just a menu for now but there's lots more to come!

i've been forgetting to blog about what we've been eating each week. we are eating. just so you know! :) and, i know my dad's been missing out reading about all my "strange" recipes that i make my girls eat. hey, i like to try new things. i'm looking forward to his comments this week. i bet after reading you'll be able to guess the meal he'll comment on the most. :)

thursday:
b: cereal
l: black bean and mango tostadas
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/black-bean-and-mango-tostadas/
d: freezer burritos

friday:
b: cereal
l: sausage and kraut
d: bbq chicken drumsticks, roasted green beans, chips

saturday:
b: cereal
l: guacamole grilled cheese sandwiches, chips, grapes
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/guacamole-grilled-cheese-sandwich/
d: rotisserie chicken, baked potato, veggies

sunday:
b: cereal
l: shrimp, tomato, spinach alfredo pizza
d: pbj, honey carrots

monday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLY!
b: cereal
l: hamburgers, tator tots, carrots, grapes (molly's choice)
d: at the folks

tuesday:
b: cereal
l: pitas with hummus, chicken, and various veggies, parfaits
d: broccoli cheese omlets, toast, fruit

did you figure it out? my guess is the black bean and mango tostadas. we'll see! love you, dad!

it's fun to be 2!

i can't believe my little sophie is 2! she turned 2 on sunday and it couldn't have come any sooner for her. she's had been gearing up for her birthday for some time, knowing she'd be two and would have a frog party. when we told her she'd get presents she said, "ho, ho", thinking santa would bring her a present on her birthday too. we had to explain several times that only mommy and daddy, molly, and grandpa and grandma (and a few others but we kept it simple) would give her presents. she was okay with that.

one of the big highlights of turning two, which she experienced about three weeks prior, was getting to eat two vitamins instead of one in the morning. it's been quite the issue once she figured out what the number two meant and saw molly, and mommy and daddy eating two. so, we gave in a little early and let her have two. she was thrilled and still gets excited that she gets two! hopefully she won't expect three next year!

sophie brings so much joy to our lives. if you're in a bad mood, sophie's bound to cheer you up with her latest fashion statement, laugh, or just being silly. she's still a cuddler and loves to be held and snuggled with - so much that she still wakes up at night, comes into bed with me, and falls right asleep. sometimes i wish she'd sleep in her bed through the night, but i'm not going to lie, i like snuggling with her!

sophie is obsessed with frogs (hence the frog party), likes the color green (although pink is a close second), and enjoys anything sweet. she still is a pretty good eater but has become a bit pickier with age. playing with her baby, cooking in her kitchen, building (well, mainly crashing) towers, and pretend play with molly are some of her favorite things to do. she rarely can go anywhere without her baby (oh, and her blanket - she's still highly attached to that), and puts her baby to bed at night, complete with a blanket and a kiss.

sophie loves to be outside and now comments every night when it gets dark, "dark" "side". to which i respond, it's dark, we can't play outside. sophie: "no". visits to the park get a big "yay" and a clap. she loves to swing and slide and climb up all the dangerous things that she's not really big enough for! she's terribly afraid of bugs. just tonight, a fly landed on her stroller while we were walking and she started screaming. you would have thought it was a giant spider, nope, just a fly. i hope she gets over that soon or it's going to be a long summer!

she takes great interest in books and tv shows. it amazes me how much she pickes up and remembers. i read molly short chapter books about fairies and she picks up on what's going on at times. curious george, spot, and biscuit are some of her favorites along with the book about frogs she got from great grandma at christmas time. we still read that several times a week! she enjoys watching barney, elmo, curious george, dora, and winnie the pooh.

take your seat is another game sophie likes to play. she does this with matt and grandpa most often. as soon as they're up, sophie's in their spot giggling, waiting to see what their reaction will be. she's full of life and excitement and i love that it radiates through our lives! i am so blessed to have sophie in our life and i look forward to watching her grow and learn!

words, words, and more words

sophie is finally starting to talk more. i've gotta admit, i've been a bit worried about her. she's still way behind where molly was at this age, but now she's at least attempting to say words. something seems to have clicked in the past few days. this list is more for me so i don't forget but maybe you'll enjoy it too.

ma ma, mommy
na na or nanny (da da or daddy) she refuses to say daddy
nolly (molly - she said this for the first time tonight! usually molly was na na also)
drink
dah do (domino)
fraw (frog)
cook coo (cookie)
hi
bye (hi and bye were added this week also)
no
dank oo (thank you)
pop
baka ball (basketball - yes, i'm very pleased she knows this word!)
ball
ffff (giraffe, fish)
col (colt)
ha-ee (hadleigh)
pa pa (grandpa)
grandma (she doesn't actually say grandma, but i can't remember the actual sounds to type)
bubble
turn
two (she's very aware that she'll be two on her birthday)
uh too (me too)
more
bock bock (jayhawk)
poop
baby
keee (kitty)
sh (shoe)
cold
boo
take (kate)
je je (blanket)
d-d (dora
backpack
la la (barney, elmo, pooh)
moo (cow)
aaa (baa, sheep)
ruff (dog)
meow
ribbit
grrr (bear)
rawww (dinosaur)
quack quack (duck)
gobble gobble (turkey)
ah ah (monkey)
oink
bock bock (chicken)
boom (car, she's trying to say vroom but comes out boom or broo)
mmmm (eat, food)
cool (school)
choo choo
cheese
eees (please)
apple (not sure the exact sound for this either)
na na (banana)

i'm sure i'm missing words....i'll have to update when i think of more

she also knows almost all her colors but doesn't say them. she says the animal or animal sound instead. sophie learned her colors from reading brown bear brown bear. so if we point to something green and say what color is this, she'll reply back with frog. it works for now! she's always had her own little language. she doesn't say charlie but moves her teeth up and down. for a horse, she makes the motion of riding a horse (this i also used for the color blue). to say alex, she flicks her tongue (who knows why). for anna, she touches her hair because anna always curls her hair when we visit. for ice, she simply takes her glass and the points her finger down and shakes it up and down signaling she wants ice in her cup. she clicks her tongue for a mouse, cake, or icecream). she stretches her arms out and makes the sound of an airplane flying when she sees or hears one.

