Happy Birthday Samantha!

Jason had to leave for work today at noon and wouldn't be home till 10:30, so we decided to have a mini birthday party breakfast to start off the day. 

Samantha LOVED it!

We had a little donut cake and sang happy birthday.

          

           

 Samantha LOVED her new owl hat and Wii game! 

I strung some pink and white balloons up to liven up the room.

 Was doing this at midnight the night before--so tired!

She wore her cool new owl hat to school. 

She told me later that it was so warm and cozy.

After school we went to Carl's Jr. for lunch and playing with some of her besties, Jared and Madie.

And now she's TOTALLY engrossed in her new Wii game.

And Alison is watching.

We love you so much Sammy!  You are such a joy!

Time Out for Women 2011

This is me and my cool friend Jen. 

We had the opportunity to go to Time Out for Women in Reno on the weekend of Oct 14th - 15th. 

It was so nice to get away and recharge.

I left all my kids at home with Jason.  She left her oldest three with her hubby and brought her newest little addition, Mason.  He was so pleasant and easy the whole time.

The theme was Choose to Become, and the scripture to go with that is: "All things are possible to him that believeth." -Mark 9:23

We were blessed to hear from some amazing people: 

Matthew Baldwin

Kris Belcher

Laurel Christensen

Amanda Dickson

Virginia H. Pearce

Macy Robinson

Anthony Sweat

Emily Watts

Hillary Weeks

Click HERE to read their bios.

Each had his or her own special qualities and messages. 

It was the perfect thing for me!

I really needed a boost like this, especially after my crazy-long battle with post-partum depression.

Thank you to the TOFW presenters for inspiring me, my awesome friend for coming with me, and my sweet husband for holding down the fort while I was gone!

Here are some more fun and random pictures from our weekend:

Dinosaurs on Highway 80!

Trying to take an elevator picture in the mirrored ceiling.

Oh my gosh...good thing we didn't have any of our big kids with us.  They would have rummaged through all the overpriced snack tray goodies and then we would have been charged for them.

We HAD to stop at Cabela's!

The legendary Jackalope!

Jen's looking fierce.

Okay, so my "fierce" isn't very scary.

The aquarium.

Mason loved looking at the fish.

Chillax'n in the mini camping chair.

This was just a few minutes after Mason rolled over for the first time.

(Jen, I'll let you tell everyone about that on your own blog. hint hint)

Alison with her little friends Roxi Rae and Haley Love.

They had so much fun together!

Crazy Hair Day

I know my Sam and I know that she would have been super bugged by funky braids or crazy spikes, but streaks of color.....

SHE LOVED IT!!!

 Sam is good friends with this little girl Aimee.

 Angela, Aimee, Belinda, and Samantha

(Angela & Belinda are in First Grade, Aimee & Sam are in Kindergarten.)

Ice Cream Party

Sam had an end of the year Ice Cream Party for her whole class.  Only a few friends came, but they all brought siblings and parents, so they still had lots of fun!  Here's a picture of a few of the kids.

Mackenzie, Samantha, and Angela

Alison REALLY liked putting sprinkles on her ice cream cone!

Missing Someone?

Many years ago, my super fun friend, Anya, mailed this to me.  Ha!  It was so funny!!

I immediately hung it on my fridge for daily laughs!

As I was cleaning out some boxes in the shed the other day, it fell out from between some pages in a book--I had NO idea I had saved it!

You're awesome Anya!  Love ya girl!

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Danny and the Girls

My good friend Rosie brought her little boy Danny over today while her hubby was having

shoulder surgery.  Been there before--no fun! 

{Get well soon Geoff!}

Danny and my girls had so much fun together! 

He and Alison watched cartoons until we left to pick up Samantha from school. 

He thought it was neat to ride in someone else's car. 

And Alison got bumped to the back seat--she thought that was really cool too!

 We got nuggets and fries from Wendy's for lunch.

 Danny checked for eggs, but found nothing.

We had a little crafting time.  This is Danny's rollercoaster.

 Sam was gluing numbers.

 Alison was gluing a big happy face.

 I think she overdid it with the pasta--just a smidge.

 The kids helped make brownies with sprinkles baked into them.

 So yummy!

 Alison & Danny

They are so cute together! 

And had so much fun playing together!

(Too bad the picture is a bit blurry.)

We checked one more time and he found an egg!

He was so excited!

The Velveteen Rabbit

My most awesome friend Mandy took Samantha to see The Velveteen Rabbit tonight at the

El Campanil Theatre in downtown Antioch.  She said Sam loved it! 

And I believe her--Sam couldn't stop talking about it! 

Thank you Mandy!  Sam sure thinks you're wonderful!

Samantha's Baking Birthday Party

Decorating their Chef Aprons!

Making mini pizzas!

Alison!

Playing Hot Potato while wearing oven mitts.

Aunt Jamie helping Alison decorate a cookie.

Thanks for helping with the party!  I couldn't have done it without you!

I'm not sure why I don't have a picture of the kids decorating their cookies, but here's the finished product!  This was the highlight of the whole party! 

Cookies, frosting, and a bazillion different kinds of sprinkles!

What more can a little baker ask for??

She thought this was so funny!

Her very own baking supplies from Mom!

Make a Wish!

At this point, the sugar was really kicking in!

Gett'n silly!

And even more silly!!

Addison's little sister Abby.

Addison was so cute--she was too cool to smile.

Jason was gone at school, so Mandy came over to help out.

Thank you!

Sam & Bailey