Yes, this _is_ a picture of the cake Sophia picked for her birthday-- the red "Lightning McQueen" racecar from the movie "Cars".

Sophia and her siblings (Sophia picked ramen noodles for her birthday lunch).
After watching Sophia enjoy playing with the little kitchen at Drew's school one day, we thought she might like to have one of her own for her birthday. I think we hit a "homerun" (here, making cookies in the oven):
Drew picked out a "Dancing Princess" barbie for Sophia. It twirls and lights up and she loves it, but for this picture all she wanted to do was get back to the kitchen.
...which she did: (the microwave is her favorite-- I _do_ use the oven, but apparently she only _sees_ me use the microwave!) She was putting the dishes in the oven. Either she's noticed that sometimes I store pans in the oven or she thought it was the dishwasher!
Lauren's interest in pretend cooking was re-invigorated with the new gift (actually, this picture reminds me a lot of the one when Ginny got _her_ kitchen set for Christmas one year (she was three) and Mary Lauren was excitedly playing with it too.)

Here are some random pics I took recently:

Sophia having a doll's (and animal's, and car's... apparently) Tea Party:
Andy decided it was time to rake the leaves, to Drew and Sophia's delight. They didn't seem to want to jump in them so much as be buried in them:

I had Alex's six-month pictures made on Wednesday:

... and Sophia's three-year old (!) pictures done the same day:

Ok, Blogger wouldn't cooperate last night, so here are the rest of the Halloween pictures

Drew, the happy knight:



















Sophia, aka Snow White:







































Alex: the happy Dragon (Drew claims Alex is the Knight's pet Dragon)