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Monday, July 26, 2010

Celebrating Matthew!!!!

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In May Matthew finished his 5 year apprenticeship and is now a Journeyman Electrician! We were so proud of his determination, good grades, and work ethic that we knew we had to celebrate!!!! We had a pool party at Camp LRCA and it was a BLAST!

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Sami’s pal Izabella enjoying the slide!

So many of our friends and family joined us for fun on the water slide and diving board!

My amazing friend Angie and her beautiful daughter LailaDSCN1350

DSCN1372DSCN1353I am amazed at how hard Matthew works for our family! He had worked 17 hours…came to the party…and went straight back to work for another 12 hours! Hopefully this busy work schedule doesn’t keep up forever…we sure do miss that cute face of his!

His graduation is at the end of August…that is when he will receive his diploma from Ivy Tech…but it is just a piece of paper…he is our full fledged electrician now!

DSCN1388Love you Matthew!!!! Congratulations!!!!

LaPorte County Fair

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My mom asked the girls and I to go to the LaPorte County fair with her. That is by FAR my most favorite fair so I of course said yes!

We looked at the 4H projects. Sami enjoyed looking at the cake decorating as well as gift wrapping projects.

We looked at all of the animals. It was super hot and humid that evening, so the barns were extra smelly! Ha!

DSCN1303Skylar loves animals!!! She can say “dog”, “cat”, and “duck” but mostly she always says “dog dog”…

When we were looking at the pigs she kept saying “dog dog”…I told her they were pigs and she replied…”Oooooo DOG DOG!” Ha!

DSCN1305They have the cutest little frontier village there! A one room school house, an old post office, blacksmith shop, etc. There was a little area where you could dress up and hand wash laundry, and Sami was ALL about that!

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We walked through a few more buildings, and Sami pointed out this union sign…DSCN1317Who knew she could recognize that? Ha!

 

DSCN1318They had a craft area where you could buy materials to make a souvenir.    She decided she wanted to make a sand art project as well as paint a bank…

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DSCN1322   My mom bought an elephant ear for us all to share. As she was walking with it she was also carrying Skylar. Skylar kept yelling “that” “that” “THAT!!!!” It was so cute!!! She really enjoyed eating it…that is until a few hours later when I realized they are made with milk! Oops!!!! :/

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DSCN1326  Hi Ronald!!!

At the end of the night Sami and I attempted to catch a goldfish in the conservation building. This was my most favorite thing to do as a little girl. I would always enlist the help of my brother John to help me catch one. Sadly we didn’t catch one, but it was fun anyways!

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See you next year county fair!

Camp LRCA

For those who do not know Matthew and I met over 10 years ago at Camp LRCA while working on summer staff. This past week Sami had the opportunity to attend a one day camp there!

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Sami with her pal Faith (they’ve been friends since birth)

She was there for about 8 hours, and man did she have a full day! She played in a moon walk, canoed, swam in their fun pool, had a hayride, lunch, Bible lesson, snack, craft…phew! I’m tired just writing about it all!!!

She talked about it the whole ride home…and for the next few days! I am so happy that she loves the camp as much as we do!

On a side note…Matthew has been working A LOT lately. In fact saying “a lot” may be an understatement!!! His last check had 92 hours on it! YIKES!!!! He is working at night which makes it even more exhausting for him…but since he was home when it was time to take her he rode along. He made it all the way there, and by the time we pulled out of the camp he was OUT!

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Thanks for working so hard for us!

Skylar thought a nap sounded like a pretty good idea…ha! Here she is in her brand new birthday car seat…

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Sami is already asking when she can go back to camp…that’s my girl!!!!

Friday, July 23, 2010

4th of July….

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Sami spent the weekend of the 4th in Texas visiting my brother and his family…so we only had Skylar to take to the parade.

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays! The past few years we have gone to the Crown Point parade with our friends Dave and Jessica. Dave’s parents live right on the parade route. It is so nice to watch there! Everyone brings a dish, and we have a picnic before hand. Dave’s mom passes out popsicles about half way through the parade, and there is always the option to go inside and use the bathroom if you need to!

116Skylar wasn’t so sure about the sirens at the beginning, but as soon as they were gone she got into the parade spirit! I think her festive tutu helped….

114That evening we took Malachi with us to the Crown Point fireworks…they began earlier than scheduled so we missed some of them…but we still had fun!!!

Happy Birthday America!

Rubber Duckie…You’re the ONE!!!!

