Blah Blah Blah

• Amelia had the stomach flu most of last week.  I would much rather be sick than have a child that is sick.
• I finally got Amelia to throw up in a bowl and she cried like I was punishing her - sigh!
• As Amelia was getting better, she became the girl "who cried wolf".  She kept telling me her tummy hurt, but then immediately told me she was fine.  It made me exhausted.
• I love Christmas decorations and traditionally leave them up until New Years Day.  But this year, I can't stand the clutter and have been putting things away gradually since Christmas day.
• It's always so blah when the decorations all get put away.  I need to find something else festive to put up.
• Do you ever buy presents for your children thinking they'll be great, and realize after they've used them that it wasn't the best idea?
• Amelia loves to sing, so we bought her a child-proof cd-player, which came with attached microphones.  The microphones were fine until Amelia realized she could make noise in them without even listening/singing along to music.
• Now that Christmas is over, it's time to start planning my birthday party.  At least I have something fun to look forward to, even if I am turning 40!

Christmas

Christmas at our house was pretty low key this year.  When Amelia came downstairs and saw all the presents under the tree (we didn't put them out until the kids had gone to bed), all she said was, there are "lots and lots of presents", but then sat down on the couch and waited.  Amelia got the stomach flu for Christmas, a few days earlier, and enjoyed that "gift" all week long.  Sophia, on the other hand, was her happy self (although you can't tell that from the pictures).

 The girls loved the table, chairs, and pretend food.

And what do you do when you're bored of your new presents?  Why you ride your tricycle and bicycle (courtesy of Dad's "motor") around in the garage, of course!

Thank you to grandparents & cousins for the gifts.  It was a very nice Christmas and great to be able to spend some time together as a family.

Christmas Eve

This first picture isn't Christmas Eve, but Ken thought it was funny, so he took a picture.

Sophia loves shoes - carrying them and wearing them.  I'm surprised she didn't tip over in Ken's shoes.

For Christmas Eve, we have a tradition (or at least we're trying to make it a tradition), of doing a gingerbread house.  I'm totally into buying a kit . . . I do not have it in me to make one from scratch.  Amelia is "so excited" to begin this activity.

 Helping Daddy put the frosting in the right spots.

Decorating with Mommy.  (The kit was nice, but I'll have to remember to buy more candy next year when Sophia will be wanting to help.)

 The finished product!

A Sweeping Change and Other Trivial Matters

• With our new wood floors, I see the need to sweep almost continually and sweep multiple times a day.  It makes me realize I probably should have vacuumed at least once a day in our old house.  Oh well.
• I got a sort of early Christmas present:  Amelia has started going to bed on her own, without me having to stay in her room until she's asleep.  It's not every night yet, but it's such a relief to get a break in the evening.  It's been almost 6 months.  Phew!
• We met some of our neighbors this week.  We were in our other neighborhood for 2 years and there were still neighbors I never met.  Glad to get off on the right foot in our new neighborhood.
• Another early Christmas present I got (bought myself) was a new broom.  When you're sweeping multiple times a day, it helps to have a new, made for wood floors, broom.  I love using it and so do the girls . . . I just hope they still like to sweep when they're better at it ;)
• I usually make a big deal about having presents to unwrap on Christmas morning ( I guess I've always just been a big kid), but this year I'm pretty sure I won't have any to unwrap (due in part to buying my own presents and already using them) and I'm totally okay with that.  I'm more excited to watch my girls unwrap presents this year.  Maybe I'm finally growing up.

Sittin' Pretty

Amelia and Sophia love to sit in this one cupboard in our kitchen.  They never even attempted it in our old house . . . the cupboards must not have been as inviting.  But yesterday I caught Sophia in action.  Amelia likes to hide in the cupboard, but when Sophia gets in, she likes to "read" the cookbooks.

Snow Day

It snowed last night.  When Amelia saw the snow on the ground, she said "it's almost Christmas!", in an excitement that only a 2-year old could have.  When we got ready, Amelia ran right out and started running around in the snow.  Sophia wasn't quite sure if she wanted to come and play in it or not.

This is Amelia's attempt at a snow angel.  She makes snow angels like I swim . . . with my head out of the water/ice.

I'm not sure if it was because Amelia had watched me shovel the driveway, but Amelia wanted her shovel too . . . and then sat down in the driveway and "shoveled" what I hadn't cleared up yet.

Sophia finally decided that she was brave enough to come out and play, thanks to help and an encouraging hand from her big sister (wish I had gotten a picture/video of that).

It only took . . .

It only took 1 month and 3 coats of paint to go from this

to this.

It's nothing fancy, but welcome to your new room, Sophia!  Sorry it took so long.