We had two V-day parties on Saturday. The first one at 10am was a play date for Sophia and Lillian. The second party which began at 7pm was a Going Away party for our dear friends, Mike and Audra Guthrie and their twins Jackson and Lola Grace.
The usual crew came sans Haley and Carlie came to the play date. Haley woke up with a stomach flu so they didn't come. Addie, Cameron, Trip, Sophia and Lilly had a good time. Trip found the 3 balls and 2 toys on wheels that we own and he was in heaven. It must be hard being the only boy in a group of 6 girls. Addie's mom is pregnant so maybe she'll have a boy. That's my prediction anyway.
The kids got to make Valentine's crafts, play pin the heart on cupid and color/design shrinkable art. After that we ate pizza and then the big girls took off to play princess and dress up. Lilly followed them around and Trip played in our ball pit. (Have you seen our dining room lately?)
The second party was really fun. Most couples brought their kids so we had a full house. The kids played together really well too and ranged in age from 5 years - 11 weeks.
I swear I have the worst luck with cameras. The first one we had was a point and click and it was just way too slow after a while, plus I think it broke. The next one which was an SLR camera was stolen. I absolutely loved that camera and it took fantastic pictures. Anyway, the one we currently have is missing! We had a Valentine's it's gone. I believe she either lost it in our house or someone stole it. I highly doubt that someone would steal our camera so it must be that she lost it. I've searched every single room, but I can't find it anywhere. I've even check in the potty seat. No luck...
So, for now I must make a decision. Be without a camera or get a new one which I've been talking about doing anyway because the zoom is kind of broken and so is the lense cap. I think I'll switch back to a really good point and click...if there is one. I want to be able to put it on my pocket and at this point that is overruling all other pros and possibly even against my better judgment.
We're so proud of Sophia. She's finally passed the "test" at school and has learned to write all of her letters and she's been promoted to her first phonics book.
If I could write a book it might be about Lilly's obsession with our kitchdn pantry. I guess it's pretty enticing to a 1 year old when the chocolate chips and baking supplies are on the bottom shelf. She loves to get out the paper plates and the napkins too (these are on a shelf within reach).
A few days ago I noticed that she was being unusually quiet AND she was in another room. She's usually in the same room as me, but this time I discovered her on the steps eating a plateful of marshmallows. Boy did she pitch a fit when I took them away from her.
OK, so we have a cream colored ottoman. Kind of stupid with two young children, right?
Well, until last weekend it wasn't a problem, but on Sunday morning Sophia decided to take advantage of my nap (at 6:30 AM) and draw a pumpkin on the ottoman.
She knew better.
When Will got up and I told him what happened he yelled at her. She burst into tears and I could tell she felt bad. It tugged at my heart, but not enough that I wasn't still mad about it.
She knew better.
The markers are "washable" so you would think the marker would come out, but low and behold it's still there...only now it's smeared all over.! Hmph!!
Will made her help him clean up the mess. Of course, she was wearing a costume of some sort. In this case it was a winter hat and a velvet holiday dress over her clothes.
I have yet to get my hands on the mess and try to remedy the situation. I'm planning on doing it this week now that both of our Valentine's Day parties are over. But in honor of our two parties I did a task that I had been putting off for months. I painted over all the scuff marks and drawings on the walls. It made a huge difference and I swear I won't wait as long next time...(yeah, right).
Well I should say that we inherited a fish. Our very dear friends Audra and Mike and their twins are moving back to Colorado where they have their roots. We will be extremely sad to lose them from the area, but now we have a reason to make a west coast skiing trip.
Anyway, the fish is blue - some sort of fighting fish. I wonder how long we'll be able to keep him alive. He's about 6 months old now.
Sophia asked if she could feed the fish as soon as she woke up this morning. I wonder if she's going to clean the tank too.
We met Haley & Carlie and Cameron & Trip for the Grand Opening of The Little Gym at the new mall close to our house. The Little Gym offers dance and gymnastics classes in a My Gym kind of environment.
We braved it through our single inch of snow and trudged our little butts all the way there just so all the kids could play and burn off some of their energy. The girls were running around for an entire hour and could have continued for another hour, but it was time to leave. Instead of going home we all went out to dinner at a completely empty restaurant. THANK GOODNESS because the kids were literally either crawling all over the floor (the older ones) or running drills around the entire place (the younger ones). Fun times.
Oh yeah, Sophia got her hair cut and you can see her new style in some of these pictures. Most of the pics are blurry because the kids were on the move . . . and we need a new camera again! But considering how often I use our camera I guess we might go through them quicker than most families. Who knows.
she throws things. When Lilly is in the middle of a temper tantrum she will throw anything you offer to console her.
