Report Card

| December 15, 2016

Sam brought home her report card today. It was just as we expected from talking with her teacher. Just wonderful (except for the handwriting part…) Way to go, Sam! We knew you were brilliant!

Just like her Mommy

| December 14, 2016

Sam cracks me up. In so many ways, she looks like Mark, but her personality can be all me. I don’t know how many times she says something, and Mark gives me a look, and says, “That is all you, right there.”

Sam and her classmates have been practicing at school for their Holiday Show. She is always singing some song that they will be presenting. Sam was just standing at our kitchen table, coloring or some such thing, when she said to me very casually, “Mommy, do you know the song ‘Hanukkah, Hanukkah’?” I told her I didn’t, and she said to me, in a tone that was all mine (in a slighty ominous way), “Well….you’re gonna….”  Apparently, there is a Hanukkah song. I guess I’ll wait and see!

My special gift

| December 12, 2016

Sam made me a very special gift this year (with some help from Daddy). Isn’t it beautiful?! I love how it will light up our tree. Sam placed all the LED bulbs by herself. That electronics work is paying off. If she makes enough, I won’t have to string lights anymore! 😉 Thank you, Sammy! I will treasure it always.

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Santa!

| December 11, 2016

This year’s annual Santa visit didn’t go exactly as planned. Why I decided a weekend would be a good time to go, I have no idea. Yeah, bad idea. Bad. Really bad. Loooooonnng line. But, Sam was a trouper and she waited in line for 45 minutes to see the big guy. I think by the time she got to see him, she was so exhausted she couldn’t muster up much energy for a big smile, but she looks beautiful! Ho Ho Ho!

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Gingerbread Craftsmanship

| December 11, 2016

Last night we finally got around to decorating Sam’s gingerbread houses. This year, Sam asked me to get the set that had the miniature houses because “decorating four houses is more fun than one!” Usually, we wait until so late in the year that we barely get to enjoy them before they are out in the trash after the holidays, so I tried to get moving early this year. While she was at a birthday party I assembled the houses so they would have time to dry well before we decorated them that night. I think that’s the first time I thought ahead that much! Usually, we are holding them very precariously together!

One of her favorite parts is the frosting (of course), but mostly because she is always trying to eat it all. Every year, more candy and frosting seem to go into her mouth than on the gingerbread. She did tell me she’d try the cookie part this year, but we’ll see if she actually tries it.

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She let Mark and I help with squeezing frosting, but not much else.

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I think they turned out really well! Very festive and wintery. Here’s the fronts…

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…and the backs.

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My favorite part about doing gingerbread with her is the little details she adds. She always has some crazy thing she adds. Here are photos of some of my favorites. The gingerbread girl to the far left is caroling. Sam added the music notes to the sign as well as her lovely black dress. The gingerbread to the right is making huge snowball.

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This little gingerbread is having a baby. Yup. You heard me. “NP” on the sign is for North Pole. I love her holly bush. It was very clever, I think. She also put frosting on the reindeer’s nose so he looked like Rudolph.

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This poor gingerbread girl got lost in a snowdrift…

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The little gumdrop on the wall of this house is their light, “just like our house.” Sam did a great job. Let’s see how long they last before she eats most of the decorations!

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