End of the Week Randoms

Samantha has turned into quite the little helper.  As long as I give her {mostly} unlimited freedom with her tasks, she blossoms with them.  One such responsibility is emptying the clean dishes from the dishwasher.  She knows where everything goes, and for the dishes that she can't put away because the cupboard is too high ... well, she just lines them up on the counter for me.

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Sophia loves to play with crayons.  Sometimes, she finds pleasure in just carefully selecting certain ones out of the box.

Other times, she will make a valiant effort to actually try coloring with them.

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Sam was in desperate need of a new water bottle a couple of weeks ago, so when we were at the store, she chose one for herself.  Well, Sophia was feeling left-out (of course), so she got to pick one out too.  The girls LOVE them! 

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One of our neighbors came over to surprise Sam after her first day of school -- she brought her a flower all wrapped up just for her to celebrate the special occasion!  We have some of the best neighbors here!

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Samantha has always been pretty nice when it comes to letting her little sister play with her.  I think that she realizes, even at this young age, that it is more fun to have someone to play with -- even if it means that you can't play the games exactly as they are meant to be played.  Sometimes we have to change the playing rules to accomodate a little one that doesn't comprehend them yet.  One game that they can definitely play together is "Bed Bugs," and they have such a blast doing it!

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A few weeks ago, I bought a box of individual little packaged cereals for the girls.  They are the perfect size, and Sam was thrilled with the assortment.  Sophia has since discovered the box in the pantry and will often sneak in there and steal a box.  Knowing very well that I don't approve of her "helping herself" to snacks, she snuck off to the corner of the living room and this is what I found:

Yes, she was hiding and trying desperately to get the sealed bag open ... all by herself.  Busted!

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We have been trying to let the girls help as much in the kitchen as they would like.  Samantha started doing it at a young age, and Sophia seems to have the same interest in it.  Samantha was learning how to peel a carrot.  Of course, we are always close-by to supervise ...

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