Trick-or-treating

Here are a few pics of the girls very first time trick-or-treating around a neighborhood. Since we don;t have one of our own, we adopted our friend Jen's. It was great wonderful fun to be w/ friends & see the excitement at getting a candy at each new house. So fun! Sophia decided to be a butterfly, so we did a last minute hair & make-up. When sh saw herself in the mirror, she said "oh, I like the way I look." Anna was a very sleepy clown, but it didn't take long for her to catch on to the idea, of walking to a house &  getting candy. On the way home she said from the backseat "Momma, I liked that very much" :) 

Halloween - Early

Vance had to snuggle the two, they were too cute, who could resist?

Last week the girls had a Halloween party at the school. Sophia was a puppy & Anna was a clown.  They decorated (& ate) cookies, decorated masks, ran & played with friends. What a great time. Sophia is asking about getting more candy, so we'll try & go "trick- a- treating" this Fri. 

 Happy Halloween!!!

Anna is 2 !

Happy Birthday! Our Annabella is 2. Wow. Look at her sweet baby picture. All that black hair! She is SO blonde now! When the nurse had brought her to me, after cleaning her up a bit, she had put this sweet bow in her hair.  Life would be so blah without her funny antics, laugh, hugs & kissess. She is never without an armful of blankies, babies & bottles!!! :) We love you Anna!!!

(Ok, so, she was 2  a few weeks ago :) anna, please forgive me ) 

Happy Birthday Sophia!!

Today is Sophia's 4th Birthday! This pic was her as we were leaving the hospital, & she has always had the same expression. So wise, so poised, so not impressed by others attempts to make her smile :) 

Last night at dinner we had this conversation-

Sophia: "Momma I wish I were queen, that way I could have anything I wanted"

Me: " what would you want that you don't already have?"

Sophia: "Spongebob Square Pants toys. I don't have ANY." 

well, guess what daddy had picked out- yep, spongebob figures, & some other fun things that I think she will enjoy :) 

The next few posts will be about Anna, I haven't forgotten about you, baby!

Beautiful!!!

Beautiful Sophia & I had a chance to spend the day together, ( with my Mom & sis Michelle) at my Beautiful cousin Kristin's wedding. Anna was able to spend the day with Daddddda doing all kinds of farm things, wish I had some pics of their day!. 

Saturday felt like a day for just the 2 of us at "the Ocean". Really it was Lake Superior. It was a wonderful day! Here is Sophia in her party dress. Since it was 60 degrees on this July afternoon on the shore, we wore pants & sweaters over our party dresses. :)

Sophia enjoying the surf....

& enjoying the sand!

and the dancing!!! We really like the square dancing! So much twirling & clapping & stomping & swinging!

& the Beautiful couple!!!! We love you Kristin & Michael!!!!!

The "Naughty Funny"

My girls are VERY good at what I like to call "naughty-funny"- the naughty behavior that should be disciplined, but it is clever & amusing that it is difficult to punish.

Above, is Sophia, after she had been on the porch obviously creating herself into a fancy, Sunday hat wearing, butterfly. This was 2 days after she had hid under the table drawing sun flowers on both knee caps & stems & leaves down each calf. Agh.

close-up of the naughty-funny girl. She used dry-erase markers to create the green & black on her face, hands, belly legs & feet. Very hard to squelch the creativity in process, but what is a mom to do?
The above photo, is naughty-funny caught in action. Anna was trying to get Brutus to eat the popscicle, & when he wouldn't she rubbed it on his head.

Brutus refusing the offered treat.

Anna trying STILL after he has tried to ignore her by pretending to be asleep, even with sticky orange  goo  in his fur.... since this episode, he has had blue wall paint on his face & stickers on his ears & paws. :)

2 dogs +2 kids = no work done :)

packing the wagon of supplies to try & get the playhouse painted.... Sophia is wearing the "Painting hat" that I was trying to get both girls to wear so that the paint didn't get in their hair like on Sun....
Anna who had the paint in the hair Sun, wouldn't wear the "hat"  that is her "Whatever, I don't think so Momma" face. 
The outside of the playhouse, that really is a converted ice fishing house that Vance & his highschool buddy built when he was in high school. Now all we need is a window, curtains, little table, sink, stove & tea set, oh & chalk board paint. :)
The inside, not finished because, by golly, there is sliding to be done....

Strawberry pick'n

Sunday we spent the morning at a pick-your-own strawberry patch. I had mentioned it to Vance in passing, & he found this one close by. Thanks hon, for listening!  Good times. Sunshine, team work & a good reason to make strawberry shakes. :) We had to have a system to keep Anna busy, otherwise she wanted to eat them all! When we went to pay, it was SO obvious that she had taken a few, her face was COVERED in red stains from her forehead to her chin. Oh Anna, we love you!

Part of the fam

Here are more pics from the day in the life of Brutus! When he is worn out from being outside he is a great playmate for the girls! If he has too much energy, he chases them biting their ankles. They run & climb on the couch to get away from him. Sophia does that more. Anna likes to wrestle him. Jen, I agree with Jen- Anna & Brutus have many of the same things..... look at their short chunky thighs! :)

Puppy love

2 Weeks ago Vance went "to look at tractors" & came home with a 7 week old cockapoo.  We were so surprised! He is  SOOO cute. A little naughty w/ the constant chewing on our ankles & pulling the plants out of the garden,  but when you are THAT cute you can get away with a lot! The girls are great with him. I'll post later the pics of Sophia putting Brutus in the  stroller, doll baskets, etc. Too cute! 

