Christmas In Green Bay

Our little Santa Juliet. She was ho ho ho'ing the entire week before we left for Green Bay.



Always silly Sophia.




The sisters at church.

In their Christmas jammies on Christmas morning, waiting to open presents.

Playing with their new pillow pets in their new ballet outfits.

Grandma playing with the girls and their new American Girl Dolls from Grandma and Grandpa.

Opening the American Girls Dolls. Juliet has Elizabeth and Sophia has Felicity.

Breakfast with Grandpa. They let Adam and me sleep in.

Grandpa the wild horse. We haven't asked if he has needed to go to the chiropractor.

Work Holiday Party

From left to right is Adam, me, my good friend Carrie and her husband, Shari and her husband Bruce. Bruce is the head of the litigation department, and I have been working for him for 10 years.

There are so few photos of Adam and me. Here is one!

I like my job, which I is why I continue to do it. It would be very difficult for me to work if I did not like my job, because my job takes me away from the girls. I am lucky that I have a flexible part time schedule and interesting work. The work party was fun, albeit a little crazy because it was snowing pretty hard before, during, and after.

Too cute

This blog is great for remembering the cute things the girls say:

At Sophia's school, they were talking about peace. They asked all of the kids to think of a time they felt peaceful, write it down, and draw a picture. Sophia wrote "running with Juliet" and drew a picture of them running together. It made me so happy to look at it.

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Adam, Sophia, and Juliet were snuggled on a chair watching the Vikings game together. I sat down near them on the couch. A minute later Juliet said, "Mama, you don't have anybody." She crawled off of Adam's chair and snuggled on my lap on the couch, presumably, so that I would "have somebody."

Oh Christmas Tree

We are a little obsessed with our Christmas tree this year. We have lived in our house nine years and this is only the second time we have had a tree. When we were young and career-focused, we had no time for a tree. Then, we had little kids and became safety focused, and a tree in our little house was not in the cards. But, this year the stars aligned, and we got a tree. We decided to get the smallest tree we could find a Bachmans. This one is about 6 feet tall and totally perfect in every way. The girls had so much fun putting on the ornaments and still have fun rearranging them on the tree. We love our little tree!

Adam's Little Helper

Sophia helped Adam paint the hallway during the storm. She was a great helper. And, yes, that is princess underwear on her head. Adam improvised a "hat" to keep the paint off of her hair (she did not want to ruin one of her good hats). She looks mad in this picture because she was bugged that I had interrupted her painting.

Here is Adam looking very happy doing his painting. In reality, he was getting frustrated with the high ceiling in the stairway. It is still a work in progress.

Snowed-In

Post-storm checking out the snow piles

Cold, but having fun.

From the girls' bedroom window. It looks more impressive in real life.


Mid-storm

The airport was closed; the city buses stopped running; the snow plows couldn't operate; and the roof of the metrodome fell in! It was quite the storm! 17 inches of snow in less than 24 hours. All the neighbors helped each other out. Diane helped snow-plow out our cars. Adam helped Tom push his car out of the street and Jessie plowed the sidewalk. What a weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

At school, both Juliet and Sophia were asked what they were thankful for. Here is what they said:

Juliet
I am thankful for...Mama.

Sophia
I am thankful for...my family because my sister and me can jump on the bed while we're waiting for the bath!

Adam and I are thankful for two sweet little girls.

Sophia's Deep Thoughts

Sophia has a lot of deep thoughts:

The other day, I was talking to Sophia about a trip we took to Arizona when she was six months old. She asked if Juliet went on the trip, too. I said, "No, Juliet was not born yet." She replied, "She was in your tummy, right?" I said, "No. Juliet was not in my tummy." Totally perplexed, Sophia asked, "Then where WAS she?" I did not know how to answer. But, really, where WAS Juliet before she was born? I still think about it.

At school, Sophia has a geography lesson every week. She likes to talk to us about places and the earth. The other day she eagerly asked Adam and me, "Do you know who owns the earth?" We said that we didn't. She said, "No one owns the earth! Or, maybe the sky owns the earth!"

Sophia keeps us thinking!

Sophia's Kindergarten Experience

Sophia has a "drawer" at school. Everyday, she pulls out all of the things she did in school. The other day she brought this home. It is sheet of paper where she sounded out and and wrote all of our names:

Adaum

Cras

Sophia

Juliet

She did the same thing for this exercise. They were talking about "action" words in her Kindergarten class. Here is what she wrote:

I can...

1. Syam (swim)

2. run

3. red (read)

4. Dro (draw)

5. Play

She also drew a picture of herself swimming at the lake. I told Sophia that she is learning more than I did in Kindergarten. She responded, "You should have gone to Montessori."

Juliet the Artist

Juliet likes to draw. She likes to draw people and draws the cutest little faces. She will draw a face and say, "That's Mommy, or that's Daddy, or that's Sophia."

Happy Halloween!

The two little princesses in dresses made by Green Bay Grandma

Having way too much fun!

Getting candy with the neighbor kids

And they are off!



The loot.

Adam went trick or treating with the girls this year, and I stayed behind to hand out treats. The girls were so excited to get and eat candy. They started trick or treating with some of their favorite neighborhood kids (the Bitneys). Juliet's little winter boots, which she insisted on wearing, made her fall a few times. Adam asked if there was anything he could do to help her. She relied, "When I fall, just say 'whoa.'"

