Samantha's 4-Year Old Check-Up

Yesterday, was Samantha's 4-Year Old Check-up.  We have been preparing for this for a couple of weeks because I knew (and wanted her to be aware of the fact) that she would be getting some shots.  These are booster shots that she needs in order to start kindergarten. 

We talked all about how it was just going to be a little "pick" in her leg, and that she wouldn't feel a thing afterwards.  And I promised that we could go to lunch following the appointment to celebrate the big girl that she is.  She asked if Grammy could come too and hold her hand, and actually ... it worked out perfectly because Grammy was already at my house this week as Steve is back in Mississippi.

When it was time for the shots, I went and got Grammy from the waiting room and, as promised, she held Samantha's hands (in addition to more-or-less holding her down on the table).  It turns out that Sam needed SIX shots -- yes, six!  The nurse asked if I would like to only give her two that day, but it would mean that we would have to come back for the others.  Um ... I explained that there was no way that Sam would want to come back anytime soon, so we would just do all six right then and there.

My little girl was such a trooper!  With two nurses doing each leg (three shots apiece), Sam teared up and whimpered a little and that was it.  I was SO proud of her!  She then received some sparkly band-aids (six of them) and was able to pick out all of the stickers that she wanted -- with no limit!

The good news is that Sam will not need any more shots until she is eleven (unless some new booster shot comes into existence before then).  From now on, it will just be regular developmental check-ups. 

Speaking of which: She is in the 90th percentile for height; it amazes me every time we get a height-check on her.  Where does her height come from?  She is in the 75th percentile for weight.

Samantha is growing up into such a polite little girl.  Her vocabulary is increasing on a daily basis and I am amazed at everything that she is sucking up like a sponge learning at school.  She is an incredible big sister -- so thoughtful and so protective of Sophia.  I can't wait to see what then next year brings ...

Happy Birthday, Grammy!

Steve left for Mississippi again yesterday morning, so my mom came to visit so that she could watch the girls for me when I teach a couple of nights this week.  It turns out that my mom's birthday was yesterday, so we got to celebrate with her.  Sam was excited that Grammy was able to come with me and pick her up from school and then we celebrated with cake and ice cream (and presents) after our lunch.

I made my mom a special cranberry cake with orange-infused cream cheese frosting.  She loved it!  It was perfect for the season with just the right balance of sour and sweet.  Of course, the girls had to be sure to sit close-by Grammy when we sang "happy birthday" to her and blew out the candles.

Note that both of the girls are singing to her:

And the highlight of any birthday celebration (besides the presents) is the opportunity to blow out the candles.  Both girls joined in for that, with Samantha showing the most experience in that area.

What made this event even more special for the girls was that Grammy actually brought them each a present, and she let the girls open them before she opened her gifts from us. 

Inside each of their boxes was three ornaments chosen specifically by Grammy for them to put on the tree.  The ornaments symbolized some of their interests right now. 

Samantha received an acorn ornament (she loved collecting acorns with Grammy and her daddy in the woods this Fall), a pizza ornament (one of her favorite foods) and a pencil ornament (because she started school this year). 

Sophia received a stuffed bunny ornament (in honor of her bunny first birthday party), a grilled cheese ornament (one of her favorite foods) and a popcorn ornament (because she had her first popcorn party with Momma this Fall).

The girls were SO excited about their new ornaments and they are now proudly displayed on our trees.  It was so thoughtful of Grammy!

Sophia is 21 Months Old

Wow ... three more months and I will have a 2 year old again!  Sophia is SO full of personality, as denoted in the picture above.  This is her common pose for pictures these days; a big smile and squinted eyes.  I guess that I am happy that she actually wants to pose for pictures, though.  I have to be ... considering that I am constantly taking pictures of my growing girls.

Sophia's vocabulary is growing each and every day.  There is no word that she won't attempt, and she makes a very valiant effort to use words whenever she can in order to try and get her point across.  We are now at the point where she repeats a lot and she has been known to use the word "gosh" in the right context.  It could be worse ...

One of her very favorite phrases right now is, "me, me!"  In fact, she uses that phrase with such regularity, that Steve has taken to affectionately calling her that.  She wants to do everything BY HERSELF (eating, walking down stairs, carrying her blankets to the car) and makes it abundantly clear that she is independent and will do anything that she wants to do.  She also copies her big sister and I have had to remind Samantha that she needs to be aware of that  -- no teaching her bad habits.

We have been introducing potty-training for the last month or so.  By no means am I attempting to completely train her.  Rather, I have introduced the potty and whenever she wakes up dry (or it has been a long time since she has had a wet diaper), I strongly urge her to go.  She has successfully peed in the potty at least 15 times this month.  It helps that she has a singing potty, she receives a single M&M and her sister is one of the biggest cheerleaders that there is!  I suspect that she will train a little earlier than Sam, and when she is truly ready, I know exactly the method that I will use.  It is the same one that I used with Sam and she was trained in two days!

