Graduation!!!

Samara has graduated from her daycare class and has moved to an older-age classroom (several of her old "teachers" have told us they miss Samara so much)! Apparently, she had been biting the younger children who couldn't walk (who been using Samara to prop themselves upward); the director thought it would be a good idea to "graduate." We have since given Samara a pair of brass knuckles...

Three syllables is very difficult for young kids to pronounce...you should hear the school kids trying to pronounce two syllables! So, Samara's new name at "school" is "Mara", which we have picked up as a nickname. We also use her middle name Niveh as well! It's really great being able to use a variety of names for your child...I remember dear ol' dad using "rummy", "nincompoop", and "twit".

Samara loves to take a bath. She also loves barging into the bathroom when mommy or daddy is taking a shower and demanding to get into the tub by stripping off her clothes and diaper (my response is typically, "no stripping until you've moved out.")! Below are a couple of photos of fun time with cousin Tori...

Oh, speaking of Tori, we were home during Christmas and Samara was exploring the vast expanse of my m other's living room. She was trudging along when, all of a sudden, Tori came screaming "no" from the living room running toward Samara. At the last second before reaching her target, Tori extended her arm sideways and clotheslined Samara Dr. Death style. This would have been a good time to introduce the brass knuckles...


Samara finally realized the joy of opening gifts during Christmas...chaos and entropy. At least this year she didn't choke on a piece of tape!

Everyone asked what to give Samara for Christmas. Being in a one-bedroom apartment, we didn't want too many toys. She loves books...and that's what she received! She did get several toys though, and to our surprise, she absolutely loves the "fridge DJ" that Gioia, Eden, and Aidan gave to her.

Samara's Christmas dress at grandma's house.

Samara has increased her vocabulary enough that forming sentences is second nature. She uses "help mommy/daddy", "watch Oz", "bad/no Orion" (when he eats her food), etc. She also uses "I'm coming" when you call for her; although she waits several minutes before she follows through. This reminds me of myself....hmmm...is this learned or genetic....

Samara got liquored up in January and had a grrrreeeeaaaatttt time! One of Samara's new favorite animals are horses (horsey). A coworker of Shana's had a retirement party and who also owns two horses: Scotch and Guinness (a Clydesdale).

Who doesn't like to go outside and play! We really like the angle of this picture...the flowing hair. While typing this, she saw the picture and I asked who it was...she didn't know.


Samara loves helping out when she can; even if it means dumping her yogurt out on the table and asking for a towel to clean it up. In the photo above, she insisted on watering the plant herself!

And now introducing Samara's new cousin, Jasmine Elizabeth...

By this time next month, we should be living in our "new" house! It's a very exciting time for us! We spent 3 weekends in January/February looking for the perfect place; we realized that no place is perfect, however. But, we really like the place we made an offer on and look forward to making it "ours". Samara is going to be so excited to live in something larger than 600 square feet (and someplace where you don't walk outside and expect bombs on the sidewalk). During the whole process, we would take Samara into the houses and she would get so excited that she would run around sreaming and yelling! It's a great thing to see....