* She especially enjoys throwing food all over the floor when she's finished eating if you don't rescue her from her chair fast enough.
* When she doesn't want to take a nap she will throw her blanket, her PAPI (paci) and her WAMY (Lamby) on the floor.
* When she's throwing a tantrum because she doesn't get her own way she will knock things off of tables and intentionally pick up objects just to throw them.
This morning Sophia and I were playing in the FROG because she is banned from TV until she behaves at school. She will get her chance tomorrow to earn her TV time back. The back story is that she has been refusing to go into the classroom, she's been refusing to write her letters and on Wednesday she refused to do her craft. Her teacher thinks it's a battle of the wills with her. So do I, but she's a stubborn one (just like me).
Anyway, back to this morning. We were playing Snow White and this was our conversation.
SOPHIA: Mommy, can I be a princess when I grow up.
ME: Of course you can, honey. Which princess will you be?
SOPHIA: Snow White. Who will be the dwarfs?
ME: Probably some boys.
SOPHIA: I don't like boys. Daddy can be a dwarf. Which one is he?
ME: Daddy can be Doc because he's really smart.
SOPHIA: And you can be Dopey because you don't know everything yet.
Last week we went to a bounce house with Haley/Carlie and Addie. We all had a great time. I even got to slide down a giant slides with the girls a few times. You should have seen Lilly after going down the slide. She squealed in delight and then begged for me to take her again and again and again. She loved following the big girls around and trying to keep up with them.
Later in the afternoon we went to the mall and I let the girls play at the train table in Barnes & Noble and then on the ride-on toys.
Both girls fell asleep by 6:30 pm. I guess I wore them out, but what an enjoyable evening for me.
It's snowing!!!!! Sophia is beside herself. She can't wait to get outside and play. I'm volunteering Will for that fun activity while I stay indoors and keep warm. Afterall, that's why we live at the beach.
It's supposed to start snowing tonight overnight and continue through tomorrow night. We're expected to get 12 - 18 inches. Should be a fun day for the girls.
I was trying to get a cute picture of the girls today so I asked Sophia to put her arm around Lillian while they were sitting on the couch surrounded by Sophia's stuffed friends. (Side note: From day one Sophia has loved stuffed animals and so far Lilly prefers baby dolls.)
I didn't get a good closeup picture of them, but don't they look adorable? Lilly was so tired she just collapsed on Sophia's leg - and Sophia let her!
Within the last two days she's figured out how to climb up onto the kitchen chairs and stand up. This new talent is quite scary to mom. I can turn my back for only a second and she's already standing on the chair. It's cute how she gets up there. She uses her arms to pull herself up instead of using her legs. I think we may have a climber on our hands.
She also loves drinking out of a real cup. See the before and after below. She's so proud of herself.
Sophia thought it would be a good idea to play dress up with Sadie. She put a headband on the dog to "make her look pretty". Sadie kept the headband on for a good hour. She's such a good dog.
On Tuesday my friend Michelle dropped off Haley (Sophia's friend) and Carlie (Lilly's friend) for a few hours while she got her hair highlighted and cut. I know my girls had a fantastic time with their friends. Sophia and Haley played dress up and princess the entire time. Sophia hasn't taken her Snow White dress off for the last three weeks so that's the costume she wore and Haley wore the other Snow White costume that no longer fits Sophia. They quietly played together for three hours. I'm serious. I never heard a peep out of them. Neither did they make a mess. They have wild imaginations so I can only guess how they were acting out princess scenes.
I spent my time refereeing Lilly and Carlie. Well, that's not completely true. They loved playing in the ball pit together. You should have heard them laughing at the other one. They both love baby dolls and seemed to each want the one the other had.
We ate lunch and did some painting too. I'd call our VERY first drop off play date a huge success. Of course Sophia wanted to know if it was going to be a sleep over. She keeps asking me when she can have one.
NO THANK YOU - She mostly says this when she doesn't want to eat what I'm offering.
NI - This is how she says good night.
TEE - Short for brush my teeth. She loves to brush her teeth.
I've noticed that she can say the first two letters of each words that she repeats/says (like NI and TEE above). She does sing her little heart out though. She knows the ABCs, The Wheels on the Bus, the I Love You Barney song, Row Row Row Your Boat and Happy Birthday. Oh yeah, and she can count to 10 with a little help. She can get to 3 on her own.
