Christmas Day Presents

HIGH TECH

(Santa gave me an ipad)



LOW TECH
(Santa gave the girls "Lets Go Fishing")




NO TECH

(We all received the present of a beautiful sunny day to go for a jog around Lake Harriet!)

Christmas Eve

What a great Christmas Eve:

New Christmas dresses.

40 degree weather.

35 minute church service with great singing.

Cute little niece Whitney loving her second Christmas.

Good food and great family at the in-laws, with Scott learning to play the jaw-harp.

Brave Sophia!

Sophia was invited to a "climbing" birthday party last weekend. She told me over and over again that she was not going to climb. She changed her mind. I cannot even count the number of times she climbed those walls. Each time, she got a little higher. I also tried to climb and only got two feet off of the ground. I later learned that you have to push with your legs and not pull with your arms. Sophia wants to go again soon--maybe I will try again, too!

Juliet's Religious Symbolism Dream

Juliet has been sick and had a fever last night. This morning, she came into our room wanting to tell us about her dream that may have been made more vivid by her fever. There is so much religious symbolism in her dream:

Sophia and I were walking in the woods. We heard thump sounds. Snakes that eat people were trying to get us! Mommy and daddy were there, too. We saw a church in the woods and went inside to be safe from the snakes. The snakes wanted to get inside. I asked the snakes if they wanted to be friends. I told them that they could not eat us. The snakes became my friends and I gave them a boost get them into the church window.

I am not exactly sure what it means. We do not go to church very often, but went to church a week ago with Adam's parents. Maybe that precipitated the dream.

Little Witches

Halloween is one of the girls' favorite holidays. They cannot believe that they get to dress up, stay up late, get free candy from strangers, and eats lots o' sugar. My mom made their adorable costumes. They told people that they were "bad witches." It was a fun night!

Silly, silly, girls

These girls can be silly, and I mean really silly. There are two stories that happened this summer that made me laugh so hard, that I have to share them now.

1. One night, as I was finishing reading books to the girls in my bed, Adam came into the room. Juliet jumped in his arms and Adam started leading her out of the bedroom. As she was leaving, she turned to Sophia and me and said, "See ya next time, ya booty-stinks!" I have no idea where that came from, but it made me laugh so hard.

2. The second funny thing happened while we were in Door County. One night the girls were just wild and would not settle down. I was getting frustrated and gave them time-outs in two separate, but adjoining chairs. During their time-out, they were whispering secretly to each other. When I told that they could get out of time-out, they both jumped up out of their respective chairs, began to dance, and chanted, "Cha-cha, cha-cha, cha-cha, we do not like ma-ma," at which point they fell on the floor in fits of hysterical laughter. Needless to say, I heard that chant oft repeated for the rest of the weekend in Door County.

Sophia's First Day of First Grade

Sophia officially started first grade at Countryside today. She really was not too nervous about it. At the end of the day, she said that she had a "great" day. Juliet, however, told me that she was "unhappy" because she missed Sophia today.

I tried to get Sophia to tell me about her day, but she gave very little information. Here is what I know:

• She got to play on the playground 4 times.


• She enjoyed her snack and ate it all.


• The lunchroom was noisy and she sat in the wrong spot, but it was no big deal.


• She went to music class, which has a big computer.


• She made two friends, but she can't remember their names.


• She likes her teacher.


• She was cold in the morning, but was fine for the rest of the day.


• Her "pod" of desks is the "green crayon" pod.


• She was quiet for most of the day, but talked to some friends.


• She wrote one thing that said, "School is fun because I love my friends" (written phonetically).

My guess is that we will have more random facts after tomorrow!

Juliet's 1st Day of Preschool

Juliet had orientation for preschool on Tuesday and her first official day at school on Friday. She did not cry when I dropped her off, but she did give me an extra long hug. I, however, got a little chocked-up. Juliet's preschool is where Sophia went to kindergarten last year. We love SW Montessori and are looking forward to a great year!

What a difference a week and a half makes!

Sophia officially has no front teeth! She lost the right top one last night. Juliet bonked her in the face and it fell out. In fact, that is how three out of four of her teeth have fallen out! She looks adorable, but is having a bit of a hard time eating.

What a difference a few hours can make!

5:00 pm: one loose tooth

8:00 pm: one missing tooth!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Sophia: Part III

Sophia reading Jackson's birthday card

Grier and Charlotte helping Sophia with her present


Kate and Andie opening their presents with Sophia

Sophia does not like cake. Instead, she asked for brownies. So, I made homemade brownies and Sophia loved them. In fact, all of the kids loved them and many asked for seconds!

These are Sophia's good friends from school: Clara and Lucy

Happy 6th Birthday, Sweet Sophia: Part II

These kids are so darn cute!

Sophia walking the balance beam and Juliet patiently waiting her turn.


Juliet making her big leap!




Sophia and the girls doing their flips.

The big parachute!

Waiting for the "air track" to blow up so that they can jump, jump, jump!

Happy 6th Birthday, Sweet Sophia: Part I

Sophia could barely sleep last night because she was so excited for her birthday. She got up bright and early. First we opened presents.

Juliet gave Sophia an otter stuffed animal (one of the few stuffed animal friends that she does not own). I gave her a gold necklace for her locket that auntie Katie gave her for her baptism (and I wanted to give her gold on her golden birthday). Adam gave her a pop-up fairy book.


Sophia waiting to enter "The Little Gym" for her kid birthday party. The door says, "Welcome! Happy Birthday, Sophia!"

My six year old and me.

The Heffelbower Family


Sophia has been talking about her birthday for months! She went to lots of birthday parties this year at school and had to patiently wait until her own summer birthday arrived. She frequently exclaimed that today was "the best day of her life."

Ballet Recital

The little chickens pecking with their beaks.

Teacher Laura put Sophia as the leader of all of the dances.



Juliet the kangaroo!

Sophia the kangaroo!

The girls had their recital for their dance class this morning at the Linden Hills Community Center. It was so darling. They did a chicken dance, kangaroo dance, and a unicorn dance. There were costumes for each dance. Sophia was one of the older kids, and the teacher put her as the leader of all of the dances. I tried to take videos, but I am not very good at doing it and they did not turn out. Sophia had been complaining about going to dance class for the last few weeks, but said that she really liked the recital today. She may just need to learn that it takes a lot of hard work before you get to have the enjoyment of the recital! We are taking a break from all organized activities in the summer, and we will see if we continue dance in the fall. I personally love it and hope that they want to continue.

Kindergarten Graduation: Part III

Sophia, Kate, and Juliet petting the animals.

Sophia riding on the pony.

Juliet having fun on the pony.

Juliet loves the pony ride.

Juliet petting the pony.
Mrs. Lisa had pony rides and a few farm animals at the park for the kids. Juliet was so excited about the pony rides. For days before the graduation she would talk about the pony rides. She told us that her pony was going to be named "rainbow" and would be "rainbow colored." The pony would be "two years old" and she was going to "race the pony." I was a little worried that she was going to be disappointed with a grey pony named "Frosty" who was not a race horse, but she was not disappointed. She didn't even notice that he wasn't rainbow-colored.

Immediately after the graduation, she starting running up the hill saying that she thought she saw the pony and wanted the pony ride right away. She was the first kid there and got the very first pony ride. She pet the pony for awhile before she rode it. She was so happy. Sophia rode the pony, too, but was not as excited about it.

By the way, the crown Juliet is wearing in these photos is an accessory that Juliet wears almost every day. She wears it like a headband and wears it everywhere --school, the park, the grocery store, lounging around at home. I guess that every moment of every day is a good time to wear a crown!