Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | December 17, 2013

Once again it was time to go to Macy’s to see the light show. My mom and I are really trying to make it a tradition, for as long as Sam wants to keep going. It is something that is pretty near and dear to me, so I hope she wants to continue to go for a long time. I really dread those days when Sam will start bemoaning everything fun I want to do with her.

Even though she has seen it a bunch of times before, Sam is still excited by all the lights. Who wouldn’t be, I mean, look at it! We were sitting on the floor right by the eagle, whose majestic head you can see in the corner.

Speaking of the eagle, Sam asked if she could take her picture with him. Of course!

After the light show, we headed upstairs to Dickens Village. Sam never lets me stop here to take pictures, but this year she was all for it. We got this cute pictures of all of us.

A lot of kids get freaked out by the Dickens puppets. I don’t know if it is the dark, or the actual puppets, but Sam never does. She thinks they are pretty funny, and maybe some of them a little weird, but she always wants to go.

After Dickens Village (and a stop in the Holiday Shop for some ornaments), we went to lunch with my friend Debbi, who came to spend some time with us. We went to lunch and Debbi gave Sam a Merida doll, from the Disney movie, Brave. Sam has not seen the movie yet, but Debbi thought Sam may like Merida because they have the same color hair. She was right!

After lunch, the plan was to shop a bit. Off to the shoe department! Sam found a pair she really liked, but I convinced her they were maybe a wee bit too high for her this year. They are very chic!

We stopped one last time after shopping, upstairs this time, to watch the light show. You can’t see it only once! Sam would stay and watch it all day long if we would let her. There’s always next year!

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pamelamyers | December 13, 2013

Last night Sam saw her very first fireworks. Yup. You read that right. In December. We really wanted to take her this past July 4, but it didn’t work out, for many reasons. The biggest reason is that the 9:30 p.m. start time is hard for Sam. It takes so long to get dark in the summertime. Winter, now that’s another story…

We were just getting Sam ready to go up to bed when we heard a very loud BOOM. It was pretty shocking on a quiet night and Mark went to look out the door to investigate. He suddenly ran and grabbed Sam and told her to come quickly to look out the front door. We had totally forgotten that Springfield’s tree lighting was that night and that a “special surprise” was promised. It was fireworks! They must have set them off from the same place they do at the high school graduation because we could see them from our house just like we always can. It was so incredibly cold, so we wrapped her up as much as we could. The show was longer than I would have expected, I would guess about 15 or 20 minutes. Sam was just spellbound by the whole thing. We had tried to explain to her what fireworks actually were many times before, but as anyone who has seen them knows, words cannot truly convey how great they are. Now she can’t wait to go on July 4 to see an even bigger show. I have to say, sitting in the dark, on a cold wintery night, surrounded by snow, watching fireworks as a family, was a pretty amazing experience, one I don’t think any of us will soon forget.

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pamelamyers | December 12, 2013

Sam was really proud of herself just a little bit ago when she figured out how to do zippers all by herself. It really wasn’t hard for her, she just needed to have some patience (which we know is not her strong suit). She was extra proud of herself today when she decided to try to button the rather large buttons on my sweater. She had some trouble, then I showed her the right way, and she tried again. Voila! She had done it in no time. Sam couldn’t wait to tell Grandmom when we got to her house about her new skill. She spent the whole day trying to button every button she could find. Next, we might just have to work on tying shoes…

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pamelamyers | December 11, 2013

Today was Sam’s Christmas program at school. We couldn’t wait to go since Sam has been practicing so hard, singing at home all the time, and telling us about what they were doing at school to prepare. Mark and I were there, of course, and Grandmom and Poppy came too. Sam was really excited that I let her wear her special Christmas dress for the occasion. I told her when we got to school that she had better sing since I know she knows the songs. We all were coming to see her sing, not all her classmates. She promised me she would sing, and she certainly did! We were so proud of her singing her heart out. The kids sang Jingle Bells, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, and a few other cute songs I hadn’t heard before. Here are some pictures of the wonderful concert.

