Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | May 19, 2017

Sam has been writing up a storm. She has always wanted to write her own stories, but in the past, I have had to actually do the physical writing for her, while she dictated what she wanted to say. And boy, her stories were…interesting. Like any typical 4 or 5 year old, she used to write stories that made, well…no sense. They just rambled on from one page to the next with no meaningful flow at all. The pages didn’t connect, things that happened and characters you saw on the first few pages are never heard from again. Oh boy. Sam and I read these stories now and she just completely cracks up laughing.

Now that she is older, her stories have an actual beginning, middle and end. She tells tales that are funny and smart, and utterly readable. We were lucky enough to be privy to some of her stories at a conference with her teacher (who told us she utterly enjoys Sam’s stories for their creativity) and also by seeing the first half of the year’s Writing Workshop papers. We so enjoy seeing her writing now.

A few months ago, she started a story that she never finished. I was so proud of how it started because she wrote very neatly and illustrated it. I was hoping she would finish it, but she never did. The other day, she spied the pages on my bureau and decided to finish the story. This is how it turned out. Her spelling leaves a little to be desired, but I could read the whole thing. It is the cutest story. It’s really cute. She labels each page as a new chapter (although she did tell me if it was a real book, the whole thing would probably be chapter 1). She even made a cover and a back page since “that is what real books have.” When she was adding the illustrations to the front, she drew the crown, the key and the fire, and then she didn’t know what else to add. I suggested a knight, and she said, “No! I don’t want to give too much of the story away!” Geez, sorry….

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When she was completely done, she read the story to Mark and I. She then told me that she wanted to write a whole series of books like this. The next one is going to be about the dragon and what happens to him after. She added the little crooked crown with the number one on the front cover at the the end because when there is a series of books, they always have that sort of thing. Yes, Sam, they do!

Sam really wanted to show her teacher her work so me printed out a copy for her to take to school. She told me she was going to give it to Mrs. Hall as a present. After school, she told me that Mrs. Hall wanted her to use her story on her next “share day.” Every day, the kids rotate which table shares something with the class. Sam’s will be some day next week. I know she was very proud that Mrs. Hall thought her story was worth a share. I can’t wait to see what story she comes up with next. Stay tuned!

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pamelamyers | May 15, 2017

Mother’s Day this year turned out to be very different than any other one before. Our neighbors, who bought a house down the shore last year, offered it to us for the weekend. We couldn’t figure out a way to spend even one night because of various goings on at home, but we definitely took them up on the opportunity to use the house for a day. Sam had me up super early, of course, and while we were waiting for my mom to come over, Sam gave me my presents. She has been bursting at the seams to give me everything for weeks! I swear, she truly loves giving gifts as much as getting them. My first gift was a new charm for my Pandora bracelet. It was so pretty – a heart that opens up and says “I love Mom.”

At school, the kids made gifts, as they usually do. My gift this year was this pretty frame and a card with a flower on the front. Each petal lifts up and says something about me. Mine said, “My Mom Is…Pretty, Cute, Cool, Nice, Awesome, and Good.” Her spelling is….interesting…but I was able to figure out this is what she was writing. After I opened all my gifts, Sam gave me a bunch of letters she had written to me. She made sure I didn’t open them until the end because it would have ruined the surprise if I opened them first because they were all about my gifts and how she worked hard making/choosing them. I swear, I will treasure her little notes forever.

I got a Mother’s Day hug from my boy, but Penny was nowhere to be seen. Sigh….

My mom finally came over and Sam quickly grabbed her gifts. Sammy loves her Grandmom!

I got her a new digital picture frame to replace the one that was broken, and Sam painted a new stepping stone for Grandmom’s back yard.

My mom bought me a beautiful bracelet with a photo charm of me holding Sam I believe the day after she was born. I just love it.

It’s beach time! We quickly hit the road. Time is wasting! It was supposed to be a mom’s day, but not unexpectedly, we wound up doing everything that Sam wanted to do. Hmmm….funny how that works. We ate almost as soon as we got there (Manco and Manco pizza, naturally!) then started walking the boardwalk. I knew Sam would want to play games, and she did. Mark found this awesome huge Space Invaders game. The two of them loved it and Sam definitely held her own with Mark. It must be all the playing on our home Atari game that Pop Pop bought her a few Christmases ago.

We stopped for a few pictures with the ocean as a backdrop. Ahhhhh!

