Sam & Stella

Sunday, September 30, 2012

September: a trip, a tooth, school, & more!

September was a busy, but fun month. Justin had to go to Berlin, Germany to attend a conference as a speaker. Lucky for me, I was invited along for a free trip with my hubby! Sam-bug heard we were leaving, and decided he'd figure out a way to join us too :)

I fell in love with Berlin--such an amazing city. We filled our days with sight-seeing, cafe stops for food, beer & coffee, bike riding, and more stops for beer, food & coffee. Perfect.

The day after our Berlin trip, Sam had his first day of pre-school in the 2's class. Such a handsome little man! I was thrilled that he was happy and excited to go to school, unlike his first day of school last year. It was a tear-free day for the both of us--yay!

Having Sam in school 2 days a week allowed Stella and mommy to have some one on one time. I really enjoyed this special time with my sweet and sassy little girl. So what's the first thing we did? Shoe shopping of course :) Stella was well overdue for her first pair of real shoes!

And a few more pics of my little ham...

She just couldn't understand that the picture was of herself. And when she finally embraced it, she carried it around everywhere and let everyone know that it was "Baby Stella".

Making a mess, aka eating apple sauce by herself for the first time.

I have to admit, one of my favorite things about Stella and mommy time has been the extra snuggles I get to have with her. She has decided that while Sam is at school, she gets to nap on mommy's bed...and who am I to say no?! Such a doll.

Nearly a year after Sam's tooth accident occurred, his dentist decided the damaged tooth needed to be extracted. Leaving it in could potentially damage the teeth around it, and/or his permanent tooth behind it.

Here he is prior to the extraction...poor bubba doesn't know what's about to happen.

Even with his damaged tooth, that boy's smile could light up any room...and melt any heart.

Big hug from mama before he gets his tooth yanked :(

This boy is SUCH a trooper! No screaming or tears. Here he is after...gums and lips are swollen, but still smiling because he's THAT amazing. Oh, and he's being treated to ice cream :)

Had to save the tooth for the tooth fairy of course.

Looks like the tooth fairy couldn't figure out how to get all his goodies under his pillow...

But I don't think he minded one bit :)

One of my favorite things about watching our kids get older is how much more they interact, play, and love each other. Of course, with that comes the fighting. But the good most definitely outweighs the bad! Although, it is quite comical how quickly they can go from loving on each other, to screaming and hitting each other (please see below).

Their favorite game lately has been hide n' seek. And while they are usually terrible at hiding, I must admit this spot was a pretty good one!

Friday, August 31, 2012

Random August pics

We took an nice little one-night getaway to Fredericksburg with our good friends, Alex and Dianna. Of course, we had to do the drive to Luckenbach...and as always, we had a great time!

We visited a few wineries in Fredericksburg, and decided to take a tour of the last one we visited. We were able to taste the wine directly from the barrels, which was really neat. And it tasted really good.

Give Justin some wine and he gets a little handsy :)

I had to include this picture of Shelby, because it makes me laugh every time I look at it. Does it not look like she has really funky teeth?! But really it's the white stitching on the teddy bear's foot. Still makes me laugh though :)

After many Chick-fil-A visits sitting patiently at the table with her mommy while her big brother played, Stella decided she is now a big girl and wants to go play too.

Having fun with her brother

Grocery shopping has definitely become more challenging these days. Luckily, food seems to occupy my children most of the time. However, the bigger issue is where do I put the groceries?!?

Poor Stella, looks like Sam lucked out on this trip :)

I know this is a blurry picture, but I had to add it because any picture with them smiling together and happily playing is a great picture to me :)

After many times of Sam asking me to ride the carousel in the mall, I finally caved. And I'm so glad I did because they had such a blast on that thing! I'm not sure which child enjoyed it more...

We were missing Gia, so we went to pay her a visit one evening. She is getting more beautiful each day. Love that little pumpkin!

Sweet cousins!

Again, another not-so-good quality picture. But I couldn't not include it. This is Justin's favorite part of the evening. Just laying with his boy before bedtime and watching a little TV together. Love my boys.

Their new favorite play spot has become mommy and daddy's bed. Not sure how I feel about that. But when they smile at me like that, how can I say no?! :)

Monday, August 27, 2012

Port Aransas - beach time!

Thanks to Grammy and Papaw for making it possible, the Jones family spent 4 super fun days in Port Aransas in August...and stayed at a beautiful house right on the beach I might add! This was the kids' first time at the beach, and they absolutely loved it! Although my thumb sucking Stella did get a bit frustrated about the amount of sand she was ingesting!

This picture is a view from one of the balconies of the house where we stayed.

Grammy, always thinking, brought a bunch of toys from home for the kiddos to play with. Thank goodness, because that really did help keep them occupied when we weren't at the beach.