Thanksgiving

We had a great time with Greg's side of the family visiting the great-grandmas' houses for Thanksgiving. Sophie got a bunch of new dress-up stuff and toys (we did Christmas with that side of the family). She is particularly fond of her Snow White dress and wears it every waking moment. The Little Mermaid doll is also very special to her and has been added to the privileged few who get to sleep with her. She also really enjoyed playing with her cousin Katie at Great-Grandma E's house. The girls played well with each other--Sophie just followed Katie (almost 5 yrs old) around and copied everything Katie did. Owen slept past 4 a.m. each night...a first! Of course, now that we're home, he was back up at 1:30 again. He was passed from person to person for several days and loved the attention. (He is napping on my lap as I write because he will not be left alone long today.) He was very sweet and smiled and cooed for people. He also developed an attraction for Sophie's special doll Lilly. He's just learning to use his hands, and he was grabbing at Lilly and trying to eat her face. I guess we still have time to get him his own doll for Christmas (if Greg will let us!! Remember Ives!??!).

The Big Mall

The kids and I went to the "Big Mall" today to take in their "Toddler Tuesday" events. We are typically in Bible study on Tuesdays, but we were off for the holiday week, so we decided to head to the mall for something different. It was Dr. Seuss storytime, and Sophie got to high-five the Cat in the Hat. She would not pose for a picture of that. We stayed to listen to one story, and then she wanted to go and play. So we walked around and found Legoland to play in for a while. I don't even want to think of the kinds of germs that are on those Legos. We also sought out Santa Claus and waited in line for 15 minutes (half way to Santa!) when Sophie said she was all done with that. She had previously told me she would not be getting her picture with him anyway, so I wasn't too disappointed. This was our first visit to Santa for the year, so perhaps, with practice, she'll actually sit on his lap for a picture before Dec. 25th! However, Sophie DID want to go on an enormous ride in the amusement park...the kind that would make me puke. I told her she was too small and Owen couldn't go on it. She said, "Ya, when I get bigger then I can do it." Yes, with Daddy. Owen isn't in any of these pictures because he was strapped onto the front of me in the Bjorn the whole morning. He did great in there, looking all around at the sights and sounds until his head bobbed forward and back as he tried to sleep while we walked around.

Leaves

I took the kids out to play for a few minutes yesterday, trying to get some pictures in the leaves before it got too dark and before Greg got rid of them. Sophie, very helpfully, moved handfuls of leaves off of the big pile and back into the grass. I'm sure Greg was thankful for the help! I did my best to get Sophie to pose with Owen, but she kept complaining that he was too heavy (probably true--he's about 13 lbs!). So, I got a cute picture of the two of them, but if you look closely you can tell they are both a little bit in distress. When we came back in, I tried to get some pictures of Owen on his new blanket from Great Grandma (my mom's mom), so Sophie climbed into his chair and said, "Look at me!" So, I finally got her to pose for a picture.

Some of the latest tricks...Owen has found his fingers! When he wakes up in the night I can hear him sucking his fists when he's ready to eat. He tends to hold one hand with the other while he chews on it--kind of makes him look like a chipmunk. Which reminds me...while we were visiting my parents last weekend, Sophie got out of the car and said, "It smells out here. Stinky! Phew!" I asked her what she was smelling, and without hesitation she said, "Chipmunks!" Some of her latest tricks are reaching the light switches herself to turn the lights on and off. She's also singing a lot lately, tunes we actually recognize. In fact, some I know that I haven't taught her. She's loving her class on Tuesdays at church, so I'm thinking she's getting the songs there. Sometimes she asks me to sing songs I don't even know. For instance, does anyone know a song about a BIG spider?? "The itsy-bitsy spider" is most definitely not the song Sophie is referring to!! She got angry when I tried to sing that instead.

Yellow Grandma

We have been staying at my parents' house while Greg's been away deer hunting. As Sophie and Owen and I were leaving for the 4-hour drive, Sophie started talking about "yellow grandma" and "black grandma." It took me until today to figure out what she meant. "Yellow Grandma" is my mom because "she has yellow hair," according to Sophie (it's actually red!). That means Greg's mom is "black grandma" because her hair is black (brown, really!).

The kids and I braved the drive all alone, and we did great! Owen slept the whole way, and Sophie was entertained the first half of the trip with a bag of toys that I'd packed for her. The little binoculars were a big hit as she used them to look for animals out the windows. We took a break half way at McDonalds to eat and play, and then Sophie watched "The Mermaid" the rest of the way. She sat in the back and narrated the movie to me..."Shark is chasing them!"..."They're getting wet!" ..."She's sad. She wants her daddy." We used to make fun of people whose kids watched movies in the car. We said we'd never stoop to that level; watching TV in the car?! Ha! How wrong we were!!!

Sophie has been in the heighth of her glory. She has eaten all kinds of treats, played dress up (note the Cinderella dress from the dollar store--2 bucks!!), watched movies in the beanbag chair, hosted several damp tea-parties, and had several adults at her beck and call. She has also learned how to use scissors to "cut" things out of grandma's magazines. Mostly she does a little snip and tears the rest out--she thinks it's great! Great Grandma is visiting here too, so Owen has gotten passed around a lot, and mommy has gotten to go shopping all alone. Woohoo!

New Pictures

Sorry it's taken a long time for me to post anything new. Greg's been out of town hunting, the kids have both been sick, and we just set the clocks back! Setting the clocks back helps normal people, but babies and toddlers don't get excited about sleeping in an extra hour. In fact, it sets their whole day off...but we're figuring things out. Here are a few new pictures. We were pretty house-bound this weekend, but we did manage to paint Sophie's nails.