Samantha is TEN

When Samantha was three I told her that when i was 10 I had my birthday at the space Needle so she decided then and there that's what she wanted to on her 10th birthday. There have been many times we have been in Seattle and we have wanted to go to the top but Samantha said no we had to wait until her 10th birthday!  The day finally came! And what a gorgeous day it was.

Brunch on top of the space needle

Samantha and her friend Faith

I can't believe she's 10! 

The family!

Me and my baby girl!

Samantha and Faith

Samantha and Sydney sitting facing South!

Jon and I 

The electronic sign in on top of the Needle

Samantha got to bring her friend Faith and we brought her mom Lisa along too for me to have a friend! We stayed at the Westin in Seattle while the twins and Jon stayed in Bothell with the Hughes.  It was so much fun. We walked around Bellevue Square and went swimming at the Hotel pool.

The girls brought their American girl dolls!

Alyssa works at the Westin and had a yummy dessert sent up for Samantha!

It was a perfect 10th birthday! 

Valentine's Day 2015

It was a Pinterest kid of day!

Courtney's class and her panda Valentine's.

Friendship bracelets for Samantha's class

Sydney's class rocks!

The Howe's Christmas

Our annual Christmas card 

Started our Christmas Eve day with a walk around Lake Padden.  Took th the dogs with us this year and since we hardly ever take them out in "public" they got super excited every time they saw another person or dog! Needless to say it took us 1 1/2 hours to walk 3 miles! Sometimes I think I don't have to be a parent check things (like what they are wearing) and we get there and I realized Sydney didn't wear a jacket and she wore "new" boots so they got all muddy and she was cold! We all still had fun though!

After the walk we headed to Starbucks for hot chocolate w extra whip cream and treats!

Christmas Eve was spent at Lex and Leah's. This years theme was The P. Diddys the Hampton's "White Party!" 

4 generations of Ludtke's!

New Christmas Jammie's and Robes! I have two robes and The girls have been sleeping in them for the past few months so I never get to use either of them! So I broke down and bought them all their own ladies medium robes! Big and comfy and I got mine back!

Silly me didn't get my annual picture of the kids all sitting by the tree with all the presents! Oops

I got new slippers ... Funny story. The twins and I were wrapping Samantha's presents from them and Sydney says "mom you can't get the 'owl cutie' because it's in the bag that your slippers are in" Courtney and I start laughing because she just told me I was getting slippers for Christmas and Sydney started crying because she thought she ruined  my surprise! I hugged her and told her it was ok then we all started laughing!  Here's a video of Samantha getting her boots from her sisters http://youtu.be/fP9QY0esrIQ 

Sydney has been into magic tricks lately so Jon bought her a magic kit and she put on a show...Courtney was her assistant!

Samantha was the only one to write to Santa this year and ask for something. She asked for 'darn yarn' so Santa brought all 3 girls it. I bought them all the knitting supplies and a book w a video on how to knit. I figured they all love the rainbow loom why not have them learn how to make scarves and afghans!

Samantha painted me this lovely mug! 

It was a beautiful day celebrating the birth of or Lord Jesus Christ!

Hooky

This morning I decided to get Courtney out of school and take her to the mall. She hadn't bought her sisters birthday present yet or her teachers. Tonight was the church Christmas program and we have had busy last couple days so I just decided this was the only time. At 9:45 I showed up at school and signed her out of class. She was a little nervous and quiet. I told her we are going to go shopping at the mall. I also told her not to tell her sisters. Thinking this was something special but her reaction was not what I was expecting. We got in the car and we are about 5 minutes in and she said she was scared. I told her there was nothing to be scared about this is fun we are playing hooky! She had no clue what that meant so I did my best. I was also playing hooky too since I was really suppose to be at work. I asked her if she wanted to stop and get some hot chocolate and she said NO! We got to the mall which is about 20 minutes from the school and she now has real tears and wants to go back to school she really felt like she was doing something wrong. I explained to her that it was ok. The school knows where she is at and everything is going to be alright. I sai, "lets just go in and get the presents quickly and I'll take you right back to school." She said Ok only because I was making her! I would have totally loved it if my mom took me out of school to go shopping. I was floored.  I asked if she wanted to get some popcorn while we were at Target and that was another no. She picked out a nice scarf for her teacher and an outfit for Sydney's American girls doll for Christmas. We then headed over to Justice because she wanted to get her a big Ty Beanie Boo that was there. We walked by the gumball/candy machines and she finally said yes to some Mike and Ikes! I think she is sorta enjoying herself finally! We got back to the car and headed back to school and as we were driving into the parking lot I asked her if she ever wanted to that with me again... Her response " No mom take Sydney or Samantha next time!"  Crazy Kid!!

school pictures

 Samantha 4th grade

 Courtney 2nd grade

Sydney 2nd grade

Bruno and Courtney

Couldn't find Bruno tonight and this is where I found him!

4th of July

Happy Girls!

We went to an old high school friends parents house who I haven't seen in years! It was great to see him and all of his family. His parents live on Wiser lake and the kids really loved their boats!

We then headed out to Birch Bay for our traditional Fourth of July! I do have to say it is small town America that really knows how to celebrate America...by buying up all the fireworks on the reservation and spending hours blowing all of it up!

Been celebrating the 4th with most of these people since we were all little kids...and the tradition continues!

Sarah was nice enough to go for my mile walk with me today (Day 184)

Sparklers!



As always it was a terrific Fourth...