Painting Ceramics

Samantha's playgroup started up again. This week we went to a ceramics store to paint. Sam has such a great attention span this days.She picked out a princess crown that is a piggy bank. She would paint it one color, then start all over with another one. Between 6 colors and about an hour, this is the finished product. And in case you are wondering...yes, she sleeps with.

"Every Southern Girl Needs a Fan"

This is the idea that Papa put into Sammie's head last week. Every night she would tell us that she couldn't sleep because she needed a fan. A quick trip to Home Depot has solved the problem. If only she would stop waking up in the middle of the night...

Happy Birthday Dear Shell!

Samantha has officially changed Michelle's name...from Deesh to Shell. It all started when she started practicing singing, "Happy Birthday" to Michelle (started after Ray's birthday in July). She now thinks that everyone has 2 names (Mom=Jamie, Dad=Blake, Papa=Mike, Grandma=Gayla)

We celebrated Shell's 33rd birthday with Ray's awesome cooking, a homemade cake from Melissa and the Beatles Rock Band.While we were lighting the candles of Michelle's cake, Sam peeked out of the corner of her eyes at Michelle (so as not to take her sight off the cake) and said (with all the excitement of a little girl),
"This is gonna be so fun!"Special thanks to everyone for attending the jam session/tryouts.

We are officially setting up the band on Wednesday night...band members are as follows:

Lead Guitarist = Jamie (NOT Michelle)Bass = RayDrums = Blake (NOT Sam)Vocals = Michelle (NOT Papa)

Who's Missing?

Last year for Samantha's Birthday, she had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party. She got Minnie and Mickey Mouse as gifts. She seriously has not played with them until just the other day! She rediscovered them and hasn't put them down since! She kept asking, "where is the rest of the gang? I need Goofy, Pluto, Donald and Daisy!" We went to 3 different stores trying to find Mickey's pals.

We found everyone....except for....
Can you guess?
I'll give you one hint.
It's a she.
Grandma ordered her off Ebay and she's coming in the mail. Sam reminds me every day!

Astros vs Phillies

We got free tickets to the Astros vs Phillies on Saturday night. This was Samantha's 1st game! She loved it! Mom, Dad, Blake, me and Sam and Melissa with her 2 friends Kellie and Stacey. It was a long walk from the car to our not-so-sweet seats. Sam found something to distract her at every turn.We found our seats and starting right into the baseball festivities:
NachosIce Cream in Astros HatsBinocularsJack in the Box sponsored our section and we all got t-shirts, gift cards and balloon animals....AND we put on the big screen cheering like a bunch of idiots.

The game was fantastic! We were winning all the way through the 8th inning. The Phillies decided to come back and have a lead by 1 run. At the bottom of the 9th, the Astros rallied. Sam was trying to cheer like everyone else. She got the shape of her mouth just right, but no sound was coming out.With bases loaded...hit a grounder and got 2 runs in...ASTROS WIN!

"Hosbibble"

Yesterday, Blake, Sam and I took a quick trip to the hospital.
There is good news and bad news.The bad news (as many of you have already heard), we had a miscarriage a few weeks ago. For whatever reason, my body was not letting go, so my doctor scheduled a D&C.

The good news. Samantha is adorable. We have a lot of funny stories from our few hours at the "hosbibble" ... as she calls it.

It was quite the family affair. We all went together to check in and do the pre-op stuff. As we walked in the doors to register, Sam was greeted by Al...whom apparently everyone that works at the hospital, knows. He works at the front desk and was pleased to meet Samantha. He gave her a little rubber duck that looked like a lion. She felt pretty special. Now, remember, she carries quite a few "friends" around with her nowadays. She was already lugging around Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse (this is after we talked in out of bringing the whole gang). So, one more toy and we were on our way.

After we were registered, we did a count of all my new "bracelets" and headed upstairs. We were greeted by the nurses station. Samantha introduced herself..."Hi, I'm Sammie." The nurses asked who she was with...she said, "This is my mommy and this is Blake." That got a few laughs. She calls us by our first names now. It's really cute and weird at the same time. A few more bracelets and we got settled in our room. The nurses and anathesiologist all came in to say hello...but Sam kept asking, "where is Docca Cole?" Dr Cole was the last visitor and Sam was thrilled to see her and asked, "Where have you been? Have you been eating?"

Blake and Sam headed downstairs to visit the cafeteria and meet Pappa and Grandma while I was wheeled in for the surgery. It was pretty quick and painless. We were home in just a few hours. Papa and Grandma had taken Sam home to "take a nap." This rarely happens with those 2 in charge. We came home to a slumber party in Sam's room with everyone still awake. They were trying to tell Sammie where I was. Their conversation went something like this.
"Why is mama is the hosbibble?"
"How did mama get hurt?"
"Did someone push her?"
No.
"Did someone hit her?"
No.
"Did someone knock her down?"
No.
At least she is learning it is not a good thing to do those things. Our 3 rules for playing are still in effect: No hitting, no pushing and always share.

Overall, it was a day to remember. Luckily, the emotional side of dealing with the miscarriage was well behind us, as we found out 2 1/2 weeks ago. Otherwise, this would have been a lot harder to deal with. We had a lot of family and friends sending flowers, food and well wishes which makes everything easier to bear. We are grateful to have the physical side of this over with. It was really something hanging over us and causing a lot of anxiety. I am feeling great and have no more excuses to being lazy and start losing these lousy 5 pounds that crept up on me!