Fire truck visit

| September 30, 2013

Today the Springfield Fire Company visited Sam’s school. She was so excited going to school I thought she was going to explode. Every year we take her to the Fire Company’s open house and she loves it. As you can imagine, it was a big hit. The kids got fire hats and were wearing them when they came out. A whole line of mini fire fighters was a very cute sight to see.

I picked her up at school and we walked home and she told me all about it.  I will confess to driving by in the early afternoon to see if the truck was there and it was — the really big ladder truck. All the kids were lined up outside. Here is  photo from the Springfield Fire Company website. When I got to the school, they ladder was up and extended. I can imagine the kids thought it was amazing.

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I asked Sam what happened and she told me that the fireman took Mrs. McCann way up on the ladder, “but not a climbing ladder.” I asked if Mrs. McCann was scared and Sam said no. I asked her if the fireman told her to Stop Drop and Roll but she said he told them, “If you have a favorite toy, you tell the fireman what toy it is and what room it is in and he will go get it for you.” I suppose they were trying to make the kids understand that they shouldn’t stay in a burning room to retrieve a toy, which is a good lesson. Kids would do that, I suppose.

In the next week or so the Fire Company has the annual open house again so we will be heading there too.  More fire trucks! More fire hats! More adventure for our little Sam.

Lots of Random Cuteness

| September 26, 2013

Once and a while, we get some really cute, but random, pictures of Sam and there isn’t much to say about them, other than that we love them. Here are some recent favorites.

Sam likes to sit in our dogwood tree, probably because it is pretty low to the ground. I love this picture. I had Zephyr outside at the same time and had put her leash down. Zephyr decided to walk away toward our back door. Sam thought it was too funny that Zephyr was wandering off dragging her leash behind her.

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Our adorable tree hugger!

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Sam loves helping her Daddy fix things. The ramp to our shed was getting warped, so he was trying to straighten it out. Sam put on her safety glasses and grabbed some tools to see if she could assist. They look so cute fixing things together. Sam loves it when Mark asks for her help. That’s one thing about kids her age — they may not always do what you want them to do, but they LOVE to be useful and help out. If you can use it to your advantage, it can be great. I always think though, wait about 5 or 6 years and she will be complaining about doing all the things she begs to do now (like dishes).

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Sam’s first ever school party

| September 24, 2013

Yesterday was Sam’s first ever school party! Since it was her actual birthday and she had school, they had her birthday celebration at snack time. I made cupcakes and Mark and I went in a snack time to help celebrate. It was the cutest thing ever. When we walked upstairs to her classroom, all the kids were waiting on the rug for circle time and Sam was in a chair wearing a birthday hat and a huge smile! It was the highlight of her day having Mark and I come into her school.

We both were allowed to read for circle time and I brought one of Sam’s favorite books, “Bear Snores On” by Karma Wilson.

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Mark read one of Sam’s other favorites, “Russell the Sheep” by Rob Scotton.

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After we read, she showed us how since it was her special day, she got to do all the jobs (which is a huge deal for the kids). Her favorite was that she got to dress up the frog for the day.

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Then it was cake time! All the kids went to their tables and sang Happy Birthday to Sam. She got to use the cupcake placemat, which also is a very special thing.

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Mrs. McCann was nice enough to take this family photo to commemorate the day!

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After her party, I had a little time before dismissal so I just hung out for a bit. When the door opens and the kids are dismissed, there is always a “line leader”.  Everyone wants to be line leader, and since it was Sam’s birthday, it was her day. She was so excited to see me she barely had the Stop sign in the air!

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Here are some pictures of our little girl, who is not so little anymore! She is so beautiful, inside and out.

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Sam is 4!

| September 23, 2013

It is unbelievable to us that our little girl is now 4 years old. Where the time went, I have no idea. It seems like time is passing by at warp speed and it is hard to keep up, to keep all the little things in memory. Every day there is something Sam does or says that just cracks me up laughing or makes me smile and I think, I have to remember that, and I swear, half of them I don’t. But I do try, and I keep the blog, and hopefully, I do remember the important things. Like Sam’s birthdays.

