More hair pics

Here are a couple more pictures: a before and after of the back length. And here she is in front of our Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

New Addiction

I am afraid to say it, but I have a new addiction...it's called Facebook. I have become reacquainted with high school, university, junior high and elementary school friends. I love it. Please come check it out, if you dare! You'll be amazed who you can find!

It's been a long time since I have been out here - and the busy season is just starting. The holidays have become so much more entertaining since Sammy has become aware of what they are. Halloween has been her favorite holiday - the pumpkins, the scary thrill of the ghosts and witches and monsters, the costumes and, of course, the candy! Here is Sammy the bunny:

At the Pumpkin Prowl at the zoo

Thanksgiving was fun and food-filled. It was nice to have my folks and brother over at our house for the evening. Yum! David did a great job with the turkey, stuffing, gravy and raspberry pie. My folks brought over mashed potatoes, peas and asparagus. I made cranberry relish and an awesome pumpkin cheesecake. Grubbin'! After dinner we played the Whole Enchilada (what a fun game!!) and watched the Holy Grail.

And lately, in the "lull" between Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have been keeping busy: decorating our tree, Sammy got her very first haircut on Dec 7th, and then we saw The Nutcracker. What a FUN day. David was playing in the pit of the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Sammy sat next to me on a big cushion, entranced. At one point she looked over and said, wistfully, "I wish I were a ballerina". Then when I pointed out the peacock, she whispered "it's just a woman, dressed up". That tickled the woman in front of us: after the show was over, she told Sammy that she was so amazed at how quiet and polite she was through the whole show. Gotta say, as a mom, I love hearing things like that! It makes up for all of the power plays through-out the week! :-)

Here are some photos:

For a solid hour after we got back, Sammy danced and twirled and held out her skirt and played ballerina. She was ecstatic.

Blog Post # 2 for Today!

Playing catch up:

Way back at the end of June, we had a fabulously fun-filled day. We started out the morning at Sammy's cousin's birthday party at the park and then Sammy and I drove up north to go to our friend's party by the lake. Lots of fun and lots of cake was had that day.

The hula hoops were a huge hit:

It was cute going to Rachel's party. Sammy was the only one under seven or so. I think she was in heaven with all the big kids. And the big kids were very kind to include Sammy. Especially Rachel. What a sweetie. Check out where Sammy sat herself. Right next to the center of attention. That's our Leo. I guess I don't need to worry about self-confidence...at this age, at least.

The next big event was the Fourth of July. Another wonderful time at Andy's place right on Lake Union. I'm not sure how it happened, but the fireworks were completely in view this year, rather than partially hidden behind a rogue tree. It was spectactular. I had such a great time at this party this year. Here's Sammy fixing the keg of beer that David brought.Sammy, "Auntie" Lara and Uncle Tony joined us and Sammy was able to stay up for the entire event. Usually there are other kiddos around, but she was the ONLY one there! And what a trooper she was. It helped that there were tons of people that oozed attention on her. I think watching the fireworks through the first-time eyes of Sammy made the whole events super special.

We love summer!

For various reasons (weather, jobs, etc) most of our summer has been crammed into August. And we have been having a grand old time! We have gone camping...twice.

This was a lot of fun. We went with my folks and Uncle Tony to Marble Creek in the North Cascades to celebrate Sammy's 3rd birthday. We had a great time and the weather cooperated, for the most part. We even remembered to pack her Birthday Suit!

The following weekend, we took off for Hood River to go camping with Sammy's cousin. We had bought the guys a river rafting experience for Father's Day and it sounded like they had an absolutely awesome time! I'll have to wait to post one of those pictures. But they are cool!

While the guys were rafting over a waterfall, we took the kids to a very neat secluded beach. What a blast they had - and of course, Sammy's favorite thing to do was coat herself in sand. The next day we took the kids to David's aunt's farm and the kids got to see cows and ride on a tractor! This weekend was much hotter than we are used to - around 104 on Friday and Saturday, and then it rained on Monday. But we managed to stay cool. It was so fun to watch the kids run around and play together. They had a ball!

