Samantha's 3rd Birthday...Our 6th Anniversary!!

My baby girl turned 3!!! :o( Time is flying by way too fast!!! This year was so much fun celebrating her birthday because she actually understood what was going on! She spent the whole day before her party through two days after her party singing "happy birthday" to herself!! It was so cute! Sam helped me make her cupcakes the night before her party and thoroughly enjoyed helping me decorate them the morning of her party! We were able to host a small party with family and a few close friends in our new home! It was wonderful to have everyone over in our new place and catch up!! Sam got way too much as usual, I guess that's a perk of being a kid :) She had a blast and is still enjoying playing with all of her new toys she got! Thank you everyone, both near and far, for spoiling my little girl!! Happy birthday Samantha Allison, mommy loves you more than you will ever know!! Daddy and I have been soooo blessed these past three years with you, we couldn't have asked for a better daughter!!!

We had Sam's party in the early afternoon on Michael and my anniversary so we could spend the night out :) My parents were wonderful enough to take the kids overnight at their house so Michael and I could have the whole night to ourselves (except for the fact Michael had to be at work at 6am so we couldn't do much). It sounds so silly, but we cleaned up from the party and got the house in order, went out to dinner at Wolf Lodge (the BEST steakhouse in the world!!) and then came home and went to bed! I guess we really are becoming an "old married couple"! But I do want to take a moment and tell my husband how grateful I am for everything he is and does! He is a wonderful husband and father, he is a great help with housework, cooking, taking care of the kids and so much more!! I love you baby, these last six years have been the best years ever and I look forward to soo many more in the coming years!! Happy anniversary!

Halloween 2011

Halloween was exceptionally fun this year because it was the first year that Sam really understood what was going on and was able to actually say "trick or treat" at each door :) It also was the first year we've been near family for Halloween night! Another wonderful thing about Halloween this year is that it was Michael's first day as a Post Falls Police Officer :) YAY!! Something he has wished for for a very long time! So back to Halloween... I let Sam pick what she wanted to dress up like and the night we began talking about it we were in walmart and found a trick or treating bag with Dora the Explorer on it dressed up like a black cat...needless to say that was it, Sam wanted to be a kitty just like Dora :) I found this to be a grand idea because not only was it an easy costume to come up with, but it was cheap! I found myself a cheap pair of leopard ears/tail and we found Eli a really cute tiger outfit at Costco for cheap :) This move kind of put us on a tight budget and all since we are still paying two house payments and are not really sure how long this will go on for :( 

So Halloween night we had the grandparents, and a few of my siblings plus the kids' cousin all over for chili and trick or treating. The chili was my grandpa's recipe and was a huge hit and the trick or treating was priceless! I went door to door with Sam and Makayla (because my husband is really a big stick in the mud about Halloween...it's his least favorite holiday and he would be happy hiding in the house with the lights out so he didn't have to give any candy away)...and at least we were able to con Michael into walking with us :) The cute part of this story was watching Sam after each house...she would go up to the door and ever so softly say "trick or treat" then "thank you" when they gave her candy, then she would proceed to run back to the road yelling "daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, I got candy" :) She didn't just do this once or twice...but at EVERY house we went to in the two blocks we covered! It was really quite cute! So needless to say Halloween was a huge hit this year and I'm sure will only get more and more fun in the coming years!s

Carving pumpkins...

This was the first year Sam was able to really help and understand carving pumpkins, unfortunately Michael was still working down in Twin so he wasn't able to help us out, but I went to my parent's house and had a good time with my family carving our pumpkins! Anyone who knows Sam knows she hates having things on her hands so I thought for sure she'd hate gutting the pumpkin, but she proved me wrong! This kid loved getting her hands dirty with pumpkin goo! In fact if I put a handful of goo in the bowl rather than handing it to her, she got really upset! I let Sam pick out her design for her pumpkin and apparently she was on a kitty kick this year as she wanted to carve a kitty pumpkin and dress like one for Halloween!