This photo was taken at Bass Pro Shops at their first night of winter wonderland at the store. They had hot chocolate and cookies, lit the outdoor Christmas tree and Santa came riding up on a boat pulled by a pickup! Then, you could have pictures taken with him in his workshop downstairs. This is the best I could do there because my girls are not fans of sitting with Santa. If you've never visited a Bass Pro Shop, I highly recommend it just for the experience. We have one here at Patriot Place (yes, where the Patriots play) about 6 miles away. They did trick-or-treating throughout the store with pumpkin painting and bobbing for apples and free samples of fudge from their snack shop for my moms group. They have a full restaurant there, and a HUGE fish tank and lots of fun things to look at. My girls ask to go regularly because we pass it every time we drive Daddy to work.
A lot has changed since I blogged here last. We moved 1000 miles, from SC to MA in September, then moved again within MA in October. Drew started his fantastic new job in Westwood (outside Boston). I got an extra job for holiday money at Target (nights and weekends). Sophia outgrew all her 3t clothes in height. Stella is 100% potty trained and so darn cute in her little undies! We have made ZERO new friends (sad, I know, but moms here are pretty snobby in these wealthy towns), but we have hung out a lot with old friends. We have given up a car (hopefully only temporarily) so I either drive Drew to work so I can have the car for the day, or he takes it and we stay home, or Diane so nicely carts us everywhere with our extra carseats that seem to be permanently installed in her backseat. My girls just experienced a BIG snowstorm for the first time in their lives (that they remember). They have also experienced FREEZING temps for the first time, too. Sophia has experienced these things before, but not since she was 1, so it doesn't really count. We wanted to go out and build a snowman today but the temperature coupled with the wind stopped us. We're not quite ready for that yet. We are supposed to get ANOTHER storm Sunday with accumulating snow, so we'll have plenty of time for snowmen and snow angels.
I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. We have all gifts bought but nothing wrapped yet! I have to work all weekend so I guess I better get on that. Sophia is REALLY into ballet this year and can not WAIT until Santa brings her a ballerina bar because she's been so good. She found a picture of one in a catalog in September and has been asking for it since. She also picked out a balance beam which Yiayia and Papou are so nicely supplying for Christmas. I will have two very excited girls come Christmas morning. I can't wait to see their faces when they come downstairs to the tree. Sophia keeps reminding me about carrots for the reindeer...she really doesn't want them to get left out. Both girls received a letter from Santa (thanks Yiayia) but Sophia was too freaked out about it to have me read it. I think she is afraid of the idea of a strange man entering our house when we're sleeping. Sometimes she thinks to much about things!
Sophia has a new funny, unintentional habit. When she learns about something new, she must make funny associations in her mind trying to remember the new term. For example, she learned about airheads (the candy) at Halloween. The next time she noticed them in the grocery store, she looked at me and asked for blowfeet. I couldn't understand what she meant until she explained what they looked like. She still calls them blowfeet after I've corrected her gently many times. I think the association stuck. The other day Drew was talking about one of his favorite restaurants, Five Guys, and when asking about it a little while later, Sophia called is Three Mans. The last one I can remember is there is a short little show on Disney called Emily Yeung (pronounced Young) and Sophia calls her Emily Old. These are totally unintentional on her part (she doesn't ever realize she isn't saying the correct name until I tell her) but they are really funny! I look forward to the next one for a good, silly laugh.
Since moving back, Drew and I got to attend a Celtics game...SO MUCH FUN! And I got to attend a Patriots game...again, WAY FUN! We hope to someday take the girls to a Red Sox game which we would all love. Otherwise, we haven't gotten the opportunity to explore the family friendly things yet. We did Boo at the Zoo in Attleboro but it was at night and you couldn't see much. We're waiting for the Spring to go to that zoo again and the one in Providence. We are going to take the girls to the museums and aquarium in Boston and hopefully just to walk around, too. I have to explore the indoor things to do here this winter which is a new experience for me with toddlers. Sophia was almost 2 when we moved to SC, but I was working so I didn't get to do things during the day in the winter with her. We're hoping to find lots of ACTIVE things since the park is not an option like it was in SC. I suppose they will keep active with the balance beam, ballet bar and new mini-trampoline, but I think we might to stir crazy after the last two winters being able to go out in sweaters all winter! We did attend a touch a truck (Halloween style) and a tinkerbell party at Borders. I will do a photo update of the last few months. Hopefully we'll be back to blogging more in the future after we survive Christmas!
We wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas and New Year!
This is what happens when you don't post for 4 months and so many things change! Stella really turned 2 in August before we moved, but we waited to have a party until we got to MA so that all our family could be involved. Stella and Sophia both missed out on family parties in SC, so they both really enjoyed Stella's. Here she is, patiently waiting for food, or maybe cake...
Every night for the 6 weeks at Yiayia and Papou's house, Sophia helped Yiayia make salads (which really means she let Yiayia cut up the veggies while she stole some from the bowls).
Yummy orange peppers! My girls can't seem to get enough veggies lately...hope that lasts.
The girls loved having a good driveway for riding tricycles in MA (not a hill like in SC). So, here's Stella giving Sophia a ride...
...and Sophia giving Stella a ride. They work so well together! That is the end of my blog and picture update. Hopefully I'll keep up now that our computer is on a card table instead of the floor.
