Sisterly Love

I've mentioned this before, but I can't seem to say it enough: I am reminded on a daily basis around here just how much my two girls love one another.

I'm pretty sure that the unspoken bond between them formed the second that Samantha laid her eyes on her sister at the hospital. She still talks about that day in clear detail -- how Daddy took her to the hospital to see Mommy and Sophia. And how little Sophia was. She remembers getting to hold her in Mommy's bed, and how there was a pink frog in the room (that was from Grandma and Grandpa). That day was my birthday, and it was the best birthday present EVER ... watching my girls meet each other for the first time.

I get to see a lot of this now:

They play together on the floor. Sophia always wants to be in the middle of all of the action, and Sam is pretty good about including her, while making sure that Sophia (a.k.a. "Swiper") doesn't get her hands on anything that is too small and/or dangerous.


Sam also helps give her sister snacks. Sophia lets you know that she wants to have "snack time" too, so in between bites of Sam's snack, she feeds her sister some little puffs.

Posing for Momma:

And isn't Samantha looking so grown up lately? She wanted to have her hair pulled back in a ponytail that day. The truth is that it is a challenge right now to get all of her curls pulled back, but we made an attempt because she asked so nicely ... And it made her so happy!

Halloween is Happening ...

Halloween is in full-swing around here now.

Samantha's costume is "in the works," and Sophia's, because it requires less prepartion than Sam's, is almost complete. Sam is going to be a peacock for Halloween (one day, she declared that that was what she wanted to be, and far be it for this Momma to tell her that it isn't possible). It's a very unique idea, and I am proud of her for coming up with that all on her own. It will be something very special.

Sophia is going to be a spider. I found the costume on clearance last year, before I even knew if my little one was going to be a boy or a girl. Sam is excited about her sister's costume and proudly tells everyone what they are each going to be for Halloween.

We started this holiday season last weekend with some baking. We made regular-sized cupcakes and some mini-cupcakes, where the best part for Sam was the frosting and Halloween sprinkles.

Sophia just prefers to supervise (nevermind her obvious flexibility in the background; she loves her feet):

Taking a moment to admire her work:

And then what baking project would be complete without a little taste-testing?

Then today, I brought up a box out of the basement so that the girls and I could start putting some of our Halloween decorations up around the house. It was so much fun for Sam to dig into the box, gasp with excitement, and pull something out.

Just look at that cute face!

Even Sophia was excited with some of the goodies:

Sam helped set up some of the decorations ...

... but her most favorite thing was lining up (and playing with) all of the creepy critters:

In fact, this is what I found a few minutes later:

And then she told me, "Hush, Momma. The critters are sleeping."

It's going to be a fun Halloween ...

A Girl and Her Tricycle

Remember when Steve surprised Sam and bought her her first tricycle?

That was six months ago (hard to believe), and Sam fell in love with it immediately. It only took her a couple of weeks to fully master the whole pedaling thing. And now, it is her absolute favorite thing to do outside. The second we step out into the garage, she is running for her bike. The moment that the car is in park in our driveway, she is begging to ride her tricycle.

We are going to try and get as much use out of it as we can before winter comes. I suspect that by late Spring next year, our little bike rider is going to be ready to upgrade to something a little more advanced; and her Red Rider will be saved for her sister :)

Go Tigers!

In addition to being big Michigan State fans in this house, we are huge Detroit Tigers fans. The Tigers are now competing in post-season baseball games, and we try to watch every single one of them. Sam understands our love for baseball, and often snuggles in to watch a few innings with us before she goes to bed.

I couldn't resist taking a quick picture of my three favorite people the other day, sporting some Tigers hats:

Pre-Party Preparations

Samantha's birthday party will be here in less than 6 weeks. That means that I have already started the preparations, and the plans are coming together nicely. It brings me such joy to plan these events, right down to the last detail with decorations. I want my kids to always remember that Momma went "all out" with their birthdays ... for I can't think of a better way to celebrate the day of their births -- the happiest days of my life.

The theme of Samantha's birthday party this year is fish. She tells EVERYONE that she is turning 3 on November 19 and is having a "fish party." Her excitement is contagious and I wanted to be sure to keep her involved in a lot of the plans and decisions -- afterall, it is HER day!

So last week, we sat down together to make one of the decorations for the party. She LOVED it!

Working hard to get all of the stickers in place on the angel fish:

Ta-da! The semi-finished product. It will now go in a frame and be on display at her party ...

Go Spartans!

We are big Michigan State fans in this household! In fact, we just taught Sam to say, "Go Spartans!" and she sounds so cute when she says it.

In honor of the big Michigan State/Ohio State game on Saturday, we all wore our Michigan State shirts:

And, it must have brought the team some good luck, because they won! Go Spartans!

Daddy's Home!

On Friday night, Steve came from Mexico (for the millionth time in the last four months). The good news is that he is wrapping up his project there and should only have to travel back to Mexico one more time ... we are keeping our fingers crossed, anyways.

Sam was "over the moon" with excitement to see her daddy, especially because she knew that he was bringing her a special surprise -- a cowgirl hat all of her own. This would be a follow-up to the cowgirl boots that he brought home for her the last time.

Checking out the other "goodies" that Daddy brought home:

"What's up, Daddy?"

All in all, I think that everyone is glad to have Daddy home ...