SAP Summer Picnic 2013

| July 22, 2013

Yesterday was Mark’s summer picnic at SAP. We have been going for so many years but the last few, with Sam, have definitely been the best. There are a lot of activities for the little ones so it makes it more fun to have her with us. I remember so many years going and wishing we had a child of our own to have fun with, and look at us now!

One of the first tasks of the day was to hit the skeeball game. I love it, and Sam likes to help me play.

She hasn’t quite mastered the game yet.  The act of rolling the ball seems to escape her in skeeball.  She much prefers throwing it wildly, as you can see, it is airborne! She did manage to win a bear though, which just made her day.

Next stop, the carousel! Sam loves to ride the carousel no matter where we go.  Maddox seemed to like it too, although the cotton candy was more his concern at the moment.

Sam has been so much more adventurous about rides so we thought maybe she and Maddox would like to ride together. The ladybugs went a little faster than Sam would have liked, but she did ok anyway.

Our last ride was the Ferris wheel.  Mark and I love the Ferris wheel and always take Sam. It was hard to take a good family portrait while holding the camera at arm’s length, but Mark didn’t too do badly!

Krista, Adam and Maddox went on all the rides too (and even some super fast ones!) It has been really nice to be able to have them come with us now each year.

We stopped to eat and Sam was jamming to the music. I have some adorable video of her dancing with her bear. Mark took her out onto the grass to boogie down!

One last picture of our wiped out little girl. She had all of her loot, it was hot and she was tired. A few more activities (like the moonbounce) for her, and we had to call it quits and go home.  But it was a wonderful, fun day and I hope we get to do it all over again next year.

Sam’s Ever Progressing Artwork

| July 19, 2013

Sam likes this show on PBS called WordGirl, which I think is too old for her, but it is pretty harmless and they teach kids some decent vocabulary. (I think it is too old for her in that she doesn’t quite understand what is going on, not that there is anything bad in it). Anyway, today she drew a picture, which in and of itself was surprising because most of Sam’s drawings are still scribbles.  I asked her to tell me about it and she told me, quite clearly, that “It is Violet. She is painting her house. This is her house [on the left] and this is her paint [on the right]. She is Becky’s friend. She visits her sometimes.”  Becky is WordGirl’s alter ego (WordGirl is a super hero) and Violet is her friend. Apparently, in one episode, Violet was painting her house. So there you go.  The smiley face has nothing to do with anything, it was just on the paper when she started, but I am very impressed!

Grandmom’s Birthday

| July 15, 2013

We had my mom over to our house for her birthday cake and presents after we went out to dinner. Here are some pictures of the party for “Nanmom” as Sam still calls her.

As I posted about before, Sam and Mark have really been into making things out of clay. Sam made these really cool pink and orange beads for my mom and Mark’s mom’s birthdays. Here she is showing Grandmom her very special gift.

She was so excited to give her presents to her Grandmom and Mom Mom. It looks like she is giving my mom her opinion about how things look. I am not actually sure what was going on…

My little goofball likes to wear bows on her head.

Since we have been working on letters, I asked Sam to sign her name to my mom’s card. I showed her what the letters in her name look like and she signed her name, for the very first time.

Finally on to the cake! This is the first time I have ever heard Sam actually sing the Happy Birthday song. She knew all the words. I was so shocked when she started singing!

I think my mom already got her birthday wish, every year, when she gets to share her party with her beautiful granddaughter.

Happy Birthday! I know Sam feels very lucky to share them with you, as we all do. We love you!

Me and my love

| July 14, 2013

I have been trying to get some new pictures of me and Sam for a while and Mark finally managed to get her to cooperate for these. I just love them and wanted to share. What would I do without my girl?

Cookies!

| July 14, 2013

For some reason, Sam got it into her head that we needed to make cookies. I was going to go with the old standby, chocolate chip, since they are so easy, but she wanted to do roll out cookies. With cookie cutters. And rolling pins. NOT my favorite. But, the good mommy that I am, I plunged onward and roll out cookies we made! She helped me cut them out with the cookie cutters and put them all on the pans.

After cutting them out and baking them, Sam couldn’t wait to decorate. I thankfully had some cookie frosting in the house and we always have lots of sprinkles!

I think she did a great job! I left all the decorating to her. She kept telling me that all the sprinkles under the drying rack were having a party – I guess it looked festive under there to her!

They were mighty tasty too, if I do say so myself! Great-Grandmom Brynes recipe never steers you wrong. 🙂