Shopping with Sophie

Sophie and I decided to spend our New Year's day shopping. I am SO BLESSED to have a little girl who loves to shop! First we went to Starbucks where I got "the regular" and she got a hot chocolate. She thinks she is such a big girl when she is drinking "coffee" like mommy.
We went to Michaels where she spent her birthday money buying more stamps and ink pads to go with the set she got from Grammy for Christmas! What a great idea Grammy! She loves them. She picked out an alphabet set and some pink and purple (washable) ink.
Then we went shopping to find me a new purse. I have been looking for a small purse that isn't so heavy for a long time. After I finally picked out two and couldn't decide, I asked Sophie for her opinion. She said, "Well, they both are small and have pockets on the front. This one has a pretty little charm with something written on it, and that one is your favorite color...I think you should get the red one." And so I did. I am the proud owner of a small red Vera Bradley handbag. I love it more because my daughter thought I'd like it best. It's hard to believe that I'm now taking advice from my little girl. Listening to her decide out loud (and I didn't exaggerate that quote one bit) made me realize that my child is quickly growing up. Decisions are thought out... deliberate... and logical. Wow! I'd better watch out!

Pictures to enjoy

These pictures are:
Sophie waiting with her eyes closed as Daddy brings in her new desk.
Aiden playing with his new train.
My new Christmas tree and the kids tree.

A Busy Month

December has been a busy month for us and I'm sure for all of you as well. My mom got to come for the weekend in the beginning of December and we spent three days Christmas shopping! It was great to say that I had all my shopping done by the 10th! I got a new Christmas tree for my birthday and had a great time putting it up and redecorating it. The kids also made ornaments for their tree. They had lots of fun painting ornaments and decorating their tree with a little help from Daddy.

My new job is going well and I got a few days off to go home for Christmas. We had a great time visiting all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. The kids had a great time and didn't want to go home. Sophie got lots of great gifts for Christmas including the Barbie Peek-a-boo house that she had been asking about for 2 months. She also got tons of new art supplies to go with her new desk. Aiden got a Polar Express train set that he LOVES. Grammy gave him a robe and he spends his time pretending that he is the boy in the movie! It is a lot of fun to watch.

We are very excited that we get to have Natalie join our family. Garrett is one lucky dude! (She's pretty lucky too!) Sophie (along with the rest of us) can't wait for the wedding and I know it will be her sooner than we think.

It seems like time is going by so fast. Sophie will be registering for Kindergarten in a couple of months and will start in July. St. Louis is starting to feel like home and that's probably a good thing for us, but it's still a little bittersweet. It's nice to feel like you are home, but tough because your definition of "home" has changed. We will have been here 2 years in January. Time is really going by fast!

We have been working hard on our house and will be taking on a Kitchen remodel next year. I'm excited to pick out my own kitchen! We hope to have our kitchen, living room and family room done by this time next year. I'll let you all know how it is coming along...there will be pictures!

We really missed seeing our extended family over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. We hope everyone is doing well and hope to see every one of you soon!

Too long...

I can't believe it has been over two months since I have posted any updates. Time flies. For those of you who don't know, I started back to school in August working on my BSN. I don't know where I want to go from here, but I do know that I will need this as a stepping stone if I ever decide. I also started a new job about a month ago and it's going well, but my schedule is way different than it was. (It's night shift, too.) The schedule is not near as good as it used to be, but that's the price you sometimes have to pay to do something you love as opposed to something you can tolerate! Between school and work, I barely have time to post blogs, let alone do laundry. Travis is a big help!

Both the kids had birthdays at the beginning of this month. We had a big party at Aunt TeeTee's on our trip to Wichita in October. The kids had a great time and we are so grateful to have family that love our kids enough to let the whole gang gather at their house! Sophie and Aiden had fun seeing their grandparents, aunt(s) and uncles, and of course Cooper and Tanner!

