Family Pictures - Take 2

We are still attempting to get a family portrait . . . and even though the above picture is better than our Christmas picture, this one wasn't good either.  However, Ken did manage to get this cute picture of Sophia and me.

Too bad Sophia's nose is bright red . . . looks like she's been drinking something stronger than milk ;)

Random Pictures

Sophia just hanging out.  She's happy in the jumper, as long as someone is playing with her.

 Amelia drawing on her chalkboard.  I'm not sure whether it's lazy or resourceful that she is sitting, rather than standing.

(DISCLAIMER: Ken drew most of the pictures on the board.)

Amelia at 2

• I love the way Amelia does with her stuffed animals what I do with her and Sophia.  She feeds them, reads to them, puts them in the swing, and wraps them in blankets.
• She likes leeks, bok choy, greens, tomatoes, and broccoli.  And speaking of vegetables, she'd rather eat them than meat.  She eats around meat, even in a casserole when it's all mixed in.  I just may have a vegetarian on my hands.
• Amelia likes to mix her food; it grosses me out, but so far, she eats it, so I say nothing and cringe inwardly.
• She loves having the lights on, even when it's fully light outside.  She must have gotten that from her Daddy.
• Amelia is a helper, and brings out her little chair to stand on whenever I'm near a counter or sink; ready to help when I'm willing to let her help.
• She still only says a few words, but one of them is "please", and that makes it all good.
• She likes to drink from the faucet because Daddy does it.
• Amelia loves singing the ABC song and already recognizes and names some of the letters.
• She can run the DVD player and put in movies on her own; this is both a good and bad thing.
• She's good at pretending and I love watching her imagination at work.
• Amelia loves Sophia.  And Sophia loves Amelia . . . and listening to Amelia sing and watching Amelia play.
• We love Amelia too and love having her in our family.

Amelia's 2nd Birthday

I love celebrating birthdays and it was so much fun to celebrate Amelia's 2nd birthday all day long (we celebrated on Sat. instead of Sun. for a full day of activity).  I decorated the night before and when she woke up she was excited to see all the balloons.   And the party hats were a hit too.  We wore them at breakfast and lunch and dinner.

Amelia helped me make brownies.  I already had ice cream cupcakes for dinner (courtesy of Cold Stone Creamery), but you can never have too many sweets . . . especially for a birthday.

After lunch and a long nap, we started opening presents.  I say started, because Amelia wanted to play with everything as she opened it, so it took almost 3 hours to open 5 presents.  Amelia got an easel - one side has a white board and the other side is a chalkboard. 

"Yes Amelia, dry erase markers write on your hands . . . and new shirts, and no, it doesn't come out of clothes."  Bummer.

Amelia loves to draw, but perhaps her parents should have re-thought the marker and chalk gifts.  I veto'd watercolors, but I forgot how messy chalk is . . . and the markers require supervision.   But we scored on the bubbles, ball, and train set.

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Finally, after dinner, it was time for cake and ice cream.   Amelia eagerly watches Daddy prepare the cupcake and light the candles.

"I think I could have done it on my own, but thanks, Daddy, for helping me blow out the candles."

"This is pretty good stuff."

"No Daddy, this is mine."

"I'm getting pretty good with my fork, but who eats a cupcake with a fork?  Oh, the cupcake is actually ice cream?  Is that why it's melting in my hand?"  

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner; they loved helping us celebrate and even played along with the party hats.

(The girls may not look like me, but at least we know where Sophia got those big eyes.)

I think we succeeded on celebrating Amelia's birthday.  She was so wound up, it took her 1 1/2 hours to go to sleep.  And when she finally fell sleep, she had the bows from her presents, a party hat, and a balloon tucked in beside her.

Happy Birthday Amelia! 

Singing with Sophia

Sophie loves to watch the Cat in the Hat with Amelia in the morning. Some parts are still a little scary, but she manages to get through without too much trauma.

Dad really can't sing, but it is fun to see how Sophia thinks that I am the greatest thing since the invention of the rattle. She doesn't really giggle much in this one, but still worth watching. Press on the arrow to play the movie.

Playing Around

Amelia likes to play and jump on our bed. No major bones broken yet, but it is so fun to watch her enjoy herself with supervision to contact guard assist from Daddy! Just makes me laugh watching this one, and Amelia loves it too! Click on the arrow to begin the video.

Completely Random

• Happy Leap Day!  I feel like I should do something really fun and exciting today, but I'm pretty sure that just isn't going to happen.  Hopefully someone does something fun to celebrate.
• Sophia is now 4 months old and doing great . . . except that she still doesn't nap well.  It's really wearing me out.  When will she outgrow this?
• We need to mow our lawn . . . and it's snowing today.  Gotta love the Northwest.
• I made homemade Goldfish crackers (only cut into squares rather than goldfish shape).  Amelia loves them, but the crackers went soft in a Ziplock bag.  I'm wondering what I should have stored them in instead.
• Amelia gets confused when she sees commercials advertising the shows she likes to watch.  She expects the show to come on even if we just got done watching it.  How to explain it to a 2-year old?
• Speaking of 2-year olds - Amelia is turning 2 on Sunday.  I'm so excited to celebrate her birthday. (Separate post to come.)
• This month I also made my own taco seasoning and condensed cream soup for recipes.  It's made me feel so industrious and productive.  I'm looking forward to the future when I have more time/ energy to do more of that sort of thing.
• Ken is going to a conference in June for 4 days.  Anyone want to come visit while he's gone?  I promise to be a good hostess.  And we just bought a new bed for visitors - it's a twin, so you have to come by yourself or be extra cozy with your spouse ;)
• I bought new non-Christmas wrapping paper for the first time in almost 10 years; I've just been using gift bags all this time for the few non-Christmas presents I've been wrapping.  It made me all giddy wrapping Amelia's birthday presents today.