Tick or Treating

Alright, I'm finally getting around to talking about Halloween night! Sam had such a big day that she was actually pretty tired when it came time to go out. As I put her in the stroller I asked her if she was tired. I got a slight head nod and a looong blink! She had enough energy to show off her pumpkin that she and Brent carved on Saturday morning. Despite the tiredness, we went out, I walked quickly and we had a good time. We saw lots of friends from the neighborhood and even her/my cousin Gavin out with my aunt Jenny. We also stopped by Sister Francis' house. She watches Sam on Fridays while I teach and then Brent picks her up when he gets out of class. She loves her house, but always falls asleep. Which is "bad" for Brent because she won't take a nap when they get home, but in a way good because they actually get to play. And good for me because she is just about ready for a nap when I get home and then I can make dinner and stuff while she sleeps. (By "and stuff" I mean take my own nap, too!)

Even though I tried to tell people that we were just out to visit and that I just wanted to show Samantha off to everyone, we still ended up with a lot of candy! So far so good, though. I am averaging a piece a day. (That's zero yesterday and two today!)

Getting Ready for Halloween

Sammi had a fun morning getting ready for Halloween. I was really worried about putting the make-up on her face because I didn't know if she would sit still for me. I figured it would be like my hair where she squirms and wiggles and I have to distract her with hair spray, spray bottles, cups, whatever works!

I looked up some images online to find out how rodeo clowns do their make-up. After I found a picture of one that I thought I could do on Sammi, I set her down in a chair next to the computer and crossed my fingers. The only mishap was that her boot started to fall off, "Oh, no!" Sammi said until I put the boot back on. Then I started with the make-up. She seemed to love it without even know what exactly it was. She leaned into my hand and the make-up stick. She closed her eyes and just looked perfectly pleased with the experience. The first side turned out great! Unfortunately, the second side was more difficult for me and she got a little restless. But, they were fairly symmetrical and I was quite pleased. When she looked in the mirror, she was all smiles:) I wish I could have taken a picture while I was applying her make-up because she was enjoying it so much. But I don't have that many hands, so we'll have to do with out.

After her make-up was on and her costume was completed by the addition of her cowboy hat. She seemed to know that she was in "special" clothes because she just glowed as she walked around the room. She almost strutted! (Now, I'm not sure if that was her attitude, or the fact that her boots were 4 sizes too big.) After all the prep, she was ready for the day.

We went to the grocery store and purchased pumpkins for my ESL program's party, then we went to story time at the Orem Public Library, then we took the pumpkins to UVSC then she fell asleep on the way home. All that performing sure wore her out! After her nap we went to UVSC to go to the Halloween party and see my students. She had fun, most of the time. She got a little overwhelmed when every one wanted to say hi and hold her and take pictures, but with the smaller groups she seemed quite pleased to be the center of their attention.

That sums up Sammi's day in preparation for the big Halloween night!

Halloween Fun!

Sam and I had the chance the other day to go to Gardner Village and meet Brent's mom and two siblings for some Halloween fun. The village was all decked out for Halloween. They have witch-themed displays all around. One of my favorites was the witches playing baseball. Another fun thing was they had face painting. I look forward to when Sammi is old enough to wait in the line for that! The faces I saw looked great, very professional work. Sam had fun trotting around the sidewalks and looking in some of the shops. She and Grandma had a very cute interaction over some Christmas tree bird ornaments! But, her favorite part of the day was chasing the ducks. Maren helped her be safe around the water. Sammi loved the ducks and wanted to get right close to them. If they came up out of the water she would hurry over to where they were and end up chasing them back into the water. I don't know if the ducks thought it was as great a game as Sammi did, but she sure enjoyed it.

First Haircut!

Well, Sammi reached a milestone yesterday--her first haircut! First, we needed some "pre" photos which come from her bath that morning. I especially love the crazy-wild hair because you can see how long it is.


I was worried about how she'd respond to Amy touching her hair and cutting it. Sammi pulls away and shakes her head like crazy whenever I touch her hair!

But, as luck would have it, she was a perfect angel.

As you can tell from the pictures, she quite enjoyed it...and was able to catch up on her magazine reading!

Daylight Saving(s) Time

So, I've been very curious about when on earth we change the clocks this year. I've looked at the month of October on every calendar I own and haven't been able to locate the date. So, at long last, I had the brilliant idea today to look it up online. I came across a very cool site listing the dates and why they are different this year from the past.

To recap:
The dates for 2007 are as follows

• March 11
• November 4

Unless you are in the EU and then it's

• March 25
• October 28

The reason it's different this year is the Energy Policy Act of 2005 which, apparently, changed the dates for this year and the Department of Energy will report the impact on energy usage and then a decision will be made whether to maintain the current system (2nd Sunday in March, 1st Sunday in November) or revert to the 2005 schedule (1st Sunday in April, last Sunday in October). We'll have to see what happens next year. Although given the speed at which research is completed and reported, it'll probably be several years before we know the impact and a final decision is made!

The real reason why I found this site so interesting was the section on "Spelling and grammar" related to the custom. I have always said Daylight Savings Time and am shocked to learn it is actually Daylight Saving Time (minus the "s" on Saving). The argument for this is quite reasonable and I suggest taking a look at it.