Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Tearing into presents at home on Christmas Eve

An addition to her Ponyville

CD player and music from Grandma Sullivan

* * *

Christmas Day at Grammy & Grampa's

A horse Webkinz from Maddie

Helping Stella open a gift

Hello Kitty clock from Grammy & Grampa

And a HK shirt!

A kiss for Grammy

Will wearing an owl hat I knit for him.
(Audrey got a hat, too.)

A doll from Aunt Doreen

Christmas Tree

...

My favorite yet!
...

Sophie was a very good helper, too, putting the hooks in the ornaments and handing them to me to put on the tree.

Sophie's Big Girl Bed

It's official: Sophie is a Big Girl now.
And she has the bed to prove it.

So we continue with the fairy them from Halloween... Actually, I've had this bedding saved for her since she was 1 year old. I saw it, loved it, had to have it. I've kept it all this time waiting for the day she made the move out of a toddler bed and into a twin bed. Well, that day has arrived (thank you craigslist lady!) and she now has a Big Girl bed of her own - and Mommy was finally able to use this adorable pink & green (& blue & yellow) fairy bedding she fell in love with nearly 4 yrs ago!

And our wonderful Aunt Donna was sweet enough to crochet her a new blanket (since her previous/current "Aunt Donna" blanket had been loved from whiteness to near-grayness) in coordinating pink 'n green to match her new bedding! It even has a bit of yellow in it, too. It's perfect! And soooooo soft. It looks so sweet on her new bed.

But it doesn't stop there, oh no. Mommy has more in store. It's not been hung up yet but I have 2 large-ish porcelain fairy dolls that I plan to hang from the ceiling. I've also been buying the Hallmark Fairy ornaments when they come out every year.

Can't you just picture these little ladies flitting around her room? I have a few other things too and as soon as I get everything up, I will be sure to post photos.

So stay tuned. :)

Don't ya just love the little pink pom poms?

Halloween '09

Sophie, of course, thoroughly enjoyed her second year of trick or treating. She didn't have a bag or bucket to use for trick or treating (and I can't remember for the life of me what she used last year) so I knitted her one of my own design in colors that matched her outfit. She was tickled pink to dress up as a fairy this year. You probably can't tell but she actually wore quite a few layers beneath her outfit and later even ended up wearing her coat, as most kids were, due to the low temps, but she still had a blast.

Our neighborhood is particularly well-suited for trick or treating as there are so many homes so close to one another (probably the only time that feature is a perk); I don't think we made it through three whole courtyards before she was ready to go back home. She enjoyed ringing the doorbells, made sure to say "Trick or treat!" at every door, and then "Thank you" as she went on her way. Whenever we stopped at home for a quick warm-up, she would answer the door and hand out candy.

I think the highlight of her entire night was when she spotted The Man in the Yellow Hat and his little buddy Curious George. There weren't many parents dressed up for Halloween along with their children but this family really gave Sophie a thrill! We passed one another on the sidewalk and as Sophie stared at The Man in awe, I told him that she is a big George fan and meeting him was comparable to a celebrity sighting for the rest of us. He was very kind and stopped to talk to her for a minute. About 15 minutes later, after we got home and began handing out candy to the rest of the T-o-T'ers, none other than The Man himself - and his monkey, of course - came to our door. Sophie was able to hand out candy to George and ogle The Man one last time.

Tiara $5

Tutu $12

Slippers $5

Bag $4

Wings $1

The chance to be a fairy for one night: priceless

Five Year Check-in

Now that we've reached Sophie's fifth birthday (where has the time gone?) I thought I would post an update on who our little Sophster is nowadays.

She...

• can read a lot of words and can spell and write her own name.
  
• likes The Beatles. A lot.


• enjoys helping Mommy cook and bake in the kitchen.


• knows how to correctly set up a chess board by herself.


• has a huge and much beloved collection of My Little Ponies.


• does not like to talk on the phone.


• loves M&Ms more than life itself.
  
• won't eat a hotdog.


• loves going to school.


• names a different color everytime you ask her her favorite.


• is very excited about recently moving into her "big girl" twin bed.


• has taken to calling herself a rock star while dressing up in sunglasses and rainboots.


• requests medicine when she's sick (and sometimes even when she's not!) and takes it herself without complaining.


• plans on buying an orange car when she grows up.


• is really looking forward to Halloween (for which she is going to be a fairy).

Her favorite shows to watch:

Caillou, WordWorld, Thomas the Train, Clifford, Sid the Science Kid, Little Einsteins, Curious George, Super Why, Sesame Street.

Her favorite foods:

Chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, bread, toast with honey, pancakes, waffles, grilled cheese

Birthday Party photos

The Cake

The Spread

Daddy assists with the opening of gifts

Sophie opening the Hello Kitty hat I knitted her

Sophie wearing the HK hat...

Waiting patiently to get to her HK backpack


Sophie with my mom

With "Grammy" Levi


And Grandpa Levi


Grammy and Grandpa Levi



With Aunt Donna and Uncle Russ





With Aunt Sara


With "Aunt" Dina


With Aunt Beth and Uncle Will



*Unfortunately I somehow missed getting a photo of Sophie with Sam & Pia and Mark. :( Sorry guys.

Hello Kitty party invites

We (I?) decided on a Hello Kitty themed birthday party for Sophie this year. It was between Hello Kitty and My Little Pony, but at the time I was deciding she'd just chosen a Hello Kitty bicycle for herself, so I thought I'd go with that. (It was after the new bicycle that she still hasn't ridden that we became the lucky recipients of a large collection of My Little Pony toys from a kind and generous freecycler - a collection that she simply adores and plays with everyday, leading me to believe I should have gone with MLP for the theme but seeing as the plates, napkins, and party favors have already been bought, we're sticking with Hello Kitty.)

Anyhoo, Sophie does like Hello Kitty very much and enjoys wearing her 2 HK shirts whenever she can. I'm pretty sure one of those shirts will be her "partywear" this year. ;) Here's the (very late) party invites... I think they turned out cute! I just hate sending out the cookie-cutter, un-special, store-bought invites so I make my own every year.

Luckily, Kitty is all white so there wasn't much for me to do but cut out the shape of the face and ears and make eyes, bows, and noses. And I stamped the inside with the party info.

First Day of (Pre)School

She was excited to go to her first day and meet her new friends and play in her new classroom. Yesterday at the open house, I got a chance to meet with her teacher, Miss LeBlanc, and see her classroom. Less than a minute after arriving, Sophie told me I could go.

So today when she got dropped off at the door, she was totally ready to go and didn't look back. When I picked her up, she told me that she got to play at the playground and played cars with a friend. She even came home with a bag of popcorn in her backpack.