We're home...safe and sound

We arrived home on Friday at 1 AM. We didn't get on the road until 8:45 Thursday night because when Will and I went to pick up the van we found out that our technician had the keys in his pocket. Guess where he was? At home. Ugg. That was a 75 minute delay.

Anyway, we are so grateful to Grancy and Big Daddy for putting up with us for 8 straight days. We had a great time using their neighborhood pool (almost every day) and it's quite nice for the girls to get to know their grandparents. That was, by far, my favorite part and the fancy apricots. yum (look for a blog post about our trip soon)

So now that we're home our crazy summer schedule begins. Last night in the kickball playoffs we won so now we have to play the finals on July 10th. We have a bbq tonight.

On Tuesday Sophia begins her summer dance class at the gym. She's really looking forward to taking another dance class with Haley. It also happens to coincide with a class that I take so I'm thrilled. Sophia also starts swimming class on July 6th. She's doing a week of vacation bible school and she's also doing princess camp again. She's a lucky girl.

Lilly is going to vacation bible school too, but she'll be in the nursery with her church friends. She's also going to have private swimming lessons. Her coach will probably be Will. (smile) She got really comfortable in the pool while we were at Grancy's house. Now we need to get her to blow bubbles. If this strategy doesn't seem to work then I will sign her up for lessons at the rec center.

Will and I have packed weekends too. I mentioned the bbq tonight and we have another one next weekend. The following weekend we have the kickball finals and Sophia has a birthday party. The weekend following we are planning to get together with Will's business partners in Northern VA. The last weekend in July is when my brother and his girlfriend are planning to come down for a visit. The first weekend in August is Claire's baby shower in Northern VA. The second weekend (August 7th) is our 6th anniversary. On August 21st we have a wedding in New York, but I'm not certain we'll be able to go. It's going to be a great summer.

A lemon

We bought a lemon of a car. Our Chyrsler Town & Country minivan, which we've owned for only 19 months, basically broke down last night on our way to Northen VA. Luckily we were off the major highway and on the road to Grancy and Big Daddy's house when our transmission decided to quit working! We barley made it to their house. Will was flooring the gas pedal and the van wouldn't move, but then all of a sudden it would lurch forward and the rpm gage was all the way up to 5. (All the car people that read this blog will understand what I'm talking about.)

We had the stupid thing towed this morning to a dealership so they can fix it under warranty. It only has 25,000 miles on it.

At 23,000 miles, three weeks ago, we had to replace the front brakes. I swear I hear the back brakes squealing now a bit, but I might just be hyper-sensitive.

We also just got a recall notice in the mail to replace the radiator cap. What's next?

Never-ending questions

How come?

Why?

What's this?

What's that?

Sophia is completely curious about everything. I've got to polish up my ability to think on my feet. She wants an answer immediately and I don't want to ever say that I don't know the answer. I want her to think that mom knows everything!

Last day of school

Another year bites the dust. Sophia's last day of preschool is today. It's hard to believe that this year is over. It certainly went faster than last year. She made many strides this year like learning how to write all of her letters, adding numbers together, and dressing herself. She's incredibly smart and she works hard in school. We're so proud of her.

In the fall both girls will be attending school. Sophia will still be going 3 half days and Lilly will be going 2 half days a week. Every single day that we drop Sophia off at school Lilly barges into the classroom and starts to play with all the toys. Mrs. Harden is always so nice to her and makes her feel welcome and I'm the mean one that makes her stop playing and leave the room. She really wants to go to school just like her big sister.

A water week

The girls are going to have a week full of water play. This morning we're headed to the Botanical Sprinkler Garden with Addie. Tomorrow Sophia has to wear a bathing suit to school for a beach party. They are going to play in some sprinklers and have an outside picnic. (She has to bring chips and watermelon)

Tomorrow after school we're going up to Northern VA for a long weekend. On Thursday we're going swimming with my college friend, Courtney, and her 3 kids and on Friday we're either going to Grancy's neighborhood pool or to a waterpark with Christina, Rob's other half.

Not sure what Saturday and Sunday hold, but I bet we could go swimming again at Grancy's pool if we wanted to.

Sophia and Lilly sure are lucky girls. I need to stock up on our sun screen.

