Sittin' Pretty (Sort of)

On several occasions this month, I have attempted to get a few pictures of the girls sitting together. I've mentioned before that it hasn't been easy. That's because, well, Sophia can't sit up on her own yet and then when you throw a toddler in the mix who has her own ideas about what she wants and doesn't want ... it can be tricky. But nonetheless, here are a few:

Sophia loves to kick all.of.the.time:

I'm not sure what Sam was doing with her hands here:

Taken right before Sophia fell over to the side:

The girls really do love each other and get along very well. Sophia is such a happy baby (except when she gets hungry and wants to eat IMMEDIATELY of course), and Samantha is incredibly attentive to her little sister. Some days I just stand back in amazement and watch how the two of them interact; they already have a bond that is so strong and I can't wait to see what the future holds for those two.

Samantha's First Ice Cream Cone

Samantha had her first ice cream cone today! While she has had ice cream before, it has always been in a bowl using a spoon. This week, while I was buying groceries, I spied the ice cream cones and decided that I would purchase a box and surprise her. Without telling her ahead of time, I casually asked her after dinner tonight if she would like to have an ice cream cone. She could hardly control her excitement! She chose strawberry ice cream and we headed outside to indulge.

She did better than I thought; there was minimal mess and she used her tongue like a champ. And when she bit into the cone, she told me that it was "delicious."

Of course, Little Sister came outside with us, but it will be a while before she can have any ice cream!

Wordless Wednesday

(This is what you get when you try to take a quick picture of a toddler and an infant together!)

Happy Birthday, Papa!

My dad's birthday is on Friday this week. Steve is leaving the country (AGAIN), so we decided to have a little impromtu dinner at our house with my parents. Sam was insistent that we needed to have a "happy birthday to Papa cake," so we set to work making an apple cake for him (a chocolate cake made in the shape of an apple). This was appropriate since he IS an apple grower!

Sam waited anxiously by the window for my parents to arrive. I couldn't resist taking a quick picture because I remember that she did the same thing LAST YEAR on the day of my dad's party. I found that picture and put it together with the one from the other day. My, has she grown!

And here's a picture of the girls together while we were waiting:

After dinner, Sam could hardly wait to put the candles in the cake and sing happy birthday. This is one of her favorite things lately; she goes around the house randomly singing happy birthday! Sophia, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled about this part:

We had a great time, as usual. I love that we now live much closer to my parents (30 minutes, instead of an hour), and am glad that they are able to come an visit whenever they want ... Happy birthday, Dad!

Go Tigers!

When Sam was a baby, Steve bought her a couple of little outfits. One was a Detroit Tigers ensamble -- in pink. It was the cutest thing ever; partly because he picked it out himself and then partly because we hoped that Sam would grow to love baseball as much as we do.

I got that outfit out for Sophia to wear yesterday in hopes that she could be a lucky charm and the Tigers would win their afternoon game. I guess that it worked because they squeaked by with a win. And they needed it.

Here is a comparison of the girls:

I think that it is fun to do these comparisons every once in a while because I sometimes forget how small Samantha was. I see some similarities in the girls, but there are some definite noticeable differences too. Sophia is obviously much bigger than her sister (she weighed 1.5 lbs more at birth) and her coloring is lighter. While Sophia's hair (what little there is of it) is starting to get darker on the top of her head, it remains lighter on the sides. Her eyebrows are also VERY light, while Sam's had already started to darken up. Also, while this picture doesn't show it very clearly, Sophia's eyes are quite blue ...

Happy 4th of July!

We have had a great day today, simply enjoying the wonderful weather outside and spending time as a family. It was so sunny this morning that we all needed our sunglasses:

Some of us spent some time relaxing in our fold-up chairs in the driveway:

While others simply enjoyed time in their carseat:

(You'll notice that they are bothing sporting the same excited expression)!


When lunchtime rolled around, we decided to continue taking full advatage of the weather and had a picnic lunch outside under the shade of a canopy in our front yard:

After lunch, Samantha cooled off in the sprinkler:

And Sophia and I stayed in the shade and took some pictures of my little one on her first Fourth of July:

After the girls' naps, we headed down to the park to partake in the annual potluck for our subdivision. Sam wore her bathing suit under her clothes so that she could go in the water after we ate. She had a blast!

Then, after putting Sophia down for bed, we watched a little baseball before getting ready to watch the fireworks in our driveway. We have the most perfect view of some of the best fireworks over the lake from our very driveway. Sam assured us that she wasn't "going to be afraid," and she was right! She really did start to enjoy the pretty colors ...

Geography Girl

About 10 days ago, I was at the store and decided to buy Samantha a puzzle of the United States. She is such a "sponge" these days and I thought that it would be a good time to start teaching her where we live and some of the other "easier" states. I had NO IDEA how much fun she would have with this, nor did I expect that she would learn them as fast as she did.

This was taken on the day that we got the puzzle. Notice that she is already taking a real interest in it.

After a couple of days, she started doing it faster (and showing Sophia).

I am proud to report that she now knows about 20 states and we are working on the others. She also knows all of her color words (she reads them on flashcards) and reads some opposite words (up, down, on, off, stop, go, hot, cold). All of this is really fun for her and I am so pleased that she wants to learn. She's going to be ready for school in no time!