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!

Kindergarten: Day Four

This is Sophia with a pillow over her head. We had to wake her up at 7:45 am so that she could be at school by 8:30. She put a pillow over her head to, presumably, try to get a little more sleep. Luckily, school is only 5 minutes from our house. She was really tired and did not want to get up. I am not an early riser either, and she has definitely inherited that trait from me. School continues to go well. She is making new friends and enjoying the Montessori materials.

On the First Day of Kindergarten...

...wear a sparkly skirt,

....and a sparkly shirt.

...be your goofy self,

...and bring a backpack full of your favorite stuffed animals!

Sophia had a great day on her first day of kindergarten. As I was leaving, she said, "I think I am going to like school." She made new friends, played, drew and had an all-around good day. She did say that there were a few times that she thought about me and she wanted to cry, but she didn't. She said she told herself "don't cry, don't cry" and it worked it. That made me feel a little sad, but I am so proud of her (and feel glad that I am missed!).

Quote of the Day

"God, thank you for getting born so many great people."

Sophia Heffelbower (sitting at the table eating dinner and having a deep thought)

Sophiaisms

Here are a few things overheard at our house yesterday:

We were at the rose gardens. The girls were running around the grassy hills. When it was time to leave, Sophia was walking really, really slowly. There was a point where Juliet and I walked far ahead of her, and Sophia could not see us. When Sophia caught up with us, this is what she said:


Sophia: "When I was walking, and I could not see you, I was daydreaming. I was daydreaming that I was lost. Then, all of the animals came to help me find the way back to you. All of the animals came around me to help me: the squirrels, the birds and raccoons, but not the bugs."


Sophia has quite the imagination!


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Adam had a bit of a frustrating time last night getting the girls to listen when they were in the bath and getting ready for bed. As Adam was putting Sophia to sleep, he told Sophia, "I was not a very good dad today." Here was Sophia's response:

Sophia: "No, you weren't. You wanted to be a good daddy, and you tried your best, but it just didn't work out."

Better luck next time, Adam.

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I was downstairs doing the dishes and the girls were coming down the stairs. Suddenly, I hear a "thud, thud, thud," and Sophia crying. I saw Sophia on the landing clutching her leg. I asked her what had happened. Here was her response:

Sophia: "I bounced down the stairs like a ball!"

Poor, Sophia. She quickly recovered with a small bruise on her leg.

There is never a dull moment (or conversation) with little Miss Sophia in the house.

Julietisms

Here are a few things overheard at our house these days:

Me: "You need to get into your carseat. We are going to the library!"

Juliet (mad about getting into her carseat): "Mommy, I don't like you! Go to work!"

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Juliet (in her crib at nap time): "Mommy, I having problems! Mommy, I having problems!"

Me: "Juliet, what is wrong?"

Juliet: "I having problems. There are MONSTERS in my crib!"

Well, I guess that is a problem!

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Juliet: "Mommy, I love you so much. As much as an alligator!"

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The Pug (and nanny Megan)

Megan comes over to our house on Mondays to watch the girls while I go to work. Megan loves to take the girls outside, read books, and talk about her pug named Agnes. Juliet was particularly fascinated by Agnes and has named many of her stuffed animals Agnes (or Aggie) as well. Before Megan left for a month-long internship in Mexico, she brought Agnes to our house for a little visit. The girls walked Agnes around the house and had a great time with her!

A reminder of not so long ago....

I would be remiss in not posting a few of our outdoor adventures this winter. We had a lot of snow this winter that stayed for a long time. The girls could only handle about a 1/2 hour in the snow before their gloves were so wet that they were freezing. So, we would come inside for some yummy hot chocolate and get toasty warm again. Hopefully, all of that is behind us. Today it was 50 degrees, and there is no snow on the ground. We love Spring!

Sisters

These two sisters love each other so much. They love spending time together and playing together. They share a room. If they have been separated for any length of time, they will run and give each other big hugs. Because they spend a lot of time together, they also have little fights quite often.

Today, Sophia was bugged that Juliet was not giving her what she perceived as enough room on the couch. Sophia chose to remedy this situation by kicking her legs at Juliet, which resulted in an immediate consequence. I then talked (okay, lectured) to Sophia about the importance of being kind to her sister.

I said, "Sophia, you will never regret being kind to your little sister. You need to be gentle with her because she is so little."

Sophia then immediately turned to Juliet and started chanting in a whisper, "grow..grow..grow.."

I laughed so hard, and both of girls soon joined in.

Happy 2nd and 37th Birthdays!

It is birthday party craziness around here at the end of January! Adam and Juliet were both born on January 29th. Adam thinks it is fantastic that he and Juliet share the same birthday. He feels like that fact alone will bond them together forever!

