Playdate with Haley & Carlie

Last Tuesday before Grancy arrived we had a playdate at our house and invited Haley and Carlie over to play. They always end up playing dress up and they always have popsicles.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was packed full to the brim with activities for the kids. I kind of felt bad that Rob and Christina arrived on Thursday night and by 10 on Friday morning the girls and I were heading out of the house for an Easter party at the Rec Center.

When we got to the Rec Center Sophia and Lilly immediately wanted to play the games that were set up. For the most part the games were variations of the bean bag 'throw it in a small hole' game.

Both girls got their faces painted. Lilly got a chick (so cute) and Sophia got a bunny. Take a look at how much fun Sophia had going down the slide of the inflatable bounce house.



After about 30 minutes of "free play" we sat down for a snack (animal cookies/apple juice) and a craft. Each girl made an Easter egg magnet for the frig. Then the Easter Bunny arrived and led a line of excited toddlers outside where eggs were hidden all over the yard. So much preparation goes into egg hunts, but they only last for a few minutes. The grand finale of the whole event was that each kid got a turn to have their picture taken with the Bunny. There was no way Lilly was going to get near him! Sophia ran right over and tried to get to the front of the line.

The girls plopped right down in the grass to empty their baskets and check out their loot. Sophia only like regular Hershey's chocolate. Lilly will eat any darn piece of candy she can get her hands on. Take a look at the photos.

After the party I left to take Sophia to school where she was having another Easter party/egg hunt. At school she had to find only the eggs with her name written on them. How clever. As soon as I dropped her off at school I went to meet Rob and Christina for lunch. We sat outside because the weather was so nice.

I picked Sophia up from school at 3 and the minute she got home she wouldn't leave Christina alone. She would put on one show after the next. She even changed into her fancy dress so Christina would admire her style. Rob and Christina brought tons of presents for the girls so this made Sophia and Lilly very happy. Sophia had on her apron set last night as she made PlayDoh soup with the neighbor girl! YUCK!!

We basically hung out around the house until Will came home from work and the babysitter came to watch the girls so we could meet our kickball team and pick up our shirts. We went to the bar/restaurant, Shorebreak, that sponsors our kickball league. We had a good time, but an early night.

On Saturday the guys played golf in the morning while Christina and I did some baking and cooking (and watching the girls). When the guys came home they were hell-bent on getting Will a PS3 (or whatever the latest PlayStation is now) and a few games. Will treated himself with some of the money that he won from his award. So we girls headed to the beach. It was absolutely freezing compared to the day before and the following day to be quite honest. When we got into the car the temperature read 57 degrees and the wind was whipping across the water. Sophia didn't seem to notice the cold weather and even managed to get wet up to her knees. The water was really cold.

That night we got a sitter again and went out to a Japanese Steak House for dinner. Everyone had hibachi and I had sushi. Delicious.

On Sunday morning the girls found their Easter baskets that the Easter bunny filled and hid the night before while the girls were sleeping. Then Christina came to church with us. Well, I should say the us girls because Will and Rob stayed home (surprise, surprise). The girls went into their classrooms and Christina and I lead the Pee Wee Fellowship which basically meant that we supervised the kids while they played. The girls looked absolutely adorable in their lavender dresses. The sun definitely washed out the color of the dresses in the photos. Take a look.

We went over to a neighbor's house for Easter linner (something between lunch and dinner). When we left there we drove down to the beach to play miniature golf. I can't even remember who won the game. I'm sure it was either Rob or Will. Sophia did great dragging the ball into the hole with her club.

Uncle Rob and Christina left on Monday and, just like when Grancy left only a few days before, she was terribly sad. She said a few times that she wished Uncle Rob and Christina were still here.

Unsung Hero Award

Will won an award at work. He was one of six individuals all over the country and in Europe that won. It's called the Unsung Hero Award. He was basically honored for being a multi-headed dragon that can solve problems that nobody else even comprehends that exist. In other words, he's the man!

They took a video of him at work to play at the awards ceremony and they used one of several photos that I shot of him. They were variations of this one picture.

