Life With Sami...

Where Did January Go??

Wow!  Winter break ended, Sami went (willingly!) back to school and life goes back to a more "normal" pace...  Among the many exciting things that have happened this month, it actually SNOWED here in Arizona one day!  Early in January, Sami had her BFF over for a playdate and I glanced out the window to see snow falling!  I called the girls and they ran outside screaming and jumping around!  I managed to snap a couple photos before it stopped (of course it only lasted a couple minutes - this is Arizona after all!)  You have to really look hard to see the snow in these shots, but trust me, it was there!  The looks on their faces should tell you that!

Such fun!

Sami became and official Daisy Scout this month!  Her troup formed back in October, but they had to earn some patches and learn the girl scout laws/pledge, etc before they received their pins.  Here are a couple pictures of Sami receiving her girl scout pin at the investature ceremony.  

Now she is selling cookies!  The presale ended today, and Sami sold 48 boxes!  Thanks to all here "customers", aka our family and friends, for supporting the cause!

Last Friday was Family Game night at Sami's school.  It is an annual event, put on by the PTO -- Pizza, popcorn and candy, followed by BINGO in the school gym!  Sam and I sat with a couple of her friends, so I got to be right in the middle of all their giggling and squealing all evening!  

I love that last one with the green smiles!  Gotta love Fun Dip!

Healthwise, Sami continues to be wonderfully, beautifully GREAT!  At her last doctor appointment all bloodwork was perfectly normal and she has grown another inch!  Sami is just over 4 feet tall now!  Oh, my BABY ! haha  Here she is waiting for the doc to come in... gosh, I can remember when she couldn't even get up onto the exam table by herself!

Sami is doing great in school too.  She reads beautifully and still really enjoys writing.  She is taking an art class one day a week after school, and also signed up for a new class called Building Bonanza - its a LEGO class.  They use Legos to teach building concepts.  The first class was last week and she loved it!  She also continues in classical ballet class.  So we manage to keep pretty busy during the week.

Yep, all is good here in our little neck of the woods as we head in February!  

 

 

Happy New Year!!

 

We had a fun New Years Eve on Friday night.  My boyfriend Ray and his son Tyler came over to celebrate with us.  We began with a GREAT lasagna dinner (for the best lasagna recipe EVER, click here!)  So by 7pm, we were all stuffed and ready to go to bed!  Instead, we headed out to the driveway to set off the bag of fireworks we bought earlier in the day.  Sami was a bit stand-offish at first, but as you can see by the photo above, as soon as she held a sparkler she was hooked!  Tyler showed her how to throw the little popping things, next, so we all got to jump a few times!

Oh, and did I mention it was FREEZING here that night???  We have had quite a cold front hovering here in Arizona for the last few days?  It actually snowed here last Thursday!  Sami had her bff Brinn over for a playdate, and it started snowing so I called them outside - they were so cute, jumping around and squealing!  I did not get a good picture of the snow, but here is a shot from the dress-up portion of the play date!  

Later that day, we also got to have a visit with Sami's ex-nanny, Jenna!  Jenna has been away in Miami, attending Physician Assistant school since August.  It was so great to see her - Jenna was our nanny for over 2 years, and she was such a positive influence on Sami.  We had a nice visit with her and her mom Carole, who is also terrific!  Here's Sami and Jenna!

Now, back to New Years Eve - After the fireworks madness in the driveway, we went back inside to warm up.  Sami got a Wii for Christmas, and a little bit of a bowling tournament ensued....  First we all played individually, then boys against girls (we won!) then adults vs kids, etc.  I used to laugh when people told me they get addicted to playing Wii....  Now I kinda understand!  We played for quite a while.  Sami pooped out first actually!  At the end of the night, Ray was the bowling champ, but Sami is definately a "clutch bowler" always coming though when a spare is needed!  Such fun.  We are very glad Santa brought such a fun, new thing for us to play with!

Sami went to bed after the "New York New Year," but Ray, Tyler and I stayed up until after 1am playing more Wii games!  Like I said, its not addictive at all....

Tomorrow Sami starts back to school, with she claims to be looking forward to!  I guess at her age, two weeks away from your friends feels like forever, even if there are new toys and games, etc mixed in there!

So Happy New Year to all our friends out there who still follow this blog.  I will try to keep you better informed this year!

Happy 2011 !!!!