A trip to the beach

We went to the beach this afternoon for some fun family time. Will and Sophia spent a lot of time splashing around in the waves and Lilly spent most of her time snacking and hanging out near the blanket. I relaxed a bit in a chair and then had to play in the waves with Sophia for a bit too. We made up a special move - it was holding up a leg as a wave came crashing in. Of course, we were holding onto each other so we could actually balance. It was fun. She's bananas about the ocean. The water was freezing, but eventually we all warmed up to it. Well...maybe just a bit.

We were there for just under two hours, but the sun was so hot it made Lilly crash on the ride home. She didn't even wake up when Will took her out of the car. She went right into her crib, sand and all.

Speaking of Lilly, she's talking up a storm these days. We'll see Grancy and Big Daddy this weekend and I want to find out if they can understand her. I think I may be a bit biased. Each day she seems to acquire tons of new words. She repeats us all the time and commits words to her memory.

Pictures from Hilton Head

Here's a link to all the photos I took while in Hilton Head.

Sophia jumping into the pool

We're back

We're back from our vacation to Hilton Head, SC. It was incredible, but missing one key ingredient: Will. He couldn't make the trip with us because of work. We headed out on a Sunday morning and after 9 hours in the car finally made it to our destination, the Grand Ocean Marriott Resort. We were invited to go on the trip with Haley and Carlie's parents, Mike and Michelle. So our total group consisted of 1 male and 6 females. How Mike survived, I'm not sure. How I survived without Will, I'm not sure either.

Regardless, we had a great time. We alternated days going to the pool and the beach. My favorite day was when we went to the beach in the am and then hit the pool after lunch - the best of both worlds if you ask me. The girls loved playing in the sand at the beach, but they loved the pool even more. After she warmed up to the pool for a few days Sophia became quite a pro at putting her entire head underwater. This is quite an accomplishment for her and we took Will to the pool last night to show him her new skill. She is so proud of herself.

On our first full day we went to the pool in the am and then Aunt Claire came for a visit in the afternoon and went out with us that evening too. We went to hear a guy performing for kids. He played a guitar, sang, told funny stories and encouraged all the kids to get up and dance to the One-eyed, One-horned Flying Purple People Eater song among others. Of course, neither of my girls wanted to get up and dance, but Sophia sat up there for a little bit with Haley and Carlie. Haley actually got picked to sit on his lap and sing a song. It was really cute. He asked her if her mom went "vacation shopping" for her outfit and Haley told him that Sophia went vacation shopping with them even though she didn't. Kids say the most off the wall things.

Throughout the week we did some really fun activities with the girls like celebrating Princess Day (the had a beauty make-up session and had their nails painted), painting ceramic magnets (Sophia picked a horse and a kite. Lilly/Mom picked a seashell), and tie-dyeing t-shirts (fun, but messy. I ruined a white top and my hands were completely blue for two days).

We went to The Salty Dog Cafe, a well-known Hilton Head attraction and had pizza and ice cream. Sophia bragged for days about picking up her whole slice of pizza and eating it that way instead of having it cut up for her. We went into some of the shops and at the end of the night, Sophia's hair had streaks of blue and red in it from Haley's ice cream cone.

I got Lilly an innertube swimming suit for the pool. In theory she should have been able to float on her own and swim around by herself, but she clung to me like she didn't like the water at all. By the end of the week I finally had her wearing that suit and sitting inside a blow up floaty ring and she loved it. I think the extra support made her feel more comfortable.

I will post all the pictures soon.

Nana, Poppy & Aunt Carole visit Va Beach

Nana, Poppy and Aunt Carole came for a visit. They arrived on a Thursday and stayed through Sunday afternoon. It was a great visit. Sophia skipped school on Friday, the girls celebrated their birthdays on Saturday, and Lilly got baptized on Sunday.

The "juice bags" arrived in time to go to Sophia's swim lesson on Thursday evening. Sophia behaved as expected and wouldn't get her face and head wet at the same time, but pretended to. I think she was really proud to show off for Nanna, Poppy and Aunt Carole.

