Angel? Princess?? FAIRY!!

We are thrifty shoppers and love to score a good deal, so last year, in that regard, we bought Sophie's Halloween costume for this year at the end of last season's clearance. Just last night we took out the angel costume we'd bought to be sure it actually fits her. We also hoped she'd like it, since we bought it a year ago, and we had no idea what she'd be into this year. Greg took it out, and she immediately called it a princess dress. Okay, we can work with that! She was very excited to put it on. Then she saw the wings and declared it a fairy costume. Even better! She came down the stairs to model it for me, and said, "Mommy! I'm a fairy... Fairies can fly... I can't fly........ I have to get bigger." It was so cute! She looked at herself in her mirror and kept saying, as if to convince us all, "When I get bigger, then I can fly."

So, now she's ready for Halloween--today! When I got her up this morning, I asked her where we get to go (the answer being church!) and she said "Trick-or-treat!" I explained that we wouldn't be able to do that for a lot of days still. She said, "Ya, maybe later." Halloween can't get here fast enough!

More Zoo

Thank goodness for Cassie and Gerrit! It took all four of us to take care of two small children! Thankfully, Owen ate during the dolphin show and lunch, which meant we didn't have to split up so as not to waste time. One of us always needed to chase Sophie around, hold her up, push her in the stroller, or push the stroller along when she chose to walk. She loved seeing the animals and would say, "See more animals," as soon as we'd get to the next one. She loved the farm animals because we could actually touch some of them--again, we were amazed at how bravely she went right up to the animals to touch them. She wasn't so brave about the sharks, though. She was a little concerned that there might be some in every dark cage we saw, so we had to reassure her a few times as she reassured herself too, saying, "Don't be scared." It was a great day!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

We went to the "Big Zoo" today as a family, including Aunt Cassie and Uncle Gerrit. In June I had worked hard to get free passes to go. The week I finally accomplished it was the week my activity was restricted due to high blood pressure in my pregnancy. So, Sophie and Greg got to go without me that time. Today, I got to go along, and so did Owen! I was struck by how the Lord has been so good to us. I sat home crying during Sophie's first trip to the Big Zoo because I wasn't healthy enough to go. This time, Owen and I, both in excellent health, got to make the trip too. (And I was able to score free passes again, so that made it all even sweeter!) We've come a long way since June! Here are a few preliminary pictures. I'll post some more soon!

Jammies

The camera is finally repaired!

Last night, after her bath, Sophie got to stay up a little later than usual to watch post-season baseball with Daddy and Owen. She kept asking, "What's her name?" wanting to know the names of the players. This is the only time of the year that Daddy also stays up a little later than usual!

This morning, Sophie enjoyed playing with her brother and even stopped to pose for a picture with him.

extreme makeover

I have been wanting a makeover lately (my makeup, my hair, my whole body...). Sophie must have sensed it, as she has taken it upon herself to fix me up. Last night she donned the safety goggles from her tool box and whipped out her measuring tape to take my measurements. Then she used her drill to "blow dry" my hair, along with her flashlight (evidently for those difficult to manage areas!). She then politely told me to "Put your head back" while pushing my head down with her hands and then aggressively gave me a ponytail. And, evidently I didn't do a good enough job on myself this morning because she was back at it again today!

Today we ran to Target to do an errand and while we were there we stopped to play in the toy aisle for a few minutes (an excellent, free diversion!). Sophie came across some microphones on an end cap of a main aisle of the store and immediately knew what they were and what to do with them. She started singing a bunch of gibberish into one, and then handed me a microphone and demanded, "Sing!" So there we were, standing in a big aisle of Target, singing "The Wheels on the Bus" into our microphones. Sophie kept calling out requests when we'd finish one song, while I kept asking if she'd like to go see the babies instead. While she was busy singing, I'd lower my microphone to my waist as I continued singing, but pretty soon she'd notice and chastise me and remind me to put it by my mouth. We got several grins and giggles from people as they passed by us. I should have laid a hat at our feet to collect the money she'll need to audition for American Idol in 18 years!!

Kitties, chickens, tarantulas

Sophie and I had a girls morning out today. It's been seeming like she could use a little one-on-one time with me, so we planned a fun outing together. We went out for breakfast to Denny's (what a thrill!). Then we went to a really cool children's bookstore in a fancy part of the city. It kind of reminded me of the bookstore on "You've Got Mail" (the Meg Ryan movie)--it was one of those privately owned ones with lots of character. We walked in through the purple kid-sized door that was cut into the larger adult-sized one, and found a gray cat all stretched out in front of us. Sophie squealed with delight and ran right up to pet it. She was totally enthralled with the cat until a chicken ran by. Yes, a chicken! And then she squealed even louder and ran off to try to catch the chicken. She was loving chasing the chicken until it turned and started chasing her a bit and kind of made to peck at her fingers. Then she was done with the chicken. There were animals in every nook and cranny (mostly in cages, thank goodness, since one was a tarantula!), including a fish tank in the bathroom mirror. We saw ferrets, chinchillas, geckos, a frog and several types of birds, and even some rats in a cage in the floor that you could see through glass. Clever. I kept asking Sophie if she'd like to look at books since she typically enjoys doing that and it would be a lot easier to do without Owen. She always said, "No. More animals." So, we'd go around and look at all the animals again. Finally, she hooked up with some older girls and enjoyed chasing the cats around the store until the girls had to leave. We had a great time at the bookstore where we read no books. And now we're both tired, but only one of us gets to nap!

Rock Star

Today Sophie graduated to Dora underwear! We've been waiting for her to go "dirt" for 3 days now. The bonus is that there haven't been any accidents of any kind for 3 days either! I've been telling her that if she can remember to go dirt in the potty instead of in her underwear then she can wear the Dora ones. Today was the day! She came to me this morning and said she had dirty pants, but on checking I discovered that wasn't the case. So, I asked her if she needed to sit and she said yes, so we whisked her into the bathroom. She went right away and was very excited! She was very excited to check out her new duds in the mirror in her room. I can't believe she's so old!

We went out to play today and on our way home in the car we were listening to music, as usual. Sophie said, "I need it louder!" So I turned it up. Then she said, "Let's dance, Mommy!" So, we danced in our seats. Then she said something I couldn't figure out..."I play tar!" I replied, "Yes, you're playing in the car." "NO!" she said, "I play tar!" Then I looked at her in the rear-view mirror. She had one hand up in the air and the other at her stomach, and she was wiggling her fingers......She was playing AIR GUITAR! Guess who taught her that?!