In Case They Ever Wonder

I would use this one. This about sums it up - Matt looking in one direction, me looking in another, neither child looking at the camera, with Will yanking Sophie by the hair of her head. This is us.  Fortunately for all on my Christmas card list, I am not "in" to realistic Christmas card photos. Matt and I will certainly not be in our photo (particularly since I will be roughly the size of a house) and our children will appear to be little cherubs...if it kills us all.

Sophie has loved the first few weeks of kindergarten! We felt like we had found the right school for her in MAFA and Cordis Academy , and we feel even more confident about this now! For a girl who loves books, art, music, and dressing up, MAFA and Cordis have offered her lots of exposure to her favorite things. Sophie and her scars the day her class studied Atilla the Hun. Sophie, wearing all blue with her bear on Blueberries for Sal day. Sophie dressed as a Celtic girl Sophie, with body painted like a "Pict," an ancient Scottish tribe, complete with a log for our "caber tossing" competition! Sophie in a skit about Justinian and Theodora in my class at MAFA . And last but not least, just a couple of her many projects. Patti-Grams and Aunt Hope helped with the salt map (thank goodness), but I was amazed at how much Sophie was able to actually do herself (under Aunt Hope's watchful eye, of course). The othe...

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama . You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. I definitely did not draw a picture for Sophie that prompted Matt to say, "Well, that is pretty good for a five-year-old!" There is no way that I have two sizable scars on my face due to forgetting to cut Will's nails for I-can't-even-remember-how-long. I would simply never allow my child to grow talons where his fingers used to be. I would never take my cranky children grocery shopping on a Wednesday evening (when Matt works late), at dinner time, spend well over our grocery budget on pre-packaged snack foods solely to prevent Will from screaming in the cart. I also did not contemplate publicly chewing a man out in the middle of the grocery store while buying said processed foods because he refused to move out of my way as I drove the "big-rig" truck/shopping cart. Further more, I did not...

We can't wait for fall around here! We are getting ready to break out all our decorations, and I've already started jamming our calendar full of pumpkin patches, scarecrow exhibits, corn mazes, etc. I think our family has some extra excitement because Daddy's birthday is on Halloween as well. This year will be extra fun because Will will actually know what is going on, and he will definitely be excited about the candy! It's also great to watch Sophie and Will really having fun with each other! At any rate, Sophie couldn't wait to wear her new skeleton pjs , even though the weather didn't exactly call for them. In all the kids' excitement about wearing matching new pajamas, I forgot to show them that they glow in the dark! We'll remedy that this weekend! We are all so excited about our favorite season of the year! Happy Fall!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama . You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. I certainly did not look up whether or not a book was available at a particular bookstore, find out it was not , then send my husband to said bookstore to pick it up the next morning! I would never forget such an important fact so quickly! He definitely didn't work with an employee for an hour and a half only for the employee to find a copy of the book in an unpacked book in the back of the storeroom. Then once I had the book, I certainly didn't decide not to use it for my class! Of course, I did not fret over how long long our roasted chicken would take to cook, rush into the house to prepare it quickly, set the timer on the oven, only to come back 25 minutes later to find 25 minutes gone on the timer and the chicken sitting on the counter next to the stove! I absolutely did not make chicken soup for dinner t...

Parenting Sophie has definitely kept Matt and I on our toes. She is bright, passionate and creative, but she also brings new meaning to the term "strong-willed." We knew parenting a little boy would be very different, and we sort of assumed that Will would be the "easier kid" - the laid-back guy that would follow Sophie's lead. We could not have been more wrong.  Last month at Will's 18 month check up, our amazing pediatrician confirmed what we'd suspected for several months. In the strong will department, Will is a male version of our first born. Will is also a bright kid, and he uses his intelligence to try and gain total world domination. While he may not have achieved world domination just yet, there are days he has managed to dominate our household! Now one major difference our doctor mentioned (and another we've already noticed) is that while Sophie's will surfaced in emotional drama, Will's seems to surface with physical drama. Of cour...

August was truly a blur, and though it was full of fun firsts and amazing memories, I must say that I am grateful to have returned to somewhat of a routine.  Not only did Sophie have her first day of school, but I also had my first day of school! I have begun teaching one afternoon a week at MAFA , (Sophie's school), so we have had major back-to-school transitions at our house! So far, my experience has been wonderful, and I actually get to teach Sophie in my last class of the day, but we are all holding our breath about how Will will do when he begins MAFA on Monday. So far, he hasn't been to school, but stayed home with Patti-Grams or Daddy, and I think we all have our doubts whether or not school is ready for Will! Thankfully, he'll only be in class from 11:30-5 on Mondays, so I'm hoping he can't wreak too much havoc in one afternoon a week! Not only did we have back-to-school chaos, but we also had our first "family" stomach virus! Wow, was that an ex...

Well, it looks like Sophie will have a sister, and Will will have... well, another sister! We are very excited because Sophie had her heart set on a sister and Will could care less as long as we keep the food coming! I am excited that Will will continue to be my baby boy and that Sophie will experience the joy of a sister! This time around, we were excited to share the ultrasound fun with Patti-Grams and Aunt Hope. Aunt Hope being here was especially important because this baby's middle name will be Hope. We jokingly said that she was due for a namesake, so the middle name would be "Hope" even if it was a boy!  I must admit that I felt sure this baby was a boy, as did every friend and family member except for my grandmother (who is part witch...) Aunt Hope (who was pulling for her namesake) and Sophie (who believes she controls the course of all events!) Apparently this little stinker is quite ladylike and likes to keep her legs crossed, so I've now had three ultrasou...