Christmas Party

So, just when you think I have abandoned this blog completely I return. It's not that I don't love the blog it's just that life has been a little crazy lately. So here we go...

My step mom (Sam's MeMe) works for the Dallas Cowboys. While we are still very big Eagles fans the Cowboys are absolutely wonderful to work for and treat their employees really, really well. So well that each year they throw a Christmas party just for employees kids and grandkids. A party complete with all kinds of kid friendly food (corny dogs, mini cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, etc..., so many cookies from this really good bakery here in Dallas), pictures with Santa, face painting, karaoke, caricatures, people dressed as gingerbread men, elves, and reindeer. The look on Sam's face as she took everything in was priceless.

She made friends with the gingerbread men and elves. She stole a cookie off of my plate. She really did. Snatched it right off of the plate. And as I was putting her coat on as we were walking out the door I was eating the last bit of a cookie that she wanted and she completely melted down. Threw herself on the ground and everything. I thought this only happened when they turned 2?

We were there for 2 hours and she was completely entertained the entire time. Every time she turned around there was something new to look at (or eat). And of course the child doesn't know a stranger. She was walking all over the place by herself (with me a step or two behind her) and on two different occasions she walked right up to people we do not know and held out her arms to be picked up. Um, we need to work on stranger danger immediately.

We got to sit on Santa's lap. The first attempt to sit on Santa's lap didn't go over so well resulting in tears and no picture. The second time we had success. Of course I am also in the picture and making the most ridiculous face because I am trying to get her to smile. Just keep that in mind when you see the picture. I will try to scan and add it to the post tonight. Here are the rest that I took.

Making friends with an elf. Wearing our beautiful party dress from MeMe

Sitting still while getting our caricature done. The caricature was of Sam as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader. We took it home and I told KC one of his worst fears had come true :)

This is the stolen cookie. I can't even tell you the look of shock on my face when I turned around and she was holding my cookie. Thankfully she took one of the cookies without an inch of icing. Talk about sugar overload.

We had a bite of mac and cheese...

And couldn't get enough!

Sam and MeMe trying to decide which cookies we need

Sam and MeMe.

PaPa, MeMe, and Sam. Yes, she is holding a blue Tupperware container. It holds her Honey Bunnies. They are these little bunny shaped, honey graham crackers that she loves more than anything. She knows what is inside and likes just carrying the container around. I have about 10 pictures from the party with her carrying this adorable turquoise Tupperware around. Think I can photo shop it out?

Trick or Treat!

This was Sam's first Halloween. It actually made me a little sad. We only have one more holiday (Thanksgiving) that will be her first. I just can not get over how fast this year has gone by.

As I mentioned before Sam was dressed as a Love Bug (Basically a ladybug costume with hearts instead of dots and heart shaped wings). Costume was courtesy of Mom-Mom and Grandma. My mom always made our costumes growing up. (best costume ever - fifth grade I was Glenda the good witch. Complete with tulle skirt, large crown with sparkles, and wand. If I can find a picture I will post it because it really was awesome.) I thought it would be nice to continue the tradition with Sam.

We trick or treated with Jill and Claire while Junior and KC stayed home to hand out candy. Sam just adores Claire (who is 2 and a half) and tries to imitate her when they play together. Claire returns the love and told Jill that "Sam was her best friend." Awwww. She also calls Sam "Samilicious" which is adorable!

After we made the rounds and the boys ran out of candy we headed over to Mexi-Go for a late dinner. Where Sam had her first soda! Completely by accident of course. Our waitress was not the best (being nice here, really, really nice) and I asked for a kids cup with water no ice. I stopped bringing sippy cups with me since Sam does better with a straw and it's one less thing to drag around. When we got the cup it had ice in it, but I figured no big deal. Sam had a sip and while she spit quite a bit out I thought it was because it was too cold so I asked for the waitress to please bring a cup with no ice. No big deal. Then Claire got upset saying she thought she was getting sprite and that wasn't what was in her cup. Uh oh. Yep, Sam had the sprite. Apparently from now on I will checking to make sure Sam is drinking water and not soda. So, we had a few first on Halloween, trick or treating, wagon rides, and soda.

Our Little Love Bug

A Halloween Family Portrait (yes, I am wearing my Obama Mama pin. Thanks Christina!)

Sam is thinking "Can I be a fairy princess when I grow up?"

Our first wagon ride

When Sam got a little fussy and hungry (because we had a very abbreviate dinner so we could get out and trick or treat) I pulled out the gold fish. She has both hands completely full and was shoveling them into her mouth as fast as she could. Maybe she thought with all of the kids around there was going to be some competition. Little did she know the other kids were all eating candy and thinking "Goldfish - ha! I've got chocolate. Jokes on you baby."

Yes, that is bits of goldfish falling out of our mouth. I'm serious as cute as she is the goldfish bit got a little disgusting. In our house Goldfish are the magic, happy pill. They cure anything and everything. I should probably stop bribing my kid with food any day now. I want her to have a healthy relationship with food and all that jazz.

With the election so close even Halloween was political. KC and Junior had two little girls came by and had the following conversation:

Girl #1: Trick or Treat. Vote for Obama!

