Staying Busy

As you can tell by my recent lack of posts, summer has finally arrived in Washington State. While the rest of the country has been suffering in sweltering heat, we have been freezing up here! Now that temperatures are finally in the 70s, the Vogt family has been taking full advantage.

Samantha and I try to get outside and soak up some sunshine everyday. We'll either take a walk around the neighborhood, go play at the playground down the street, play in the sprinkler in the yard, or all three. We're also trying to do fun outdoorsy-type stuff with Pat before he leaves for basically all of August.

Sammy's language skills are developing every day. She's gotten pretty good at repeating new phrases and words that she hears, although she usually puts her own spin on them. She likes to say, "Zoom, zoom, zoooooooom!" when she drives toy cars around, but it comes out, "Yo, Yo, Yoooooo!". My other current favorite is yogurt, which she pronounces "yoyuck". This is funny because she actually loves it.

She's also very interested in whether or not different things have body parts. The other day she asked me if her poop had eyes and a mouth. Maybe this is a sign that we should stop referring to really gross diapers as poo monsters. he he

We've also been working on the idea of ownership. Sammy likes to claim a lot of things as "MINE!". I try to correct her when it's something that's not exclusively hers and tell her, "No, that's Momma's" (or Daddy's, or that little boy's). She really likes to point out Momma Go-Go and Daddy Go-Go (go-go is car in Sammy language).

I'll try to post some recent pictures in the next day or two, since I know that's the real reason that you're reading this. :-)

Nicknames

Most of you probably know that we are a nickname-loving family. While I was laying down with Sammy tonight, I started thinking about all the names that she will answer to.

Some of my favorites:

Sammy
Sam
SamSam (in response to MaMa or DaDa)
SamSamSam (in response to MaMaMa or DaDaDa)
Sassafras
Sassafras McSassypants
Sassy
Sass
Stinkerpants
Stinky Mink
Stinky Monkey
Climber Monkey

Monkey
Monkey Doodle
Doodle Bop
Doodle Bug

Doodle
Ladybug

Sweet Girl

It's a wonder that she ever figured out what her given name is!

And because a post is never complete without a cute picture, here's one of Sammy's recent outfits that she put together herself.

D-I-V-A

Diva Sammy insisted on wearing her sunglasses and boots all morning the other day. She pitched a fit when I tried to take them off for breakfast, so I let her keep them on.

Memorial Day Vacation

Pat is in the middle of three weeks of training at the Yakima Training Center in Eastern Washington, so to help keep my sanity Sammy and I went to see Grandma and Grandpa. In retrospect, two 4+ hour flights alone with a toddler and an 8 hour road trip from St. Louis to Nashville were probably not the best ways to stay sane, but everything worked out much better than I had anticipated.

First we flew to St. Louis to spend a couple of days at my Mom's house in Hermann. We took Grandma lunch at school one day, and I was able to see some of my old High School teachers. We also got to see Great Aunt Nancy and Great Grandma Rea and Great Grandpa Jim. I even got to spend a couple of hours with a close friend from High School. We took full advantage of being near St. Louis and introduced Sammy to both Steak 'n Shake and toasted ravioli. Here she is eating leftovers of both of them for lunch.

Richard came into town on Friday, and we all headed to Nashville after Mom got off work. Kurt and Abby made the trip too, so the whole family was able to spend Memorial Day weekend together. Activities for Samantha for the weekend included shrieking with laughter while playing crazy games with Grandpa.

Insisting on wearing Abby's lobster slippers around the house.

Playing with bubbles in the backyard despite the 90 degree weather.

Playing in the sprinkler for the first time ever.

And communing with nature (she watched this frog on the window for about 15 minutes).

We'll be back in St. Louis in late June/early July for a few days, and then we're heading to D.C. for a few days to see the other side of the family. Pat will get to come with us on that trip, so flying should be a little less stressful (although Sammy was a trooper and barely complained this time around!)

I'll Take That!

Sammy snagged Pat's new hat for herself the day after he brought it home. She looks so cute in it that I just might let her keep it!

She also managed to snag a pair of my underware while I was folding laundry and put them on. So silly!

Inherited Traits

I love when Samantha does something and I can totally see Pat or myself in her. Tonight she piled all of her stuffed animals on herself and pulled the pillow over her face to go to sleep. She whined when I tried to take it off of her, so I just left it (I propped a corner up with her stuffed kitty, Simon). The pillow on her head is definitely inherited from Daddy!

If you look closely in the picture you can see a little arm peeking out.

A Sunny Afternoon

Last Saturday we were blessed with a beautiful, sunny day. We took full advantage of it and spent the afternoon in the backyard and at the park down the street. Samantha has quite a little rock collection going. She keeps them on the little shelf on the garden hose hanger. She goes back to it day after day to add new ones and carries some of them around with her.

We showed her how to blow the seeds off of dandelions, and she got it right away. Now she has to stop and blow on them any time she sees one.

She tries to blow the petals off of regular flowers too, but it doesn't work nearly as well as the dandelions.

Pat took the opportunity to start grooming Sammy for a promising golf career. She seemed to enjoy her first lesson, which included dragging Daddy's club around, clicking the balls together, and running up and stealing the golf balls everytime Daddy tried to chip one.