The Mommy Chronicles

Sofia's 1/2 Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:10:00 +0000

Sofia turned 4 and 1/2 today!!!!! I can't believe it! 5 years ago this week, I was just starting to tell people I was pregnant, and now I have a beautiful almost 5 year old. She brings absolute joy to my life. She is kind, sweet, funny, smart, and I feel absolutely blessed that she calls me mom! Happy 1/2 Birthday Little Girl.

On Saturday Night we went to "King's Crown," with friends. We surprised Sofia last minute and she was so excited to see her buddies Hank and Charlotte. We had pizza, played games and had cupcakes.

Sofia WON this out of the claw game! I couldn't believe it!!!!!!!! We all were shocked! Yes that is a sun burn on her face from being in our pool....I love January in Southern California!

Emily REALLY enjoyed the cupcakes, I mean really enjoyed them. She tried to eat anyone's left overs.

She couldn't believe how much fun she was having!

Then today she got to bring cookies to school to celebrate. She brought her favorite Chocolate Chip! We made them together last night.

Ballet Recital

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:11:00 +0000

Sofia had her dance recital last weekend. She was by far the most beautiful Ballerina, and the most talented tap dancer (I am not partial at all:)! I am so incredibly proud of her, and she had a great time.

Conversation with Emily

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:52:00 +0000

My conversation with Emily two minutes ago was HILARIOUS!

She came in with a Cinderella barbie and said, "Oh my goodness!......Fabulous!" To which I knew what she was saying and chuckled a little and said, "Yes she does look fabulous." To which she replied "Crack up." Again I knew what she meant and that I thought she was a crack up, and I said, "Yes you are a crack up Emmy." To which she then replied "Hilarious!" I do find everything she says hilarious and fabulous!

Toy Story on Ice

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:20:00 +0000

For Christmas the girls got tickets to Toy Story on Ice, so that is what we did on New Year's Eve. It was so much fun! The girls LOVED it, and had a great time. It was like watching them go to a famous Rock concert or something. From the moment the lights went down and the music played they were totally entranced! At the part where Barbie came out, Sofia could hardly contain her excitement and Emily was still, and silent the entire time...I mean really entranced! Here are a couple of cute pics of them in their matching Jessie outfits.

Sofia is a little annoyed with me in picture because she is worried about getting to her seat on time.

Again a little annoyed and would like me to sit down before the show starts....she was VERY excited!

Emily was just excited about EVERYTHING!

Sofia giving us a Jessie wink:)

My two little Jessies

Daddy on Emmy duty during intermission, she found the stairs.

The Barbie part!

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 06:03:00 +0000

This year we had a great time ringing in the New Year! We spent New Year's Eve with Tim and Brandy and their cutie kids. We all had a good time. We hung out, had pizza, let the kids run wild, lit sparklers, did the hot tub and laughed a whole lot! We were all in bed asleep by 9:30, it was perfect:) (A little different New Year's Eve than 10 years ago:)
Here are a couple of pics from our great time:

Sofia and Addie getting ready to ring in the New Year

Just one of Emily's 5 costume changes that night

The Dads and the kids in the hot tub

New Year's Princess

Brandy and Tim lighting fireworks

Emily and Chad thoroughly enjoying lighting stuff on fire!

More fireworks. The kids loved writing their names with the fireworks.

Emily sporting the New Year's hat, and swim suit the next morning. I think she was hoping for a repeat of the night before.

Christmas 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:41:00 +0000

This Christmas was SUPER fun! Both girls really celebrated the season this year. We talked a lot about Jesus's birth, but we also did Santa, and a lot of Christmas light viewing! Emily is still asking every night to go and see lights. We went light on gifts, and decorations, which actually turned out to be nice. Here are a couple of pictures from Christmas.

Christmas Eve, the girls in their dresses, and getting to open one gift from Mommy and Daddy, their Christmas ornament. This is the one gift they get from us, and this year we hit the jackpot! We got Emily a Gnomeo and Juliet ornament that she hasn't stopped carrying around yet, and Sofia a dancing Nutcracker ballerina, that she plays all the time and dances to.

Sofia setting out cookies for Santa and lettuce for the reindeer. Emily didn't make it, she was too tired.

Christmas morning, Santa came!

Sofia showing Emily her new Ariel dress. Emily loved this gift, and put it on immediately. However she didn't really like opening any other gifts. She just wanted to wear her costume and hat and play.

Here Emily is modeling her new get up:)

Sofia got a Jessie costume that also got put on immediately and is getting worn A LOT! In fact the one gift Santa did right was to get two new dress up outfits for the girls:) Sofia is excited to have the whole outfit on.

