Sofia at 32 months....

WOW, how does she grow so quickly! I wish I could push the "pause" button sometimes because Sofia is growing up so quickly and is at SUCH a fun age, I just want to enjoy it a little bit more than I feel I can. Sofia still loves trains, and even awoke from her nap the other day saying "Nice to meet you, James" to me. When I asked her what she was talking about she said "You're James and I'm Thomas," so we called each other "James" and "Thomas" for the rest of the afternoon.

She still loves to look at the moon and if it isn't full she says the moon is "peeking out" and then starts playing peek-a-boo with the moon. Pretty much any character in her books whose faces are partially covered are "peeking out."

Smiles! Finally, she smiles when I ask her to!!


With her monkey


Such a big girl!


Playing with dandelions, while we run to the park


At the park


Having fun!


Picking dandelions near our house....

Our garden

We finally have a garden! Last year we had cherry tomatoes, basil and mint in pots and enjoyed many tasty tomatoes. This year, I finally got a jump on things and ordered a 6' X 3' raised garden from gardeners.com, along with two potato sacks. I decided to assemble the raised bed while CK was away one weekend at a flying course - big mistake! The drill I needed was in his trunk, so I relied on using our wimpy battery screwdriver. Needless to say, it took forever to screw the bolds into each corner. Finally, I borrowed our neighbors and was done in about five minutes! Once finished, I asked Sofia to sit on the edge so I could take a picture. She first climbed into the raised bed and then said "It's dirty!" and I thought "my Dad would disown you for such words!" She sat on the side and then played inside the raised bed. The next day we visited the nursery and bought a few vegetable plants - tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers, broccoli and eggplant. We also picked out seeds - radishes, beets, corn, peas and carrots. A few days later, our yard service filled the raised bed and potato sacks with soil and we were in business!

Actually, we waited to plant since the first day of Spring actually brought an inch of snow and covered our entire yard with a soft blanket. The veggies remained warm inside the garage. A few days after our freak snow, Sofia and I went to work! I measured out the area in square foot sections to divide and grow each veggie, and then started planting. Sofia took over an extra banana pepper plant and carried it around the yard, talked to it, put it down for a nap, etc. Once it was time to water, she was again very helpful! Now, we wait for some delicious home grown veggies!

Our first trip to the garden center


Sofia pulls our plants around (luckily the garden center was pretty empty by the time we arrived)


Picking out seeds like a pro


Our second garden center visit


The finished bed!!!


Playing!


The first day of Spring! So thankful we didn't already plant!


Visited our thawed garden the next morning! Sofia with Peter the Cow.


And the planting begins!!


Filling the pot with dirt


Every gardener needs a shovel!


Watering - I think she'd have watered all day if I let her. By the end she was just as wet as the garden!


Our garden - watch it grow (hopefully!).

Hunting for Easter Eggs...

On Monday March 22nd, I hosted a Mom's group at my house to dye Easter eggs and then an egg hunt in the backyard. My friend Thelma is from Mexico and has never done the whole "Easter" tradition, and since she was heading to visit family the next day, we decided to have an early celebration. I made cupcakes the night before and had lots of help from Sofia. Mainly she wanted to eat all the frosting, but she was very good at licking the frosting off the wax paper rather than the cupcakes (after being instructed, of course!). After decorating all the cupcakes, we stuffed the plastic eggs with candy (kisses, smarties, gummy bears and malted eggs). I think Sofia at a few with every addition into each egg. She loved stuffing them, but then wanted to open each one so I had to hide them until the next morning when I hid them in the backyard.

I'd intended to do the egg dyeing outside, but it was still pretty chilly outside so I put down a lot of newspaper and the house remained egg dye-free! Sofia loved it! Of course she had no patience to put one egg in one color and wait. Instead she dipped each egg into each color (yes, with her hands) for a few seconds before moving on to the next color. Most of her eggs turned out sort of brown, but she had a great time! The three gals then headed out for the egg hunt! Sofia was mainly concerned with opening each egg when she'd find one, so I know she came in third as far as the amount of eggs, but they were all opened! They had fun searching for the eggs and then played with the chalk and snacked after.

Sofia helps me separate the cupcake liners


Yum, cupcakes!


Stuffing candy into the plastic eggs


Carrying the full eggs around the house


Dying Easter Eggs!


Adding her egg for the few seconds in one color....


and then onto the next color....


Sofia's finished eggs


All done with the egg dyeing


Starting the hunt with Peter the Cow


Checking out what's inside


Candy!

Sofia on the slide...

Here is Sofia on the slide after riding Thomas the Tank Engine. She spend nearly an hour sliding down this and had the best time!

Thomas the Train

On Saturday morning at 9am, the three of us headed to Grapevine to ride on Thomas the Tank Engine! It was a day that we've been talking about for a week and Sofia was very excited. When we first arrived, we had our picture taken with Thomas before boarding him and going for a 30 minute ride down and back on the train tracks, while listening to Thomas and Friends music. Since we don't watch the tv show and Sofia has only seen a handful of short clips on Youtube, she didn't really get into it since she didn't know the music. Plus, everyone was talking over the music, so it wasn't quite like Polar Express when we were directed to sing loudly along with the music (nothing like a someone telling you to get into the Christmas cheer!).

Anyway, Sofia loved it and it was a fun ride. However, the fun was just beginning as there was so much to do at the train depot!

Papa and Sofia in front of Thomas


Sofia checks out her Thomas the Tank Engine ticket


Clowning around with Papa


With Mommy


The three of us


Sofia hands her ticket to the ticket master to get it punched


After the train ride - pointing out James


One of Sofia's favorites - Emily!


Heading out to lunch after a fun day!

Thomas the Train 2

After riding on Thomas the Tank Engine, we got off and headed straight for the bounce house - it was all Sofia talked about the last 10 minutes of the train ride! "Can we go to the bounce house?" I think she asked us about 20 times! After spending some time in the bounce house, she then went down the slide that was attached to the bounce house and went down it forever! She was having so much fun and was careful to space herself out so that other kids would go down the slide and then she'd have the whole thing to herself. From the slide we went to the sandbox and Sofia played for awhile there before we headed over to the petting zoo.

When we first got to the petting zoo, she asked if the chickens would bite her since one bit her last time at the petting zoo in Ft Worth. All the animals were very friendly and she had a great time running around visiting with each one. From there we went to the model train exhibit, where she and her Papa watched the trains go around for awhile. After we'd done it all, we headed back to our car and out to lunch! It was such a fun morning and Sofia had a great time!

The bounce house - it was pretty chaotic, as you can tell!


On the slide! Sofia LOVED this and went down it about a million times!


The sandbox! Not sure where she wants to begin....


Playing


Looking up at Papa


Getting a Thomas tattoo


She also got a James tattoo on her other hand earlier


At the petting zoo - petting the colored pony


With the donkey


And the little pig


The sheep weren't very interesting (or interested)


Looking at the model train exhibit