Ellie's Tea Party

Sophie & Ellie (the birthday girl)

the elegant tea party room before the girls went in

several of the kids at the party all dressed up for pictures

Sophie was invited to attend Ellie's birthday tea party this past Saturday. Sophie and Ellie are in the same preschool class. I went with her and it was such a special party! When the girls arrived (and a couple of boys) =), they each got to decorate a picture frame which they later took home with a picture from the tea party. Then, they each got to pick an outfit complete with shoes, hat and boa (if they chose) to dress up in. Then, everyone snapped some pictures of them dressed up. Ellie's family had made a little stage area with a CD player and microphone, etc where the girls could go and sing or dance if they wanted to. They all ran around all dressed up and then, it was time for the tea party. Her party was at the church building and they had transformed one of the classrooms into a beautiful tea room. Each child got a cup and saucer with his or her name on it that they could keep. They each also received a necklace and ring at their place setting too! Before the girls went into the tea room, they were told that they needed a hat. Their plates had been prepared with flower-shaped sandwiches (PB & J), fruit on a stick and cheese cubes on pretzels. For the dessert, there were wonderful petit fours. All of the girls looked so pretty dressed up and they had a great time. After the tea party, Ellie opened her gifts. Julie, all of you did a great job putting on the party! It was fun!!

I Scream for Ice Cream

Anna Kate and Sophie

As I mentioned earlier, we had a really fun week this past week! On Thursday, Anna Kate and her little brother, Will, were able to come over and play. The girls had a great time together. Will and Abbie kind of did their own thing but they are fairly close in age too. After a while, I asked the girls if they wanted to play with Sophie's play-doh stuff. She has an ice cream sundae set that she got for Christmas. They had a great time with it but Abbie kept wandering over to the table to find bits of play-doh that she could eat. (Not so fun for me because I had to keep getting the play-doh away from her.) After this happened several times, I decided that we need to put the play-doh up and they wanted to do projects (i.e. craft stuff).

On Friday, Sophie got to get together with her buddies, Carley & Jessie, from church. We met at Pump it Up for them to jump and then we went to eat. All of the girls had a great time!

Fun-Filled Spring Break!

Sophie & Abbie with their Cooper cousins from Ohio

Sophie & Camden

Sophie & Abbie with a goat

Here's more proof that Sophie was petting the goats!

This past week, Sophie was out for Spring Break. She only goes to preschool two days a week anyway but we had a lot of fun. I felt like mom, the social director or activity director (whatever) because I tried to make the week really fun for Sophie. I called a couple of our friends to see if we could get our kids together and it worked great. Sophie and Abbie had been sick the week before so I think I was trying to make up for that too. Anyway, over the weekend, my cousin and her three kids came in as a last minute surprise. My aunt was able to come through town too. We got to have dinner with them one night and my cousin, Beth, and her kids were able to come over on Monday afternoon to play. Even though we had a wide range of ages, overall the kids got along well. Sophie loves being with any of her cousins. =)

On Tuesday, we were able to meet up with several friends from church at the park. It was a beautiful day and we took a picnic lunch. Sophie loves Camden and she was excited that since she was out of school, they could get together (usually our schedules don't match up). The Roark's, White's, and Davis families were also able to join us so the kids had a lot of fun! Since Nana was off on Wednesday, we were able to twist her arm and get her to meet us at the zoo (just kidding about twisting her arm!) We were there alongwith about half of Nashville (O.K. I'm exaggerating a little but it was kind of crowded when we got there and we ran into several that we knew). Anyway, we had a great time and mom and I really enjoyed watching the girls in the petting zoo. Usually, Sophie really has to be coaxed to pet any of the animals but she did great that day. Abbie was so funny because she walked around collecting the brushes that you use to pet the animals. For most of our time at the zoo, she really enjoyed people watching more than looking at the animals but that's OK. Wednesday afternoon, my mom kept the girls and I got some shopping done which was great!! Both of the girls took great naps too which was nice! They were in good shape for church that night.

A few more pictures...

She likes sticking her tongue out for pictures sometimes. (I didn't order this one but it is awfully cute!)

Her serious look

Here's just a few more pictures of Abbie. The first one is just too funny! I didn't include one of my favorite shots here because it didn't show up well. I had hoped to get the girls picture made together too but Sophie's lips were really chapped and I didn't think she would photograph well. I hope we can get one of them together this spring!

Sweet Pictures of Abbie

She's sitting still-hard to believe!

She just might be a drummer!

Here are some pictures that I thought I'd share from a few weeks ago. I took Abbie to have her 13 month pictures made at Portrait Innovations. Overall, we got some good shots but sometimes she's not the easiest person to photograph. By the way, I didn't really order the two in the middle (except the last one I have one where there are 3 poses to a sheet). She was so happy when she was drumming. =)

Enjoying the Warm Weather

Abbie in her floppy hat

Here's Abbie trying to mow the grass by the sidewalk for the 1st time with the bubble mower.

I haven't posted in a while but this has been a rough week for us. Sophie ran a fever all weekend and didn't have a great appetite. Abbie had also been fussy and had a runny nose for about a week so I took them both to the doctor on Monday. We found out that Sophie had strep throat!! She was not excited about having to get a shot but her Mama thought it would sure beat having to give her antibiotics 3x/day for 10 days! She calmed down after we told her that she could have a chocolate shake after she got the shot. =) She's feeling better now. When we went to the doctor, Abbie's ears were red but not infected. One of them also had fluid in it. The doctor said that an ear infection could develop in a couple of days and to call back if she became increasingly fussy and kept waking up a lot at night (just what every parents loves to hear). The last 2 nights have been terrible so I called the doctor to see if she'll call in a prescription so we'll see...

Although we were dealing with some sickness, it didn't stop us from getting outside a little bit and enjoying the beautiful weather while it lasted. Sophie and Abbie took turns mowing for us. Sophie was really looking forward to having Abbie ride in the wagon with her and it was so cute! Abbie did great staying seated across from Sophie as I gave them a ride (our wagon doesn't have any seatbelts and Sophie used to always stand up in it). I didn't get a picture but maybe next time. I love springtime!! It just makes me feel better.

Abbie has continued to be very mischievious. One night Matt discovered her standing in a plastic chair in our play room looking out the window. Another day, she was pulling cereal boxes out of the pantry (while I kept an eye on her) and I discovered her trying to stand on the box that our garbage bags are in to get a better reach of the shelves. She is definitely a climber!

New Experiences

Paula with the girls

Abbie loves sitting in this chair!

Well, on Sunday, we woke up to about an inch or so of snow. We went on to church but the back roads were a tad icy. Mostly the roads were clear though and we didn't have any problems. I had hoped we'd get another snow but since it came on Sunday, the girls didn't get much chance to play in it. By the time we came home from church, it was all melted (pretty much) except for our deck which is in a shady spot. After we ate lunch, I wanted a quick picture with the girls in the snow because I had never taken Abbie out in it. The girls "snow outfits" are cracking me up in this picture but, "oh well". I had asked Matt to change Abbie into a purple velour outfit to keep her warm. Instead he brought her down in her leggings, and sheepishly said, "is this what you meant?" "Uh, no, not really but I guess it will do for a quick picture." Also, Sophie kept her tights and dress on but changed into tennis shoes. I didn't feel like arguing with her since we were just going out for a minute. =) The girls are also modeling the "do-rags" that Matt got for them at the Vandy game. It started with me not being able to find Abbie's winter hat.

On a side note, Abbie loves going to sit in this chair now. Sophie got it when she was little. It's interesting to watch Abbie try to get out of it sometimes though. She occasionally gets a leg stuck in the side of the chair or something.