Our 2 Year Old!

I cannot believe our baby is 2!  Where did the time go?  We are so blessed to have our SamBug in our life.  She has filled our lives with so much joy!  We look back at the pictures of her first birthday and cannot believe how much she has changed.  Now, we have a walking, talking, singing, giggling, crazy girl!  She amazes us every day with her funny spirit, her every growing vocab, her silly faces, and her loving spirit. 

Since this is as much my journal as a blog, here are the things she is doing/loving at 2...

Her favorite things are:
-  Books, books and more books
-  Singing any and every song - and she loves creating her own
-  Being told made up stories
-  Animals - esp. her beloved Schleich
-  Animated Movies and of course Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Curious George shows
-  Playing kitchen (though, she never wants you to actually eat the food)  ;)
- Back rubs - she asks for them before every nap/bedtime
- Baby  Bear (her halloween Ty Beanie Baby from her first Halloween)
- Chasing after our dog Sadie or putting Sadie in her room so they can "play together"
-  Having her hair done - she likes you to blow dry her hair and put curlers in
- Kisses and cuddles - she is our lover.  If I say "mama needs something" she'll say "a kiss and hug" and come over and give me both!  ;)
-  Skype - she loves to chat with Nana, Papa, Yaya and Papaw on the computer!

She does not like:
-  Monsters - I swear she has nightmares!
-  She has become super shy around people she does not know - she takes a little while to become vocal around strangers
-  ANY green vegetables!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday Samantha Paige!  With a Mickey-themed birthday party, we celebrated 2 years with our Princess.

 Showing off her curlers that Mommy put in her hair for her big birthday party - unfortunately we left them in too long, so a spray bottle was necessary to get the hair from overly- Curly Sue to cute Sami waves.  Oh well, she loves the curlers!  ;)

 The lady that made our Wedding and Groom cake, made this adorable cake for Samantha - it was vanilla with raspberry filling - YUM!

 Bound to happen in a picture - she is obsessed with picking her nose!

 

Blowing out the candles to 2 great years and many more to come!  Thank you God for this precious little girl, but could you please let time slow down some?!  :)

Ugly Sweater Party

Vicki and Stephanie threw an Ugly Sweater Christmas party while we were home before Christmas!  We had such a great time!  I hope this is a new yearly tradition, because after seeing some of the sweaters we definitely need to up our game next time.  ;)

 Vicki and Randy - the world's most adorable couple!!

 Keith and his dad, Ken - who is sporting his new "Something about Mary" hairstyle!  

 Karen with her dolled up sweater

 Logan and his girlfriend, Stephanie - the mastermind behind the party and all the great games.  Thanks Steph! :)

 Mallory and her boyfriend, Christian - I know, they are too cute for words, huh?

 Stephanie took this pic of us towards the end of the night - by then I had ditched my itchy wool sweater for Haley's T-shirt.  No, it did not fit the theme, but wool and shoulder pads can only last so long.  ;)

 

The only pic of our crew together in our ugly Christmas gear - Keith worked the female sweater vest, and I the 80s tribute with waterfall bangs, shoulder pads and high waisted stretch pants.  Sadly, some of the attendees liked my clothes and they were surprised to see them happily gifted to them for Christmas - that is what you get!  :)

Sick Day

After many close encounters with friends who had the stomach flu in their house, we thought we had gotten lucky and avoided it.  However, it finally came our way and poor Samantha dealt with it in December (luckily before the holidays) - she was such a sad sight for a couple of days.  To make her feel better, Daddy got her a new stuffed piggy and this adorable Elmo balloon that she toted around everywhere.

Snow Day

Well, I am outnumbered - I guess I need to learn to like the snow, because Samantha (like Keith and Sadie) think it is the best thing ever!

Meeting Santa

We were so excited this year to have Samantha meet Santa.  She has been so excited about Christmas - talking about HoHo nonstop and helping me with the daily countdown hanging on our fridge.  Last year we didn't have her sit on Santa's lap, but this year we really talked it up to her and she seemed ready for it. 

