A few more favorites...

I had the girls pictures made a couple of weeks ago and we also took some family pictures. I really wanted a good picture of the girls together and it had been a long time since we had had individual pictures of them made. We did it just before kindergarten started going in full swing. Abbie was more photogenic that day than I think she's ever been for a photographer. I thought we got some great pictures of everyone! 

Recent Portraits

both girls were smiling here!

This picture is just so Abbie!

Busch Gardens

Here we are at Busch Gardens in the Sesame Street area of the park. Sophie had been recently when she was able to spend a few days with Matt's parents by herself but she was excited to show the rest of us everything, especially in the Sesame Street area. It's a relatively small area of the park with just a handful of rides but the girls enjoyed each of them. Sophie was able to meet all of the Sesame Street characters but Abbie wanted nothing to do with them. They also put on a live show that we could watch. It was cool for us parents too because we grew up watching Sesame Street. =)

Sophie with Bert & Ernie

Sophie & Abbie

Sophie, Mama & Abbie riding the Elmo ride

Aunt Leia, Daddy & Sophie riding the roller coaster in Sesame Street land. It was actually a pretty decent sized roller coaster. I was a little surprised because I thought it would be a real "kiddie" roller coaster but it had a decent sized hill, some big curves & it was pretty fast. Sophie loved it though!

Dinner with Chuck E. Cheese

Sophie playing with Play-doh

Sophie with Chuck E.

Sophie and Phil with Chuck E. Cheese

Sophie hasn't mastered potty training yet by far but we took her to Chuck E. Cheese's on Tuesday night. We've been promising to take her as a reward when she learned to use the potty so we celebrated her progress! Also, the day before, Nana gave Sophie a Titans cheerleader outfit. Sophie enjoyed wearing it though we had to explain who the Titans were because Sophie's thinking about basketball season now. =) Nana, Paw-paw, & Uncle Phil were able to meet us at Chuck E. Cheese's. The pizza was great, it wasn't crowded until we were about to leave, Abbie slept through almost all of it, and most importantly, Sophie had a BLAST! She enjoyed seeing the little Chuck E. Cheese show though it's been scaled down a lot since we were all little and she had fun trying out all of the rides and games. She was very protective of her tokens though. Paw-paw bought a ton of tokens so we've got plenty left where we can back and visit another time. Her favorite ride was the one with Chuck E. Cheese shown above and she rode it several times. She couldn't quite get the hang of skee- ball yet which was always my favorite but she's a little young. Since going to Chuck E. Cheese's I've explained to Sophie that yes, we have to keep going to the potty.

Potty Time!

For the last week or so, we have really been trying to potty train Sophie. A little over a week ago, she wanted to watch this hilarious old video that Matt & I picked up at a kids' consignment sale. I think it's called Potty Time. Anyway, Sophie wanted to watch the video one day, and I thought well, maybe I can set up her portable potty chair and she'll sit on it here in the living room while she watches the video. Well, it worked pretty well. She loved sitting on it while watching the video and she went to the potty three times that day! That was on a Thursday. Since she went to her Mother's Day Out on Friday, we decided to try potty training on Saturday. The video that I referred to has a song about being a Super Dooper Pooper and has some other hilarious songs!

That day, it was kind of a disaster because she kept having accidents. Then, the next couple of days she seemed to catch on. We are still working on it and she still has at least 1-2 "accidents" each day but overall she seems to be getting it and I am so glad. I've tried to potty train her a couple of other times starting several months ago and we just didn't stick with it. This time it's clicking with her. She's mostly been wearing Pull-ups other than that one Saturday because I haven't been brave enough yet to do panties each day but that will come in a couple of days I think. For several months, we've promised her a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's if she's potty trained and boy, is she ready. She's been asking us about for a few days now. Hopefully, we'll be going soon and we'll try to post some pictures!

On another note, we've gotten to get together with some friends this week and that's been a lot of fun for all of us. The weather has been much warmer and Abbie is getting bigger so it's becoming a bit easier to get out. Abbie has also been sleeping better at night and I hope that continues.

Sophie reading a book to "My Buddy"

Sophie loves to read to her dolls and play teacher or "Mama." She gets all of that pretty naturally too, from her naturally bossy Mama. Here's Sophie reading to "My Buddy" over at Nana's house recently. My Buddy was Uncle Daniel's doll so he's been around since the 80's. That's a pretty old doll.

When Sophie's reading her book she makes references to a ball game. A couple of weeks ago, Sophie had a great time going to some of her cousin Summer's basketball games. Of course, she was just as interested in playing with her older cousin, Sierra, and getting her Daddy to buy her popcorn as she was in watching the game, but that's OK. She's only 2. Summer's basketball team made it to the sub-state tournament but they didn't make it all the way to state this time.

8 Things about Sophie

I was tagged by Kathy B. to tell some things about Sophie so here goes!

1. Sophie loves to talk! She talks on her play cell phone, to her babies, to mama and daddy, and anyone else who will listen. She talks from the moment she wakes up until she goes to bed. =)

2. Sophie likes to ask a lot of questions and is very curious about people and things in general.

3. It is wonderful to be around Sophie when she really gets to laughing. She is just too cute and it's contagious!

4. Sophie is a great "little mama" and teacher to all of her dolls and stuffed animals. She tends to be kind of bossy at times!

5. Sophie has a great imagination that makes our daily life interesting.

6. Sophie enjoys going to the zoo to see animals and seeing animals from a distance but at close range, she's usually afraid of them. She feels the same way about Santa Claus.

7. Sophie has a great personality overall and a wonderful smile.

8. Sophie loves going to "school" (her Mother's Day Out) and she likes to be "on the go" in general. She's a very social being.

I tag Nathan, Camden, & Joshua!