10

 

 

Sam is 10.

Hard to believe and sometimes she seems a lot older.

I wasn't sure I would be a good "girl mom", but so far she has been pretty fun.

I sure do love my Samalamadingdong.

Are you ready for some football?

The Northeast Tacoma Tigers kicked of their 2012 season today.

Despite the HOT weather this week (legit HOT weather, like in the 90's hot weather, not wimpy W. WA it's over 75 and we are all dying hot weather) today's game was played under overcast skies and in the mild high 60's.

Perfect football weather.

Unfortunately our first game was against last year's league champs.  Um, yeah...

The good news is we weren't shut out and there is nowhere to go but up. 

Despite the today's loss, this is the best team we have fielded so far.

(this is only the 3rd year of the program and they have come a long way in those three years)

Just look at the determination in these faces. 

GO TIGERS!!

:0)

She's Ready for Her Closeup

Halloween is seeming to last forever this year.
Friday night we had Street of Screams.
Saturday Girl Scout Halloween Party.
Tonight is Trunk or Treat.
Tomorrow, actual tick or treating.

While we enjoy Halloween, the costumes always seem to fall on me. Sam told me she wanted to be "Goth" for Halloween. When I asked her if she even knew what that meant she said it was someone who wears black. Okay...

So in a panic I headed to the local thrift shop on a search for a "goth" costume. Little did Sam know I planned on returning with Witch fixings and she would just have to go with that. However since it was the Friday before Halloween, pickings were slim. I ended up with a black cocktail dress and I pitched the idea of a glam girl as an alternative. Since wearing lipstick was her major criteria she agreed. For something that was thrown together last minute and only cost us 6 bucks for the dress, I'm thinking she looks pretty good.

Girls Weekend

This weekend I headed to the hills with my favorite girl and her Girl Scout troop. The girls decided that with the proceeds from their cookie sales they wanted to go camping. Now I'm all for camping, but I also enjoy toilets that flush, so I offered up our cabin. Nine girls and 5 moms headed up to Index, Washington. We have about an acre on the Skykomish River and it is the perfect place for "glamping". The girls did great. They pitched tents, cooked over the fire, built a "box oven" to cook a birthday cake for one of the girls, went on a killer 5 mile hike to Wallace Falls and of course made up skits celebrating being a scout.

Good Times

Sweet Sammie

Yesterday was Sammie's 7th birthday. Hard to believe. She is growing up so fast. Last night after all the presents were opened my brother made the comment on how "grown up" her presents were. No stuffed animals this year. Instead she got a CD player, a new sleeping bag, a bikini, lip gloss and a little cash. She was thrilled and capped off the night with tons of butter cream frosting.

Sam is Six

On Monday, Sam turned 6 with lots of pink frosting.
We had cupcakes at school and dinner and cake with family and friends.
Ben seemed like he was little forever. Sam is 6 going on 16.
I never wanted to have a little girl, but then I had Sam and now I couldn't imagine life without her.

Girlly Girl

Yesterday was my first official "mom of a girl" activity. No boys, just 4 little girls. To say I was nervous was an understatement.
Up until now, Sam's buddies have been boys. Sam didn't mind, she is rough and tumble and keep up with the best of them. She does however have quite the girlly side. She has been asking me to have some "new" friends over from school, so yesterday we had a Valentine cookie deco party.

It was the first time over for all the girls and you just never know what to expect. I planned the party for 2 hours thinking that would be enough time to get everything decorated, have some lunch and let the girls play a little bit. I must say things went pretty well. Despite Sam melting down with a half hour to go, the girls got along well with minimal secret telling and bossiness. I would say it was a success and would love to have any of those girls over again.

As they were playing I started thinking about my best friend Jenny P. We have been friends since we were in Kindergarten. I couldn't help but think if one of these little girls here today would be the maid of honor at Sam's wedding? That started to freak me out a little. I don't want Sam to grow up. I want her to stay little and sweet and unharmed by all the nastiness that is the life of a girl. However, if there was ever a little girl who had the moxy to stand up to all the girl BS it is Sam. One of my favorite memories of Sam is when she got her first bike and we went riding. She kept yelling,"I'm AWESOME!!". I hope she will always feel that way.

Conversation with a 5 year old

Me: Bring me the lipstick
Sam: Is it because I have on too much?
Me: Yes
Sam: I just wanted to be beautiful.
Me: You are beautiful
Sam: Yes, I know. It is because of the lipstick.

