Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...
Samantha woke up on Saturday as a 9 year old!! Of course she had slept in her heatless rollers…
She then put on some fancier pjs and got to open presents from two of her favorite people – Ms. Susan and GJ!
Her very own Stanley!
The best start to the best birthday!!
We celebrated our favorite 9 year old and then celebrated some more!
The fun started on Friday with school treats. I got to have lunch with these cuties!
We then handed out mini ice cream cones to her class and teachers.
I love celebrating this little girl!
Tomorrow Samantha will be NINE!! Nine years of my magical, joyful ray of sunshine!
From this precious baby girl (born on her due date at 1:04pm)…
To this happy one year old….
To this perfectly perfect two year old….
To this lively three year old…
To this sweet and sassy four year old!
To this sunshiney five year old…
To this bright light of a six year old….
to this amazing seven year old…
to this so so great eight year old…
To NINE and feeling more than fine!
She is happy, she is fierce, she is competitive, she is joyful, she is pure sunshine! I truly think she’s got some magic inside of her! I love her so much.
She loves to watch YouTube on her iPad and sing every word to every Taylor Swift song. She’s the headband queen with the prettiest, longest perfectly wavy blonde hair! Each night we have to decide whether to curl it in her heatless curlers or blow dry it straight. She loves to pick out outfits and always puts together something cute.
She’s growing up every day but is still a little girl in many ways. She loves to get her nails done, put on a face mask, and wear makeup…but also still loves playing with Barbies and playing dress up with her friends.
Samantha is a competitor. She does swim team in the summer and plays soccer, basketball, and lots and lots of tumbling. She hustles harder than anyone on that basketball court and will outrun anyone on the soccer field. She’s been so determined and worked so hard on tumbling this year and it’s really paid off. She’s mastered her back handspring and is now working on a back tuck. I know she’ll get it in no time! She’s dancing on Sundays and I can’t wait for another chance to see her perform on stage.
This girl is still a total Momma’s girl. She always wants to sit next to me and never wants to share me. She can put on a mean pouty face when she doesn’t get her way about it too! Oh, she loves me and I love her every bit as much right back.
3rd grade is going great. She has two cute, young teachers, Ms. Symons and Ms. Burgess, and she’s excelling at school – especially math! She has a great group of sweet friends and she really tries hard to stay out of the “girl drama” which makes me proud. She’s a happy girl and is really friends with just about everyone.
This awesome kid is doing life right!
A few questions with my favorite NINE year old!
Favorite book? The One and Only Bob
Favorite TV show? America’s Funniest Home Videos
Favorite movie? Taylor Swift Eras Tour
Favorite color? Purple
Favorite song? Long Live by Taylor Swift
Favorite number? 9
Favorite restaurant? Bricktop’s
Favorite thing to eat? mac and cheese
Favorite friend? Frances
Favorite toy? Barbie
Favorite animal? puppies
Favorite dessert? skillet cookie
Favorite sport? soccer
What do you want to be when you grow up? a mom
I really don’t know how to even describe the joy of this little girl. She is pure magic and she will always be the biggest dream come true.
Happy birthday Samantha! We love you so much!!!
Took the boys for their annual checkup last week and they are healthy, strong, and growing!
Maxwell is 5 feet and 1/2 inch and weighs 89 lbs. That means he grew 1.5 inches since last year and gained 8 lbs. He’s around the 25th % for height and 20th % for weight.
Spencer is just over 4’10 and 83 lbs. He grew just over 2 inches last year and gained 9 lbs. Spencer is 70th % for height and 50th % for weight. At age 11, Maxwell was just over 4’9 and 72 lbs so Spencer continues to track bigger than his brother.
Thankful both of these boys are strong and growing! Spencer had to get 3 shots and handled them like a champ.
Neither were in the mood for a picture…honestly we all really miss Dr. Walley.
Always thankful for good doctor reports!
On the first day of 2024 we got up, put on our crimson and headed to the Rose Bowl! Roll Tide!
We ended up taking the light rail out to Pasadena and then hopping on a shuttle bus to actually get to the stadium. It worked great!
Everyone was excited to see the stadium and we took lots and lots of pictures!
We had great seats and the sun really warmed everyone up – and made it a little hard to see but we managed!
It was a great game – lots of highs and plenty of lows.
While the game didn’t end the way we wanted, I’m so glad we went. Robert checked off that bucket list item and we all got to see what ended up being Saban’s last game. We were there for the end of an era and that’s pretty cool.
Sometimes you just have to say “yes” to crazy ideas and this is one I’m so glad we said “yes” to! We flew home the next day landing in Birmingham at about 10:30pm. It was a rude awakening for school the next morning but definitely worth it. Roll Tide!