Sammi Is One!

 Miss Samantha May turned one on Saturday!  This year has flown by.  She is such a sweetheart and we're so glad to have her in our family!  We just can't remember what life was like without her.  We were at Cedar Point all day on her actual birthday, so we celebrated on Sunday.

Weight: 19 lbs. 1 oz. (10%)

Height: 29 3/4 inches (51%)

Head Circumference: 17.9 inches (51%)

 The beautiful girl on her actual big day.

 "Helping" Daddy with the camera

 I'm a big one-year-old!

 Love those cheeks.

 She loved the little pull-along doggy that E picked out for her.

 She was so excited about her book of animals.

 Her with all her loot.  She has loved and played with everything so far.  Thanks for the dollhouse, Grandma and Grandpa J!

 The little cake.

 Sooo excited for cake!

Mmmm....

She devoured the cake, but then got really mad that she was all sticky.  She had a very sad little chocolate face when she was all done.  She held her hands out with her fingers spread and was looking at me like, "Mom!  Wipe me off now!"

Sweet little Sammi, 

At one year old you are still the sweetest, most content baby.  You are a great eater, great sleeper, and have such an overall pleasant disposition.  We really can't remember what life was like without you, sweet girl.  Your big round blue eyes charm everyone you come in contact with, and your sweet little smile gets you anything you want, especially from Daddy.  I came home from the store late the other night and you were sitting on Daddy's lap enjoying a sucker while watching a show.  Daddy let you stay up late because he thought it was so cute that you found your brother's unopened sucker on the table.

At 12 months old you can:

-Say "hi", "bye", "mama", "dada", and "yeah".

-You can take up to 9 steps.

-You can climb up the stairs but haven't gotten the hang of going down yet.

-You are done with formula and didn't have a problem with switching over to milk.

-You love cheese, yogurt, milk, bread, and pretty much anything else we let you try.

-You LOVE animals, especially dogs.  Any time you see one, you start flapping your arms and doing your belly laugh.

-You love to tease your brother by stealing his trains.

-You get excited when we turn on "Go, Diego, Go!" probably because of the animals on it.

-You love books.  Whenever I need you to hold still and be entertained, I put a pile of books on the floor and you will then meticulously turn the pages of each one.

We love you, sweet little girl!

Melt My Heart

 Sammi adores her big brother, and many times he adores her right back.  Of course, sometimes he pushes her over for fun, but lots of times he squeezes her in a tight hug and says "She's so c-yoooooot!"  And she just takes it.  I now have proof that he's nice to her.

I like that he has an amused look on his face here.

I also like her adoring little eyes in this picture.

Recipe Blog

I updated the recipe blog.  I know, I can't believe it either.

The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

We went to the zoo on Saturday, and boy was it hot.  We were trying to be fun instead of boring, but being boring is sure a lot cooler.  We packed a lunch and drove to the zoo only to find that every other person within 50 miles had the exact same idea.  There were people parking on the grass.  Craziness.  We made it in after a long and sticky walk from the parking lot and found that the actual zoo wasn't that crowded.  I think most people were at Zoombezi Bay (the attached water park).  So we got a table and had some lunch.

Whilst we were lunching, E decided that he should mess around on the bench and then fall off and bang the back of his head on the concrete and get a huge goose egg.  Luckily he didn't have a concussion and wasn't bleeding, but he was a little somber the rest of the day.  Poor guy. :(

We headed to the aquarium to see the manatees first.  I don't know why, but they are one of my favorites.

 Geez, would someone wipe this kid's face already!?  He was eating Cheez-Its.

 This sting ray smiled at us.

 Me with the flamingos

 They have a little pen with goats in it that you can brush.  E has been nervous about it in the past, but we gave it a go since Sammi loves animals so much.  E would only comb the goats that were laying down facing away from him.

 Sammi wasn't scared at all.  In fact, she kept screaming with delight.

Can you guess what E's favorite part of the zoo was?  THE TRAIN!  Here's his happy little face.

Sammi also liked it, but probably not as much as the animals.

Little Sillies

We had some post-parade fun with our bubble gum.  No matter how many times I explained that you were supposed to just chew and chew without swallowing, the gum always disappeared.  But look at this huge bubble he blew!  (That's how he was picturing it anyway...)

And look!  Sammi's pretending to show a wad of gum just like Emerson!

Sammi took her first steps this week!  She also discovered that the bottom step is a handy place to sit.

She's been melting our hearts with her walking as well as her newfound vocabulary.  She now says "hi", "bye", "mama", and "dada" and has learned to wave.  She still claps whenever she hears a positive comment such as "yay!" or "good job!" to anyone. 

