SNOW!

If you've been listening to the national news, Denver made the headlines with the crazy amount of snow we have had the last day and a half. Starting Tuesday night we have had non-stop snow until about noon today, Thursday. At our place we have had around 22 inches of snow (that was from the last newscast I listened to). We decided that we should take Samuel out to experience his first large snowfall. And how could we not on this record-breaking occasion? He would be very disappointed later in life to know his parents didn't let him experience the city-stopping snow. Denver is basically shut down, no buses, no public works, no malls, nothing. Only the snowplows are working overtime to clear the roads. The north-south interstate was closed throughout the entire state and it is still closed outside of Denver.

Aaron spent part of this afternoon shoveling out our car from the parking lot and he was able to make it out onto the snowpacked roads. Only the main highways have been plowed.

We have had two snow days from school and we won't have any school tomorrow either. It has been nice to start break early but it gets a little claustrophic being inside this long!!

Moving Around

Samuel is an expert crawler now and I thought I should put a little video of his new skills. He's quite fast when he sees something that he really shouldn't have (such as the glass in the picture).

He's had a cold the last two days and has been sneezing, runny nose, coughing, and just feeling under the weather. I stayed home from work yesterday and today I normally I have off so I've been spending my days reading stories and rocking Samuel. Poor little guy!



Christmas is just around the corner. We plan on heading back to MN/WI for the festivities and try to see as many friends and family in a short period of time as is possible! We look forward to catching up with all of you in MN/WI and I know Samuel will enjoy getting to know some of our friends and relatives better.

I'll leave you with my new favorite Christmas verses. It's from Mary's song after she arrives at Elizabeth's house. They are both pregnant by miraculous means and Mary bursts out in a song of praise and thanksgiving.

"And Mary said,
'My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all
generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done greate things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with is arm;
he has scattered the proud in the
thoughts of their hearts;
he has brough down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.'"
Luke 1:46-55 ESV

Be encouraged by Mary's unwavering faith and trust in the plan of God in her life and in the promises to Israel. Merry Christmas! B.

Blueberry Kid

Samuel's new favorite snack is blueberries. They make quite a mess, but he is so intent in finding each blueberry on his tray. He knows which pieces are blueberries and which pieces are other foods. Pretty smart.

He has also been on the move! Samuel is officially a "crawler." He loves exploring the world that has opened up to him now that he is mobile. He never knew that such places as the kitchen and bathroom existed until he ventured through the doorways. I love the look in his eyes when he keys in on an object he wants. The intensity in his eyes and he zeroes in and then heads for the object is so fun to watch. B.

Turkey Delight!

Well, Samuel survived his first Thanksgiving feast. In the picture to the right, Samuel is doing his best to emulate Poppa's plateful of "appetizers". Samuel soon moved on from the veggies, realizing Poppa's plate didn't contain any such food. He did taste the dip, though, and seemed to like it... The day's preparations were too much for Samuel though, and he had to take a long nap just before the feast began. By the time he woke up we were all about five pounds heavier, but he didn't seem to mind. He had his first taste of the gobbler, and it seemed to be a go for the future. It was a great first thanksgiving, with the Nana and Poppa Bryant helping with the preparation and joy.


Holidays always seem to be coupled with some sort of sweets, so we thought we would take a tour of a Denver candy factory called Hammonds. Samuel thoroughly loved the tour, as is evidenced by his tour hat at left. Candy making seems like a pretty simple process--a lot of corn syrup and a whole lot more sugar. We couldn't help but buy a few "souvenirs" for the road in the attached giftshop. We also found out Samuel loves York peppermint patties! Gluten free!The week was full of many hugs and kisses from his Nana and Poppa. Their company seems to have invoked a couple of new tricks for "showoff Samuel", like regular fake coughing and the messy but enjoyable projection of sweet potatoes onto nearby faces. The little bugger got Nana good with a certain yellow projection as well, but we won't get into those details...

Poppa and Nana are always wanting to take walks, so Samuel got a lot of fresh air this week. One such walk included a trip to the nearby playground, where he showed glimpses of excelling at the only sport his father has nightmares about him joining...
But beyond that, he "threw his weight around" on the teetertotter, got bucked off the horsey, and thoroughly enjoyed the top (but not the middle or the bottom) of the slide with dad. It seemed the sand was the most enjoyable object of all, but what kid doesn't like getting dirty?

Well, Samuel had a great week. At left, he is wearing his plane tee shirt to honor Poppa and Nana's arrival on Weds. He was pretty excited. Only a few more weeks now, and he'll be able to see all his relatives again. Speaking of planes, he may even get to take his first plane ride around Christmas...


Becky and I are doing well too, but with some full weeks coming up. I was pleased to see Morneau get the MVP from Jeter, Papi, et al...especially with Mauer winning the batting title and Johan taking the Cy. The future is looking bright for the Twinks...especially with the new stadium on the way. Maybe we can actually keep these stars when they get to their prime! What a concept!!! Again, I've left one of our favorite pictures for last. Enjoy!! For Samuel, it's smiles all around! Happy Thanksgiving!

