Happy Turkey Day!

Lilly's Thanksgiving Dinner/Show

Kids of Grace, Lilly's school, did a potluck Thanksgiving dinner for all the families of the school last week. Will ended up in Boston that evening so Sophia and I went by ourselves. We even got pretty decent seats for showing up on time. Little did I know that people would get there an hour early and save seats. Thank goodness it was only the two of us because if Will was along we would never have found seats together. Luckily Sophia and I found two in the front. It was so much fun sitting with her and chatting while we waited for Lilly's class to line up in front of the audience.

I forgot my camera so I had to use my cell phone for the blurry pictures and they certainly don't compare to the adorable live version that Sophia and I saw. Actually it was quite funny. Lilly walked in with the rest of her class and then simply froze in one spot. She did wave to me twice when she saw me waving at her. Occasionally she would turn around to look at the kids singing behind her, but for the most part she looked like a deer caught in headlights.

All of the two year olds were asked to wear orange. The other classes each had to wear red, yellow and brown. You can see her front and center in the crowd. She has on a bright orange sweater dress with a cream shirt under it.

After the kids performed three songs, it was time to eat. Sophia wanted nothing to do with the potluck, buffet food and Lilly was just happy to finally eat. I tried a few things, but I have to admit that my very own dish was by far the best one that I tasted. I made Cynthia's sweet potato casserole recipe which is perfect for this time of year. Yum. There wasn't a morsel left in the dish either.

Hmmm....

Looks like they're up to no good.

Paper dolls

This fierce foursome is the product of our third set of paper dolls. The first set was probably a little too old for her since it was literally a set of paper dolls...you know, delicate paper that you have to punch out, fold at the edges back, etc.

The second set was three Disney princesses that were supposed to be magnetic and somehow none of the magnets would stick to them. It seemed like all the pieces were too heavy for the magnet strength and as soon as you stood the dolls up all the clothes and accessories fell off. This really frustrated Sophia. I showed her how to play with them laying flat and that seemed to work for a few days. Then she lost interest.

The third set. The one in the picture. This set was magical. The beauty of this set was that it was constructed of sturdy material and the pieces were all glued on. Sophia still had to punch out all the pieces, but each doll came in it's own special wrapper with individual accessories just for her outfit so that made it even more fun. Each one also came with a before, a 1/2 way done and an after picture which Sophia had to follow in order to make outfit her dolls properly. It took a lot of time for her to complete all four dolls. She was very serious about it too. But look at the marvelous job she did!

Gobble Fest

Last week Lilly and I skipped Kindermusik and went to the Gobble Fest at the rec center. The program was cute. When we arrived each kid was asked to go on a scavenger hunt in the search of a turkey. There were tons of them taped all over the walls and the floor and you wouldn't believe how many kids just walked right by them. Even Lilly. Once she found a turkey she got to exchange it for a goodie bag which literally contained a bunch of junk and 2 pieces of candy. Great, just what we need, 2 more pieces of candy!

There were a few tables set up with Thanksgiving color pages set out for the kids to color. Lilly sat down a few times to color a bit.

The very first thing she wanted to do was get her face painted. I gave her a few options of what to get and she picked a turkey. Gobble gobble.

After we got back from the restroom...we had to go so she could see the turkey on her cheek in the mirror... When we returned Lilly played a few games of corn hole by herself, bounced a bit in both bounce houses, and then got really excited when she saw one of her favorite friends from school. Evan!

She talks about Evan all the time. We usually see him in the parking lot and she always says THERE'S EVAN, MAMA. I guess we run on the same schedule. She doesn't talk about any girls in her class or any other boys for that matter. It seems like Evan is her favorite. He's really shy and doesn't talk in class, but neither does Lilly if you can believe that! (I just got a report today that she came out of her shell during circle time! Yay, Lilly!)

I've asked her before who are her friends and she usually repeats me and says MY FRIENDS with a big grin on her face. Then I start naming the ones that I know. Evan, Grace, Quinn, Sophia, Maddie, Hawkin (and I think there are 3 more)

Anyway, back to the Gobble Fest. I think the last thing Lilly did before we had to leave to pick Sophia up from school was pin-the-feather on the turkey. She peeked the whole time. (smile)

Queen for a Day

Sophia got to be Queen for a Day last week at school. Her class just finished up a unit on castles, dragons, unicorns, kings, queens, etc. and they had a party to celebrate.

At the beginning of the unit, Sophia came home from school and said that she wanted to be the queen and her friend, Paige, was going to be the princess at the party. We didn't have a queen costume so I quickly went to my new favorite store, ebay.com, and found the perfect one. She looked so regal in it. When I dropped her off at school the day of the party I noticed that most, if not all, of the girls were wearing Disney princess costumes. Sophia definitely stood out...and she looked awesome! See the front view and the back.

Mrs. Peeler and Mrs. Rogers definitely overdid themselves with decorations. They had a perfectly prepared table complete with a princess hat and wand for each little girl, red water goblets, and place settings for 17 kids. So cute.



Next month the class will study holidays - Christmas and Hanukkah.