Girl #2: No way, McCain all the way!

The girls were about 10 and needless to say KC and Junior were a bit surprised!

Boo at the Zoo

When we were in Philly last week we went to Boo at the Zoo at the Philadelphia Zoo. We had a blast even though it rained off and on while we were there. Sam got to wear her costume for the first time. Mom-mom and Grandma made her a Love bug costume. KC has called her his love bug since we found out we were having a girl. Since it was pretty chilly out we were a love bug in a furry coat with dog ears. Hey, whatever works. It's actually the only coat we own. Something I have to rectify at some point in the next few weeks.

All dressed up right after we got out of the car. The head piece didn't last long though.

The girls

Sam got sick of the stroller so we transitioned to the carrier after a while. I love this carrier so much! And so does Sam! What you can't see in this picture are the triplets behind us - dressed up as a lion, a tiger, and a bear. So cute! And creative. We all walked by and said "Lions, Tigers, and Bears. Oh My!" You just couldn't help it!

This was our first trip to the zoo. She loved seeing all of the animals. I just had to make sure that we were looking at animals that moved. She didn't care too much for anything stationary.

Look at the bug eyes! We were at the lion "cage" and the lion came right up to the window and roared. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen at the zoo. He was touching the window. So close his breath was fogging up the window. She was mesmerized. (And no I didn't let her eat the snickers in her hand. I'm not that bad of a mother. She just really liked carrying it around since it was shiny.)

This was the lion roaring at the glass. You can see why she had the bug eyes. Some of the kids loved it and some of them ran screaming to their parents.

My little monkey

Silly, Silly Aunties

I have discovered one of her favorite things - riding a merry go round. She loves it. When we were in Arizona and she got on one for the first time. She was pretty hesitant at first and not really sure about it. This time we had no initial hesitation at all! She wrapped her hands around the pole and off we went. About half way through she started shrieking with delight. We had a blast. Our local mall has a merry go round inside so I am sure I will have to avoid that area unless I am willing to ride.

Happy Halloween!

Sam and Auntie Ande goofing off

For whatever reason Sam was fascinated by the umbrella. Possibly because she has never seen one before???

Lots of Firsts on the Fourth (or the weekend of...)

We squeezed a lot into this past holiday weekend. I always get a little over zealous on holiday weekends. We have more time than the average weekend so I figure we should be able to get that much more done. Except by that much more I usually multiply what we should get done by about 10 - with only 2 extra days. Every time I do this and every time we get to the end of the weekend with things still on my to do list. I also forgot to factor having a baby into the equation. That slows things down quite a bit. Especially when she is moving around. A LOT.

This weekend our firsts included actually crawling (graduated from scooting!) our first real snuggle with Jake (a result of actually crawling), first swim in PaPa and MeMe's pool (ad first pool side nap), first dinner out with all of the Little Elm people (Poppy and the blueberries included), sleeping with a lovey ( I was always to paranoid before), first real food (a baby carrot), and then IT happened. This is what I mean by it:

Our conversation on Saturday afternoon went something like this:

I walk out of Sam's room after putting her down for a nap.

KC: "Is she sleeping?"

Laura: "Not a chance. She's fighting it."

Sam screaming in the background.

Laura: "I am going to get the monitor"

KC: "Do you really need the monitor? I'm pretty sure we can hear her." (Ha. Ha.)

The screaming stops. We look at each other and think Can this be real? Did she fall asleep so quick? I get the monitor.

Laura: "Uh Case, I see legs."

KC: "What?"

Laura: "I see legs! As in standing up. I SEE LEGS!"

Now we are both running at top speed to her room. We open the door and see this:

My second thought (after ok, she's safe) OH. MY. GOD. I am not ready for this.

Obviously, nap time was over. At least until we got the crib dropped. We dropped the mattress on the crib to the next level down. This does not mean that she can not get up to the rail now (She can. See below). It just means that she isn't in danger of falling over the side anymore.

Other firsts: pulling our self to a standing position using the ottoman, the couch, and Dad's back.

Seriously, NOT READY FOR THIS.

And yes, I have quite a bit still on my list of things we should have gotten done on the weekend of the fourth.

As a side note - right now my mother is thinking "Serves You Right." I had to be locked in my room as a baby/toddler. An actual dead bolt on the outside of my door. I'm sure these days CPS would be knocking on my door in a millisecond but back then it was all she could do to keep me in one room long enough to sleep. The deadbolt was installed after finding me in the front yard when I was supposed to be napping. I was so fond of climbing out of my crib that my parents placed a bean bag below my crib and I would sleep there after climbing out. Looking back on that I'm not sure how I survived or how my parents avoided Child Services. I have a feeling Sam may require a deadbolt of her own. Or maybe we just station Jake outside her door...

A Daddy's Girl already

An All American Girl on her first 4th of July

Sam and Claire (Her partner in crime)

PaPa and Peanut taking a swim

Dad and Cleopatra (aka Sam)

First of many, many poolside naps

First real food - a baby carrot

Sam the baby say "hi" to Sam the cat.

Sam and MeMe

Taking a snooze on Dad's chest

All ready for bed - and exhausted after a fun-filed weekend!