That's In My Book

sam's birthday: take two

Two posts in one day! Can you believe it? Actually, it was a mistake. I had scheduled the last post days ago and thought I would go back at some point before Thursday to add photos and such. Then my week got busy and I ran out of time. So here goes...

A whole decade old. I can hardly believe it. As I tucked her in last night, I told her it seemed like just yesterday that I was heading to Mount Elisabeth Hospital in Singapore to have her. She asked me if that was really true, did it really seem like just yesterday. No. In reality it seems like a long time ago. We have lived in two countries since then, so it doesn't really seem like yesterday (she can be a real smarty-pants sometimes). But I assured her I was so glad to finally get the baby girl I had been hoping for.

Samantha is energetic, sarcastic, funny, smart, empathetic, organized, artistic, sporty and loving. She keeps us on our toes, for sure. We are so blessed to have her as part of our family.

Happy Birthday Sam!

 

 

sammy jean x ten

Favorite color: Blue

Favorite sport: Volleyball

Favorite food: Caprise Salad

Favorite book: Any Rick Riordan book

Favorite movie: Pirates of the Caribbean II

Favorite animal: Chuy

Favorite time of day: after school

Favorite smell: Bacon

Favorite city: Singapore

Favorite drink: Dr. Pepper 10

Favorite number: 92

Favorite subject in school: science

Favorite holiday: Christmas

Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate

Pepsi or Coke: Coke

McDonalds or Burger King: McDonalds

Hug or kisses: kisses

 

family photo shoot: lessons learned

Whenever I take another family's photo, they are always cooperative and engaged. The opposite is true of my own. Perhaps I ruined them at an early age when I felt the compulsion to document EVERY moment. Regardless of the reason, I refuse to let them win. As I tried to explain to Little Helmut: He may not care what his 17 year old self looked like in 10 years, but I sure will. So, a couple weeks ago, we headed out on a Sunday afternoon to take the annual Christmas card photo. I made a few mistakes that day and learned a few lessons in the process.

Dogs are an unpredictable subject. I love the way Sam looks in this photo, her expression is so natural. Chuy's crazy turned head totally ruins it.

Graffiti can make a great backdrop...done the right way. Here it is just downright distracting. If only I have moved the kids forward a few feet, then the graffiti would be blurred into a nice textured background while my subject would be in crisp focus.

Perspective is everything (note: this is a good life lesson as well). Moving all around a subject to get different angles and composition makes for interesting images. But it is definitely a trial and error method. It may look like it in this photo, but Little Helmut's forearm is not larger than his head or as thick as his thigh.

Never take Helmut along as a "helper". He won't help, in fact, he will hinder. Like standing behind me with reindeer antlers on making funny faces so the kids can't keep a straight face.

christmas tradition

Most of our Christmas decorations are up and adorning the house and spreading their fair amount of cheer and jolly. We couldn't decorate the Christmas tree without the family receiving their new Christmas ornament. Each year I pick out a new glass blown ornament for each family member. I try to find an ornament that somehow represents each recipient's year. It doesn't always work out that way and sometimes it is a bit of a stretch. I am not sure how the kids feel about the tradition, but I LOVE it. And maybe someday when they are married with families of their own, they will be decorating their own Christmas trees. They will come across these ornaments and remember their life in 2011.

My ornament is this beautiful natvitiy scene. Doesn't have any direct relationship to my year, but I have a thing for nativities.

Dad got a pretzel. I food theme is always a sure bet with him, plus a pretzel seemed sort of Germanic (work with me here, people).

Little Helmut got this awesome fish on a line. He had a summer full of fishing and loves the sport. It seemed like an obvious pick for him.

Josh got this cute record spinning monkey DJ. Not sure what it has to do with his year, but I liked it.

Samantha got this colorful gingerbread house. She loves to make gingerbread houses and is really good at it. Plus, she is as sweet as candy...sometimes.

baptism day

As soon as Thanksgiving was over and we had awoken from our food comas, we hopped in the car and headed to San Antonio for Lucas's baptism. Jen came along for the trip.

I am ashamed to admit, the eating odyssey just continued. We went from one tasty restaurant to another. But we did manage to squeeze in a baptism in the process. The baptism service was so nice and I was thrilled we could be there to share this special day with Lucas.

 

 

 

 

We tried our best to get a picture of these adorable brothers together, but Lincoln was having none of it.