Miss Naomi Goes To Washington

I have an Aunt with "connections". She generously offered to let us accompany her of a special tour of the White House along with the White House Press Core. Who would say no to that? Naomi even got a library book about the White House and it's history so that we'd be all ready. It was a school day, but I managed to sneak Naomi out (actually I totally told the truth, because what school would make one of their students miss an opportunity like this?) and she and I headed "downtown".
Here's Naomi in the Metro station. Can you see the calm exterior masking the oh-so-excited interior? This was a big adventure for her! She was really hoping to meet Michelle Obama.
When we got into DC we stopped and ate our lunch by the Old Post Office. Then we still had some time so we went to the White House visitors center. They had a display of what the inside of the White House had looked like under different President's. Naomi enjoyed seeing how the women were dressed in each painting and seeing the First Family's pets.
Then we toured. Naomi was a perfect lady (of course) and even came up with a few great questions. It was cool to have my Aunt with us because she had the inside scoop on how the big parties and functions work at the White House. Naomi decided she'd like to live there one day. When I told her she'd have to either be the president or marry a president, she decided she'd settle for attending a fancy party there. She also decided that the blue room had the prettiest curtains.
Here she is outside behind the White House. I cropped a group of protestors out of this shot just beyond the fountain. I thought it was pretty cool to be on this side of the fence.
And here is Naomi and I with our backs to the White House. See? It's WHITE.

Oh, and one last thing to brag about: Here's Naomi sitting at the President's desk in the oval office!
Just kidding. This was a prop at a gift shop we stopped at. If you bought something you could take your picture at their fake desk. So we bought a pen.

Me

I know it's been a while since there was much ME in this blog. It's just been events for a while now. So, just so you know, I'm still here. The first week of school, I felt like my schedule was awesome. The second week of school, I felt like the schedule was beating me down. And this week I think I've found the balance. I've been working in exercise whenever I can because we just bought tickets for a cruise to the Bahamas for our anniversary. Wa-hooo! That's next month!

...And that's really all I can think to say about myself. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, my life is way more about the family than anything else. If the family is good, I'm good. So, I'm good!

And if you must see a picture of me to feel connected, go check out the adorable pictures my sister-in-law took of Sammy and I at our Worth reunion (which I haven't blogged yet at all, but I will soon). They're on Facebook. (I think you'll be able to see them even if you don't "friend" Jolie since they're on her business page.)

Isaiah's 1st Day of School

Isaiah started school a week after the other kids since the Preschool he goes to follows the neighboring county's schedule. He had been feeling left out the previous week, so he was totally ready to go. He has one of the same teachers he had last year, so he really wasn't nervous at all. When I dropped him off in his class, he hardly even glanced over his shoulder to say goodbye. I think he just felt right at home. (Sorry for the terrible picture - the camera battery was dead so this was taken on my phone)
He also started speech therapy back up that same morning. I was very excited to have speech on the same mornings as school because that would leave Tuesday's and Thursday's commitment-free. But, alas, the teacher has since changed the schedule and we're now on Tuesday's and Thursday's at 8 am! So much for my perfectly laid out, exercising every day, getting chores done early, schedule. ...Oh well.

Sammy's First Birthday Party

We postponed Sammy's first birthday party a bit because we wanted to be able to celebrate with Aunt Ruth. So on a lovely Saturday afternoon, the party began. We started with the cake - because we figured that's what the kids would want, then presents, then just plain playing. The official "theme" was NOISE. Because after careful consideration, I decided that noise is Sammy's favorite thing.
Doesn't the cake look "noisy"? No? Well, I did my best to interpret what noise might look like. (I'm kidding, I just thought this would be a cute cake.)
The cake was banana flavored cake with cream cheese frosting.
Unfortunately, Sammy seemed to like the texture of the cake more than the flavor.

But he really liked the texture. (See that puckered face he's making in the pic below? That's his "I'm exploring and this is cool!" face.)
In keeping with the theme, the post-cake-playing got pretty crazy loud. Sammy loved the balloons.
So did Aunt Ruth. Did I mention this was also a birthday party for her? She was very gracious about sharing the spot light with Sammy.
Sammy got some fun presents, but I think his favorite was this ball spinny-popper thingy. It just so happens that it's only a hand-me-down that had previously been in the basement "out of rotation" - but who cares? See the exploring face? He loves it!
We all had fun celebrating our baby. What a good little boy he is!

Sammy's Birthday

{These pictures were all taken a couple of weeks back when we were in Idaho at Rigby Lake}








Today is Sammy's first birthday. I know everybody says the first year goes fast, but really - it does! He is, according to What To Expect The First Year, way ahead on most fronts. He already walks, babbles and imitates our sounds, rolls a ball back to you, and picks up things with his two little fingers. And on top of that, he does it all while being the cutest little guy EVER.

I was told that the video the other day of him walking was too short, so here's a little more for you. I think just yesterday is the day that he decided he'd rather walk than crawl to get somewhere. And he's been walking every since. He has, just today, mastered the art of putting his arms straight up and going stiff as a board so that you have no choice but to set him down. His days of happily hanging out in my arms are over.

My miracle just keeps on getting bigger!