The awards ceremony and the dinner reception were held on Wednesday night of this week and since he was staying in a hotel room, we decided to go up to Northern Va with him. I wasn't part of the events at all, but I got to take the girls shopping and we played in the play area at the mall for a while, I bought them some frozen yogurt and then we rode on a train. We had a great time. When we finally checked into the hotel at 3:00 Sophia asked a million questions. (Why is there a desk in the room? Who is going to sit in this chair? Which bed is for daddy?)

The kids stayed at Grancy and Big Daddy's house and Will and I spent the night at the hotel alone. We had a few drinks with the other award winners and then we ran into one of our friends from VA Beach. How ironic...

Anyway, Sophia had a splendid time with Grancy. Big Daddy had a tea party with her in the AM before he went to work. She's still talking about her vacation to their house and how she wishes she could live there instead of our house.

Cute photo of Grancy's visit

A visit from Grancy

Last week Grancy stopped by for a night on her way back from visiting Claire in Savannah. Grancy has been coming to visit us around Easter time during her spring break since Sophia was one. Each time we decorate Easter eggs. The first year we went to visit the Easter bunny together too.

This time we had to figure out how to remove the dye from Sophia's hands because she was getting her picture taken at school that afternoon. A combination of shampoo, sugar & oil, and vinegar did the trick.

Lilly had fun making a mess too. (smile)

Man, I'm so behind on the blog

I usually write the blog based on the photos that I've taken because then I know what happened first, etc...

I just downloaded over 500 photos so I definitely have a lot to blog about tonight!

This is a sneak peek at one of the photos.

Lilly @ her My Gym class

Sophia isn't allowed into the gym during Lilly's class because it's for kids Lilly's age. As the older sibling she has to play in the waiting area. They have a table and chairs, tons of books, some extra large stuffed characters and a few other things to occupy her time. I can see her and talk to her the entire time so she doesn't feel so completely left out.

Lilly really likes the instructor-lead portion of the class. She enjoys doing the exercises. She likes to listen up close to the story. I can't really tell if she enjoys the free play portions.

On Thursday afternoons I've been taking both girls for an open free play hour. Sophia runs around, jumps all over the place, shouts with excitement, and has a fantastic time. Lilly mostly likes me to hold her. She certainly doesn't run around like all the other kids and of course Sophia must be "on stage" for me the entire time so I've got to follow her around the gym watching and applauding her every move. Don't get me wrong, I do love giving her my devoted attention, but I'd like to give Lilly more attention than she gets when Sophia is around competing for it.

March...out like a lamby

Wow. It's been a fantastic March. About 31 days ago I was dreading the month of March, but I have to admit that it's been a completely wonderful month. The weather was incredible 90% of the time. That makes a huge difference if you ask me.

We had a great month in other ways too. Sophia started soccer started and Will and Sophia started going to the pool on a regular basis. Lilly started her My Gym class. Grancy came for a visit and so did Big Daddy! I completed the Shamrock 1/2 marathon and Will was named 1 of 5 Unsung Heros at work. The ceremony is next week and we'll find out more then. Congrats to us.

So, March, I actually look forward to you next year.

Easter Egg Hunts

I took Sophia to church last Sunday because the annual Easter egg hunt was planned after the service. Lillian wasn't feeling well so she stayed home with Will. He was a bit disappointed because it was the last day of his staycation and he wanted to go to the pool and mow the grass. Sometimes kid duty calls.

The eggs were scattered in plain sight all over the yard and each kid was allowed to "find" 10 eggs. Honestly, Sophia would have been thrilled with just 5.

On Saturday Sophia wasn't feeling well so I took Lilly to the annual Easter egg hunt at Addie's church. Sophia and her friends have attended this fun event the last 2 years together so I was bummed that she had to miss this year.

Lilly wasn't herself that day. I really tried hard to get a picture of her smiling, but she was somber and a bit sluggish. Turns out she got sick the next day. Hmmm. Regardless she still had a good time and collected a ton of eggs. Lilly got her hands on a few stickers and plastered them all over an Easter egg and then she decorated a cookie on a stick with her friend Carlie. Wanna see all the somber pictures? Click here.

