Enjoying her DS...

We are a family of 3...

So it makes me say "hhhmmmm..." when this after noon I went from room to room and found 1 TV on...

...2 TV's on...

...3 TV's on...

And finally, 4 TV's on... and not one person watching any of them... hhhmmm...

More rooms for her Webkinz...

Samantha had me bring more boxes home from work to make more rooms for her Webkinz... Here she is in the craft room creating away...

Summer Painting Project

Here are the pictures of our freshly painted shutters, front door and garage door... The little blanket is where Samantha sat and helped paint...

Here is the front of the house without the shutters...

...And John putting the shutters back up on the house. (he's so cute!)

And the final result!

I love our yard and our house. The other evening I was looking through some old papers and miscellaneous stuff and found pictures from when we first moved in 10 years ago. It was neat to see how everything has grown and changed...

John's traffic light really works. He has it on a timer so about 4pm it turns on. There is a little boy, about 2, in the neighborhood who is absolutely fascinated with the traffic light and everyday he comes by with his dad / mom / grandma... It's funny because sometimes we will see him with his grandma and then a few hours later he will come by with his dad. They tell us how much he loves the traffic light and asks everyday to go see it. That really makes me smile to know that someone else enjoys it as much as we do.

Our Front Porch

Every year I get nervous when I plant annuals. They seem to either do really well or just plain suck at our house. This year the front porch turned out really well. I am definitely doing the ivy again. There is enough shade that I could do the vinca which I love. It's nice to sit out here in the evenings while Samantha plays.

I sat out here yesterday afternoon while John painted the shutters, front door and garage door. (of course the pictures are to follow!) It was a nice afternoon / evening. Samantha started out and helped John paint the shutters. She did such an amazing job. I just love that she is not a little kid anymore and she can really do big things now. Of course she got bored and went over to Hannah's house to play. Then she played in our yard with the neighbor girl and her friend.

Ryan came over and stayed for dinner and "America's Got Talent". We grilled bbq chicken and steak which was soooooo good. While we were out we saw the new neighbor pull into his new driveway so we went over to say hello. As we were chatting I watched a hot air balloon float overhead. The sky was perfectly blue and there were big whit puffy clouds and the balloon. It was beautiful. I'm sure Roderick, the new neighbor, thinks I'm nuts because every minute or so I would point at the balloon and say: oh my gosh that's beautiful!

Samantha's 10th Birthday Party

I draw something on the driveway every year for Samantha's party. This year the theme Samantha chose was Webkinz. So, up at the top there is a Webkinz frog, a cat and an elephant. I was worried about the elephant because he could have gone so very wrong but he came out well. In the front are a horse and monkey but I'm sure you knew that by my excellent drawing skills.

Lee arrived before Samantha's friends and I tried to get a picture of them together but this is as close as I could get Samantha to stand next to him.

So, the girls arrived: Tara and Olivia. And each brought one Webkinz friend to the party. (We limited it to 1 because all the girls have over 30...) Samantha brought Hannah, the hippo. Tara brought Emily, the elephant and Olivia brought Hillary, the white Westie dog. Around the back yard we had the different areas from Webkinz set up. Here the girls are playing doctor at Dr. Quack's Clinic.

At the arcade we had a pinata. My mom had given it to Samantha the last time we visited and we decided to use it as it was intended. We have a soft spot for pinatas shaped like actual animals and cannot whack them with a stick... but this one was a Shrek pinata that wasn't shaped like anything, it just had a picture on the front that didn't get torn up after being beaten with a stick.

John and Lee joined in on the pinata fun. Note that John is holding the stick, that's because when John whacked it he hit it so hard that the pole snapped off the play house and broke. John really had fun with the fact that Lee was blind folded and he tormented him.

Behold, the Wheel of Wow! John made the Wheel of Wow and it turned out great. the girls were thrilled that they could spin it multiple times since you are only allowed 1 spin a day on Webkinz.

The biggest part of the party was spent making rooms for the Webkinz they brought. This is Samantha's room for Hannah.

And Tara's room for Emily. Note the crocheted poncho. I made those as prizes from the games. And note the rock in the little box. That was from the Home Before Dark game. We glued eyes and tails on about 16 rocks and hid them all over the yard. The girls (including John and Lee) had 30 minutes to get them found and home before dark. John and Lee had to help because I tend to hide things really well. It's all because of ladybugs... about 4 years ago Samantha had a lady bug themed birthday party and we did a scavenger hunt. They were to follow the clues and find the mommy lady bug to reunite her with her baby. Well, one of the little girls says: Oh, we don't have to follow the clues, it's right there! So, now I hide things in extra hard places.

And here is Olivia's house for Hillary.

The girls are waiting for cake!

We did pizza and an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen which is Samantha's favorite...

Then it was time for presents... Tara gave Samantha a doctor's kit. It was the hit of the presents! She had spent so much time gathering things and putting it together.

Olivia gave Samantha a Webkinz pink Google in a carrying case. Samantha named the Google Polly...

Grandma gave Samantha some more Littlest Pet Shops...

Lee gave Samantha a Best Buy gift card so that she could pick out her own Nintendo DS game. (She got Nintendogs...) And he said he didn't know that she was too old for Dora but to our surprise the girls loved the card. It is one of those musical ones that plays happy birthday in English and Spanish. We finally had to tell them to lay off the card...

John and I gave Samantha a really big card since she was turning a really big 10!

We gave Samantha a Nintendo DS and we heard through the grapevine that she knew we were giving it to her so we tried to fake her out and filled the box with pancake mix.

They kept digging because they thought there had to be something in the box other than pancake mix...

The pancakes were a big hit though... first Olivia wanted to take some home but then she decided not to and Tara jumped on them and said she'd take them if Olivia didn't want them... Who knew, Dora the Explorer and pancake mix...

