Sound of Music Sing-a-long

Friday night, Philip got some tickets to this Sound of Music sing-a-long. It was at the Hollywood Bowl, which we have never been there before. It is an outdoor amphitheater and you can bring your picnic basket and sit outside and eat and watch. We were able to get box seats, which meant we had a little box with a table and chairs. It was nice to keep Amelia contained and we got some yummy fruit and pitas with hummus. People come dressed up and then they get on stage to show off their costumes, then they are voted for. The winner, a bunch of kids dressed up as the notes from "do ray me", won a cruise, so not too shabby for dressing up. They hand out little cards, edelweiss, a fabric square and a little champagne popper noisemaker for everyone to use in different parts of the movie. Amelia LOVED it. She stayed awake until a little after the intermission. She loved that everyone was singing. She loved holding up her cards. She liked hissing at the baroness and the Nazis and she loved it when everyone held up their cell phones during "Edelweiss". This person has some great pics from last year, but you get the idea of what it was like and the shear beauty and mass of the Hollywood Bowl. We only took 1 pic with Phil's phone that came out. It was one of the greatest things we've done in LA in a long time.

cute quote

We are attempting potty training and this morning I asked Amelia if she wanted to wear a diaper or underwear. Her response in an agitated voice implying my stupidity, " Underwear mommy, I big sister"

Aquarium of the Pacific

We took Amelia (and Ben) to the aquarium on Labor day. She talked about scary sharks and jellies and Nemo fish for days. She got to touch starfish and some sting rays. We had a good time. Here's Amelia tickling Ben and he's giving us his pirate eye.

Objection!!! Leading

So Mr Lawyer Man told me that I picked a picture that did not accurately depict Ben's eye color. He suggests this is a better one. This may want you to change your vote, but the poll is closed so you can just comment. But I still think they look pretty blue regardless. You'll have to click on the pic to see them up close.

Cute Quote

When we read to Amelia, we like to read only some of it and let her fill in the blanks so she feels like she's reading too. I think we like to please ourselves with how smart she seems that she can parrot back her favorite lines. Tonight Amelia sat down to read a book called I'm a Big Sister and it went like this.
Phil: "Ellie used to be mommy and daddy's little girl. But then the new baby came - and now Ellie was a......."
Amelia: big fat sister
We both laughed. She mixed her Big Hungry Caterpillar line "He wasn't hungry anymore but he wasn't a little caterpillar anymore. He was a big, fat caterpillar" with the sister line.

Ben's beautiful eyes

This is not a great picture, but you can see Ben's eye color really well. The Dr seems to think that they are blue eyes (what does he really know??) I am dreaming and wishing they will stay blue but no luck with Amelia, so we'll see. I thought some of you might have fun polling to the right and answer what you think.

2 Years Old

Amelia had her little family birthday party today. When she woke up, Philip sang her Happy Birthday, so all morning she expected me to sing to her at her command, which I did. I told her that when dad came home she could open presents and eat cake and sing more. She kept asking "daddy happy birthday Meeya (Amelia)" so we could get on with the festivities. She was pretty excited when she heard his key in the door and he brought her a balloon. I made ice cream cone cupcakes so she could enjoy fake softserve and decorated them like banana splits, strawberry and vanilla with sprinkles or chocolate chips. She's not much into sweets, so she ate a little frosting, then told me to "open it" while trying to take the frosting off. Maybe she expected the top to pop off like her plastic ice cream cone toy. She opened her gifts and played so gently with her new tea set. She set the table and drank out of everyone's cup (like she does in real life) and fed her baby doll. Then she conked out. All in all, it was a pretty successful birthday.