at it again...

Seems to be that there is still so much going on that I just can't keep up.  Currently, it's finishing pendant orders (have to be delivered in time for Mother's Day), working on auction projects for Sophie's class, helping out in both classes as much as possible, and a bunch of other stuff.  We are just busy.

Lately, we have been having fun driving a sporty new car.  It won't be ours for long - it's just too small - but it is definitely a lot of fun for the right now!

Jaunary 14:: Waterproof

Jaunary 10:: Make

January 5:: Pink

Celebrating a birthday

Sophie turned 5 today. She got to have a most spectacular day too. I went on a fieldtrip to the zoo with Emma and her class at school. Andy stayed home to take Sophie on a special outing. They went to the climbing gym and Sophie was amazing. Then she got to go to the Build a Bear store where she picked out a sweet lamb to stuff and love - thanks to her birthday gift from her Nana Barbie and Papa Tom. We came back home and she helped a wee bit with making the cupcakes, then headed off to Emma's soccer game (where she rocked). Once home, the girls headed up for showers while I made the frosting for a quick, very late cupcake celebration. Then off to bed. Phew!
Happy birthday, dear Sophie.  You may be small in stature, but you have a big smile, a huge personality, and our love for you is enormous!

unexpected sunshine

I'm pretty sure unexpected should describe all sunshine around here right now. It has just been the coolest and wettest spring. Sunshine is hard to come by (especially if you want it to show up with warm temperatures, seriously a big expectation). But, here it is and we are taking full advantage. I filled bird feeders, watered our newly planted plants, planted some green beans, etc. The girls moved their mini dollhouses to the back deck and have been enjoying the sun as well. Their little bodies really needed to soak up some Vitamin D too. Thank you, sun.

Sophie is going to have a birthday in just a couple weeks.  We finally agreed on a plan for her party (she really wanted a picnic in the backyard but it's just too early to expect sunshine AND warmth on that one day (not to mention that we still don't have a fence and whenever kids come here for the first time, they are always very disappointed that they can't play on the neighbor's play structure).  So, a gymnastics party it is!  And she is thrilled because they have a giant foam pit that she loves.
These pictures make me smile like crazy.  Sophie just loves, loves her Charley so much.  Everywhere she goes, she wants Charley there with her.  I think Charley loves her just as much. 

Sophie seems to like soccer

This girl is definitely making momma proud.  She tries her best, she goes after the ball, and she likes to score.  Since I have only played soccer one time ever (about ten years ago, to help a friend out), all soccer talent credit in this family goes to Andy (and Emma gets some credit for how much she talks to Sophie about how to play and going after the ball, etc.).  Nicely done!

bittersweet

I knew this day was coming.  And, this isn't even the big day that is being anticipated.  That day will come in early September.  But, today had it's own little moment of sadness and happiness swirled together.  See, this kiddo here (the one who much too early lost her first tooth just 4 days ago) was registered for kindergarten today.  I know!!!  How can it be?  I just want to know when it was that she became so smart.  Really smart.  So much so that I know she is totally ready (even though she will be a very young kindergartner with a June birthday) and she is going to do great.  Because of all of this smartness, I went ahead and took the big step of registering my baby for kindergarten.  Since there is only one kindergarten teacher and we had her for Emma's first year of school, I know she will be in good hands.  No tears for now... I'll save those for September.

a skirt by accident

This skirt was made using my still favorite skirt pattern from this Japanese sewing book.  This is the first spring/summer version of this pattern for me, and I love it just the same.  However, this fabric took a long and windy road to become a skirt for Sophie.  Originally, I bought the fabric to make a skirt for Sophie, but Emma saw it and wanted a skirt from it, and Sophie liked Emma's fabric so I said okay, ironed the fabric and cut out the pieces for a size 120 skirt (best part of the pattern, it goes to size 140).  However, I forgot to add on the seam allowances (an important step when using Japanese sewing patterns).  It still looked to be large enough as the girl is still rather petite.  At least, things looked good until I needed to fold the back top to make the casing for two rows of elastic - oops!  There wasn't a seam allowance added for that and I would have to cut more than an inch off the length to make it happen.  So, Emma and I had a talk about what happened, she dug through my stash to pick out her new favorite skirt fabric and I made the cuts and eventually finished a spring/summer skirt for Sophie (the original intended owner).  I suppose it was fate.

