and our little Samuel, he was a duck!

Samuel and his Bebe

He was eying my hamburger and every time I tried to take a bite so would he!

Lily Kate and the great pumpkin race! She did a great job~

John (on the left) moved in with us on Sunday, so he came and participated in the festivities! He seemed to have a lot of fun!

Wordless Wednesdays (our new home...almost complete!)

Samuel rolling over

Wordless Wednesdays!

Trip to Atlanta

This past week Ryan and I took Samuel to Atlanta and Mississippi to see the family! It was a long trip and Samuel did GREAT!!! We had a wonderful time with our family and friends. We certainly miss being near our family and friends, but truly missed Wilmington while we were gone, knowing that this is now our home! Below are a few pictures of our trip!

Samuel's first mountain day experience! He had fun meeting our friends and making our Berry tradition one of his own!

We went to Mississippi to see Ryan's grandparents and for them to meet Samuel. This is Ryan's grandmother who was just so enthralled with Samuel the whole time! It was blessing to be with them!

The Cowan family get together! We ate, talked, and played the wii! It was so much fun!

Watching Grandmommie learn to play the wii...she was a natural!

Ruthie had heard about a pumpkin patch in the area and we planned to take Samuel. Right before we left we decided to check their hours and found out they were only opened on the weekends. So we took Samuel to Harry's and propped him up against the pumpkins they had there! I think we got some great photos and he was really interested in finding out what those big orange things were he was leaning against!