Sophia in the car

This is what Sophia looks like in the car. As soon as we get her buckled in she wants her headphones. She's currently watching The Wiggles Wiggly Wiggly Christmas and has been for about 2 weeks. She's a creature of habit if nothing else.

Lilly gets to watch the movie, but she doesn't have the privilege of headphones yet. She just doesn't know how to wear them. I can broadcast the sound throughout the car, but then I have to listen to it too so I don't do it very often.

Purple

This morning was the first day I held up two different shirts to Lilly and asked her to pick our what she wanted to wear. I didn't say anything descriptive about what they were. She proudly said PURPLE! One was purple and the other was green. She's so smart. I had no idea she knew her colors - especially a secondary one like purple.

Happy Birthday, Will

We had an uneventful day even though there was cause for major celebration. Will turned another year older - 34 to be exact. So young if you ask me, a 35 year old. Ha ha ha.

Sophia made Daddy a card this morning and picked out this cake this afternoon. She signed her name in the card. S O P H I A. She writes every single letter the same size. It's like she assigns the same value to each of them and boy are they tall. Tall and skinny.

Back to Will's birthday. He watched the kids this morning while I painted Sophia's room a pretty light blue color to blend with her bead spread. Blue has been her favorite color since she started talking. And guess what? When I tucked her in tonight she told me her new favorite color is purple and wondered if we could paint her room purple. I tickled her for torture.

We went to the mall to visit Easter Bunny this afternoon. I dressed the girls up in coordinating summer dresses (because it was 78 degrees today) and when we got there Lilly bawled her eyes out while she sad beside the Easter Bunny to get her picture taken. She sobbed until I picked her up. Sophia gave him a high five, a hug, danced with him, and sat right by his side with a smile on her face in the photo. I ended up buying the picture even though Lilly looks terrified. I think I'll take them back next week to see if I can get a better photo.

Will bought himself a pair of swimming gloves at Dicks. He's back into swimming laps at the rec center and, since he was off this week, he's also taken Sophia to frolic around in the shallow end a few times. She loves it! He took her swimming after school on Wednesday and she fell asleep on the couch at 5:30 (nice) and it's great exercise for her too.

Will ended the day with a 6:30 kickball practice and came home with a few more scrapes and cuts than he left with. I skipped tonight and put Sophia's room back together while they were gone.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, honey! We love you.

Lilly looks good in yellow

I posted some pictures on Flick.com last night. Take a look.

I also took a video of Lilly and Daddy playing on the bean bag chairs. Listen to her laughing. It's so cute.

1/2 Marathon

Well, I didn't meet my goal of under 2 hours, but I actually did a great job... 2:06:18 was my time. I'm signing up for another 1/2 marathon in September so I will aim to beat this time.

I placed:
176 out of 683 in my age category (which sadly is the 35-39 bracket)
2451 out of 6546 (total runners)
1091 out of 4030 (total women)

My shin was hurting through the race, but I made it.

When I got home Sophia asked me if I won the race. Of course I had to tell her that everyone wins, but I did give her my hanging medal to wear. They also gave out hats, a long sleeved t-shirt and a short sleeved running jersey, oh yeah, and beer. Lots and lots of beer in honor St. Patrick's Day. It's called the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon.

Kickball

Will and I are playing kickball again this spring. We have our first practice tonight, another practice next week and then our first game will be Easter weekend on Friday night. Rob and Christina will be here so I hope they don't mind coming with us. Last time they were here we tried to get them into our kickball game, but they didn't have the proper shirts so they got "kicked" off the field. Speaking of shirts....our color this year is Texas Orange. I know that will make someone happy!

Weight

I weighed both girls this week.

Sophia = 49.5 pounds

Lillian = 26.5 pounds

Craft Station

Lately the coffee table in the TV room has become the girls' craft table. I wouldn't mind if they would clean up the mess when they're done playing, but they leave that for me. Will can really motivate Sophia to clean up after herself, but not me. I have to threaten time-out for her to even acknowledge that I've asked her to clean up.

