Backseat Driver

So last night I am driving home from my parents house when I hear Sammi in the backseat talking. She has starting saying long sentences and this is what I hear...

"Mommy, watch out, car coming!"
"Mommy, stop, light coming!"
"Uh, oh, car coming Mommy!"

She repeated some variation of this the entire drive home. No matter how many times I said okay she would not stop worrying and pointing out the cars and lights. I consider myself a good driver and definitely good enough not to drive through red lights and into oncoming traffic but I guess a two year old sees the world a little differently.

Build-A-Kitty

This week Sammi got super spoiled with a trip to Build-A-Bear with Aunt Karie. The trip to Build-A-Bear was in honor of Sammi's birthday next week. Sammi loved it. After a little debate Sammi found a kitty and was instantly in love. She has been more than a little obsessed with kitties and had so much fun making her own little friend. She put four hearts in the kitty and would have stuffed the entire thing with hearts had I let her. Her favorite part was "cleaning" the kitty. Aunt Karie bought two outfits for her and got they kitty decked out in bows too. Sammi has started carrying the kitty around everywhere: the car, Gammy's House, restaurants, Wal-mart and to bed too. We aren't too original with names at our house so the kitty is appropriately named "Kitty." Thanks Aunt Karie for such a fun birthday present!

Sadie the Pony

So yesterday I am in the kitchen cleaning when I heard a "Yee Haw! Yee Haw!" I walk towards the family room to find Sadie on the ground. Sammi is straddling Sadie's back pretending to ride Sadie like a pony. She would bounce up and down yelling "Yee Haw!" and then giggling. Luckily Sadie happens to be about the size of a small pony. I swear I could see Sadie's mild exasperation with Sammi's antics written all over her face.

Nap times=Heaven

So at this moment my daughter is taking her daily nap. Jealous? Well you should be cause Sammi's nap times have become something of a sacred time at our house. After a morning of food, spills, meltdowns, playtime, bath time, random button pushing on all our electronics, I find that nap time is a beautiful thing. It is basically my three hours of heaven a day. I love Sammi but Sammi asleep is like a little angel. Sammi awake is like a really cute tornado. I don't pretend that Sammi is a difficult child cause as far as kids go she is pretty great, just super busy, super into everything and super energized. So I just thought I would say that I love nap times.

When Sammi is awake I love:

-Her loves!
-Her cute little voice.
-They way she jumps and lands right on her butt.
-The way she says her animal noises.
-The fact everything is "Blue" and if not blue her 2nd guess is always "Green" then "purple".
-The way she tries to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and is sounds like "Tinkle, Tinkle Star"

Something Fishy...

This week we went to the aquarium with our friends Ashlie and Brynlee. Sammi and Brynlee are at that age where fish and animals are fascinating. We got to see many types of fish, frogs, sharks, turtles and a giant snake. Sammi actually touched a sting ray which she liked the first time. She then refused to even try it again after her one successful touch. Both girls liked the penguins and we tried to get a picture of them in front of the penguin exhibit. Ashlie and I might have taken fifty pictures and this is the best one I took! They aren't even looking at me! Well I tried. We love Ashlie and Brynlee and always have a fun time on our play dates!

I think they are smiling at Ashlie, who was on my left!
Look at those cuties!

Counting, Sammi's Way

Sammi keeps growing and changing, reminding me everyday that she is no longer a baby but a little girl. Recently she has learned to count, well not count perfectly but she tries. She enjoys lining up her toys and counting them. Her counting goes as follows: two, (yes I know she skips one, she just won't say it!), three, four, five, six, Sammi, Nate, nine, ten. Yes, you read that right, she thinks seven is "Sammi" and eight is "Nate" and I can see why it might be confusing. We will keep working on it but in my opinion it is super cute.

She also started asking for me to take her picture. She will point to the camera and say "Cheese" cause after all that is what you say when your picture is about to be taken. It is appropriate cause she has a cheesy smile!

In case you are wondering that is an apple in her mouth!

End of the year...

Haven't posted in a while so here is what Christmas and New Years brought us...I call it "Christmas" & "Christmas-New Years Eve Edition"...We had Christmas morning here at home with Sammi, and she loved opening all the presents. She wanted to open all her toys until she saw the next one. Her favorite present that morning were her legos. She was such a sweet heart.

We didn't get to see Aubree until New Years Eve and she opened her presents then. She was so excited about the Wii. We had a great Christmas in two parts.

Trick-or-Treat

Aubree was able to spend Halloween weekend with us this year which was a lot of fun. We went to the store and she picked out a vampire costume, wig and all!

