Sophie's Loose Tooth

This is the year of the tooth fairy at our house. Sophie showed up with a loose tooth a couple weeks ago. I noticed her tooth sticking out a little, so I asked her if I could look at it and when I had confirmed that it was indeed loose she got a case of the giggles. It was apparently pretty funny -- or perhaps just exciting for her. Assuming the experience would be something similar to that of Chloe's, I thought it would take forever before the tooth actually came out. Last week she had a new friend over who apparently has a fascination with pulling teeth. She kept asking Sophie if she'd like her to pull it, but Sophie declined the offer.

Today I showed up at school a little early to pick the girls up. I was walking down the hall to wait for them, but noticed Sophie's class was in the computer lab as I walked past, so I just went in and took a seat beside her. I think I startled her a bit, but she just smiled at me and that's when I noticed her "new" smile. The tooth was gone! I was surprised it had came out so quickly, but after school I got the full story. It was her friend, Kaia, who pulled it out. I guess Sophie just caved in this time.

I tried to take some pictures of her new grin, but it wasn't coming naturally to her. She kept trying to move her mouth in all these weird positions, but this is Sophie with her first missing tooth. And the tooth fairy IS coming tonight! She didn't seem one bit attached to the tooth -- she does care a lot more about money than her sister.

Slumber Party II

We've tried to have Kiera and Makenna over for a slumber party ever since they had Chloe and Sophie over, but Chloe got grounded over Christmas break (the first time we tried), and then she was sick last weekend which we had rescheduled for. But it finally happened! They were just a little too excited about it. It was a fun time, but the squeals BEFORE the party -- just thinking about it -- were enough to make me consider canceling it (just kidding). For dinner they each got to make their own pizzas. Brandon was a big helper!



We did a little craft. I thought they needed some sleeping masks for getting their beauty sleep. They had a lot of fun decorating them. I don't know anyone who actually sleeps with these things on, though, but they are cute and fun to make.



There was even a little slumbering! They slept in the guest room. All piled onto the bed. They watched a little "Kit Kittredge" before going to sleep, with Oreos, Swedish fish, and popcorn (found ALL OVER the place).

Dads and Doughnuts

Yesterday was "Dads and Doughnuts" for the first graders at school. Brandon got to go to school with Sophie. You can imagine how excited she was. The kids even served the doughnuts and juice to their dads. They gave them a tour of the classroom, sang some songs for them, and played games. Sophie colored this cute picture of her dad and filled out a sheet about him:


While at school they got to interview each other. Here are the answers Sophie gave to Brandon:
1. My child's name is Sophie
2. Favorite color violet
3. Favorite food treats
4. Favorite movie Kit Kittredge
5. Favorite sport Kickball
6. Favorite game Zooreka
7. Talents Piano
8. Favorite place Disneyland

And Sophie's interview with Brandon:
1. Do you remember first grade? yes
2. What was your teacher's name? Mrs. Glantz
3. What school did you attend? Anderson
4. What did you like about school? learning
5. What didn't you like about school? waking up
6. Who was your best friend in first grade? Bobby
7. What was your favorite game? tether ball

Whip Cream

Whip Cream is the latest addition to the family. Sophie's family, that is. She has been saving her money for such a long time for a fish. She had enough a while ago, but Brandon thought she needed to demonstrate some responsibility skills before purchasing the fish. I don't think she ever would have met the requirements. Then her wallet came up missing for awhile. I finally stumbled upon it one day while cleaning out the former playroom. I didn't want her to lose her money again, so I let her go spend it, plus we needed a good excuse to get out of the house last Saturday. Sophie was so cute doing her shopping -- trying to get the best deal, picking out just the right things. She even listened to the store clerk as he told her which tank would be best. The fish she picked out was a nice WHITE color. She thought it was "so cute!" Then we got it home and fed it some of it's Betta fish food with color enhancers, and it enhanced the white to an orange color. Sophie was not too happy. Whip Cream is not supposed to be orange. Luckily, it only eats every 3 days so it will be orange for about 2 days and then the color fades for a day before she has to feed it again. She's pretty happy with her purchase, and maybe she'll surprise her dad and turn out to be pretty responsible as well!

Guest Room

Sorry for the hiatus, but my excuse is the exciting project we've been working on. I actually spent a good week on it, but truthfully I don't know what I did this last week to keep me away. In case I don't talk enough about all the minute details we put into these projects here we go: this is the room that had too many water leaks for my liking, and since we've decided we're going to try to live in this house a while longer we figured we better just go ahead and replace all the plumbing in there (since the ceiling was already tore open). Brandon was the handy man; I stayed out of his way. He tore it all down. I actually helped put up the new sheet rock, but he made these great braces so I just had to put them into place, and then walk away while he screwed them in. I was a big help. He also did all the taping, but my brother (Jason) stopped by to help texture. We were really using it as an excuse to get Eli over here, but that didn't work out. He forgot to bring Eli. Just kidding -- we were glad Jason came to help.

