Last July (eight months ago), I conducted an interview with Samantha, asking her what some of her favorite things were. I wrote down exactly what she said because I wanted to do the interview again ... later down the road ... and see how her answers have changed with time.

(Her cowgirl hat is a staple in her wardrobe)

Here is the following interview conducted this week (the interview from eight months ago follows, if you would like to compare them):

March 2012

What is your name: Sam (she knows what her full name is, but prefers to just use "Sam" if anyone asks)

How old are you: I'm still three

Who is your best friend: Probably Autumn and Ella (two girls that live across the street; they are older than her, but she considers them her friends)

What is your favorite color: Green, and your favorite color is green too! (that has never changed, and I was right 8 months ago when I wrote that "it probably always will be")

What is your favorite animal: Horses (I thought that she would choose monkeys)

What is your favorite movie: Ice Age, and I don't like the ice melting (Hmmm ... I wasn't sure which movie she would choose, but that was her first choice without any hesitation)

What is your favorite book: A Porcupine Named Fluffy (She has a lot of favorites; this one was just fresh in her mind because it was a new book from the library)

What is your favorite song: Twinkle Little Star (that hasn't changed)

What is your favorite toy: My horse stable and my animals that go in it (we have a whole menagerie of animals that she plays with and it is definitely one of her favorites these days)

What is your favorite food: grapes and grilled cheese (quite the combination!)

What makes you happy: You! (Awwww ... she made me smile there)

What makes you sad: When Sophia knocks my tower down (sometimes she does work really hard to build a nice tower, and you never know when "Swiper," a.k.a. Sophia, is going to round the corner and find it!)


I plan to keep conducting this interview for the next couple of years, and of course, Sophia will get a chance to participate in her own interviews. I just think that it is so interesting how things change with little kids on a day-to-day basis. Too fun!!

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July 2011

What is your name: Samantha La"pink"ski (she used to always skip the "la" at the front of our last name; now she says that and adds an extra "k" in the middle)

How old are you: Two and half

Who is your best friend: Kiera and Syndey, Jennifer is Momma's best friend (She is right -- Jennifer is my best friend from grade school and her two girls are Kiera and Sydney)

What is your favorite color: Green (always has been and probably always will be)

What is your favorite animal: Zebra (I didn't know this)

What is your favorite movie: Big Bird's Bedtime (This was her answer without any hesitation. We haven't watched this movie in a LONG time, but it was always her favorite when she was a baby).

What is your favorite book: Duck Soup (yeah, we read that one A LOT)

What is your favorite song: Twinkle Little Star (and then she broke into song ...)

What is your favorite toy: My toy box (that encompasses a lot of toys, I guess)

What is your favorite food: blueberries (she does love them, but I was surprised that that was her one choice)

What makes you happy: Watson (one of our cats)

What makes you sad: Daddy go to work

Our Weekend

With the weather starting to get back to "normal" for this time of year in Michigan (meaning, 50 degrees ... not 80 degrees), we made the most of our last day of warmer weather on Sunday.

Steve got the lawn mower up and running, and Samantha was anxious to be able to help him cut the grass. Here she is, just getting ready to start:

Afterwards, Sam took a little time to smell some of my Spring flowers that have started to come up because of the warmer weather:

And look at who is actually keeping her sunglasses on ... kind of:

Steve worked with Sam on kicking the football:

She did pretty well with it, and it wasn't long before Sam wanted to see Steve kick the ball:

Sophia was pretty patient during all of this, just taking it all in:

Then Sam practiced casting and reeling with her new fishing pole:

Before long, Sophia made it perfectly clear that she wanted to be in on the action. So, we set her down with the football:

And when the novelty of that wore off, she took off in the freshly-mowed grass. She wasn't quite sure what to think of all of the wet grass on her hands:

She did like chasing after the bubbles though:

And then finally, she was tired out:

Later on that night, with the outside temperatures dipping down into the '30s, Steve built a fire and roasted some marshmallows for us. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Sophia is 13 Months Old

(I am going to continue these posts until Sophia turns two years old. I did the same thing with Samantha, and it is fun for me to be able to look back on them and compare).

