Dragons!

We took Lucy to see "How to Train Your Dragon LIVE" at the United Center downtown! This is by far now become one of her most favorite movies (and has been one of Mommies), so we had to take her. She really seemed to like it I think. The fire scared her a little at first, but she was quite captivated. We got to see Melissa and her family too! They went to the same show! The kids had fun at intermission :) And a Happy Belated Birthday to Cousin Miles!

Brookfield Zoo

Ready for a day of fun with the animals.

Lucy LOVED the carousel ride!

We saw a special bug exhibit.  Daddy ate a mealworm! Sophie shouted "Daddy NO! Don't do it!"

My Little Ladybug

Minivan

I swore I'd never...and low and behold...the Minivan.

I don't regret it for one second. It's roomy, it's got a built in entertainment center for the kids, it's got removable seats, I can feed and change the baby INSIDE, we can travel in this car...heck we could live in this car if we had to. I don't think Daddy regrets it either. There will come a day when we will go back to our A6...but for now, with two kids in car seats, this is exactly what we needed.

Farewell for now to a very nice ride...

Shhhh...Baby's Sleeping

Just a little something so I don't ever forget. One of my favorite characteristics of this age...the involuntary sucking that happens when a baby sleeps. It is so sweet.

Rox

I love lap dogs! I love Boston Terriers! More importantly, I love our Roxy. She is the BEST dog for my girls. She puts up with so much, and still craves the chance to sit on any one of our laps. She is my first cuddle bug.

Tried to capture the kiss on camera...

And then they BOTH fell asleep on my lap.

And here is living proof that this dog DOES sit still, can be relaxed, and actually quite calm!

Fun With Grandma's Shoes

Sophie has some adorable sandals that Great Grandma bought her, and I caught the two girls playing with them one day.  Lucy tried to put them on Sophie...and then herself. Cute moment.

A little floor exercising!

What's in a Name?

I always liked the pop culture references in our names. For example, I like that there is a song by Boston called "Amanda", or that there is a TV show called "I Love Lucy" that exists. Actually, one of my favorite references is the Beatles song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'.

Sophie's name is used less, though I know there is a well known movie called Sophie's Choice, but now she also has a beer! Spelled differently, but it's still entertaining :)

Indoor Swimming

Wanted to get our water baby in the water, so in case of rain we ended up at an indoor toddler pool with fountains and sprayers. I think BOTH girls liked it.

Family Movie Friday Night

Pizza, The Incredibles, some giggles, and ALL 4 of us together enjoying the TV in our basement. I hope we have more nights like these.

Baking Cookies

Since Lucy is very interested in cooking things up in the kitchen, I found all the ingredients last minute to make sugar cookies from scratch. She got SO excited and kept saying "OooHooHoo!" when she'd get to pour or stir.

She's also been trying to ride Roxy lately :(  I can't believe Rox let her!

And just a cute little outfit on Sophie!

Sisters

A "fun" photoshoot! I spent the afternoon trying to get one good shot of the girls together for a small photo project I was putting together for Daddy's Birthday. The top photo was the result, but the rest are cute too!

Cooking

My Little Top Chef. It seems every day Lucy is becoming more and more interested in what's in the kitchen, or what I'm stirring.  So I had her help me make jello one day.  Another day I gave her a bunch of plastic bowls, cups, and spatulas to "cook" up some raisin/goldfish/cheerio concoction, and more time is getting spent playing with her play kitchen in the basement.  Today she actually came up to me and said "I wanna play in the kitchen".  I think baking cookies together is next on our list of must-dos.

Minnie Mouse

I just realized how many Minnie Mouse items Lucy and Sophie are accumulating, so I was inspired to take a "Minnie pic" based off of Lucy's shoes.  We were shopping one day and walked down the girl's Toddler aisle at Nike when she immediately saw these black and hot pink ones and got excited saying "Minnie Mouse", so we bought them for her. So I threw on these shoes, along with her Minnie shirt and Minnie hat, and sat her on the couch with her stuffed Minnies.  Even her socks say Minnie Mouse (long story behind those).

And now Sophie sporting her Minnie outfit.  (These pics I took awhile back, but they were so cute I had to make sure and put them up here for memories sake.)

BBQ with the Cousins

We were invited up north for a BBQ with our Cousins and their four adorable children!  Lucy fit right in...somewhere in age between their youngest (the cutie little boy Elijah) and their youngest girl (3 1/2 year old Eliana).  We spent time outside in their huge inflatable pool/water slide, and time indoors eating and catching up (or eating popsicles).

Their 4 kids were so good at taking pictures!  As soon as the camera came out, they all bunched together and everyone (including Lucy) kept shouting "Cheese!"  I had to take a ton, but here are just a few.  It was cute because Lucy kept following whatever the older girls would do...in this case they would crouch down and put their hands on their knees, and Lucy kept looking at them and imitating.  It was so cute!  As much as Lucy is not shy, she is definitely a follower at the moment, or at least learning from the older kids.

The girls all loved Baby Sophie.  They all took turns holding her.

While You Were Sleeping

Lucy, you are still taking a fairly long afternoon nap, so I sneak in some quality one-on-one time with Sophie.  And how do we spend it?  By staring at each other.  But the feeling of getting your baby to smile back at you and stare at you with such loving eyes is indescribable.  My heart feels like it is going to explode.

Super Hero

Lucy now asks for "Super Wiedo" (Super Hero), so I've found that my nursing cover makes for a pretty good cape.  She then will run around chasing or being chased.  She is starting to get into the Disney movie "The Incredibles" (it's cute to hear her say Mr. Incredible), and will pretend to be Buzz Lightyear by putting a large plastic bowl on her head.  This girl just does not stop!