Good Grief

I have a house full of comedians.
Our girls might have gotten most of their physical appearance from their mama (big eyes, chubby cheeks, big dimples in those chubby cheeks, and in Sophie's case, my chunky thighs. HA!), but boy did they ever inherit their daddy's sense of humor.

Kinley's teacher commented a couple of weeks ago that she must keep us entertained at home because she sure is entertaining to them.  I'm pretty positive I don't even want to know the specifics that brought that one on, but for your entertainment tonight let me invite you to our dinner conversation:

General back and forth with Kinley to EAT her dinner from both of us...I really can't remember the exact threats that were used because what came next erased all thought besides uncontrollable laughter.
With perfect sarcasm she chimes in with "Welcome to my world."  (She might hear someone else in this family say that pretty often.)  Andy and I couldn't help but laugh.  Kinley laughs.  Sophie laughs.  We move back to convincing Kinley to eat.  Sophie gets bored and starts fussing.  Andy jokingly says, "Don't make me go get my hat, Sophie." (She's apparently not fond of Andy in his hat.  She sits silently staring at/judging him anytime he wears it.  He's decided it's his new tool for when she's crying/fussing.  I HAVE to get a photo of her stare tomorrow.)
Sophie, who doesn't know how to talk yet, says "GO!"  LOL!  Literally.
Andy begins to lament the lack of another boy in the house to help him put up with all these women.  We ask Kinley if she wants a baby brother.  She says, "How 'bout we take care of this one first," pointing at Sophie.  Again the whole table laughs.  
P.S.  Don't get your hopes up.  Nana specifically.  The boy part was just a joke.  Clearly we were full of them tonight.
P.P.S.  That beautiful photo of our beautiful, delightful, funny girls is by Tammy Wilson of T.Wilson Photography.  One day soon, if I haven't already...I really can't remember, I will release the link to check out all the photos from our session with Andy's family.  In the mean time, here's one more that shows our laughing lady.

The worst

Part of having a baby for me:
Meat sticks. I vowed never to feed them to Kinley. That didn't last, and here's Sophie enjoying her first taste. I can't get this kid to finish her bottles or eat more than a few bites of anything so I thought I'd try something new. FAIL. Now I'm stuck cleaning the nastiness off of the floor. Sigh.
Oh and don't let that cute little face fool you. That's her sly smile. Which means I'm sneaking bites of food off the side of the high chair and onto the floor.

Always Andy's side...

The things these 3 can manage during my 10 minute shower. Too bad they look too sweet to kick off the bed.

Hey, Lady, Outta the way!!!

This is the early stages of road rage:

If those steering wheels had a horn, they would have surely been honking at Erin.  ;)

Side by Side

Kinley Bell in December '08

Sophie Bell in December '11

The cheeks on these two.  I'm not sure how I manage to accomplish anything but kissing them.  :)

Kinley on Santa's lap last year:

With her nervous smile and nervous hands.

This year.

Same exact nervous little hands.  Neither one of them was so sure about Santa this year.  No tears and they both went willingly.  They surely weren't smiling about it though.

Also, I thought maybe Kinley just looked so grown up to me now because we have Sophie to compare her to, but no.  These photos are insane.  My goodness, look how much growing up she's done over the last year.

Lesson(s) Learned

Lesson 1:
Do NOT show your child the Giant Toy Catalog.  It will inspire said child to circle 99% of GIANT toy catalog.  Said circling of 99% of Giant toy catalog will lead Santa to believe it's safe to get to work early and pick a few things Santa likes for the child...because after all that child did circle 99% of the catalog as possibilities.
Lesson 2:
Do NOT send your child to school on the day Santa comes to visit.  Your child may be swayed by the kiddos around them.  Without your extra wisdom to guide them back to the "purple rocket ship" they've said for the last several weeks, when it comes to that magical moment to whisper in his ear "a playground" might be what comes out instead.
Lesson 3:
Santa should not start work immediately and frantically on that playground when the child has clearly proven incapable of making up their mind.
Lesson 4:
A sigh of relief should not be breathed when a living breathing thing (no matter how small and easy to take care of it may seem at the time) gets moved to the top of the list and a formal retraction letter gets sent to Santa.  Because apparently it's pretty hard to transport fish on a sleigh.  And expect them to survive the trip.
In case you are wondering, these two were the biggest hits at our house after all that crazy stressing Santa did:

 A purple pair of scissors for Kinley and Cheese puffs for Sophie.

Priceless.

More photos here.

Caught in the Act

Photographic evidence of Sophie's devilish behavior under the tree.  Look at that face!!!