Behind the Laptop

I was sitting next to Steve on the couch one day when I saw a little foot with crooked toes peeking out from behind Steve's laptop.

And a little head.



Then some eyes.



She'd made herself quite at home with a book.



Maybe she was trying to drop some hints to her laptop-gazing parents.

Discovery Channel at the Dinner Table

Here we have Sophie eating some pizza on Saturday. Crazy hair and all. (I love her wild, unruly hair. It fits her personality.)

And here's a shot of her pizza nursing its baby.

Huh?

After watching a mammal segment on the new Life series (Discovery Channel -- awesome show!) the night before, she took the liberty of extending lactating abilities to her food.

Sophie's logic: Whenever there are both a large and a small version of the same object, one must be the mom and one must be the baby. Moms nurse their babies, thus, large pieces of pizza nurse smaller pieces of pizza.

It totally makes sense. :)

Spring Break for Mom

Some of you know already, but I surprised one of my best friends in Boise last weekend. It was kind of a selfish trip, though. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to see her, but I also needed a break. From the kids. And the house. In order to have a break from both of those things for long enough to get my sanity back, I needed to go far away. So I hopped on a plane.

Stacy and I go way back. Back before everyone had cell phones and digital cameras. Before blogs and facebook, when you actually had to call people or sit and write them an EMAIL (oh, the agony). And we've traveled the world (well, a small part of it) together. Here we are in a metro station in Moscow, Russia. Ahem. . . almost 10 years ago. (yikes!)

This was one of the rare occasions that I went camping after I turned 18 (when I decided I'd never go camping again). I think this was at Redfish Lake in Idaho.

P.S. It wasn't 1994. More like 1999? 2000? I'm not sure. My camera was busted.

Anyhow, I've NEVER visited Stacy since she moved to Boise almost seven years ago. I've always regretted that.

We did grown-up girl stuff last weekend. Like shopping. Lunch in public without food flying all over. Watching movies without having to stop and break up a fight, change a diaper, break up another fight, confiscate lip gloss, put the kids to bed, put the big one back to bed, put the big one back to bed again, or fall asleep halfway through because I wake up at 7AM against my will every morning.

And I spent some time in the kitchen without anyone crying on my leg. (Yes, I cooked while I was there. I love it. And Stace let me do it because she loves it, too.) I believe it was Saturday night, though, about 24 hours from the time I said good-bye to Steve and the girls, that I realized I missed having this one tug on my leg and ask for cheese every time I cook dinner. . .

(and watch her open her mouth extra wide when she takes bites)

And I missed hearing this one walk in and out of the kitchen, talking to herself on the phone. . .

It only takes a few hours to start missing what I needed a break from for so long.

Happy 30th, Stace :) And thanks for letting me crash at your place and reminding me what it's like to hang out with grown-ups without needing to take care of anyone else but myself. It's nice sometimes. I still feel like me, but not wound quite so tightly.

P.S. Yes, I missed Steve, but not in the same way as I missed the girls. Because of his deployment, I think our threshold for missing each other is a bit longer than you'd expect. (Although I think he missed me more because he had the kids for a whole five hours by himself after he got back from Sac. Way to go, hon. ;))

No Milk

We've had a rough week. Monday was probably the worst, and Sophie's temperament most likely was due to a few late nights in a row coupled with no nap on Sunday with a sprinkle of never- sleeping-past-7:30AM-no-matter-what on top. She also spilled an entire tube of red glitter on the table and got a vitamin stuck up her nose. But those things seemed pretty uneventful in comparison.

Again, I'm thankful for her keen observations and commentary on life (and conversations like this) to make me smile amidst the hair-pulling. (My own.)

As I was getting dressed one morning . . .

Sophie: (pointing at my "girls") Any milk in those?

Me: Nope, not anymore.

Sophie: Did Ivy drink it all?

Me: Yep, she did.

Sophie: So there's no more left?

Me: Nope.

Sophie: Until the new baby comes, huh.

Me: Ya, sometime.

Sophie: But not today.

Me: No, not today.

Thinking: Not for a V-E-R-Y long time.

P.S. I'm not pregnant.
P.P.S. I really miss those girls.

Easter: Part 4

I liked that Easter fell on the same weekend as General Conference this year. (General Conference is a two-day world-wide broadcast our church holds twice a year. There are dozens of talks about different Gospel-related topics that they feel inspired to share. I love it.)

