Party Time!

Like we did with Samantha's birthday last Fall, we opted to celebrate Sophia's "friend" birthday on Saturday and then celebrate with "family" on Sunday.  It makes for a long weekend of parties (and clean-up), but most of the decorations are left-up between each event ...

 

 

 Posing for a quick picture before her friends arrived:

 

The cupcake table with a Sofia the First banner in the background (the girls were most excited about this as I was hanging it the day before!):

The accessories table, complete with the bingo game cards, prizes and beads for our craft:

The table all set up for the girls when they arrived; each guest was able to take their special Sofia the First cup home with them and I used straws with nametags to designate whose was whose:

A quickly-thrown together sign for the front door, welcoming the guests to the "Royal Prep Academy ..." which is the castle that Sofia lives in:

The guest of honor:

My two princesses:

The girls each got to keep their plastic ring on top of their cupcakes.  The cupcakes were pink lemonade-flavored and were quite the hit:

Picking out their prize from the bingo game -- various flavored Sofia the First chap-sticks.  We played until each person got their bingo (Sophia was the last one!) and they took turns choosing which color/favor chap-stick they wanted out of the large purple bowl.  It worked out so well!

I kept it easy on myself and ordered pizza and breadsticks for the kids and served that with carrots, celery, homemade applesauce and pink lemonade.

After we cleaned up from lunch, we set to work on the one craft project that I designed.  All of the girls got to use various beads and make a special amulet necklace.  In the television show, Sofia has a special amulet that allows her to talk to animals.  It is a focal-point of the show and I knew that the girls would enjoy making one of their very own to take home with them.  Most of the girls wore them for the rest of party ...

Opening presents ...  Sophia let her friends take turns "helping" her open her gifts.  It was adorable!

We ended the party with cupcakes and ice cream -- perfect!

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After the guests had left and headed home, I hurried my little ones off to their beds for a nap while I set to work cleaning up the house and prepping food for the next day.  Most importantly, I baked and decorated Sophia's special cake.  I was so pleased with how it turned out that I tiptoed upstairs and woke the girls after bedtime and let them come downstairs to see it!

The birthday girl in her special purple dress:

 

 

More cupcakes and the special Sofia the First cake that I made.  (I baked a dome cake, cut a hole in the middle, wrapped the Sofia doll in saran wrap on her bottom half, frosted purple-tinted frosting around her using different frosting tips and finished off the masterpiece with some edible pink pearls left over from Samantha's birthday cake, thus satisfying Sophia's request for a pink and purple cake!!!):

 



For something different, we served hamburgers on the grill (in February!), pasta salad, beans, chips/dip, veggies/dip and fruit.  And then once everyone was stuffed, we headed into the living room to open gifts.  One of the highlights was this incredibly-soft stuffed rabbit from Aunt Deb:

The birthday girl ready to blow out her candle:

Happy 4th birthday, Sophia!  We had the best time celebrating you!

Happy 4th Birthday, Sophia!

When I look back at blog posts that I have written about birthdays (by far, one of the my most favorite things to celebrate with my kids, by the way), I see how often the idea comes across that Samantha was the one that made me a momma.  Of all the titles that I carry these days -- and there are a lot -- that is the one that I treasure the most ... it's the one that has had the biggest impact on me. 

I am a momma to three beautiful kids. 

But, Samantha is not the only one that changed me and changed my life.

Sophia and Jack each gave me a gift of their own with their entry into my world.  And those gifts are just as special and just as meaningful to me.

Sophia taught me that my heart was capable of expanding and loving another child just as much as my firstborn.  When Steve first placed Sophia in my arms, I fell in love all over again with a little girl that would soon return that love to me.  She was wide-eyed and taking in everything, just as I was absorbing every detail of her that I had tried to picture in my mind for months.

And while our first meeting is forever engraved in my mind (and in pictures), my favorite moment of it all was when Samantha met her sister for the first time.  Oh, the tears.  I enjoyed every second of it.

Samantha was so excited to see her little sister that she came up to visit twice that day -- morning and night.

And then again when we arrived home from the hospital.  I knew then just how lucky I was.

My two girls and me, together, just minutes after I got home from the hospital with Sophia:

As the girls are getting older and understanding the significance of their birthdays now, they are excited to turn another year older.  It is so special for them. 

I look at their birthdays in a different way. 

I am not celebrating the fact that they are getting older ... I am celebrating the moment that they were first placed in my arms and I whispered with tears in my eyes how happy I was to finally meet them.  I am celebrating the day that I spent any spare second memorizing their every feature.  I am celebrating them and the love that they brought into my life.

Happy fourth birthday, Sophia Marie.  You were the best birthday present that I could ever receive.

Valentine's Day Festivities

Like a lot of holidays, we like to spread out the festive activities as much as we can in this household.  We spent the weekend before Valentine's Day putting together valentines for the girls to take to their respective classrooms.  Rather than simply use store-bought cards and have the girls sign their names, I opted for something a little more fun (and even cheaper!).  I downloaded free printable valentines online and printed them on my color printer.  Then I cut them up and the girls each attached a piece of candy to each one.  Samantha gave her friends blow-pop suckers (with gum inside!) and Sophia handed out Starburst candies. 

