Sophia is Two!

Our sweet, feisty Sophia Joy turned two years old on January 21st.

 

Here she is with her favorite thing to "play" with (when we let her!). She points to it and cries, "Game!"

 

This cake is the first thing that came up when I googled "cakes for toddlers" or something like that and I thought it was just adorable. We didn't have the "Wilton Ball Pan" that is required for the recipe, so I just baked it in a bunch of glass bowls that we owned already and it turned out great! It's fun for me to be creative now and then and make this kind of stuff. And the kids go nuts and love it. :)

 

 

Happy birthday Sophia! We love you bunches and bunches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here Kevin is, encouraging Sophia to potty train. I say "more power to ya!" and I plan to wait at least until summer.

 

Opera for Kids

We are always looking for ways to teach our kids to appreciate good music and good art! We heard about the Indianapolis Opera putting on a free concert for kids last Saturday and it was FABULOUS. The kids had so much fun (and we did too) and, of course, they loved the cookies and punch afterwards. What a great day at the opera. For those of you who live in the area, there will be another one on May 19 at the Basile Opera Center.

Before the opera began, the kids were invited to sit up front on the floor, which they loved.

 

The performance was about Jack and the Beanstalk and was hysterical. Some selections from Faust were performed, too.

 

We checked out a new pizza place in town afterwards. Don't you love the red and white checked tableclothes?

 

A New Semester ... and Waiting Out the Storm ...

I have come to accept that the first few days (or maybe even longer) of a new semester of homeschooling is going to be rough. After a period of time being wild and free, the kids just don’t like being reined in and attention spans are not what they once were. I have learned to just stick it out and things will get better!

Once upon a time I wrote a blog post about homeschooling with preschoolers in tow. Everything I said in this post is true, IF your preschoooler is not one year old!!!! Last fall I was in a state of despair. Sophia’s favorite thing to do while I did school with her big sister was to make as big of a mess as possible (scattering mulch from the potted plants, smearing toothpaste, dumping all the clothes from the drawers, applying eyeliner to herself … you name it, she did it). She also interrupted constantly.

I asked advice from a homeschooling mom with ten kids who goes to our church. She said, “You have to realize that this will not last forever.” At the time, this was not the 10-step-plan that I was looking for. But, now that a few months have gone by, I realize how true this statement is. Things are infinitely better now. Sophia plays quietly. When I check on her, she is playing with things like dolls and books and not trying to open a packet of razor blades. Imagine that! Life is good.

Actually, all of motherhood seems like that. When one phase is hard, I have realized that, if I just hold on to the reins and try to stay on the bronco, things will eventually get better. Sometimes there are things you can do to make life easier immediately. Sometimes you just have to wait it out. Sophia finally learned how to communicate better and she became a lot more content. Now the homeschooling is going more smoothly. Whew! What is the next challenge, I wonder?

Here are the girls, playing "school" during Christmas break:

 

Sophia is constantly being dressed up for the occasion. She is a good sport!

 

Sophia and Clara have become best buds!

 

Meredith and Clara both memorized the books of the Old and New Testaments last semester and earned bibles. Of course they picked out the most glittery, girly bibles they could find. :)

 

Over Christmas break we decided to do some serious home organization. Our main problem areas were the girls' crafts and our ever-expanding homeschooling materials. God bless IKEA!! We are very happy with the new organizational system. And there is room to grow!

 

Back from the Back Burner

Oh, yes. That's right. I have a blog.

We have been busy hosting adult gatherings and kid gatherings ...

 

 

 

Of course, there was Christmas Day ...

 

And then, best of all, daddy took a week off work and we did absolutely nothing structured at all for a whole week (although, I am paying for it now because starting the semester has been painful). We do love goofing off with daddy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is my husband who decided to try to fix the computer and then, when he realized we would be better off replacing it, decided to take the hard drive from the old computer and insert into the new computer so we could have both hard drives. After looking at a few websites and making a few calls to his dad, the job was done. He is good at everything he puts his hands too. And he cracks me up.

 

We really enjoyed all the Christmas activities, and then having some lazy down time. But we are also glad to be back doing the same ol' routines ... school, gymnastics, AWANAs, etc., etc. Life is busy but good.

ChristmasTree Farm 2011

Here we are, off to find the perfect tree for us for 2011!

 

Sophia's favorite thing to do was to hop on all the tree stumps.

 

YES! I think we found it. It is absolutely perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is our tree, all loaded up in the cart and ready to go. We love watching all the young families picking their trees. Everybody is happy and everyone is wishing everyone else a "Merry Christmas!"

 

Meredith pauses to enjoy some hot chocolate by the bonfire.

 

Here is Clara shooting down the slide from the loft in the barn. She went down this slide at least a hundred times.

 

Kevin and Sophia watch the big girls on the slide.

 

This place SMELLS so amazing!!

 

The kids enjoy playing in the loft of the barn while we wait for our tree to be processed. It was a lazy day and we just enjoyed being at the tree farm and being together!

 

 

 

Clara was chosen to put the star on top of the tree this year.

 

The tree is trimmed! Hooray!

 

Kevin and I stayed up until midnight stringing cranberries and popcorn to make garland for the tree. Yes, he is wonderful. I told him, "I wonder how many husbands would do this for their wives after 10 years of marriage. Maybe on their first date. But, after ten years? You are wonderful."

 

We don't have many tree trimming traditions but we have carried over Kevin's family's tradition of making Peanut Blossom Cookies to munch on while we decorate. They are Kevin's favorite.

 

A New Advent Tradition & the Kids' Gingerbread House

This year we started a new Advent tradition that everyone is really loving so far. I got the idea from Megan last year. I wrapped a bunch of Christmas books that we own (most of them purchased from Half Price Books for $1.00 or less) and each day the kids take turns and open one new book to read together at breakfast time. The problem is that we currently only own 12 books. But I have a massive pile ready to pick up at the library and will be wrapping those to add to our stash so that it will last until Christmas Eve. They are LOVING this new tradition. We are definitely going to do it again next year.

 

Here are the girls decorating our annual gingerbread house. This is the first year they did it entirely by themselves! They are getting so BIG. They LOVE this tradition and it's so easy when you buy the pre-made box at Costco for $10. :) They wanted to do it early this year so that we could have it as part of the house decorations.

 

 

 

And, finally, I'm going to include this picture of Sophia so that someday she really believes me when I tell her she was a real pistol. She helped herself to my eye liner!! You are waaaaayyyy too young for makeup, darling, as evidenced by this photo: