Brrrr....it's cold!

You know it's cold when your little Weather Bug icon is an igloo. Yikes!

Christmas

Well, we haven't been home very much over the past few days, thus no blog posts have been made. Christmas was a lot of fun for our family this year in spite of the fact that all 3 of us were battling colds at one point or another.
Throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas Samantha has gotten packages and monetary gifts in the mail from the family members we weren't going to be able to see over Christmas. Thank you all so very much! She appreciates everything!
In all honesty I was did an awful job of taking pictures of her over the weekend. I was preoccupied with everything else and just plain forgot to take pictures. Chris remembered to take a few on Christmas Eve, so at least we have something!
Here are a few from the days she spent painting. She sent a homemade Christmas finger/toe painting to all of her grandparents and great grandparents. We're still getting that strange squinty smile from her when we take her picture. Here she is on Christmas morning with her Santa Mr. Potato head. And now for a few random pictures. Some are from Christmas Eve, some are just funny.

Christmas Card Picture Outtakes

For everyone who is curious to see which pictures didn't make the cut for our Christmas card...this post is for you!

The stuff memories are made of...

Samantha is at work with me this afternoon, and a few minutes ago she fell asleep for an afternoon nap. We were just sitting here by the light of the Christmas decorations listening to Mannheim Steamroller, and next thing I knew she was fast asleep.
Go on, give it a listen. You know you want to. Silent Night, Mannheim Steamroller style. It might put you to sleep too. :)

Early Christmas Present

Last night Samantha was so determined to get her hands on our TV remote control. I decided that it would be a good time to let her open one of her Christmas presents early.

We found a remote control that looks exactly like the one we use, only it's pink. I thought it would be easier to tell the difference between her remote and the real one if they were different colors. So far so good. She spent a good portion of the night throwing her remote and her cookie scoop in the air and then chasing them down so she could throw them again.

Thode Family Christmas Card

This is how our Christmas card turned out this year. I mailed them over a week and a half ago, so you should have gotten yours by now. If you haven't, shame on the post office for losing it!

Solution for the Crazy Hair

We picked up a few different kinds of hair clips on Sunday, and these seem to be the winners. She hasn't pulled them out yet, so we'll use them until she does. They're the 'no slip grip' kind, so they hold on to her thin hair pretty well.

She's got her new favorite 'toy' with her in this picture. It's a scoop for cookie dough. Kids gravitate to the strangest things.

A quick Kitty update! It seems like she's doing better. She isn't really wheezing anymore, so we think she's over her cold. She's eating, and slowly starting to fill out a little. Here's hoping that she doesn't have a relapse and get sick again!
As you can see, our pantless little girl thinks Kitty is well enough to play!
One last little thing, we're about to have a tooth explosion. Samantha has 4 teeth on the top that are working through. One is barely poking through her gums, and the other three are right there. Will we have new teeth for Christmas? We'll see...

Smile!

No kidding, this is a sampling of what she did every time I said "smile!" and took her picture. My child has resurrected my baby smile.

Oh, and this last one was caught right in the middle of her waving bye-bye (no idea who she was waving at), but she kind of looks like King Henry the VIII to me.
Her hair drives me crazy when it hangs in her eyes like that, but it's too thin & short to put up and I don't want to cut it. I guess it'll just have to be her signature look.

Your Baby Can Read!

Well, maybe your baby can. Mine can't, but she loves it when we read to her! She has gotten to where she always wants to turn the pages for me. Every night we read Bedtime Kiss for Little Fish, and she just can't get enough of it! All I have to do is say the words 'bedtime kiss for little fish' and she's scooting over to me and crawling into my lap so we can read.

We keep her books in the little magazine rack on the side of our end table. She is constantly pulling books out of there and throwing them on the floor. Last night she discovered that her books are right next to the quilt rack, which would make a pretty cool blanket fort for a kid her size.
She lost interest in that pretty quickly though and turned her attention to the heat vent when the furnace kicked on.I have a new favorite cookie. They're oatmeal cranberry cookies with an orange glaze on top. I'm making a very conscious effort to lead a healthier lifestyle, so this isn't exactly a convenient time to be discovering favorite cookies. Oh well, they're awesome, so I'll just eat them in moderation.
Another new favorite of mine are the peppermint marshmallows. I think I'm going to make another batch and find a way to make them thinner so that I can enjoy them without as much guilt.
Mmmmm...so good!