Dress

Sophia loves to wear this dress. Personally, I can't stand it. I keep putting it into her costume bin so she'll only wear it around the house, but she constantly wants to wear it out of the house. It's made out of lycra or something like that so it must be comfortable.

Oh well...

The Super Steelers lost the Superbowl, but the Redskins and the Cowboys didn't even go...so....

Better luck next year, Steelers.

Moving right along

I'm so proud of Sophia!

She just started her third reader book at school today and earlier this week she got her first math book. They don't send it home until she's completed the entire book so I'm anxious to eventually see what she's up to.

I'm pretty sure that right now they are reviewing shapes (and perfecting how to draw each one) and colors, but will move onto number progression (ie: 1-100) after that. WOW!

Some of the words that she can read are:
the
bay
down
by
fish
go
is
and let's not forget welcome!

Here are some videos of Sophia's tap class on Tuesday:

The best of friends

These two photos were taken this morning at dance class. It's Sophia and Haley...best friends...at least they are for the time being. They have a love/hate relationship. They're either totally in love with each other or completely mad at each other...for some insanely stupid reason. It's usually because the other one talks to or just looks at another one of their friends.

50 degrees

Even though it was a gorgeous day...53 degrees outside...the girls decided they needed to get dressed like this to go outside to play.

Look how adorable my girls are:

Lilly in the pull up

Last night when I checked on Lilly before I went to bed, I noticed that she had put a pull up on over her pj's. Books, colored pencils, a comb, 2 baby dolls, a stuffed elephant, and a pair of shoes were all under the covers with her.

Lilly's art work

This is what Lilly brought home from school today. This is the first piece of "art" that she's come home with in 2 months and if you ask me it's pretty pathetic. It was completely crumpled up in her backpack too!

Every two years

It seems like every two years my computer dies. Right now Will has my computer in several pieces. We ordered a new hard drive, but that may not be the problem. It might be the circuit board or chip -- or whatever it's called. Regardless, I can't use my computer and I feel completely lost. I'm lucky to have a smartphone so I can check my email, but it's painful for me to reply since I still type on the keyboard with a single finger.

Growing up so fast

This girl is growing up so fast. She now has a chore chart on the frig and so far she's received check marks in each column every day this week. Her chores are:

• Clean room after nap time


• Help set the table


• Clear the dinner dishes


• Clean up toys before getting more out

Will is going to give her a dollar a chore EACH week. She's a very lucky girl if you ask me.


Those chores are very easy for her!Lilly also wanted a chart on the frig so her chores are:

• Play


• Look cute

Lilly tells me all the time...MOMMY, I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH!

Last night I slept in her room until she fell asleep. Well, I should say I slept in there until Will came and woke me up at 3AM. There's something about watching a sleeping child....

Socks and shoes

It only took a week for Lilly to stop crying every time we put her down for a nap or bedtime when she transferred to the big bed. It was trial and error that first week because we didn't know what she liked yet. I've since found out what it takes to get her to sleep:

• There can be no music playing.


• The light must be left on (even though she has two nightlights that are also on).


• There must be a book next to her.


• Of course, she must have Lamby.


• You can be sure she'll get out of bed, go into her sock drawer, find a pair of socks, put them on and then put on a pair of shoes, climb back into bed, get back under the covers and proceed to fall asleep!

Beach Manor rules the schools!

It's no secret that I have a love affair with Sophia's schooland I'm not very humble about it. In my opinion, Sophia simply goes to the best preschool!

She gets a lot of exposure: computers/games, physical fitness, singing, one-on-one academic instruction, arts & crafts, Spanish, a themed lesson intensive each month (this month is The Circus), not to mention socialization skills....wait a minute, we really don't want to mention the socialization skills.

Next year is going to be a fantastic year. I say this because both of the girls' Beach Manor enrollment checks were cashed this week. That can only mean that they both made it into the programs we wanted.

I can proudly say that Lilly will be attending Beach Manor in Mrs. Harden's 3-yr old AM classroom. I made a special request to have Mrs. Harden as Lilly's teacher. They graciously accommodated our request. I want Lilly to go in the morning 3 days a week (M-W-F) and Mrs. Harden only teaches 5-day (M-F) students in the AM. She does teach a M-W-F program, but only in the afternoon.

Beach Manor only offers 1 K class and Sophia's and because she has 2 guardian angels, she's in it! Woo Hoo!!! (I wish you could see the jig that I'm doing as I write this!) She'll be attending Beach Manor for private, all-day kindergarten. Well, actually, she'll be in a regular K class in the AM and then go into a program called Extended Day where they have a completely different curriculum. It's like attending a second, different K class each day.

I'm so happy!

Dance class

Last week the girls had dance class together and I was able to take a few pictures on my phone. I got a lot more "good" ones of Lilly than I did Sophia. Most of hers were blurry, but we all know she's constantly on the move so it's no surprise.

The Children's Museum

Here'a a cute picture of Lilly playing in the Water Room at The Pittsburgh Children's Museum during our Christmas holiday.

Welcome

Sophia read her very first word this morning...all on her own. We have a Welcome sign near the front door (a great present from Grancy a few Christmas's ago). Sophia was outside waiting for me/Lilly to leave for school. I was running around like a crazy woman inside gathering back packs, my purse, the keys, my coffee and Lilly (because I carry her everywhere and I don't mind doing it. She's my little baby.)

Anyway, when I opened the door Sophia immediately asked me WHAT DOES THIS SAY? Lately, she asks me what every word is. Before I could tell her she sounded out WEL COME at the exact same time that I said welcome. She had actually sounded it out and read her first word. I just simply went crazy! Welcome seems like it would be a hard word to me. I'm not sure, but wow! She read the word welcome all on her own! I'm so proud of my 4 1/2 year old.

When I was dropping her off at school we saw another Welcome sign and I asked her what it said. Without hesitating she told me: WELCOME.

By the way, she did her own makeup in this picture. And she also did her nails.

Here are a few videos of Lilly at a Christmas Eve party thrown by our neighbors. It was such a fun night. Lilly was pure entertainment.

Addie's birthday party

All of Sophia's friends are turning 5. Cameron's birthday was in November. Addie turned 5 last week and the girls went to her birthday party on Saturday. They both had a really good time. The theme was Barbie tea party. The girls were asked to wear their Sunday best. They got dressed up in purple feather boas and pink tiaras, bracelets and rings. Sophia really got into it, except after about 5 minutes she wouldn't wear the boa any longer because it was itching her neck. She did keep her crown on until we got home. Lilly refused to wear any part of the costume and wanted me to hold her for 30 minutes after we first arrived. Toward the end of the party she got clingy again and refused to be a part of the group picture, but I think it was from pure party exhaustion.

I didn't have any room on my regular camera so I took some pictures using our handheld video camera. They didn't come out very clear, but I have to admit it's a fast camera. This one of Sophia and Addie is really cute. See the rest of the pictures.