Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | December 26, 2014

We arrived at Pop Pop’s house and everyone was already there. It was great to see Krista, Adam, Maddox and Ryder, Analiece and Joey, and Rich, of course, but it was more than a little off with Sandi not being there. I did feel like she was there in spirit though, making sure her family had a wonderful day and smiling down at all of us while we opened our gifts.

Sam was so excited to see her Barbie pool – she has been asking for one ever since I made the mistake of telling her I had one when I was little. I have learned that is something I should never do unless I plan on getting her whatever I am talking about. She wants everything I ever had when I was a kid.

Ryder’s very first Christmas! He was pretty unimpressed, as every baby his age is. 🙂

Pop Pop bought Sam a make your own snow globe kit. This was a huge hit with Sam. We woke up this morning, as in, the day after Christmas, and she wanted to make them. I was still in bed and she was asking.  Oh boy…

The Burke family – wait, where the heck is Maddox? Running around opening presents, just like Sam. Well, the majority of the Burke family anyway.

A nice pic of Mark and his dad…

…and Krista and her dad.

All together now – Cheese!

Analiece and Joey had opened most of their gifts before we got there, but we had things for them too, so there was still fun to be had.

Joey was working hard assembling Legos almost the entire time.

The chaotic scene!

There’s Maddox! He was helping Ryder with some of his presents. We all thought it was so sweet. He is such a good big brother.

After the gifts were all opened and dinner was cooking, the kids took some time to settle down and relax. Analiece was playing a game on her new Kindle and Sam and Maddox jumped right in to see.

We all had our traditional homemade ravioli dinner then hung out for a while. Ryder was fascinated with Mark’s necklace and his watch. It is so funny what babies find interesting. Sam did her best to help keep everything out of Ryder’s mouth, where he wanted all things to go.

As we were leaving to go home to have dinner with my parents, we spotted this flock of wild turkeys just strolling down the road! Rich has told us about them before and sent us a picture or two, but it was so bizarre to see them casually traipsing down the road in Aston. What a sight! I guess they feel it’s safe now that Thanksgiving has passed. 😉

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pamelamyers | December 26, 2014

After all the mad present unwrapping at home, off we went to Grandmom and Poppy’s house. Sam was bursting at the seams to open her gifts. She saw them all in the back room for weeks, wrapped in Frozen paper. She had such a hard time waiting for Christmas morning!

Finally, she gets to open her presents! A Lalaloopsy baby, Elsa and Anna dolls, and a whole bunch of other goodies were waiting for her.

Bella is never quite sure what to make of Christmas…

We made Sam pause, just for a minute, so we could try to get a Christmas morning picture.

Ok, back to the gifts! Sam was showing her Poppy what a Lalaloopsy baby is. I’m not sure he gets it but like a good Grandfather, he tries.

Sam made Mark and I a ton more presents, including this adorable little string of lights made with her fingerprints that she did at school.

She made this glittery picture for her Daddy.

Grandmom and Sam worked for a long time decoupaging leaves onto this gorgeous frame for us. I can’t wait to hang it up.

Sam loves the recordable books everyone makes for her. All her grandparents recorded one, and I did one for her too. She recorded a few herself, and Grandmom and Sam recorded this book for Mark and me. I love having her little voice recorded to hear over and over again. It will be really special someday when she is older, and she loses that adorable tiny voice she has. I can’t imagine what she will sound like when she is older.

Sam made a card for her Poppy. He is always watching old black and white cowboy movies and Sam knows her Poppy loves cowboys. This is the card she made.

Mark and my mom were taking so many photos, that Sam wanted to try to take some herself.

These are the pictures she took of her Grandmom and Poppy, and of us. She did pretty well!

Sam gave Grandmom and Poppy an ornament I ordered for her, made out of a picture she drew. They loved it!

Here is the picture. She drew this at school and it was so impressive, I had to do something special with it. Pop Pop got the same ornament and I made one for myself.

Last gift for Mark and me, the ornament she made at school. My mom was great at squirreling away all the little gifts she made at school so we had lots of Christmas surprises.

We visited a bit longer, then off to the Myers house we go!

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pamelamyers | December 26, 2014

Santa was here! He left Sam a giant pile of gifts all wrapped in pink paper.

And what is that, off to the side? Sam’s dollhouse? Why is that in here? Hmmm…

Sam was so thrilled when she woke up. This was a tough year, keeping her upstairs until we were ready to go down. I thought for sure she’d sneak out of bed and peek then coming barreling back into our room screaming, but she stayed put for a while. Mark actually managed to get downstairs to turn the tree lights on and grab the camera before she got down there, but he barely made it.

As usual, Sam heads right for her stocking. She loves stockings as much as I do!

On to see what loot Santa left. She was so excited to see that he brought Sam the other floor to the house complete with the kids room, the coveted bunk beds, and a yard!

Santa always brings Sam dress up things and this year was no different. She got a Rapunzel dress complete with long hair and Rapunzel’s little chameleon friend, Pascal. She also got a Sophia the First dress and an Elsa dress with all the accessories like shoes and tiaras.

Sam bought me the most beautiful daisy necklace. She knows daisies are my favorite.

