Happy birthday, Samuel!

Two exciting points of note in this post...

First, my sweet Samuel turns THREE today and I'm wishing the happiest of birthdays to my best blonde boy. I'm so proud to be your Aunt--you are sweet, smart, funny and such a good cousin to Alex and Harper.

...and one more thing I know to be true as evidenced by the last picture of you with Harper is that you will be an amazing BIG BROTHER! Yes, that's right folks. BOTH of my sisters are pregnant! *squee* I will be an Aunt again in June (Kyle & Jill's baby) and in August (Kelli and David's baby). My cup runneth over!

Superheros of the cornfields!

Cousins, reunited.

The Turners were in town for a whirlwind weekend that included a family wedding and a *surprise* sprinkle for Miss Harper - more on that awesomeness later.

In the meantime while I get caught up on the 436,823,003,665 pictures on my camera and phone, here are a few sweet shots of the boys for you to swoon over.

Works of art.

"This one is Mommy."

"This is Uncle Kyle on his tractor. His tractor is bigger than Poppi's."

"This is Poppi with his snowblower. I made him a chute and a handle!"

"I drew hearts for Grammi. She's my lovebug."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

And happy 2nd birthday to our dear, sweet Samuel! I can't believe you are TWO!

Meh.

It seems that all over the blogosphere (at least the circles I run in), people are having a severe and spreading case of the writer's block blues. Someone must have sneezed in my general direction, 'cause I'm feeling it too. And not that there's a lack of things to write about--Alex is 3. He's practically a running monologue of hilariousness. I just log into blogger and I'm all "eh..." and proceed to do more reading than writing.

But here's the good news: Birthday bootcamp starts in TWO days. Well, one if you don't count today since it's technically half over. So I will soon have riveting and celebratory posts for you on the regular. (And secretly? Between you and me? Joey is "working from home" today, which I think is loosely translated into "shopping like a mad man for BDBC 2012.") Because, people? THIS IS A BIG ONE. Momma's turnin' the dirty thirty and I am wicked pumped about it.

I know some girls get all down in the dumps and mopey-dopey depressed about turning 30. Me? I say, "Bring it on!" because I'm pretty sure I'm pink puffy heart glitter sprinkle going to rock the shizz out of 30. Thirty and I are going to be good, good friends.

Meanwhile, while I work on getting my writing mojo back, I give you two of the cutest boys in the world:

Oh wait. I mean this. Yes, this:

Silly Samuel.

It's been far too long since I've shared pics of my sweet nephew, Samuel. He's getting so big! (And so blonde! Seriously...where did that come from!?!).

This one is quite possibly my favorite photo of
him ever taken. The chins!

I see you!

If your ovaries are quivering, it's not my fault. Blame those wittle chubby cheeks.

Happy Birthday, Samuel!

My goodness, I can't believe it's been a YEAR since I frenetically got on a plane to Connecticut to meet my sweet nephew, Samuel, for the first time. My, how time flies.

Happy birthday, sweet boy! I cannot believe you are ONE!

A Talicska Christmas.

We spent Christmas 2011 at my Mom and Dad's house. Kelli, David and Samuel were in town, so it was a very special Christmas with the whole family together. As a family, we had much to celebrate and be thankful for in 2011...and it was so special to have a few days to just all be together and eat and drink until my pants literally exploded off my body. This is a true story.

Pictured below is photographic evidence of what a Christmas tree looks like when 2 very spoiled loved grandchildren are involved (not that we didn't get spoiled, too...but Alex and Samuel took home the loot!)

And these were my two favorite faces all week:

 He kind of looks like a Gremlin in this picture,

but it was his "vroom!" face when he sat in his new
Lightning McQueen chair from Grammi and Poppi.

And here are the snuggle bugs playing with the HIT present of Christmas 2011 - Alex's new tool bench that Uncle Kyle MADE for him! You can even see how he burned "VW" into the corner of the top. It's seriously so cool. And who knew my brother was a woodsmith? Is woodsmith a word? Whatever.

This was one of my all-time favorite moments (please excuse my hot mess of a Christmas morning self):

And, of course, Grammi got in her fair share of snuggles and story time, too:

Pictured here is four generations from my mom's side of the family from when we visited my Great Aunt Theresa (my Grandmother's sister). She met Samuel for the first time!

Tomorrow's post will probably include a list of lies resolutions I'll be totally committed to for at least the next 3 weeks and then will likely abandon. However, I did say that the ONLY thing I wanted to do over break was organize my baking/catchall cupboard in the kitchen and I managed to haul through that at 9:00 last night. So, maybe there's something there, after all...

Until then, I'll leave you with another picture of the two sweetest cousins in existence. They're holding my Mom's ceramic baby Jesus.

"Happy birthday, baby Jesus!"

Time travel.

I was looking through my old cell phone pictures when I was supposed to be paying attention in a meeting yesterday and came across this one:

This was one of the most perfect mornings of my life. My Mom took it back in November when we were visiting Kelli, David and Samuel. We were having a lazy morning, just lounging and playing with our boys. Just minutes later, Alex climbed up and joined the party and the three of us read whatever riveting child literature Samuel was obviously studying in this moment. Sometimes, life is just perfect.

Who cancels Halloween?

The entire state of Connecticut, that's who. I guess an unexpected hammering of snow will do that to you.

Kelli said it was like a movie - trees down everywhere, no power, and utter chaos. They are safe and sound, but what an experience!

And so, October 2011 marked the first time my sweet 'lil Samuel saw snow. And it was DELIGHTFUL. He loves the white fluffly stuff almost as much as his Aunt Kristi. Behold:


 

Yes, as crazy as it looks, that's a totally legit video taken in Kelli's front yard on October 29, 2011. Mother Nature is NOT fooling around, people. Also? Hi, Ruth!

If you're having a case of the Mondays...

I implore you to look at this and not smile:

You're welcome.

No...seriously, Samuel. Please make yourself comfortable.

High five.

In a shocking turn of events, Samuel's 5 month birthday is TODAY. And you thought it went fast when it was YOUR kid. Sheesh!

Happy 5 months, Mr. Sameoh!

And for fun, here's a look back at Alex and the WIPpo at 5 months. For the record, this was my favorite WIPpo picture, ever. Quite possibly the little guy at his cutest, though I will deny it if ever asked.



Weekend = Awesomesauce.

Words cannot express how simply amazing this weekend was. It was sheer perfection. The weather. The food. The ice cream. The people. Le sigh. I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Helping his cousin with his binky.

The perfect morning.

Yes, I'm still in my jammies.
And so is Samuel. So there.

"Baby Sam-e-oh, wook at my car!"

I die from the cuteness of this.

Snuggle buddies.

Fun fact: they will have matching jammies
for our weekend at Grammi & Poppi's house.

Such a happy boy!

I know, I know, I know. It was amazing. We had such fun and I was wickedly depressed to have to come to work today. The light at the end of the tunnel is that I will see them again on Thursday evening!

Mid-week stretch.

Here's my favorite Mister Sam-e-oh stretchin' it out. I mean, isn't this how we all feel come 3 p.m on a Thursday? Not quite Friday...but soooooo very close!

Also, please note his ah-doooorable extra chins. I want to nom on them like it's going out of style. You know, in an I'm-his-Aunt-so-it's-totally-not-creepy kind of way.

Happiness runs in the family.

 Samuel, 2 months.

Alex, 4 months.