Animal Friends

Sophia and a small portion of her stuffed animals.

Sophia and Juliet pretending to be puppies; Adam is taking them for a walk.

Sophia and her animals "on the train."


Juliet and her animals "on the train."

The girls love their stuffed animals and they love to pretend to be animals. Here are a few pictures to prove it.

Sleeping Beauties

Juliet with her puppies: Woofie and Fetch

Sophia with her bunnies: Bunny Bun and Baby Bunny Bun

Sophia and Juliet share a room, and they love it. On most nights, they talk and giggle themselves to sleep. I love to listen to them. I also think they look like little angels when they sleep.

Conversation with Juliet

Juliet (getting out of the car): Oh, look! The moon followed us home. I didn't even realize that!

Adam: Oh, that's great! Juliet, I love hearing you talk.

Juliet: Thanks. I do have a beautiful voice.

Happy Vietnamese New Year!

I occasionally go to a nail salon near our house called "Nails Only." It is nice, inexpensive, and owned by a Vietnamese couple. I am on their mailing list. This year we received an invitation from the owner to attend a Vietnamese New Year's celebration at a restaurant, Lucky Dragon, for a small fee. I thought it sounded great. So we went. It lived up to my expectations. It was a large event with almost 500 people in attendance (we were 4 of about 20 non-Asian people). At first there was several speeches, including one from guest speaker Senator Amy Klobuchar (who I shook hands with!). There was also traditional and modern Vietnamese music.

Then there was the dragon dance, which was as fabulous as it sounds. Sophia and Juliet were absolutely mesmerized. At one point, a red dragon came close to us; Juliet hugged Adam tight and exclaimed, "Daddy! Hide! Hide!" Once she understood that the dragons were just kids in a costume, she became obsessed. Over and over again she asked if she could wear the dragon costume. Finally, Adam told her they could try to make one at home. I do not know exactly how that is going to happen!

After the dragon dance, our seven course meal began. The girls tried the first few courses and then were too full. I sat next to an interesting women named Phuc (pronounced fu), who is a librarian at the Richfield library near our house. I am going to email her tomorrow, because she plans all of the fun Asian cultural activities at the library and wants to include us! Sophia and Juliet sat very patiently during the three hour dinner, and said they had a great time.

Course #2: Potstickers. Yum!

The Dragon Dance

Juliet ate a lot of her seafood soup. Sophia tried one bite, but only because I made her!



Dragon Sophia. She made the mask at school when they were talking about the Chinese new year.

More of the Dragon dance. Sophia stayed on the chair and kept her distance.

Waiting for dinner. I purchased my Vietnamese dress over ten years ago when I was in a Vietnamese wedding of one of Adam's friends. In the past, I wore it all of the time. I dusted it off, and lo and behold, it still fit!

Juliet Can Write Her Name!

Adam has been helping her learn to write (I have been helping her learn her letters and sounds). Juliet has been doing a great job learning her letters. Now, she can write her name! She has been able to write her name at home for the last few weeks. But when we got this picture from school with Juliet's name written on it, we knew that she REALLY knew how to write her name! It really is so rewarding being able to teach your kids. Their little brains really want to learn.

Birthdays!

On January 29, Juliet turned 3 and Adam turned 38 (Sophia was telling the teachers at school that he was turning 48). It is hard to believe that lil' Miss Juliet is now three years old! On Saturday, we had a little birthday party for her at build-a-bear at the Mall of America. The mall was unusually crazy and crowded, but it was fun. Juliet's friends Maxwell and Jackson joined in the fun, too. The next day, we had brunch with the Heffelbower gang at Uptown Cafeteria. It was so much fun. And as you will see from the pictures, the cotton candy given to the birthday crew made it extra fun.

Juliet enjoying her cotton candy at the Uptown Cafeteria. I can only assume that her mouth is wide open behind this puff of cotton candy.


The Heffelbower gang.

Juliet quickly became a sticky mess.

Lindsay and baby Whitney, who slept the entire time.

Juliet in a birthday outfit from Jada, Jon, Jackson and Maxwell.

This picture is not staged. It looks like their entire heads have been eaten by cotton candy.

Yum!

Sophia and Juliet playing with their new American Girl doll outfits from Green Bay Grandma and Grandpa.

Sophia was so, so, so excited to give Juliet the birthday present that she picked out herself: a little brown beagle puppy, which Juliet named "Fetch."

Sophia also made Juliet a card at school. She drew a picture of Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall. I am not sure who was more excited about Juliet's birthday--Juliet or Sophia!

Sophia on Video!

Sophia's Music Program

Sophia goes to Kindergarten at a little school called SW Montessori. It is basically a one room school for three to five year olds with a kindergarten program. It was a last minute decision to send her to this school, rather then the public school we had signed her up for. We decided that we wanted a smaller, more nurturing environment for Sophia for this year. Also, Sophia is a young five year old with an August birthday, so we were unsure if putting her into a public school kindergarten was the right thing at that time.