The Angels

Here is the first photo of BOTH girls on the naughty step. :) This obviously was NOT effective as a punishment this time. They had been fighting over the baby stroller, so both were in trouble. While they were sitting there Anna was giving me this look like "Whatever Mom," (see above photo) for being such a little one, she has attitude! Well, then I just thought they were so cute, & had to grab the camera. 

Last night I was telling Vance the things that Sophia is into right now. In response, he said, Why not update the blog so that you will remember them. Brilliant. So here are 5 things the girls are interested in as of today :)

Sophia:

1. The letter "S" she is thrilled to find it anywhere. Her name is thrilling- she likes to trace it over & over & over

2. weather- they  talk about weather at school and now we try &  find it on the computer & talk about it- a lot

3. puddles/rainy days- who doesn't like to splash in mud puddles?

4. Dreams- she got me the other day- I said so did you have a dream last night? She told me this detailed & elaborate story. I was impressed. She asked if I had had a dream that night. I said not last night. Her response: Well, just make up one like I just did. hee hee

5. Songs- We have the same cd in the car that we like (I liked it better a few weeks ago) & now Sophia will sing the songs on the "stage"= fireplace & put shows on for us. So very cute!

Anna

1. Anything Sophia is doing. 

2. Frogs & birds- she can say the words 

3. Puddles- again, who wouldn't like to splash.  

4. Babies- we have SO many baby dolls & 

5. Friends & daddy- when our friends come to visit she squeals & runs around. When daddy gets home she runs around yelling "Dadda, dadda, daddda, daddda" So happy to see him !!!!

Oh, Anna!

Anna Banana is such a joy!  & Her naughty behavior is hilarious (I'm working on being the adult, & disciplining, instead of just laughing) The photos above are of a painting session  where she was rubbing the paintbrush in her ear! She is really really naughty in a smart way, that I wouldn;t expect at her young age. The other night at dinner she was eating some mixed vegetables & they were disapearing, thinking that she was eating them, I'd give her a few more. I look over to see her putting them all in her sleeve! 

She will take something of Sophia;s making sure that Sophia knows that she has it & will take off running. She glares, & will stomp & yell if she doesn;t like something .  Of course all that naughty is mixed in with snuggles, kisses, baby doll  holding, & lots of sweetness. 

We love you Anna! & you crack us up!

Winter: Thaw & freeze

Maybe I saved the photos too small this time... anyway, I hope that you can see how much crazy snow we've had this winter. The few times we've been out we have had SO MUCH FUN! Now that Anna can move in all that gear she loves to be out. Thank goodness! I need to be out & I need both girls to need & want to be out. :) The first 2 pics are of Anna's first puddle splashing. We really spent a lot of time splashing in puddles last spring & now it is so fun to see her enjoy it too. Can;t wait to see her expression when she gets a glimpse of the enormous earth worms out here- they leave tracks on the  dirt driveway. 

As I'm writing this I'm laughing at Sophia who is upstairs on the potty singing VERY loudly "Dina won;t you blow your horn" whatever works. he hee. Ok better run, we're playing a game of "find that hidden toy" & it's my turn to find it....

Daddy time

Since it has been cold & Vance doesn't have quite as much farm work in the winter, I have been trying to sneak out on Sat mornings &  let the girls have some Daddy time! The photos are from when I was out... Wow! Does Sophia look like her daddy, or what? Even when she was first born, my sister Mindy would say "wow, it looks just like Vance, in a onesie!!!" :) 

Annabella, is all her Momma! She is 25% on the height chart & 75% in weight! Gotta LOVE her tummy & those thighs! She may be the youngest in our play group, & a shorty, but the girl has a temper! I was telling her "no" in  my most stern voice yesterday, Anna looked right at me, hands in fists & yelled & blabbered as if to tell me off..... Sophia & I were cracking up! She is also SO excited when we can figure out her sounds into words. She will smile & enthusiastically shake her head yes. She is running. She is copying Sophia. She loves books, & babies, blueberries & bubbles. (funny, all those start w/ the letter B) She also REALLY knows how to get a reaction from us.... she will teater on the stairs, which makes me come running. She will pull Sophia's hair & take her toy/ sippy cup/food & run. My family says this is really early for the girls to start these "games". I am so  worried for the next 18 years! :)

Princess Emily & Princess Emily

Sophia names EVERYTHING Emily, babydolls, little play cows, the bears that she swears are in her room. We were making crowns today & built a "castle" out of a sheet & the table. Here we are with our crowns, guess what our names were? 

This is a song that she made up one day while sitting at the diner table. 

"When I was a baby, a princess came to save me. One day a princess found my gee (pacifier) I had looked for it all day. I wanted it so bad. One day I grew up & wanted my gee & cried about it. She found it in the dragons hand. Now I want my baby sister. YEEEAAAAHHH. the end"