Oh Cristmas Tree!

It is very Christmassy at our house. I realize that it is a little early to decorate for Christmas, but since we are going to be in Portland for a couple of weeks, now seemed a good time to decorate. We only put out about a third of all of our Christmas things- no glass- and have yet to put up our Christmas Village. Village= lots of glass, small items, things lost forever. We did however put up our Christmas Tree. The tree is strategically decorated. All glass and fragile items are on the top, all ornaments that can be handled with grimy little hands are on the bottom. Or at least they were. Sophie loves to take down all the ornaments that she can reach. She has surprisingly long arms. Throughout the day she takes the ornaments down, and now will put them in a box under the tree. This took a bit of training. At the end of the day, I decorate the bottom half of the tree, again, and the fun begins another day!

Sophie's box filled with ornaments.

Looking at the lights on the tree. Notice how the tree does not have any ornaments left.

Professional 18 Month Pictures

We recently had Sophie's 18 month pictures taken. Sophie loves the bright flash of the camera and thoroughly enjoyed every minute! Due to all of her excitement, she was dancing around on the table and happened to fall off. This brought lots of tears, not because of the fall, but because she was upset that her picture session was over. So, we put her back on the table where she promptly got back into position and smiled at the camera. I'm sure she was thinking, "Ready for my closeup!"

We brought her trick-or-treat bucket and placed an enticing mint inside. She could not wait to reach in a grab it!

Clapping, because taking pictures is such fun!

Sitting on blocks and smiling after her big fall.

Halloween Weekend!

We had a wonderful Halloween Weekend! It started Friday night, where we braved the cold and went to Whitefish to trick or treat on Main Street. This was really fun, although we had no idea that it would be so crowded, it was literally shoulder to shoulder walking. Sophie loved her first trick or treat experience. She held onto her bucket and proudly walked the streets with the big kids. When she got candy in her bucket she would grin. She enjoyed it for a total of 10 minutes, and then decided to sit down in the middle of the crowded street and look at everything in her bucket. We carved pumpkins on Saturday, which Sophie thought was very fun and interesting for about 10 seconds. Then she was off, with better things to do. Finally on Sunday, we enjoyed Halloween for the entire day. We decided that since Sophie is a celebrity at church, and celebrities can get away with anything, she would come in her costume. She was, of course, a big hit. Later in the day, we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood and then Sophie helped pass out candy. She was one busy butterfly!

Sophie and Carl trick or treating in Whitefish. You can tell it's cold because Carl is wearing a sweatshirt.

"Stirring" the pumpkin seeds.

Enjoying the pumpkin for the final 2 seconds. By the way, Carl dressed her in this lovely outfit. If you squeeze your eyes tight, it almost matches.

Getting ready to trick or treat. Note the matching passie. A girl must plan her accessories accordingly.

The back of Sophie's costume with her wings.

Sophie and I trick or treating.

Looking at all the candy.

Sophie's favorite part of the night was taking her candy out of the bucket and putting it back in. And out again, and in again.