Sammi and Tyler Playing

Sammi and her friend Tyler having a fun morning playing together. They pulled out the dress-up box and went to town with the hats! Tyler was particularly adorable in the Aloha bear hat (that Sammi's wearing) but Sammi commandeered it for the pictures!

Here Tyler has traded in for a cowboy hat, but Sammi held on tight to that Aloha Bear hat!





Tyler was kind enough to share the cowboy hat with Mickey. I think he was trying to show Sammi how to share. She didn't catch on. Sorry Ty!

After the dress-up box, they pulled out the blocks and had fun making "towers." They quickly decided it was much more fun to lie down on the blocks (or in Tyler's case the Aloha Bear). I can't see how the blocks could be comfortable. Although I think Tyler has something there with the bear.



Once the blocks were boring they turned to the next best thing...the block box! They both climbed in and wanted me to push them around the room! I can barely push Sammi around without wearing myself out. So I had them take turns. Sammi tried to bully Tyler into more than her fair share of turns. But this time Tyler decided it was worth standing up for and he got all his turns! Good job, Ty!

Sammi in the Bath

Water in my eyes? That doesn't bother me!

I can rinse my own hair, thank you very much!

More of Sammi's Photography

Oh So Pretty Toes

Is that a finger in the way?

Daddy in the Kitchen

Pretty good stuff I'd say since she took these pictures all by herself! I love the one of her toes; it's my favorite.

Family Snack Night

Instead of Sammi's traditional cup of milk before bed, the other night we decided to make Orange Juliuses with Sammi's goat milk. They were delicious, as you can tell by all the mustaches (I graciously declined.) We found the recipe for the Orange Julius from a pretty interesting blog.

Cute Stuff

Sammi has done tons of cute stuff lately so I thought I'd document some that don't have pictures with them all together in this post.

First, Brent and Sammi and I were driving somewhere and stopped at a light. Brent and I were talking and he was looking at me. Sammi piped up from the backseat, "Daddy, eyes on the road; cars are coming!" I have no idea how she put these ideas together but I'm impressed.

Next, she has started imitating all the motherly things I do. She likes to put her baby in the car seat and buckle her in. Then she climbs into the front seat and pretends to drive. She even puts on my sunglasses to really get into character. Today she even put the seatbelt on and then reached for the steering wheel!

Another cute thing that happened today: She's been playing outside on the chairs on the patio and we'll go in and out of the house keeping an eye on her. Well, today she told Brent, "Stay right here, I'll be right back. Back in one second." And then she came inside to find something to take back out to Brent. Then as I was standing at the door she told me, "Mommy come outside." So I stepped outside and she said, with her two pointer fingers held up like the number one, "I'll be back in one second." And then she ran by me into the house.

She is developing quite the personality. It's so fun to see her figure out patterns and the way things work. Despite the occasional tantrums, this is a delightfully fun age!

An Overdue Thank-you

I know Easter was a while ago, but here's a thanks to all who gave us Easter goodies. We made this video after receiving a little package in the mail from California...

A New Crafting Blog

After much deliberation, I decided to create a special blog to showcase my crafting projects and ideas. This was done to allow this blog to highlight Sammi and her crazy adventures without all the jumble of my other hobbies. If you are interested in this jumbled other stuff, just check out the new blog Inspiration for Crafting and see what I'm up to.

Baby Doll Afghan

Here are the flowers I've done so far. I came across this adorable idea on stardust shoes' blog and got the pattern from Lion Brand Yarn's compilation of free patterns. Joanna's idea was to make a bunch of the flowers and then sew them together in an afghan shape (instead of a scarf as the pattern directs). I thought that would be perfect for Sammi's baby doll blanket. I chose yarn from the collection I've acquired over the years. The colors are not that attractive, but I thought they would make a bright blanket for her baby.

Starting the Denim Blanket

Melody came over today and we started cutting out the squares for our denim blankets. We gathered all of our materials, pulled out our brand-new Gingher scissors, my newly replaced rotary cutter and mat and then looked at each other! The first cut is always the hardest.

