Thanksgiving

Princess Sunshine

Our cool girl

Sophie shows off some little turkeys that she helped me make. They were very yummy and she was proud of them!

Matt got some Grippo's potato chips while we were in KY so he was happy!

For Thanksgiving this year we did something a little different. We met Matt's parents and sister, Leia, in eastern KY where Matt's grandparents and almost all of his aunts and uncles live. That way, we got to see lots of family, we didn't have to drive as far as we would have to drive to VA where Matt's parents live and it just worked out for the best. Sadly though, I took the camera but then misplaced it after the first day. (I did find it before we left to come home.) I didn't get hardly any pictures while in KY. Matt's grandparents are both getting older so it was good that we could work it out to go. Sophie loved meeting some new cousins and playing with them. (A couple of them she'd met but just didn't remember.) Matt's mom's family is also very large though. One of Sophie's cousins, the son of Matt's first cousin, actually asked Sophie to marry him! That was a first! It was really funny and cute but we explained that you can't marry your cousins. She enjoyed being there for his birthday (Drew's) which was at Gattiland where there was plenty of pizza and games.

We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with my family before we left town. That was really fun too! Sophie and I made the little turkeys for that.

Abbie on the playground

Abbie loves to climb. Recently, she learned how to climb up the ladder on the playset and go down the slide all by herself. She is a little daredevil.

Guess what Abbie's been doing?

Well, I'm sorry that I don't have a picture to go along with this post (although you are probably not). Abbie is 22 months old now. In the last several days she has been going to the potty successfully about once a day and this is with very little pushing from me. I wasn't really trying to potty train her or anything. It started over a couple of days when my mom was keeping her during naptime. My mom just sat her on the potty after her naptime or when she thought that Abbie might need to go. We do not have success every time but I'm not solely focused on potty training or anything right now. Abbie isn't always easy to understand when she's communicating so I think before she's totally potty trained, people are going to have to know what she's saying (at church, school, etc). Even though I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, I am still excited about it. Abbie is thrilled about it too, so, why not? I guess it helps that she has a big sister to serve as her model and show her the correct thing to do. I am all for having a child who is easy to potty train because I was totally frustrated with potty training Sophie.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'll try to post pictures sometime after Thankgiving!

Funny Quote

Last week as Sophie was coming out of her bedroom, she was carrying about four of her baby dolls. She said, "I'm octomom!" with a big smile on her face. It was so hilarious! She's heard us talk about octomom before. I just wish I could remember all of the funny things that kids say.

Catching Up

Matt Riley (Martha's fiance) & Martha

Sophie on the slide

The weather has been beautiful lately and I just haven't taken the time to slow down and blog. So, I'll try to catch you up. We've been getting outside a lot lately and soaking up the sunshine. Yesterday, we tried out a new playground right outside of our neighborhood and it was great! Saturday, my sister's dream came true because her "military man" and fiance, Matt Riley, came home from Japan. Several family members met him at the airport and it was exciting because Martha had won a contest with a photographer for a free photo session. Jonathon Campbell, a photographer, nearby came and took lots of pictures of their big reunion! His blog will have lots of pictures of their reunion sometime later this week. I just wish that we had dressed up a little more for the occasion. Matt Riley will have a little vacation and then he will be stationed at Paris Island, SC. Martha and Matt R. are planning to get married in June. Can you tell it's going to be confusing having all these "Matt's" in the family? One of my first cousins just married a Matt as well. =)

This past Thursday, Sophie and her friend, Anna Kate, went to an art class at Precious Prints. They had a great time making gingerbread cookie plates. Sophie loves making crafts so I knew that this would be a fun class for her. While they were in the class, Abbie and Will, her younger brother, played on the playground at Chick-Fil-A.

As far as Abbie goes, she started doing somersaults independently. At the airport, she really started showing off her brand-new skill. We were all clapping for her and she was so proud of herself! Maybe we can post a video soon but I'll have to have Matt's help.

More Halloween

Emerson & Sophie

Superman (Brown) and Sophie

Miss Abbie

Here's a couple of shots of Sophie with some friends. The first little girl is one of our neighbors. Emerson and Sophie are the same age. We walked down to Publix with them and did some treat or treating on Halloween night. The girls had fun hanging out. We did a little trick or treating in our neighborhood as well but Abbie was getting tired so my sister, Martha, and I decided to take Abbie back to the house. The plan was for Sophie and Matt to finish trick or treating in our neighborhood. Well, Matt and Sophie were back just a couple of minutes after us. It turned out that Sophie spotted kids headed towards our house and she wanted to pass out the candy. It was really cute because she just wanted to stand on the porch with our bowl of candy and wait for the kids to come. However, her "Mean old Mama"-just kidding (she didn't say that either), kept asking her to come inside when there weren't any kids because it was pretty cold.
Sophie and Brown (Superman) are friends from church and from preschool. Maybe next year I'll do better at getting more pictures. Kids are always on the move so it's hard sometimes. Hope you had a great Halloween! Ours was fun!

Halloween Fun

Sophie as Cinderella

Sophie's preschool class with Grumpy

our family before we went out trick or treating

Last week, we were busy with several events centered around Halloween. First, on Tuesday, Sophie wore her costume for ballet class. At the end of the class, all of the parents were invited to watch the children participate in a costume parade and then sing and dance along with a couple of Halloween songs. (I would like to try to post a video from that.) Then, on Wednesday night, we went to Trunk or Treat at church. Both of the girls had fun but they were so busy and there were so many people that I only took a couple of pictures. They got lots of candy! Abbie dressed up as Abby Cadabby that night. On Friday, it was time to celebrate Halloween with Sophie's preschool class. It was a lot of fun! They had pizza and exchanged treat bags. Also, the kids did a little bit of trick or treating right around the church. So, by Saturday night, we already had a good bit of candy but since the weather cooperated, we took the girls to do a little bit of trick or treating on Halloween night. Abbie dressed up as Snow White that night. Nana, Paw-paw, and Aunt Martha came over and had dinner with us so they were able to see the girls dressed up. They also helped pass out our candy while we took the girls trick or treating which was nice.