Nana and Poppy got Sophia a motorized motorcycle for her birthday. She gets a kick out of riding it on the road around our block. In our neighborhood the road tends to be more smooth than the sidewalk. She knows what to do when a car comes down the road and steers the motorcycle into the sidewalk to the point of almost wrecking.

On Friday we went to the Botanical Garden and spent some time in the sprinklers.

On Saturday we had the big birthday party. It was so much fun. Grancy arrived from Northern Va before the party began, nobody cancelled at the last minute, and we even had time for some outside fun. What a perfect beginning to a fairy princess party. First on the agenda was a door hanger craft followed by "costume distribution". Sophia got to select her princess costume from the 15 dresses available. She picked Snow White and them she got to distribute the costumes among the guests. It was fun to watch each girl get dressed up like a princess. After that Sophia crowned each princess with her own crown. Immediately following there was a glamour session where each girl got to have eye shadow and lip gloss applied. Then they had a mini etiquette lesson and tea/lunch. Then cake and a few games outside.

At the end of the day we decided to head to the beach. Will and Lilly stayed home. Only 5 minutes into our beach outing was Sophia soaking wet from the waist down. I ended up removing her shorts all together and letting her play in her underwear.

The next day was an early morning because Lilly was baptized at 8:30 AM. Aunt Carole was her sponsor and mine too when I was baptized. Sophia was baptized without any god parents, but Uncle Dan has previously claimed the spot so we're good.

Back to normal on Monday. It's funny how a normal weekend takes forever to pass, but when you have guests it goes by so quickly.

Sophia opening her birthday presents

Neglecting the blog

I haven't meant to neglect the blog for such a long time, but I have so much to write about it's kind of daunting to get started.

As a sneak peek of what's to come, I'll share this link. Birthday Party. Last weekend we had a joint birthday "gala" for the girls. The date fell smack in the middle of their birthdays and since they're both into Princess stuff that's just the type of party they had. It was, in fact, a Princess Tea Party. The link is a slide show of the photos taken by the Princess Party Hostess.

The party was an incredible success and I really have to thank my mom, dad, aunt and mom-in-law for all their help with the cake, food, set up and clean up. Between all that help and having a birthday party Hostess run the show, I really got to enjoy myself (and hold Lilly!). . . and she was not into it at all. There was a point when Sophia wasn't into it either, but she eventually snapped out of it. I've heard great feedback about the party from almost all of the moms.

I still have to publish all of my photos and write about the party and the long weekend that my parents had here. Hopefully I can get that done before I go to Hilton Head with the girls tomorrow for a week. Will and Sadie are staying home. (insert sad face here)

Happy Birthday, Lilly

Today is Lilly's birthday. She's now officially 2. For the last two weeks Sophia has enjoyed telling everyone that she was 4 and that Lilly was only 1.

Now they are 4 and 2. Quite a pair they are. Lilly simply adores Sophia and immediately repeats, follows, or mimics everything she does.

Here are some cool things about Lilly:

* She's learning to "walk" down the stairs. She takes her time and holds onto the railing and goes step by step. She's a big girl now and doesn't want help.

* Her favorite foods are flavored pretzels, any type of dried fruit, hamburgers, watermelon and, still holding strong, pineapple. She's not into bananas, but she'll eat any other fruit. Doesn't like mashed potatoes.


* Favorite toys: The Toddle Coupe car, her new baby doll, shopping cart, and the bubble blower lawn mower (although you have to be pushing the stupid thing in the grass to get it to actually blow the bubbles).

* Favorite activities: reading books on her own, singing, dumping water from one cup to another.

* When I put her to bed at night she asks for PAPI (paci), LAMBY, BANKET (blanket), and BANKET. She's got two blankets. And she likes them put on in a certain order too.

The dentist

Sophia had her second dentist appointment this morning. She was excited to go. Well, at least I should say she was not reluctant to go, but when we sat down in the chair it was a completely different story.

She refused to open her mouth. She refused to even turn her head toward Crystal, the hygienist. Eventually she was in tears and they basically kicked us out and told us to try again soon.

I felt bad for Sophia because she was obviously frightened, but she wouldn't even try it just once to see what the paste tasted like. I wasn't frustrated with her, just her extreme shyness and strong will (seems a bit like an oxymoron). She just simply refused to participate.

