From Leaves to Snow

 Here are some pictures of Sophie just being her ridiculously silly self.

One day she decided to pretend to be a dog and fetch a frisbee for her cousin Bella. Sophie is really into playing pretend and loves dogs so this doesn't surprise me all that much. 

 Sophie is getting lots of time squishing on her cousin Austin. Thankfully he can sit up more by himself so he is less at risk to fall over entirely when she lets go. 

 Once upon a time we took a selfie on the couch when I was laying against Daniel's shoulder and Sophie climbed up on top of me. Every time I do that now she climbs up and says "take a picture guys!"

 Sophie polishing daddy's shoes. She's a very helpful kid.

 There are just some outfits a girl loves and this is one of Sophie's favorites. She loves wearing dresses and be so beautiful. 

 While sifting through all the baby gear I found a bag of binkies. When I told Sophie they were for her baby sister she  promptly put one in her mouth. Sophie seems to think the baby is in her belly so maybe she thought she was helping her baby sister out. 

 Grandpa has a epically gorgeous maple tree in his front yard and Sophie and I loved playing in the leave piles. We couldn't walk in the front door without stopping to run through leaves. She loved raking and even throwing them in the garbage. It was a sad day when they were all gone. They were nature's best toy. 

I sent this picture to Daniel saying, "on rainy days we wear our hair curly!" I love little girls. 

Sophie loves making big bubbles in the jacuzzi tub. 

And coming up with interesting outfits like this camo-Christmas sweater combination.

And then it's back to my girlie girl. 

This was right before Sophie ended up being terribly sick. (She hasn't napped in months) She woke up in the middle of the night and threw up repeatedly. The next day she was crazy lethargic and even now two days later she hasn't hardly eaten anything. She hasn't ever really been sick like that so it really wiped her out. 

But before she got sick we were blessed with a beautiful little snowstorm! We didn't have any of her snow gear so she bundled up in pants two sizes too big, shoes three sizes too big, and gloves that wouldn't stay on....and she loved every minute of it. I hope we have an awesome winter for her to really enjoy it all. Kira and Sophie played outside for a while and went back out once Hannah got home from school. Again--another great reason to have cousins around! 

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is so much fun with a toddler. Sophie really got into everything that was Halloween related. She loved decorating grandpa's house and for the longest time kept calling the decorations her costume, but we eventually got that figured out. She loved (and still loves) reading Halloween books and watching Hotel Transylvania and "witches" (Hocus Pocus). She really seems to like things that are scary and spooky. It made the whole month of October really fun. Since Aunt Erin's house is full of adorable Halloween costumes we were able to just pick our favorite. We went with the darling and cozy dragon. The week before Halloween Sophie kept saying she wanted to be a princess so I was a little nervous so was going to freak out about it, but she did great. And she dresses up like a princess daily anyways. 

The weekend before Halloween we did the traditional pumpkin carving/painting, caramel apples, and delicious soups over at the Enger's. Sophie ended up painting her almost entirely dark blue so I finished it off for her and dusted it with glitter and it turned out super cute! I didn't even really get a good picture of it until a week later, but oh well. We tried to soak in some extra Halloween fun and go to the Boo at the Zoo with some friends but it was pretty much a crazy, crowded mess. The lights and decorations were cool, but man, that crowd wasn't worth it. Sophie loves the zoo though so she had fun seeing what animals were out at night in the cold. 

I always go back and forth on dressing up for Halloween. Usually a month or two before I come up with an elaborate family costume, but when it comes down to spending money on it I usually cool off. (We would have been the little dragons Viking parents/owners). Then the week of Halloween comes and I freak out that I don't have a costume. So we threw together a "Castaway" theme outfit to highlight my blossoming belly. I honestly didn't even wear it anywhere but trick-or-treating, but it was nice to feel festive. Daniel did wear his little get-up to work though. Too bad it was a freezing cold day to be wearing shorts. 

 Sophie's little dance class:

 Poor Erin had to have her back surgery the day before Halloween, so Sophie and I spent the day over at their house watching Kira and Austin. We decorated ghosts and then went to the elementary school carnival to see Hannah and Bella. Thankfully grandpa tagged along with me because that was a little crazy, but everyone had a lot of fun. After that just Bella, Kira, Sophie, and I trick-or-treated around Daniel's work. Seriously the best way to get candy.

I'm glad Sophie had her cousins to go trick-or-treating with--it makes it so much more fun for everyone. Except for maybe Bella because we were too slow for her. Once we got Sophie in a stroller things were a little bit easier. It's times like those we realize how much younger Sophie still is than her cousins, even if they play so well together. She's still got a lot of growing to do! Sophie did throw one dragon sized tantrum right before we went out trick-or-treating which was super lame and eventually end in her wearing ridiculous shoes for her costume, but it all worked out! 

Our one photo from her and her friend at the zoo. Lately she hides from the camera or refuses to look at me--and this picture is just ridiculous. 

I love how her costume looks flopped over her face. She was too cute!