Tooth Fairy Tonight

Sophia lost her tooth today at school. She noticed her loose tooth a few weeks ago and was so excited about it. Everyday she would ask when her tooth was going to fall out, and everyday we would tell her in a few weeks. Well...today her tooth was hanging by a thread. Here is the synopsis of her story about losing her tooth today:

"I was sitting at a table with Lucy. We were drawing pictures of pumpkins. I was moving my tooth back and forth with my tongue. Suddenly, it just popped right out of my mouth! (gesturing with her finger showing an arc leading from her mouth to the table) It landed on the table right between Lucy and me. She was shocked! I picked up the tooth and showed Mrs. Margie, who told me to get a drink of water. I showed Ava and Johnny my tooth, too. Mrs. Margie then put my tooth in an envelope."

What a great story! I wonder what the tooth fairy will bring...

A few cute pictures and cute stories

Those were the cute pictures. Here are the cute stories.

Over the last few weeks, things at work have been really busy and I have had to work more than I would have liked. I had to go into work one Saturday and was feeling a little sad about it. Sophia was feeling a little sad that I would not be a part of "family day," too. So, I explained to Sophia that sometimes I had to work even when I did not want to because when I worked, I made money. I told her that the money I made paid for things like our house, new clothes and new toys. As I was leaving, Sophia came running after me outside shouting, "Goodbye, Mommy. Make lots of money!" That made me laugh.

The other day, Adam took the girls to pick up a pizza at Papa Murphys. Sophia only likes peperoni pizza. If you try to give her a pizza with vegetables or spices on it, she'll say, "Yuck. There's grass on it," and refuse to eat it. So, Adam decided to play a little joke on them, hoping that that Papa Murphy's clerk would go along with it. He walked up to the counter and said, "I would like to order one large POOPeroni pizza." At this point, the kids start frantically shouting, "No, Daddy! We want peperoni! Not pooperoni!" Adam turns to the clerk and says, "I am sorry, we would like a peperoni pizza; not a pooperoni pizza." This story is mostly funny because I cannot believe that Adam did this. It just goes to show what he will do to get a good laugh from the kids!

Summer Recap Part III -- Sophia Turns 5!

On August 6, 2010, Sophia turned five. Turning five seems like a milestone to me. My fifth birthday is the first birthday that I can remember. I remember waking up and coming downstairs to find a brand new pink bike and a chocolate cake with the number five written in m&m's. We recreated the cake for Sophia's birthday. We had big family party for Sophia. We served a traditional Vietnamese bbq that Adam and I had several times at parties of his Vietnamese friends. The beef, noodles, egg rolls and watermelon were delicious! Sophia loved opening presents, and got so many presents. We later had a kid party for her. She loved that, too. We had a "treasure hunt" where the kids had to find little wooden boxes that had a little special rock inside. The kids loved it, but a party of 8 kids was a little crazy.

Summer Recap Part II -- Butterflies

My mom finds monarch butterfly eggs, raises them to butterflies, and sets them free. We were in Green Bay when a few Chrysalises opened and butterflies emerged. The girls loved having the monarchs rest on their hands and shirts as the butterflies wings dried. Later, my mom gave us our very own chrysalis. If you have not seen a monarch chrysalis, you should. They are amazingly beautiful and look like a little piece of jewelry. We lucked-out and happened to be looking at the chrysalis at the very moment our butterfly emerged. Sophia and Juliet named it "Butterpeep," which is a combination of Sophia's suggestion for a name (Buttercup) and Juliet's suggestion (peep). Now, every time they see a monarch they point and say, "Its Butterpeep!"

Summer Recap Part I -- Katie's Wedding

Sophia trying out Katie's veil.

The Heffs. Juliet was sick and Sophia was worn-out from all of the pictures.

The happy couple

We had a busy summer; it was so busy that I barely had time to blog! Now that it is Fall, I decided to do a little recap of some highlights of this summer. One big event was Katie and Darin's wedding in Chicago in June. It was a stunningly beautiful event. The church was beautiful, the bride was beautiful, and the view of Lake Michigan was beautiful. But, the thing I may remember most was the school bus. My parents rented a big yellow school bus, and Aunt Monica decorated the outside with "just married" signs. We all rode the bus from the hotel to the church and then to the reception. We sang, laughed and just generally had a wonderful time.

Sophia --- Renaissance Girl

Sophia does a lot of things well. She is a good artist. In the top picture, she drew "a volcano shooting out of the ocean." She also loves to read, and she is getting really good at it. Sophia continues to do well at school: she has a lot friends, and teacher Lisa said that Sophia is a "very good student."

Our Little Juliet

Juliet is growing, growing, growing. She suddenly seems like a "big kid." She loves to tell people that she is "two and a half." She tells everyone that she has a big sister named "Fophia" (she can't say the 's'). She loves to jump in the leaves, run barefoot, snuggle with the kitty (a little too hard), and talk, talk, talk. We love our Juliet!

Juliet's New Trick

Juliet learned how to climb out of her crib yesterday. Here's what happened. Adam tucked Juliet in for her nap and went outside to mow the lawn. Sophia and I left to run some errands. After a little while, Adam came inside to check on Juliet to make sure that she wasn't crying. She wasn't. Instead, she was wandering around downstairs. She said that she had a poopy diaper. Adam asked how she climbed out of the crib. She said that she just slid down. Later, she and Sophia demonstrated for us:

This is a picture of the girls getting into the crib--head first! Juliet calls it "dunking." It is also a new trick.

Here Juliet is demonstrating how to get out of her crib. First, she pulls herself up at the corner, using her arm strength.

Second, she flips around and slowly slides herself down the crib.


Third, she elegantly steps down.

Finally, a big "ta-da!"

I am proud of her for being so strong, innovative and confident. But, I am feeling a little sad for me because I am foreshadowing the end of Juliet's naps!