She's been quite the stinker with her naps.  She's transitioning from 2 naps to just one, but most days she can't make it to E's naptime around 1:00 and is dead tired at 12:00.  But sometimes she drifts off if we're out and about in the morning and then she won't go down for a nap at all even though I put her in there and let her talk to herself for an hour until she starts crying hysterically.  In short, it's just a big mess.  But I'm sure she'll figure it out.  Right now my strategy is to take the kids to do some activity outside so they get good and tired for their naps.

And E, silly little E has figured out directions.  He laughed and laughed when I almost turned right on our way to the Bunny Fountains this week.  He said, "Mommy!  You're siwwy.  We don't turn to the right, we just turn to the weft to go to the Bunny Fountains!  You're so siwwy."  He knows exactly where all of his friends' houses are and if we're even remotely close he asks if we're going there.  He cracks me up...most of the time.

Mini-Me

Most people think that our children look like Ben.  I finally have proof that I am at least the mother of my daughter.  My mom sent me a picture of myself at the same age that Sammi is now.  What do you think?  Is she a mini-me or not?

Then...just to blow your mind with three generations, I present my mom's picture:

4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July.  It's always been a favorite holiday of mine, not only because I'm so grateful to live in America, but also because it means spending so much time with my family.  I really missed celebrating my birthday with my brother Brad again this year (mine is on the 3rd and his is on the 4th) as well as the family bbqs, fireworks, and the Murray parade.  Those things, along with the salt water taffy that just isn't catching on in Ohio, are definitive of the 4th.  Since we aren't in Utah though, we had to make some fun of our own with our good friends who are really starting to feel like family to us.

We attended the Hilliard parade:

 Little girl is still pretty even though she has a cold...

 I'm living vicariously through her by buying her jellies at a young age.  I loved jellies and always wanted some when I was little.  My dreams came true when I got my first pair. :)

 The little fam

 Me

 Ben and his mini-me

 Silly E telling some story

 Girl loving the horses.  She is in love with animals right now and makes little excited noises with her mouth in the shape of an "o".

After some good long naps by all, we let the kids go swimumum.  It was a special treat to have Daddy join in.

Her limp pigtails make me giggle

We had a barbeque with some friends at Frank's Park and hung out until the fireworks started.

E really enjoyed the sparklers

Our whole family right before the fireworks show.  E kept pretending to grab them and hand them to me.  He called them "golden globes".  Sammi sang to the big fireworks but hated the illegal ones that people kept setting off because they were so loud.  The kids were both troopers even though it was such a long day.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Berfday to Me

I had a very happy birthday this year.  I turned the big 2-5.  I'm a quarter of a century, and luckily I have wonderful friends and family who made it a special weekend for me.

My cute friends who also happen to be in my ward took me to dinner at Panera.  It was a good time with lots of good conversation, and not a kid in sight. :) (Although I do adore my kids.)

Saturday Ben took me out for a night on the town to Olive Garden and then to the Grove City fireworks where we were able to people watch before the show.  They were all white trash people, and they all had itches in real awkward places, so it wasn't pretty.  But we had a good time playing games on our blanket eating our red vines.

Sunday was my actual big day.  See how excited I am?

Ben made it such a special day.  He made and handed out 25+ (in case he didn't get some back) cards on Saturday to my family, friends, and neighbors and they all found me throughout the day on Sunday.  Everyone wrote the sweetest notes and I felt so loved.  Ben was so clever to put a different fact from the year I was born at the top of each card and then he found a flower punch in my scrapbooking stuff and punched out a flower for each card and taped a quarter in the middle (because I'm a quarter of a century).  It was so thoughtful!

Then he surprised me with a huge present.  He got me a Canon DSLR camera.  I love it to pieces.  I don't really know what I'm doing, and I am not going to become a self-proclaimed wedding photographer or anything because that kind of drives me crazy when people do that, but I sure am going to have fun taking pictures of my kids and maybe some food so I can update my food blog and not have it look like a cheap Mexican restaurant menu.  I've still got lots to figure out on it, but we had fun messing around with it.

A typical E smile--not looking at the camera.

A typical pretty Sammi smile--underbite and all.

The cake.  It's the Better Homes and Gardens cookie cake.  Make it, and you will die and go to heaven.

25-year-old me.

Smiling proudly at E for singing "happy birthday" so well.

Thank you to everyone for making my birthday so special!  It's probably the best adult birthday I can recall.

A Dress for Sammikins

One of the things I love about having a girl is that there are so many fun things to make for her.  I loved this dress when I saw it and was so excited to make it a 4th of July one.  Tutorial found here.

Can't wait to put that cute little bod into it!

Guido

 We had some pasta salad with our dinner the other night, and E promptly picked out all the olives, laughingly calling them tires, and then proceeded to stack them and say "Look Mommy!  I stack the tires just like Guido!"  (In case you live under a rock, Guido is the little Italian forklift guy from Cars.)

And, just for fun...

Don't you just love bathtime?  It makes me smile too.