Tantrums - Lilly's new favorite afternoon activity
For the past two afternoons when she wakes up from her nap she's been throwing a temper tantrum for an hour. Nothing consoles her. She doesn't want to be held, but if I do pick her up she doesn't want me to put her down. She basically stomps her feet and cries alot. If I offer her a drink she throws it on the ground. The first day she was having such a fit on the floor that she scooted herself completely under the couch. I had to laugh just to muddle though the crying. I'd post the movies, but I don't want anyone to think I'm cruel for taping her when she was crying her eyes out.
Today Sophia and I were playing with her Snow White/Seven Dwarfs cottage. It came with a wheel barrow and a few other stand alone accessories. I was Sleeping Beauty and Sophia was Snow White so I asked her if I could put the wheel barrow outside instead of it cluttering the cottage. Snow White said sure. A little while later when the dwarfs came home from work Snow White told Sneezy not to trip over the weird barrow outside. HA HA HA
I was just looking back and realized that I never wrote a post about or posted any pictures from our very first Christmas Eve at home. It was awesome.
We went to church and then went to a neighbor's house for a holiday party. We enjoyed a nice spread of food and then came home to prepare our plate of cookies for Santa and to spread reindeer food in the backyard. Sophia thinks that Santa shared the cookies with Rudolf, but Santa really did eat all the cookies by himself. I had to remind him to leave a few crumbs.
I lugged all of the presents out from their hiding spots and then we hit the sack because we knew it was going to be an early morning.
When she woke I asked Sophia if she heard the reindeer on the roof. I told her that I had. I could tell she was a bit disappointed that she hadn't heard them too.
Since we got back from our trip to Northern Virginia Sophia has been coming into our room at 4 in the morning and asking to sleep with us. Of course she comes to my side of the bed and asks me. I don't even think Will hears her. She crawls in between us, but she shares my pillow so it's not like she's really sleeping in the middle of the bed. It's funny. Will gets his whole side of the bed and I have to share my side with Sophia at the top and Sadie at the bottom by my feet. Talk about cramped, but I can't complain one bit. I love my family.
She loves math problems and counted all the way to 100 last week. I actually never even thought to ask her to do it, but Cynthia told me that Will counted to 1,000 when he was only 3. When she told me the story I immediately wondered if Sophia could count to 100. Well, she can with a little help. I had to tell her the words forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety, but she knew the pattern to use to get to the end of each sequence. Before she turns 4 she'll be able to count to 100. (smile)
At school Sophia aces the math papers. She can identify how many objects are grouped together (up to 12) and then find and circle the corresponding number.
She remembers numbers extremely well too. Will showed her how to get to channel 105 (Noggin) and she always repeats one zero five to me when I'm changing the channel. She also knows the last 4 digits of her phone number.
Snow White, of course! And Sophia literally wears her Snow White dress every single waking second. She wears it until she gets to school and then I take it home with me. She's getting quite good wielding my broom too.
It's hard to believe that Sophia's friends are all turning 4! It'll be her turn in only 4 months.
Addie's birthday theme was cooking. Each of the girls got a homemade apron and they decorated their own chef hat. They made pizzas by rolling out the dough, spreading the sauce and then adding their toppings. They also decorated cupcakes. Sophia ate two of them. She didn't even have one bite of pizza. Just 2 cupcakes.
Here's a picture of all the birthday goers. Most of them have their aprons on, but Sophia refused to wear hers (I don't blame her because it was a tad small). She wore one of Addie's costumes the whole party.
Santa brought Lilly a ball pit for Christmas and she likes turning on the music and then taking a lap. By the time she cycles through to the song that she likes she can barely get up and make her lap before the music ends. I think it's better in person.
The next video is Sophia "hogging" the camera.
This last video is of Lilly singing her ABCs. I think we've all heard her do it before, but this is the first time I've gotten it on film. I think she makes it all the way to V.
During my senior year of high school I was Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz musical. I have very fond memories of the show and was lucky enough to receive all of the characters as Christmas ornaments. I have a tiny little tree that I put them on every year. Sophia was intrigued by them this year, but didn't know the story.
At dance class yesterday afternoon Sophia decided she wasn't going into class again, but while we were waiting around watching the class she noticed a Wizard of Oz poster on the wall. (Side note: even though we are paid through the end of January, I am not taking her back to class. It's a waste of our time and I literally have to drag her out of the car. I don't want to be "that" mom.) When we got home she asked me to get out the ornaments for her to play with because she lost her TV privileges. Luckily they were in the one bin that I hadn't had a chance to put away yet.
