Indoor Camping

| June 26, 2012

Sam is a very lucky little girl.  Every day that she stays with her Grandmom and Poppy, her Poppy gives her $3.00 as an allowance. She gets it any day he sees her actually.  So, she has been building up quite a little bank account, which is what we wind up doing with the money.  At some point, when she is older, I am sure she will want to spend her loot, but for now, we are happy we get to put it away for her.  Recently, Poppy got lucky playing the lottery — he won when the number that he asked Sam to pick out hit — two days in a row!  He gave me some money to let Sam buy herself a toy, whatever she wanted.  This time, she was going to get to spend her dollars.  So off we went to Toys R Us.  Sam had such a hard time picking something out, which was surprising.  Finally, Grandmom had the brilliant idea of a tent.  Sam is always asking us to make her a “castle” out of couch cushions, so it seemed perfect.  As soon as we got home, I put it all together.  Sam had so much fun!  She is always in there, and keeps asking me to come it too (it is quite an adventure, but I manage to get in by plopping the tent over my head).  Here she is enjoying her new hideaway.

We’re making progress!

| June 26, 2012

Today Sam actually went potty at my mom’s house!  She has never gone for anyone else but me.  In the last few days she has been asking me more to go.  A couple of times this weekend, she actually woke me up in the morning and told me she needed to go to the potty.  So, it’s slow, but it’s getting there.  There are some days she will go more than once, and some days, not at all.  But today I think was a big deal.  She actually went for someone else.  Maybe she is getting there, maybe not.  I am not going to push, and I am not really in a huge rush for the process to be done, but there are some days that she seems so into it that I get a little bit excited that she has made the decision to ditch the diapers.  I have a feeling, though, that those good folks at Pampers are going to be getting a little bit more of my hard earned money for a while.

At the fair

| June 24, 2012

Yesterday was Mark’s employer’s annual summer picnic.  SAP throws quite a bash every year and Sam always has fun.  This year we thought she would especially enjoy it because she is older and more able to ride the rides and understand what the picnic has to offer.  Mark’s nephew (and his mom and dad, of course!) came too so that Sam would have someone to hang out with.  She can be a little timid on the rides and we thought Sam would enjoy having her brave cousin, Maddox to help her out.

Sam couldn’t wait to ride the merry-go-round.  She cried out, “I want to ride the bunny!”  I didn’t even see the rabbit, but she sure did.  She had such a good time.  The orange balloon in her hand is her snake that she had made for her right after we got there.  Sadly, it popped before we left, but she was ok.  I think her favorite part of the ride though was seeing the tiny live frog hopping around by the entrance gate.  She loves frogs but has never seen a real one before.  Wow, was she excited!

After the first ride, Maddox and Krista got on too.

Mark and I love Ferris wheels and always ride one when we can. This is the first time Sam has ever been on one. It was surprisingly high so we hoped she wouldn’t freak out, but I think she actually liked it.  It didn’t hurt that we kept our arms around her the whole time…This is my crazy photo I tried to take holding the camera at arm’s length. I think it’s a pretty funny picture.

What is this crazy photo, you may ask?  Well, dead center you can see us!

This is another photo I took while on the Ferris wheel, to give you an idea of how big a party it really was.  That is Mark’s building to the left.

Maddox and Krista!

We really wanted Sam to brave going on some rides without us so we let her ride the ladybugs.  Sam and Maddox held hands the whole time, which was so cute we couldn’t stand it.  Sam kept asking to get off, but she made it the whole ride through.  There were a few tears when I finally rescued her, but I was proud of her nonetheless.

We hope that SAP keeps having such an amazing picnic every year!  It is so much fun!

Dry!

| June 19, 2012

This morning I went to change Sam’s diaper and it was actually dry!  That is the first time that has ever happened.  I was really unsure as to whether I should start pushing her to potty train because she is just being sort of lazy, or if I should wait because she isn’t physically ready.  I think she is more ready than she lets on.  I have proof that she is physically able to hold it, so come on Sam!  Let’s go!  Maybe it’s time to start pushing more…

Father’s Day

| June 18, 2012

Yesterday was Father’s Day. I think it was a pretty darn good day for Mark. At least it seemed that way!  Sam celebrated Father’s Day with her Poppy by having dinner Saturday night, then we had dinner with her Pop Pop on Sunday.  Mark opted to open his gifts Saturday night, and who can blame him?  The sooner you can open gifts the better!

This year, Sam was pretty cute.  She was really adamant about wanting to buy Mark an orange watch. I asked her a bunch of times what she wanted to get him and that was always her answer. So, we bought him an orange watch.  Well, I bought it and she gave it.  You know, the kid has no credit cards.  Yet….  She also bought him some other clothes, a bathing suit that she picked out, and a Foo Fighters t-shirt. She got a matching one, so I will be waiting to get a picture of the two of them together in those!

Before dinner, I managed to get a few cute pictures of the little girl and her Daddy.

When Poppy came over, Sam and her kitty helped him open presents.  We tried to get her to sit on the couch, but she was very insistent that they sit on the table.  She is very bossy, my little girl.

Of course, no one gets to open their own presents anymore…

Sam spent so much time decorating her Father’s Day cards with her stickers.  She actually picked out everyone’s cards herself this year.  Here she is showing Poppy the results of all her hard work decorating.  You can see the presents she got him in the picture.  The bathing suit she picked out herself while we were shopping at Kohl’s.  There is a cute story behind his presents.  While we were shopping, I was trying to pick out some new socks for myself.  Sam kept throwing packs of socks into the shopping cart and I told her to stop. She insisted she wanted to buy new socks for Poppy.  I explained to her that these were ladies socks, not boy socks.  She was so forlorn over the whole thing that I finally told her we could go get Poppy some new socks.  You wouldn’t believe how happy this made her.  So off we went to the men’s section to buy some socks.  Thankfully, the ones she picked out were ones he would actually wear.

I bought him a DVD set of westerns and Sam seems to be pointing out which ones she wants to watch. Joe has westerns on all the time at home and Sam really likes it because there are always a million horses.

While we were making cards for Poppy, Daddy and Pop Pop, Sam wanted to make a card for Grandmom too, so we crafted one out of some paper and stickers.

Here is our little cutie helping her Daddy open his orange watch. The Foo Fighters t-shirts are on the side.

Sunday at dinner with the Myers’s, Mark took this cute pic of Sam and Maddox. Look how grown up they are!

Happy Father’s Day, Mark!  Sam is luckier than any other little girl in the world.  You do so much with her that other dads might not.  You let her run in the rain, dig in the dirt, and you teach her everything you know.  How to fix things, how things are made, and how they work.  You are patient with her, and loving, and kind. One of my favorite things is hearing her bright and cheery, “Hi, Daddy!!” when you come down the stairs in the morning.  She is so happy to see you and always says, “Daddy no have to work today” because I know that is what she wishes, that you could spend every day with her.  Sam will always grow up feeling her Daddy’s love and support, and your belief in her, and that is the best thing a little girl could ever ask for.