But we finally braved the unknown and cut up our jeans. At the end I had 80 5" squares. Only 270 left to go! So far I've just cut up the legs of the jeans. My next brave cut will be to tackle pockets. Thank goodness for new scissors (Thanks Brent for the Christmas present!!) because that denim is some pretty thick stuff. I can't wait to start sewing strips together and see the pattern form...

Baby Shoes

I found a pattern for adorable shoes from my favorite and new favorites blogs. Jill, from my favorite blog, has made several pair of these shoes and I was finally inspired to check out the original source at stardustshoes.

The green and blue shoes are a sneak peak at the fabric I'm using to make matching dresses for the baby and Sammi. The red and blue shoes are for a friend of mine who is also having a baby girl. There must be something about being pregnant because I have become an ultra-creative wanna-be! Other projects also in the works include a crocheted baby blanket, a denim picnic blanket and a baby doll afghan for Sammi's baby. I'll post pictures as these projects mature!

That's right! The big news is official. We are having another girl. I'm excited to already have baby clothes for a girl. This time around, though, I'm not going to be so scared about dressing up my baby in lots of outfits (in a single day if I want!)

In this picture she is holding her fist under her chin. Already posing for the camera...

Now What?!?!

As Brent was getting Samantha ready for her bath Friday night she announced, "Need pee a little." So they went upstairs and she sat on her little toilet and she ACTUALLY peed!! Yeah Sammi! She came running downstairs and told me. When I got excited and told her good job she got the biggest smile and looked so pleased with herself. So, we recreated the moment for the camera. Don't worry, we're not teaching her to use the bathroom in the hall! It was just for the picture.

Now we are wondering about the next step. And about cleaning the toilet--yucky! Any thoughts?

New Traditions

Sammi and I had our first "Girls' Night In" while Brent attended the Priesthood session of Conference. I was feeling particularly patient and brave so we pulled out the "fingertails" (fingernail polish as it's more commonly known) and I let Sammi hold the brush and go to town. And she went all the way to town and back! She got all her toes, all her fingers and all my fingers. She was very careful to not miss a single one. It was a lot of fun.

Another Conference tradition we started was an inside picnic for lunch. On Saturday between sessions we put a big picnic blanket down and popped popcorn on the blanket. We took the lid off (which I don't recommend) and popcorn went flying everywhere (which was fine) and so did the kernels (very VERY hot kernels). Sammi thought it was great fun (mostly because she was unscathed by any kernels) while Brent and I cowered in fear (because we were scathed). All day she kept saying "Popcorn came out" while waving her arms in big sweeping, upwards movements showing just how the popcorn came out of the popper. We might have to tweak this tradition so it is more skin-friendly.

Today for dinner we made my favorite--Chicken Victoria (my family's recipe I posted on Recipezaar.com). We were busy with Sammi during sessions and I forgot to start bread for rolls. So I used this 30 minute roll recipe I found on Rachel Ray's site. They are heavenly. I tweaked the directions a little since it calls for rapid rise yeast and I didn't have any. Instead I put the yeast, sugar and water in the bowl and let it sit for a few minutes while I gathered my ingredients and melted the butter and sour cream together. Then I added the sour cream/butter combo to the yeast, then added the dry ingredients and mixed and added the egg while the stuff was mixing. I thought they turned out quite pretty and very delicious.

Sammi Sleeping

This is how I found Sammi during a nap the other day. She loves her new baby doll, but can't quite give up her tiger pillow. (It's tucked there between her knees and feet.)

In fact, she quite likes that tiger pillow. We have a wooden puzzle with animal shapes. The other day we were playing with it. I would pick up a piece and Sammi would tell me which animal it was and then she'd put it in the puzzle (in the right spot, of course!) When I picked up the tiger I knew she knew it because of her pillow. But she didn't say tiger. So I asked again and she said something I didn't quite understand. I asked her if it was a tiger and she said, "Pillow, Mommy." I was so impressed that she knew it was the same animal as her pillow! I wasn't ready for that answer and so I didn't understand her the first two times. But I was so pleased that she stuck with her answer. She knew what she was talking about and was very patient while I caught up to her!