Hello.... Hello!
You may have given up on me but frankly we have just been so busy. Well, it's a new year and I have new goals. Lets see if I can keep this up a little more often.

As I start to think about why I have not been on here more I realize that Sam started officially walking when he was almost 11 months old. That would take me back to the end of September and I now understand why this blog has been forgotten. I have been busy chasing him around and am too tired when he goes to bed! Sam is always on the go! We call him TORNADO SAM as whatever room he is playing in is completely destroyed when he leaves. We have come to the realization that our house will be messy for years to come while he is awake. It's OK though, we are having fun.

In October, mommy and Sam went to Minneapolis to meet his new cousin, Annika. She sure is a honey! It was fun to see Logan and Sam play together. We also got to spend time with G&G Stadheim, Jodi & Ron, Josh & Ty. Sam met Ron's mom and sister for the first time too. We celebrated his first birthday with one of Grandma's cupcakes.

Sam turned one on November 3rd. We had a quiet little party with balloons, hats and chocolate cake. It was just the 5 of us (Buster & Daisy). All of us were fighting our first cold of the season but through it all we had a great time. Myrna and Brett stopped by with a gift after dinner. Sam got lots of fun things. A cell phone, fridge phonics (D...d...d says duh and dee, every letter...), an outdoor climber, a guitar (see youtube.com) and a spiderman couch just to name a few.

G&G Stadheim came out and spent a couple weeks with us over Thanksgiving. Our daycare lady and her family were visiting family in Minnesota so we needed someone to watch Sam and they really helped us out. Thank you M&D!!! Mom tried to show me how to prepare Thanksgiving. She did most of the work so it was delicious! We had a great time while they were here. Sam showed off his basketball moves when we decided to let him open an early Christmas present. He took the ball and went right over and made a basket! He loves playing catch, playing peak a boo and reading books. He is really shocking us with how smart he is. It's so fun to watch him learn and you can almost see him thinking through things.

G&G Olson were here in early December. We spent Christmas Eve with them. We went to church and Sam enjoyed the music and all the little kids around. He was pretty cute all dressed up and dancing to the Christmas music. We recently started using Skype with our families so got to at least 'see' everyone. That really is a neat way to communicate. We got to watch Logan open his presents from us and Sam shot a few hoops for my family! On Sunday, we had 10 of our dear friends over to celebrate Christmas. It was a beautiful day and we were able to be outside with the kids. Sam opened his presents in shifts so he could play with whatever he got. He opened some before and the last on on December 31st. It was kind of fun to do it that way. :)

Happy New Year! We spent ours in our pj's, listening to music yet watching football, dancing and laughing. We were in the midst of our second cold this season so just trying to nurse ourselves back to health. None of us made it until midnight.

We wish you all health and happiness in 2010. 2009 was a great year for us but 2010 can be even better. We are grateful for all we have.