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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