Samuel is 1!!! The year has flown by and it’s almost a blur! It’s amazing how fast babies grow and the things they learn during their first year! They go from not being able to do anything to rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and walking all in that short twelve months. Samuel is basically running, and his little personality is really starting to shine. He is so affectionate, loving, and sweet. His actual birth date was Thursday. We didn’t celebrate then, but I snapped a few pictures that day. Instead we went and picked out our Christmas tree. 🙂 YAY! We have a tree! It is up in our living room, ready to be decorated on Christmas Eve as is our tradition.

We had Samuel’s birthday party today! The theme of the party was Dr. Suess’ Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish…. It turned out great! We have a tradition of ordering first birthday cakes from a specific bakery, grandparents treat. The bakery does a fantastic job in decoration and in taste. This time was no different! I also had fun with the lunch menu. We did ham and swiss party rolls, cat and the hat ca bobs (strawberries and marshmallows 🙂 ), and summer berry punch. 🙂

There is so much you can do with this party theme. One could go. all. out. and it would be amazing. I chose to keep it simple. It’s been a busy month and I didn’t want to be excessive in the amount of work required. 🙂 Samuel was a little slow in discovering his cake. When he first tasted the frosting he made some sour facial expressions. 🙂 He kept on tasting, finally reaching the cake part. I think it’s safe to say that he finally decided he liked it. He was messy, but Samuel is always messy, so that part wasn’t surprising. 🙂

After cake, I took Samuel for a quick bath to remove all the red frosting. 🙂 We then opened a few presents. With the help of David and Emma, Samuel is quickly learning how to open presents. The new toys were exciting, and there was a little squabble over taking turns and who’s presents they were. Emma especially wanted her turn. 🙂 Samuel wanted to play with the balloons. So it all worked out! 😉

A wubulous time was had by all!

In other news of the month. My students had their piano recital a couple weeks ago. They did a fantastic job! I always get more nervous when my students play than when I play. It’s because I want them to do as well as I know they can. It’s hard to explain. My studio is growing, and starting in January I will be at full capacity for my schedule! YAY! Aren’t they a good looking bunch!  So cute! 😉

That same evening we went to see the zoo lights with my parents. It was fun seeing all the lights. They had “snow” blowing all around at the zoo entrance. It was like a winter wonderland. So beautiful, it was my favorite part! David loved the singing reindeer lights. 🙂

Sunday afternoon was the kids choir cantata at church, and my parents stayed to hear David sing. I dressed the kids in their Christmas best and we went to church. They looked so adorable, if only I could have gotten them to cooperate for a better picture!

David has done really well in all his singing activities this season. He knew most of the words, stood still and behaved accordingly. He is growing up too fast as well. I can see a difference in him from last year to this year. In a weird way I miss the unpredictability of that little guy from previous years concerts! 🙂 My heart is breaking. Why do they have to grow up so fast!  The pictures below are of David’s school Christmas concert. They sang a few songs, Hot Hot Hot Chocolate, If I were a snowflake, and a few others. I am a proud mama! 🙂

I want to wish every one a blessed Christmas season.

Love,

PK