Working so hard to write the names of all of the kids in her class and then sign her own name:

Filling out the valentines was a job that she completed one day and then we did the candy the next day.  Making the fun last longer ...

The finished valentines:  "You can count on me when things get sticky."

Sophia signed her OWN name on each of her valentines and then helped stick the candy on with a piece of tape:

The finished valentines: "You are a star(burst), Valentine."

And then for the teachers, I found another cute printable of cupid and secured a round chapstick to the valentine for the belly.

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Samantha's class did not do a big party, but they exchanged their valentines and watched a movie.  She was excited about her day, nonetheless.

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I attended Sophia's classroom celebration and had the best time there with my little Valentine.

One of the fathers read a special Valentine's Day story (some of the kids were anxious to get on with the party, but clearly Sophia was one of them that was very interested in the book):

A Valentine's Day craft:

The finished masterpiece, which continues to hang in our house:

Some healthy snacks first ... followed by cupcakes and cookies!

Bingo!  Each of the squares was a picture of one of the kids (and the teachers) in the class.  This was a very cute idea that one of the moms came up with.

Everyone got a prize once they had a bingo; Sophia enjoyed showing her prize to her friend, Allie:

Opening their valentines boxes, stuffed with cards from all of their friends:

One last picture of my party animal:

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On Valentine's Day morning, the kids were up bright and early and wanted to open their valentines from Steve and me.  Cards and chocolate candy ... at 7 am!  How much more fun can it get?

Sam made a special hat for the day and then modeled it for me.  It was pretty creative!

Happy Heart Day!

Jack is 21 Months Old

Jack is 21 months old today -- a busy, vocal and loving little boy.

 

I asked him if I could take his picture on the bench the other day, and he went right over to it and climbed up.  He takes directives well and understands at least 99% of everything that we say.  He often mimics our words and our tone, as well.

Like his big sister, Sophia, he is incredibly expressive and his range of emotions can be overwhelming at times.  He can go from being very happy/laughing to crying/pouting with a mere snap of the fingers.  He wears his heart on his sleeve and makes it clear exactly what he is feeling at any given moment.  I love his happy, smiling self the best!  Ha!

I often joke that Jack needs to "wear a helmet" on a regular basis.  Not a day goes by that he doesn't hit his head on something.  In fact, Steve comes home from work and often comments on Jack's new bruises.  That kid is always into something ...

Only one visible bruise in this picture; usually there are at least three.

I have already learned that there is a vast difference between raising girls and boys.  My girls rarely went seeking trouble.  Sure, there were a few messes here and there and a couple of good lessons learned along the way, but it seems like it is just simply in Jack's DNA to push the limits.  If he is left alone for two minutes (the time that it takes me to use the bathroom), I find myself running to see where he is and what he has gotten into in that short interval of time.

He moves fast.

Two bags of cereal all over the floor, with him sampling it.  How could this happen in the blink of an eye? 

At least, he is good about cleaning it up when I ask.

Later that same day, he used dry erase markers (thank goodness for dry erase markers and not permanent markers) on my comforter and hallway walls, dumped an entire bag of Cheez-it crackers on the floor and pulled out approximately 102 pieces of Kleenex out of the tissue box in the girls' room.  That way all in one day.

Another day, I praised him for brushing his teeth when I saw him saunter into the kitchen using a toothbrush.  It took me a second to realize that it wasn't his ... it was Steve's toothbrush.  Shame on Steve for not heeding my warning and making sure everything was out of Jack's reach.  Ha!

In the midst of the chaos though, one thing stands out in my mind.  This little boy loves his sisters dearly.  And I get goosebumps when I hear him call their names and go looking for them.  He calls Sam, "Yam," and refers to Sophia as either "Fee" or Fee-fee."  He communicates with them well and they know precisely what he wants when he wants it.  The girls are so patient with him and include him in as many of their activities as they can.

He is especially attached to Sophia because she is the one that is primarily home with him during the day (Sam is in school all day).  When Sam gets home, he tags along with her too.

Sophia was using the V-reader and Jack felt the need to be right with her (with his snack, of course):

The kids get the biggest thrill out of pulling toys out of the toy box and the climbing inside to play:

Ring-Around-The-Rosey is the most requested song in this house; Jack even tries to sing along:

Jack is SO strong.  He picks up logs for the fire with little effort and will haul stools and chairs from one room to the next by lifting them, as opposed to dragging them.  His muscles know no limits.

I am continuously amazed at how much he takes in and observes from others.  The other day, he found a watering can in the toy box and took it over to one of my plants and pretended to water it.  He made that connection all on his own.  Momma uses a watering can on the plants, and he can too.

Jack continues to love bath-time.  It is the most calming part of our day and there is nothing sweeter than cuddling with a clean baby after a bath.

Jack still goes to bed around 7:30 pm and often wakes up for his day around 7 am.  We are struggling a little bit right now with an early wake-up call around 5 am or so, because he wants his diaper changed.  He actually says, "wet" or "poop" when I go into his room to settle him back down.  While I definitely want to get him changed, I also know that he still needs a little more sleep -- I will pay for it later when he becomes over-tired.  So, we are continuing to work through this and I am excited about the fact that he is showing clear signs of potty-training in the future (after he turns two).

Only three more months until I have a two-year old!