We Have A Birthday Girl! Sam Is The Big 3!

"...There she flies, clear blue skies. Reminds us with red, of those that died. Washed in white, by the brave. In their strength, she stands...." ~ Michael W. Smith "There She Stands"

First off, I'd like to say a very Happy 4th of July to all who read this. I hope everyone had their share of fun, cookouts, lots of goodies, and of course the fireworks. The weather was sunny and hot. (Well, at least in Boston anyway) Just the way July 4th should be.

Jeremy, the girls and I had a great weekend. We started off ours by celebrating our daughter Samantha's birthday. Sam turned 3 on Saturday, and I have to admit, I'm still in a little denial about it. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was "out to here" pregnant. Samantha graced us with her presence 4 days early. I remember sitting in my hospital room the night she was born and watching the fireworks from our room.

We started off Sam's birthday by going out to eat breakfast at Friendly's. Then we drove down to Stoneham, Ma to visit The Stone Zoo and saw quite the plethora of animals on display. Samantha especially loved the monkey's and the flamingos. Jeremy and I were quite impressed that Samantha knew what a flamingo was. Sarah loved the Sea Otters and the Pygmy Goats. The girls had a great time patting the goats. Sarah spent a lot of time patting, and saying "Hi!" to the little goat. ("Hi" is Sarah's new found word, and proudly says it to everyone...including Pygmy Goats apparently). Afterwards, we drove home to have lunch and then my roomate/friend, Molly from college came down to visit and had dinner. We completed our dessert with ice cream and sang Happy Birthday to Sam and opened up presents from Jeremy and I.


Today, we celebrated our 4th of July by going to my Mom's house to have a nice cookout and to celebrate Samantha's birthday. It was great to spend the day with family, friends and of course great food, (mostly homemade of course) birthday cake and oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. I can safely assume that we all rolled ourselves to our cars after the festivities were all over. Sam & Sarah didn't have their usual naps today...but they were having so much fun playing and swimming in the pool, it didn't matter. They were happy little girls for the entire day...even on the ride home. In fact, Molly's balloons that she gave to Samantha provided quite a bit of entertainment. After a bath, and after some bathtub paint time, the girls were in bed very early tonight. I was able to squeeze a jog on my Wii while watching Toby Keith and the Boston Pops perform live on the Esplanade on t.v. I watch it every year, and I am still amazed by the amount of talent behind every player. God bless the U.S.A and God bless those who protect our country.

Thank you to my Mom for hosting...you did an amazing and fantastic job as always :)

Here's a few of my favorite photos from the weekend:

7.3.10 - Stone Zoo - Stoneham, Massachusetts

7.4.10 - Samantha's Birthday Party / 4th Of July Cookout @ Nanny's House

Happy 4th of July everybody!