Roller Skates

| June 30, 2015

Sam has been asking me for a long time if she can roller skate (and ice skate). She really loves the idea of getting on skates. More power to her…I was definitely not the best skater when I was little. A few days ago, I was in a resale shop and found these old school strap on skates for only a few dollars so I bought them for her. She was in heaven! Sam couldn’t wait to get outside to try them out. Last night we finally did. She didn’t do too badly, although, she does more sort of walking than gliding along skating, but she had a blast. I did hold her hand sometimes and I had to rescue her from a certain fall, but only once. Those skates were worth every penny I spent to see the smile on her face.

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Lightening Bugs

| June 28, 2015

Sam has been begging me for so long to let her stay up late to see the lightening bugs (or fireflies). I really did want her to see them, but she gets to be so whiny and bossy when she is tired that it is hard to let her stay awake long enough. The lightening bugs only come out when it is hot, and well, when it’s hot, it means summer, and it’s that much later before it is dark enough to see them. Last night though she was up pretty late because she was playing with her friend Julia until well after 7:00, she still had to eat, and get a bath, so…perfect lightening bug night. I didn’t tell Sam that she was going to be allowed to stay up because it would just have been my luck that they wouldn’t appear for some reason that night. When Mark looked out the door and called to Sam to come and look, she was so excited! It didn’t take long for her to figure out how to catch them.

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She ran all over the yard chasing after them. It was so fun seeing her running around in her nightgown, wet head and all, giggling and calling out to us every time one lit up near her. One lightening bug landed on her hair. Sam was so excited!

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The joy on her face made it completely worth it for her to stay up late. One of the many joys of summer that we were glad to finally share with our girl.

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Missing Z

| June 23, 2015

I was downstairs doing laundry the other day and when I turned around I saw this picture that Sam had drawn. I asked her about it and she told me it was Zephyr and that Zephyr was crying because she missed Sam. I think that is probably true. Zephyr does miss Sam from way up in heaven, but I think its our little girl who is missing her cat very, very much.

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Father’s Day

| June 21, 2015

This Father’s Day we spent with all the dads, starting with Mark and his dad on Saturday. Sam drew Pop Pop a card and gave him a framed picture of the two of them.

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As you can see, Pop Pop loved his card!

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Sam made sure to show him her garden…

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…and her new bike!

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The best part of the night, at least for Sam, was when we all went out for ice cream at one of Sam’s favorite places — Vera’s — the ice cream shop that is near our house.

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Mark did open one or two things (the couple of things he asked for) but we saved most of his gifts for Sunday. Sam drew her dad two special cards with pictures of them together.

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She had picked out some t-shirts for him (she loves when he wears shirts with pictures of things). She got him a few from EMS, including this one, and a cool Batman shirt. One of her favorite t-shirts, the one with a vinyl record on it, shrunk a bit so he gave it to Sam. She loves sleeping in it.

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Sam loved giving her dad these Dad-Kid pairs of socks since she loves when he wears crazy socks, and even more, when they can match.

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After all the gifts, it was swing time before heading over to see Grandmom and Poppy. Sam wore this blue dress because she knows her daddy’s favorite color is blue.

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After a yummy pasta dinner with Grandmom and Poppy, it was time for more presents.

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Sam loves her Poppy!

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Happy Father’s Day to all the dads in Sam’s life. She is lucky to have all of you.

Curly Q

| June 21, 2015

The weather has been so humid lately and it always does fun things to Sam’s hair. My hair won’t hold any bit of curl, but in the right weather, Sam’s will curl up so nicely on the ends. I noticed these corkscrews and pointed them out to her. I absolutely love this face!

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