It is still hard to believe that Ms. Juliet is now two. I think that two-year olds are great. We can see Juliet's personality really blossoming. She loves her sister most of all, her little doggie Woofie, drawing, saying her ABC's, snuggling, reading books, and watching "Wonder Pets."

She says the funniest things. The other day she was brushing my hair and I asked her if it looked pretty. She responded, "No. Not yet."

She is also pretty easy-going. I know that this is hard to believe, but she potty-trained herself. Since she has been about one she has been asking to use the potty. (She saw big sis doing it, so she wanted to do it, too). Two weeks ago, we decided it was ridiculous that we were continuing to have her wear diapers because she always told us when she had to go potty. And, just like that, Juliet was potty trained---all on her own!

We had a little family party on the 29th with cake and pizza. The next night, we went to Pepitos for dinner with the Heffelbowers and came back to our house for cake and presents. We are hoping for another great year!

Yummy chocolate cake!

Actually, really, really yummy chocolate cake!

We gave Juliet a new book for her present.


The birthday Heffelbowers and Sophia. (Juliet sneaking more cake!)

Party #2 and cake #2. Homemade white cake with pink butter creme frosting.

My little ballerina is so, so adorable!

Partying with the Heff's.

Juliet loved opening her presents.

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas Eve at Adam's parents house. Despite the blizzard, we made it there! The food, company, and presents were worth the drive. Also, the Heffelbowers are famous for their practical joke gifts. Adam gave his brother Scott a nicely wrapped box filled with 10 little cards that were "Good for one free hug." Adam later gave Scott his real present. Scott and Jeremy both brought little boxes of edible bugs. Juliet was so curious about them, and even licked one (video to follow soon). As a non-gag, but really great gift, Scott gave Jeremy an assortment of fancy cheeses. One cheese was $60 per pound! Some of the cheeses were good, but others smelled so terrible we could not eat them.

Today, we woke up in the morning with the blizzard continuing. After the kids opened the presents from their stockings, we put on our snow gear and made a wonderful snow-man! After Juliet's nap, we headed over to Great Grandpa Quenten's (aka Ahcoon's) house for another party. It was a wonderful Christmas.

There is just no room for a Christmas tree in our little house. So, Santa leaves presents in the Christmas stockings. These stockings were presents from great grandma and grandpa Frigo.

Opening presents in our jammies.

Homemade gingerbread cookies (which taste nothing like the store-bought kind).


The "snow king."

Our radiator serves as a coat rack during the winter months. Everything gets so dry and toasty!

Holiday Switching

Ever since we had kids, we "switch" holidays every year between our parents. This year, thanksgiving was in Green Bay with my parents, and Christmas will be in White Bear Lake with Adam's family. The next year, it will be the opposite. So far, it has worked really well.

We had a great time over thanksgiving. Katie was there, along with her fiance Darin, and his two twin daughters, Mya and Madison. Sophia and Juliet thought Mya and Madison were great. They played make believe games for hours. When they got tired of that, they would snuggle on the couch and watch a movie or coerce Adam into playing video games with them.

My parents also came into town a few weekends ago to celebrate Christmas with us. The girls loved their new penguin jammies and other gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandma, Grandpa, and the girls in their matching penguin jammies at the "Mulloy" Christmas.

Hanging out and playing game boy at Thanksgiving.

Mya, Madison, & Sophia snuggled together.


The girls decided to eat thanksgiving dinner together at the little table, even though there was room for them at the big table.

Juliet is ready to eat!

Cutie Pie

This picture is not staged. On very rare occasions, Juliet asks to have a book in her crib at nap time. Typically, she sleeps with her stuffed animals "Woofie" and "Baa-bie" and her blanket. She must have fallen asleep reading the book, and I could not resist taking a picture!

After several tries, I finally got Juliet to give me a cute smile (rather than a silly one).

Today, the girls and I went to "Once Upon A Child" to find a few "new" toys for the car-ride to Green Bay this weekend. We did not find too many toys, but the girls discovered the ball pit that they have there. It is a very small ball pit created by half-walls built into a small square and filled with balls. The girls played in there for an hour, and I had to drag them out of there. (Yes, I know that the ball pit was probably H1N1 hot-zone central, but how could I deny them that fun????).

I also found some adorable dresses for Christmas. The girls insisted on wearing them all afternoon, pretending to be princesses. They spent hours twirling around the house and fluffing their fancy gowns. It was a good day.

Moments Like These...

I was making dinner in the kitchen and peeked around the corner to see what the girls were up to. I had heard Sophia reading books out-loud. She loves to pretend to be the "teacher" and face the book outward. Usually, her "students" are her stuffed animals or her mommy and daddy. Today, however, I saw this sweet scene of Sophia telling Juliet the book while she quietly listened. Moments like these I wish I could bottle-up forever.