Well, Sammy's awake, so I am going to read her a book. I'll post more soon.

Birthday month!!

Yep! It's August. Birthday month. Last post was June. Got some catching up to do!

I promise - it'll come shortly. I will describe Sammy's cousin's and Sammy's friend, Rachel's birthdays (way back at the end of June!). I will post about Fourth of July and how much fun we had. I will let David post about the week in July that he and Sammy were at the beach. I will post about the wonderful trip to Winthrop that Sammy and I took with her aunt, uncle and cousin. I will describe the awesome camping trip we went on this last weekend for Sammy's birthday. I have pictures for all these events. I just seem to lack time and motivation at the same time. But, we'll get there.

So as a teaser, I will leave you with this:

No, the monitor doesn't need adjusting. And no, Sammy has not yet experienced the joys of lying in the sun baking for hours. Rather, Sammy has been playing with her favorite toy of the summer: a big ol' pile of dirt. At our neighborhood block party - which is an annual event sponsored by the city to get to know your neighbors - we once again realized how many kids there are nearby. Lots of nice people. Makes me wish we had a cul de sac or something: these little side streets and the busy street we live on make it seem awfully treacherous! Anyway, I digress. Last year, the host of the party rented a big Jumpy House - or whatever they are called: kids can go in and bounce around for hours. This year, he had planted coins and marbles in a pile of dirt, gave the kids shovels, and we all sat back as they had a blast digging for buried treasures. At one point I looked over to see Sammy sliding down the hill on her tummy with a huge smile on her face. Ah!! Summer.

And that, for now, is all.

Tonight at dinner

Sammy and David went to the library today and they sang the "if you're happy and you know it" song at the story telling session. So tonight at dinner Sammy entertained us with the song. She led us in scratching our heads, clapping our hands, scratching our fork, eating wild rice and scratching our spaghetti!

Mid-May

For heaven's sake! Mid-May already. Where does the time go?

We have been having a grand time in the McBryder household. Sammy has been providing us with much entertainment: she is such a sunny child. April and May were filled with days at the co-op interspersed with family outings.

Here is Sammy painting at pre-school.

Sammy and two of her cousins at Tristan's 1st birthday party. They are getting so big!

Sammy has been talking up a storm. Her pronunciation is coming along - but it has been hilarious in the meantime! Jump is 'gump'; Grandpa Jack is 'grampa yak'; her p's are pronounced b's and her tr's were pronounced 'f': which made us all snicker when she became interested in dumptrucks!

We have our first recognizable piece of artwork!

The binkie has been gone for a couple of months now, and the toddler bed is the place to be - usually. I find myself being impressed with how well Sammy stays in her bed - reading books, chattering to herself and her dolls, and then a few days will pop up where she doesn't want to stay in bed at all. The days fluctuate - which I suppose could be the definition of toddler-hood.

We have weathered a few crabby, sicko, rebellious days lately, which is forcing us to re-group and figure out how we are going to work with this new stage. Luckily, David and I are usually on the same page when it comes to disciplining.

Wearing her 'My Dad Rocks!' t-shirt and 'gumping' on the mattress at pre-school.

In other news, May first we shaved our cat RC. She is (was) a long-haired cat that *hates* getting brushed. She will not tolerate it! So, she gets these dred-ful (pun intended) mats in her fur. Say hello to our new lion-cat:

Homer is still good ole Homer.

My husband pulled out all the stops for Mother's day - I am going to Breitenbush in a week for a four day weekend. Now, Breitenbush is a fantastic hot springs resort that serves organic vegetarian food, and has massages and yoga. My card said, 'no husband, no kids, no worries'. Heavenly. How am I ever going to come close to that at Father's day? Sadly, I will be leaving that night travelling for 6 days for work. So I guess his card will read 'no wife'. Not quite the same, eh?