Strike a pose

Yes, we're going to get rid of Lilly's paci...just as soon as we buy her a big girl bed. She'll be 2 1/2 on Saturday. Sophia was exactly 2 1/2 when we took her pacifiers away. So, I guess we better get on the ball and find her a bed! I think we'll have to look next weekend and see if there's something we can live with.

We've been telling Lilly for a few months now that she's going to have to give up her paci. We told her the Paci Fairy is going to give them to baby Jonas. She knows and acts as if she'll be ok with it, but somehow I don't think it's going to be a total piece of cake. We'll see.

More fun with paint

The girls love to do crafts. I think painting is their favorite because they get soooo messy.

Happy Birthday, Cameron!

Two weekends ago we went to Cameron's 5th birthday party. It's so hard to believe that some of Sophia's friends are already turning 5!

The party was at Young Chef Academy. We had never been there before so we were really looking forward to it, plus it was my time alone with Sophia and she always loves that.

She had a ball at the party. They made ice cream and cookie cups. The ice cream was a concoction that was shaken for 7 minutes and then presto chango! it's ice cream...or some cold pasty ice cream knockoff. Sophia refused to eat both the ice cream and the cookie cup. Instead she opted for the dwarf cupcake and, come to think of it, I don't even know which dwarf cupcake she got!

The cake was Snow White and seven little plastic dwarfs sat on top of green "grassy" cupcakes. It was really cute. My friend's sister always makes the cake(s) for Cameron's parties and they are always awesome.

Another favorite outfit of mine

I just love Lilly in this outfit. It's made from a few different fabrics, including one that resembles fake fur...(maybe from a wolf or something. hahaha) It's very coarse and shaggy.

Anyway, I just had to share how cute she looked on her way to church one Sunday.

Heat wave

Well, it's not exactly a heat wave, but we've been having some extremely nice weather over the last 2 weeks. Today it got as high as 75 degrees. It's no secret that I loathe the cold weather so this is a nice way to end November and coast into the holiday season.

Truth be told, I've already decorated our house for Christmas. Yep, I put up the tree earlier this week and Sophia decorated it for me. I've also started my Christmas shopping. I still have to adorn the front door with greens and hang up some outdoor things, but I didn't really want to jump the gun too much and be the talk of the neighborhood.

Furniture shopping

I was trying to take advantage of the Veteran's Day furniture sales and find a new, big girl bed for Lilly, but I didn't have any luck. I didn't find a single style that I liked and that also came in the right size/color. We need a full size bed and most of the kids beds now come in twin and queen, but not full.

I managed to keep the Sophia and Lilly's attention for a few hours while we browsed through five stores. Of course, the two of them immediately ran for the bunk beds in each store. It was cute. I think Sophia would love to share a room with Lilly. Maybe when they're older and out of the napping stage, but by then they probably won't even want to share a room.

I thought Lilly looked adorable sitting on this big girl bed so I snapped her picture with my phone. She looks fantastic in red!

I'm not quite sure what we're going to do about getting her a bed. I guess we'll have to branch out and try some stores in Chesapeake or beyond.

Look at what Lilly does

You've got to watch this video to see what Lilly's new habit is. Talk about gross.

Soccer is almost over

Our last regular season game is today at 12:45. We have a make-up game next week at 12:15, but Coach Gary said that every time he has a make-up game at the end of a season it's always a rain out. (Will and I think that would be GREAT!)

Sophia had her last practice on Thursday night and following practice was the end of season soccer party. During practice (much like the last 3 games) I was out there on the field with her in order to get her to play. She did let go of my hand and chase after the ball alot, but is not in soccer shape and kept complaining that her belly hurt from running. Only when the ball hit her shoe did she kick it, but I have to say she has a powerful kick when she's willing to show off a bit.

At the party the girls were served pizza, cupcakes and pink lemonade. Sophia thought the cupcakes were awesome and each one had a plastic soccer ring on top so every girl got to take home a ring in addition to their trophies and certificates. The trophies are bobble-head girls. They're really cute.

As the holiday toy catalogs arrive in the mailbox (almost every day) I let Sophia browse through them and circle things she would like for Christmas. We've already got a list going, but that's a different topic. Ironically, yesterday she found a series of dolls, much like the American Girl doll series, and circled the girl doll wearing a soccer outfit! --- NOT A CHANCE, GIRL!

Will said no more team sports until she is ten. I hope we don't have to wait that long. I hope she want to play a team sport at some point, but she might be better suited in a solo sport like tennis or swimming. She wants to take swimming lessons again so we'll look into that at the rec center again. It's so cheap to do it there and she's really comfortable in that pool. Should turn out to be a positive experience. (smile)

Puzzle jumping

Sophia can put this giant puzzle together in a snap. While I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off on Thursday so we could get to the gym at a reasonable hour in the AM, my girls decided to puzzle jump.

It started out as simple as walking over the puzzle, then it turned into running over the puzzle and, soon they were jumping over the puzzle. I had to take some pictures, but I made them stop as soon as I was done because I didn't want them to fall down. I'm a party pooper!

Just going to school

It was a rather pleasant morning so I asked the girls if I could take their pictures before school today. Sophia jumped at the chance to pose for me, today. Lilly is still acting a bit camera shy, but I think I got two cute pictures.