Daddy's computer

Lilly is always climbing up onto my chair and messing with things on my desk. She sometimes plays with my laptop and "types" and points to the screen. She's changed a few of my settings doing this. She also plays with the mail and my calculator and whatever else she can get her hands on.

Yesterday she chose Will's computer to play with and wore his hat too. I guess she really wanted to play the part.

Swimming

Sophia is signed up for an independent swimming class that starts at the end of April. Independent meaning that she goes into the pool without me. She goes in with 9 other kids.

To get her acclimated to the pool and the locker room, etc... we've decided to start frequenting the indoor pool at the rec center. All four of us went yesterday.

Lilly was slow to warm up at first while I had her on my hip, but when I put her into the water on her belly she started to really enjoy herself. She even tried to swim with her arms a few times.

Sophia and Will went today. Will said that she was jumping into the pool on her own in the shallow end, but of course he was standing right there for her. She also knows how to hold onto the wall and "walk" her way to the steps. She also knows how to walk laps in water up to her shoulders. We're making progress. Only 2 days ago she was sobbing about how much she hates swimming.

blurry, but cute

No pictures

Big Daddy came for a visit last night and we didn't take any pictures. Darn it!

It was really great to see him. Sophia was so excited and talked about it all day. She knew her GRAND FATHER was coming to see her. I think Big Daddy sensed her excitement during the entire time we were at dinner because she kept talking to him even if he was talking to someone else.

Lilly was cute...she watched Sophia hug big Daddy and then just before he walked out the door she ran over and hugged his leg. Adorable.

A "March" update

So far March has been very good to us. All week it's been in the 60s and 70s. It drizzled over night, but today is another gorgeous day. The only day it was cold so far this month was on Saturday at Sophia's first soccer game. (That's another story all together.)

It's been really pleasant for my 1/2 marathon training. On Sunday I was able to get out and run 10.16 miles. It was awesome to feel the sun shining down on me. By the way, I'm training for a 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) in 2 weeks. This weekend I will run 12 miles and then the following weekend is the Shamrock Festival and races. My goal is to complete the race in under 2 hours. I should just hit my goal if I'm lucky and can stay focused. My new Droid phone has an app that shows me my distance, running time, elevation, minutes/mile, and it keeps track of my trail. I love it! I should say I love Will for finding it for me.

Funny Sophia stories

STORY ONE

Will thinks this tale is hysterical.

Lately Sophia's been repeating things that we say at random times throughout the day, but always in the right context (gotta be careful now about what we say). From things she says I can tell that she's repeating her teacher, Mrs. Harden, too.

Last week she came home and told us that Addie is a poopy head, but also very creative.

When I mentioned the story to Addie's mom, Amy, she told me that Addie had been talking about Sophia being a poopy head too. That's the part that I find hysterical. The things they come up with!

STORY TWO

Sophia and I always race up and down the stairs and guess who always wins? Not me. Yesterday when we got home she yelled out First one up the stairs is a rotten egg. Ha ha ha

Differences

Lilly peels the paper off any crayon that she comes across. Then she breaks it in half and/or tries to eat it. Sophia never did this.

Lilly eats Play-doh. Sophia never did this.

Lilly eats oranges and loves them. Sophia never did and still doesn't.

Lilly is a climber. We have to lay our kitchen chairs on the floor so she doesn't climb up on them. Sophia never liked to climb.

Lilly loves to push things (shopping carts, ball poppers, baby strollers). Sophia never really got into pushing things.

Lilly loves going to My Gym. Sophia, honestly, never did.

Lilly is small and compact and can still wear 12 months clothes in some cases. Sophia was never small and compact. In fact she was wearing 24 months clothes when she was Lilly's age.

Lilly is very independent. Sophia on the other hand is still very shy.

Lilly actually leaves in her hair clips. Up until about 3 months ago Sophia would take hers out within an hour of me putting it in her hair.

Lilly likes to sort, stack, throw away and organize things. Sophia never did this. In fact it's a good thing that I saved all of Sophia's toys because Lilly plays with all the toys that Sophia never played with. By the way....our siblings need to hurry up and have children because we're running out of storage space!