One of the things Sam was most excited about was the jingle bells they all got to ring. She told us about them a million times!

Sam shook her little bells really well through the whole song and sang and sang. I heard her voice loud and clear.

All the kids had sticks they banged together for one song. They didn’t actually sing, but I was surprised at how well they all kept in time together, and with the piano.

I was so happy to see what a good time Sam was having. She enjoyed her Halloween sing a long, but she seemed so nervous standing up there. This time, she had a blast!

After all the songs, the older kids (the 5 year olds) assembled in a nativity scene while the little ones watched and the director told the story. Sam was right in the center, as always. I don’t know if it’s coincidence, or just her height, or why, but I swear, she is so cute they are always putting her right up front!

After the concert, the kids all went with their guests back into the school to have cookies and snacks. The parents were all asked to bring a dozen cookies, and Sam munched on a chocolate chip cookie that I had baked. Sam just suddenly starting liking chocolate chip cookies and now she can’t get enough of them! Anyway, we all told Sam how incredibly proud we were of her, and how happy we were to be invited to her show. You could see it all over her face that she was so glad everyone came to see her, and that she knew she did a great job.

Only one more day of school for Sam on Friday, then she’s off with us for almost three weeks. We can’t wait!

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pamelamyers | December 10, 2013

This weekend Sam’s wish came true – we received our first snow of the season. She has been waiting for snow for such a long time. Last winter was fairly mild, and snow-free, and thus, a huge disappointment to a little girl. I can’t say I am happy to see the white stuff falling, but I felt so bad for Sammy that even I wished Mother Nature would cooperate and give her just one good storm. Well, we got the storm, all right. What was supposed to be a few inches, starting later in the day, turned into 8 inches that started falling before lunchtime. I was out running errands (trying to get things done before the snow came) and on my way home the flakes started coming down. When I got home and opened our door Sam was standing right there yelling to me, “IT’S SNOWING!!!” I could barely get inside.

A little while later, we finally got Sam all bundled up in her long underwear, warm snuggly clothes, snow pants, snow boots, hat, scarf and mittens. For once, she didn’t argue with me and put everything on. As soon as we got outside, while it was still coming down pretty hard, she immediately dug right in and had fun.

It was worth all the shoveling we had to eventually do just to see that happy little face.

Her little cheeks were getting rosy, but she was enjoying herself so much, she didn’t complain once about being cold.

I love taking pictures in the snow, everything looks so beautiful. I couldn’t resist taking some pics of Sam and her Dad. Mark is always willing to get out there and play in the snow with her, more so than I am, and she really does appreciate it. She knows she can always count on Daddy.

One of the things Sam likes to do most is make snow angels. She plopped right down…

…then asked me to plop down too. I obliged, of course, even though I was no way dressed for the snow. It is hard to say no to her when she is having such a good time.

She likes to throw snow all over the place, and unfortunately for her, this time she wound up with a face full of snow. I don’t think she looks too upset though!

Our silly girl was purposely sticking snow on her face like a beard. She did the same thing recently in the bath with bubbles and I think she was trying it out with snow. How she wasn’t frozen solid, I have no idea.

It was a fairly dry snow, not great for snowball or snowman making, but Sam had to try. She managed to make this cute little guy. I got her a carrot and some sticks and some rocks so she could finish him off in style.

He (or she) is tiny, but I think super cute.

Zephyr had been bugging me to go out, and I thought, why not? I bundled her up in her new coat I just bought her and took her outside! I think she was pretty shocked at all the swirling snow. I always think that animals must wonder, “Why is the whole world white now?” Sam thought she looked so funny walking around in the snow. She told me Zephyr shouldn’t go outside because she doesn’t have snow boots.  Good point, Sam. Good point.

So, I picked Zephyr up and held on to her feet. They were pretty darn cold!

One of our neighbors was passing by, having come from the “sledding hill” down the street with her kids, and she offered to take a family portrait. Here we are, the snow family. Cold, but happy! More snow is expected later this week, so Sam may get her wish for a snowy winter after all. I guess I’d better dig out my thermals…

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