Sharing Pictures

We will try to keep our photo albums at winkflash so you can look at the lastest pictures any time you want. I'll keep a link on the right side panel.
http://www.winkflash.com/photo/public.aspx?u=thebryants2

A Day in the Life of Samuel

The I-25 Lightrail made its debut today with free food, prizes, and free lightrail rides on all of their routes. We waited at the station, kept passing up the packed trains hoping the next one would be less crowded, but eventually gave up. We did get a little popcorn though! (That line was the shortest)


Plan B was to walk around the mall. Samuel loved the pet store the best. He giggled, kicked, and screamed at all of the jumping puppies. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't think the dogs would like the flash. Samuel really wanted a taste of Dad's pretzel, but reluctantly settled for a few Cheerios.


Samuel was so hyper on the way home and by the time we reached our door, he had slobber all over his mouth, chin, and hands from all of the noise-making he had been doing!

Time for a little supper in his "brand-new" booster seat we found on craigslist this morning. He loved it; not for the ease of eating, but because it had really neat straps that he thought tasted great! Notice his growing two front teeth.


Next, his Saturday evening bath. He loves his baths, kicking and playing with his rubber ducky. This time he tried to climb out of his little tub. Dad took a cute video of him splashing and playing. He's so serious in his splashing it was hard to get his attention.

A Day in the Life of Samuel continued...

Samuel's bath:



Finally, a little snack before he hits the crib for the night (hopefully for the entire night!). He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open.


A VERY LONG DAY!

Cheerios!

I'm attempting to post a 30 second video of Samuel eating his first Cheerios off of our living room carpet. He definitely thought they were great and decided to keep putting more and more into his mouth, before swallowing the first. (-: B.

Changes Abound

Can it be that this was our little boy only 7 months ago? I remember watching Becky (and Samuel) growing--first only marginally, then more and more. Many sleepless nights, it seemed, were made worth it by a little kick from the womb, reminding us that our sacrifice would not only be massive, but amazing. I can vividly recall the counting of seconds between contractions, the multiple rushes to the hospital, and the sheer realization that we have a helpless, little boy exploding into our lives.

I always wonder if I truly realize the amazing gift God has given us. I get so caught up in doing the "right things" (making sure he has three cubes of sweet potatoes, four ounces of milk, not too much sleep, the right toys, the right teams) that I often fear I'm missing "the thing". To know in theory that Samuel has been knit by Him is one thing, but to lay hold of and express the depth of passion and love that God has for our child is quite another. Truth be told, I am thankful for the times (like now) when God shows me just how inadequate I am for the task apart from Him. Overwhelmed, yet strengthened. Beat down, but yet not destroyed. He is the bringer of an unwarranted hope.

Today Becky has a conference at a nearby school. It's not often that Samuel gets a day just with his dad. So, we hung out this morning and watched some of the movie "Cars", which Samuel seemed to thoroughly enjoy. Betwixt chewing on dad's shoe and sucking on dad's keys, he would occasionally look up--especially when a car was revving up. Hopefully nascar is far from his future. Cars going around a track is not exciting, I don't care what anyone says. Samuel seems to concur, though sleeping soundly in his crib. Interesting movie though, definitely worth seeing once. The first part is a little slow, but it gets better.

Anyway, he's really getting into the toy thing now. His mother bought him a wooden train with some cars to attach on the back. It seems the locomotive itself is only marginally interesting, but the string attached to it, WOW! Sometimes I think a ribbon, keys and a couple of strings of yarn would do him just fine for his childhood. Anything to suck on works just fine! (SEE PICTURE!! --->)

Things are in flux in our lives right now too. Our nanny Kasia is expecting a child of her own, so Becky is frantically looking for someone else (hopefully nearer to school) to take her place after the Christmas break. We're also contemplating what to do about work next year. Becky is part time right now, but will need to make a choice on either going to full-time or not next year. It's a tough choice--being without Samuel for 40 hours a week would be hard on all three of us.

Becky also was awarded a grant to take classes this spring in the subject of ESL (English as a Second Language). We're excited to see where that may lead her down the road. I have accepted an offer to be an assistant baseball coach at Rangeview High School, so that means more nights away from the family this spring. But Becky and Samuel have promised me they will attend my games!! Hopefully Samuel's a southpaw--I'll teach him a wicked circle change. Unhittable.

Well, I should be going. As always, our lives are dictated by Samuel, and he is fussing and talking to himself in the crib. Hopefully the latter of the two ends before he's an adult! We are looking forward to the holidays coming up, and are always missing our friends and family back home. As a wise man once said, "good night, and good luck". We're glad we can extend a portion of our western lives to you. I've saved my favorite picture for last!

Love,

Aaron, Becky and Samuel

Another Tooth!

If you look very closely in the above picture, you should be able to see Samuel's first tooth. I realized yesterday that Samuel's second tooth has arrived next to his first one! I don't think you can see that one with this picture. I knew that it was on its way but he wasn't near as crabby and so I missed the actual arrival. I think it must have pushed through on Monday.