Sofia also got a violin, something she REALLY wanted.

Emily got a cupcake set that you can decorate, this kept us busy for a long time!

Another big hit was Big Baby...at least that is what Emily named her. She wrapped her up, sang to her, gave her a bottle. She loves Big baby.

Here Chad caught the look of shock on my face as Emily took Sofia's beloved Blue baby out of the new highchair that they got (thank you Aunt Mary Kay) to put Big Baby in it. Sofia had just left to go get baby food for Blue baby....there were tears following this photo on both ends.

And of course the big finale, we celebrated Jesus's birthday with a birthday cake. Chad accused me of using Jesus's birthday as an excuse to get a costco cake....I think my husband might know me, but we all enjoyed a GIANT slice of cake.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:37:00 +0000

I wrote this and forgot to publish it before Christmas, oops sorry:)
Both girls are into Christmas this year, which makes it that much more fun. We are trying to really keep the reason for the season in focus, and Santa a back story....which is going well, but they are still really excited about the big man. Here are a couple of pictures of our holiday happenings:

We took Santa our letters, and got to see him. Notice Emily not screaming, she figured out that he brings gifts....Sofia explained it all:)

Tree Decorating:

Going to the Holiday stroll with Daddy (Emily was sick, and I was on strict bed rest this weekend)

Emily became slightly obsessed with the wisemen from the nativity and they went every where, and I found them in the funniest spots, here is one of them:

Emily ate A LOT of Christmas cookies, candy, and basic junk. She loved it!

Sofia and my mom decorated the Christmas village. They had a great time doing it. These two always have a great time together. My mom has spent a lot of time with us lately helping, and I know we all LOVE it!

My two Christmas angels:)

I love my job!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:05:00 +0000

I truly love being a stay at home mom! Yes at times I want to rip my hair out, like today when Sofia knocked herself into the Christmas tree for the second time in a week. But 99% of the time, my girls make me laugh, cry, and really appreciate every moment of everyday.
Lately they have been playing together so nicely that they barely notice me, which I think is so wonderful. I love watching their relationship grow. They love to play dress up, babies, and princesses. Sometimes Emily is the boss (more often than not) and sometimes Sofia takes the reins...literally, she had a rope around Emily's neck the other day and they were playing horses...I had to tell her around the waist not neck:)
Here are a couple of sweet picks from the last couple of weeks and some videos. I could stand and watch them play for hours!!!!!!

This first picture has to be the funniest picture I have ever taken of them!

These pictures are just them being silly and dressing up, I couldn't resist posting:)

Sofia put on a build a bear dress, and it totally cracked me up!!!!!!

Videos:

This one is a little long, but it is so funny to watch them play. I love that Sofia tells Emily that she will one day be old enough to camp out with her.

This is a talent show portion of one of their "fashion shows."

Fancy Nancy Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:37:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago Sofia got to meet one of her favorite illustrator Robin Glasser, and author Jane O'Connor the creators of the Fancy Nancy series. It was sooooooo fun. We went to a tea where the two of them read their newest book, Splendiferous Christmas. Not only did she get to go to a tea, and meet them, she also got to go with one of her most favorite friends Addie! They were very fancy and taught the girls all sorts of fancy stuff, it was super fun!

Sofia said this was her favorite picture of her and Addie:)

WOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:55:00 +0000

I think that is the best way to describe our fall so far. We have had croup, a cold, another cold, Salmonella poisoning, bronchitis, followed by Emily's double ear infection last week.
Last week while Chad was out of town, and we were all sick, I started to also have complications with my pregnancy. I went into the doctor because I was experiencing things that should not have been happening. I had surgery in September to keep baby shortcake safe, and was having further complications, to explain it lightly.
They put me on bed rest for the weekend, so I had to wait until Chad came home, and then my mom also came in. We all got Emily well, and me resting. Things are doing much, much better now, but last week was complicated.
I am ready for March, with Spring weather, and no colds, flus, or such, and a beautiful healthy baby arriving! This is what I am looking forward to!

Holiday Stroll Friday, November 18, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:50:00 +0000

Sofia and Daddy went to the Holiday Stroll, while Mommy stayed home on bed rest with poor sick Emily.

Gymboree

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:36:00 +0000

Before Emily got sick I started to take her to Gymboree for some one on one time with me while Sofia was at school. She absolutely LOVES it!!!!!!!! I never have to ask her twice to get dressed or to get in the car if I mention we are headed to Gymboree. She loves the equipment, the bubbles, and gymbo. She doesn't however enjoy her classmates. Emily has never been quite a touchy feely person. When a boy tried to hug her one time, she said, "No thank you." But other than that she is having a blast. Here are some picks of her from several weeks ago.

