SummerTime Girls

Sophia holding Cinderella, Cinderella in the car. We cant go anywhere without her.. (great!)

My Bella loving on some baby dolls. :) She was giving them all kinds of kisses. SO Sweet!

Daddy and Sophia eating at the park. Aint they cute?

Bella pushing the bubble mower, trying to get away from Sophia.

Our newest little bundle of joy (well, usually joy, sometimes its another emotion.)

Below is a video of Sophia playing with Cinderella the day after we got her.

Sophia's 3rd Birthday

Tuesday (July 21st) was Sophie's 3rd Birthday!! Amongst many other wonderful things from Grandma's and Grandpa's and Aunts and Uncles, there are two especially interesting gifts.

1.) the puppy (from mommy and daddy)
2.) scissors (part of a backpack full of school supplies from Mamaw C)

1.) the puppy. Now, most of you know we already have a great dane named Gemma. we love her, but she is still a little to big and uncoordinated to successfully play with the girls. Sophia LOVES dogs, so Brandon and I selected a small-med. sized dog breed that Brandon is familiar with, and surprised her with it. She named the dog Cinderella Cinderella. Not to be confused with just 'Cinderella.' She loves the dog, she carries it around EVERYWHERE, does not want to leave the house without it, sleeps with it. Its a success... except...

this dog is about 2 lbs. its TINY, OKAY!? and she sleeps... a lot! and when she sleeps, she hides. Little Cinderella Cinderella will disappear for like 3 hours and we cant find her, then she just shows up. she hides under things, in things, in laundry, shoes... ANYwhere that is quiet and away from children pestering her. this is a problem when we want to leave, or have an errand. we cant really leave with a puppy somewhere sleeping that could at any moment wake up and need to eat or potty or chew. So we are currently working on discovering her hiding spots so that we can track her down when necessary. The Laundry pile in hallyway is the usual spot, we are discovering.

2.) the scissors. now this does not sound like a safe gift for a 3 year old. but i believe that the intent was not for her to use them now, but instead to be used when she needs them for school. however, they were in her backpack full of goodies, and i forgot to take them out and hide them.

(this picture was taken AFTER getting fixed.)
well, she found them. and yes, she used them... and,yes, of course on her hair. as you might guess, it was quite a pitiful sight. every person that knows about the haircutting fiasco has told me that their child cut their hair, too, and that all kids do. but it doesnt change the shock i felt when my 3-yr-old handed me a big handful of her own hair. the ANGEL that cuts hair here at the Spa came in (on her day off) about 15 minutes after i discovered Sophia's hack job (i called in hysterics) and fixed it, gave her a trendy little stack in the back and evened up the bangs as best as she could. so her hair ended up adorable anyway. ----->

other than that, the birthday books and dolls and clothes and jammies and playdough and watercolor paints all went smoothly. she is still playing with all her new stuff constantly.

Bella Pic

Little Bella reading an Elmo book in bed. Aint she cute!?!

Just a few pix.

Little Miss Bell slpashing around in the pool at Grandma & Grandpa C's house. This was the first time i heard her screetching like a trapped wildcat after we took her out of the pool.

She LOVES the pool. This was also the same night that sophia threw a full watering can at Bella's face and knocked her backwards under the water. It was NOT pretty, let me tell you!

This picture is from our trip to St. Louis a few weeks ago. Its the girls and daddy wrestling around in bed. I love to get them matching outfits. :) I think its adorable when they match, and they are still too young to think its silly. So im going to get away with it while i still can.

Sophia HAD to sit in another little girl's minnie mouse chair. If anyone has advice on how to get kids to share better, please let me know. Sophia has serious "THATS MINE!" issues.

This is Daddy trying to help Bella walk at the Fireworks on the 4th of July (well, technically, 5th of July, thanks to the rain.) Its hard to see but she is wearing her new Squeaker Sneakers. The name says it all, when the child steps, it makes a little sqeak. They are ADORABLE.! Here is a better picture of them:

I took this picture at the butterfly house at the st. louis zoo. i thought it was really beautiful, so thought i'd share it.

Have a great 4th of July everyone!!

Why We Love Weekends

We all had a really, really fun weekend. Friday Brandon went golfing and then to Harrah's for the night with his dad and friends. The girls and I went and stayed with my parents. We went to Vacation Bible School, the park, grilled out, swam and relaxed... it was so much fun!

After VBS on Friday night, we took the girls to the park. Sophia played with her cousin Madelynn, and my parents got a first-hand look at just exactly how she feels about someone taking her out of the swing!!

On Saturday morning, my dad took Sophia to the Firehouse -bella was napping:( - and she got to see and sit in the fire trucks, wear a firehat, etc. she loved it! i dont know who had more fun sophia or gramps! :)
She also got to hear the sirens and see the lights, and see the inside of the ambulance.

right next door to the Firehouse is a Veterans Memorial which features members of my dads side of the family, which includes my dad's father and grandfather. and even more cool, is that the shields and the sheltons are both my relation and thanks to alphabetical order, they are next to each other... which makes for a great photo opportunity!

(jack shields=my grandfather, john shields= my great grandfather, sheltons= my uncles and cousins) Then after a delicious meal, (thanks mom and dad!) the girls and i headed home to get daddy so we could head to Brandons aunt and uncles. so i got home, re-packed the bags and we headed out again. we all had a wonderful time there, too. They prepared a very nice meal for us, and we sat outside and chatted while the kids were playing. it was nice to catch up with them.

they pretty much have a small amusement park in their backyard, sophia was jumping on the trampoline, rock climbing, sliding, swinging, dancing. the girls played with their cousins all night while brandon and i got to relax and visit. they even gave sophia a bath and got her ready for bed for me!

Sunday afternoon was relaxing a little napping (should have been cleaing,) a little watching sophia and bella swim (should have been doing laundry.)

Which brings me to the subject of my next blog: the abounding joy that a 3 ring pool brings to toddlers and parents alike!

Sophia got her ears pierced !!

I have always thought it was a tad cruel to pierce an infants ears, so i have always said that when my girls are old enough to ask to get them pierced then i would allow it. we were eating dinner last night and sophia said she wanted to get her ears pierced 'now.' So we, along with our friends Britney and Jon who were at dinner with us, went to the Claire's store at the mall to get her ears pierced. Now, im sure you would know my daughter picked out the most expensive pair of studs they offered. But they were white gold flowers with pink jewel petals and they have a lifetime warranty. I thought she would cry after the first ear and refuse to let them do the second one. But she didnt cry, she let them do both. She did say afterwards it 'hurt a little bit.' but she was SO brave and cute! we were just thrilled about it actually. it was adorable, and she loves the earrings. She is growing up way too fast!