Today I took Sam strawberry picking at Hall Family Farm for a Charlotte Mommies outing.  I really wish I had gotten a picture of her lovely attire but you’ll have to use your imagination… picture a Hurricanes jersey just long enough that you doubt she’s wearing any other clothes, white flowered sunglasses, and a hot pink cap worn backwards.  So stinkin’ cute!

”We” picked two pounds of strawberries!  Really it was me and another mommy’s son.  Samantha a lot of time saying “Ew” to the strawberries, bugs, and mud.  Afterwards we grabbed two fresh strawberry smoothies and she hit up the play area to hang out with her friends.  Next up – bake something yummy!

 

I apparently owe you all blog posts *sigh*

Riverbanks Zoo – Columbia, SC

April 11, 2009 – Samantha really enjoyed the zoo.  She saw all of her favorite animals – elephants, giraffes, cows, and of course, monkeys!  She wasn’t entirely sure about the carousel, but we’ll give it a few years.  They had a playground too – which she loved.  I have to hand it to her, the bigger kids run circles around and over her and she just watches.  No tears or fright, more like complete and total awe.  Her favorite exhibit by far was the aquarium portion.  And to think we almost skipped it!  You can see in one picture that she pressed her little face right up to the glass and babble, “Fishies, fishies!”  Definitely worth the trip!

Discovery Place – Charlotte, NC

March 31, 2009 – Since it was a rainy day, we decided to take Sam to a local children’s museum to check it out.  It was a teeny little place, but she had a blast.  They had an entire room just for the “Under 5” crowd.  She did enjoy looking at some of the stuffed (literally) animals, such as the bears and had a great time in the physics section… knocking over Mommy’s towers.  I wouldn’t say its a cool place to hang out, but she’s 1 and doesn’t know the difference :)

Last night, we finally decided to take Sam for a big girl haircut.  Meri found a place in Fort Mill, SC, called Clipper Doodles, which even I have to admit is a fairly cute name for a children’s barbershop (or hair salon, whichever).  We really weren’t expecting Sam to go in without a fight, but to our huge surprise she was a trooper and extremely well-behaved.  Here she is before the party got underway, with a little bit of a deer-in-the-headlights initial reaction:  

The lady cutting Sam’s hair was really good with her, moving around Sam’s head as she looked around rather than forcing her head into specific positions.  It also helped that each station had a little TV and DVD player, so Sam got to watch that Go Diego show.  I loved how cute she was with her hair pinned up on each side.

I’m really not sure whether she liked it or hated it, but she never complained once.  It’s probably because this was entirely different from anything she’s experienced so far, and in those situations (e.g., the zoo, aquarium, kids she’s never met, etc.) her typical response is to quietly take it all in.

Here’s the finished product, too cute for words.

And, as all good haircuts should, it ended with a lollipop.

I am finally doing another post.  Yes, I stink at this.  What have you missed?

   1.  Holidays!
   2.  We're expecting baby #2!  August 19 :)
   3.  The house!

We spent a COLD Christmas in NY.  Seriously, it was like 11 degrees out everyday.  Then I hear that Frank (my brother-in-law) is golfing in NC in like 70 degree weather!  Argh!  Darn you Jack Frost!  Bring on global warming (j/k... maybe).  Anyways, here is the link to Sam's latest pictures (click on her smiling face):

(14 Months)

(15 Months)

(MY NEW HOUSE!!!)

Alright, that's it for now!  I'll do my best to update as I get the house decorated and settled.  I swear.  *cough*

For Halloween, we not only took Samantha trick-or-treating but we also participated in a party at Gymboree.  This year Sam was Little Red Riding Hood.  Recently, Sam has taken a liking to carrying round a basket at home, filling it will small toys or socks.  This inspired her costume (conveniently purchased on eBay) and she couldn't have played the part any better! 

Since Sam and Jade are so close in age (1 month!), Frank, Andrea, Lloyd, and I thought it would be a lot of fun to take the girls trick-or-treating together - with Nala too of course!  Along with Frank & Andrea's friends, we had quite the little group going.  The babies had a blast and proved to be experts at trick-or-treating (treats only). I was a Christmas tree and Lloyd was a hot dog.

After trick-or-treating, we went to a small Halloween party where Sam out-partied everyone! She made a ton of new friends and even learned to play poker!