Listening to conference all weekend was a constant reminder of the meaning of Easter, the resurrection of the Savior Jesus Christ and our dependence on Him for our salvation. The talks (at least the parts the I caught between taking care of kids . . . forget about note-taking) were really inspiring. Since I don't get as much as I would like when I watch it, I'm excited to go back and read them to really absorb what's been said. Have you checked out the new conference website? It's pretty slick.

Sitting for two two-hour sessions isn't something that toddlers are physically capable of, so we had to keep them entertained. This little table set up in the family room helped a lot.

Having conference and Easter on the same day meant we wouldn't be attending church. Which brought up a Easter dress dilemma . . . so the girls just wore theirs around the house on Sunday (with pants underneath because it was chilly). I'm kind of a low-maintenance mom. I didn't even get "proper" pictures of them together. Maybe later. . .

After a while, the sleepies started setting in. Sophie ended up on Steve's lap.

There was a little girl who had a little curl . . . OK, she's not really "horrid", just "difficult" sometimes. :)

And how could I see this little face wander over and grab my knees and not pick her up?

Easter: Part 3

The next phase of Easter was spending the weekend in Sacramento with Steve's family. We had an egg hunt in the backyard . . .

Ivy swiped baby Layla's basket. She marched around the yard pretty proud of herself with those two.

Sophie's the oldest of the grandkids so all of the eggs were in plain sight. (Most just thrown onto the lawn, partially hidden in the long grass.) After Steve helped Ivy find a couple of eggs, she spotted the orange tree (covered in oranges), hurried over and tried to pull oranges off. She probably thought she hit the jackpot.

No Easter egg hunt is complete without pink polka dot Hello Kitty rainboots. She loves those things.




From left: Aunt Jeannie, Great-Grandma Perry, Grandpa and Grandma Perry, and the four grandkids.

Easter: Part 2

Part two was egg painting.

I decided to forgo the dye this year. I know, I'm probably a scrooge, but Sophie's pretty good with paints and I didn't want dye splashed everywhere.

I, uh, . . didn't count on the glitter that Ivy spilled everywhere.

. . . and was too late to catch her hand as she started rubbing her eye. Yes, that's glitter on her eyeball.

Happy Easter little one!

sigh . . . maybe we'll dye next year.

Easter: Part 1

Easter came in phases this year . . like most holidays we've had since we moved here. Usually things start out with a visit from the UPS man (who Sophie is well-acquainted with now. . . he brings "boxes from grandma").

Ivy thought the packing peanuts were pretty cool.

Boxes full of Easter exploded all over the living room, and were exactly what you'd expect from a grandma who only sees her grandkids a couple times a year. We loved it. Thanks, Mom!

My mom has a knack for finding cute, frilly dresses for the girls. Sophie had to put this one on as soon as I pulled it out of the box. I think it may dethrone the famous "kitty dress" she's been wearing since November.

A couple of hours later . . .

Oh, that's where that roll of stickers went . . .

More Sophie-isms or Documenting Facebook Statuses

There are a lot of things that Sophie says that I just slap up on Facebook and fail to document anywhere else. Here are a few of the ones I haven't posted here.

I posted this photo of her a week or two ago with the comment that if I look at it long enough, it might convince me not to sell her on eBay. I think we're past that (most days), and with the enormous amount of encouragement and guidance we received this past weekend during General Conference, I think we'll make it. She's a sweet girl. She's also very emotional, and very strong-willed. That will come in handy later in life, I think. At least it did for me. :)

Anyway . . . I'm glad she says stuff like this. It snaps me out of any frustration I feel and it reminds me how silly and fun she can be.

*****

If we're reading a book together and I take longer than 3 seconds to start reading, she'll say, "Mommy, start your mouth!"

*****

During our nightly struggle to get Sophie to sit on the potty before she gets in the tub, she goes, "I'll stay dry in the tub!!!!" (That would be a good trick.)

*****

Sophie said (while pointing to a mermaid in a book), "They have pony tails on their backs!"

*****

Sophie's taken it upon herself to potty train Ivy. She took Ivy's pants and diaper off, sat her on the potty and gave her some encouraging words. . .

"Want to sit on the potty little one?"
"Hold your dress up"
"Gonna go poos? Hmm??"
"There you go, good girl!"
"Want me to watch? OK, I'll watch.",... "All done?"
"Now Sophie's going to sit on the potty, K?"

(I think I'm off the hook this time.)