Halloween 2011

Well, even though I took some time off of blogging it doesn't mean we didn't do some really cool things in 2011. For instance, Halloween!

Sofia has a lot of good ideas - but too many sometimes. She came up with a new idea for a costume at least once a day. So, we set a deadline of October 21 and started journaling all of her ideas. I wish I would have kept the list but it ranged from princess to Spiderman and I think there were about ten ideas on the list. One of which was Menchie,



the frozen yogurt mascot from the shop up the street. That would have been fun to figure that one out!

But she ended up surprising me and choosing an idea that I had come up with - a butterfly. I loved the idea because we could coordinate Ana's costume. I took inspiration from one of our favorite children's books, Eric Carle's A Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Ana would be the hungry caterpillar,



and Sofia would be the beautiful butterfly.



Ever since the success we had making Dan's robot costume the year before I've felt compelled to make the Halloween costumes when I can. The butterfly wings were pretty easy - just a ModPodge project with colored tissue paper. But for the caterpillar I attempted my first sewing project on my own. I started it by hand and thankfully my friend intervened and showed me how to use her sewing machine! I purchased some crocheted caps from an Etsy seller and we had our little caterpillar,



and a grown up butterfly!



It was a special year because not only was it Ana's first Halloween but it was also Sofia's first time to trick-or-treat with her classmates. We live on the same street as her teacher, Mrs. Kuhnen so I thought it would be fun to invite the class over for a little party and trick or treating on our street. It was a blast! I'm so glad we did it - Sofia had so much fun having everyone over and we had so much fun seeing her in her element with all of her buddies.







I think normally she would have been shy approaching each house but with the added security of all her friends around she just loved running from house to house screaming, "Trick or treat!" What a joy!

Halloween Weekend

Happy Halloween from our sweet little witch!



We had so much fun this Halloween! Part of the fun of having children is getting to see the world through their eyes. I love watching Sofia discover new things and experiences for the first time.

Last year we dressed her up as a monkey (she is our little monkey, after all) and took lots of great pictures of her crawling around in costume. But this year was different because she got to Trick or Treat for the first time. And next year will be even better because she'll probably actually enjoy it then.

This year we decided to dress her up as a witch. It's also probably the last year in which we'll get to chose the costume for her. Dan thinks that Halloween costumes MUST be scary. I don't quite know how you make such a cute little girl like our Sofia scary but I figured a witch may be as close as we'd get.

The day before Halloween
On Friday we took her in partial costume to the Discovery Green Park. She loves her new toy broom, which she calls an "oom." I love her new black Chuck Taylor high tops!





The park was pretty empty and she was finally brave enough to play on the elevated jump mesh. Her feet are finally big enough that she doesn't fall straight through! She was actually a little scared but handled herself like a big girl.





Sofia loves the park and we had a lot of fun seeing the new Cool Globes Exhibit,



and Sofia loves holding the leash and taking Jaxy (who she now calls "Buddy") for a walk.



Halloween
The next day, Saturday, was finally the big day. Halloween had arrived! I loved getting her dressed. I know before too long she won't need my help anymore...







She was all dressed up and ready to go. I took so many pictures of her I couldn't even hardly narrow it down to these, but here are some of my favorites.







It was finally time to Trick or Treat. She headed down the street with Dan to our neighbor's house. I loved the way she would drag the broom behind her. This was really the only stop we made. She got a little shy, you can see her looking to the camera for help. But was more than happy to take the candy. She was so excited about the candy which was funny because I'm not sure she really knows what it is.







After that stop we headed to a couple of neighborhood street parties. Sofia had fun running around. And it seemed that Halloween really wore her out because she fell asleep pretty early in her stroller even before the walk home.



Halloween was so fun - we had a great time - and I'm so looking forward to making more memories with our little angel witch.

Pumpkin... Apple!

Seems our little girl has a sense of humor.

As soon as Halloween neared a local party store by our house put a huge inflatable pumpkin on top of their warehouse. Sofia sees it everyday on the drive home and the first day she saw it she yelled, "Ap-poo!" I sort of giggled and said, "I know that may look like an apple, but it's actually a pumpkin." This continued the next day, and the day after that until eventually she started a debate with me. It goes sort of like this:

Sofia: Ap-poo
Me: No, that's a pumpkin, Sofia.
Her: Ap-poo!
Me: Pumpkin!
Her: Ap-pooooooo!!!
Me: Pumpkiiiiin!!!
Her: Ap-poo, ap-poo, (very high pitched now) ap-pooooooo!!!!