Sophie had another birthday party with all her friends from church. She had 5 little girls over and we had a princess tea party. They dressed up in princess dresses and I decorated a "grown up" table with Sophie's favorite foods on fancy platters. It was a lot of fun to do and Sophie had a great time. Unfortunately, we had to have the party on Aiden's birthday and when it came time for Sophie to open her gifts, Aiden had a fit. I had to go and get him a small gift and we went out and ate Mac-n-Cheese for dinner. I think he had a good time.

Halloween was fun. Sophie dressed up as Belle and Aiden was Thomas the Train. He was so into it! He "choo-choo"ed the entire evening! We went to the Fall Festival at church and the kids played games and got candy. It's a great alternative to trick-or-treating.

Sophie has been learning to read and is doing a great job. We drove by a hospital the other day and she said, "Mommy, does that say 'emergency'?" I am so amazed at what she can do!

Aiden is getting more talkative by the day. We are really excited about this. He is really making progress in his speech. He is starting to say "I want" instead of that noise he usually makes at the beginning of all his sentences. He is showing so much more personality. The other day he had on one of Sophie's play necklaces and he put it on backwards so it hung in the back. He thought it was a cape and he ran around the house shouting, "Super Boy!" It was hilarious. I tried to reenact it for daddy when he got home, but we couldn't find the BLUE necklace, and of course that's the only one that would do!

I hope to post pictures and updates more frequently. We have a lot coming up with Christmas and Thanksgiving!

The Big Fall

Not two weeks after Aiden had his big accident, Sophie had hers... about 4:30 am we heard the big thud...and then the screaming... Sophie had fallen out of bed. She got her own memorable trip to the emergency room, and 3 stitches and 1 black eye later, she was telling her story to the world! Her "owie" is healing nicely and she has been very careful to keep it out of the sunlight and put medicine on it every night so she "won't get a scar."

Slumber Party

It's been a while since I've posted, so I guess I had better catch you all up!

Sophie and I had a "slumber party" at the end of August. She got to plan the whole evening. First, we went shopping. Then we painted our nails. Then, we watched a movie and had special snacks. We also put on makeup and told bedtime stories. Of course, matching outfits and hairdos were required for attendance...so out came the pink comfy pants, turquoise shirts and piggy tails. Sophie had so much fun (and so did mommy!)

Out come the teeth....

For those of you who don't know, Aiden had a little acciedent on Monday. He fell into our hardwood stairs and knocked out 3 of his upper front teeth. It happened during dinner time when he was sent to his room for not sitting at the dinner table until everyone was finished eating. (I know...what mean parents!) Travis saw the accident and said it was one of the most horrible and violent wipeouts he has ever seen. There were blood and teeth to prove it. Seconds later, we were in the car headed for the emergency room. We really couldn't tell what we were dealing with. The doctor told us that the teeth were all the way out and there was really nothing we could do. Did I mention Aiden was just fine? Like nothing had happened...except for his smile... He's such a tough kid!
Aiden then got a one-on-one day with mommy and his first trip to the dentist. He was awesome at the dentist. He didn't cry. They poked around in his mouth and and even took dental x-rays. (Does anyone like those?) Aiden didn't seem to mind one bit. Afterwards he got a sticker, a balloon and new Dora toothbrush. He slept with his new toothbrush last night.
I'm pretty sure Travis took it worse than anyone. He saw it happen and can't get the visual out of his mind. I pretty much just remember the panic in Travis's voice shouting, "There's Teeth! There's Teeth!" Aiden didn't really cry much at all. He just held a paper towel to his mouth and sat there quietly the whole way to the hospital.
I have been told by a couple of doctors that they don't think it will hinder his speech development, but that is something I was worried about before the teeth came out. We'll just have to wait and see. I'm a worrying mom.
Aiden got a fire truck from the tooth fairy and has gotten lots of ice cream and chocolate pudding. Aside from getting up on Tuesday morning and saying, "I want more teeth, Mommy," I think he's doing just fine.