Sammi was "Boo" from Monsters, Inc. My mom was creative enough and nice enough to make it from scratch. It turned out really cute. Tim even donned a Gorilla mask.

Trick-or-treating was quite cold but we hit a few house with Sammi then Aubree and Tim struck out on their own pulling in quite a lot of candy. I didn't have many trick-or-treaters so with Aubree's candy I ended up breaking even in the candy department! I have sooo much left over!

Sammi really loves Aubree being home and dragged her outside to play on the swing set. No one can make Sammi laugh as hard as Aubree can. Sammi loved the teeter-totter and Aubree was nice enough to play with her for quite awhile. She really is a great big sister.

Dressed for Fall!

Tim and I both agree that fall is our favorite season when it comes to the weather and one of my favorite parts is dressing Sammi in cute sweaters and boots. I bought this hat for her last year and it was way too big but this year fits her perfectly. It was too cold outside while she was swinging to go without a hat so I put it on convinced she would not keep it on her head. She surprised me though and wore it for hours. I guess I am keeping an eye out for more fun hats!

Sammi's First Hair Cut

I got Sammi's hair cut for the first time. She didn't really like the experience as a whole. It turned out really cute. It is mostly up in pigtails so most people wouldn't notice that I had several inches cut off. It had become really long, about half way down her back. She got a balloon though and a sucker at the salon and got to watch her favorite movie "Monsters, Inc."

How Sweet it is...

We took advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday to go to the park and go down the slides. Samantha loved the slides and the kids and the many puppy dogs. She wanted to make friends with everyone, puppies included. She would point at them and then squeal in excitement.

Grandma and I tried to take some good pictures but action shots are tricky.

I really enjoy being a mom full time. Spending time with Samantha everyday is so much fun, everyday we create new memories and have new experiences. She has such a sweet personality, she is curious, helpful and loving. She always has a smile and a wave for everyone she meets. I am not sure what I did to deserve her...?

Egg-cellent

Happy Easter All!
We were very lucky to have Aubree for Easter Morning this year...We tried to shove all the Easter activities we could into Saturday and Sunday morning...We did pretty good...Aubree dyed some eggs...Made a bunny cake. She designed it...mixed it...baked it..decorated it...photographed it...and of course ate it! We had the Easter bunny come and leave some pretty cool Easter baskets for the girls. We ate blueberry pancakes for breakfast and got Sammi all dressed up in a sweet Easter dress.

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend!

Sammi's Basket

Aubree's Basket

Sammi w/Her Basket

Aubree w/her basket

Sammi in her Easter dress

Aubree's Bunny Cake

Aubree decorating it...

Yummy

Pretty Colors

Oh......

This weekend Samantha started making this "Oh" face. I don't know how else to describe it. She makes it all the time no matter her mood. It is even accompanied by an "Oh" sound. Since she can't talk, the face does the talking for her.

"Oh, I am excited!"
"Oh, I am tired!"
"Oh, I am happy!"
"Oh, look at the puppies!"
"Oh, I am sad!"
"Oh, this cracker is delicious!"

I don't know where she learned it so now it makes me wonder if I make the face and she is copying me?

"Oh, look at the camera!"

Sad Swingin'

I was feeling a dose of spring fever this past week. There were a couple days with sunshine so I decided to take Samantha to the park. Once we got there, of course, the sun disappeared and I found out it was much colder outside than it looked. We only had a few minutes on the swings and went down one slide before we conceded and got back in the car. As you can tell the swings were not her favorite. I am sure she will warm up to them eventually but in the mean time it looks like it is too cold to swing anyway.

All You Need Is Love...

To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven.

-Karen Sunde

The Turtle Pacifier

Samantha really enjoys her pacifier. She crawls over to it and puts it in her mouth. My parents put it inside a little pocket on this stuffed turtle. Well, having it attached to a turtle was not going to prevent Sammi from putting it straight in her mouth. What follows is a series of strange and adorable pictures. She had us laughing pretty hard!

Suit Up!

Tim needed to get his picture taken for work. Check it out! This one was my favorite of him...he looks quite dashing doesn't he?

Updates...

Well, I haven't updated the blog since July so in the mean time we have had Aubree's 9th birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Christmas! Here are a couple pics (in random order) to show you what we have been up to and if by any chance anyone is still checking this after I have neglected it so thoroughly...thanks!

It's all happening at the zoo...

We spent our Sunday at the zoo. It was Samantha's first time. Every time we take Aubree she gets a stuffed animal...she got a tiger this year and Samantha didn't get left out...she got a little elephant.

We had a fun day as a family. As you can tell...

Aubree with her white tiger at home...
Samantha all tuckered out with her elephant...

Being Apes

Under a waterfall

Being eaten alive by a lion