round 3...

not to be left out of the cool crowd, samantha decided she just had to make like her two older sisters and get herself some pretty pink baby measles. unlike liney, who was the happiest little spotted baby ever, samantha was a lot more like dava, very morose and quiet, very still, restful and quietly grumpy. only content to be constantly held. but unlike her squirmy-wormy self, she was so nice and calm, and would just lay her head on our shoulders. she wouldn't be caught dead doing something so inactive like that now. shucks!

it all started with a fever, that quite literally warmed mommy's cold cheekies
and then came the spots
and the grumpiness

dava. liney. manta.

mastering the scooter
eating an apple on the toilet while waiting for shower time
just bringing in the laundry

a little off the subject...

i haven't drawn in a couple hundred million years...but sometimes i get the inpsiration, and recently i picked up the pencil again.
i have discovered that i draw much easier on notebook paper rather than plain, non-lined bond paper. --something to the effect that on notebook paper i don't feel i have to draw "nicely", whereas a nice clean sheet of white bond paper brings on the pressure that just doesn't work so well with me.
in any case, the drawings are in "chronological order" from newest to oldest...

march 27, 2010 - the kiss--colored (colored pencil on bond paper)
(i wasn't gonna post these first two, but sam liked them, and wanted me to post them...i was just scribbling one night while he was out on outreach, and the original pencil drawing is what happened, and then i made a colored version...)
march 26, 2010 - the kiss--original (pencil on notebook--if anyone can read my writing, the poem has no significance of any sort...just that every once in awhile poetry comes to mind with the picture)
march 26, 2010 - they didn't believe it (pencil on notebook)
march 23, 2010 - the bee (pencil on notebook...then i proceeded to color it)
march 23, 2010 - dance (pencil on notebook)
march 21, 2010 - scribble (pencil on on notebook--my first charicature-ish art)
january 2010 - fireflower (colored pencil on bond paper)
december 2009 - holly (pencil on bond paper)
(ps..."real" artists, don't scrutinize body positions or proportions...drawing is not on my list of what i consider my better talents...)

tent time

samantha is overjoyed to now be able to sit and play with the "older" girls.

btw...her first tooth is finally popping out at 8 months. i don't think she realized that being a little late was part of the bargain for forcing her way out early, but she definitely knew what she was doing coming out early...pushy little buddha-boss that she is.

manta

liney has officially joined the baby-nicknamers club, and dubbed samantha "manta"...which i think is a perfect little name for this little chinky fat girl:

one day at soccer she decided to eat grass and consequently throw up multiple times on herself til she had finally used up all of her extra clothes, as well as liney's and dava's extra clothes, and all that was left was mommy's jacket:

lapa head...

it's a little ol cricket bug

dava's birthday...

dava had a very extended birthday this year, i think it may have started on saturday, when provisioning came in and vovo clara saved something special for her (a chocolate egg)--that's when it all began. i also began baking prep that day (i think) which was just about the dumbest thing i ever did. any mothers want a hot tip for ruining a cake? do what i just said i did. perfect recipe for disaster! --i thought i was saving time.

sunday: making cookies for her party on monday (still not yet her "real" birthday) ...the cookie cutters were one of her birthday presents, thus the cookies. first time in my life that i ever made cookie cutter cookies.
monday: birthday breakfast out (just decided to do the major celebrations on monday, since the party would be on that day anyway)
while waiting to go to the park, a naughty little girl found the cookie jar and kept asking for cookies. i told her she could have them at the park, then she kept asking to go to the park so she could eat the cookies. i thought she looked cute carrying the cookie jar around, so i told her i'd take a picture, to which she whined, "no pictures, no pictures..." and promptly covered her face, as if in shame. later, when finally loading things into the bakkie (pronounced buckey, in "american" it means a pick-up) we found her contentedly sitting in the driveway, eating a cookie (obviously, she discovered how to open the jar). once finished, she got up and walked away, very pleased with herself, leaving the cookie jar sitting there, with no use for it anymore, since she managed to get what she wanted out of it.
at the soccer field...
i made the mistake of saying "crazy" along with the word "smile"

and there's liney trying to blow out the candle...uh, yeah...the cake's supposed to be some form of soccer ball, probably something closer to "love thy neighbor" and making a "super movie"..."fwump"
and finally, dava actually blowing it out
on wednesday, she got to eat her chocolate egg along with her breakfast of apple pie/cake which "avo grandpa" (sam's dad) made, and she got the rest of her presents (courtesy of liz and niki...they were really supposed to be christmas presents, but christmas already brought way too many presents, so we saved them for her birthday).

the end.

panarottis sunday

3 words: KIDS EAT FREE
definitely a reason to go there for a family day.

malls are very family-conscious here; check out this we-like-parents cart for kids. the only curse is trying to leave them...

vovo helping dava make her pizza (you can get the dough rolled out on the platter, and the toppings on the side in little cups, then it's all on the kids from there on out)
liney just liked snitching the tomato paste
the finished product
digging in
liney insisted on staying in her "car"
as is typical, the baby was quite angry at everyone for eating, but finally satisfied with a piece of crust to munch on.

kids