Now - why I love this pattern so much:  the front pleats and the elastic being restricted to the back only makes this skirt look so much more polished and finished and almost professional.  It doesn't take that much more time to make and the sizing really works for my kids (when I do it right).

Heart Hands

Sophie drew this picture for me today.  She said the hands are above the head in the shape of a heart.  She likes to make a heart with her hands when she says she loves you.  Sometimes she spells it.  "s-o-p-h-i-e l-o-v-e-s m-o-m".  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever, no matter how she says it.  She usually follows it with a hug.  Love that.

While the edamame was cooking

Sophie made some gift wrap for her gift to her sister.  The big 7th birthday is less than two weeks away.  I think that we ended up with hearts because there has been so much talk about and prep for Valentine's Day this week.  Emma will love it regardless, and we didn't have to buy anything to make some cute girly wrapping.

Bedtime

On the first day of winter break, the girls asked to share a bedroom.  Mostly, this was spurred on by Miss Emma, who doesn't like to be alone at night.  So, one day into the break we obliged the girls and they both now sleep in Emma's room and all toys have been moved to Sophie's room (Emma's room is super small).  Then, about a week ago, they asked to have their beds pushed together so that they could be closer (really, is it possible?).  I absolutely love that they want to be together and get along so well.  It's a beautiful thing!
Bedtime and storytime have gotten much easier for us too.  We used to each take a room and read separately, but now we take turns reading to both girls in one room, almost in one bed.  It is so nice - I may cry if they ask to be separated again. 
This picture was from a couple weeks ago.  We have since moved on to reading "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I love Little House on the Prairie so much, so when I discovered that Emma was reading this on her own I was thrilled at the opportunity to begin the series with them.  However, we have read about roasting (and fighting over) pig tails, scraping out a pig head and boiling it for head cheese (gag) and Laura's doll made of a corncob wrapped in a blanket.  Seriously a different world that we live in today!  I'm glad we are able to mumble through the icky parts so that they can experience a bit of the "olden days".

Big Red Balloons

I have been thinking about this picture for a while now.  I'm not sure where I first saw the idea, but it's been a while now and it's been on my mind ever since.  With the fog rolling in every morning lately, it should have been a lot easier to get this picture.  But, there was always something and for two days in a row I found myself chasing the fog.  Like storm chasers, but different.  Sophie was a really good sport about it all too.  I have a ton of photos.  There are so many to love.  But, just one for now...

Sophie said...

Tonight the girls asked if they could go to bed, before 7:30pm.  Well, of course!
So, we headed up for story time and Emma read her bookbag book from school first.  It was about a hen that tells the other animals the sky is falling.  As we neared the end of the story, Sophie asked if it was the sky sky - you know, the one up there (she points up).  I said yes and she asked me if that meant that the ground was going to turn blue.  I love it.  I can't remember what I told her though...

a sunny surprise

It was supposed to start raining last night, and technically, I think it did. That forecast also said today would be rather gloomy. So, everytime I noticed the sunshine I had to whisper a little thank you. I'm so glad it is so difficult to forecast the weather for the pacific northwest - sometimes it works out in our favor. Sophie and I spent an hour at the park today - playing at the playground and hunting for leaves. This is the first leaf we found, it's a beauty.
ps... I am looking out the back window right now, and the forecast looks to have been right. The rain is just taking a little longer to get here than expected.