Yesterday, after trying to push through unnormally bad traffic, we made it to JCPenney to get Samuel's first professional pictures. He was such a good boy, other than not giving us many dimply smiles. It was hard to narrow down our choices; there were so many cute ones!

Today it is to be 70 degrees and I am so excited to go for a walk around the block, or park, or maybe to my all time favorite store, Hobby Lobby. (-:

Enjoy the last days of fall before winter makes its snowy arrival! Thank you for all the comments and responses. We'll keep trying to post at least once a week, maybe twice.

At the Park

Samuel began the day eating breakfast with us at the table. In the picture he is drinking a little prune juice to keep him from being constipated. (-: He loves sitting with us, but usually whatever we are eating or drinking seems so much more appetizing than the pureed food at his own plate.

It was so beautiful today, sunny and in the 60s. We decided to try a new park in downtown Denver. Cheesman Park used to be a cemetery and somewhere along the way it was sold to the city who decided to make it into a park. I guess all of the graves had to be removed and moved somewhere else by the living relatives!! It was a little windy, lots of leaves on the ground, but it was great to be outside. Samuel loved being outside, of course, and wanted to eat the grass and the leaves.

Aaron holds Samuel in his arms and then runs around as fast as he can. Samuel just laughs and screams he loves it so much. He loved feeling the roughness of the tree trunks, "walking" with our help in the grass in his socks, and rolling around in the leaves.

KG Says: "NO MAS"!

NO MORE! Get that out! KG was the man last night, stopping Carmelo in fine fashion to leave the poor Nuggets winless. Heck, we even got to eat mini donuts ($5 for ten donuts, not bad!) and hear MC Hammer at halftime. What more could you ask for? Not much, at least from this angle.

Samuel definitely loved the pregame the best. So many lights and sounds--player introductions and more lights. Once the game began, it lost its luster. Come fourth quarter, he was finished. Dad is going to have to prepare a lesson on how to finish strong in the fourth quarter...endure to the end. Winners show up in the fourth. Overall, it was a great experience for Samuel. It's always electric on opening night, and last night was no different. Glad the Pups came out with the victory.

Well, Samuel observed a few traveling calls in the game last night, so he thought he had better get to learning how to travel too. So, this morning he continued to perfect his crawling craft--as can be seen here. We didn't get too many good shots from the game last night, so this one is the newest we have of the rugrat. Again, he's starting a second tooth, so today could be a long one:( Ahh, the joys...

Until next time, friends. For some reason it seems like I'm writing this and no one looks at it but us!! If you read, leave a comment!!!:)

First Timberwolves Game

Samuel will attend his very first professional basketball game tonight. He has been to many baseball games, but never to a basketball game. It's the Nuggets vs. the Timberwolves at the Denver Pepsi Center. He will be in the minority as Dad and he cheer on the Wolves.

I want to figure out how to get video onto this blog because I have a cute little scene where Samuel is chewing on a piece of his baby cracker. They are shaped like wagon wheels and made from cornmeal. In my opinion, they taste like cardboard, but Samuel seems to like them. He's not so great at picking them up on his own yet, but if I break it up into small pieces and hand one to him he spends a long time moving it from his tongue to between his gums, to trying to chew it. He'll lose it into another part of his mouth and then he'll have to start the process over moving it back with his tongue. Once he has it all gummed up, with drool down his chin, he swallows. It's really cute to see. Right now, he's playing with his first set of plastic keys. We figured they'd be a little more conducive to chewing on, rather than our metal keys.

Happy Halloween!

Well, we just survived our first
halloween! Boo! Samuel was able to borrow a real scary costume from his friends Isaiah and Ayla, so he was pretty excited. Becky and I, well, we decided to pass this year. I thought I was being quite festive in the hat I wore to work...

Samuel got his first tooth in and is working on his second. The little guy seems to be having a small bout with insomnia during the day, but is sleeping well at night. Maybe it's just his way of showing his naive mom and dad that he's a big boy that only needs two short naps a day!

Samuel also had some visitors last week! His Grandpa Billy, Grandma Pauline and Aunts Sherah and Jolene came from Minneapolis for a few days to visit us all. We took a trip to the mountains (it snowed and we had to turn around), watched a few movies, spent some time getting cars fixed, and one of us was relegated to spending A LOT of time on the floor! Couldn't ask for more! We enjoyed it, and Samuel loved it as well.

Other than that, the Vikes were disappointing yesterday (Billy, you can stop reading now). Nothing like a solid thrashing by a far superior Patriot team to remind us Vikes fans of just how far we are from the top of the league. We got out coached, out blocked, and definitely out quarterbacked! Well, at least I won in my fantasy league...and will win again next week, right Donut? Remember the juggernaut...

Well, that's all for now. Feel free to comment on our random thoughts if you would like! We'll try to keep this updated with anything big going on in our lives.

Well, this is the first blog entry. We have never done this before but figured it would be a good thing to start having so many friends and family all around the world. We'll see how we do keeping this updated. (-:

This is Samuel playing in his exersaucer while we were packing up to move to our new apartment in Denver.