Sentimental

I am feeling sentimental and nostalgic today for some reason. I think it has been hitting me lately that my little Sammie is not so little anymore. Every day I hear "I can do it myself". It makes me stop sometimes and sometimes shocks me the things she actually can do on her own. She is such a kid now it's crazy. She has such a personality-Monday we went to Scottsdale to run some errands and she said in the car, "Mommy, is this Scottsdale?" I said yes and she said, "Scottsdale is wonderful!" Mind you--we were just driving through-nothing exciting-funny!
I love you Sammer jammer-you're my lovebug. I'm so glad that I get to be your mommy.

Had to put em up

Cole had so much fun with this watering can at Grammie and Gpa's. I love these pictures so I had to put them up. I love his fat, little belly in his jammies. And I love how he looks like he is trying to get a drink out of it! He's such a silly boy.

Happy Birthday Grammie!

Grammie had a birthday this weekend so we went down to Rio Rico to celebrate. It was fun, Sammie loves going for "sleep overs". And Grammie and Gpa even bought Sammer a big girl bed. She was so thrilled! And we were thrilled that her and Cole could share a room and we could have a room to ourselves. They even slept through the night-woo hoo!
Sammie and Grammie played and played. Grandpa was on a fire but came home just in time for a quick visit.
It was so cute--as we were getting ready to come back home this afternoon Sammie kept saying, "I just want to stay longer." It's sweet that she loves her family so much.
Cole had a blast too-laughing and crawling like a maniac.
Happy birthday Grammie-we love you!


Grammie & Sammie

The best part about birthdays...

Cole helping out with the presents

Singing Happy Birthday

Shucking corn for lunch

Enjoying the fruits of her labor

Messy eater

Grammie & Gpa bought Sammie croquet-she loves it!

Sammie wins!

Storytime with Gpa

Swim Lessons

So living in sunny AZ means you need to know how to swim. Summers will be really long without this skill. So it was back to the Y this summer for swim class. Last summer Sammer didnt' really love swim class. She just clung on to me and I felt like I was getting the lessons!
We started lessons last month and this time she has to go solo. It's a good thing, but really hard to not get involved. This is our first experience at watching her do something without us completely. Rough.
The first month was good. She was probably the least talented swimmer in the class. Then, the second session started yesterday. This time there are only 3 of them in the class and to my surprise and amazement-she's the most proficient and daring swimmer in the class! She was blowing bubbles, floating on her back, kicking, jumping in, going under...great job Sammer!!!! We are proud of you-keep up the good work.

Tuesday morning tea party

This morning there was an impromptu tea party. Sammie had the pink, Cole the purple and mommy the blue plate set. We were actually NOtTdrinking tea but lemonade. Sammie made it herself---even plunked the plastic little lemon into her tea pot! So cute:)
Then she went over to her kitchen and served us up some yummy food. Who doesn't like ribs and celery for breakfast! Ha! She did serve herself an egg, which if funny because she doesn't eat eggs.
Cole loves playing with her teacups/plates...she doesn't allow it very often! Don't worry Cole soon Sammer will be in preschool and you can have free reign over the house for a couple hours a week!

Enjoying themselves at the "tea party"

My two, beautiful babies!