Back to School 2010

We made it. The first week of school is over, and everyone is happy. Emma loves her teachers, has already made a new friend and is enjoying her two-recess days. Sophie went to her new preschool for the first time today and really enjoyed playing with her friend J, getting cupcakes for snack (in celebration of a birthday - already!), and loved the playground (her specialty).

Tuesday was hard for me. Sophie and I attended her preschool orientation after Emma went to school, then hit the grocery store and came home. We got home at about the same time as last year when Emma went to afternoon kindergarten. It was a long day, and we really missed Emma. I am still really feeling the loneliness of having her gone all day. I imagine this gets better and I will soon be relishing these longer days (I imagine).

Today, when I dropped Sophie off to preschool, I went to the bookstore. I flipped through some magazines, checked out the kid clothing stores for some pants for Emma (no luck, her waist is so tiny), then headed home for a quick lunch. Next week, I plan to use my kid-free hours being more productive, but today I just needed to make it go fast, and not be so quiet.

These pictures are of Emma and Sophie on their first days - Emma's was taken on Tuesday morning, and Sophie's was taken this morning. They are both happy about their first days of school.

Go Sophie, Go!

Today was day 3 of Sophie's soccer camp. This is her first time playing soccer, except in the backyard with Emma and Andy. So, it's been a lot of fun to see my girl in a team/group/competitve setting (as competitive goes for 4 and 5 year olds anyhow). She has been listening to her coaches and really having a great time. She takes a water break every three minutes during the scrimmage. She dribbles the ball. She scores goals. She is way too small for her jersey that falls off her shoulders all the time. She runs hard. And, she doesn't pick up the ball with her hands. She did once dribble the ball all the way to the next field where the bigger kids were playing. But still, no hands. So, it's all good. She says she likes it. She wants to play some more. In fact, she is out back with her sister playing soccer right now. Emma loves to watch her play and cheers her on. I love it.

Paint and a dress

I had purchased this corduroy fabric a couple years ago (oops!), intending to make a dress with it. It sort of got lost in the pile for a while, though I always knew it was there. I decided to finally cut the pieces a couple weeks ago, but since it is for Sophie (who doesn't need any clothes the way Emma does), it just sat there. Until today. Thanks to the serger, it came together beautifully in less than 45 minutes from start to finish. It's made from the Leila & Ben Sweet Little Dress pattern that I also purchased (and have used a lot) several years ago. This is the biggest size the pattern comes in, which completely breaks my heart. I love this pattern - maybe L&B will work on adding a few sizes...

Anyhow, it is corduroy and very fall/winter in color so it was easy to put this off for so long. But now Miss Sophie is going to have a super cute little dress to wear when those first cold days roll in. Oh, and she may be wearing this to a different preschool altogether! More on that after we make a final decision this weekend.

On another note, the right side of this picture includes a snippet of our new wall color. This color is called Tan Hide and we used Miller Paint's Acro-Pure paint. Andy is picking up some Sangria today so that we can paint the playroom-gymnasium-office of the future.

Winking

Sophie and Emma practice their winking skills nearly every day. This picture is exactly what it looks like nearly every time. While I am sure she will learn to wink one day soon, I do hope it isn't too soon. It's really fun to watch the girls try.

Cupcakes and Candles

After dinner we sang "Happy Birthday to You" and ate cupcakes. By request of the birthday girl, the cupcakes were lemon with green frosting and sprinkles. You just can't go wrong. I considered attempting to make a healthy cupcake, but really - for birthdays you just have to bake with sugar and butter and enjoy every last bite. We did.

Miss Sophie is...

mischievous

snuggly

funny

daring and brave

funny (I had to say that twice because not only does she like to tell "knock knock" jokes, but she also likes to make silly faces and has a running style that can make anyone laugh)

a good story teller (especially the tall tale genre)

good at winking

a good climber

a good gymnast

a loving little sister who thinks her big sister is the best thing ever (and she really is)

the best hugger.

...and she's four now too!