Happy 1st Birthday Sam!

It was a pretty normal day. We had Friday Night Pizza Night at the Lykins. Then we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake. Sam liked the singing, but wouldn't touch his cake! He normally loves getting messy and eating anything sweet, but for some reason, he didn't want to on his birthday. He even cried every time we tried to give it to him. It's kind of funny, because as a mother, I pictured so many different ways his 1st birthday cake experience was going to turn out (mothers are always posting fun pictures of their children diving into their first cake), but I never pictured what actually happened; he just cried and stared at it.  Well...I guess I ate it, and I thought it was good. 

Our kids are SO cute!

So, last Saturday, Dave and I were hanging out and playing with the kids all day, and I just kept thinking and saying, "Our kids are SO cute! Our kids are just so cute!" So, finally we decided to take the camera out to capture just how adorable they are....and this is what we get.

At least the rest of them kind of turned out.

 And for some reason, every time I take the picture it turns out. But Dave always seems to capture us at our best. 

Getting Along

Both of them watching a movie like this is a very rare occasion; although, it only lasted about a minute.

Learning to share

I'm finding many differences between our little girl and our little boy. Gwen hates things on her hands! Even as a little baby, Gwen never got into much because she hated anything on her hands, but Sam is very different. He could care less. The first thing he did when we went on the deck was go for the dirt in the floor pots, and he played with it for about 30 min. Gwen just watched him while she held her chalk, and would occasionally walk over and touch it with her shoe, then stand back and continue to watch him. By the time he was done, well, it ended with him smashing a floor pot, but he had the dirt all over him. 

Winter Fun

Sam and Easton

Getting ready for church

First, and probably the only, real snow fall this winter

The snowman we built with our bare hands. Gwen tackled it soon after this picture. 

 Gwen loved her snow pants so much that she stayed in them for the rest of the day.

Holidays!

Halloween!! Gwen was Rapunzel and Sammy was a cow.  They loved it!

Thanksgiving! 

On our way up to Minnesota, we stayed with the wonderful Arteaga family. Gwen was in love with their dog Guapo. She still talks about him. 

Sammy relaxes, as Gwen wears out the rest of the family while playing at IBM park.

 Thanksgiving day! We started the day off with a wonderful breakfast; Gwen stuck with her usual, Cinnamon Chex (which is most of her diet these days).

Celebrating Khue and Ben's birthdays.

You can tell dad took this picture, not because he isn't in it, but because we are all laughing hysterically. 

Getting ready for Christmas! 

Gwen helped me with cookies again this year. Last year she unwrapped an entire bag of Reese's for the cookies I made, and she didn't eat a single one, until the very last one. This year, she did the same thing! I'm so proud of my little girl for having such control. I'm afraid Sammy might not be the same way.

Christmas morning! 

Dave, Sammy, and cousins Court and Gabe.

He's such a cutie! This is his favorite way to sit, with one leg tucked under him. 

We got Gwen a Rapunzel doll and dress for Christmas. I think she wore the dress for 2 weeks straight. We got her some swords and a shield to play "save the princess" (dad's idea for a good father/daughter activity) and she absolutely loves sword fighting. She's not too bad either. 

Celebrating dad's 30th birthday. Sam and I were really sick, so we didn't do too much for a celebration, but Gwen did have us sing Happy Birthday and blow out candles at least 5 times.