Carpet Face

15 Months later and not much has changed.

Happy Birthday Jesus

Christmas with Samantha this year was such a joy. She was very curious about this 'Santa Clause' and these presents he was bringing. Everyone kept saying she wouldn't understand this year so I didn't sit down and explain the process until Christmas Eve, and this is basically how our conversation went:
     Me: "Sammy, guess who's coming to town tonight."
     Sam: "ADDY!!"
     Me: "No, Santa Clause"
     Sam: "NO! Addy and Noey"
     Me: "No, Santa Clause is coming and he’s going to bring you presents"

     Sam: "presents!!!"

     Me: "Yep, what do you want him to bring? A pony?"

     Sam: "No pony"

     Me: "A Dolly?"

     Sam: "No dolly"

     Me: "Candy?"

     Sam: "No Dandy…..(pause)  uh-huh dandy"

     Me: "So you want presents and candy?

     Sam: "Uh-huh dandy.... no presents"

She figured it out Christmas morning when she saw her presents. But she required mandatory  candy breaks between each present, good thing Santa brought a huge stocking packed full of candy.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

These pictures were taken from McKenzie Pierson! Didn't she do an awesome job?! I love them :)

Frozen Cat

 Can't take my eyes off this girl for two minutes!

Have no fear, the food Deha is sitting on was thrown out.

Want Milk?

Who wants some milk???

Sammy does! 
And she doesn't need any help getting some.

No Oversleeping

Dusty on Christmas Eve.....

Settler WINNER!

All I need to say is....

I WON I WON I WON I WON I WON!!!!

 And these people on the sides are the LOSERS! Including Dusty who is behind the camera. 

This is my first official win against Dusty and that's why I'm calling it my first REAL win! Dusty beats me every time, arrh it drives me crazy. I've waited 2 years for this and I'm loving every moment.

Oh I love me some Settlers!

Sam and Deha

Maybe this is one of those videos that's only funny to me because I'm Samantha's mom (Like when people think their child is adorable but really they have an ugly baby.) But I honestly don't care. Dusty and I crack up every time we watch this. It just shows how random and ADD our Samantha is. And yes, it's a little long.... so what.

NOTE: The cat's name is Cash but Samantha calls him Deha. I have no idea what "Deha" is. Sam can say "cat, kitty, and Cash" but she still calls him "Deha"

2nd NOTE: Something funny happened when I uploaded this so you have to click on the speaker icon on the actual video to turn on the volume.

Refresh you screen to see it from the beginning. I don't know why it starts on its own, or why you can't pause it.  All I can say is Blogger hates me.

Oh my Sammy...   My favorite part is when she picks up her tooth brush and puts it back in her mouth after it was sitting on the cat (furry!) And when Cash does a little paw run as he's falling off the stroller. Cracks me up every time!

Also let me just say, this is the craziest cat I've ever seen. He digs in the trash, begs for food, steels food from the table, he carries stuffed toys around the house in his mouth. He and Samantha are best friends and he lets her carry him around the house (sometimes upside down). He plays in the dry bathtub, once he jumped in the tub while Sam was taking a bath. He climbs the curtains, plays in the fridge and dryer. And Samantha loves him to death!

Trouble on the go

 Seriously, can someone please control this child?

After church today Samantha was playing quietly in her room while Dusty and I made lunch when I hear her say "Mommy.... mommy..... mommy back" (which means -Mommy come back) So I walk into her room to find THIS! How on earth did she climb into the drawer? And let me just add, that draw originally had clothes in it, which are now all over the floor!

And again, after dinner......

This time the cat joined in..... Oh Sammy.

We figured out she used her pink chair as a stepping stool. Don't worry, the chair is no longer in Sam's room.

The Naughty List

October 28, 2010

Look at this girl. Isn't she just the sweetest little angle??

No. No she is NOT. But she's good at tricking you.

For example, While Dusty and I were having fun doing this......

 

Samantha was in the background doing a little of this....

That's her "Big Girl" happy dance.

And a lot of this.......

And that's why we're never invited back to people's homes. 

But we still love our crazy Sam.

The Big Chicken

Wednesday, October 19, 2010

Yet another reason why I love North Dakota and all its randomness....

We found this over sized chicken on the side of the road right outside Fargo. A photo-op I couldn't pass up.

Ahhh... Summer Days

Friday, October 1, 2010

Oh Summer, were you even here?
Call me a Debbie Downer, but summer is over and I am sad. Mostly because I'm not looking forward to winter. And really, who looks forward to a North Dakota winter? This winter is predicted to be hard, cold and loong.  We were just getting started and now its over. Last week we pulled out the winter bins from storage (which is fun because its like discovering a whole new wardrobe) But, still depressing because I won't be wearing any of my brightly colored shirts, summer dresses or strapy sandals again until next June! Ohhh, I'm going to miss you, fun summer clothes.

Also, to add to my sadness, I've been missing Texas. There are so many random things I never thought I'd miss like: 105 degree weather (Yes, Really, I just want to feel the heat on my ghastly pale skin), Jumping into a cool pool on a blistering day, Feeling the hot pavement on bare feet - so hot you have to run because it burns the bottom of your feet, Going to a Real Over-sized water park - none of this indoor stuff, Laying out and getting a tan -Tanning Beds are a poor imitation, Speeding down the highway, Driving on a Highway, Good radio stations (Grand Forks- TLC is dead! No more Jason Waterfall), Seeing thousands of birds pepper the sky when they migrate south for winter, Haunted Houses, Oversized Malls, Mexican food.

But enough of my complaining. At least Samantha is having a blast. She is finding lots of things to keep her busy, such as....

 Dress up shoes. Sam LOVES trying on shoes, anyone's shoes, but especially noisy ones that click when she walks across the kitchen floor. She is such the Girly Girl!

