Birthday party, part 3

Sammy's little friend, Declan came to enjoy the party with her. Sammy is about 5 years older than Declan but he outweighs her by 100 pounds. And has way more hair. Declan had no problem with wearing Sammy's sun hat either. Once Sammy saw Declan wearing the hat, she had to take it off of him and put it on the ground. If she wasn't going to wear it, no one was! But what she didn't realize was that Declan will TAN, while she will become Strawberry Shortcake.

Birthday party, part 2

Sammy can be distracted by most anything. Nana (with Wawa and Papa in the background) kept Sammy busy with holding onto pieces of bark. The trick was to not let her put the bark into her mouth. You see, we didn't want her to fill up on the bark, although it's packed with good fiber, but that we had something else she'd prefer. Like hot dogs and chocolate cake. See? Healthy diets.

Birthday party, part 1

Yes, by "Part 1", it means that there will be "Part 2" and so on. I took over 200 photos on Saturday at the party and no, there will not be "Part 200". I promise. But this week will be devoted to Sammy's first birthday party. A huge milestone in her life and all of ours as well. She is so lucky to have had THREE count 'em, THREE!! great grandparents there to wish her well along with other family members and friends. Here, Miss Vanilla does not want to wear her sun hat. She needs to wear it but prefers not to. No amount of trying to sneak it on her head would work. That evening Daddy called us to tell us that Sammy ended up with a farmer's tan from the day out in the sun.

First Official Birthday Cake

On April 21, Grumpa and I went to see Sammy on her birthday. While we were there, Mommy made her little girl her very first birthday cake. Nana has already made this cake, so Mommy thought it would be a good idea, too. I'll include the instructions for this 5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE CAKE. Oh, yes. 5 minutes from start to finish. Sammy liked it. Sammy likes most anything these days as long as she gets to put it into her mouth.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

A small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well... Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Now, like I said, Nana has made this already and used the chocolate chips. She said that it was more of a pudding consistency. Mommy omitted the chips and we felt that the cake, while tasty, was too dense...almost rubbery? Anyway, I think that perhaps some chips should be added for more moistness.

Balloons!

Grumpa and I brought some helium filled balloons over to Sammy on her birthday. This is how she greeted us when she saw the balloons. She kept squeezing her hands opened and closed and her mouth was, "ooooohhhhh my!" She was so excited to see these things......

Hugs

Sammy has learned that we all melt into a gooey mess when she hugs us. This is a relatively new thing she's learned and I confess, I can stand there and hold her while she hugs me forever.

Introducing Frick and Frack

Here they are, Sammy's TOP two new teeth. (This is the best I've been able to get of these things!!)

Daddy's birthday

Last Saturday night, we had a family get together for Daddy's birthday. I had to laugh because when asked what he would like to eat, he replied, "Chicken Wangs and S'mores!" Yes, he's twelve. But Sammy wanted to help him unwrap his gift from us. Actually, she was more interested with the tissue paper. It made her go a little crazy with the noise and the feel of it. It was pretty funny.

Bubbles!

My friend came over the other day and while she was here, I decided to break out the bottle of bubbles I had bought earlier to see what Sammy would do. She made us laugh, is what she did! Theresa blew the bubbles and I took photos. Sammy enjoyed herself but became more interested in what the little Yorkies thought of the bubbles as they landed on the floor.

At 3:16pm today

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Just think, one year ago today, Sammy looked like this on Daddy's birthday:

And now she's kissing her Daddy....

I'll just have my people call your people...

Mommy's brave. She lets Sammy play with her designer sunglasses.

New skilz

"You know, this texting thing will be easier for me once I learn how to talk...."

Goldilocks and the

Booga-loo Bear, Quiet Bear 1 and Quiet Bear 2.

Laughing Out Loud

A cute little outfit that Mommy just got Sammy. And it did make me LOL.

Auntie Wins

Auntie Kenna won for the second year in a row our Easter egg hunt. She's quiet and stealthy. Sammy was wondering what the heck was going on with Mommy, Daddy, Auntie and Uncle Dave running through the house yelling at each other. Grumpa had written down the hiding places of all the eggs so he was yelling, "Hot! Cold!" whenever someone got close to finding an egg. What a zoo.

Eggs to Dye For

Mommy, Daddy and Sammy came over on Saturday unexpectedly. This was the day that I had planned on dying the Easter eggs for our annual egg hunt. So while they were here I boiled the eggs and got them ready. Mommy gave Sammy one egg which she wanted to put into her mouth. To distract her from doing that, she got another egg. CRACK...she smacked the two together. Ok, enough of that. We took the eggs away from her and showed her how they went into the cups of dye and the pretty colors they turned. It really had no effect whatsoever on her. Dying Easter eggs and her involvement in it will have to wait a few more years.

Meeting Maddie

Grumpa decided it was time for Sammy to be introduced to our older lab, Madison. Maddie is 10 years old this year. Sammy is one. Maddie would have preferred to come inside and lay down to meet Sammy, but with Maddie's years, she can get grumpy. And Sammy doesn't know the meaning of gentle yet. So they met each other through a three inch space.

Happy Easter

Some of you have already seen this photo if you're on Facebook because Mommy posted it there first. But for those of you who opt not to use Facebook and haven't seen this cutie pie...here ya go!

Peek a Boo Peeps

This is a little Easter book of Sammy's.

Vanity

This is the only age that a female is totally free of vanity. Look at Sammy, here. Only in her underwear, hair uncombed, no make up on, and smiling for the camera. She could care less what she looked like. She's just happy. And that makes me happy.

Grumpa and me

Samzilla

Daddy's name for her, not mine.

Come back here!

Sammy is all over and quite quick about it. Here Daddy tries to wrangle her back to him and she's having nothing of it.

Have you yawned yet?

I have always found that yawns are contagious....[yawn...]

Avon calling

Doesn't it look like she's showing off her newest mascara for all of us to buy?

Zwieback Toast

Boy, do I remember these things. Messy messy messy. And, boy, do babies love these things. Here Sammy is trying one for the very first time. It turns to mush pretty fast.

Lasagne

The way I make lasagne is from my mom's best friend's recipe. This is the lasagne that I grew up eating and knew no difference until I saw it on menu's lising ingredients I didn't use. This is the same recipe that my kids grew up eating. It has hard boiled eggs in it. To me, that's normal, but to some, eggs? In lasagne? Yesterday, Daddy and I had leftovers at lunchtime which Sammy became involved in. Quite involved. She loved the noodles (which kid doesn't?) and surprise! Loved the itsy pieces of hard boiled eggs I put on her tray. Verdict? I'm pretty sure she's Italian.

Octopus

Dressing Sammy this morning was like herding squirrels.

PS...Sammy's upper left front tooth has popped through her gum. It will be a few more days before it's through far enough to get a picture of it, but when it does, I'll do my best as your official photojournalist...

a, b, c, d, j, p, z, o,

My 2008 drawer was open the other day and naturally, Miss Curiousity needed to check to see if my filing was current, or in alphabetical order, or where that purchase order was for her car. Anyway, she wanted just to look at it, didn't much touch it and I can't blame her. I don't like touching it either.