Silly Sophie!

Little Sophie is now officially a "preschooler", having reached the ripe old age of three.

Woot! 

She has given up binkies and her crib, and is starting to use a big bed, a toilet (we're still working on that one) and big-girl toys. She does, however, still refer to herself as "baby" and doesn't necessarily like to be called anything else. A little progress here, a little less there...'tis life. So here's a look back at her as she has grown:

Her first Halloween, five days old:

A sweet little six-month-old, starting to try and crawl:

A happy one-year-old, standing up and crawling everywhere she could:

Her second Halloween:

18 months old, already interested in animals...especially our cat, Tae-Bo. Funnily enough, this cat hates children...but doesn't mind Sophie so much.

Her third Halloween, a rambunctious 2-year old:

At 2-1/2, she's getting into everything...and occasionally hurting herself. What a cute little face!

And now, at three...dressed for her fourth Halloween as Queen Sophia. She's okay with this look...

But likes the Witch Queen Sophia much better (hat taken from Bonnie):

She had a fun birthday - all her birthday stuff was done at lunch, because we had a Halloween party to go to that night. So she had a Really Big Party for her birthday. Sometimes, it's good to be the birthday girl around a holiday - especially one like Halloween! 

And yes, she did eat candy the entire day following her birthday. Boo-yah.

What's Blooming and "Gourd" to See Ya!

Cheesy title, I know, but I just couldn't resist.

It's amazing what you see when you haven't been outdoors in a while - this week my yellow chrysanthemums decided to join the mum party...

And a malva zebrina decided to pop up. This one's probably been there for a bit, since it's starting to die off (I know, it's been a few weeks since I've been able to walk over unstable ground!). This must have reseeded from the original malva that I planted when we first moved in - in 2011. There weren't any last year, so I'm not sure how this one survived. But hooray!

The catnip has also exploded into bloom. Is this its second bloom this year? I seem to remember it in bloom when I planted it, but I'm not complaining.

We also are harvesting Doug's gourds from his pumpkin/ornamental garden behind the shop. I don't know where he finds these seeds, but the results are pretty spectacular, if you're into gourds (and I am)...

The kids call that last one "the octopus". Seriously cute little things, aren't they? If you live in the area, you're welcome to come get some...we have buckets of them.

Have a good week!

My Little Pixie

Sad to say, I like long hair for little girls. It's a stereotype, yes; but I love it. So does Doug.

Even sadder to say: my boys love scissors. And they also love bugging their little sister. I think they were going for a mullet, but it didn't really turn out that way.

Needless to say, we went to the salon immediately. This is beyond my rudimentary hair-cutting skills.They had to go with a pixie, since there wasn't much hair to work with in some places.

The first thing Jack said: "Sophia, you look like a BOY!"

She replied angrily, "NO BOY!" That's my girl.

No boys. Especially no boys with scissors.