We started the day before her birthday with a few presents. Her birthday was on a Monday this year, and her party the day before. The Friday prior, Sam came home from school not feeling all that well. Her throat was bothering her and she had some sniffles but she was pretty much her same old self, minus a bit of spunk. We planned on taking it easy on Saturday to help her rest, and Mark thought that it would be nice to start her birthday weekend with some presents. Mark and Sam love playing with his cars. Her favorite seems to be a white SUV with a siren on top, so he got her a bunch of new cars, rescue vehicles and trucks, and all the things she likes best.

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Her favorite of this group turned out to be the helicopter!

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Playing at home quietly was just the thing to start the weekend.

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By Sunday, Sam was feeling pretty good, so on with the party! This year, Sam was very insistent she wanted a Cinderella party, so a Cinderella party she had!

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One of Sam’s favorite things is balloons, so we had a lot of those. When I came walking down the driveway with the two dozen, I heard her yells of excitement before I even got to the door.

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While I was out picking up some last minute food, Sam had fun playing bop the balloons.

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My mom tried to get Sam to sit still for a picture, but Sam was so full of energy and excitement she kept running around and around the house. 🙂

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We put up this huge Cinderella banner for Sam to take pictures with. She insisted on holding Cinderella’s hand.

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It was a great party, with a lot of good food and our family, but, come on now, Sam is 4!  What she really cares about is….presents!! She certainly got a lot of those. We are very lucky to have such generous family and friends.

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For months, Sam has been telling me: “Do you want to know what I am getting for my birthday? Mickey Mouse at the playground and Mickey Mouse in her room.” These are two Minnie Mouse playsets that she saw at the Disney Store in I think May of this year. One is a playground and the other, that Sam calls “her room” is actually a beauty shop. And she never says Minnie — always Mickey. Oh well. Anyway, there was no way I couldn’t have bought them. After the first three or four times she mentioned it, I knew I’d be in big trouble if they weren’t her gifts. So, of course, they were.

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Happy girl!

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It was very cute. She told me every few weeks what she was getting for her birthday. She was pretty definite about it. But a few days before her party I think she got nervous because for the first time instead of telling me what she is getting, she said, “Mommy?  Did you buy Mickey Mouse at the playground and in her room?” As if I wouldn’t….she should know me better than that!

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Sam got some wonderful presents from everyone, including this Doc McStuffins sticker and craft set from Krista, Adam and Maddox. She also got the rocketship Maddox got last year for Christmas, which she was so happy about.

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Mom Mom and Pop Pop got her some wonderful clothes and this talking Cinderella doll.  Sam was so excited!

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Grandmom and Poppy got her some books and Twister.  Sam is always playing a Twister like game on my mom’s rug so she thought it would be perfect.

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She also got a Hello Kitty outfit from my friend, Debbi, some money for her college fund from all of her grandparents and from her Poppy’s brother Anthony and his wife Kathy, and some sidewalk chalk, some coloring supplies, and a gift card from our wonderful neighbors, Joe and Debbie.  Sam is certainly well loved!

Now it was time for the cake! I think this Cinderella Magic cake was perfect, and so did Sam. When I brought it home from the store, she must have grabbed her little stool to go look at it a hundred times.

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Mark asked Sam to pick a piece and of course she was pointing to the one with the gobs of orange frosting!

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Make a wish and blow!

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At the end of the festivities, Sam gave Mom Mom and Pop Pop a gift of their own — a birdhouse that she painted all by herself. She gave one to Grandmom and Poppy earlier in the week too. It is good to give gifts on your birthday as well as to receive.  Hobbit style!

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Happy, happy birthday to our dear little girl. We are so proud of you!

Sam and Z

| September 20, 2013

A little while ago, Sam had a really bad night sleeping. She just couldn’t fall asleep. It was after 10:00 p.m. and she was still awake. I had been in her room with her for hours, but she was still up, and I was getting very frustrated. Mark tried to get her to sleep too with no success. He told me that it wasn’t that Sam was being difficult, she really was trying to fall alseep, he could tell, but she wouldn’t nod off. Eventually, she wound up in our bed. We figured maybe a change of scenery would do the trick. Well, it didn’t, not at first. It was way past all of our bedtimes and Zephyr came to bed, as she always does. Mark told Sam that if she laid very still with Zephyr, and just quietly stretched out one hand, Zephyr might lay her paw on Sam’s hand.

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As you can see, Sam was beyond thrilled that Zephyr gave her this honor of “holding paws”. We were thrilled too. Sam loves Zephyr so much, that it is good to see Z return some of the love. 🙂

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