Poor, Poor Emmy:(

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:45:00 +0000

Emily got very, very sick last week:( She got a temp of 103.3 on Halloween followed by diarrhea:(. We tried very hard to keep her hydrated and to comfort her especially at night. By Thursday though, she took a drastic turn for the worse. We ended up taking her to the hospital, and after A LOT of tests, they didn't know what was wrong. They wanted to admit us, however since they put us in a room with a homeless man, and then when he was released they put us in the room with someone who was very sick and a recovering drug user....I just wanted to go home. We went directly to our pediatricians office where she gave us antibiotics. She immediately started to turn around and feel much, much better. We found out when more lab results came back on Monday that she got Salmonella poisoning!!!!! We still aren't sure how she got it, but we are VERY, VERY grateful to our pediatrician for giving her antibiotics, and that God protected her from the worst. Thanks to all who prayed for her!

Halloween Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:36:00 +0000

We have been SUPER busy doing Halloween stuff. We went to ABQ to see my parents, and sister, and had a blast. We went to the pumkin patch, carved pumpkins, and went trick-or-treating (which Emily was not fond of until she found out that you got candy!). No pictures of that trip...too much fun, sorry:( We were all suppose to be "Super Why," characters this Halloween, but Sofia changed her mind and REALLY wanted to be a witch, so her and Emily were witches, and baby shortcake was a pumpkin:)
We went to a carnival at our church, and had a blast! Again Emily didn't want to wear her costume....well the tights part until she realized she got TANDY (candy) out of it, and then she was fine. I also took the girls to yes..Disney to see it for Halloween (yes we had already seen it for Halloween 3 times this year, but hadn't worn our costumes yet). Emily got to see her new favorite the Queen from Snow white, and was SOOOOOOOOOO excited to see her, and talked about it for the rest of the day...she's so strange! When we left she was blowing her kisses, both strange because Emily doesn't really blow kisses and, really at the Queen who wanted Snow white dead! Sofia also got to see Minnie in her witch costume, which was the highlight of her day. Mine was coming home and eating all of their candy from the night before:)

Sofia helped me decorate this year. This is her posing with the Halloween village. She didn't like that the headless horseman was headless so she put a skeleton on his shoulders, she's hilarious!

Halloween Carnival at Church:

Disney Halloween:

Sisters

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:54:00 +0000

I LOVE my girls!!!!!!! Here are a couple of cute pics and a video.

Rapunzel Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:27:00 +0000

We went to the local bookstore for a Rapunzel tea party. Sofia looked fabulous in her dress that Mimi made her. Even Emily got dressed up for the occasion. It was super cute, and lots of fun!

Dancing with Rapunzel

Emily reading the Princess book at the bookstore during the tea. She is OBSESSED with this Princess Encyclopedia!

Playing Hide and Seek with Paskel

Emily eating Sofia's treats, that she was too excited to eat. Emily is NEVER too excited to eat!

Sofia and Rapunzel

Listening to the Rapunzel story while Rapunzel read it

New Camera!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:05:00 +0000

Chad and I bought a new fancy camera for our birthdays, and Christmas this year. We love it. We have only had it for a week and a half and we downloaded pictures today, and there were 411!!!!!!!! We have been having a great time learning all about it. I will not subject you to all of those pictures, however here are a few:

Emily LOVES posing for the new camera. She always smiles and says, "Cheese!"

Sofia loves to be silly for the new camera, I wonder where she gets that?

She also loves action shots, which you will see a lot of.

Emily caught mid laugh

Sofia caught mid air

Sofia making her lunch

Sofia built an obstacle course to run through while I took pictures...this is just one of like 35:)

Bird on a wire...gotta love how blue the sky is in southern California:)

A Katie did outside our front door the other night

AGAIN!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:22:00 +0000

So I consigned the girls clothes last spring and it was actually really hard to do (as most of you know I am SOOO sentimental), and A LOT of work. I also got rid of some of my baby equipment, and gave away my maternity clothes. Well as you may have guessed, I completely jinxed Chad and I. Yes that is right we are expecting baby #3 in March!

Sofia is sooooo excited about being a big sister again. She has named the baby Orange Blossom Strawberry Shortcake Lemon Meragne Smith, but for short we will be calling it shortcake:) She will also tell you that the baby is coming on St. Patrick's day, that is it's due date!

We are all so excited about our unexpected surprise baby shortcake!