On the way to the car I told her that Will would take her next time and she burst into tears. Poor kid, huh?

Ariel

Will and I bought Sophia an Ariel costume, a crown and shoes for her birthday. Oh yeah, we also got her an shimmery Ariel bathing suit which she insists on wearing every time she goes to the pool now.

She wanted to open her presents the moment she woke up on that Friday morning. I went downstairs to grab the presents and we woke up Will so he could see her open her gifts. She beamed when she realized what it was and she told me it was what she always wanted.

Doesn't she look cute? Here are a few more photos.

I added a search feature to the blog

Check it out. On the right side of the page you will see a search box. I dare you to try it. Everything I've tested has been spot on. Very cool!

Happy 4th Birthday, Sophia!

I woke up at 5AM this morning with a jolt. I fogot to wrap Sophia's birthday presents and I promised her she could open them when she wakes up. So, I've been up for a while and I have to say, it's been a great early morning without anyone else in the house awake. I made muffins, checked all my email, paid bills, unloaded the dishwasher and folded some laundry! Normally those 4 tasks alone take me ALL DAY.

I wrapped her presents and I bought donuts for her this morning. They are her absolute favorite breakfast food.

All week Sophia has been sad about growing older. She woke up crying on Tuesday night because she wants to stay 3 forever. I think she's afraid that she has to move out of the house when she's "older". She told me that if anybody comes to the door to marry her to tell them to GO AWAY! We keep telling her all the things that she'll be able to do now that she's 4: ride a bike, swing all by herself, learn to tie her shoes, swim, etc... All fun things, but she's not buying into the fact that 4 might be better than 3!

Believe me, I'd love to have her stay 3 forever and ever and ever and ever.

Balloon Birthday Party

We went to a birthday party for one of Lilly's friends yesterday. Summer, one of Lilly's friends turned 2. She and Lilly are about 3 weeks apart in age. We're actually friends with the entire family because they live on our street, but I can already tell that Summer and Lilly will be good friends regardless.

Sue, Summer's mom, hired "the balloon guy" for the party entertainment. All the kids got to choose what they wanted him to make. Sophia asked for a princess. He turned around and asked her which one. She picked Snow White - and he seriously produced a Snow White complete with a small apple (which broke by the time I took the picture).

Lilly got a lamby. It looks so realistic and she loves it. It's also a bracelet so she can wear it on her wrist. Look at him standing in a bed of grass.

So cute

I got some really cute pictures of the girls today while they were dressed up for church. Will was really working hard behind me to make the girls smile/laugh so I could capture a "candid" moment. Take a look.

Boo berries

BOO BERRIES: What Lilly calls black berries. She is addicted to them right now!

HOLD ME MAMA: (smile)

Spring program @ Beach Manor

Sophia's spring program for school was on Friday. Will "worked from home" that day so he was able to come with me and Lilly to see Little Miss Spunky performing all the songs as loud as she possibly could. You'll see what I'm talking about in these videos below.

The two kids to Sophia's right (Conor and Addie) are in her class. Adrianna was sick and actually had to cancel coming over for a play date after school. Addie still came and the girls had a fun time dressing up like princesses. Lilly followed them around. Addie is very small. She actually seems closer to Lilly's size and I got the impression that Addie was a bit more comfortable around Lilly.

Without further delay. Here are the videos.

B-U-N-N-Y


Have You Ever Seen a Bunny


Bunny Pokey


And this is what she looked like as she paraded down the hall back to her classroom. She was so proud and so were we.

She's progressing nicely in school.

Sophia is impressing us with new talents and skills each week. This week she brought home a school paper where she filled in the beginning and ending letters for some three letter words. She and I have been verbally working on it for a while, but now she can determine what each letter is and then translate it into writing. Mrs. Harden draws an item on the left side of the page and fills in the vowel and Sophia completes the rest of the word.

Dresses, dresses and more dresses

Sophia is obsessed with dresses lately. She seriously wears one every day. She looks adorable in dresses so I don't mind - even if she's wearing one of her fancier ones and she gets it dirty. They can be washed, but she's only a little kid once and deserves to have fun pretending to be whatever she wants to be. Actually, I have a feeling she prefers to wear dresses because they make it easier for her to use the bathroom.