We were lucky that the director of the school (who is also the lead teacher) allowed Sophia into the program. The Kindergarten program is usually reserved for kids who have been with the school for three years. But, Lisa had unexpected opening, and after meeting Sophia and seeing that she could read and write and was a good listener, she agreed to accept us. It has been such a blessing. Sophia has absolutely thrived at this school. The montessori materials are wonderful. The families at the school are wonderful. I am just amazed at how much Sophia is learning. The teachers have recommended that she move to First Grade. We still do not know exactly what that school will be, but we are excited for her. And, next year, Juliet will get to go to SW Montessori as preschooler!

Today was the music program at SW montessori. Sophia has been talking about it all week. She made a pig hat at school for the program. She got to chose which animal she wanted, and that is what she chose. They have been practicing so hard. Sophia was almost bursting with excitement. The program was so, so, darling. Sophia was very confident and very sweet. Later, in the afternoon, the school rented a room at a community center. We went ice skating, and had hot chocolate and treats. Sophia said that the day was as wonderful as she had imaged!

These are the four and five year olds in the school.

Sophia getting ready to perform.

Juliet and Adam in the audience.

Sophia singing a song.

Proud Mommy.

Sophia showing us where she will be standing once the show started.

Dance class

The two little tushies on the right are Juliet and Sophia.

These are just a few cute pictures of Juliet in her dance outfit and the girls at dance class. The teacher is really nice, but firm. All of the kids have fun, but must follow her directions. Sophia and Juliet are good little listeners. They are both really graceful, too.

The Little Gym

Juliet and I do a mommy and me gymnatics class every tuesday after we drop Sophia off at Kindergarten. First we go to Caribou and sit and drink hot chocolate and a skim latte. Then, we head off for some gymnastics. Juliet likes the class and has become more comfortable doing things on her own in the gym. She likes to be first and to be the teacher's helper. Today was the last day of class, and she got her medal. I used to do these classes with Sophia when she was a toddler, so I often think of her while Juliet and I are in class together.

Random Pictures for a Random Day

These are pictures from Adam's iPhone from the last few months:

Juliet fell asleep in the car today on the way to her first "drop off" birthday party. She did great!

Last weekend we went to the Como conservatory. It is a great place to go in the winter in an attempt to pretend that winter is not really happening.

Look at those big blue eyes!



Sophia has really blue eyes, too. She told me last night, "my friends say they look like turquoise." I am just impressed she has friends who know the color turquoise.

Cute, as always.

Auntie Chris. This is the newest member of the Heffelbower clan: Whitney Ann Finneman. She loved to suck on my shirt. She was born at the end of the November.

Yes, it is cold here. Really, really cold. And, we don't mess around. Notice Sophia's snow pants, thick winter coat, hat and gloves. Notice my fake-fur lined boots, down coat, big gloves, and warm hat. This picture was taken after the mega-snow storm a few weeks ago.

The problem with being the blogger and the photographer in the family, is that there are few pictures taken of me. That's okay, except I do not want the girls to look back at the blog and wonder where I was! So, these are few pictures of me and the girls.

Today was a hectic day. First, we all have bad colds. That means that Juliet was up about five times last night, requesting her infamous "mamadaddy" until we come. She ultimately ended up in bed with us at about five in the morning, and fell asleep for another couple of hours. But, the minute she was in the car, she fell asleep.

Second, the girls had dance class this morning. We are not a very scheduled family, and do not sign the kids up for much. But, Sophia has been begging me to do a dance class, and this class she and Juliet could do together. It is at a Minneapolis community center. The class is so cute and they are learning some real ballet moves. Juliet came out of class once to tell me, "Mommy! I just whistled," and then promptly ran back to class.

Third, Sophia's friend Rory invited both Sophia and Juliet to her birthday party at a suburban community center. This is the first time that Juliet has been to a "drop off" birthday party. She did great, mostly because big sister Sophia was there. It was a big day! We are planning a much more relaxed "family day" tomorrow.

Pinkalicious

At bedtime, we always read bedtime stories. One of the favorite stories is a book called "Pinkalicious." In that book, a little girl loves pink so much, and she eats so many pink cupcakes, she turns pink. Sophia and Juliet know the story almost by heart. Thus, I often pause at places in the book and one of them provides the next word in the story.

In the story, after the little girl turned pink, her mother took her straight to the doctor. The doctor looked at the girl and said, "You have a very rare and acute case of ......" At this point, I paused in book, expecting Juliet to fill-in the correct word, which is "pinkatitis." Instead, she says, "diarrhea." So the line went, "You have a very rare and acute case of....diarrhea." I could not stop laughing. Sophia then chimes in and says, "Just call me 'stinkerella.'" In the book, the correct line is "Just call me pinkerella." I was laughing so hard that I was crying and the girls actually became a little concerned.

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.