Sophia still sleeps well at night, sleeping from about 7:30 pm to about 7:30 am (or 8 am if I don't have to wake her up to go with me to take Samantha to school).  She is going through a small phase with her afternoon nap right now, often waking periodically and screaming for me.  I think that she is experiencing some bad dreams now and it usually just takes a little consoling from me and she will then rest a little longer.  I am hoping that this is just that -- a phase -- because Sam still takes a good afternoon nap and I would like to see Sophia continue in that same direction.

Sophia is so excited about Christmas.  She will finally "get it" this year ... the decorations, the presents, Santa ... and I am so thrilled to watch that excitement come to life.  She is already getting into the Christmas spirit with our musical snowmen!

We are working on the whole "pretty to look at, but not to touch" idea regarding the Christmas tree and the ornaments.  It has resulted in her spending quite a bit of time on the "time-out bench" over the last couple of days, but I suspect that she will learn within the next week that she is not allowed to touch anything.  Sam keeps a close eye on her and warns me if Sophia even thinks about touching one of ornaments or going behind the Christmas tree.

I've already started thinking about her two-year old birthday party.  I think that I have decided on a theme and am anxious to start pulling ideas together for it.  After the holidays, things will start to move quickly and I want to make sure that I have things organized!  There is just something so special about celebrating my girls' birthdays, and it gets me giddy just thinking about it!

November 19th

Nothing could have prepared me for the way that my life changed on that date ... four years ago.  At 3:05 in the morning, Samantha was placed in my arms -- bright-eyed and wide awake, ready to take on the world.  I knew that I was going to become a mom that day, but I never expected to feel such immediate, overwhelming love for someone that I had just met. 

Sure, I had nine months to bond with this little being, and of course, I did on some level.  But finding out that she was a girl (when both Steve and I thought that the baby was a boy) and then seeing the complete adoration in her eyes, well, I just knew then that this was what I was meant to do; I was meant to be a mom and to spend every day ... from that moment ... showing her just how much special she is and how much she means to us.

On November 19th this year, we started the day out with cinnamon rolls for breakfast, complete with a candle, just for her.  I guess that I believe that one cannot possiblly blow out too many candles (and make too many wishes) on one's birthday.  I actually lit the candle a total of three different times so that Samantha and Sophia could each blow 'til their hearts' delight.

After breakfast, I took a few pictures of the girls before it was time for me to load them in the car and take Samantha to school.  On some days, I can complete cooperation; on other days, it is a struggle.  On that day, there was SOME compliance.

Smiles!

The birthday girl:

After a quick "photo shoot," we dressed warmly and headed out to car so that I could have Samantha to school by 8:15 am.  In honor of the special day, I made chocolate-covered pretzel rods for Samantha to pass out to her friends at school.

After school, I fed the girls lunch -- Sam's choice: grilled cheese sandwiches.  We played for a bit and then the girls got ready for their naps.  They knew that after their rest that we were going to meet Steve at Old Chicago for dinner.  This was Samantha's choice for where she wanted to eat her birthday dinner.

After our pizza dinner, we came back home to surprise Sam with a few more gifts.  She didn't realize that we hadn't given her her birthday presents yet.  We had chosen to wait and do this on her actual birthday, rather than to give them to her at her party on Saturday.  She was so surprised!

Of course, Sophia had to partake, as well.  And Samantha was happy to oblige.  Sam really is a great big sister to Sophia; she's so patient with her.

Reading her card (upside down) from Momma and Daddy:

Sophia opened up Samantha's dinosaur puzzle for her -- it glows in the dark!

And probably one of the highlights of her birthday: Sophia's gift to Samantha was a pair of dress-up shoes and a Cinderella dress.  To say that Sam was in heaven would be an understatement!  She thanked her sister repeatedly.

She had to try it on IMMEDIATELY!

Daddy helped her, and she was ecstatic!

The complete outfit:

(You will notice the beautiful flower arrangement on the counter in the background.  Aunt Kathy had this arrangement delivered right after we got home from dinner.  The flowers are in an exquisite vase that it shaped like a cowgirl boot, complete with a spur!  It was a wonderful surprise for Samantha.).

Yet another hug for her sister for the great birthday gift:

Samantha is already talking about her 5th birthday party now and the theme that she wants!  I am sure that this is bound to change over the course of a year, but it makes me happy to see her so excited about her birthday.  That's exactly what I wanted from the second that she was born; I wanted her to know just how special her birthday is to us ...

Samantha's 4th Birthday Party

Samantha's birthday is on Monday, but we celebrated the big event early.  Yesterday, we had a Cowgirl Birthday Party at our house for our families and a few close friends.  Most everyone was able to come, and it was a great time -- one that Samantha will be able to remember for quite some time.

I make a big deal about my kids' birthdays because I'm celebrating how special they are and how magical the day that they entered this world was for me.  It just makes my Momma heart proud to see the excitement on their faces with the decorations and the cake; I guess that somehow I hope that that excitement mirrors the thrill that I had the second that they were placed into my arms at the hospital.  Each of the births of my children were special to me and that's why I make sure that their birthday celebrations are special to them.

I started the tradition three years ago that I ALWAYS make their birthday cakes myself.  I try to be as creative as I can and Steve understands how important this task is to me.  While the girls might now always remember these younger birthdays, they will always have pictures to look back on and know that their momma prided herself on giving them the prettiest cakes that she could!

