Happy SAMMA BAMMA Birthday!!

Look closely, you'll see this is our monitor. On one side is Skip, the other is Jordan and Samantha. Yesterday was Sammy's (or Samie, as she's now spelling it...) ninth birthday. We did the webcam with her to watch her open the presents we sent her. It was lots of fun, but as always, bittersweet since we weren't able to be together. Samantha is one in a million. To celebrate her birthday, here are the top ten reasons I love her so much:

1. She is always willing to help.

2. She is fiercely independent, and hugely successful in her attempts to be so.

3. She still snuggles with me and gives me loves, which is a special treat for a stepmom, especially from a nine-year old.

4. She loves to explore and learn new things.

5. She knows boys like her, and she also knows they're all not worth her time.

6. She let me teach her how to ride a bike once upon a time, and she wasn't the teeniest bit scared.

7. She is a little animalologist. She loves cats, dogs, whales, tigers, and rabbits, and she gets as close to them as she can.

8. She broke me into a little country music. A VERY little, teeny tiny portion of it.

9. She can rock your world in any board game on earth. Except maybe Risk.

10. She is her daddy's girl 100%. She is so much like him in so many ways, and they are all those qualities that make them both so outstanding.

Happy Birthday Samma Bamma! We love you so much and we miss you indescribably. Thanks for being who you are, because you make our lives that much better.