Exploring new things

Samuel recently realized that he could see himself in the reflection of our sliding glass door. He often crawls over and will just look at himself, bang on the glass or just sit and giggle. This is where I found him today after I had put him down on the other side of the room! He is so very curious!

Count your blessings

I learned some really important things this week:

I am blessed! I am very blessed! I am so incredibly blessed!

I LOVE Chick-fil-A.

I am so thankful for a company that has had a successful year.

I praise God for a company where the executives pray during their business meetings.

I love my husband. I love my mom (for watching Samuel for several days). and I love my baby boy!

I love snow in small amounts.

We need to spend more time praying for our president and government officials whether we agree with what they do or not...they NEED our prayer!

Tim Hawkins is HILARIOUS (check him out on youtube...you will laugh for hours)

I miss my friends.

God is good ALL THE TIME!!!

Ryan and I went to DC this past week for Chick-fil-A seminar. We got a few hours to walk around and do some touristy things.

Ryan was afraid you wouldn't be able to see the Washington Monument, so we had to squat.

The National Archives are a pretty amazing thing. I got goosebumps being in a room full of so much history!

The Cake boss made a cake for CFA. Not super great, thought the cow was MAJOR inappropriate...but it works I guess!

Becca and I didn't want to stand in line for an hour to take a picture with Buddy (I honestly and not a fan at all...he's really rude), so we settled for the sigh instead!

SNOW

We got snow last night! As we were watching the opening ceremonies last night it began to snow...and pretty hard! We went to bed with about an inch on the ground and this morning woke up to about 4.5 inches! We took Samuel out first thing in the morning and he wasn't too sure about it! He was sitting and went to start crawling and went straight into the snow...definitely not happy about it! Here are a few pictures from this afternoon.

Samuel still trying to figure out why it all of a sudden got cold under him!

Touching the snow...probably wanting to put it in his mouth!

Definitely ready to get out of the cold snow!

Dad and Granddaddy's snowman!

My handsome fella

My grandmother bought Samuel this sweet outfit for his baby dedication. Seeing as how we had him baptized in December this outfit wouldn't quite do. Today we put him in it and snapped a few pictures. Sorry they're a little blurry...but you get the idea.

Happy Heart Day

Our sweet friends, Stephanie and baby Oliver, had a "cookies with Cupid" party today and it was so much fun. All our buddies and their moms came over for a fun time of fellowship and much cookie eating. The kids had a blast...they got to decorate cookies however they wanted and then eat them. Stephanie is so great at stuff like this, her home is always decorated beautifully with that holiday's colors and accents, one day I may follow in her footsteps!

Stephanie had written everone's name at their place so the kids knew exactly where to sit!

A little blurry...but still having fun.

Oliver on cookie number 3...he is so cute!

Will and Lily Kate performing a musical number for us

Rainy Day Activity

I am slowly finding fun things to do on rainy days here in Wilmington. Today we went to the play area in the mall with a few of our friends. They had a bunch of fun!

Lily Kate climbed on EVERYTHING!

Riding the turtle...they were going on quite the trip...to the "Chicken Place"

Samuel rolling around and sitting pretty

She is a fun kid!

Samuel's Buddy

Samuel has some great buddies here in Wilmington. Oliver is such a fun kid with lots of energy. Ryan and I went over to the Laniers for dinner the other night and here are some great pics we got of our boys!

Oliver is about 7 months older than Samuel.

Pretty soon they will be running all over the place...gotta get ready for those days!

Our precious boy

Always smiling

This is how we do it

When Ryan and I started dating we (my brothers, dad and I) decided that we would test him to see if he would really fit in the family. Our first Christmas together Ryan came over at the beginning of January to take part in the festivities. My brothers collected our tree and a few others from the neighborhood, dug a few holes in the backyard, and placed the trees in them. With a little help of some gasoline (not that we needed it) the trees went up in flames. It was AWESOME! So, needless to say that the pyro in him has come out and has been itching for just the right moment. Now, I know you're thinking, "It's February and they still have their

tree???" and the answer is yes. It has been sitting in our garage (in place of Ryan's car, because it is just that important) getting dry, bone dry! My dad was in town this weekend, so Ryan felt this was the perfect time. After John got home from work we got everything set up. This time there was no gasoline involved, which is fine-the tree went up in flames in less than 5 seconds. Below are some great pictures!

About 10 seconds into the ignition.

Let's say about second 18.

25 seconds in and it was over about 10 seconds later!

Happy Birthday Lily Kate

Our buddy Lily Kate celebrated her 3rd birthday this past weekend. She is such a sweet girl with a vibrant personality. Here are some pictures from her party at Chuck E Cheese!

Samuel wanted cake, and to blow out the candles. Not too happy here!

Enjoying watching the others.

The third candle got lost somewhere between the car and inside. Oops!

All the buddies helping to blow out the candles.

In her princess birthday outfit. She had so much fun.