She's been asking questions about the story for about 12 hours now. She claims she never wants a TV in her room because she doesn't want to watch the Wicked Queen part. Will and I have been singing the songs. She wants to watch the movie....Mom, can you please mail me the VHS tape of the musical? (Another side note: Our neighbors have a converter that will take VHS tapes and make them digital files. So we can preserve it forever.)
We've been home since early Monday morning and it's taken us until this evening to fall back into our normal routine. We just spent 6 frigid, but lovely days in Northern Va. visiting Will's entire family.
Sophia was in Grancy Glory. Lilly was being a little Dora the Explorer. Then the Kansas cousins arrived and Sophia instantly turned a bit shy. Madeline asked Sophia to play right away and the two of them became quite good friends on that very first day.
By late afternoon they were outside sliding down the hill together on a cardboard box. I think Sophia was excited to have an "older girl" pay attention to her. She adores older girls and Madeline is the perfect age. I think Terra is a bit too old to enjoy hanging out with a three-year old.
Sophia was thrilled to see and play in the snow. She and Will spent some quality time sledding. Sadie joined in the fun too. Heck, I even went down the hill a few times with her.
As quickly as Madeline took to Sophia so did Terra to Lillian, but by the end of the week Lilly and Jack were playing magnets and trucks together. I even saw them give each other a hug. At times they were chasing each other around the house and other times they were imitating each other. It was completely entertaining.
One day we went to Chuck E. Cheese. It's always a big hit for my girls. Sophia used her tokens with Grancy. Will, Lilly and I played lots of ski ball to win enough tickets for Sophia to win a bag of cotton candy, four suckers and some stickers. Lucky girl!
One afternoon Sophia wanted to have a parade with everyone. She found some colored ribbons in the garage and doled out the colors to a few suckers. I know better than to have a parade with her because they literally last all day. This time she managed to keep it pretty quick on that frozen day. It was one of the colder days, but she still led them up and down the driveway a few times. I tried to get it on video:
Wednesday was an incredibly fun day. We went to the very tippy top of the Washington Monument. Each view was better than the next, but I think the side facing the Lincoln Memorial was my favorite. We managed to keep our entire group (5 kids and 5 adults) together the entire day. This is an especially amazing feat considering that we navigated through a massive sea of people at one of the Smithsonian cafeterias.
New Years Eve was spent at Rob and Christina's place playing Rock Band (or something like that). We took turns and had a fun night.
Oh yeah and the best part: we celebrated sans children. Can you say Happy New Year!? Thanks Grancy and Big Daddy!
While there were many, many fond memories from our Christmas visit with everyone, I think there are a few that really stand out.
Here are my favorite Memorable Moments:
* Despite losing power on Friday night (at dinner time) we all managed to look good in our holiday family photo (seen above).
* Lilly finally started calling Sophia something. She's settled on SIA, but sometimes it sounds like SHIA. We'll see if it morfs into anything else.
* When asked how she could tell her cousins apart Sophia replied by pointing out that Terra is the one with polka-dots on her face. The polka-dots are really freckles. It's funny how a three-yr old thinks.
* It was the year of repeat gifts: knives, robes, ruby rings(smile).
* Like mother-like daughter: Mom slept through Avatar and Sophia slept through Princess and the Frog.
* Finding the penny in the Find It! game.
* Sophia's scooter and music show.
* Lilly and Jack playing like old pals.
* Delicious grasshoppers - every night. (Yes, I did gain at least 5 pounds from these alone).
* Will forgetting his lap top. He realized it when we were an hour away from home. We turned around and drove back to get it. We had to. Finally got home at 3 AM.
Can't wait until our next Christmas together...didn't we say it would be a destination Christmas? Anyone up for Disney?
Our Christmas started at 5:30 this morning when Sophia woke up and wanted to see if Santa ate the cookies we left for him. He did, but he did leave a few crumbs on the plate.
We were eating pancakes by 6:30 and now at 7:20 we're about to put together the last two toys. Why does everything need to be assembled by an adult?
Our family membership to the Aquarium ends at the end of this month so I took the girls one final time last week. Will was supposed to join us because he had the week off, but unfortunately he had to go into work that day. The girls and I enjoyed our membership, but to be completely honest if you've been to the Aquarium once then you really don't need to go back to see the exhibits. We mostly went for the special programs they offer.
The Aquarium just opened a 25 million dollar brand new exhibit called Restless Planet which took over three years to complete. Someone was smart about the redesign because it literally ends in the gift shop. You are forced to walk through the gift shop to exit the exhibit.
We got to see Komodo dragons, crocodiles and tons of turtles. The dragons were enormous. Part of the exhibit included a new touch tank which housed a bunch of small sea creatures like starfish and after watching them for a long time we touched them. Sophia was scared at first, but after she watched me touch one she wasn't quite as nervous about it. Lilly slammed her hand into the water as soon as she saw both of us put our hands into the water.
