Samantha’s 4th Birthday

Can you believe it?  Samantha turned 4 on Monday.  We had an easy party at the park with friends, family, and shade.  What a great day!

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.

 

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!

At the Park

We went to the park last weekend to catch some much needed rays.  We ran into the Turners and the Grissoms there!  I think everyone had the idea to go to the park since it was so nice.

Samantha finally went down the big slide all by herself!  It’s the big slide that’s enclosed and circles around as it goes down.  She’s been standing at the top looking down for months now.  Also, it was a bit windy that day, so someone brought a kite.  It was a ladybug!  Sam was really excited to see that big ladybug flying in the air!

(Oh, and she got some new blue Crocs earlier that day.  So far, we haven’t had a problem getting them on her feet, so maybe we’re out of the shoe weirdness phase.)