December 2013

Sophia discovered how much fun it is to be a dog. She insisted that I force Rocco in the kennel with her and close the door. It was a lot of fun for him, I'm sure!

I love pictures of Sophia and her books. She got into reading books right before bed and nap times and I would find her like this a lot.

You may have noticed that Sophia is now in a big bed. She had a hard time letting Max take over her crib. Sometimes I would find her like this. And Max's blankets and puppy was on the floor. I thought it was so funny that she would throw all his stuff out and fill the crib with every stuffed animal she has.

She found a new use for her underwear.

More books and one happy girl!

I love when they play together. They both thought it was so funny to sit on the chair under the blanket.

Look at that smile! Such a happy kid!

For Christmas Eve, my mom came and stayed the night. She and Sophia made cookies together. My mom is so fun and Sophia just loves her. She thought it was really funny to pose together the same way and insisted my mom bend her head "like this".

So she did.

And more posing. Notice my mom's legs. Sophia put our stockings on her. Those are some massive stockings, huh!

The big Christmas present for us was a new fridge. Goodbye ugly, leaking, old fridge.

Hello, new, fancy fridge! I love that the freezer is on the bottom. It is wonderful to be able to open the fridge and see everything that's in there without bending over.  Plus, it's great when you have crawlers in the house. 

Every Christmas, my grandparents on my dad's side, throw a Christmas party like none other. There is a Christmas pageant that all the grand kids participate in. The highlight of the party is when they bring in their donkey for Mary to ride on. After the pageant, all the kids can ride it. Sophia loved it!

Family Pictures

I'm always happy when our family pictures are OVER. I hate the stress of planning outfits and scheduling a time that *hopefully* won't interfere with naps, lunch, or work.  We used Fotofly On The Spot, where they came to our house and did a photo shoot. I am pretty happy with the way they turned out. It is so nice to have professional pictures of the kids.

In these pictures, Sophia is 2 and Max is 10 months.  

I love that Rocco got to sit in a few shots with us. He is 9 years old now, and such a great family dog.

November 2013

This kid loves her books! 

And her dad!

For Thanksgiving this year, Rich smoked a turkey again. It's delicious, as you can imagine. I love the gravy he makes from the drippings. Mmmm... Gravy. Just thinking of it is making my mouth water!

Early that cold morning, we ran in the Turkey Trot in the canyon. Rich pushed our stroller (which is not meant for running, by the way!) and ran with me. I think that's the first time he's ever run with me because I'm too slow for him! It was super fun though. 

The kids got lots of comments on their turkey hats. It's funny that making these takes HOURS and they really only wear it for that 30 minute run. At least I got some mediocre pictures that will preserve all my hard work. 

Sleepy head!

We all got together and had dinner at the Bowen's. After we all stuffed ourselves, some old puppets were pulled out from when Rich was a kid and the next generation (with Jeannette's help) performed the story of the first Thanksgiving. It was really cute.

Another hat photo. When I say they took hours to make... I mean hours and hours.  For several days. Oh, well.

A tradition Rich and I have started is doing a Christmas puzzle together on Thanksgiving night. It's surprisingly fun, but I have to admit, I barely contributed to this puzzle. Rich was flying on it!  Another tradition we have is pulling out everyone's Christmas blankets to use until after Christmas. Also, Grandma Sorenson gives all the grand kids Christmas pajamas. I love the beginning of the Holidays!

October 2013

Sheesh! October was so long ago! But here are some photos. 

Sophia loves to do things "together". Here they are chewing on toy horses together.

I love this picture! They are both smiling so hard! 

Here we were, right in the thick of potty training. I left her alone in the bathroom for a minute and when I came back, she had found a book to read. 

It's rare to see a picture of Sophia without her blanket. 

She's so excited because we got her big bed all set up! Jeanette told me she read somewhere that if you stuff a swimming pool noodle under the sheets, it acts as a barrier and keeps kids from falling out. We tried it, but the noodle ended up sliding off in the night. Maybe it would work if the sheets were tighter.

  

And this is how she fell asleep that first nap out of the crib. FREEDOM!!

Hanging with Dad after church.

Playing under their blankets together.

Pretty hair!

Cheese!

Haha! I don't think I've seen this expression since I took this picture! (P.S. I have since made rail covers fitting for a boy crib.)

For Halloween, these two were Ms. Piggy and Kermit. I made Max's Kermit hat, and most of what Sophia is wearing (wig, ears, nose, and feather boa) is a hand-me-down from when I dressed up as Ms. Piggy a few years ago. She was a surprisingly good sport at keeping all that stuff on! We went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood and got loads of candy. It is so fun trick-or-treating again!

Poor Max. He was a good sport most of the night, but at this point- not impressed.

Family photo! Can you guess what pumpkin was mine? Hint: it's a big one that looks like it was done by a 7 year old. I think I actually carved that same face onto many pumpkins over the years. Still haven't perfected it!  

A few more of Ms. Piggy.

Oh, that hair!

Soon I'm going to have to plan this year's Halloween costumes! Oh, boy!