Sammy is 3!

Hard to believe that 3 years ago today I was waking Doug up to get to the hospital. Sam is the just the greatest little guy. So friendly and happy. And, his best friend - "you are my best friend" - is his Mom right now. What a sweetie!

They like him at daycare too! His door had a banner on it for him today.

After dinner, we finished off the rest of the cake with yet another candle!

Grandma and Grandpa called, so Zach helped Sam hold the phone while they sang to him.

Big brother was eager to help with the gifts!

Daddy knows Sam very well. A RED Playmobil boat.

A LEGO CD Boombox from Grandma and Grandpa!

A LEGO street sign from Mom and Zach.

Cool Leap Frog learning to read system from Fred, Lisa, Burton & Max.

An alarm clock from Mema and Papa! How cool.....the two LEGOs fit together!

Mema and Papa also sent two fun sets of towels for the "boat theme" bathroom that Zach and Sam use. Very fun! Such nice things, the kids are so lucky. Thanks to everyone.

Happy Birthday Sammy!

Dustin and Cecile also have a H2Oasis pass for their family. A great place to spend a Sunday afternoon and celebrate Sam's birthday! We all played and then had pizza, orange soda and cake!

This was a really fun cake and perfect for H2Oasis. Mickey on a surf board and Minnie laying on the beach watching him. I would have been the perfect Mom if I had remembered to bring a candle! We sang Happy Birthday and Sam loved it, then he looked at the cake and blew at it. Ok, nothing like making me feel REALLY bad that I forgot a candle.

Zach was helping Sam to eat his cake, which I thought was really sweet. Then I caught on, he wanted to Sam to finish so the gift that Ian/Lucas brought could be opened!

A Playmobil boat! Dustin, Cecile, Ian and Lucas know Sam well!

At home we later had dinner and another little slice of cake - this time with a candle!

Saturday Night!!

It was a fun and relaxing afternoon. Ok, as relaxing as it can be with 4 little boys in the house! We watched movies, talked, ate popcorn & then vacuumed up popcorn and Girl Scout cookie crumbs!

Dustin bought Cecile and I yellow roses. How sweet!

Dustin had stopped at the store on the way over and made dinner for everyone. Red beans and rice with some awesome sausage he brought back from Louisiana! I had some squash in the refrigerator, so we made that too. Yumm!

Cecile and I headed out at 8 pm to meet up with friends at the Fire Tap from her work. They are a great group, I only knew Sarah prior to the night, but had a great time with them all. We arrived back home a little after 11 pm to find all 4 of the kids sound asleep! What a busy, but fun day!

Lunch with a View

After securing the float, we drove it back to Halliburton for safe keeping and then went back downtown to join the Davis' for lunch at the Snow Goose restaurant. A great view as it is right on the water downtown. Good food too!

Sam's head is SO funny in this picture. This is his "new thing" - tilting his head while saying "cheese"!

Our plan had been to head to the carnival after lunch. We made it a couple of blocks from the restaurant....it was SO cold! That wind! What are we doing? This wasn't fun and we finally came to our senses. Let's go our house to watch a movie and relax!

Look at the flags! They are straight out! It is cold and windy!

Parade Time

Up early.....it is parade day! The day of the big event! We had a great time! The weather had been 37*F on Friday.....of course, today it got cold and the winds from the north blew in. The turnout of float participants and spectators wasn't as large as in past years.....but those who came had a good time!

The panther girls! Sandie Lawrence, me and two students.

We laughed that it was a very "safe" float. Dave Lawrence (HSE Manager for Schlumberger, Halliburton's main competitor), Janesse Hickman (HSE Specialist for Baker Hughes, another competitor) and me. We three do a lot of meetings together and know each other well. It is fun that we all have kids at the same school.

With Cecile.

This Mercedes G500 lead our part of the parade. A fancy German car! We had originally planned to have it pull the float, but then saw the trailer and decided to pull it with our F-250. We certainly don't want to damage that car! I have been informed by Doug, that for his 50th birthday we will be going to Stuttgart, Germany to pick up our new Mercedes and do the "European trip" with it before having it shipped back to the US. Both kids will be fluent in German by then. We have 9 years....it is a goal. 9 years....start saving!

Doug did an AMAZING job with the float. The side panels are fantastic! They have hand rail posts that come up on the tie down areas on the float sides. The bottom of the rails had slots for the large wood flag panels to wing nut into. Slick....it went together so well! Nice job Doug!

A neighbor from the float next door came to visit.....GEICO anyone?

What a great time!

The Queen of Hearts

The Anchorage Petroleum Wives Club hosts a black-tie optional charity event every year. This year it was at the Marriott and was benefiting AWAIC (the abused women's shelter in Anchorage). Halliburton had a table and 5 employees and spouses were going. Robert's wife, Kim, had spent months helping to plan the event; she had also reserved a room at the hotel for the night as a romantic get-away. Well, Robert, Eric and Chris' wife, Jeni, were all in Prudhoe Bay and flights were cancelled Thursday night & Friday due to the storm. They didn't make it back in time for the event. Robert is in so much trouble!

I called Kim and told her that I would be her date....I have a dress I could put on. Worked out that there were 4 empty seats at our table so Doug & I and Emily & Michael all got dressed quickly after work and headed on over. Doug and Michael didn't have a tuxedo, but looked so handsome all dressed up!

Doug & I with Bob & Linda Anderson. Bob is our District Manager and my boss. Great guy to work for.

The room was set-up with tables, a silent auction along both ends and a large area for a "casino night". Doug and I never did use our chips as we got to talking to friends and ended up giving our chips to Steve and Anna Marie who live next door to us.

Chris and Heather Wallace. We knew them from our Houston days. They left Houston and went to Azerbaijan for a couple of years before moving to Alaska where her family is. They have 2 boys about the same age as Zach and Sam. Chris just moved from the competitor to Halliburton about 6 months ago. Fun to get together with them.

Michael and Emily. They just moved from Indiana. He works for BP and she works for us at the front desk. They have been dating since high school and are a super cute couple. Doug leaned over at dinner and told me "remember when we were like that?"......free and young and so excited to be at such an event as this with, as Emily put it "important people". Too fun.

Kim and Linda.

Greg and his wife. They live up the street from us. Their daughter, Jasmine, babysits for us on occasion.

Speaking of babysitting. Chris had offered that we could drop Zach and Sam off at his house and Danielle (a former temporary receptionist at Halliburton) would watch Ethan (11), Zach and Sam. Well, all went well....but, when Doug and I arrived back at their house the central vac system was on and we couldn't get it to turn off. I can only imagine what a little toddler may have done to it.....the issue is still pending! Huh!