This week she wore this to school and I thought she was so cute I just had to take her picture. She was acting like a ham so I got some really cute ones.

Ironically the day she wears a pure white dress to school, she gets a bloody nose. It dripped all the way down her dress. I'm 90% sure I've one more wash will get out the last of the stains.

Take a look at my big girl. She'll be 4 in six days. WOW.

First trip to the Botanical Garden this year.

We went to the WoW sprinkler garden at the Botanical Gardens on Tuesday with Haley and Carlie. Michelle and I took a class at the gym together early in the AM then we packed up the girls and headed to the Gardens. We brought a picnic lunch, but the girls never eat when they're excited and boy were they ever.

Lilly was a little hesitant at first, but once she got used to the water she was running through the sprinklers and squealing in delight. It was really cute. The big girls didn't really want to play in the water, they much preferred exploring the rest of the garden and getting muddy in the dirt. They were enjoying the little buildings placed strategically throughout. One building was a play house and the other was a "schoolhouse" building with a table, books and stools in it.

I have a feeling we'll be going there a lot this summer. I took a few pictures.

Cooling off in the water

After soccer and quiet time Sophia wanted to play outside on the roller coaster. And since she had her bathing suit on she also wanted to play on her princess slip and slide. We ran out to the garage to find it, but little did she knew that it was gone. I threw it out last year thinking it was a piece of junk and that she wasn't interested in it. A mistake on my part. Luckily we have a giant ball that rolls around and sprays water. She chose that instead.

I blew up the ball and Will hooked up the hose. At first she didn't want to get wet and only rode on the roller coaster, but soon Will created a sort of sprinkler system and forced her to pass through it at the bottom. She was opposed to getting wet at first, but by the time it was time to come into the house for dinner she was completely wet and using the hose to squirt herself directly in the face.

When Lilly woke up from her nap, I changed her into a bathing suit and sent her outside for some water fun. She really didn't like getting wet and chose to play on the deck or the roller coaster. This was her first time riding the coaster and we could tell she had a blast zooming down the hills on the car. In this picture she's running back to the top of the coaster to ride down again.

AGAY DA - Again Dad. (Lilly says this anytime Will does something fun like throw her up in the air, turn her upside down or toss a pillow in her face. She cracks up and begs for more. Today when she was upside down she kept looking at me saying I SEE YOU MAMA.)

Here's a video of Lilly.

Last soccer game

Today was Sophia's last soccer game and guess what? She scored a goal and she ran her butt off after the ball! She made contact a few times. We're so proud of her. Earlier this week when I told her that her last game was on Saturday she told me that she didn't want to stop playing soccer. I think we may have found something that she actually enjoys. By the way, she's also doing AMAZING in swimming lessons.

Tomorrow is the team soccer party where she will get her trophy. She won't be getting a team photo because she was sick the day of the picture and we didn't take her. I've taken a lot of photos of her during the games so she can at least see herself in action.

Haley also played today (a big accomplishment for her) and the two of them held hands for a lot of the game and they gave each other a lot of hugs.

It's funny because Lilly thinks she's part of them team too. At least she does when it comes to "hanging out" on the sidelines, snack time, and participating all the practices. She's right in there having her fair share of the fun. I can't wait until she can actually do all the things that Sophia can do. Lilly looks on like a sad puppy dog sometimes because she can't participate.

At the end of every game the parents all make a tunnel for the kids to run through. Sophia led the "parade" today. On the way home we told her how proud of her we were for her effort and I could tell her self confidence was soaring, but in all seriousness she was a pro out there today! Really really good... like her cousins.

Take a look at the pictures .

More Lilly words

I am now officially Mama. Will is still Daddy or Dad, but I think Mama is going to stick for me.

POCKLE - popsicle (This is currently her favorite food and when I let her have one she literally jumps up and down and yells I DO I DO.)

AH RINK - I want a drink.

MON - Come on. She says this as she grabs a hand or a pant leg and pulls.

SOPHIA - I know I've mentioned this one before but it's so cute to hear her say it.