So early Saturday morning we got up and went to "Cookies with Santa" at the Fishers Town Hall.  As we waited in line to see Santa, she kept pointing at him and saying "sit on HoHos lap" - she was so excited.....well, until we got to HoHo.  ;)  Once there, you could not pry her off of daddy!  Hence, why he is in the photo - that was the only way she would sit there - she was terrified!.  However, as soon as she got up and got a free candy cane, she smiled and all she could talk about ALL DAY was how she sat in Hoho's lap.  :)

An Early 2nd Birthday

Of course while in NC we wanted to celebrated Samantha's 2nd birthday with my family, albeit it early.  So the Saturday after Thanksgiving we had a full day of celebration.  We took all the girls to see the Tangled movie (by the way - AMAZING - it is now one of my favorite princess movies and all the girls loved it!), then we went to Deadwood restaurant to celebrate Samantha's birthday with rides, great food and gifts.  What a special birthday this was - thank you Nana and Papa for putting this special day together!

At Deadwood, which is mini amusement park on the outside, great steaks on the inside -- love it and bonus, so do the kids.  :)

 Tara, Allyson and Nana on the playground

 The Three Amigos - I think this photo alone proves that Tara and I married as close to our father as possible.  (I mean that in a nice way Dad. ;) )

 Tara and Keith enjoying a moment sans kids.  :)

 Me and Tara - We had so many wonderful chances to hang out this week.  Thank you Tara for everything - the Zumba classes, making over Samantha and getting lots of chances to catch up.  I miss you already!

I love this picture of us - usually the rare shots of just us are sad and will never be posted on this blog.  But we clean up okay when we try.  ;)

After much fun outside we went inside to begin the birthday party!  Mom put together gift bags for all the kids and the waiters even came by to sing to Samantha - even though she was so shy that she was buried in my shoulder for the whole song.

 Blowing out candles on the princess cake.  We went princess themed for the day instead of Mickey, since we saw the movie Tangled.

 This is my favorite pic of all time - does it get any sweeter...love that smile and giggle

 Yes - of course she had to wear a princess crown - not just for the theme, but also the girl loves this kind of stuff!

 I had to show off this cute ponytail - I love that her hair is long enough now.  :)

 Allyson and Tara - love this pic!

 This is mini-Reagan right here!  ;)  This is her "look" and she will give it on command - God help us all :) haha

The much adored Nana and Papa surrounded by all the kids as Samantha opens presents

What a special, special birthday - thank you everyone!

Thanksgiving in NC

This year we were suppose to go to NC for Christmas, but planned changed a few months ago and we decided to go Thanksgiving again in NC.  We will be sad to be away from my family at Christmas, but what a wonderful time we had together over Thanksgiving.  It was great to spend time with Mom and Dad, as well as my sister and her wonderful family.  We also got to see some extended family and friends in the area.  We definitely packed in a lot for a 5 day trip, including 2 Zumba expos I taught at my sister's gym, Samantha's early 2nd birthday party (next post), a movie date, and lots of gorging ourself on Mom's ridiculous food spreads (I know I probably came home 5 lbs heavier - but SO worth it)!  Needless to say, it was an amazing week!  However, I did not take as many picture as I should have - just too much going on.  :)

Here are some pretty pics Mom took of Samantha in her back yard:

 When everyone came for Thanksgiving, we enjoyed the mild weather outside.  The guys played football and all us girls played on bikes, swings, etc.  So much fun!

Enjoying some family time indoors:

 Laughing and being silly with daddy

 My cousins - Luke and TJ acting SOOO tough - too bad I have known these guys since diapers, so they cannot fool me.  ;)  Love you guys!

 Typical kid pic - Dani, Allyson and Sami playing around

 Uncle Theo, Luke, Aunt Sue and TJ - you all mean the world to us!  So glad we could spend Thanksgiving together!

 Okay, seriously!?  Any ladies interested  in these studs - I'll raffle them off cheap.  hahaha

Finally, the kind of picture I wanted - thanks TJ  ;)  In all fairness though, I think I only got this picture because they were exhausted from a bunch of little girls hanging all over them.  :)

Finally got a picture of me and my baby doll.