Sammie is the big 5

Sammie is now 5. So hard to believe. She is such a little person now and so independent. She doesn't take crap from anyone and will tell you exactly like she sees it. She also has the most amazing self esteem. I love how when she is riding her bike she will yell, "I'm awesome". If only I could bottle this up and save it for when she is older and and feeling a little less awesome. Sam is my little buddy and we have so much fun together. She loves to cook and bake and helps whenever she can. She made the cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving and will tell anyone who will listen. She is so much fun. I'm glad I have a little girl.

We had a little family party for her on Sunday night and now our house is overrun with My Little Ponies. Sammie got lots of cute stuff and was thrilled. I'm not sure if we will have a kid party or not. Last year we just invited a bunch of friends over for a tea party lunch (no presents) and the kids had a really good time. We might do something like that this year, but she is starting to make the rounds on the birthday circuit and seeing all the presents the kids get so the the "no gift" thing may not an option. Too bad. Birthdays have really gotten out of hand.
It all started when we were invited to a 3rd bday party for a kid in Ben's 2's class. We didn't know them that well, so when it came to the gift I got something I thought a 3 year old would like, a big thing of bubbles and and scooby doo punching balloon. I know Ben would have loved these and the price was right. I will never forget walking into the house and it was already full of every toy you could think of and next to the massive pile of toys was a pile of probably 30 presents, huge presents. I began to panic, but stood by my guns that we had brought an appropriate gift. When the mom opened our gift, she had a funny look on her face and said, "oh, bubbles. That's nice" in that kind of way were you know she was thinking "are you kidding me?" And so it began...
What I find funny is that I have this conversation all the time with other moms who feel pressure to spend a lot of money on birthday gifts so they don't look cheap. What is up with that?? For one birthday I asked the mom what the kid was into and she said gift cards. Okay then. But I gotta tell ya, for the older kids (especially the ones we don't know that well) we are all about the gift cards. The kids around here have EVERYTHING!! It truly borders on obscene. Anyway, as far as Sammie's "party" I'm not sure what we will do. Every weekend this month is already "booked" with stuff so we may end up with a midweek thing, which might actually be fun. I need to take advantage of the midweek stuff while I can. Tacoma has approved free (used to be $275 a month)all day K for everyone. I'm a little torn on this. I would not have sent Sammie to all day, too expensive and NOT worth the money. I was looking forward to the routine of school everyday, but also looking forward to having some Sam and Mom time too.
It is going to be very weird having both kids gone all day everyday. I hope I can handle the "freedom". Six hours of unstructured Laurie time can be dangerous. I'm hoping to use the time to get in shape, organize the running our house, continue to freelance and volunteer at the school. These are the same goals I had when I quit work to stay home 7 years ago, maybe I will actually get to do it.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Well, the time has come to say good-bye "Princess Sammie" and Hello to "Dora Sammie". Of course, she has the hair I have always wanted (corn silky and straight). I, on the other hand, have straight in the front and wavy in the back (think Roseanne Roseannadanna)

Anyway, it was time to for a new do for Sam. It reached past her waist and it was not fun to maintain. It reminded me of the poem below. When we started talking about cutting her hair she was not having any part of it. Then I told her about the little girls who were sick and didn't have any hair. We went to Locks of Love and she got to see the girls without and with their "new" hair. She was on board. Our friends cuts our hair and she chopped off the 10" ponytail. I have to say as much as I loved her long hair, this is definitely more "her". Short and Sassy, yup, that's Sam.


Janella's Hair
by
Teresa Bateman
Janella's hair flies everywhere
And crackles full of static.
It leaps around
With bob and bound
And acts most acrobatic.
Janella's hair flies everywhere;
It's living on its own.
It leaves her head
To stay in bed
And giggles on the phone!
At school it said, "You knucklehead!"
The teacher was appalled.
Janella's in the office now
(and wishes she were bald).

Kitty Glitter

Today as I was scooping the cat box (probably one of my least favorite things to do) My 4 year old insisted on helping. As I tried to scoop and explain why that was not a good idea she shot me a look of totaly disappointment.
"but Mom, I want to help you with the kitty glitter"
I still said no, but I have to admit, it might make scooping the "glitter" not so awful in the future.