signs, chalk, and mushrooms

Samantha signing "daddy".

This photo is of Sammi signing the word "dad" (while saying dada) after I mentioned that "Dad would be home from work soon". Thanks to her school, Primrose, she has learned how to sign SO MANY words! It is an understatement to say that her learning sign language has been a significant leap in our communication and has minimized frustration tremendously! She is also learning to say words now, which is amazing to hear and so fun to see her learn!

Words Sammi can sign: mommy, daddy, please, thank you, love, ball, play, milk, cracker, eat, drink, water, night night, baby, cereal, blanket, bath

Words Sammi is saying (at least, we understand!): mama, dada, baby, ball, duck, milk, book, shoes, socks, blue, stairs, up, thank you, ready, good girl, dog, wow, wee, uh oh (She can also make animal sounds when you ask her, "What does a _____ say?" She knows woof woof, quack quack, moo, meow, baaah, roar, and makes a fish face too!)

I picked up Samantha from Joe and Lisa's after work today and after a quick dinner, we decided to go out and use our sidewalk chalk for the first time. Sam LOVED it! In fact, she got really upset when we had to pack up because it started to rain!



If you haven't heard of morel mushrooms, YOU SHOULD LEARN! They are sold in grocery stores for upwards of $20 per pound. Dan's dad, Orlie, went mushroom hunting in Minnesota last week and came home with 15 POUNDS of mushrooms! Holy cow---they are SOOOOOO GOOD! Orlie was nice enough to send some to us and we've been rationing them out each night to savor them! Here is Dan making our last batch tonight. :(

Toss them in a little flour...

Fry 'em up with a little oil! YUM!

busy lazy weekend

Sammi admiring her new tattoo.

We had a good, relaxing Memorial Day weekend! Lots to get caught up on! :)

On Saturday our neighborhood had a pool-opening party, complete with a Papa John's all-you-can-eat buffet, moon-jumper, games, temporary tattoos, and several firetrucks that sprayed water for all of the kids to run through. Sam ate an entire piece of pizza and got a butterfly tattoo! We had a really good time!

Samantha's favorite is pepperoni.

Sammi getting her first tattoo!

Sammi and mommy leaving the neighborhood party.

On Sunday we headed to a park in Pendleton to let Sammi run around. We'd never been to that park before and it had some surprises! We'll definitely go there for photos sometime! There was a stream with a mini-waterfall that you could run around in. It was COLD! Samantha didn't really enjoy the stream too much, but she did enjoy the park!

Sammi loves to smell flowers.

She wasn't too crazy about the cold water!

ears and ice cream

A special treat for being so good at the ear doctor!

We took Samantha to the ear specialist today. She's had 6 ear infections in about 4 months, and even though we do love our doctor & the fact that most antibiotics for Sammi are free at Meijer, it's time to do something different. We hate seeing her in pain all the time, we're spending way too much of our time at the doc and pharmacy, and eventually the infections will affect her hearing.

The AWESOME news is that her hearing has not been impaired yet AT ALL. She passed the hearing tests with flying colors today with the audiologist! We scheduled the appointment for her to get tubes in her ears for June 12 (although that may change slightly b/c Dan's brother is getting married in Michigan that weekend and we may already be on our way.) Even though it is scary, and it is surgery, and it's going to cost us a fortune on our mediocre health insurance, and there are some risks, the benefits make it worthwhile.

According to those who have gone before us... we know it will be a fast surgery, the scariest part will be her waking up from the anesthesia, and she will be playing by the end of the day!

Sammi got an ice cream treat after the doctor.

She loved it! (Except for yogurt, she doesn't get dessert/sweets all that often.)

Cone or spoon? It doesn't matter! It's YUMMY!

sam's friend reece

Reece and Sam...the best of friends!

Remember our neighbors/friends I mentioned in the last post, Joe and Lisa? Well, since last September we have been trading kids back and forth to help each other out with our work schedules. Every Monday and Friday mornings I take Reece so that Lisa can work and every Tuesday all day Sam goes to Lisa's so I can go to the studio. The kids have become very good friends through their time together, and it's been fun for us too.

Starting in June, Dan and I are going to be so busy that we will not be able to do the trade anymore. We are sending Sam to school one more day per week and keeping her at the office with us 2 days a week. We might have to go to 5 days of school a week...but....that would mean 5 days in school, 1 day with grandparents (saturday weddings), and on the 7th day a morning of church daycare. (Um---yeah, not sure when I'm really supposed to see her at that point!) School doesn't offer 4 days per week, so we're trying 3 first. We'll see how it goes. :) (Oh, and speaking of SCHOOL....I'll have to do a whole post on how much I love Sam's school later...)

My parents will be moving to Indianapolis soon (oh yeah, an entire post on that to come too...) so they may be able to help us with some of our babysitting needs! :)

Here are some photos of the kids this morning. (I was supposed to be doing laundry and cleaning this morning and now I'm supposed to be working from home...so I should get going!!!)

Sam being silly, saying "Night night".

