• Alabama seceded from the union in 1861.
• Amelia Earhart flies solo from Hawaii to California in 1935.
• Los Angeles’ first snowfall ever recorded in 1949.
• Chloe Mauter born in 2008.

We hope you have a great birthday and eat lots of cake.

Love, Uncle Brian, Aunt Janie, Samantha and Ellie

And check out this great picture from Lizzie’s blog.  Boy, Sam sure does love pumpkins.  I guess it’s good that she’s an October baby.

We started out by playing hard, so after a while, we had to take a break.

Then, Batman showed up.  Seriously, Samantha asked me later “Why did Batman come to my party?”

We enjoyed pizza and fruit.  (Easy, right?)

Ellie even played hard!

After a while, we sang “Happy Birthday.”  Later, Samantha told me that she didn’t sing for her birthday song.  But she could sing for my granddad’s birthday song the next day.  (How did she know not to sing for her own song?)  She was so sweet while we were singing.  I wish everybody could have seen her face.  Nana put it best when she said, “It was like Samantha really knew that everyone was singing for her and that this was a very special occasion!”

Enjoying some great gifts!

(Sorry about the picnic table, Hallie!  I should have been holding it so it wouldn’t have crashed down on you!)

And of course, the hopper.  After she opened her gifts, she carried around the hopper box for the rest of the time.  She literally walked over to some rocks near by, but away from everyone else, so she could sit with her hopper box.  It reminded me of the ukelele incident from last year!  Here’s the hopper once we got home and got it blown up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC8i4TKuZAw

For her actual birthday, I went to school to have lunch with her.  It was nice to see her in that environment.  And now I can understand more about what she tells me when she comes home!

I had promised her that she wouldn’t have to take a nap when she turned 4, because she hasn’t taken one in a while.  These days, she’s usually not a basket case by bedtime, so I reluctantly caved.  However, I still make her go upstairs so I can have some “mommy time.”  She has to play in her room, quietly, so she doesn’t wake up Ellie.

We had dinner on the porch, one of Samantha’s favorite things to do.  And she got to eat on her new picnic table.  Then she opened up her present from us.  Rollerskates!  I have no idea where the idea came from, but she was adamant that she wanted rollerskates for her birthday.

Samantha is doing well in school.  I’m amazed at how quickly she’s learning.  She can write her whole name, say the “Hail Mary,” knows about weekdays (5 days) and weekends (2 days) and much more.  She’s creative, thoughtful, funny, outgoing, and becoming such a big girl!

Swimming at MamaLinda’s

Walking in the rain

Trying on a Burger King crown

Visiting the McWane Center

Celebrating a 90th birthday

She was so little when she was born!  (The size of Brian’s hand!)

But now she’s a bustling one year old!

She is so sweet.  She loves baby dolls and cuddly toys.  She will not hold her bottle voluntarily, but prefers to keep her arms completely outstretched while drinking.  She does not like the texture of table food, but loves baby food.

We had her birthday party on Sunday.  Most all of her family came despite the horrific weather last week.  My brother still doesn’t have power!  He and his family (and week old ducklings) spent the weekend with us doing laundry, charging electronics, and drinking coffee.  But, we all had great weather after the storms, so it was a perfect weekend to have a party!

Hm – I’m not so sure about this.

Ouch!  She didn’t actually touch the candle, but obviously, she came very close!

Stand Off.

Dig in!

Thanks for taking pictures, A&L!

She had her check up today, and all is well.  She is about the 90th percentile for height, but only about the 10th for weight.  Also, the pediatrician told me that they recommend following the new AAP guidelines for car seats.  Ugh!  Another year of rear-facing!

He requested Dreamland for lunch.  Then we had a man’s meal for dinner: steak, roasted corn, and mashed potatoes.  And to top it off, we had a buttermilk cake!

Sam loves pumpkins, so I made a pumpkin cake.  She blew out the candles so fast that we barely got a picture!

Here are just a few of the really great gifts.  Her new favorite book from Uncle Mark and Aunt Martha, Small, Medium and Large.

A soprano ukelele (or ukeladium as she says) from Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Will.

Bubbles! from Uncle Alex, Aunt Lettie, Jackson, Patrick, Penny and #4.