We kept kidding Sam that this year Santa wasn’t bringing toys, only socks and underpants. Santa must have heard us joking because Sam did get a pack of new underpants under the tree – Lalaloopsy. You can see in the background that Sam also got the ballerina fairy and the Mrs. Potato Head she had on her list.

A Lalaloopsy pony – Checkers, her favorite. It was a big Lalaloopsy Christmas for Sam, she really loves them. Santa didn’t forget the one with the poodle, and he brought her a bunch of others as well.

Her pony you paint! Wow, Santa did great this year. He brought every single thing on her list.

One more Lalaloopsy – the mermaid. Sam specifically asked for it, but asked me if I would buy it for her and not Santa. I told her I’d make sure when I called Santa, as I do many times in the Christmas season, that I would let him know I was getting it for her.

Zephyr always gets into the action, and this year she helped me open some new pajamas. Sam picked them out, but they were from Zephyr. Sam is a great little shopper.

More dress up! I think she looks adorable in her cape.

We all feel so lucky that Zephyr is here with us for another Christmas. She is getting up there in years, 16 now, and for a while was getting really thin, but she has been doing great, and even gained a whole pound since last year! We hope she is with us to share many, many Christmases to come.

Zephyr bought Sam the Littlest Pet Shop woodpecker she has been longing for. You can see that Sam was very grateful.

One of Mark’s gifts was a Kang and Kodos comic book. We love Kang and Kodos – the Simpsons Halloween specials wouldn’t be the same without those silly aliens.

Sam helped her Daddy open up his new bracelet.

And his special bowl she painted for him at Busy Bees. Mark needed somewhere to keep his loose change since he gave Sam his old Coke bottle bank. She was happy to be able to help. It is blue, of course, since she knows that is her Daddy’s favorite color.

Sam made so many gifts for us this year, including my beautiful heart picture.

Here comes Rapunzel! Sam couldn’t wait to try on one of her new dresses.

When Muffin was sick, Mark thoughtfully got a photo blanket made for me so I could always curl up with my little boy. I love that blanket. Even though Zephyr is doing ok, I thought I’d return the favor and give Mark a photo blanket of his little furry girl. It was Zephyr’s present to her Dad.

What a mess our house was after all the opening, but what fun! Off to Grandmom and Poppy’s house!

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pamelamyers | December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas from the Myers Family! We hope everyone we know and love has as magical a holiday as we do, every year, with our little girl. Pictures coming soon!

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pamelamyers | December 24, 2014

Christmas Eve is always a nutty day. Sam is so excited about Christmas being so close that she is close to exploding all day long. Early in the morning, I let her hang out with me and play on the Kindle. Computer games always seem to quiet kids down…

One of the things Sam wanted me to do for her this year was make her a Christmas shirt just like the one I made for her Mom Mom about a million years ago. Back in the day, when Mark and I were first dating, I used to be super crafty. I was always making things and really enjoyed it. I made a Christmas sweatshirt for Sandi and she loved it. She wore it every single year at Christmas time. Here are some links to Sandi wearing it in 2010 and 2012. I don’t know if she wore it every year after all that time because she was just trying to be nice, or because she actually loved it, but I suspect she actually loved it. Sandi was like that. She appreciated the gestures people made, and giving her a handmade gift would be one of those gestures. At any rate, after she died, we found the sweatshirt in her closet and I brought it home. Sam saw it and wanted one of her own. I managed to make a similar one and so we decided some pictures would be appropriate.

I think her Mom Mom would have loved to see Sam in a shirt just like hers. I know I was happy to be wearing it, to feel closer to Sandi, but at the same time, wish she could have been here to wear it herself. A picture of Sam with Sandi, in matching shirts, would have made me more happy than having it myself.

We eventually got everyone in for a family photo. Zephyr wasn’t too thrilled to have her picture taken, but we always want the whole family in our pics. We are so happy we have our little cat with us for yet another Christmas.

Sam was in the mood to pose, so we grabbed the opportunity to take some cute pictures of our adorable little girl.

She wanted a photo of her and Zephyr in the worst way. Poor Zephyr!

That night, Sam’s Pop Pop and Grandmom and Poppy came over to see her and to wait anxiously for Santa to arrive. Of course, more photo ops!

Sam said she didn’t want Santa to visit our house this year before bringing presents, so I called him to let him know he didn’t need to stop by. I’m not really sure why Sam said that, she never did tell me, but at least we saved him a trip. Santa’s a busy guy on Christmas Eve!  We heard something that sounded like sleigh bells so Sam went to check to make sure he wasn’t nearby. She wasn’t in bed yet and was worried!

Time for Santa’s snack! No cookies this year – Sam thought he might like some pumpkin bread, and carrots for the reindeer, obviously. We left him nice cold water, since that is what Sam thought he would like.

Our little goofball, pretending to be a reindeer!

Then it was off to bed for Sam. She was all worked up. I finished her books then laid down with her quietly so she could go to sleep. She sighed and told me anxiously, “I’m NEVER going to fall asleep before Santa comes!” She was truly worried that she wouldn’t be able to sleep and Santa would skip our house. I assured her that Santa would not skip our house, sang quietly to her, and off she went to sleep. Let the craziness begin tomorrow!

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