These two are adorable!!!!

Things I do not understand about Sophie

1. Why she calls pencils "pekils."
2. Why she always has to yell the word, especially when we are at church. "I want PEKIL!!!"
3. Why her version of cuddling involves a blanket, a bear, and curling up on my face. Most kids like to lay their head on your shoulder, or arm, or lap, or stomach depending on what position you are holding them in. Not Sophie, she always finds a way to lay directly on my face no matter if we're sitting, laying, or standing. She has mastered the art of squashing the nose flat, while simultaneously ensuring the glasses are properly indented into the face.
4. Why, when she has a plate full of delicious food such as chicken and noodles, she wails inconsolably because I didn't give her any broccoli.
5. How she learned to full on tackle Ella (who is 2 years and 10 months older, and twice as tall) to the ground.
6. How she learned to do back flips off the couch. (Okay, I know she learned this one watching Ella, but I don't understand how a not-quite-two-year-old has such finely tuned acrobatic skills). She's better at it than Ella.
7. How Sophie managed to take the title of "Family Boss."

"Amuse me, commoners!"

I can take a hint

I gave my girls baths this morning. They really needed them. Sophie was done first. Ella still wanted to play some more. I got Sophie out, and got her dried off. I sat cross legged on the floor. I had her stand in front of me while I put lotion on, diaper on, shirt on. Then I had her sit on my lap to put her pants on. She said "ouch. hurts." She has a tendency to say that when she doesn't want to put on a particular article of clothing. I got out some pants that I know she likes. She sat down on my lap again. She said "ouch. hurts." I made her put on the pants anyway.

Then Ella was ready to get out of the tub. I dried her off and sat cross legged on the floor. I put lotion on her. She put on her own clothes. She was having trouble putting on her pants. She sat down in my lap so that I could help her. She said "ouch. that hurts." I said "what hurts?" She said "my leg hurts." I said, "Why does your leg hurt?" She said, "because your poky legs are poking my legs."

I took a shower this morning. I really needed it. I shaved my legs.

Cutest hat ever!

and he could be the next Gymboree model.

Favorite Photo of the Week

The dilly-dahle Chronicles

Chapter 2 *

****

In which we learn that Ella has a serious case of "An-DEN"-tonitis.

Sophie was an adorable, affectionate little girl. She kept her parents on their toes. Her sixth sense continued to develop, and over the next few months she also added Avid Climber, and Experienced Escape Artist to her resume. Which made bed time a full time job. But that's another chapter, for another day.

This particular chapter is about Ella.

Ella was a smart girl, and she noticed that Sophie's unusual talents were taking up an inappropriate amount of her parent's time. She knew she couldn't compete in chocolate sensing department, and her climbing coordination wasn't quite on par with Sophie. But she could do something amazing. She could talk. And not just talk. She could talk non-stop to anyone, anywhere, about anything, with out stopping. Did I mention she could talk non-stop? Well, she could. And she found that the best place to do this was in the car, where she had a captive audience. And because Tucson is a geographical oddity, and it takes about 20 minutes to get anywhere (and everywhere), family errands turned into 20 minute Ella narratives. Her favorite topic of narration: the day.

"Today I woke up, An-DEN I watched a show An-DEN I ate breakfast. I had cheerios with milk An-DEN I got dressed An-DEN I brushed my teeth An-DEN I had to go to school. Sophie came with me but Dad didn't because he had to go to work. An-DEN I had school An-DEN Mom came to pick me up An-DEN I ate lunch An-DEN..." When she ran out of things to say about her day she would recount details about yesterday.

And when she ran out of things to say about her past she would start reciting movies. "Kung-fu-poo" Panda was her favorite to retell...for about a month...An-DEN she moved on to Spirited Away. During a typical day her parents could be expected to say, "Okay Ella, it's someone else's turn to talk now," about 14 times.

Meanwhile Sophie was scaling the pantry shelves, dumping out potato pearls and sugar, finding permanent markers, figuring out how to unlock doors, getting chocolate finger prints on everything, gathering sand to dump on Ella's head, and all other sorts of general mischief.


Hopefully, in one of these chapters mom develops a second pair of hands...or gets a house cleaner.

*Don't remember Chapter 1? Catch up here.*

Reason # 133 Why Toddlers Rock

They are properly impressed when you magically turn an egg blue!

April Showers...

...are no where in sight.

But that hasn't kept Ella from hoping.

March 2009 will hereafter be known as "the month we spent a small fortune on cold medicine and cough drops"

March was awesome...and busy... as expected. Both weddings were great and all the parties were fun. Really the only down side was that we all got sick...and stayed sick pretty much the whole month. Sophie and Ella got it the worst, with fevers, coughs, and ear infections. But we're back, feeling healthier, and appreciating the comfort of our own beds. Here are a some highlights from our month that you can scroll through at your leisure.

Ella's favorite part of our travels may have been seeing the "real life" temples...Sophie's favorite thing: airplanes.

It snowed while we were in Utah. Ella loved playing in the snow...Sophie preferred to enjoy the "nos" from inside the house.

Ella loved getting all dressed up as a flower girl. She did great walking down the aisle, and throwing the flower petals. She was the perfect flower girl, until she got bored about 5 minutes into the ceremony. She entertained herself by stealing fruit snacks from the little kid in the front row, and picking up the flower petals. To her credit, at least she stayed quiet.

I took advantage of the opportunity to take lots of pictures of my talented, photogenic, brothers-in-law.

I got to spend not nearly enough time with my super funny, super entertaining, super undiplomatic, lighting extraordinaire brother in "the Dance Hall". (Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the awesome 12 passenger van my dad rented to get everyone to, from, and around Nauvoo. My brother named the monstrosity "the Dance Hall." Good times!!).

I hung out with my sisters in Texas and we tried to confuse people about who was who.

We spent an afternoon seeing the sites in Nauvoo...

...appreciated the Mighty Mississippi, and commented on how big it was...

...and visited the St. Louis Arch, briefly.

We took Ella and Sophie to my favorite museum ever...The Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We loved the rocks and gems, and the dioramas of the animals. Ella's favorite thing was learning about volcanoes and hot lava.

Even though she was sick and in strange places, Sophie managed to make herself right at home and get in lots of trouble.

Sophie hijacking someone else's infant carrier at a reception.

Sophie "helping" the pianist at a reception.

Sophie (clearly inspired by the dioramas at the museum) decided to create her own murals on Grandma's walls. Thank goodness for Grandma's magic cleaner that gets permanent marker off wall paper!

Not pictured:
* Sophie emptying an entire tub of lotion at grandma's house.
* Sophie conning 5 people (that I know of) into getting her more toffee at a reception.

We ate way too much junk food.

And now it's April.