I'm not sure how much Sophia weighs now, nor do I know exactly how long she is. We won't back to the doctor until she is 15 months old. I do know that she is continuing to gain weight very well, even though she is petite.

She drinks whole, organic cow's milk, exclusively. She'll drink it cold, straight out of the refrigerator and she will drink quite a bit of it throughout the course of the day (probably at least 24 oz). I am working on getting her to drink more water, and she seems to be doing ok with that -- though she definitely prefers milk. The extra milk is not a problem because she can definitely afford to put on a few pounds!

She eats all table foods -- there is NOTHING that she won't eat. This makes it really nice for me, especially if we are out running errands or if we go to a restaurant. As long as I cut her food up small enough for her, she'll eat anything I offer her. This month, she stopped wearing her bib during mealtime. She has no use for it, ripping it off before the meal even begins; and that's alright because she really isn't a messy eater.

She is a great sleeper; and really, she always has been. She takes a morning nap for about an hour and an afternoon nap (at the same time as Sam) for about 2-3 hours. She goes to bed around 7:30 pm and sleeps until about 8:15 am.

Sophia is incredibly active right now. No walking, still crawling ... but she's fast. And she changes position very quickly. Frankly, after a single diaper change or dressing, I feel like I have run a marathon! She wiggles and flips and tries desperately to escape. It's more or less a streak of independence on her part.

She's very inquisitive. She likes to check everything out ...

She really doesn't get into too much trouble right now (knock on wood!) because most of the house is pretty "child-proof," and Sam does a really good job of keeping a close eye on her for me.

Her first word was "ball." And she says it now, over and over, whenever she sees one (or sees a balloon).

She will also clap on command. In fact, she imitates everything that we do. If we make a "raspberry sound" with our tongue, she repeats it back to us. If we slurp from our cup during our tea parties, she reaches for the cup and does the same thing.

She also waves while saying "bye-bye." It actually sounds more like, "ba-ba," but she does it when she waves. We are still working with her to say, "hi."

She LOVES her big sister to pieces. Sam has this uncanny ability to make Sophia giggle, and it just warms my heart. They play so well together, and I have now noticed that whenever Sam leaves the room, Sophia calls for her. When Sam finally responds, Sophia claps with joy. It's unbelievable.

Yes, the following picture just seems to sum up the adoration that Sophia has for Sam:

This summer is going to be so fun for our family. Sophia should be toddling around by then, and we'll be able to spend a little more time down at the lake. I envision lots of picnics and lots of fun activities!

Dancing in the Rain

It was a gloomy, rainy night on Thursday last week and the girls were tired of being cooped up inside. After all, we had gotten a taste of warmer weather and had taken FULL advantage of it leading up to that day.

So after dinner, we let Sam put on her rain boots and coat and handed her her umbrella and told her that she could go play in the rain. She loved it!

Sophia stayed up on the front porch with Steve and me, and we just got to observe the show!

Eric Jr.

Yesterday was a very special day for Samantha. She got to go with us up to the hospital last night to see Eric Jr., the baby that she has been waiting for to be born for a while now.

Steve and his friend, Eric, went to school together and have stayed friends for a long time since then. Eric was the best man in our wedding and he and his wife, Sarah, are Sophia's godparents. We are such good friends and were so excited to learn that they were finally getting a chance to be parents!

Everytime that Samantha saw Sarah, she would immediately ask her when "her boy would be coming out of her tummy." She often referred to him as a "little brother" -- simply because he was a boy.

Sarah delivered Eric Jr. (sometimes they call him E.J.) on Thursday, and we wanted to make sure that she was feeling up to company before we stopped by. As soon as Steve got home from work yesterday, we headed up to the hospital.

Sam was so excited all day; in fact, she told three separate, random people at Meijer earlier in the day that "Eric and Sarah had their little baby boy. And we are going to see him today. Sarah is a little tired because Momma said that it's hard work having a baby." I just smiled.

Here is Sam -- grinning -- because she finally got to see Eric Jr.:

I have a feeling that we will be visiting quite often, if Sam has any say in it!

And Sophia? Well, she kept pointing at the baby and wanted to see him up close too. But, I just held Sophia because I knew that she wouldn't be as gentle as Sam.

Here she is, right after we got home. She loves flashlights!

