Now I Know Why They Call It UPPERCASE LIVING...

...because when you try to hang these things up, everything that you say is in UPPERCASE! I am aware that I should have probably asked another person to assist me with this big and awkward piece, but I thought "how hard could it really be? the instructions say '6 Simple Steps'." I felt like I was on Candid Camera. Anyway, this is the end result. I don't think it will be long before my bloom starts to wither. I suppose I should take that top arrow off the door!

Santa Claus!

Last Saturday we went to the Air Guard Kids Christmas Party, where Santa Claus was making a pre-Christmas appearance. He was flown in on one of the jets, and we were told that was because he couldn't risk injury to his reindeer before the Big Night. Sami had fun and sat so good with all of the other kids, watching Santa as he handed out 'sneak peek' early Christmas gifts.

Watching the clown do a little pre-show (sorry, no pictures of the clown).

The jet carrying Santa has landed!

Santa getting off the jet.

Working his way through the crowd of kids out of the hanger and over to the club where he will hand out gifts.

Santa Claus getting ready to hand out an early gift to each of the guard kids.

She was uneasy about getting too close to Santa, so she grabbed her presents and ran!

Still wanting to keep a safe distance from the big scary man in the red suit that's handing out gifts to all of the children, even when she's safe in Grandma Pam's arms.

Diva

This is my favorite picture of Samantha! It was taken August 24th with my cell phone after I had put my sunglasses on Sami and she was totally diggin' it. It was only two days ago that I finally put a little effort into figuring out how to get pictures from my phone to my computer so that I can share it. Too bad you can't see the pigtails she had in her hair that day!

Road Trip

As we do every year, we took a road trip to Kansas for Thanksgiving this year. The way there went okay. As well as it could go with a toddler, I suppose. This was taken on the way back, which was a little bit more challenging. At this point, she was humoring us with a fake smile. Really, it could have been a lot worse - she did very well for a two-year-old restrained in one seat and one position for almost the entire day.
We had lots of fun in Kansas. Filled up on turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, cranberries, sweet potato casserole and more. I always look forward to Thanksgiving - not so much for the traveling, but for the time we get to spend with my dad, Angela, Nick, Leah and the rest of our family. Hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving as well.

More Birthday Pix

From her actual birthday...

Finally...Happy Birthday Sami!

Sweet & Sassy Samantha's birthday party was back on Saturday the 15th and I am finally posting pictures from her big day(s). She was less interested in gift opening because she had her cousins to play with!

Her actual birthday was on the 17th. HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!!

Elmo and Ernie!

On Saturday we took Sami to Sesame Street Live (Elmo and Ernie are her favorites). She was feeling pretty cruddy, so was her mommy, but we decided to at least give the show a try so we could get some of our money's worth. Turned out that Sami loved the show and watched the whole thing. She wasn't super excited about it or squealing with delight like I thought she would be, but I know she was loving it because she was so attentive during the show (couldn't even get her to look at the camera for a picture).

Day.4

So today was day 4 at my new job. I love it! Also day 4 (or maybe 5) of a 'cough.' I wasn't about to let a silly little cough put me out of commission but, after coughing nonstop like an 80 year-old emphysema patient, I went to the doctor this afternoon to find out that I have bronchitis (and not much of a voice left). So this stinkin' cough did put me out of commission.

Will get some pictures of Sami up soon, hopefully by the end of this weekend.