Cute story: one of those days where Sammy wasn't staying in be for nap-time, I had had it. I told her that even if she wasn't going to sleep she needed to stay upstairs and stay quiet for awhile. Scratch that - *I* needed her to stay upstairs and stay quiet. I was downstairs and eating some nachos at the dining room table while reading. Sammy came halfway down the stairs and sat above the gate and wanted to talk: "Watcha doing?" "I'm reading Sam. Go back upstairs and have some quiet time." pause. "Mama - I think your eating." I paused, trying to chew my mouthful silently. "What makes you say that Sammy?" "I can see you in the picture!" At the bottom of the stairs is a picture and sure enough, I went over and saw the dining room table reflected in the glass. I busted up laughing - she had caught me red-handed!

And that about wraps up this post - sorry for the delay everyone!

Happy Easter...belated...

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. The McBryder clan certainly did.
I am slowly getting back into playing violin - I had a "church gig" on Sunday. Two services. Sammy and David came to watch the second service. Given that Sammy hasn't spent much time in a church, I was a little concerned with how she would do (the message had been long during the first service - and it ended up being even longer in the second!). But she was great, making the people in the pew behind her laugh when she asked at the very end of the service "is it done?" It was cute watching her and David sing.

The Easter Bunny came to visit during her nap, so we had fun watching as she found her hidden eggs and basket. The weather was cold, rainy and extremely windy, so the bunny was nice to hide everything in the house! Then we went next door and had dinner with my parents. And then we took a dip in the hot tub. All in all, quite enjoyable.

I don't have many pictures, apparently our camera battery has died and we are without replacements. But here is one of my new favorites...

We've gotten a kick out of some of the fun things that Sammy is saying nowadays. Though I should probably discourage her from playing with her food, it cracks me up to hear her saying things like: (holding a pea in each hand) "here is a little pea looking for the mommy pea. Where is the mommy pea? In Sammy's mouth!"

Or, we were in the store the other day and Sammy wanted me to hold her. I told her that I wasn't going to because my back hurt. So I asked her, do you want to push the cart or sit in the cart. She opted for sitting in it. Then she quickly changed her mind, so I got her out of the cart and put her on the floor. She said "I want to kiss you Mommy". "Oh, ok Sammy" as I leaned down. "No, on the back" (we do this thing where we kiss elbows or knees or ears, etc). So she kissed me on the back and said "Now your back is better and you can hold me!"

No, she isn't eating a lemon, she is showing off her new trick - the wink!

This weekend (the 30th), Sammy moved into a new "Big Girl Bed". It's a cute toddler sized bed that our friends loaned to us. We went to pick out sheets, but realized we will have to go to a speacialized store for toddler sheets. So we just got a Tinkerbell pillow. Sammy took her first nap and nighttime sleep like a pro. So, we upped the bar:

Yesterday, we couldn't find the binkie for her naptime. She usually has it on her bed, but it had gotten moved and wasn't readily visible. I found it later, but thought I would use the opportunity that had presented itself. Surprisingly, she didn't cry (as she has in the past, at the mere thought of giving up her beloved binkie (pacifier)). However, she also didn't sleep. For three hours she didn't sleep. So I gave up trying to get her to take her nap, figuring it was going to be a long evening. We went to cousin's house that evening and took a nice walk down to the beach. Came back, got into pjs, brushed teeth, read a book, gave some milk. No sleep. So, I realized I didn't want to have to go through this twice (at cousin's house and then later when we got home), so she and I drove back home (at 9pm). Now, Sammy is notorious for not sleeping in the car. Sure enough, we are halfway home, I look back and she has fallen asleep. I quickly woke her up and kept her awake and talking until we got home. She got into bed, got her music turned on and promptly crashed. And, surprisingly, she sleep through until 4:30 at which point she woke up looking for her binkie. But we got her back to sleep pretty quickly.

So, first Binkie-less night down. I look forward to hearing how David's day went today!