Sophia sat down on a fake rock at one point and actually asked me to take her picture. Of course, Lilly wanted to have her photo taken in the same spot.
We enjoyed our final visit, but not enough to renew our membership.
On Sunday night we went to the Botanical Garden for their Polar Express program. We went with all three of Sophia's friends (Addie, Haley and sister Carlie, Cameron and brother Trip) and their families. It was a great time.
The program started with a jingle bell craft. Each of the kids made a necklace or bracelet. I helped the girls make necklaces. We were served hot cocoa and cookies. Sophia chose not to even eat her cookie, but that only meant that Lilly could have two of them. After the craft the kids all gathered around on the floor to hear a reading of The Polar Express.
The finale was a ride on the "Polar Express" tram through the garden of lights. It was freezing that night, but we were smart enough to think ahead and bring a large blanket to wrap around us.
It is a rare occasion that Will and I get our picture taken together. We were at a going away party on Saturday night and a friend of ours took our photo (and it's even a good one).
Last Sunday Sophia went to a Princess Tea with Grancy and Christina. Will took Sophia up to Grancy's house on Saturday and they celebrated Uncle Rob's birthday and then spent the night. Sophia was chomping at the bit all week just anticipating her visit with Grancy. I know she was excited about the Tea too, but Grancy was her #1 priority.
The Tea sounded adorable. Five women came out dressed as the Disney princesses and performed for the audience. There was Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, the one that wears purple, and the new one who wears green. I know Sophia's favorite was Snow White. In fact, it was the very first thing she told me when she woke up after arriving home very late and very asleep. The second thing she told me was that she was crying because she missed me. It just melted my heart.
Last Christmas we got Sophia a toddler karaoke machine that allows her to sing into a microphone and watch herself on tv at the same time. It's really cute and until very recently she hasn't had any interest in it. Today both girls were dancing around. Take a look. . .
I simply cannot describe how much fun I had with Lilly last weekend when it was just the two of us.
Will drove Sophia to Grancy and Big Daddy's house for the weekend. Grancy took Sophia and Christina, Uncle Rob's girlfriend, to a Princess Tea at the Ritz. Sophia was head over heels in love with the idea of seeing Grancy again...so soon after seeing her at Thanksgiving, but that's another blog entry. Coming soon.
Anyway, Lilly and I had a magnificent time on Saturday playing with all of her toys. And for once she got to play with whatever she wanted to without worrying about her big sister getting mad.
She loves to follow me around the house to help me with my chores. One thing she is really good at is helping with the laundry. I hand the wet clothes to her and she stuffs them into the dryer. Then when the clothes are dry she helps me carry the pile to my folding area. I love having her helping hands around the house.
On Saturday we spent alot of time reading books since that's one of her favorite things to do now. That and turning light switches on and off. She's so proud when she climbs up onto her chair to read one of her books. She acts as if shes reading them...just blabbering away.
Since she sees Sophia brushing her teeth in their bathroom she also wants to be a big girl and brush her teeth too. While I was putting some clean clothes away she was in the bathroom standing on the stool giving her teeth a good scrubbing.
She was repeating almost everything I said and a few new words stuck with her through the whole week. CUP, UP and the sign for YUMMY. Of course, her favorite word is still SAYEE (Sadie). She's been saying that for months.
On Sunday evening we went to a birthday party for a little boy turning 1. The party was at My Gym and I thought Lilly would have a great time climbing and exploring, but instead it took her almost a half hour to warm up. She really got a kick out of the bubble machine and playing the games, but I think her favorite part was eating cake.
Of course we missed Will and Sophia, but I know we both really had a super time together. She's my little Lilly Bean.
On Wednesday Will, Lilly and I went to Sophia's school holiday program. It was similar to the Halloween show in that each class came out individually and sang a few songs and then at the end they all sang together.
Sophia was a little more reserved this time around. She didn't sing as loud as she did in the Halloween show, but boy did she dance and move (and fall) this time.
We had two V-day parties on Saturday. The first one at 10am was a play date for Sophia and Lillian. The second party which began at 7pm was a Going Away party for our dear friends, Mike and Audra Guthrie and their twins Jackson and Lola Grace. 
The kids got to make Valentine's crafts, play pin the heart on cupid and color/design shrinkable art. After that we ate pizza and then the big girls took off to play princess and dress up. Lilly followed them around and Trip played in our ball pit. (Have you seen our dining room lately?) 
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