March 8, 2009 Condo and Early St. Pat's Day

Come on baby, if we hurry we can hide inside our little playhouse and no one will miss us.

The baby needs a hat. Put the hat on the baby.

Looking out my window, drinking a little moo juice.

This is fun. Hee Hee Ha Ha!

Sophia went to visit Great Grandma at her house on Sunday afternoon. Grandma and Uncle Mike were also there. We decided since Grandma is out of town so much that we needed to do St. Patrick's Day a wee bit earlier than most. Great Grandma prepared a delicious meal of Corn Beef and Cabbage. Sophia seemed to like it but I have to tell you the best part. You see, Sophia loves vegetables. She loves them and will eat them any time of day. So, I fixed her plate with Corn Beef and Cabbage and made sure she had plenty of veggies with it. I even sliced the corn on the cob off the corn for her so she could eat it. Well, little did I know, she wanted her corn on the cob, not cut off the cob. Great Grandma was enjoying her own plate complete with corn on the cobb and Sophia was watching. Sophia waved at Great Grandma to see what she was eating. Great Grandma took a corn cob and sliced it into a little mini cob for Sophia. She handed it to her and you would have thought she handed her a giant icecream cone. Sophia's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. She picked up the mini cob and sunk her teeth into that delicious sweet corn and exclaimed in the cutest voice, "MMMMMMMM!" It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She let us know that she loved the taste of the corn on the cob. It was "Yummy Yummy!". Well, needless to say, she didn't want the corn that mommy had cut off the cob on her plate but ate every bite she could muster off of that cob. So the next time I decide we are having corn, it will have to be on the cob for Sophia. Whho knew it tasted so much better when you could just eat it right off the cob. After dinner, Sopia had another opportunity to play in her home-made condo by Great Grandma. She lit up the minute it arrived in the family room. She even had to take her doll inside and show her the new home away from home.



Not only did Sophia enjoy playing in the home-made home, she also received a couple surprises from her Grandma. Grandma brought Sophia a little Irish Hat to put on her head. We had trouble getting a photo with it on but she liked putting it on her doll's head. She also recieved an Elmo kite and a clapper toy. Grandma also gave her some clothes and a jacket.

Check-out the slideshow below..

February 21, 2009 Moving into a New Mini House courtesy of Great Grandma

Sophia checking out the real moving shutters that Great Grandma made for her.

Wow! Look at those curtains in the window and the bricks on the outside hand drawn by Great Grandma.

There is a happy little girl proud of her Great Grandma's handiwork.

In this photo, Uncle Mike is showing her the little cardboard house and holding the door as she goes in and out. 

Everyone know that children love to play in boxes even more so than the toys that are received inside those boxes. As a child, I had my fair share of boxes used as toys.  One in particular comes to mind which was a very large appliance box that my grandmother, Sophia's Great Grandmother shown here in the photos had placed in her sunroom on her back porch that I spent numerous hours playing in as a child. I believe my uncle cut windows in it for me, but it has been so long ago that I don't remember all the details very well.  I am sure it was nothing as clever as the story, I am about to tell you. 

So, you can imaging my surprise when I learned Grandma had a new cardboard miniature home for Sophia.  Everyone in my family had been telling me that Great Grandma had a surprise she has been working on for Sophia for several weeks.  They wouldn't tell me what it was.   With us having been so sick, we hadn't been to Great Grandma's house for a few weeks.  I had no idea what was in store for us when we arrived.  I was thinking when mom told me that Great Grandma had been hard at work on something, she meant that Great Grandma had crocheted some precious little socks, or colorful mittens, or maybe even a soft snuggly blanket or a warm wooly scarf.  Other thoughts went through my mind, maybe she made Sophia a hand-made quilt or maybe some other crafty thing.  My grandma has been known to come up with many whimsicle creations in the past.  

After dinner, we were all called into the other room and my brother and Great Grandma hauled out the miniature cardboard box play house especially for Sophia.  I was stunned!  I couldn't believe my eyes!  Great Grandma had really surprised Sophia.   My ideas were completely off course. I had no idea that my Grandmother had made Sophia the sweetest little house out of a cardboard box.  Grandma, being one to recycle before recycling was such a popular thing for the environment, made Sophia's Radio Flyer wagon box into a new play home for Sophia complete with pictures of dogs and bears on the walls, 3-D flower boxes on the windows and flowers cut from magazines outside on the bottom edge of the box as well as a mailbox and even a roof with skylights and puff of smoke chimney.  Even Sophia's favorite furry red monster, Elmo had a picture on the house.  There was a tiny doorknob made out of an old sewing thread spool which was just the perfect size for Sophia's hand to open the door. As Sophia grabbed the tiny door handle to open the little door, a key jingled on the handle. Sophia was intrigued by the tiny mailbox attached right inside the door with mail addressed inside for her to read.  Not only did the little house have a mailbox, there was also a small stool inside for Sophia to sit on.  The windows adorned with tiny shutters and curtains made of very wide ribbon were as sweet as they could be.  Sophia loved peeking out the window at her Great Grandmother and playing peek-a-boo with all the adults in the room.  Sophia loved her tiny house!  She played with it for hours as we sat talking and taking enormous amounts of photos some of which can be viewed in the slide show below.  My brother has even more which maybe at a later date, I will be able to post.   I can say this, my cardboard box houses never looked like this. At most if any decorations, they might have had a cut-out window  and some crayon colors on the walls.  Sophia you are loved by all and make sure to thank your Great Grandma again when you see her. She put a lot of time and thought into that sweet little house and you get all the benefit of her thoughtfulness. She truly thought of every little detail a girl would love.  Great Grandma, you made a little girl smile today.  Thanks for all your hard work and creativity. Sophia will want to come back and play with her little house at your house very soon, I am sure. I hope Mom shows you this story so you will know it is published for Sophia to read about some day and hopefully remember.