YILLY or ILLY - Lilly

Moon Picnic

Yesterday Sophia invited me to her moon picnic. Don't ask me what a moon picnic is. It was the same as a regular picnic. (smile) Sophia set up a blanket in the entry hall and brought three of her "friends" - Dora, Polka Dot Puppy from Aunt Carole, and Doc.

We shared some strawberries and watermelon for our snack. Lilly was asleep so she didn't get to join us and I think Sophia was secretly happy about it.

Sophia showed me how she can wink. I could barely see her open eye, but she definitely winked at me. I think she winks as well as I do. Ha ha ha. She also whistles as well as I do which is pretty much nil.

Playground

We went to the playground on Tuesday with Haley and Carlie. All the girls had a great time. The weather was gorgeous - in the low 70s. We packed a picnic lunch and then let the girls play. Lilly and Carlie are becoming great friends.

They fight

The girls like to fight. Mostly they fight over toys. Sometimes when Lilly is tired she'll just walk up to Sophia and hit her. She'll hit her in the head, arm, chest, leg, etc. She's not picky. This blurry photo may look like Sophia is picking on Lilly, but really it's the other way around.

I've seen Sophia squeeze Lilly's arm when she wants to get Lilly back, but usually she tries to "ignore" it at first. Often instead of hitting back she usually tries to pry Lilly's hand off of the toy in question. Lately she's been hugging the heck out of Lilly - in a good way. Just today I saw them both sitting on the floor and Sophia was hugging her sister with a grin on her face and closed eyes. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Today Sophia went into Lilly's room and took this dollhouse. She brought it downstairs and started to play with it. Lilly wasn't going to stand for that! She marched right over to Sophia and pushed and pinched her. She had to sit in a time out.

Lilly was hitting me in the face today while we were in Target and no matter what I said to her she just wouldn't stop. She was frustrated because I wouldn't let her walk, but when I do she runs off and pulls things off the racks. She threw a fit about sitting in the cart so I was forced to carry her. She was arching her back and wriggling to get away from me and yelling NO. Talk about making a scene.

Her behavior has been really bad lately, but then again, she will be 2 in a month. I think she's going to be a pistol by the time she's 2 and 1/2.

Here's what you missed.

I finally had a chance to copy Sophia's Nutcrakcer dance recital from the DVD to my computer. So, now I can share it. Take a look at how adorable she is. She's on the left and Haley is on the right.

SOPHIA

Lilly can finally say Sophia. She started saying it yesterday. It sounds so cute when she says it. She still calls her SIA and SOSIA too. My little baby is growing up!

Other things she is saying:

POOPY IN THERE (She says this every single morning when I change her diaper whether she actually has a poopy or not.

TOO HOT (She's progressed from SSS HOT to this)

UH OH MOM MILKSHAKE MESS (She said this today after she got her milkshake all over the front of her shirt in the carseat. She was right, what a mess.)

COOKIE

CAKE (pancake)

BOCKS (blocks)

PAY (This means I want to play)

WAH ER (water)


These are songs that she sings:

Ring Around the Rosie

ABC's

Twinke Twinke Little Star

I Love You, You Love Me (The Barney song)

Row Row Row Your Boat

Busted

It looks like this Kodak moment caught Sophia in the act of bullying Coach Carl's son! She is the tallest kid on the team (and probably the youngest).

Lilly gets headphones

Will gave Lilly her very own pair of headphones. This is how she wore them.

SO SIA

Lilly's language is progressing quite nicely. She repeats every word that we teach her, but it's not perfectly clear. Some of her favorite things to say right now are:

SO SIA (Sophia)

HI BUDDY (Will says this to her.)

PEAS (Please)

SS HOT (It's hot. She learned this one from SO SIA)

Someone has a crush on Uncle Rob

Hmmmm....

Last week Sophia and I were chatting and she asked me why I always sleep with Daddy. I explained to her it was because we are married and that we will always sleep together. I told her that someday she would get married and before I could say she would sleep with her husband every night she jumped in and said TO UNCLE ROB!

Ironically, I remember a time when Terra had a crush on him and also wanted to marry Uncle Rob.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Well, we saw the Greatest Show on Earth yesterday afternoon complete with elephants, trapeze artists, tightrope walkers, stilt-walkers, contortionists, the world's strongest man, tigers, llamas & ponies, a dog and tons of really odd clowns. These weren't your run-of-the-mill everyday clowns. No, these ones were skinny and most were dressed like punk rockers or super heroes. If you haven't guessed by now I'm talking about the Ringling Bros. Barnum Bailey Circus. The girls absolutely loved it.