Exercise Momma

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:25:00 +0000

We had officially ran out of things to do while the girls were sick. They were starting to go stir crazy. So I popped in one of my postnatal exercise videos to do with their babies. They LOVED it! Here is Emily with her baby, Sofia didn't want to be photographed, but still loved it.

For Great Granny

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Sofia got this really cute outfit from her Great Granny for her birthday that is perfect for school. She looked so cute I couldn't help but take a billion pictures of her that morning! I decided to only post a few though:)
That you Granny, she looked precious!

Emily is of course happy to wear a pj top and a diaper to take sissy to school:)

School

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:13:00 +0000

Sofia officially started school today! She has done VBS, a summer school program one summer after Emily was born, and a mommy and me preschool last year. But today it was official, she started a preschool program two days a week with out me, that will be for an entire school year! Neither of us cried, which I was surprised. But we were both excited, and I was proud of her. She said she has a great time.

Here are some picture of her, and her project she did:

Having breakfast and getting ready for the big day

All set and ready to go (notice the giant grin:)

Outside of her school

Her riding in a school bus. She cut her own wheels, which I was super impressed with! She also added clouds, a flower, and I lover her tree with the hole in it:)

I took Emily to the Mommy and Me preschool. She will do this while Sofia is at her preschool. She took a long time to warm up, and was my shadow for the first hour. Then she found this pool with pillows and blankets where you could read (and roll around). She was fine the rest of the time.

My two school girls

Emily reading in her "pool." Sorry it's sideways.

Coloring her person for the school box.

Then we went to McDonald's to celebrate the first day of school. It was a fun day....but now I am EXHAUSTED!

Friend or Foe

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:27:00 +0000

I think this is the real question in our house these day. One day Sofia and Emily are laughing, playing, having a great time, and the next they are bugging each other and crying, complaining, and driving me NUTS! I think this is the normal sibling relationship, however I am wondering will they be more friends or more foes....I am not sure yet. I think a lot of it may have to do with age. Emily has finally found a voice, and a lot of that voice is "NO!" Sofia is so sensitive, that this "hurts my feelings." Sofia wants Emily to follow the rules and play, Emily just wants Sofia to leave her alone and play. Here are a couple of cute pics of them playing nicely together though:)

Ok, this last one is of Emily drawing over one of Sofia's art pieces, with all of her "friends," by her side....I guess this could explain some of Sofia's frustrations:)

Family Day

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:36:00 +0000

So between this summer being busy, and the last week being sick we haven't gotten to just take a "family day." Well we finally got it! On Tuesday Chad played hooky from work and we all went to Disneyland for the first time since last April. It was really fun! Emily was finally old enough to really enjoy it, and not just sleep the whole time.

The girls have really changed over the summer, and now they are into new things. Sofia my little dare devil is into fast rides, and roller coasters. So for the first time she got to do Splash mountain, and any roller coaster that we were willing to stand in line for. She also got to ride on Small World with her "boy friend." Amanda (his mom) and I were told to ride behind them in the boat. It was so funny to see them together! (You know you live in Southern California when you see people you know at Disney:)

Emily is OBSESSED with Princesses, but especially Belle. She talks about Belle, and the Beast, and Gaston, all the time. She always requests to listen to Belle in the car, over and over and over again....we are all a little sick of it! So she finally got to see Belle her idol, and it was precious! She got really excited when she first saw her, then when she met her, she was a little star stuck. I literally thought she was going to pass out. Then she didn't want to leave, she wanted to just sit in Belle's lap:) She talked about it for days later! She also loved sitting with Jasmine, and was a little awed by Snow white, but the funniest was when she kept asking Aladdin was his Monkey was! So fun:)

I love 4!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:29:00 +0000

I know it has only been a couple of weeks, but I just love 4! Sofia has in the last couple of months really blossomed into a big girl. She is so responsible, kind, giving, and very independent. These have always been part of her personality, however I feel that it has become more prominent in the last couple of months, especially the responsible part! She and I have been doing things together lately after Emily goes to bed. We either work in her work book, read a chapter book together (she is obsessed!!!!!), watch a cooking show together- which she commentates on the whole time, or just spend big girl time together. We both LOVE it! Last night we wrote Thank you notes together since our birthdays are so close together. It was fun. She dictated to me, and I wrote exactly what she said, which sometimes was HILARIOUS! She is becoming such a little girl....which sometimes I don't know how I feel about this.

The link

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:21:00 +0000

Sorry I am not sure what happened, but here is the link to my sister's wedding photos. Please don't forget to post a comment if you can:)

http://www.jonesphotoart.blogspot.com/