My little artists!!

I was very brave last week and spent one afternoon painting with the kids in the backyard. We had such a blast. Ava loves to paint - anything and everything, and Sam loves to eat paint!! What more could you ask for?

Believe me when I say this picture does not do justice to the amount of paint that Sam had on his entire body!!

I haven't written in so long because I am a little overwhelmed with school. It seems like every minute that I am not taking care of the kids or the house I am studying, but I love every minute of it! One thing that I do want to mention is that James and I celebrated our anniversary two weeks ago. He really deserves his own post, but I was crazy that week so he will settle for this. I feel blessed in so many ways to be able to share my life with him. He keeps me grounded, makes me laugh at least once a day, watches chick flicks because he knows I like them, and makes our little family his top priority. The list goes on and on - it just comes down to the fact that I am very lucky!!



My surprise anniversary gift-- ( I would have taken a picture of the real thing, but it is raining outside!)





How is he ever going to top that???

Party Time

We celebrated Sam's birthday this past Saturday with all of our friends and family. He had a Radio Flyer wagon themed party and we had a blast. I am so thankful for everyone that came to make his day so special. We have lots of pictures to share--

I got these cute wagon centerpieces for the table. Because the party started at 2:00 we just had finger foods - chicken nuggets, mini sandwiches, fruit tray, veggie tray and chips. Ann (Grandma) also made some delicious bon bons for everyone.

I made these photo collages for Sam's party - one was pictures of everyone holding him a year ago and the other was just a combination of my favorite pictures from this past year.

Gift bags

Sam's wagon cake - you can't see but it says Happy 1st Birthday Sam in the center of the wagon.

Family shot

I really did my best to get a picture of Sam with everyone, but I failed miserably. Here Erica was afraid that he would cry if she held him so we were trying to be sneaky!

BFF Haven and Ava

Sam and his buddy Brooks

My dad came for most of the party and then headed to Fayetteville for the game - it was a long day for him!!

Opening gifts - something must have been really funny.

Sam really wanted this one.

Sam got so much good stuff!! His grandma and grandpa got him this Radio Flyer wagon and he loves it when Ava lets him play with it!!

It looked like it was going to rain all day, but it never did. We had sidewalk chalk and bubbles out for all of the kids to play with.

Sam did great all day, but when it was time to eat the cake he was pretty tired. He dug in a little bit, but he was pretty much done at this point.

At some point during the party I couldn't find Ava and I opened her bedroom door to find her and Haven like this - cute!!

My new favorite picture of all time - Jennifer and Sam.

Happy 1st birthday Sambo!!!

Sam is 1!!

Sam is one today and I just can't believe it!! I am just especially grateful today for two beautiful, healthy kids and getting to enjoy every day with them. It has been such a wild year with Sam and I wouldn't trade even a second of it!

Sam at 1

You yell constantly at everyone and everything!! You are so loud that I am cannot go anywhere without drawing serious attention! You are such a Mommy's boy. You sometimes screams when people just look at you. Even though it is sometimes hard, this may be one of my favorite things about you. And when it stops, I will be so sad! You love to eat. I could list some of your favorites, but it is really anything we put in front of you! You scream at any meal until you have food in your mouth.

You laugh at everything!! Seriously - everything. And you have the cutest smile! You love your sister, but your favorite thing to do is pull her hair. You think this is really funny. She doesn't!!

You are walking everywhere and are into everything. I didn't have to babyproof the house until you came along! You can say bye-bye and dada. You love to play with your daddy and your eyes just light up when you see him.

You love to dance - when music comes in you stop whatever you are doing and really get down! You have a stuffed bear that you just adore- you sleep with him and we have to take him most places. At Mother's Day Out when you are crying your teacher gives you the bear and you start laughing.

You make us so happy and it is so much fun to get to watch you grow - we love you Sambo!!

September 18, 2008 -

Born at 12:35 pm

6 pounds 15 ounces and 19 1/2 inches

September 20, 2008 - 2 days old

3 months

6 months

9 months

Today - riding in his forward facing car seat for the first time!!

Where did my baby go??

Friday is Sam's first birthday and I just can't believe it. We are in full party mode here at the Piraino house. I have been working on a little photo collage for the party this morning and it has made me really emotional. It is not often that I have time to sit down and look at old pictures and I just can't believe how much Sam has grown and how fast a year went by. The other thing I can't believe is how little Ava was when Sam was born - what were we thinking???!!!

Here is a picture that I completely forgot about- LOVE IT!!! Sam was a month old.

