Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | November 30, 2014

Decorating the tree is always a highlight of the Christmas season, and since we have the artificial tree now, we can do it that much earlier. Sam has been asking me for weeks when our tree could go up and I told her a million times that we really need to get through Thanksgiving first. I did promise her though that once Thanksgiving was past, we’d get to decorating, so, this weekend we decorated our house and our tree. We did the tree after dinner like we usually do so that it is a bit dark, and the lights pop. Sam and her Pop Pop were at the movies, so Mark and I took the opportunity to string the lights, the most frustrating part of the task. That way, when Sam got home, we would be ready to go!

The first thing she put on the tree was the paper chain she made last year for her own little tree in her room. She decided the big tree should wear it this year. Besides, she has so many things on her own little tree, there isn’t much room! I’ll have to post a picture of her tree soon.

Hanging the little animal ornaments is always one of her favorite things to do.

She did a great job, even trying to hang them all around the tree, instead of in one spot like she normally does.

Eventually, we all pitched in and got to hanging.

Tada! Our tree, and us, in all its splendor. Well, you can’t see much of the tree yet, but it’s pretty darn nice.

Rich stayed to watch us this year and to enjoy the Christmas music we play while decorating.

One more task – the star! I tried to help Sam put it on, but alas, I am not quite tall enough, even with a stool, to reach the top.

Daddy to the rescue!

When Sam woke up this morning, before we went downstairs, she asked me if the tree was still there and all the decorations. I told her, of course, and asked why it wouldn’t be. She told me, “Sometimes I can’t figure out if it’s a dream, or if it’s real.” Poor kiddo. I assured her, nope, it was no dream, and she ran down the stairs and quickly put the tree lights on. She looked very relieved. Our outside lights are up, the inside is ready, and now we are all ready for Santa to arrive!

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pamelamyers | November 28, 2014

This Thanksgiving passed pretty uneventfully, just the family, as usual, enjoying a good (but huge) meal. It was a little off with Sandi not being there, bringing the beans, but I guess that is to be expected for a lot of things until we get through this first year. Regardless, I am incredibly thankful for all we have, even though I miss all the people we do not have. We are lucky, we have a good life. I try to remember to appreciate that every day.

Sam and Maddox had fun running around. We didn’t take many pictures this Thanksgiving, but this one was too hard to resist. Happy Halloween…oops, I mean Thanksgiving!

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pamelamyers | November 24, 2014

We have been ordering a lot of things for Christmas lately and something came in this perfectly Sam sized box. We couldn’t resist popping her right in there and goofing around by closing it up and pretending she was a special delivery. Mark thought she looked so cute in her Sam-box that he told her to put on something pretty so he could take her picture. Sam chose this dress and raced downstairs. Ta da! Special delivery!

It is hard to resist taking photos of her when she is all dressed up and in the mood to cooperate, so Mark took advantage of the opportunity and got some great pictures of our girl.

Sam wanted the chance to be photographer too and he handed her the camera to try it out. Now that’s a switch, isn’t it?

Here is some of her work. Not bad! An artist in the making, for sure.

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pamelamyers | November 23, 2014

This year we decided to get together to make the Christmas raviolis. We didn’t make them last year with Sandi being so sick so this year, with her not with us, it seemed especially important to carry on the tradition. We have Mark’s Grandmom Mancini’s brass ravioli cutters, and use them every year, despite the fact that we have so many others. Frankly, they work better than all the new ones, even though they are probably 50 years old. It is special knowing that these same cutters were used in her hands to make food for her family, just as we are now.

Sam was actually pretty excited about the whole thing, which is a switch from previous years when she hangs out for about a minute then leaves. She asked me if she could help and I put her to work with the job one usually has first when learning the craft of ravioli making — crimper. An easy job, but a very important one because if the edges aren’t crimped tight when the raviolis are boiled, water gets in and they taste horrible.

Sam dove right in and learned her task. I was impressed at how great a job she did, and how seriously she took the task. I checked them all before putting them on the tray but there were very few raviolis that needed an extra crimp when Sam was done. Oh, yeah, that is her Halloween costume. She and Maddox were in dress up mode earlier that day.

She loved her little job and being part of our crew.

Maddox didn’t have much interest in crimping, or ravioli making per se, but he wanted a job too and couldn’t wait to grab a roller just like his dad and Uncle Mark. He worked so hard at rolling the dough flat. Eventually, we had to try to convince him it was flat enough so we could actually use it, but he was reluctant to give it up!

When we were almost done, Sam wanted to try her hand at making ravioli herself. I gave her a small piece of dough and she asked me to scoop the meat mixture in. When I did, and tried to help her, she pushed me aside and told me she knew how to do it. Fold, then cut, cut, cut. She did know. She knew exactly what to do. When her raviolis were done, she crimped them shut, and we put them on the tray with the others. Later, Sam sort of quietly asked me if we were going to keep and eat her raviolis. I think she was afraid they were not good enough, or we were just letting her play around. I told her that, yes, we were definitely keeping them, and eating them, because she did a great job and they were perfect. Truthfully, they were.

Ryder wasn’t too much help, but he was ready to dive right in and try! (That’s one of Grandmom Mancini’s famous cutters.) 🙂

Ok, so maybe not cutting, but rolling maybe?

Break time, which means a photo op for the little guy, and his mom. Ryder is wearing the shirt Sandi had made for Maddox (and Sam) the first year they were born. Ryder gets to proudly wear it now too. Look out, Ryder, there will be many more ravioli days to come, and you will be expected to pitch in!

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pamelamyers | November 16, 2014

Sam has such a great memory, at least for things she wants to remember. This morning, I was reading through one of my parenting magazines and Sam came over. She saw a photo on a page and said, “We have that.” I had no idea what the heck she was talking about, it wasn’t an advertisement, just the random photo that magazines put at the top of articles. I told her I had no idea what she meant, and she said, “I’ll show you.” The next thing I know, here she comes with pieces from her dollhouse, and she arranged it just so. Wow. I didn’t see it AT ALL. She amazes me sometimes. I mean, a lot of the time, but sometimes, she really, truly amazes me.

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