Baby Jesus

Sophia announced on Saturday that she was to be called Mary and that the baby doll that she was/is playing with is baby Jesus.

We went out to dinner on Saturday night and she insisted that I tell our waitress that her name was Mary and that she had baby Jesus with her. She had the baby wrapped up in a kitchen towel and was calling it a robe.

Yesterday at church she was a hit! Everyone thought it was absolutely adorable and they were all so proud of her.

I didn't have the heart to tell them that she's been watching the Wiggles Wiggly Wiggly Christmas DVD and at the end of the movie they do a scene with Mary and baby Jesus. Still it's cute that she wants to act it out. And, it's wonderful to see her showing such loving care to a little baby doll.

Lilly carries around babies all the time and loves to cuddle them and feed them bottles. When she first saw Sophia with one of her baby dolls she cried (pretty hard) but realized that sharing is the right behavior. When Sophia's not playing with baby Jesus and Lilly finds her (yes, I said her) Lilly picks up the baby and carries it to Sophia. She's such a thoughtful little girl.

Lilly by herself

It was pretty warm on Friday so I took Lilly outside while Sophia was at school. She was having so much fun running around on the deck I had to snap some pictures of her. Too bad this one is a tad bit blurry. Most picture studios I've been to would call this "soft focus" and try to convince me to buy it. It's so darn cute, I probably would. (I can just picture Will rolling his eyes.)

Mother Goose

For the entire month of February Sophia studied Mother Goose nursery rhymes at school. Each day she came home with a creative craft like a blue horn on Little Boy Blue day, a set of mittens for Three Little Kittens day and my personal favorite a mouse on a stick for Hickory Dickory Dock day.

We have a Barney DVD called Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. Imagine that! We have a Barney movie for every holiday, shape, color, season, theme, you name it... Well, anyway, I randomly decided to play a Barney movie for Lillian last week and picked our Mother Goose DVD and let me tell you - Sophia was glued to the tv screen watching it and asking for it again. It was a fabulous review of all the hard work she did in February learning about new nursery rhymes. I was really happy for her.

But here's the funny part. In the Barney movie there is a girl trying to complete her homework assignment of writing a nursery rhyme. There are a few children spying through a window on this young maiden dressed like Mother Goose to get her inspiration. The young girl is scribbling on a piece of paper then she crinkles it up and tosses it over her shoulder.

As the spying children are watching they start singing:
Have you ever seen a lassie, a lassie, a lassie
Have you ever seen a lassie go this way and that?
Go this way and that way and that way and this way
Have you ever seen a lassie go this way and that?

Sophia thinks the name of this girl is Alassie! Isn't that a scream? She put this outfit on earlier today and told me she was Alassie dressed like Mother Goose. HA!

She's even has named one of her dolls Alassie and another doll Anassie. They are sisters.

Bean Bag "Pear" Chairs

The girls got some money for Christmas so I spent a bit of it on bean bag chairs for them. The one I got for Lillian completely matches her room colors. One day when the chair finds a permanent home in there it will look so cute, but until then we've got both chairs in the dining room. (It looks like we'll never get a proper dining room table!)

Sophia's color is persimmon (which looks like a really deep dusty rose color) and Lilly's color is lemon swirl.

They aren't your typical bean bag chair. Well, they are, but they are shaped like a pear so they can be used more like a chair than the regular "round" shaped bean bag chairs.

Regardless, the girls love to run laps around the house and then fall into their bean bags. It's a game they seem to play every night when Will gets home from work and they are still awake.

She can officially write her name.

Sophia wrote this yesterday. In the series of pictures you can see how proud she is of herself. She first writes SOPHIA then she writes ALEXANDER. Wow.

Riley's birthday party

Here we are - ready to go to Riley's 3rd birthday party at My Gym. We went to our last My Gym birthday party in December.

Riley lives down the street from us. We're good friends with her parents. Age-wise she's smack dab in the middle of Sophia and Lilly. Well, she's a tad bit closer to Sophia, but not much. I have a feeling the three of them will be good pals in the years to come. Sleep overs, bike rides, etc. Lots of fun things to look forward to.