Sophia's report card

Last week Will and I met with Sophia's teacher, Mrs. Peeler, for our fall parent/teacher conference. Mrs. Peeler, much like Mrs. Harden, confirmed for us that Sophia is exceptionally bright. She excels at her reading tasks and is breezing through her second phonics book. She will be starting math concepts soon (probably at the beginning of the year).

Mrs. Peeler couldn't stress enough that sending Sophia to public school Kindergarten would be doing her a disservice. She told us that Sophia would be bored and that she'll already be reading! In public school Kindergarten she will NOT be reading and will be learning things she already knows.

I'm all for sending her to private Kindergarten and really want her to go to Beach Manor for all day K next year. Lilly will be there next year too. Let's hope that Digital Fulcrum continues it's upward momentum.

We're really proud of all the hard work she is putting into her reading skills. You can just see the curiosity in her eyes as the words start to come alive on the pages of her books. Nana gave Sophia a Leap Frog "reader pen" handheld computer that allows her to drag the attached pen across the words and the system reads the story out loud to her. I really hope I can find some compatible books/cartridges. I need to take the system with me so I know exactly what I'm looking for because every time I'm out and I think of it, I can't remember what we have. Some refer to this condition as "MommyBrain". (smile)

She's afraid of eating a grape

THIS POST IS BEING WRITTEN IN REAL TIME SO FORGIVE THE MISTAKES.

Sophia has always been a picky eater, but lately she won't even eat an apple. She tells me that it could be poisoned like in the apple in Snow White. Sounds like a new lame excuse to me.

Right now she is afraid to eat even a grape. She been sitting on the couch for 2 minutes licking the skin, deciding whether to take the plunge or not. Um....the skin doesn't have any flavor, does it?

Picture me laughing my head off because as I write this she is currently gagging over the grape and yelling that she can't eat grapes. Please note that initially she asked for them! I gave them to her in spite of my better judgment. She didn't eat any dinner. An hour lately and she's hungry. I offer her a banana. She reluctantly eats it (only complaining for the first bite).

And 1 minute later - It's over. She gave up on the grapes and she just told me that she's hungry. I'm ignoring her, secretly laughing.

She has been on a carrot kick lately. She's never been overly enthused by carrots (and will only eat them raw), but lately she asks for them when I tell her she has to eat something healthy. I'm ok with that.

About 2 weeks ago I got her to eat 4 or 5 tiny pieces of ham. Her very first! She actually said she liked it, but hasn't touched it since.

We all know that Lilly, on the other hand, will eat most of what is offered to her. She also got a bowl of grapes just a few minutes ago and there are only 2 left in her bowl plus I think she's still working on them. She also shoveled in an entire bowl of spaghetti only an hour ago.

Now Sophia is mad at me because I ATE MY WHOLE BANANA SO WHY CAN'T I HAVE A PIECE OF CANDY?

Me: Because you didn't eat your dinner.

Sophia: OH SHUCKS. YOU'RE A LITTLE BABY THEN. MOMMY, CAN WE PUT UP OUR CHRISTMAS TREE TODAY? MOMMY, WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? MOMMY, I'M A LION.

Now she is singing:
Happy birthday to you
You little kazoo
You burp like a monkey
And you smell like one too!

Now she's fighting with Lilly about why Lilly is turning the light on and off. (I usually try to let them work it out on their own these days and if the fighting gets really bad then I step in.)

OK, Gotta go step in.

I love this outfit

This is one of the back to school outfits that I got for Lilly. The little ruffles on the bottom are simply adorable. Of course, she wasn't in the mood to pose for a picture. I snapped one of her running up the stairs to get away from me so you can see the cute back pockets and bottom ruffles, but I also caught her as she was walking out of her room a few minutes later. You can get a better view by clicking here.

Halloween Day

I took Lilly and Sophia to the gym yesterday morning to meet Snow White. Sophia was too shy to even say hi to her. She even told me she didn't like Snow White anymore and that Ariel was her favorite princess now. Lilly was also acting very shy (and I think she was a bit tired), but at least she let me hold her long enough to get a picture taken with the princess. I hope they won't be so shy when we go to Disney this summer.

After we stopped in at the gym we high-tailed it back home to get ready for our "Halloween party". A few of our neighbors and Haley & Carlie came over at 4:30 for pulled pork (and all the fixings) before we headed out for trick-or-treat. We ended up trick-or-treating around our entire loop. We were out from 6:00 - 8:15. WOW! At least I was smart enough to bring the wagon for the girls to take turns riding in along the way. And I was also smart enough to bring a plastic goblet and some wine too.

Sophia and Haley each spilled their candy sacks one time. Sophia on the sidewalk and Haley in the wagon. The little girls moved very slow, but they were definitely troopers and made it to every single house. We came home with tons of candy and also had some left over from what we were passing out. I definitely need to ration out the candy for the girls or they will want to eat all of it in one day. I think my policy (for all 4 of us) will be one piece after lunch and one piece after dinner. The picture below is missing an entire bowl of candy that I just couldn't fit into the frame. Talk about calories...