Happy Thanksgiving

Thankfully.....my mom hosted our Thanksgiving family get-together tonight. I worked all day, then headed over to Mom's for dinner. Martin and the girls had arrived earlier and were playing dominos with Aunt Kristi when I got there. Then, Lisa, Scott and the boys arrived (which was a surprise because the last I had heard, they were not going to make the trip into Spokane from Ephrata). Of course the kids were thrilled to be together once again. Ryan is 9, Audriana is 7, Noah is 4, Sofia is 4, and Micah is 2. What a sweet bunch! I am thankful for the kids. Our beautiful and perfect kids. Their lights shine so brightly in our lives!

I am so thankful for my Mom, my sister, and my brothers. The girls love them all so much!

I am so thankful for my little family -- Martin, Audriana and Sofia. I am also thankful for Jay and his family -- Lisa and LaNae are such wonderful women!


The day before, on Wednesday, we were treated to the Montessori Feast! Veggy Soup, Pumpkin Bread, and Fruit Salad that the kids had made were on the menu. Audriana didn't want to miss it, so we picked her up from school early and she was able to be there, too. Alfred Parker was there, too, so that was fun for her. Al and her are both Montessori Alums and have known each other since they were 3!


This turkey was made from each child's Thankful feather. It's hard to see in the picture, but Sofia's feather is colored purple and orange and it reads "Sofia is thankful that we have food". Perfect, Sofia.....perfect. :-)

It was so fun to watch Sofia interacting with her own school friends. From right to left: Isabella, Sofia, Sophia, Gweneth, Addy, Grace, and Audriana.

Proud Sofia. My angel.

Sofia and the Rossi Twins

Sofia really has some wonderful little friends from Montessori Central. Now that she is 4 (such a big girl!), she has become quite the social butterfly! She had been asking Martin and I for weeks to have a play date with Sophia and Isabella Rossi......well, Lisa and I finally figured out a date for the girls to get together. The twins came over this past Saturday and they played at our house for a couple of hours. What cute girls they are! The 3 of them had a great time and it was really fun for me to watch Sofia engage with them! She didn't need me at all -- until it was shack time and they wanted me to get them some goldfish crackers! They got along so well and I didn't have to intervene at all! Audriana was over at Maria's house having a playdate, and Martin was out at a music lesson, so the house was just for Sofia and her friends. They spent a lot of time playing under the trundel bed, playing barbies, playing babies, and hula hooping.

Sofia, Bella, and Sophia

So dang cute!

The funniest thing is that our Sofia thinks Sophia's name is "SophiaRossi" (all one word). Because she is one of 3 Sofia's in school, they are usually called with their last names. There is Sofia Alfaro, Sophia Thompson, and Sophia Rossi. When she talks about the twins, she says "SophiaRossi and Isabella". She got very confused when I told her that Isabella was actually IsabellaRossi! She promptly told me that I was wrong. Very cute.


Just a cute picture of the girls before heading off to Sunday school and Church. Aren't they sweet?!

My BiRtHdAy!

Sofia worked so hard on my birthday card -- I just had to take a picture of it! She said it was me and her, with a rainbow and a cross (for church) above us. Isn't that sweet?

Here is the card that Audriana made me -- I love the part that says "mommy is 42 now, wow!".

Today the Red Tigers had their last game of the season -- thank goodness because it was just freezing out today! Here she is with her teammates: Avery, Carley, Anna, Audriana, MaKenna, and Belen. What a great (and so cute) group of girls. Audriana has really enjoyed playing with this team. They will meet up again in the Spring for more play.

Here is Audriana and Coach, Mike. He's Anna's dad and such a great, and supportive coach.

Here we are at Twigs for my bday dinner. It was so good! Kelly Kiki (our friend and neighbor) knows the manager, so he sent all of us a big plate of my favorite appetizer, Morrocan Beef, and then surprised us again with a big order of my favorite dessert, Drunken donuts (shown below). We had such a great time at dinner -- Kristi, Jenny, Martin and I, and Angie and Matt were all there. After dinner, we headed over to Morty's (on Regal) for a few games of pool. It was a ton of fun. I don't remember the last time I was in a bar! And I really don't remember the last time I played pool -- but it was okay, Martin and I actually got pretty good by the end of the night!

Drunken Donuts rock!

At Morty's

Kristi and me

Matt, Angie and me -- being silly!

Here we are~ Angie, Matt, me, Martin, Jennifer, and Kristi

Thanks for a super awesome birthday everyone. I will remember it forever! Big 42 for me!

The many dresses of Sofia..........

Sofia got this dress (with a matching dress for her Care Bear) for her birthday. When she put it on she said that she felt like she was going to get married! :-)

My little Sofia will only wear dresses. Or skirts. Or princess costumes. Every day. Seriously. I've never experienced that before and I know most little girls go through these stages, but I'm not sure if Sofia will ever come out of this stage. Sometimes she will want to wear the same dress 3 or 4 days in a row -- and she will pull a dress out of the dirty clothes basket if it happens to be there and she wants to wear it! She definitly has an opinion on what she wears -- and 9 times out of 10 she will not wear what I want her to wear. Not because she is trying to be difficult -- it's not that at all -- it's more that she knows what she wants to wear and she will not settle for anything else. I've even tried bribing her (I know, bad mom!) to get her to wear what I have picked out for her, and it never works! Now that it is getting colder out, she knows that she must wear tights -- so I've had to stock pile a bunch of tights (black, white, pink, red) in her drawer. It's very funny, and very sweet. She also combs and brushes her own hair (although, I always need to "fix" it before we leave the house), but she will just look at herself in the mirror and brush away! She has been known to ask "Mommy, aren't I beautiful in this dress?". She likes her nails painted, and watches intently when I put on my makeup. She's such a girly-girl. But then there's her fascination with Sponge Bob, too. She got a pair of Sponge Bob pajamas for her bday that she loves!