Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

I'm totally still on my kick of using fingers for utensils. Super efficient and messy. Fun!
You put your right hand in and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and... wait, it's not play time, it's eating time!

After refueling and napping, it was high time to perform my security duties and walk the perimeter of the patio. All's well today. Thanks for the hand, Grandma Burt.

Cousin Derek came by for a visit and we took him on a tour of the house. Follow me, people!

And, listen closely, folks. I don't have a microphone and sound doesn't travel up so well.

Right this way to the detached garage.

And right this way to my favorite toy in the garage. Go, John Deere, Go!

Sadly, the visit was over before I knew it. To cheer me up we went for a quick field trip. From my facial expression you can surely guess where we ended up.

Gil and Berts, of course. Strawberry this time!

Since I've been gaining so much weight these days it was time for a little exercise.. I'm at a whopping 20 pounds, 12 ounces as of last Friday if you must know.... So, off to the park we went. Pure joy, I tell ya.

Rock on, Burt family!

Off to the races, we go. Across the suspension bridge...

To the windy slide we go. And down, down we go!

Life just doesn't get better than this!

Or does it? Here I am scaling the slide.

All by myself!

Grandma Burt's plane is coming to take her back to California tomorrow. I'm sure sad that the visit went by so quickly, but super grateful that she was able to come out and spend such great quality time with me. I can't wait for Grandma and Grandpa Burt to come back soon!

All Over Town

Mommy and Daddy decided it was time to run errands and pretend they were carefree, young adults. Ha! Whatever. Grandma Burt and I tended to the master bedroom transformation. We scrubbed the floors and baseboards. And we looked super cute to boot. See?This was a posed shot for artistic purposes. Success, if I do say so myself.

After all our hard work, we treated ourselves to a quick trip for ICE CREAM. And Mommy wonders how I got to be 20 pounds, 12 ounces. It wasn't the water, I can tell ya for sure! I sure love Gil and Berts, anticipating the Samantha-sized cone as soon as I see the sign on the horizon.

Here is one of my expressions from my Samantha Madison Burt portfolio.

Good ole' fashioned people watching at its best.

Oops. They spotted us. Quick, smile and they think we're just being friendly.

Lots of love here. Daddy and Samantha moment in action.

You're cute, so I'm willing to share my tasty treats with you.

Here I am contemplating how wonderful life is. And, just how high my hair can get, 80's style of course.

Off to the park!

After our excursion, we headed back home for some weeding/rock counting. Guess which one I cornered the market on?

Wait, I'm three short. Who took my rocks?

Thank goodness I found them and a few hundred more...

Just call me the rock counter, I mean bean counter!

They Say It's Your Birthday, Mommy!

Today is Mommy's birthday, so it was her call for activities. Her choice? The ZOO! So, off we went to Philly where we got a chance to bond with the animals.

Where to first? Follow me, Mommy!

I went through the exhibit, fake smiled for some posed shots and then made a bee-line for the running water. And then practically jumped in until Daddy restrained me.



Then we did scouted out the corn fields and posed away. Boy, we Burts sure are cute!

For some reason that I choose not to share, I wasn't a fan of Mommy today. I swiped at her everytime she came looking for kisses or a photo shoot. That didn't stop Mommy from getting all up in my grill.

We went through great exhibits and had a so-so lunch. Seriously, who forgets a water bottle for a baby when it's 80 degrees outside? My Mommy! Thank goodness Daddy had packed a jarred fruit for me or I'd be a starving baby.

We then headed to the lion exhibit where I waved to all the live animals and then spotted my new favorite interest. A lovely spotted leopard. Outta my way, people. Here I come!

This here snow leopard is mine!

Look Ma, no hands! I'm a balance beamer in training.

This is a fall back to the first visit Grandma Burt made to come visit me and we had a staring contest. It's a whole new game since I can hold my own head up.

It's all mine and I'm not sharing!

I don't wanna leave! Mean Daddy!

Seriously- taking applications for new parents who will let me live at the zoo. Any takers out in the peanut gallery?

The makings of a great temper tantrumer, right here.

Walk, walk, Samantha, walk, walk.

My take on the zoo? The best part was the masked man cleaning a monkey cage and the stuffed snow leopard. Beyond that? Not so much.

After we went home, I had a kickin' nap time and then we had some play time in my bedroom. Go mega blocks!

With some coaching from Grandma Burt, I'm getting really close to being able to stack the mega blocks on my own. Watch out, I'm unstoppable!

I just love this chair. Turns out I left a Nuk in the folds of the chair. Score!