The girls have been to My Gym a lot lately, but they always seem to have a great time. We were just there on Tuesday for Lilly to cash in on a free class that she received at a birthday party. Sophia was allowed to join the class for the last 20 minutes and she "stole the show" she participated so well.

Of course today it took Sophia an entire hour to warm up. (One hour out of an hour and 1/2 party). Lilly was off exploring on her own out of the gate. There's such a contract (and a lot of similarities too). After the cupcakes were served Sophia decided she actually wanted to play and went off and had a good time. Before that she sulked, cried, hit behind our legs and whined.

Each of them got a free class as part of their goody bag so we'll be going back again soon. At Sophia's age they only offer independent classes meaning the parent doesn't participate in the class. Hmmmm....not sure if that will work with Sophia. I hope it does. I know she would have a good time if she let herself. Can you find Sophia in this picture?

March!

I want to soap box for a bit about my hatred of the month of March.

It's the longest month of the year to me. Spring isn't here yet, maybe the tease of a 60 degree day here and there, but then back to gray, dreary days with fierce winds. Maybe this year will be better, but I don't expect it to be.

There are no "days off" in March. In fact there aren't any days off until Memorial Day at this point. This year will be so much better because Will is off for a week.

It's cold. It's windy. It's still dark. It's still winter. Thankfully we live in the South because I don't think I would have survived a winter north of here.

The only good thing about it as far as I'm concerned is Will's birthday on the 25th, but that's not until the end of the month. Well you would think that the 25th would be considered the "end of the month", but noooooo there is an entire week left to the dreadful, dreary month.

Oh yeah, there's St. Patrick's Day, but the only way that impacts us is a party at Sophia's school. That and trying to capture a nice picture of the girls wearing their green St. Patty's shirts.

It's a good thing I have the girls to keep me so busy. (smile).

Anyway...in like a lioness...

Too messy for me

This room may look completely messy, but trust me, this is nothing! This is what Sophia's room looked like after I let the two tornados loose for 6 minutes. I just stood there and watched it happen. Usually I'm right on their heels picking up as quickly as they make the mess. Imagine what her room would look like after 30 minutes if I didn't clean up after them ASAP.

The other day I was hanging clothes up in Sophia's room and the tornados put every single thing in Lilly's room into her crib. We're talking every single thing! Even her baby doll crib. As a side note, I was hanging clothes up in Sophia's room because she changes clothes all day long and piles the cast always up in a heap. There are clean clothes all over the place. (I didn't dare that a photo of that disaster.)

I don't mind that she changes clothes at least 4 times per day, but I do mind the mess that it makes. And it's usually closer to 8 times per day, but if that's what she wants to do to exercise her creativity then I will oblige. I'll be happy when she can clean up after herself and until then I bet I'll be spending the majority of March hanging up clothes.

Actually Sophia either changes clothes all day long or she finds one particular fancy dress and dons it for days. Yesterday and today she's been wearing her purple party dress. I let her wear it to church this morning, but not to Riley's 3rd birthday party this afternoon. She was completely mad at me and she put it on as soon as we got home.

Reading the funny papers

Every Sunday Will and Sophia read the comics. They call them the funny papers and she only likes the ones in color...so Sunday is their day. It's cute. They cuddle up together and Will reads them to her. I highly doubt she gets most of them, but she pretends she does.

Do they look alike?

Well, 3 of you say yes and 4 of you say no. That's too close to call if you ask me.

There are times when I think they really look alike. I've found pictures of each of them wearing hats so their hair color is hidden and it's hard to tell which one of my children I'm looking at.

Mine!

Lately the girls have been fighting over toys.

Lilly thinks that everything she's holding is hers.

Sophia thinks that everything in the entire house is hers.

If Lilly has something and Sophia tries to take it they both start shouting MINE and playing tug of war over the toy.

If Sophia has something that Lilly wants Sophia picks it up and runs away into another room all together and shouts out that THERE ARE NO LITTLE SISTERS ALLOWED.

Stairs

Lilly can successfully climb up and down the stairs. A little dangerous, but still she can do it.