Reece joining in on "Night night".

And a little hug...

church & the park

This afternoon we went to the park!

The purpose of this blog is to keep everyone up to date on our lives. Since I just started it, I feel like I have a little catching up to do. So first...after 5 years of living in Indianapolis and saying we wanted to find a church we love, we finally found one. And it is all thanks to our wonderful friends/neighbors, Joe and Lisa. Our kids are three weeks apart (and three weeks apart because Reece was early and Sam late) so we've become very close friends over the last two years.

One evening last November we went out to eat and had a conversation about finding a church. We explained to them what Dan and I wanted in a church (which happens to be very different between the two of us). After listening very carefully, they said something along the lines of... "We do want you to come to church with us one Sunday, but we also think that based on what you're looking for, you might be interested in attending Crosspoint. The pastor that married us started this church and we think you'll like it." They took us. And we love it. And we feel so blessed to have friends who are so unselfish and caring to lead us to a church we adore and enjoy, even though it is not their own. We've missed a lot of Sundays this year with all of the illness in our family, but we've enjoyed it so much so far, and plan on getting more and more involved through time.

Anyway, with very sore muscles and tired eyes, we dragged ourselves out of bed and started at church this morning. Two weeks ago Crosspoint put a $10 bill under every person's seat and had a sermon about "paying it forward". Stories of what people have been doing with their money are on their blog. It's pretty interesting and inspiring to read. Check it out at http://xptstories.blogspot.com

This afternoon we took Sammi down the street to our neighborhood clubhouse/park. It's a quick walk there and Sam always has a fun time running around. While we were there we picked up our summer pool pass....I wonder if we'll ever get around to using it this summer...??? I hope so!

Sam's favorite thing to do is climb up the slide and then slide down!

Samantha likes getting on the swings, too.

Even though it was a beautiful day today, it was actually pretty cold and really windy!

Sam didn't like the big swings too much today. She just got used to the ones her size.

I wanted to put a video of Sam on the slide, but I haven't done it before and it was taking too long to load...I'll ask Dan to do it and post it later. (Dan's so much smarter at technology than me...I don't even waste the energy!) :)

wedding

This is not a business post, I promise! This is a post to say that I am so thankful that I made it through today's wedding! I was really nervous because I've been so sick all year and just very recently started feeling better from having mono. Weddings are such physical work and I was so scared about getting through today, but here I am , still alive, AMEN! (We had a really awesome couple too & it was a beautiful day)--all of which I am so thankful for!

Also thankful that Orlie and Kathe (Dan's parents) came all the way to Indy---as they do for EVERY wedding to watch Sammi. (Not to mention they also did our dishes, all of our laundry, and baked us a cake!) We are so blessed, and we do not take them for granted. We love them so much!

I don't think I will be able to walk tomorrow because I will be so sore, but that's okay! :) I just am so happy that I can go to bed knowing everything went great today....and I am going to bed NOW!!!! :)

nutrigrain bar

I love yogurt Nutrigrain Bars!

Samantha has become QUITE the picky eater over the last two months! I don't really know how it happened. I guess she just became a toddler and we became less worried about always making sure her food is perfectly wholesome! Excuses, excuses, but it seems as though you start feeding them ANYTHING they will eat when they don't feel well, then of course it's hard to go back to healthy food once they've had mac n cheese! Sam's 7 ear infections in 5 months have not helped this eating situation. We're seeing a specialist in a week for her ears and also working day by day on the food choices.

She used to eat everything. Grilled chicken, lean meats, avocado, vegetables, fruits, healthy whatever! Now.......um.....if she had her choice she would eat crackers and cereal all day. BUT--instead she eats crackers and cereal a little each day and almost nothing else. If she doesn't eat her dinner, we put it away. When she's hungry, we get it back out. She usually goes to bed without eating. She does drink milk, which I worry will eventually take over all of her meals so we're trying to be careful.

Here are the latest photos I have of her. A little gross, watching a toddler eat a Nutrigrain bar, I know, but they are the most updated photos I have. :) She has been growing so fast...I wanted you to see how big she is!

As you can see, I slobber a LOT. Mom blames it on all the molars coming in. I have four teeth on top, four on bottom, and four molars coming in (at least)!

My hair is getting longer too. Mom and dad don't quite know what to do with it. They want it to grow but it's always kind of a mess!

I know how to say "Uh oh" when I drop something on the floor! I am learning to say a lot of words, although none of them are totally clear yet!

my first personal post

Many of our friends read our business newsletter and request more information about what is going on in our personal lives! I've been thinking that I should do a blog just to keep our friends and family up to date on our home life...so here it goes!

Just a note before proceeding...one of the hold-ups in creating this blog was worrying about posting point-n-shoot photos versus our professional ones, but I finally decided that in order to keep our friends updated on Samantha (and us), I have to use my point-n-shoot photos or you'll never see her! :)

Looking forward to keeping you updated on Samantha, on Dan and me, on what we're up to and how we're keeping busy!!!