Since I hit my growth spurt, Mommy and Daddy have had to adjust their behavior. They are finding themselves putting things further and further from the edge of tables, dressers and such.

I wonder why?

It's not like caulk belongs on my dresser anyways.

Or this pesky notebook.

Now that my dresser is cleaned off, it's time to kick back in my personalized rocking chair.

Here's a bonus picture of me eating dinner so you can see how well my surgery scar is healing.

Grandma Burt stayed with me while Mommy and Daddy went to dinner. I'm sure I got the good end of the that deal. Dinner out with the parents or fun times with Grandma? That's a no brainer!

Porchfest, Tire Swings, Grass. Oh, My!

Yay for Grandma Burt! Mommy ran errands all day, while Grandma Burt took me on a walk around our yard and let me take all the naps and eat all the snacks I wanted.

When Mommy came home, she replaced my broken four wheeler. Daddy arrived home and raced to see his pride and joy-his John Deere. So, Grandma, Mommy and I tackled the front yard weeds. Yikes, they're everywhere! Turns out that, although I can't stand grass, I absolutely love the mini rocks that are used in the place of mulch in our flower beds. I count them. I try to eat them. I put them in my purse. Life is great!

Then, I heard Mommy suggest heading out to the last Porchfest for the summer and nearly jumped for joy. Daddy held back to set up our compost bins, but the ladies of the house thought about showers, rejected the thought and headed to town. We went to a great house with a barn and a view of about 100 acres of soybeans and corn. Did I mention they have a tire swing? Hot damn! After getting bored with Mommy, I headed over to Grandma for some action. She held my hand and we walked across a field of grass (my first time walking on grass ever!) to the child-filled tire swing. It was a picture perfect moment that had Mommy kicking herself for forgetting the family camera. I jumped right in the action, playing soccer, riding the tire swing and generally having fun with all the kids. I was sad to leave except for the whole bedtime thing.

Pictures tomorrow, I promise.

Shake, Shake. Shake Your Eggs

After we picked up Grandma Burt from the airport and arrived back at the homestead, Mommy pawned me off and sped off to Princeton for a business dinner. She got there a bit early and was suckered by her guilt and bought me some presents.

It was totally worth it. Shaker eggs and maracas. They were the best breakfast present. Keep the presents rolling, Mommy. Shake, shake. Shake, shake. Shake, shake.

Evicted

Today started off very interestingly. I woke up and prepped myself to pitch a fit everytime Daddy was in the same room as me and didn't pick me up. Something lame about sick germs and not wanting to infect me. Mommy, exhausted from my 'activities' yesterday, thought long and hard about what to do with three people in the house who couldn't hang out. Her inspiration hit suddenly, and before you knew it I had breakfast and was off to school. A week ahead of schedule.




Before we headed to school, she loaded me up with a tasty breakfast. Two frozen banana muffins in hand and a Nuk on my tray. Paradise!



Still a bit bloated from surgery, yet my expression is priceless.

Crap, I really need three hands.

But, no spoons. I like to lick containers.

And use my fingers as a makeshift spoon.

Hmmm, I can see the tray through this bowl. Can the tray see me, too? One of life's mysteries!

Mommy only thought I was going to make it at school for two or three hours, but when she called to check on me- I was super baby! And got to stay the entire school day. I sure bounced back like a trooper.

Who Has Time For Pictures?

Certainly not me. After a big disagreement among the parents about my demanding to be coddled at night, the sympathetic parent won out and cried victory when sweet, sweet Dr. G diagosed me with an ear infection in my right ear, same as the last time. So, turns out that my ear infection never went totally away. We then headed to the pharmacy and to see Dr. W who gloated that I was a textbook case of perfect tumor removal.

How'd I spend the rest of the day? Annoying the crap out of Mommy! She tried her darnest to work while I tried my darnest to cause mischief. Here's what I did today between being pathetic from ear pain....

• Learned how to make the water dispenser work and watch the Niagra Falls in my new kitchen.
• Learned how to make the central vacuum work in our house.
• Helped wrap UB's birthday present by ensuring the box could withstand almost 20 pounds of 'shaky yer booty' action.
• Called lots of people from the house phone, including Mommy's cell phone.
• Watched Mommy race to the next room to answer my phone calls.
• Took every remote and caused havoc.
• Banged on Mommy's laptop keyboard while she tried to type messages.
• Screamed into people's voicemail boxes while Mommy was trying to conduct business.

Whew- and that was all before Mommy cried 'uncle' and took me for a two hour walk around town, where we ran into Christopher, Heidi and Langdon. They took us to Village Park and I played on the swings and slide. Yippee!