They found the DS!

As soon as they were done with the presents the girls gathered up the doctor's stuff and went in to the playroom with it.

It was a great 10th birthday party!

I love summer...

It's about 8pm and I am sitting out on the deck. It's a beautiful evening, there are birds singing and I can hear the sound of the neighborhood. John is making a "wheel of wow" for Samantha's Webkinz birthday party tomorrow and Samantha is watching the new Disney movie, "Camp Rock". We just got back from going in to town. They had music in the park tonight, a swing band that was really good. We went to Miss Marcie's Sweet Shop and walked around. Samantha saw some of our friends and we saw some of ours. It was a lovely evening.

I finally got some basil that I planted in a pretty pot on the deck. Tammy gave me a couple of ceramic pots that John drilled holes in the bottom of for me. Now I have the urge to make spaghetti sauce so that I can use my basil...

Happy Birthday Baby!

Wow, I can't believe my baby is 10 years old today! Every year I call her at exactly 11:55am, the exact time she was born. Today she was out for a special day with Daddy. This morning I had gone and picked up Tara as a surprise. Samantha was in the big bed, John had her close her eyes and when she opened them there was Tara. She was so surprised. John took the girls out to breakfast at Bob Evans. Then they went to Magic Mountain where they played putt putt golf and other various games. Next it was on to the theater to see "Kung Fu Panda". Then came shopping at Justice to spend her birthday money from Grandpa & Lita and then to lunch at Max & Ermas. When I left work I met them at Justice. They were so cute in the fitting room trying clothes on! And when we came home there was a box and an envelope waiting from MaMa and BaBa with season tickets to the Children's Theater and some clothes that MaMa picked out. I think Samantha had a good birthday!

A Clean Playroom!

Samantha and I spent 4 and a half hours cleaning her playroom. We got rid of a giant big black trash bag and a smaller white trash bag full of trash and a big black trash bag for donations. Plus there was a lot of stuff that we designated to give her friends... like her baby doll high chair that she never plays with went to Hannah. I can't stop starring at the playroom! It is amazing!

First Book Club Meeting

We had our first Summer Book Club meeting at the coffee house in town. The girls read "A Wrinkle in Time" as their first book. And: this is Samantha's first picture with her new glasses!

White Squirrel

There are white squirrels at Rose's house. They have been there forever but Rose and I like to tease John and pretend that it is really the same one squirrel who's been there since John was a little boy. John gets all annoyed which we find hysterical. Every day Rose goes across the street to her friend Joyce's house to walk her dog and then they feed the squirrels and birds while they sit and chat so this little guy is quite used to people and agreed to have his picture taken.

I got tagged...

Jess (http://www.gagascorner.blogspot.com/) tagged me for this so here it goes:

1. What was I doing ten years ago?
10 years ago I was one week away from giving birth to my only daughter, Samantha! I was working in retail and managed a clothing store. My feet were swollen and I wore these pink Birkenstocks every single day. At the end of the day my feet would be stuck in them from the swelling. I also figured Samantha would come out with all sorts of bruises because I had a tendency to run into things... especially the counter at work that was even with my belly.

2. What are five things on my list to do today?
I love lists! Today the top 5 things are: Work on the plan for Samantha's birthday party, make hotel reservations for an upcoming show at work, get gas, put out the donations for the Kidney foundation pickup and take the chicken out of the freezer an put it in the fridge to thaw.

3. Snacks I enjoy?
Coffee, chocolate, cheese & pretzels and cereal...

4. Things I Would Do If I Were A Billionaire?
I like Jess' answer and since she tagged me to do this she can't say anything about my stealing it: "Throw more in several savings accounts, stash cash, invest more, take care of family, buy several thousand acres in Florida, Jackson Hole Wyoming, and in Montana. Then I'd open up a trust for everything." (Except the land would be in Costa Rica or Belize.)

5. Three of my bad habits?
Worrying, sleeping pills and picking at my child's ears...

6. Five places I have lived?
With my parents in Eden, NY in the same house until I went to college, then at Ohio Wesleyan until I graduated and moved to Upper Arlington, OH, then I moved into a tiny apartment in Victorian Village near Columbus, then when I got engaged John and I moved back to Upper Arlington then we moved to the East side of Columbus and then into our house... so, I've only lived in 7 different places and in only 2 states.

7. Five jobs I’ve had?
I don't know if I've had 5 jobs... I worked in retail right out of college for 3 different companies as a Store Manager and then I came to CBG Biotech where I am an event coordinator... I've been here 9 and a half years. The summer before College I worked at Wilson Farms which is ironic because that's where John worked his first job before he went into the military... We were in 2 different states though...

8. How did you name your blog?
Samantha one day told me her stummy hurt... she was trying to say stomach and tummy and came up with stummy. I thought that would make a great alias. The B part comes from John. In their police codes there is something called a 16B which means that a crazy person is causing a disturbance. The B stands for crazy person and I just thought it sort of fit: StummyB... Of course then Samantha needed an alias so we came up with Snofie Boom Boom.

The Farmer's Market

I got this cute little snake at the Farmer's Market yesterday for my Dad for Father's Day. A few weeks ago Kelly got one and it looked so cute in her front yard. I couldn't stop thinking about getting one. We'll probably have one for our yard next week!

Our Garden

Everything is blooming in our garden and looks so beautiful. The Hen & Chickens are from John's Grandma in Indiana. We had gone to visit her 14 years ago before we were married and she'd given me some Hen & Chickens wrapped up in some tin foil. When we got home they ended up forgotten in our garage. I can't believe they grew and now look at them. The Forget-Me-Nots are from the creek at my parents house where they grow wild. And John bought me the Clematis last year and we planted it so that it would climb us Samantha's play house.