In honor of the cowgirl birthday party, I made a cowgirl boot cake for Sam.  I simply baked a 9x13 cake and then free-hand cut it into the shape of a boot and then decorated it.  She loved it!

The "Sweet Saloon:"

The inspiration for the party came from the cowgirl hat and boots that Sam first received from her Daddy a year ago.  I framed the original picture of her wearing her cowgirl hat for the first time and used it as one of the decorations.

We invited some friends of ours that have two little girls, Anna and Isabella.  Anna is exactly one month younger than Sam, and Isabella is exactly one month younger than Sophia.  Weird, huh?  For each of the girls (mine included), I fixed up some goodie bags with appropriate cowgirl items like a bandana, some cowgirl stickers, My Little Pony fruit snacks, horse bubbles and a stuffed pony.  The girls each got their own cowgirl hat to wear.

My little cowgirls:

Posing with their cowgirl hats:

After a delicious BBQ dinner (Steve made smoked pulled pork for sandwiches and my mom made some fabulous macaroni salad and applesauce), we let Sam open her presents in the living room.  She had three little helpers (Anna, Isabella and Sophia) and we didn't mind one bit.  They did a wonderful job of helping her ...

The incredible play mat that Aunt Chele got for Sam so that her horses would have a pasture to play on:

In complete awe:

Everyone was in on the action:

Her Snow White doll from Aunt Deb:



Sam's new winter coat from Grammy and Papa:

Belle and her horse, a gift from Uncle Z:

Even Sophia received a couple of gifts to open so that she wouldn't feel left out:

After opening gifts (and after our stomachs had settled from dinner), we migrated to the dining room for cake and ice cream.

The birthday girl:

Her sister was checking things out from her near-by location:

Waiting patiently while we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her:

After cake and ice cream, the girls took turns pulling the strings on a horseshoe pinata.  This was something that Samantha requested that she wanted for her birthday party after doing one in her preschool class for Halloween.

The pinata:

Taking turns:

Scooping up their candy:

Even after the pinata event was over, Sophia was still organizing her candy!

We finished the evening off with some fireworks out in the front yard.  I'm not a huge fan of them, but Steve and the girls really enjoyed them!

********************

The birthday festivites will continue around here through Monday.  On her actual birthday, Samantha will be taking some treats to school for her friends and then we are planning to go to dinner after Steve gets home from work.  We let Sam choose where she wanted to go (even though I was pretty sure that I knew the answer already), and she chose to go to Old Chicago for pizza.  After that, we will head back home so that she can open her gifts from Sophia and Steve and me.  What a way to celebrate!

Fall Clean-Up

Last week, when the weather was a little nicer, the girls helped to clean up our pumpkins leftover from Halloween.  We piled all of them into the wheelbarrow and headed to the woods so that the deer would be able to enjoy them to their fullest!

The pumpkins were a little too heavy for Sophia to handle on her own, but that didn't seem to stop her from trying ...

Instead, I gave her the task of putting the indian corn and gourds into the wheelbarrow.  She seemed content with that.

Sophia poses for pictures now on command.  I love it!

Samantha, on the other hand, is a little more comical and doesn't always want to cooperate with her momma who loves to take pictures of her girls (a little obsessively).

Sophia does a pretty good job navigating through the woods; she will occasionally trip over a hidden branch or a stump, but she always gets right back up and continues on.  She is way too independent these days!

Unloading the last of our load:

And then pausing a for a little break:

Both of the girls were such great helpers.  The reward in all their hard work is that we strategically placed all of the pumpkins (that I then broke into random chunks) right at the front of the woods where we can see the deer coming up to eat them.  The girls were in the complete awe the other morning as they watched four deer dining on their pumpkins.  It was perfect!

Halloween Gymnsatics

Before Halloween, Uncle Dennis and Aunt Deb paid for Samantha to attend a little gymnastics event at their gym.  It was a fun hour for her (and very similar to the gymnastics class that she took there two years ago -- which she still remembers, amazingly).  We went as a family and Sophia just watched from the sidelines for the first part of the event.  After that, when it was a little more "free style" for the kids, we let her partake.  She wasn't quite old enough to actually be a part of the event.

The kids were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes, but I opted to let Samantha just wear a Halloween shirt because I knew that she would be more comfortable.

On one of the rolling logs:

Crawling through one of the tunnels; this was one of her most favorite things to do there two years ago:

Practicing on the bar:

Sommersaults on the inflated tumbling mat:

And then we let Sophia loose!  She found these balancing cups and entertained herself for quite some time with them.

I had to do a little bit of distraction control with this decorated bar because she found humor in pulling all of the little pumpkins off of the garland.

Steve helped Sophia practice her sommersaults:

And he also assisted her on the rolling log:

At the very end, the kids were able to walk through a decorated tunnel and gather candy (three pieces each).  We let Sophia bring up the rear ...

She wasn't messing around!  She knew that she could score some candy and she took full advantage of that, carefully gathering her three pieces!

It was a great time for both of the girls and we are so glad that Aunt Deb suggested it.  It was the perfect prelude to our Halloween season ...