All about Sam this week--

supporting Daddy's team!!
He will climb on anything and just stand there until someone helps him down!
Love this picture - I think he has the CUTEST smile!!

Fun at The Wonder Place

The kids and I met Carla and Lucas for a fun play date at the Wonder Place in Little Rock on Friday. It is such a neat place and both of my kids just love it and it is imaginative play so I love it. It is hard for me to find a place right now where both of my kids can have fun, so it is worth the drive. Not to mention the fact that they are not messing up my house for a morning - definitely worth it!!

Lucas was so funny too - he is obsessed with butterflies. I think that is so funny!! Carla had mentioned it before, but I didn't realize the extent of it. He found a butterfly decoration on the wall and he would just run after it yelling, "Fly, Fly." Too cute!!

They have a little play veterinarian station set up and Ava just loved playing doctor with the little puppies. Here she is giving the puppy a shot.

All three kids loved this big water table-

I really took a lot of pictures of Sam, but most of them turned out a blur. He was too busy to be still for me. Lucas and Sam sat and played together with these balls for a little while!

The sand box was probably our favorite!! Sam had to be removed because he was eating the sand (and liking it)!!!

Chef Ava making a sandwich for Mommy!!

First Day

Ava and Sam both started Mother's Day Out yesterday! Ava was more excited to use her new bag than anything else - she talked about that bag for two days before school started. Not a good sign :) Of course, it all turned out the opposite of how I expected. I just knew Ava would do great and that Sam would have a hard time. Well, they both cried when I dropped them off. Ava's teacher had to pry her off of my leg. Sam watched all of this commotion with Ava and had no idea what was in store for him. Then I went to Sam's room and when the teacher took him, he was stunned. Of course, he was screaming as I walked out the door.

When I went to pick them up Ava was so excited to see me. Her teacher said she had a really hard day and teared up for me throughout the day. Then we went to Sam's room and he looked at me like, "Who are you?" His teacher said he did GREAT and adjusted so well! It is so funny that I really think I have them figured out!! Anyway, I have complete faith that Ava is going to have such a fun year with her teacher and her friends!!

Update

It feels like forever since I have written a post and I apologize to all three of my readers :) Things have just gotten ridiculously busy in this house lately! We have pretty much started a new schedule for the fall, and I have not gotten my bearings yet.

Monday - MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers)

Tuesday - Sam & Ava MDO, I have class at night

Wednesday - class

Thursday - Ava MDO

Friday - Playgroup

First, I started school and I love it!!! It is hard, but I definitely expected that. I feel like every minute that I am not taking care of kiddos, cleaning, laundry etc.. that I need to be studying. I have barely even seen James in two weeks.

Everyone in the house has been sick except me. How that happened I don't know!! We spent last Sunday at the ER because Ava's fever was 105. Sam had a pretty high fever too, but it wasn't that bad. They both had a virus, but Ava had mild viral pneumonia. Five hours in the ER with two sick babies is not fun!! They are both doing great now!

Sam is a walking fool. He is EVERYWHERE!!! Ava runs screaming from him now, "Mommy, Sam is going to get me!!!" It makes him so happy that he can walk though and I am so proud of him!!

We have not actually started Mother's Day Out - it starts next week for both kids, but we did got to Open House last night. Ava loved it last year and I am sure it will be more of the same this year. I was very impressed with her teacher and I think she is going to have a great time! Sam, on the other hand, I am worried about. It will be harder for me to leave him next week, just because he has such stranger anxiety and I am a worry wart! I think it will be really good for him though.

Some pictures of our week:

I took these last Saturday and normally they play so well outside and laugh!! I took my camera to try to catch some of that, and this is what I got. But, when we came inside I noticed Sam felt hot and he had 101 fever. Ava started running a fever a couple hours later - poor babies!!

Ava loves to "cook" while I am in the kitchen. She puts on her little apron and gets to work with a bowl and spoon. Sometimes I give her a real treat and put a little water in her bowl! It is so funny now because Sam wants to play with her and she picks up ALL of her stuff and moves it about a hundred times to get away from him.

Ava no longer empties her drawers when she goes to bed, but now she goes to sleep on the floor! I don't know exactly what this means, but when I leave her room James and I can hear her making a spot by the door. She brings a pillow, blanket, baby and I find her there EVERY single time. At night I put her in her bed before I go to sleep. When I ask her why she sleeps on the floor she says, "Mommy I so sorry! I love you too much." What do you say to that??

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend. Our plans are to watch football and work around the house!!