Daddy's Girls

For most women, when they get married, they don't know for sure what kind of father their spouse is going to make. It's a chance that they take, hoping that he's going to play an active part in the raising of their children (even if he is the full-time "breadwinner" of the household). They can only wish that he is attentive to the needs of the children and fills in both as an authority figure, but also as a gentle and nurturing caregiver.

I was one of those women. And I can say with utmost confidence that I am so lucky -- Steve is a wonderful father to our girls. In fact, I sometimes just sit back and watch in complete amazement just how patient he is with them, and how easily they respond to him.

Probably one of the biggest moments of Steve's life was the day that he became a father ...

He was equally excited over the birth of his second daughter. After all, by then, he had learned just how much Sam adored him, and he was ready to love another little girl just as much.

One of the best decisions that we ever made was to have me continue to teach a couple nights a week, after the girls were born. I am home all day with the girls while Steve works full-time, and then those two nights a week, he is charge for a couple of hours while I teach. Those couple of hours that he has all alone with the girls have made all of the difference in the world. They adore him and all of the activities that he does with them while I am gone.

One night, he set up a tent in our living room. The girls LOVED it!

He even set up chairs inside for the girls (and cats too, I guess):

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One day, I took this little cutie with me to go shopping:

Sam was insistent that she wanted to stay with her dad and help do some building down in the basement:

After a while, I guess they took a break ... and Steve showed Sam how to make "slime."

She had such a good time:

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We recently learned that Sophia LOVES to swing. She giggles and giggles!

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And she loves footballs (well, any kind of ball, really -- it was her first word):

Yes, a little too big for her, but Daddy was happy to oblige. As usual!

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And finally, we went down to the lake the other night. The weather has been so nice here, so Steve grabbed his fishing pole ... just to see if any fish were biting. He caught three of them and Sam was so excited about it.

So, the next thing that I knew, Steve informed me that he ran out and bought Sam her first fishing pole.

The girls have Steve wrapped right around their little fingers, and this Momma couldn't be any happier about that. He has never raised his voice in anger toward either of them, and he is just firm enough to let them know when he "means business."

Samantha still runs from one end of the house to the other when she hears him come home. And now Sophia scrambles as fast as she can to greet him, as well. Sophia squeals EVERY TIME she sees him -- EVERY TIME!

And Steve loves every minute of it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We started our day out with Steve making breakfast for us -- green eggs and green pancakes! Samantha was a little leary at first, but soon found out that they taste the same; the color is just a different.

(The eggs do not appear as green here in the picture as they really were!)


Even Sophia was enjoying the green pancakes:

Then, before Steve left to meet up with his dad and friend for lunch, we took a few pictures.

Our little family of four:

Such a beautiful day to be outside:

Trying to take steps with Daddy, though she is no where near being able to do it on her own yet:

Sophia is obsessed with this football, even though it is about 10 times too large for her to get a good grip on:

Her second St. Patrick's Day:

My girls:

What a difference a whole year can make!

After the girls are done with their afternoon naps, we have big plans to make "clover cookies" and then spend some more time outside. We are really enjoying the 75 degree weather this week!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's a Great Day for a ...

walk and a picnic ... in March!

Once the rain moved out on Monday, the skies cleared up and made way for some beautiful weather. While it was an incredibly mild winter here in Michigan, the cabin fever was starting to get to us, and we were anxious to get some fresh air.

We've taken several walks this week, but today, we concluded one of our walks with a picnic. The girls were SO excited about it (well, Sam was; and I think that Sophia enjoyed it too).

Heading out for our walk before the picnic:

Samantha prefers to ride her tricycle for most of our walks now:

Sitting down for our picnic lunch (Sam was insistent that we actually needed a picnic basket!):

Little cutie with food stuffed in her cheeks, as usual:

Pausing for a moment for Mommy:

The sun was pretty bright today, but we aren't complaining!

Lately, Sophia can't resist reaching out and touching her sister:

Pretty soon, I looked over and saw this:

When I asked Sam what she was doing, she very seriously replied, "Just enjoying the fresh air, Momma!"


And yet another picture of my little blue-eyed beauty:

I have a feeling that we will be having a lot of picnics this Spring and Summer!