Too Much Turkey from Sara Straka on Vimeo.
Sam met his Great Great Aunt Carol this week. We had lots of fun while she was here. We took Sam on his first visit to Central Market, our favorite grocery store in the whole-wide world. Gram carried Sam in the Baby Bjorn for the first time (very exciting). 
We thought Sam was most intrigued by the colorful produce department until we got to the beer aisle, where he was clearly mesmerized by the cool air and pretty-colored bottles and boxes. Takes after Daddy, I guess. We stopped shopping for a tasty lunch and a nice chat.
After Central Market, we did some shopping at Willow Bend and got Sam this super-cool baseball cap at Janie and Jack. All the shop-girls thought he was the cutest and they said "He looks soooo good in navy!" :)
Aunt Carol brought Sam lots of cute, big-boy clothes that he can wear later this year and next year. She also had a suitcase full of toys that Lydia, Paige and Claire are passing on to Samuel, including a wooden giraffe which proved to be a favorite, along with a pretty beaded "bracelet" teether that was nice to chew on.
She was very good at entertaining Samuel, with her "tan fingers" and her cool tweety-bird noises. As you can tell from the pictures, Sam found Aunt Carol to be one fascinating lady. And, of course, Sam was good at entertaining us as well. The video below is of Sam "talking" to us all after dinner last night.
Thanks for coming to visit, Carol. You sure are Great-Great! We can't wait to see you again!
Some-bunny
had tons of fun at his first Easter celebration!
Gram and Pops made it extra special, as always. They cooked a delicious brunch casserole and Great-Grandma Jackie and Millie brought their famous sticky buns! Since he's too little for chocolate (bummer), Gram and Pops gave Samuel such a nice Easter treat ...a pop-up Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit book and a cd of nursery rhymes sung in the jazz style - it's funky! Even Sophie was visited by the Easter bunny (in this case, the Easter-Gram). It was fun to see some of our old Easter decorations we put out when I was little. This day was also special for Sam because he got to meet some more family - my Uncle Brad, Aunt Teresa and Cousin David. We had fun catching up and watching Samuel play. They thought Samuel was the cutest little guy!
After they left, Mom and I searched through some old photos, looking for one of Uncle Brad with me when I was little. We found a few and I've posted them below. We're already looking forward to next Easter - maybe it will include a visit to see the Easter Bunny!
Sam is a popular guy.
He's had several special visitors in the last week. First came cousins Hollie and Wayne...Hollie was so snuggly, Sam went right to sleep in her arms.
Then Jean and Alvin stopped by. Jean loved Sam's little feet, and was willing to risk missing out on a piece of Babe's pie to be just to be able to rock him a little bit longer.
And then there was someone who looks a lot
like
Granny Nell, but it wasn't Granny, it was Aunt Dell! Did you think you were seeing double Sam? Just wait till Aunt Bell comes for a visit! Unfortunately, the only picture I got of Aunt Dell was one of Puppy Sophie snuggling up to her, desperate for attention.
More visitors to come on Easter Sunday...I wonder if the Easter Bunny will be one of them?
Today was a big day for Samuel - not only did he turn 3 weeks old, he
spent time with two new friends -
Mrs. Roberson and Mrs. Ellis. They are special friends of mine who stopped by for the afternoon to snuggle and cuddle with baby Sam.
They also brought a really nice, fancy lunch; quiche, salad and desserts. It was so yummy! We had lots of fun visiting and playing with Samuel. They are experienced Moms who always have lots of good advice, and I had lots of new-mommy questions to ask them. We finished off the afternoon with a nice walk around the neighborhood.
It felt good to get out of the house!
I could tell that Sam liked his new friends (and possible future-teachers!) because he slept almost the entire time they were holding him in their arms. They know all the tricks!
Thanks for stopping by today Melanie and Diana! I miss seeing you guys every day. Samuel and I will have you back soon!
*Sara*