Samantha

Here's our Samantha.  She is so full of joy and spunk and laughter.  She truly appreciates all dolls, princess clothes and fancy shoes.  At the same time she will jump in a pool (regardless of temperature) even if she only has 2 minutes to swim, not hesitate to play in the mud, and go everywhere barefoot as long as it isn't too rough terrain.

Here you see her embracing her new Marine Barbie complete with dive equipment and dolphins that has just arrived in a Christmas box from Gram and Grampa.  Like I said before, she has a true appreciation for dolls!  :)

Here are Florence (Flo) and Samantha stopping to pose for a glamor shot in the midst of their busy play schedule.  Flo was Samantha's first friend once we arrived and they have a standing sleep over date every weekend.  We alternate houses and the girls sleep over and then go horseback riding together.  

You will also find Flo or Samantha at each other's houses often  times 2-3 times a week.  As Celia (Flo's mom) puts it, "I'm all about Co-parenting."  

We also call Samantha our monkey.  She loves to climb, flip, balance, jump, swing......you get the idea.  Here she has conned Elijah (our night guard) to help her negotiate the garden wall.

I finally put a stop to it after 7-8 trips down the wall.  He won't tell her no himself.  :)  She loves to go out and "play" with Elijah.

This was a Pot Luck Saturday dinner with 4 families in attendance.  The kids are playing "toilet tag" in the yard.  Once you're frozen, you have to hold your arm out to the side and someone has to "flush" you to set you free.  

(L to R)  Flo S., Samantha (playing toilet tag in her princess dress no less), Charlie S., Kameron A., Brayden A., Kaitlyn (obviously celebrating some victory) and Walter S. (on the ground).

A leaning tower of.....giggly girls?????

These are our new neighbors.  They live right around the corner from us and just 2 houses away.  They are missionaries and have 4 girls: Kameron (on bottom), Brayden (getting the worst end of the deal in this photo), Julia (watching anxiously) and Johannah (seen below in the towel box).  Their mom Stephanie spots the wobbly tower.

We love having them so close and also spend 2-3 days a week together.  Our house frequently has 5-7 girls in attendance and I absolutely love it!!  :)

I took this picture because it was classic Samantha.  She goes straight from bed to the couch until she cannot go another second without her morning banana yogurt.  Then mom insists she eat at the table.  This was Samantha's compromise this particular morning.

The girls received an envelope full of Valentine goodies from their grandparents amazingly enough on February 13th.  Included was Monopoly money to show them what was put in Mom and Dad's account for them to go shopping with.  (I still don't think Samantha fully understands--she's questioning Gram and Grampa's judgement on giving her this card--it doesn't even have a princess on it--who ever heard of such a thing?)