We had a fun-filled weekend! MamaLinda and Pop stayed with the girls on Friday. Sam went to the park (one of her Favorite things!) and opened a birthday present. She loves her ladybug tent and Percy the train.

We got up on Saturday and had pancakes with sprinkles, then headed down to the Pumpkin Patch.

This morning, we had wildberry muffins with sprinkles. We sang “Happy Birthday” and she got to blow out her candle.

We went to Zoe’s for lunch where Ms. Kris got her a piece of chocolate cake. We had another round of “Happy Birthday!”  Tonight, she opened her present from us, which was dress-up clothes.  I think she had a fun weekend, and we haven’t even had her party yet!

You got it right.  I turned 30 yesterday.  Look what Brian made for me!  (I bought those Roman Numeral candles last year for his birthday, and I love them!)

I wish you could have smelled it.  On second thought, maybe not.  I don’t want you all eating my cake.

Samantha sang “Happy Birthday” to me in its entirety three times yesterday.  I’m very lucky.

However, Samantha has not moved past Jackson.  His birthday was in January.  Whenever she sings the Birthday song, she inserts “Jackson” where appropriate.  He still has the hold on her.

Last weekend on a whim, I bought some Hello Kitty panties at Target.  I had a few extra minutes, and I knew we’d need them one day.  To my surprise, she really likes them.  She wants to wear them.  So, we had LOTS of cleaning up last weekend.  We stayed mostly in the bathroom, so it wasn’t horrible, but we went through 4 pairs in 1 hour.  I guess it’s all that water…  I know she just wants to wear them because they’re new and different, but she hasn’t put it together what happens when she doesn’t wear a diaper.  I know she’ll understand soon enough.  Speaking of such:  she’s in her crib right now (supposedly sleeping) saying “change diaper change diaper.”  I’ll have to check that out.

We showed the house twice this week and once last week!

I made the Buttercup Bag a few weekends ago, as introduced to me by Lettie.  It’s too small for me though.  I chose a fabric that was a bit thick so it wouldn’t be too flimsy, but it’s still pretty flimsy.  It’s a red houndstooth, so how cool is that?  It was fun to make.

I’m still in the market for a new diaper bag.  However, I have seen several diaper clutches recently.  I think I’ll try to make one.  I definitely have the diaper clutch itch.  And on top of that, I’ve started baby #2′s stocking.  That’s right.  I’m seriously not motivated though.  I thought by starting it in January, I’d have a full year to complete it.  Although that’s true, it doesn’t mean that I have any desire to sit down and work on it for a year (even though I know that is what it’s going to take).  I worked on Samantha’s a lot during the last Olympics, so I thought this would be a good time.  However, I think I had put most of the effort into it already, so I was in the final stretch and was actually pushing to get it finished.  I pulled out my work-on-it-bag so I could store all my stuff without it being all over the living room.  A cross-stitch work-in-progress was in there (forgive the foreign language, I couldn’t find it anywhere else).  I knew it was there, but I hadn’t looked at it in a couple of years.  I was surprised at actually how far I’d gotten on it!  I thought about picking it back up too, but again, no motivation.  I had stored it in the hoop, so now it’s all creased, but I think it should be ok.

So, that’s what’s new.  No pictures.  I think I took some on my phone this week, but haven’t transferred them to the computer yet.  Sorry.  Gotta go get Squirt up since she has decided not to take a nap today.  Fun.

Finally, Happy Birthday, Alex!

Samantha turned two last weekend! We had a great party – thanks to all who came to help us celebrate her birthday and my granddad’s birthday. Check out the pictures.

We also went to the Grand Old Pumpkin Patch on Sunday. Finally! We’ve been wanting to get out there, but the weather or our schedule has not cooperated. Pictures aren’t up just yet, but they will be soon.

I made some Spiced Cider last night. Yum. I think I just need to carry it around with me wherever I go.

Merry Christmas! I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with our family this year. Hopefully, we’ll get to see everyone at some point. I’m not looking forward to being gone for a week, but we should have a good trip and have some time to recover at home too.

In other news, dare I say something? I think Samantha is finally better. I know it’s just in time to be exposed to a whole new set of germs at Christmas. But, for now, we’re enjoying our happy Sam again.

And lastly, Happy Birthday Patrick!!