What do you do with the Art?

Seriously, the art projects have grown in epidemic proportion since this winter has decided to prolong itself indefinitely! It is snowing as I type! Anyway, some days Sophie will come home with 2 or 3 projects, lovingly admiring all her work. Now I have some favorites that I will keep for all eternity and of course, after she goes to bed at night I judge some of the lesser pieces and they go in the trash (sob). But how much to keep and when is it acceptable to put it in the recycle bin??
I leave you with a few recent masterpieces:

Love this - "Fishbowl"

Another favorite - the Wreath is a popular craft at daycare. Works for all holidays. This is our Valentine's Wreath. What I love about it is that although we have received many, this is the ONLY one with a smiling girl. The rest are crying or post-crying teary face.
Chinese New Year Dragon:
Valentines Day card - In case you were wondering, I am on the right, and daddy is on the left. Just a clarification, I'm sure you had already figured that out.

Notes and cards

Sophie loves sending people cards. She is also very creative. We are not surprised when after dinner she exclaims, "I need to send a card to Ella". She proceeds to add stickers and decorate a piece of paper and writes some letters on it while dictating the note that she means to write. She folds it neatly and then Ileana or I mail it for her. Last night, Sophie started writing an apology card. "I have to write a card to say I'm sorry for crying". "During dinner last night?", Ileana asks. Sophie threw quite a fit the night before because she did not want to share her Spongebob Macaroni and Cheese with Kenna, Michal, Sophie Mei, or Ella. Sophie continued to write her card dictating, "I'm sorry for crying and you can all have some of my Spongebob noodles". And then in the Lutheran spirit, she taped it to our front door. She is such a trip. Perhaps if her friends read this blog or stop by in the near future they will get the message.

Happy Easter

This year's Easter egg decorating went slightly better than last. Kenna, Michal, Ella & Sophie Mei came over to help out. It is fun having the girls together (when Sophie isn't being territorial). Due to the 6 inches of snow, we decided to forgo the Easter egg hunt. Maybe next year. We have a new development at the Payne household. Hopefully someone can help us out. Sophie has developed a bad case of "Weird Smile Syndrome". She feels like she has to say, "cheese" during every photo. The results are mixed (O.K., they make her look rediculous). I've searched on line for a support group or more info about this but haven't found much. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Last but definitely not least, while in Syracuse last week, we picked up Sophie's 100 good wishes quilt. Aunt Linda did a fantastic job sewing it together. There is also a scrap book that goes with it with all of the well-wishes associated with each quilt square. Aunt Kim got these neat clips to hang the quilt and I figured out how to attach them to the picture rail without screwing up the rail and the walls.
Sophie absolutely loves it and asks who "bought" her each quilt square. Thanks for everyone that made the quilt possible and especially Aunt Linda for sewing it for us.

A Trip to Visit the Newest Payne

We were in Syracuse last weekend to visit the newest Payne baby - Emily. Sophie loved seeing her new cousin and spending time with the rest of the family.

This weekend was Syracuse's St. Patrick's Day Parade and Sophie was a real trooper, standing on Salina St., watching most of it. We soon forget how nutty the folks in Syracuse are, celebrating because it was only misting instead of a full-blown snow storm and the temperatures hovered just above 40 so most folks were out without their coats. Not us wimpy Chicagoans! The highlight of the parade had to be the Kidney Foundation's kidney, walking down the street.

Should I be concerned?

For those of you that follow my other blog, you know that I have been sick and took on stenciling in the bedroom. It has been a time-consuming process and Sophie has been in the room with me most of the time, critiquing my work and offering words of encouragement with the intermittent, "that looks good daddy, mommy sure is going to like it."

After an hour or so, I looked down and saw this:

I asked her why she did that to her "pup pup" and she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know." Is this some sort of odd creativity that I should condone? (which, I guess I did with my chuckle and off-hand comment that he looks rather comfortable for a puppy wrapped in tape) Or is this a behavior that I need to be concerned about?