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When it came time to plan Skylar’s first birthday party…it only seemed fitting to give her a rubber duck party! After all…her nickname is Duckie! =)

I made this tutu for her…complete with a feather tail! And I sewed the button on her onesie to look like a rubber duck.

091 We had her party at the church because there is more room for everyone to be able to have a seat. I decorated the tables with buckets of “duck food” (cheesy chex mix) and my friend Dawn lent me rubber ducks to put everywhere.

087I ordered her smash cake and cupcakes from a local bakery…each duck on the cupcakes looked like they were in their own little pond.

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She wasn’t too sure about eating the cake at first. She kept giving me this look like “are you sure I can do this mom?”

101“Hmm…this is pretty yummy”

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We are so thankful for such nice family and friends who made her birthday such a celebration to remember. She got some really nice gifts, and had a lot of fun opening them!

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12 Months Old

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Well I never did find who had a hold on that fast forward button…and the time kept passing…and my little itty baby is now a year old!

She is such a little doll, and brings us all so much joy! It is hard to remember what life was like before her.

At her 12 month check up she weighed exactly 20 pounds on the dot. She grew taller as well, but I can’t find where I wrote it down! Ha! She was 50th percentile for weight and 25th for height. Still our short little peanut!

She is walking ALL over the place! She is getting so fast that she sometimes stumbles over her own feet. She is so determined to walk though that she gets right back up and does it again…even though crawling would probably get her there faster. Who knew I could learn so much about patience and perseverance from my precious little girl?

The week before her birthday the doctor said we should try whole milk in a sippy cup to see how she does with it. We had been using cups for awhile now with water and a splash of juice so putting the bottles away was no problem for her. However, the milk was not agreeing with her at all. She broke out in a terrible rash, and had some major stomach issues. I stopped giving it to her until just before we went in to see the doctor so she could see the reaction. The pediatrician determined it is definitely a milk allergy, so no milk for her. So she drinks soy milk,, and does not seem to know the difference. I am happy to report that her ears were also crystal clear, so all talks of getting tubes were put on hold. WAHOO!!!! She still as a slight adhesion, but it has opened up enough that surgery is not required at this time!!! I was also happy because she no longer has to use the hormone cream on it…that always freaked me out a little. Our wonderful doctor said we will just watch it and re-evaluate as time goes on.

Now onto some fun stuff…

She will eat anything and everything you give her. Her favorites are bananas, green beans, plain pasta, and chicken nuggets.

She is saying more and more all the time…

-Dada, Dad, Da-Da are still her favorite things to say

-Muma (Mommy) but she doesn’t say this often

-Dog Dog –yes its always the two together and this is her name for almost all animals however when it is an actual dog she says it with more enthusiasm

-Sisssssy

-Duck

-Uh-Uh (as in no…man they learn that fast!)

-Dis??? (This?)

She loves Sami so much, and she wants to be wherever she is! Sam is so good with her and plays with her really well. Some of Skylar’s favorite toys right now are

-Laugh and Learn house

-Laugh and Learn tea set

-Anything she can put something into, and then take it out

-Pushing around her baby stroller and push and ride lion

We are so happy you are in our lives Skylar!!! Happy Birthday!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Ballet Recital

At the beginning of June Sami had her very first dance recital! They danced to the song “Splish Splash” so their outfits looked like a little towel dress with rubber ducks on them.

She was super excited to get to wear “light stage make-up” for the performance. I was a little nervous about it because I wasn’t really sure what I was doing. But I think it turned out pretty well….061

(Don’t you just love those dimples??? Oh and yes…the eye liner is supposed to look like that! Ha!)

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(With her teacher Ms. Angela after she gave her a thank you gift)

Sami has moved up to the next level of ballet! She is learning so much! She is also taking tap and jazz this summer. She enjoys it so much…it is so fun watching her have so much passion for something!

See Ya Later Pre-K!!!!

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At the end of May Sami graduated from the Pre-K class at the Cooperative Pre-School at our elementary school. The theme was “Pre-School is a Jungle” so they walked in with animal masks on.

The morning and afternoon classes were combined for this closing program, and it was so cute and fun to watch! Sami is so animated and LOVES to perform!

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She has grown up so much this year! The picture below is her receiving her diploma from her teacher. She is really looking forward to Kindergarten!

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Sami with all her teachers….

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Sami with Jackson…thanks Angie for all of those rides to and from school!

As a little gift we got her the Brain Quest cards for Kindergarten. She has already mastered them…in fact they weren’t a challenge at all. Hopefully she won’t be too bored next year!!!!

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Our Big Pre-K graduate with her celebration ice cream at the Chocolate Shop!

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