 Coloring. Sam has discovered that coloring is so fun, especially when you lay on the paper. Lol, I have no idea what she was doing but it was hilarious. Thankfully we are still coloring on paper and not furniture.

 Baby Dolls. She loves to find the baby's eyes and feet, and to feed the baby a bottle or pacifier. And sometimes we find baby in funny places, such as the fridge or the bath tub.

Water Bottles. This bottle was originally used as "No No Water" but Samantha completely ruined it when she discovered how fun it is to drink the water and to spray herself in the face.  

Such a crazy girl! We love her so much. Everyday she makes us laugh.

First Time Mom

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Give her a break, she's a first time mom.  We all make mistakes....

Maybe she thought her baby was hot? Either way, I love how she openly admits to putting her baby in the fridge. Crazy girl.

Fun in the sun

Sunday, September 12, 2010

This year has been the best summer. Perfect weather, lots of fun and lots of grilling. I got my first natural tan, ever. And this was the first summer I haven't had to work since junior year of high school. I'm so lucky to stay home with Samantha.
We found this awesome pool on clearance at Target but we don't have an outside focet to fill it up. So we did it white trash style and hooked the hose to our kitchen sink. (Better than carrying buckets.) And a plus because ND's "hot" summer is 90 which is not hot enough to warm pool water.

Here is Sammy having fun in the pool.

Samantha has a new friend, Piper who we invited over to swim. They are so cute together!

After her swim Samantha took a stroll on the beach/park.


We thought she was done so we cleaned her off and took off her suit. Two minutes later she was back in the pool... naked.

SUNFLOWERS!!!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Sunflowers are my favorite flower. When I was a kid we painted my room bright yellow with a sunflower trim, and my brothers and sisters still tease me about it today, 14 years later. So when I saw the sunflower fields here in big ND of course I had to take pictures, it was like full filling a childhood fantasy.

Dusty enlisted an ROTC friend to be our photographer. He did a darn good job. Even though it was windy as heck, they turned out amazing! Thanks Buddy and Connor, we are so SO happy!! I LOVE them!

Samantha is learning to jump... this is as high as she gets, its so cute. And she's so proud of herself!


Sam loooves her Daddy!

Yes..... we found that flower on the ground.

Last of all, my favorite....

..... Oh Dusty....

Best Friends Make Trouble

Friday, July 16, 2010

Samantha has a new best friend and her name is Addy. (Addy is the little girl I babysit during the week.) So all day long at my house I hear "Addy, Addddy, Aaaaady" Its safe to say Sam is Addy's best friend too because the second thing I hear all day is "Sam, Saaamy, SamIE" It's so cute. The girls follow each other around, feeding each other crackers, offering drinks, sharing toys, and loving on blankets. They giggle and chase each other, its so fun!

This week they found some big trouble.... While I was upstairs doing a little cleaning Samantha and Addy were playing in Sam's room. I peeked in every few minutes and saw they were being nice, sitting on the floor in front of each other talking. I didn't look very closely at what they were playing because there's nothing in Samantha's room to cause trouble..... or so I thought. After about 5-10 minutes I walk in and find both girls COVERED head to toe in Vaseline!!! They were bathing in Vaseline! It was on their arms, legs, clothes, face, hair... everywhere! Including an innocent baby doll.

Oh my goodness! What a disaster! And worse of all, Vaseline doesn't wash out of hair. So Samantha and Addy now have sleek, greased over hair.

Sammy did the worst damage. All that shine, its Vaseline. And notice her dress is caked over as well.

There was a massive blob on top her head.


Addy was more conservative, focusing mostly on her hair, arms and shirt.

After the bath.
I washed them 3 times, once with normal shampoo and they were still greasy. I'm pretty sure Addy's hair was worse after washing.

That's what friends are for, right.

Then, today I found Samantha playing in the laundry basket, she climbed in on her own. She is such a mess maker!

This week I'm proud to receive the Worst Baby Sitter award.

Is It Him?

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Whats going on in our life lately? Dusty has gone to LDAC for a whole month while Samantha and I stay in North Dakota, waiting patiently . We don't get to call or talk to him until day 28 of 29. Which is in 12 days (not that I'm counting). We've mailed 4 cookie filed boxes and tons of letters. I've only received 2 letters so far (not that I'm counting).
On Facebook there's an LDAC page that gives regular updates of activities and posts photos of Cadets in the field. So, of course I examine EVERY 5th Regiment photo looking for my Dusty and this is what I've found...... nothing.


I'm pretty sure this is wishful thinking or my eyes playing tricks..... What do you think? Is it Dusty? Be kind.

Photo #1: On the right standing in front of the men throwing grenades?

Photo #2: Or, on the left, pointing his finger, telling the guys what to do?


Photo #3: Now I'm getting desperate, maybe in the circle, back row, third from the left?

And yes, I did blow them up on my screen to look closer.

I'm just going to say YES to all. It helps me sleep better at night.

**** After looking again photo #2 is out. The knee pads are wrong. See how desperate I am.

Happy Birthday America

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy Birthday America!! You don't look a day over 29!

In case you are wondering, Samantha did NOT enjoy fireworks this year. We couldn't stay out long because they terrified poor Sammy. But her favorite part was getting to say "Boom...Boom....Boooooom"
Maybe next year when dad is home to show us how cool fireworks really are.

Twilight Rewind

Friday, July 25, 2010

Am I the only one who thinks this looks hideous?

And even worse, this?

Really? Thats the best she could find for the opening of Eclipse? But I guess the real question is, Should I have expected anything better? No.

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, you are RUINING Twilight. Get Out!




At least someone knows how to look good........

And yes, I got this picture from TaylorLautnerShirtless.com