Working with Papa

Sammy is spending the morning with Papa Don (Swain). At breakfast Papa told Sammy that he was going to get to help him work, while Mommy was working. When I heard what work they were doing, I couldn't resist stopping by to catch a few pictures :)

Getting some instructions

"This is pretty easy Papa."

"How do you like my work Mom?"

The Joy of licking the 'Spoon'

Tonight when we told Sammy that we were celebrating Uncle Andy's birthday tomorrow, he responded "Cake". So, I decided it would be a good evening to make cupcakes for the first time. We have gotten pretty good with cookies, but have never attempted any type of cake where there is batter involved :)

I wish I had my camera handy when we started cracking the eggs. You won't believe it, but I only had to rescue one small piece of shell from the bowl :) I was also quite surprised when he didn't attempt to eat any of the ingredients along the way. After the cupcakes were in the oven and it was time to clean up, I asked him if he wanted to lick the spoon. There was no hesitation, he was more then ready...and decided that the spoon wasn't enough...he opted for the measuring cup we had used to scoop the batter into the cups.

I was able to grab the camera quickly and take a few action shots of him thoroughly enjoying himself...watching him brought back lots of wonderful memories of baking things with Mom & Michele...and of course always being ready to lick the spoon clean at the end.

Holiday Q&A with Sammy Swain

Holiday Q&A with Sammy Swain.....

Q: 'More Presents?' was the question of the holiday season for Sammy. I think it may have had to do with the fact that our celebrating was spread over a couple of weeks. Every time he saw a gift bag or box or even a christmas tree, he would ask 'More Presents?'.

A: 'New Toys!' was the answer of the holiday season. When we asked Sammy what he wanted from Santa this year, he answered 'Toys'. When we asked him what kind of toys, he said 'New Toys'.....toddlers sure are literal :) hehe

Now for a few of my favorite photos from our Christmas Celebrations:

New goggles & power drill

New Blocks from Santa

Sammy studying his new floor puzzle

Aunt Mimi

My Sister has reminded me for weeks now that I haven't updated the blog in a while, so I thought I would dedicate my first post of the new year to her :)

If you don't know already, Sammy LOVES Aunt Mimi.....they have lots of fun together. Here is a picture of the two of them at our Tresemer Christmas Party.... they just crawled through the box in the background......(together)

Camera Day @ Tumbling

This week is Camera Week at Jump Start Gymnastics, so Grandma Howerter & Mommy got to take more pictures of our little monkey :) As you will see in the pictures, our baby has become quite independent these days. He prefers to do things my "self".

"Look Mom & Grandma, I'm tall enough to reach the bar all by myself...."

Before we sing our goodbye song, we get to play with the bubbles! Sammy has gotten pretty good at blowing the bubbles all by himself!

Santa...Santa Ho! Ho! Ho!

First, to explain the title of this blog entry....If you don't know already, Sammy has become obsessed with Mickey Mouse. A couple of weeks ago Sammy watched a christmas episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at Grandma's House (Mommy didn't know that he had already watched this particular episode). So, that evening we picked out the same episode at our house. Mickey was trying to find Santa and he started saying 'Santa Santa..Ho, Ho, Ho'...and Sammy was singing along :) So now when we talk about Santa at our house, we like to say the entire verse....Santa Santa, Ho Ho Ho.

This year he is very interested in watching Santa....but isn't quite sure about sitting on his lap. Last weekend we went to the Steamfitter's local christmas party with Grandma & Grandpa Howerter, Aunt Mimi, Unle Andy, Jojo & Daddy. Here are a couple of pictures from our visit with Santa.

Sammy & Jojo talking to Santa

I don't really want to be sitting on Santa's lap.....

Christmas Cookies

On Monday night Sammy and I decided to try our hand at baking some Christmas Sugar Cookies. We first had to wash the cookie cutters, because we have been using them to cut out shapes from our play-doh :)
Mommy decided to 'cheat' this year and opted for the pre-made pillsbury cookie dough. Maybe next year we will try the 'from scratch' version.
Sammy LOVES to help in the kitchen, so he was quite anxious when we got our chair pulled up to the counter so he could reach and help roll-out the dough.
Since we have been 'practicing' the cutting out part with our play-doh, Sammy was already an expert at this step......But, I think Sammy's favorite part was sneaking bites of the dough....Daddy caught him in the act in this last picture :)