Such a BOY!

On Friday, Samuel and I got to go tour the fire station in Addison with some friends. He really LOVED it, but wasn't too interested in the fire station tour as much as he was the firetruck tour! Oh my goodness, it is definitely encoded in a little boy's genetics to like all things that go!! He has loved firetrucks for about a month or two now so I knew he would love this. The hardest part of the day was keeping him in one spot long enough to listen to the firemen. He was running everywhere like a mad man! Here are some precious pictures from our day!


Here he is looking at the massive coats they have to put on. They look so giant next to his little body. Just a cute picture where mommy got to play with photo editing!

I HEART this picture! He was in total awe of the truck. I had to struggle to get him out to give other kiddos a turn.

This day reminded me of how fun little boys are!!

The Real O.C

About two weeks ago, Thad and I were able to get away for about 5 days and have some nice, relaxing time together in sunny southern California. We LOVE California and usually head west when we get the chance. Samuel enjoyed his time with Nana and Papa and Thad and I were able to spend some much needed quality time together. We went to Monarch Beach, which is just about 10 minutes south of Laguna Beach. We slept in everyday(well, not really that late but it was nice to wake up on our own without a sweet boy talking in a monitor), read MANY books, lounged by the pool, walked on the beach and surrounding areas every morning, watched surfers, and of course, ate lots of really good food. The weather was beautiful every day once the marine layer burnt off and the temperatures were perfect.

First night at resort...enjoying a nice sunset with dinner

Second night, eating Sushi in Laguna Beach

Our gorgeous resort; view from our balcony. We had a full ocean view and it was so nice to watch the sunset.

This picture is hilarious to me! In true Ashley fashion, I grabbed the first person I saw and asked if he would take our picture. Little did I know, the guy was a photographer who was there to shoot one of the three weddings that we saw. He took about 20 pictures while playing with the settings on my camera. I think he was laughing at my little old camera but he did his best!

Sunset from our room

The last day before we left for the airport, we walked down to the golf club to have lunch. This is the view from our table.

So ready to see my baby by this point!!

Goodbye Cali!!! We love you!!

First Day of School

On Tuesday, Samuel started MDO. He will go twice a week for 5 hours each day! There are really no words to describe the "cuteness" that was going on in the above picture. Samuel was so excited to wear his new backpack and was such a big boy walking in. And then....the crying began. Poor thing! He was so happy until he realized that mommy and daddy weren't staying with him at school. I'm usually really strong about leaving him in places because I totally understand that they are better once you are out of sight. But for some reason, I gave in to the crying, opened the class door and immediately picked him up. I then made the mistake of saying "say bye bye to daddy." He melted down! So, I put on my tough mommy face, and handed him off and we said goodbye. They tell me he cried for a millisecond and was fine the rest of the day. He took a 30 minute nap but I really hope that improves. As I'm typing this, we just finished our second day and he is sacked out upstairs. Maybe he will always take a nap when he gets home:))

This picture was Tuesday morning before school. Thad and I got home on Monday night from a 5 day vacation in California (bliss) so Samuel woke up to find us home and was so excited to see us....and the new car we brought him.

All dressed and ready for a big first day!! Nana and Papa were still in town because they kept him while we were on vacation. It was so nice to have them here!

Time to walk in to school!

And...I'm off!!

15 months..a little late

Here is Samuel this time last year...he turned 3 months old and our lives got SO much easier!!

Samuel Cade...NOW!!! Such a big boy!

-You are now 15 months old! Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday that you were my tiny little baby. I remember laying you on the bed to watch Praise Baby while I would shower, holding you for hours at at time and being able to actually get pictures of your face! Fast forward 1 year later...and WOW!! You are so busy and I love it.

-You now are going everywhere and getting into everything. I honestly cannot do anything without you getting into something that you aren't supposed to. You love to play with toilet paper, tupperware, the phone, the remote controls, etc.

-You aren't really eating as well as you used to. You have become quite the picky little eater. You still enjoy grilled cheese, cinnamon toast, regular toast with butter, apples, grapes, strawberries, carrots, broccoli with cheese, chicken nuggets, french fries, cheese quesadilla, cheese dip, cheese slices, etc. Are you seeing the trend here??? You LOVE cheese! You still only drink water and milk because that's all that mommy offers you:((

-I have learned that you love to be on the go! I have days where I would love to stay home all day, but you just won't have it. You are so fussy when we have days like this so I usually plan something for everyday. You are great at the gym and now walk away when I drop you off. You are still pretty good in the stroller if you have a lot to look at. We go to the grocery store often and you always NEED a balloon. So funny!