There are a few stores that are Sam’s favorites. We stopped in one that she particularly loves. She tried hard to get me to buy her the mermaid fairy, but I told her that it was supposed to be MOM’s day not SAM’s day, and that now I know what she wants when we head to the beach this summer. She did wind up with some things though. Grandmom bought her a fidget spinner which she has been craving. It’s all the rage with kids right now. I don’t get it, but whatever.

The weather could not have been more gorgeous. It was super sunny, pretty warm (it actually got kind of hot as the day wore on) and we had such a great time just being outside and enjoying the fresh air.

Mark and Sam went to ride the Go Karts and my mom and I hung out and waited for them. I think this is our first selfie together! How’d that happen? Geez, it’s about time! I love you, Mom!

Mark and Sam had a blast. Mark wanted me to go to, but Sam wanted just her Dad. It’s a Daddy-Daughter thing for sure.

Sam was begging me the entire day to go “Skeleton Golfing” with her. She does like that one miniature golf place so much. I think every single year we have gone down the shore, I post pictures of Sam looking at that goofy skeleton outside. My mom and I indulged her and the girls went golfing while Mark enjoyed a bench overlooking the ocean.

More photo ops abound after golf!

After a quick stop at the beach house, it was time to feel some sand between our toes! There is something completely restorative about the ocean. It was so great being down there. It was quiet, and peaceful, and we loved being there.

Sam didn’t care that she had nothing to play with. She dug with her hands, we looked for seashells and interesting beach rocks, and enjoyed the view.

I decided to go and get my feet wet and was kind of surprised that, even though I know the water temperature couldn’t have been out of the 50s, it really wasn’t cold. I swear, we go down in the summer and the water temperature is 70 and it can feel shocking. But this didn’t.

It wasn’t long before Sam started wave jumping. It’s a good thing I brought a change of clothes for everyone because before long, we were soaked!

It reminded me so much of that summer so many years ago when we wound up at the beach one night in our clothes, soaking wet in the ocean. It was the first year Sam wasn’t scared to go in so I didn’t care and I just went with her. It was, and is still, one of my best memories. Why we always seem to have the most fun while fully clothed at the beach I have no idea. But I’ll go with it. 🙂

Family shadows! This is what it’s all about, isn’t it? I waited so long to be a mom, to have “family” pictures and now it’s hard to remember what it was like before.

Sam decided to sit in her hole. Oh boy. I guess her butt was already wet.

We had an amazing day. I am so glad we took the chance to do something different. My mom had a great time, I had a day when I actually just enjoyed myself and didn’t find stuff around the house to do, and Sam loved being at the beach. Mark got a chance to relax too, which he has needed for a while. We always say we will do more day trips to the beach and we never do. This year may be the first one where we actually do it. I hope!

Mother’s Day is, I guess, supposed to be a day to pamper mom, to spoil her, to let her relax. Well, let’s be serious. A mom never turns off. Not ever. No mom is truly going to relax no matter what day it is. But that’s what we all wanted, right? To be a mom, to have a little person to take care of. It’s what I wanted, for sure. It can be exhausting and frustrating, but most of the time, it is amazing. I have this adorable little person who thinks I hung the moon, who calls me her best friend. Who even when I am at my worst, thinks I am the perfect mom. Oh, she calls me on my worst, that’s for sure. She tells me I yell too much… But she loves me all the same. I love you, Samantha Anne. You gave me the best gift for Mother’s Day, but you give it to me every day. You are my little girl and you shower me with your love every single day. I don’t know what I did to deserve you.

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pamelamyers | May 13, 2017

Yesterday was Mark’s birthday and Samantha couldn’t wait to celebrate it. Unfortunately, she had to go to school (she begged me to let her stay home but I told her that if Daddy had to work, she certainly had to go to school!) Right away she decided she wanted to make a special project for Mark – an LED type project. She told me she needed some help and I wasn’t too sure how much help I would be. That’s Mark’s thing, not mine. Sam did tell me she thought she remembered how to do it, and she did! She wired an entire project together and drew a candle, then taped the wiring behind the candle so that the LED was the flame. She couldn’t wait to show her dad.

Poor Mark – she woke him out of a dead sleep, but I think he really appreciated how hard she worked for him – at 6:30 in the morning!

Later that day, after school and work and whatnot, it was time for some gifts. Sam helped Mark open everything, of course!

I had bought Mark a print of the Hubble extreme deep field photo. He really loved it when he first saw it online and I thought it would be a nice thing for him to gaze at from time to time. He was trying to explain to Sam what it was but I think it was almost more than she could comprehend.

After dinner (when Mark was clearly more awake than he was in the morning) we took some pictures with her special project.

Make a wish, Daddy!