We had great seats. We sat with Haley and Carlie's family and the two big girls sat next to each other in the middle. When they weren't struck with awe, they were bouncing out of their seats. We were at eye level with the action so they could see everything that was going on in front and above them. Sophia's favorite act was the shaggy "doggies", but Will and I think they were shaggy Chinese dragons. I think Lilly liked cuddling with one of us for the entire show better than the actual show itself.

The girls shared a "large" cotton candy and Sophia picked out a white plastic horse souvenir to bring home. The horse looks like she's been plucked straight from a carousel ride. She's the spitting image of one. She even has a pink plume on her head. Lilly didn't get anything this time, but if she would have complained about it we probably would have bought her something too.

The show lasted for two and a half hours and even though we truly enjoyed ourselves I think we were all glad when the Greatest Show on Earth was over.

Customer Apprecation Party

Ms. Laura is our "nanny" when we can't find any of our neighborhood girls to babysit the kids. She's pricey, but she's worth it if you need her to drive your kids somewhere or make them meals, etc. She has even done the laundry for me. A welcomed change to the teen-aged baby sitters who don't even clean up after themselves. Ms. Laura watched Sophia while I was in the hospital having Lilly.

Well, Ms. Laura invited us to her customer appreciation party this week. It was from 3:30 - 6. She had an egg hunt for the kids in her front yard, bubbles, and dinner for the kiddos and for the moms.

Sophia and Lilly really enjoyed themselves. Sophia couldn't get enough of Ms. Laura and literally followed her around telling her random stories and showing off a bit. Lilly just stood around taking it all in, not too far away from me.

Haley & Carlie's Birthday Party

Haley and Carlie were born 2 years and 1 day apart so they shared a birthday party this year. Sophia and Lilly will also be sharing their birthday party celebration. They are going to host a princess tea party.

In this photo from left to right is a random girl in Haley's class, Haley, Addie, and Sophia. Cameron was also at the party, but not in this photo.

Haley and Carlie's mom, Michelle, rented 2 ponies and a small petting zoo (2 chickens, a goat, and a rabbit). Lilly loved riding the ponies. Sophia rode one time and then didn't want to do anymore.

They also had a bounce house set up for the kids. They have a swing set built for two in the backyard and both of my girls love to swing so we spent quite a bit of time on the swings.

When it was time for cake Sophia asked for chocolate AND vanilla. Lilly poked holes in her piece of chocolate cake, but she still managed to eat half of it.

Take a look at the pictures.

This "thing" she's wearing is actually one of my tunic tops although she's wearing it like a dress. Check out her shoes too....fancy.

Great new shirt

Sophia is growing like a weed! Shirts, skirts, dresses and even pants that fit her in the fall no longer fit. She needs an entire new spring wardrobe, but that's ok because she loves clothes and I have fun shopping with her. This is one of her new shirts and I just love the color on her.

Soccer

Sophia has been getting more and more confident in her soccer skills and she's actually starting to participate in the games after Coach Carl coaxes her at least 10 minutes. (smile)

This past Saturday our game was at 11:30. We played the Strikers. Nobody wins, nobody loses, in fact, nobody even scores in the right goal. Sophia's team is the Bears. She doesn't like her team name. She's #6.

I think she has more fun in the practices doing drills and running around cones, etc. Lilly actually tries her hardest to participate in the practices. She runs onto the field whenever she gets the chance.

At the game on Saturday Lilly was playing with Carlie at first and then she moved on to playing Duck Duck Goose with me. She was literally running circles around me laughing the whole time. She was having a blast.

The second time Sophia went into the game she held hands with Addie the entire time. She could have cared less if there was a game going on or not. It was cute.

See all the photos from the game.

Photos from my cell phone

I downloaded all of the photos from my phone recently and wanted to share a few.

Lillian was she was born
Sophia (14 months) at the mall play area

More will follow. I'm about to turn into a pumpkin and must retire for the night.