The Year in Review

Admittedly I got this idea from "Blog Surfing" as I call it. There is this great button on blogger that is titled "Next Blog" and if you click on it, you are directed to the blog that was most recently updated. As you can imagine, 99% of the blogs are kid-related and some are so incredibly moving (adopted babies and the long, painful wait to finally become a mother). One I visited had a year in review, that posted pictures of twin boys in the prior 12 months and I thought it was a great idea. It's taken me a while to get around to it, but here we go.....Our Year in Review! I can't believe how different she looks!!

January - Our visit to the Ft Worth Zoo!


February - Our little cowgirl at Ft Worth. We visited Ft Worth with Mimi, Grandpa Joe, Aunt and Uncle just after Valentine's Day


March - Walking to our lake to look for beup-beups (frogs - she still couldn't say it then)


April - Sofia's very first Cub ride (yes, she fell asleep)


May - Gardening


June - Hiking with Papa at Tent Rocks, NM


Making funny faces inside Aunt and Uncle's casita


July - Her 2nd Birthday!


August - Going for a tricycle ride around the 'hood


September - Labor Day Weekend with Cousin Chandler


October - Visiting the pumpkin patch


November - Hanging out on the beach


December - All set for Christmas!

A Room Rearranged....

Two weeks ago I decided to rearrange Sofia's room, since I figured it would actually give her more play area if the bed were against the far wall, and it would get the changing table a bit closer to being out the door and in storage. Potty training isn't really going well yet, but it's more my lack of effort than anything. However, I am very excited at the prospect of freeing up the changing table (it's just all that potty time I don't look forward to). So, one day I moved everything around and really fell in love with the new arrangement! I must confess I was a bit worried how Sofia would take it, since she is definitely an order, rather than chaos, girl. She likes everything in it's place, but she took to it immediately and I think she likes the larger play area at the foot of her bed better. She did mention that she wasn't able to see her night light (it's right by the door, across from her bathroom), but she's fine with that now. My next project is to rearrange the art work, which you'll notice is still in the old layout still. But, I'll get to that....


Sofia's "old" layout


Her big girl bed fits so perfectly between the window and looks good


The dresser


And the new and improved room.....please note that I took these pictures after our cleaning lady left, so her room looked like this for approximately 10 minutes before books were everywhere and music was playing!


The Big Girl Bed in it's new location


A lot more area to play!


The soon-to-be-gone changing table


Toys and her monthly picture chair

Fun in DC

The rest of our days in DC went by very quickly and we were able to visit a few friends (although missed out on quite a few) and hung out with Aunt and Uncle. When Sofia arrived at Aunt and Uncle's house the first thing she said to Aunt Shirl was "Do you have toys?" to which Aunt Shirl said "Ummm, no." Well, she was wrong! Sofia proceeded to find every single animal to play with throughout their house. She fell in love with the metal piggy bank in Uncle Steve's office as well as the snake around their banister and the lizard that was outside on their wall. She eventually dragged all the animals into their house and played with them and her new favorite book "The Little Red Train" which has Duffy the Driver, her favorite character. She really loved having Aunt Shirl read to her and cuddle with her and even put her to bed for her naps (and Friday night when I went out with friends). It was a fun visit and we look forward to our next trip out.

Sofia snuggles with Aunt Shirl




Outside of the Old Post Office Building


Brrrrr! Cold girl!


Coffee with my friend Mike. Sofia enjoyed a kid's hot chocolate during our visit at Starbucks.


The Capitol Building in the distance...


Aunt Shirl and Sofia with Sofia's new buddy - Uncle Steve's metal piggy bank (it was very heavy!)


Goofing around with Uncle Steve


In line at Market Lunch - French Toast, yum!


With Brian, after breakfast


Walking on the wall outside Aunt and Uncle's house


Off to dinner with Aunt and Uncle - back to Henry's for our last meal together.


Sofia and her piggy


With Aunt and Uncle before leaving for home....

Washington DC Visit

On Wednesday, Sofia and my first full day in DC, I loaded up the girl in her stroller, covered her and Green Beup-Beup in a blanket and headed off to Alice's house. Alice agreed to watch Sofia while I headed to my doctor's appointment, and Sofia and Grayden had a great time playing together. I later met them at Toddler Yoga, and I think Sofia had just as much fun riding in Alice's double stroller as she did doing her down dog, cat and cow moves in yoga. She did really love the class and I've since tried convincing my gym to offer such a class.

After yoga, we ate next door at the BEST Mexican restaurant - La Plaza, which we always call "Henry's" since Henry is the outgoing and friendly owner who visits and talks to each table. When we lived in DC, Henry's was our regular weekly dinner, which was easy since it was just a few blocks walk for us. Following a usual delicious meal, we headed back to Alice's for some Play-Doh fun and the kids had a great time together. Then, we headed back to Aunt and Uncle's house for Sofia's usual 3-hour nap.

Sofia and Green Beup-Beup ready for the chilly walk over to Alice and Grayden's house.


Fun in the double stroller


Playing with Play-Doh at Grayden's house


Sofia and Grayden


Playing with Grayden's Play-Doh machine - she loved pressing Play-Doh through the holes


Touching the Donkey and Elephant that are near Alice's house - I assured Aunt Shirl that Sofia touched both of them equally, so she can keep an open political mind!

Molasses!!!

Last weekend we drove to Roanoke, Tx, to Babe's Chicken Dinner House which was quite a place! Babe's is a little restaurant in the middle of a very small main street in Roanoke and it's clear that the Chicken Dinner House is the main draw to the town. Babe's has no menu and serves either fried chicken or chicken fried steak and that comes with family style helpings of mashed potatoes, gravy, fresh biscuits, salad and creamed corn! It was fantastic! Of course, we quickly realized that it isn't a place you go to regularly since we walked out feeling like we were bowling balls!

While at Babe's Sofia loved eating her biscuits with honey and kept wanting to try "that one" which we realized was molasses (I guess some folks put that on biscuits instead of honey). CK gave her a little pool of molasses and she went to town. It was so fun to watch her. Here's a little video of her enjoying molasses for the first time...

Papa and Sofia at Babe's


Here's the video - watch how she switches from her pinky to trying to pinch it! Cute!

Trains!

Today we went to a Train Expo in Plano since we thought Sofia would really enjoy watching all the model trains and CK and I were both surprised at how interesting and fun it was! There were displays of all sizes of model trains in several different showrooms, as well as vendors selling endless train goods. The trains were amazing and nearly all of the displays had incredible little towns and animals surrounding the tracks. The first room had standard gauge trains (the largest) that were set up on the floor, which was great for all the kids to lay down or sit and watch the trains go by. Plus, the had a few Thomas trains set up, a big favorite among all kids. Sofia corrected us by pointing out "Percy" and "James" along with Thomas. We also rode on a train in the courtyard which was fun, although not quite the real thing! It was so fun and I took tons of pictures! When Sofia woke up from her nap she said to CK "Papa, I really had fun watching all those trains."

Watching the standard gauge trains


Looking out over the trains


Checking out the carnival display near the train tracks


Looking at another display


Taking a little play break. One of the Thomas the Train sets in one of the vendor areas - Sofia loved it.


Even more trains!


Riding on the train in the courtyard


Mommy and Sofia on the train


A close-up of the trains


After her nap, Sofia is inspired to play with her Thomas Train set - not that she doesn't do this every single day, but usually in the morning....she went to great effort to put the track and trains together. So cute!