After the ceiling was up came my part. I painted the ceiling and the walls. Look, now all 4 walls match! I actually kind of like it. A lot of my time was also spent just cleaning out the closet and getting rid of toys. I think the guys at DI are getting to know me almost as well as Ken at The Home Depot.

Then back to Brandon's part -- mainly. OK, I guess it was a joint effort. We put the crown moulding up, but he did the whole closet thing by himself. We might have liked a bigger crown moulding better, but this is what was in stock at Lowe's, and it works just fine for a first try at it. We made another trip back to Lowe's to get the ceiling fan, but once we got there Brandon left me alone for too long and I talked myself out of getting the one we were planning on. It was just too boring. I came home and looked online and found one I liked much better, so I ordered it but then we had to wait several days to put it up. I almost forgot to mention that we had an electrician come and fix the two outlets that weren't working. That's an area Brandon decided he didn't want to mess with -- his life's a little too valuable for playing with bare wires, when he doesn't know what he's doing. I talked the electrician into putting up my fan box while he was here, and he didn't even charge me for it.

I also got a new curtain rod to replace the one that was barely hanging up in there. I did have to go ahead and put the hot pink curtains back up until I can find something I like better, but I don't think they look near as bad as Brandon does. All we have left is to put some furniture back in the room and do some decorating, but since that will probably happen in another lifetime I thought I better show the picture as it is now.


My little brother, Ross, is coming to spend the night with us every Thursday. Two weeks in a row now he's told us how wonderful it is, so anyone who wants to come stay with us has his word that it's a good nights sleep. Come on over!

SEW Much Fun!

Friday Brandon worked from home again. I felt like he was at home during Christmas vacation as much as the girls were. Well, to get out of his hair so he could get some work done I went and ran a bunch of errands. Just to back track here, while at IKEA a few days prior, I saw these cute duvets I wanted to get for my newly remodeled guest room, but I didn't really like any of their covers. So I came home and got online. Potty Barn had some super cute (of course) ones -- for ONLY $99, ON SALE! That just didn't fly with me. I have this blogger friend who is always showing the cute things she sews (she likes that sort of thing), and the thought popped into my head that if she could find these cute fabrics then so could I. And really, how hard could it be to make a duvet cover? So, I was all set with this great plan when suddenly Sophie shows up asking me for a new bedspread and matching pillow case -- with Tinkerbell. "Um, Sophie, that wasn't really in my plan right now." But she's so darn cute and being just as smart as her mom she later proposes that we just MAKE it for her. Hey, I'm kind of liking that idea. So, off to the fabric store we go (good excuse to stay out of Brandon's way). Sophie can't get new stuff without Chloe so they BOTH find really cute Tinkerbell/Disney Fairies fabric. It looked perfect to me for a pillow case, but not really suited for a quilt, not to mention that I'm not sure how I would make them a quilt. So we all agree to just go with a pillow case for now. Unfortunately, I did not have as much luck finding the fabric I wanted for my duvet cover. I'm going to have to find out what store my blogger friend shops at. I tend to be a bit of a procrastinator, but I surprised myself and got right to work on the pillow cases as soon as we got home. Yes, in one afternoon I went to the store, bought fabric AND sewed TWO pillow cases (Chloe did a lot of her own). I know, pillow cases are probably the easiest thing in the world to sew, but I still did it! And look at those happy girls!:

10 Years, and Counting!

Monday Brandon and I celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss. We talked about doing something special for the big occasion, but with two practical minded people we opted to spend money on our latest home improvement project instead. B-O-R-I-N-G! I know, but what can I say. I was supposed to drop the girls off at my brother's that morning, but plans got changed at the last minute and we got a much later start than expected. Instead, Shane and Julie dropped Ross off on their way home. We got to surprise Ross with the news that he was going to get to babysit for a few hours until Jason came to get them. Good thing Ross is easy going -- and the girls have a blast with him. We ran to Lowe's and got the sheet rock while we didn't have to tote kids and car seats with us (we took out the seats in the van). Then we went and did some furniture shopping. I dragged my husband to IKEA -- my first trip there! That was probably not a good idea. I don't recommend taking a husband along to IKEA. They just don't get it. By the time we were done there I was starving, so we ended up going to Rumbi's for dinner. We were going to go to one of the nice restaurants in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, but after looking over the menu we decided against it. Rumbi's was a good choice, and our salads were a refreshing taste after all the Christmas goodies we've been enjoying. We were going to try to catch a movie, but we were so far behind schedule that we couldn't fit it in.

Tuesday morning I went and picked up the girls. I think they had too much fun. We're gonna have to get an air hockey table if we want to compete with Jason's. So, we're driving home and I hear the girls talking about something, a secret. I asked them what it was, and one of them yells, "No, don't tell mom, she'll put it on her blog!"

We spent New Year's putting up sheet rock. FYI: Brandon does not recommend doing this project yourself. He now knows this is one job he is willing to hire out. We got it up, he taped it, and then yesterday Jason came over to help texture. It's coming along, but I'm a little anxious to get painting. That will be for tomorrow.