Shoveling Snow in a Blizzard

The "three-toed sloth tracks" we found in our neighbor's driveway

Sophia always likes to have her hands full

A pair of socks and a bracelet

We always have to wear our rubber boots outside! Stella loves to spin around in the swing in circles as fast as she can. It makes my stomach turn to even type it.

We finally hung the swing up in the back yard-they both love it!

Can't have a photo shoot without some silly faces

Shirley Temple

Sophia was playing quietly one day and this is how I found her. She had found a bag of apples in the pantry and taken about 50 tiny bites out of 3 or 4 of them.

My favorite quote of the week-"Cleaning up with children around is like shoveling in a blizzard." -Unknown

This particular picture is about 10 minutes after cleaning the downstairs. Did I mention that a stick of butter went missing from the counter and I found it a couple of days later under a pillow on the couch in our office? Or that Sophia pulled an entire bowl of oatmeal and glass of milk off of the table? I always feel great after the cleaning is done. I feel like I have just completed a work of art and it has taken blood, sweat and tears. And then someone comes along and smears it with their peanut butter and honey fingers into something that is unrecognizable as a masterpiece. How rude! Where are their manners?!?! Who is responsible for these animals? Oh yeah....that's me.

As a mom, you have to be prepared to take a hit to your self esteem on a daily basis. When I come out of my room in a sundress and Stella says "Hey Mom-why are you dressed like a lady today?" Or after cooking a great dinner, Stella says "I don't like this. I want a slice of cheese." In the meantime, Sophia is dumping her entire plate on the floor. You have to reevaluate your station in life as you are on your hands and knees picking bits of food (that you took time to prepare and cut into bite sized morsels-making sure all food groups are included) off of the floor and your baby is trying to kick your head and dump the remainder of her milk in your hair. Stella loves to step on the scale and learn her weight. "Stella, you weigh 35 pounds! What a big girl!" "How much do you weigh, Mama?" "Well, Stella, Mommy weighs (insert ideal weight here-let's say 120)" "Whoa! That's a lot! You are an even bigger girl!" Thanks for that. My only consolation is that she has no idea what she is saying. She thinks "Max and Ruby" is great entertainment and that fine dining is a tubular bag filled with yogurt.

Stella continues to make us laugh and amaze us with her daily musings. When asking for chips, and being told that that is not a good choice for snack, she said "Mom-it's not serious. Chips are just yummy for my tummy." Or her weird ideas about the temperature of things-"Nothing like a nice, cold bath." or "I just love a nice, cold bowl of oatmeal." Those things just don't go together. She recently saw markings on the driveway of our neighbor and said "Look, Mom! There must be a three-toed sloth nearby!" Huh? When asked why she likes to play with the boys at school, she said "Because they like to play roll ball, basket shoot, and roll the cars down the hill game. But girls have better eyesight." Again...huh?

Sophia is learning to "sing" with us. She tries to follow the melody and rocks to the music. She doesn't say a lot-Mama, Dada, Baby, Deh-duh (Stella), but she has a lot to squeal, scream, shriek about. She loves to hand objects to you and always says "Gah?" when you take it. I think that's pretty normal. Just kidding-I think she's a genius! Don't all parents think that their kids are the most intelligent beings? Well, mine actually are. I'm serious.