The cats were apparently worn out from birthday festivities. 😉

We had Mark’s birthday dinner tonight with the family. Sam wanted to decorate his cake in the worst way. What a fiasco the cake making was! I swear I was half asleep while making it first thing in the morning. I neglected to add the water to the  mix (I only added eggs and oil) – not once, but twice! I couldn’t figure out why the cake mix was so thick and brownie-like. I finally noticed on the box that there was a significant amount of water to be added. I swear, that was never part of the recipe before. Anyway, the cake below is the third attempt! I did frost it myself, but Sam did all the decorating.

She wanted to draw an LED project. Clockwise from the top is an LED, a resistor, a battery and a switch, all connected by wires, of course.

Mark thought it was just perfect.

Dinner was great and the cake turned out pretty well. Sam added LOTS of candles.

Time for more presents! Sam and Ryder gave Mark this picture that they had just drawn together.

And Sam presented Mark with a dolphin sun catcher that she made. She knows he likes dolphins.

I wish Mark didn’t have to work on his birthday, and I also wish that Mother Nature would have cooperated and not had it pour rain on the day of his party. That is two years in a row that Mark has wanted to have a picnic type of dinner in a park, and we got rained out. We tried to give him a great day and a great party anyway. He deserves the best because he is the best. Sam always says she has the best dad in the world. She has no idea how lucky she is. I see so many kids whose dads couldn’t be bothered to interact with them in any significant way, and Mark is the total opposite. He truly loves doing things with her, teaching her things, and coming up with new experiences for them to share. Sam thinks her dad can do anything. I hope she always feels that way as she gets older – that her dad is her champion, invincible. And that he always has her back, because I know he always will.

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pamelamyers | May 11, 2017

Today was Samantha’s class trip to Woodland Park. From what Mark and Sam told me, they all had a great time! Each chaperone was given a small group of kids that they were responsible for, but the class traveled as a group. Each small group was given a clipboard and a list of things they were supposed to look for. Mark told me that he barely got to hold the thing before Sam commandeered it. What a shock. Off they go!

They all look ready to hike. Thankfully, the weather sort of cooperated. I think it rained a bit, but when you are in the trees, it never really seems to get to the ground.

Sam was super excited that she found a snail! She told me that it was the first snail she’d ever seen for real. Me too! Well, at least I got to see the picture. She thinks the other kids were jealous. I would be!

One of the many reasons I thought it would be good for Mark to go and not me. The creek. I would be freaking out the whole time about Sam and the other kids getting cruddy, and Mark just dives right in. Of all the pictures her teacher shared in the weekly newsletter, Mark is the only one actually doing anything. He was in the creek, digging around in the dirt….The other parents (moms) are just standing off to the side.

Mark trekked across the creek for this one!

He also found a grub. And held it. Ick. Not for a million bucks. But the kids all loved it and that is what is important.

A successful field trip all around. A bunch of happy kids, especially Sam who got to spend the time with her Daddy.

Sam thinks her Daddy is the best Daddy in the world. I have to agree!

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pamelamyers | May 5, 2017

Sam’s class field trip is coming up next week. Because they are only in first grade, they don’t actually load them up on buses and take them anywhere. I think that’s a rather good thing, honestly. Rather, they take a nature hike in the woods that are behind the school. Anyway, I volunteer a lot at school, and Mark attends as many things as possible, but I knew this was something he just had to volunteer to do instead of me. I would happily chaperone (well…maybe not happily), but he would truly enjoy trekking through the woods with a bunch of little kids and they would get so much more out of the experience with him there instead of me. When the paper came home explaining that you could volunteer and then through a lottery system they choose the chaperones, I told him to volunteer right away. He got picked! Really, I think the school says it is a lottery so that no one complains but the teachers probably pick whoever they want. And being that we have a really good relationship with Sam’s teacher…

Sam was beyond excited. She came home from school the other day and asked me if either of us was going on her field trip. I explained about the volunteering and the lottery process and told her that we’d have to wait and see if Daddy gets picked. She sort of shyly opened her folder and handed me a piece of paper. I don’t think she was really clear on what it was, but when I told her it had Daddy’s name on it and that it was information for the chaperones — and that it meant they picked Daddy — I thought she was going to burst! She wanted to tell him right away. I told her that he was on the phone. Mark told me that she crept into the room really quietly and handed him the paper and sort of did a two hands pumping in the air motion at him. He was really happy too.

Last night while Mark was out doing some bike work, Sam was playing with her sidewalk chalk. This is what she did. Knowing Mark was a chaperone on her field trip made that kid’s whole week.

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