Sugar

 I don't know where Brandon learned about sugar content- Scouts maybe?  One morning when I asked him which cereal he wanted he decided to base his decision on which one has the least amount of sugar. I thought this was hilarious!  Which sugary cereal has the least amount of sugar...........

In the end he went with Life until I reminded him about the Cheerios.  After looking at the Cheerios that's the one he picked.  I then asked him if he wanted sugar on them like he usually does.  He said yes, but just a little bit.  ROFLOL!

Randomness

 Reading together on the couch.

 Sophia drinking the milk out of her cereal bowl just like Daddy.

 Brandon decided to try sledding on the driveway.

 My wonderful birthday cake Ben made and Sara frosted and decorated.

 Sophia hanging out in her bed.

 Sophia watching her movie.

Sophia wearing Sara's shoes and sunglasses.  

More Sophia

 After Sophia got her ears pierced I had to drop Sara and Brandon off at a birthday party, so she got to play for a few minutes.  I wanted to take a picture of her cute hair and the cute Christmas bows I finished the night before.

 She loves playing on slides!

 I saw these white cheddar cheetos at the store and thought the kids would like them.  Little did I know they are much messier than regular cheetos, but Sophia LOVED them!

 I have no idea why she does this, but sometimes when she chews her food she closes her eyes.

 She loves blackberries!

"Berries"

Santa Baby

 I thought it would be a fun family outing to go to the mall and see Santa.  Sophia was not excited to see him and would not let Ben leave.  Notice the death grip she has on his coat.

 I was lucky enough to get a picture with all the kids and Sophia let Sara hold her for all of 20 seconds before she wanted to get down and run to Dad.

 After seeing Santa we went to Claire's.  I have been wanting to get Sophia's ears pierced for a while, so this was the Saturday to do it.  We had to sing lots of songs to keep her happy while I filled out all the paperwork, and the girls got everything ready.

 1......2......3 and cry!

She was sad for awhile, but Ben was more than willing to hold her and about an hour later she was totally fine.  She likes looking at her pretties in the mirror and if you ask where her pretties are she will touch her ear.  They look so cute!

Brownie batter

 I made brownies for Ben's birthday and since Sophie is the only kid home during the day she got to lick the spoon.  She loved it and made a big mess!  Of course she cried when I finally took it away and washed her off.

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

 Sophia loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Each episode is about 30 minutes and she will sit on her little couch and watch at least 2 without moving.

 "Oh Toodles!"

"Look Mom!"

Shoes, persimmons, spoiled and baby sitting

 Sophia is still obsessed with shoes and loves putting them on her own feet and others.  Ben often lets her "help" him put on his shoes in the morning if she's awake.  Sometimes she tries to put her shoes on others.  The shoes obviously don't fit, so she just sits down and puts them on her own feet.

 I had persimmons in California years ago and fell in love!  Living in Utah and now in Idaho I don't have access to them and will not pay $1 each in the store.  I recently starting getting a Bountiful Basket and one week they had a case of persimmons I could buy.  I ate three as soon as I picked them up.  I brought them home and started drying them- so yummy!  I knew I should have bought two cases.

 I now understand all about this youngest child thing.  Sophia is SPOILED as you can see.  We went shopping at Sam's Club and got dessert when we were done.  The kids shared an ice cream and I got a churro.  Sophia had to have some of both and usually ends up taking over, because she has to hold it and do it all by herself.  The kids have been trained to give her whatever she wants and I often do the same.  She has started yelling "away" to the kids when they won't leave her alone and the other day I heard her yell it to a little boy about her age when she wanted the toy he had........ what am I going to do?

For our anniversary this year Ben and I went out to eat at Olive Garden then to a movie.  I really wanted to see Inception, but the only time it was playing was 9:15, so we wouldn't be back until almost midnight.  We left Sara at home to babysit with a set of rules and a timeline to follow.  Thank goodness for cell phones!  We called and checked on the kids a few times to make sure Sara was being nice to Brandon and Sophia was happy.  When we got home to check on the kids this is what we found.  In the morning we asked Sara what had happened and how she got Sophia to sleep in her bed.  She said she couldn't get Sophia to sleep, because every time she would put her down she would just keep talking and not go to sleep.  I told her that this was normal and she just needed to leave her alone and she would fall asleep eventually.  Sara did really well and I now feel more confident about letting her babysit in the future.  *sniff*  I can't believe she's old enough to babysit.