Grandma finds the best toys...

Every few weeks, Grandma will come over with 'something for Sammie.' Sam will sit down and open the bag and find a brand new toy or clothes or books! Sam has had a runny nose the last couple of days, and Grandma found a Make Me Better My Little Pony. Her name is Rarity and she says all kinds of cute things as you doctor her back to health.

There was a stethoscope that taught Sam how to listen to her heartbeat.

Grandma, listen!

We found the perfect doctor's bag....now, where did the thermometer and medicine spoon go? It was just here!

Ahh! "There it is!"

Where did everybody go?

What's this? A fort? Maybe they are in here...

No mommies allowed!

From Jiber-Jaber Yabbering to Real Words!

Blake and I are officially giving Samantha credit for talking. Last night, when she was picking up her toys she was saying, 'clean up, clean up' over and over and over. That's when I pulled out the camera...

As of Sunday, she can say: church, Jesus, lunch, juice. The other 3 impressive phrases are: what's this, there it is, clean up. Wow! As excited as the words have been, I know I will miss the yabbering...

Still Pickin'

I am sure by now all are familiar with Samantha's obsession with stickers. It has not subsided in any way. Whenever and wherever she finds a sticker, she will pick it...and immediatly start looking for more. Quite frankly, there are no more in this house. anywhere.

So, I made Sam a sticker book. I used a 4x6 photo album that was laying around the house and stuck a bunch of free address labels on the pages.

So, Sam pulled up a chair and gave it a try...

"AEEEEHHHHHHHHH!" I got one!
Mom?...where should I put the stickers after I pick them off the pages?
Nevermind...I've got just the place!

Ahhhhh...entertained for hours!

Houston Symphony Presents...

About a week ago, Ray called and asked if Blake and I would be at all interested in going to see the Houston Symphony. We were a little surprised by this at first. It is definitely up our alley...but Ray? He mentioned that he insists on decent seats that would throw us back $80/person...cool, we are in.

As the date got closer and we started to plan for the day, I noticed how excited Ray got when we talked about it. "Man, this is gonna be great," he would say with a gigantic grin. "And by the way, the 'pre-concert festival' starts at 5:30pm." That's odd, I've never heard of a pre-event for a symphony...and so the suspicions began.

Finally, on Wednesday, I decided to just look on the Houston Symphony website and see what all the fuss was about. At first glance, I saw that the symphony would be featuring music from Pink Floyd this weekend. Wow! That sounds pretty cool! But, wait...we have tickets for Thursday, not Friday...As I pull up the calendar to Thursday, July 10th everything begins to make since.

Ray, the gamer. I should have known.

By the way, for all the gamers and non-gamers out there...this show is A-MAZING!!!!! 165 musicians are on stage (including the chorus) with a full movie screen behind them. The symphony would play the score from the video game while we watched visual clips that matched the music (and lights) perfectly. Video games have come a long way with their graphics...this show highlighted the oldies and the new. And yes, they paid appropriate tribute to Super Mario Bros, complete with special performance by YouTube star Martin playing blindfolded.

Notice Blake is not in any of the pictures. He is sick. Really sick. At $80/person, we had to at least try to sell the ticket on the street. Ray knew just who the kind of person to look for...male, Asian, alone and preferrably dressed in a costume. Not 3 minutes later, we found him (minus the costume) and sold him out ticket for $40...yeah! When we went to take out seats, he was already there with his own gigantic grin. We were only 11 rows back, dead center. He couldn't stop saying thank you. He even took our picture with his own camera...look at the size of this thing!

Afterwards, we walked down the street to eat at Cabo Bar & Grill (known for their margaritas, not their food). We sat out on the patio and watched the fireworks from the Astros game. Good times and a great way to experience downtown Houston.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Samantha and I have quite a routine going for us in the morning. She typically wakes up around 9-9:30. First thing on the agenda is changing her gigantic diaper! We definitely need to start limiting her drinks at night, she is quite the pee-pee head. After we've sucessfully transferred her pillow, blanket, and 2 babies out of the crib, we begin wandering around the house. This originally was quite a lengthy activity...taking us through all the rooms of the house and typically ending up in the gameroom where Sam proceeds to turn the tv and dvd player on and off, over and over and over. I've since learned to focus her attention by simply saying, "Sammie, do you wanna eat breakfast?" Who'da thought, it totally works! I know, I'm genious. I should seriously write a book.


Breakfast is a hit or miss. She always climbs into her highchair and asks for her bib to be put on (which is rare for any other meal), but once the food comes it's a whole other story. Some days she eats, other days, not at all! Once that battle is over, I let her out with her juice (and usually a handful of food) and she runs to the tv and jumps on the couch. She is squealing something, but to this day I don't know what. I do know, she wants to turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Today, I got her on video. If it weren't for the pancake in her mouth, she would be singing and dancing along a lot more. Halfway through this video, Sam hollers, "wheeeeeee!" that is when Daisy Duck is sliding down the blue slide of the clubhouse. Sammie always yells, "wheeeee" on a slide....whether it is her or not.

Fourth of July

Last Year: Fireworks are fun AND I get to stay up late!This year: A little too loud and a little too tired.