She's trying to hold onto the railing and "walk" up the stairs. She still crawls up the steps too, but she wants to be a big girl so badly.

When she goes down the stairs she gets on the floor, turns over onto her belly and slides all the way down. SEE-AH (what Lilly calls Sophia) never slid down on her belly, in fact, from the beginning she wanted to hold hands and "walk" down the steps. I attribute this to the fact that she was so tall.

My little baby is growing up. I can't believe it.

Changing clothes

Sophia is seriously into clothes!

We went through a period - maybe 4 or 6 months ago - when she would take all the clothes on the hangers in her closet and attempt to put them on! What a mess...every single time she was alone I would find her digging through her pile of clothes which needed to be hung up again.

She's always dressed in costumes too. Does that prove my point?

She's back to her old tricks except this time she can put on all the clothes. Dresses, sweaters, pants, shirts, tanks, socks, shoes, boots, hair accessories, etc...alot of time multiple of each item. The mess she is making is driving me up the wall because she's changing six and seven times per day. Per day! Oh, it's cute and adorable and I'm proud that she can dress herself and most of the time she comes out matching or giving me a new idea for an outfit, BUT it creates such a mess. Hangers all over the floor and tangled in the closet. Everything that she puts on comes off inside out.

Once last week she even took the drawers out of her dresser. Who knows why.

She slept in her dress last night AND she wore it to church this morning. She would have worn it all day, but I made her take it off before lunch. It looks stunning on her for sure. I was saving it until next Christmas, but it looks like it fits now so she might as well wear it...and sleep in it. (Smile. I bet my mom is cringing).

This is what Lilly wore.

Let's go riding in an elevator

I discovered this game at the library when Sophia was just a baby. It's called "Let's go riding in an elevator" or at least that's what we call it. Basically the adult (Will) holds the child and raises her a little bit at a time going up up up each floor in the elevator. When you get to the 6th floor it's time to come back down..and fast. Sophia loved it as a baby and still does today. Lilly is getting her fair share and loving it. See.

Both girls absolutely love playing with Will on our big bed too. It makes me so nervous that one of them is going to fall off the side of the bed, but Will's got it under control. He has as much fun as the girls. He tosses them into the pillows, tickles them, and throws them up in the air.

Update on the fish

His name is Pocket.

He's doing quite well.

Sophia feeds him every day when she takes her vitamins.

That's about it. All he does is swim or rest.

Lilly on Valentine's Day

This is what Lilly looked like on Valentine's Day. Both girls were decked out in bright pink.

I fell for it.

Yesterday Sophia found out what April Fools is. She played jokes on me all afternoon including hiding Lamby in the frig and making me find him. This morning she and Lillian were playing in Lilly's crib and Sophia asked me if I could go downstairs and get her Lamby. Like the serving mom that I am I went downstairs and literally searched every room without any luck. I yelled up to her that I couldn't find him and I went back upstairs. When I got up there she told me Lamby was in the refrigerator. I hesitated for a minute just to make sure she was serious and when she repeated it a few times I believed her. What a sucker I am. When I opened the refrigerator door I didn't see Lamby at all, but I did see one of her famous face drawings. April Fools!

Writing words

Sophia asked me to tell her the letters it takes to spell CAT, HAT, SANTA, HOUSE, and MOUSE this morning, but she got completely frustrated with her U in MOUSE and gave up on the effort. I only had to make dotted lines for her to connect to make the letters S and N. Should knew all the rest and she knows a lot more too, but it must be completely frustrating to not be able to write the first letter of your own name. S is am extremely hard letter to write. At least Lillian won't have the same problem.

Darn it.

I found my camera.

Two Valentine's Day parties

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.

Camera

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.

So proud of her

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.

The Marshmallow Bandit

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.

A pumpkin

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).

We got a fish

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.

Some Sophia-isms

Mommy, it's raining snow.

Daddy, can you save me from the Drama Queen (I guess she's picked up on this from me.)

More to follow.

Our trip toThe Little Gym

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.

When she's mad

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.

Too funny

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.

ME: WHAT?

Bounce House

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.