It goes on like this now at the sight of any pumpkin. And she laughs. She knows she's getting me. We have our first inside joke. She's so fun-loving, my girl!!

So in honor of apples (or pumpkins) here are some photos I took of Sofia at our last trip to the grocery store where they had a whole "ap-poo" display. She tried immediately to pick one up.



Then I had her sit on one of the small pumpkins but that was kind of awkward.



So I had her sit on a huge pumpkin and smile at me. She's such a doll!



But I guess now she thinks pumpkins (or ap-poos) are primarily used for seating because this is the first thing she did with the pumpkin we took home.



And while we're on the pumpkin topic, remember this? This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of my little pumpkin... just about a year ago. Where did the time go...?

This week in pictures...

**UPDATE** I didn't have pics of my cutie nieces but luckily Grandma did and sent some to me. Scroll down and see...



I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! We traveled to Dallas to trick or treat, meet baby Jake and Dan ran another 5K with David. It was a great weekend...

Halloween
We spent Halloween night at Emily and Jeff's house. Their street gets a ton of trick or treaters so we sat on the porch with our little Monkey and passed out candy. Sofia was a bit grouchy from a day of traveling and not enough naps but I think she still had fun. I know we had a lot of fun watching her in her monkey costume. Our good friends, Brooke and Nan and Kyle came by too. We love seeing them - it was a good time!


I want candy!


our grouchy little monkey




with Brooke D. in her glo-in-the-dark skeleton PJs


Nan and Kyle

Even though we didn't get to trick-or-treat with him this year, here's Matthew Spider Man going down a slide at a carnival. As you can see, he's been working out...



Cousins


We also finally got to meet baby Jake! He is so sweet and laid back. He just hangs out and sleeps all day making little newborn noises. Julie is doing great and Matthew really loves him, at least while he's not busy playing. We hung out at David and Julie's on Saturday watching (my favorite) college football and David made really delicious fajitas. We all ate and played and enjoyed all the kiddos!


Jake (so tiny) Sofia and Matthew




Sofia with her Bobo


watching College ball with Tio Louis and Matthew


baby Jake


baby Jake snuggled with Tia Emily

We also go to spend some time with Sofia's Coussirat cousins. We got to see Caroline, Katelyn and Ashleigh while they got ready for Halloween. Caroline was a witch and Katelyn and Ashleigh both wanted to be Superheros. They are such adorable, loving girls! We also went the next day to see Caroline play soccer. She's such a good little athelete - and her team won!


Katelyn as Superwoman


Caroline the witch holding Sofia... with a mustache?


Ashleigh as Superwoman with Sofia



Caroline running up the field

She Knows Tricks!
Well, Sofia is developing and growing, she seems to change every day. She's even learning some new things which prove to me that she's actually listening to us when we talk (and maybe even understanding some of it!) Here's what she can do so far...
1. She knows "bye-bye" means to wave. She was continually throwing her sippy cup down from her high chair. Fed up, I finally just looked at the cup on the ground and said, "bye-bye," she looked at the cup herself and then waved. It cracked me up. So now she's been waving hi and bye pretty much on command.
2. Her grandma has been teaching her where her nose is so I've joined in and had been asking her where her nose was. One day she reached out and grabbed mine! At first I thought it was a fluke but more and more she points out my nose.
3. I swear, this morning Jax walked in the room and it sounded like she said "Jax." Who knows? But I think she's getting close. But then again, it also sounded like she said, "Obama" the other day while my friends and I were lamenting McCain's loss over lunch. Seems I've unwittingly raised myself a little democrat. Well, she and her Bobo can begin their debates early I guess!
4. She's developed a mad-face with sound effects and all! Here's what it looks like but you have to imagine for yourself how she breathes through her nose in and out really fast with her face all scrunched up like this. She usually does it when she's frustrated and apparently I frustrated her this morning at breakfast because there she was making the face and the sounds... Poor thing - mommy just laughs at her!



That's it for now... Much love, Angie, Dan and baby Sofs