she's a smart girl and can remember just about anything and pick up on conversations. here's a for instance: several days ago, molly and i were having a conversation in the van about holding domino on our laps and why he doesn't let molly or sophie hold him. when we got home, sophie sat down and pointed to her lap and started saying domino. we didn't engage her in the converstation in the van but she listened and understood everything we were saying.

my spunky little girl will be 2 in 16 days! crazy!!!!

happy pancake day!

today was international pancake day (or national, i'm not sure which one. whatever it is not will take place in a few days) so we celebrated by making pancakes for dinner and playing with pancakes after.

 sophie loves to help cook

 and make a huge mess....

adding raspberries and blackberries to the pancakes.

 ready to cook!

yummy!

 trying to flip the pancake like they do in the pancake race

using the spatula to flip

sophie absolutely loved this!

molly didn't want to participate because of her accident earlier today. notice her toe...i'm not sure how bad the bruise really is because of the polish and the fact that i'm not allowed to touch it. she dropped the jar of peanut butter on her toe before lunch. it's been a very dramatic day (she's still up with throbbing pain - so she says). i'm sure it really does hurt. just wish she could get some sleep to forget about it.

this is how she watched sophie play with the pancake. perhaps we'll try again in a few days on the next pancake day!

our new, fun toy!

last week we went to a playdate and made ocean sensory bins. i'm sure if you're on pinterest you've seen these. they're so fun! i can't wait to make a few more for the girls to play with. while they can be a bit messy, they're perfect for a quick filler activity, boredom buster, or in my case tonight...keep them distracted while i make dinner! :) here's a look at our bin and the girls having fun.

preschool!!!!!

molly started preschool today! we hadn't planned on sending her this year but went to check out the preschool we were interested in for next year last week. i was very impressed with the structure of the school and molly loved it. they told us they had an opening in the afternoon tuesday-thursday class so we signed molly up. we visited last thursday for about an hour so molly could fully decide if she wanted to go. there wasn't a doubt in her mind...she loved it. off to target we went to buy a school backpack. not just a backpack, but a school backpack.

 here she is ready to go into her classroom at sunbeams preschool!

 hanging up her school backpack.

 her first day was a great one to start out on - valentine's day! she was so excited to have a valentine's day party and make valentine's for her classmates. holidays are a huge deal to molly and must be celebrated just so! she wanted to cut out hearts and then we found glitter...ta da!

 she had lots of fun at her party eating cupcakes and making a cute craft.

 passing out valentine's was another huge hit! oh, and see her teacher? that's mrs. franklin, wife of the car guy, jeremy franklin - "where you'll always be (beep beep) another satisfied customer!"

what's for lunch?

in case any of you are wondering why i always post a big meal for lunch, it's because of matt's work schedule. since he works during the evening hours, we eat our big family meal at noon. thus, the "lunch" foods at dinner time. :)  oh, and on a side note, i watched food inc. on netflix (very informative). it made me contemplate buying organic food. however, i pretty much believe the organic stuff is about the same...how do they really know it wasn't grown with pesticides, and then when i look at regulations, it says that some are not free of pesticides. so really, is it that much different? meat would be about the only exception. that i may try to do more of. as i was grocery shopping yesterday, i thought i'd buy some organic cauliflower since it was only $1 more. but, it was already browning and would have needed to be cooked that day. i'm not buying something that's already showing signs of going bad. so back to the non organic section i went and bought two beautiful heads of cauliflower.  off my soapbox and onto the menu....

2/11/12

b: cereal
l: eggs, pancakes
d: broccoli cauliflower avacado soup (this was pretty good...light and healthy)
    http://www.familyfreshcooking.com/2011/02/17/broccoli-cauliflower-avocado-soup-recipe/

2/12/12

b: cereal
l: turkey chili/cinnamon rolls
d: pb/honey, yogurt, cucumbers, oranges

2/13/12

b: cereal
l: tortilla soup
  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/tortilla-soup-10000001571536/
d: tacos and burritos

2/14/12

b: cereal
l: super food salad with shrimp
  http://iowagirleats.com/recipes/superfood-salad-with-lemon-vinaigrette/
d: quesadillas wtih cheese and turkey pepperoni, apple slices, carrots

2/15/12

b: cereal
l: grilled stuffed chicken and black bean burritos
   http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-black-bean-burritos-50400000108353/
d: pb/honey, broccoli, apple slices

2/16/12

b: cereal
l: parmesan chicken, sweet potatoes, green beans
d: eggs, toast, yogurt

2/17/12

b: cereal
l: sausage and saurkrat (hotdogs for the girls), mac and cheese, veggie
d: oatmeal with mixed berries