Daddy's little helper

"I do it mice-elf! I DO IT MICE-ELF"

Rolly Pollies Videos

Too cute to forget.

Yep, that's a zipline.

Rolly Pollies Party

So the girls had a big weekend recently. Lots of birthday parties and a trip out to the suburbs to a place called Rolly Pollies. It was a gym but not like any one we've ever seen before. It was basically kid heaven.

 A giant bin full of foam blocks? Yes, please.

 Sophie acclimated quickly.

 Georgia was basically a blur the whole time.

 Look at her determination!

 Georgia climbed the rock wall, giggling the whole time.

 Pizza party afterwards.

Dressed Up

...in mommy's old dress. She wanted a "boo one" this morning.

Busy Weekend

We had a lot going on this weekend. Saturday morning was front-porch beautification time. Daddy took the girls to the neighborhood yard sale and bought a new rug for the porch. I went to get hanging baskets and then he installed some hooks.

Georgia told me it was "lovely."

Later, after gymnastics, we had THREE BIRTHDAY PARTIES. Elia's was a karate party. G was tentative at first, but totally loved it.

 

We Love Gymnastics

G's excitement is almost enough to erase the horrible memories of soccer...

 She could not be happier.

 Sophie likes it that mommy gets to stay with her in class.

Yummy

She's been saying this nonstop for days.

OVERHEARD

In the backyard, as G and I are walking in from the garage…while it’s starting to rain…

 

NEIGHBOR BOY: Do you want to come over and play with us Georgia? Even in the rain, it’s fun. Unless you’re a scaredy-cat.

 

GEORGIA: Umm…

 

I’m pretty sure this is one of her first peer pressure experiences. And it totally worked.

Busytown

The most complicated toddler game there is. George tried not to cry when Sophie "broke the rules." Cece jumped all over the board a couple of times as well. General chaos much like Busytown itself.

Gang of five

You have no idea how long it took to get one picture where all of them were generally looking toward the camera. You have Maya, Sophie (in a doll stroller), Lulu, Georgia & Evelyn. It was the best night ever. And it ended with an epic meltdown. It was Georgia's turn, I guess!

We have a brave girl

First time at gymnastics class - [adult] hands free?!

Mommy's Headband

Sophie appropriated this from me this morning, and was so delighted with herself she repeated to herself, "EYE OUGHT MAHMEE'S ED-HAND! YOU LIE IT?"

Which is Sophian for: "I got mommy's headband - do you like it?"

I tried to get it in her native language for a video, but she's just too self-aware to let that happen on the sly.

About that hat

For weeks and weeks we've been hearing about the big paper mache project in her art class. G goes to art with the Yellow Group in her class that does - happily - include Lulu, but not - sadly - Evelyn. They have been making this mask/hat thing for at least six weeks. Finally, it came home today. She tried to get Soph to model it.

Didn't work, so then she gladly took a turn.

Not to be outdone, Soph requested "MY OWN HAT."

Cool kid.

Modern art

This came home today in Georgia's weekly folder that's usually piled high with artwork that she's made - typically pictures of herself and her "best friends," with all their names written out in a list. But I couldn't quite make this one out - so I asked her about it.


Me: What is it?

Georgia: It's a FROG!

Me: Oh! What's this part [pointing to the blue fabric]?

Georgia: That's the HAIR!

(Duh.)

A Moment of Flexibility

I need to get this down on internet...in the car on the way home from school this afternoon, I asked G if she would prefer that I pick her up at the end of the school day tomorrow, or a little later from aftercare (I'm going to do early voting in a special election tomorrow afternoon - so I can take her with me or not). Her response was kind of amazing.

Georgia: Which one?
Me: Either one, which one would you prefer? I can do either one.
Georgia: Well, I would prefer both of them. I love it when you pick me up from class and I love it when I go to aftercare, so either one is just fine and will be the best choice.
Me: Whoa.

Strike a Pose

So when we were home last week for spring break (yes, I know I haven't posted Thanksgiving photos yet...zip it), we came across this photo of mommy at Grandma's house. The conventional wisdom is that G is the spitting image of daddy - but you can't deny some resemblance, right?

So then we decided to recreate the photo because Grandma and Grandpa still have this same wooden table in their sitting room. This was as close as we could get because, in all honesty, G is a goofball who laughs all the time.

Part of why she was laughing was that Sophie was doing everything in her power to prevent that photo from being taken without her. Finally, we relented and allowed her to do her own pose. The fact that she basically lives to be naked right now kind of added a sense of je ne sais quoi.

Make new friends

We all know that mommy and daddy love love love their new house. The girls are kind of ambivalent - unless you start talking about the neighbors. The neighbors! THE NEIGHBORS! Georgia is obsessed. And why shouldn't she be? Four adorable, genuinely awesome kids living next door and their backyard has a huge woodpile? A photo from tonight's post-dinner playdate. There was a lot of dirt in the bathtub.

One more thing

You know the cliché about having one kid who just wants to be naked all the time? Yeah, we've got one of those.

Putting on a show

Tonight, they decided we would take turns putting on shows for each other. No, you don't get to watch the ones mommy and daddy came up with.

(Brief) Updating

So we've been pretty slow updating the blog lately. If you are still checking it, then I guess you already knew that and my excuses won't make much of a difference. So instead of giving you a list, I decided we ought to give a brief snapshot of Sophie today. She is 2 years and just over three months old. She loves her mommy and daddy - apparently talks about us nonstop during Sunday school. She also likes you to tuck her in.

When you do, she gives you a face like this, so it's all worth it.

Sophie also is obsessed with birthdays. After realizing she could get a lot of attention by singing Happy Birthday to daddy last month, she has basically not stopped singing it. We hear her in bed singing to herself after we've turned out her lights. She also makes piles of things (books, toys, food) and hands them to you saying, "Happy Birthday!" She's very thoughtful.