-You love to look at books and we do this before every nap and bedtime. Your favorites are the "Things that Go" books that have trucks, cars, boats, etc. You love to look at animals but only make the Elephant sound. We hear you through the monitor some mornings making the elephant sound. Pretty much every animal makes this sound!

-You now give hugs and kisses when we ask for them. I LOVE THIS!

-You love to be tickled until you are sweaty all over and your hair is soaked.

-You are growing fast and transitioning into 18-24 month clothes and size 5 shoe.

-You are still taking 2 naps a day. I thought you were ready to move to 1 nap but I was wrong. You are definitely a boy who needs his sleep and I'm fine with that. If we need to do some things during the day in the morning, you can roll with 1 nap but your little body still prefers 2. We will see how long this lasts. You start school in 1 week so this might all be changing soon!

-You still don't say many words: daddy, dada, mama, tata(truck) and dadada which means every thing else. You point to everything and want to know what it is.

-You are really into the tantrum phase..and I hate it! I'm reading books on discipline and think that isolation and time out will work best for these. Updates to come soon on how that works out. You HATE to have your nails clipped, lotion put on, diaper changed, etc. You also throw yourself on the ground and beat the ground with your fist when we say "no", take a toy away, or when you are caught playing in the dog bowl. Ahhh, my strong willed child! Unfortunately for you, I'm a tough cookie, and I usually just laugh..on the inside of course!

Samuel, you are an absolute joy to my life and my world is so much better with you in it. I love everything about you and your little personality. You are the best sidekick I could ever ask for. Looking forward to watching you grow...but not too fast ok?

Kansas City trip (Picture overload)

On July 31st, we boarded a flight to Kansas City to spend some time with Nana and Papa and all of the aunts, uncles, cousins, and great Papas! It was a very busy and fun week. We enjoyed an excursion everyday with cousins Jackson and Claire and aunt Dawn. It is so nice to have Dawn around. She just finished her residency in St. Louis and she, Matt and the kiddos moved back to Kansas City so she could start her new job as an OB/GYN. We are so proud of her!!! We visited the Deanna Rose Farm which is like a gigantic petting zoo! We also went to Paradise Park, the Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit and the Crayola restaurant at Crown Center, the Kansas City Zoo, and playtime at the pool!

Samuel really noticed Jackson this visit. It was so cute to watch him just stare at Jack in awe because Jack is a "big" boy. It was music to my ears to hear the two of them playing together.

Papa was definitely the star of the show the show!! Samuel just giggled whenever Papa came near. In this picture, he was introduced to one of Papa's favorites: Chex Mix!

Deanna Rose..before the heat really set in.

We only did one nap a day while we were in KC...so we say an awful lot of this face!

This is just too funny! If you know Thad, you know that he's the furthest thing from this!

"Giddy up cowboy!"

Sweet Claire Marie!! She is so photogenic!

Loving on the goats!! Samuel went around to every single goat and said "Hiiiii" and waited for a proper response. I think he was a little dissappointed when not one of the goats said "Hi" back. How rude!

Feeding the ducks. Samuel was a bit scared of this.

A hot and sweaty Jackson after some fishing with great papa!!! It was the cutest thing..Papa showed him how to bait the hook and watch the bobber for when a fish would bite. What a memory for both of them!

Later that afternoon, we went to the mall to let Samuel burn off some energy. Nana treated him to Build a Bear!

We found a Carousel in the mall and couldn't pass it up!

Clifford exhibit! This trip was lots of fun but the exhibit was packed so the little ones had a tough time getting around. We had to watch carefully or they would be trampled by the older ones.

Paradise Park!

Samuel got to see both of his Great Grandfathers while we were there. We had such a good visit with both of them.

Great Papa Schaefer and Samuel

Great Papa Langston and Samuel

We had a great visit with family but we were ready for our own beds when we got back. Samuel decided to wake up everyday before 5 or a little after so we were exhausted!! I think he was just too excited and knew if he woke up he would be spoiled rotten...and not by mommy and daddy!! Thanks Nana and Papa for a great week...we love you!