Rip and Tear, Rip and Tear!

One Christmas when my family was still living in Germany, my mom and brother were opening a box with Christmas presents, which had all of the paper, wrapping paper, stuffing paper, and all of that good stuff that packages that are mailed across the ocean need to make it there safe.

As they were taking all of the packages out of boxes, they started saying, "Rip and tear! Rip and tear! Happy Christmas Everywhere!". Every since then, we've said it every Christmas when we open packages.

Tonight, Samuel got his own introduction into the fun. My mom was busy organizing all of her ribbons and boxes and paper and Samuel got a hold of some of the ribbon, and boy did he have fun! - He liked the gold ribbon the best. He didn't even mind that his Uma put a bow on him. - Don't worry Dad, just a Christmas bow.

Farm Day!

My parent's church had a 'Farm Day' today at a ranch out in De Funiak Springs.We took Samuel to see what it was all about.

Here are a couple pictures from our adventure:

It was really cold (for Florida) so we bundled up for the outside fun.

Granddaddy and Samuel spent some time watching a sheepdog herd goats.

- I guess that would make him a goat dog?

Then we ate some good home cookin'.

Samuel, unfortunately had to sit that part out and just watch.

- They didn't have a baby food section on the buffet.

With our tummies full, we went exploring.

We saw lots of pied cocks, donkeys, horses, goats, several old saws, and a pig.

But Samuel's favorite part of the whole day was when he got to sit on a big red tractor!

Grandmamma and Granddaddy had to hold on tight. Samuel didn't want to get off.

So he and Mama sat on another tractor together.

After we had seen all there was to see we loaded up to head home.....

It was a long, but very, very fun day.

Teeth!

Well they have finally broken the surface! Samuel has two little pearly whites that have broken the surface of his lower gums, and he has taken to biting everything from his teething rings to my chin and nose -? -

He seems very excited about getting to use these new additions, but not too happy about the pending arrival of their friends. I keep telling him just to hang in there, and he'll be eating steak before he knows it. I'm not too sure he believes me.....

Firsts....

Samuel is all of 6 months now ( well, he will be in two days ). And we've started to slowly add solids to his diet. Last night while I was feeding him a little rice cereal he took the spoon out of my hand and informed me that he wanted to start taking control of the spoon.



I think I see lots of messes and frequent baths in our future.



This weekend while Bill and I were playing with Samuel on the floor, he discovered that he can balance himself while in a seated position.






He was very excited about that, and so were we.

A Lot Can Change in a Year...

It's been over a year since I posted anything on this blog, and a lot has happened since then.
We've moved (again) though this time within the same city. We needed a little more room than our 2 bedroom apartment could provide, as we've added a new addition to our family. Our baby boy Samuel was born this past February, almost six months ago.



And since my life is primarily consumed with him I am going to change the format of my blog a little bit, so that I can share photos and videos and events in his life with those of you who are interested in watching him grow. I'll also continue to post on other things as time allows as well, but as he's about to start crawling, I think my opportunities to sit down and pick up a lap top are going to be rather limited.