Sofia and Grandpa Joe
So cute together!!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Grandpa Joe Visits
Sofia's Grandpa Joe visited us over Sofia's birthday party weekend and we had such a fun time with him here. Of course, he pretty much had a little shadow named Sofia following him everywhere he went and she probably talked his ear off too. it was fantastic that he was able to make it for Sofia's birthday party, but It was really terrific to spend the weekend together and just catch up and talk. He and Sofia had fun together and we hope to be able to visit him in California once we get used to having a baby around the house again. As much fun as we had together, I'm pretty sure he was ready to escape the Texas heat by the time Monday arrived! Next time we'll have to host Sofia's birthday in May when the weather is perfect here! Either way, we're hoping for regular visits both here and in California.
Sofia and Grandpa Joe
So cute together!!
Sofia and Grandpa Joe
So cute together!!
Sofia's Birthday Party
On Saturday July 30th we celebrated Sofia's birthday with her friends at Sunbelt Gymnastics. We'd considered hosting another pool party this year, but figured it would be horribly hot (it was) and being pregnant and setting and cleaning up a party sounded pretty exhausting to me. Sunbelt ended up being such a great decision because the ladies who ran the event literally took care of everything for us! Of course, I'd decided to make a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting from scratch and so that was the hardest part of the entire day. Thankfully, CK helped by making the frosting and frosting the cakes - we made two since we were afraid we wouldn't have enough for the 17 kids and parents expected. It was fun to bake and assemble the cakes and then decorate them for her big day. Sofia loves ladybugs and so I found a red VW bug and painted it with black nail polish so it looked like a lady bug. Then I added chocolate rocks and licorice sticks as a road for the ladybug car. I also had a "Happy 4th Birthday, Sofia" sign held by a ladybug on the other cake. It turned out cute and also tasted pretty good.
Grandpa Joe and CK headed out to get Sofia's birthday balloons while Sofia and I went to Sunbelt to set up. Sofia's friends arrived and the kids were taken onto the gymnastics floor while the parents were sent upstairs to the observation room that was set up as the party. It was great! The parents were able to socialize upstairs and watch while the kids were led by four instructors (in two groups) through the gymnastics. Several of my friends have new infants and they were so happy not to have to chase after their older kids at the party. It really was a fun event for the parents too.
The gymnastics lasted over an hour, at which point the instructors led the kids upstairs to the birthday tables. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Sofia, she blew out her candles - by herself! - and then everyone was handed a piece of cake and a drink. After Sofia was done with her cake, the instructors pulled her into the center of the room and she started opening gifts. We'd debated whether she should open presents at the party or at home, since she really enjoys opening and playing with each present, but we're glad we did it at the party since she had so many gifts and it was great to get them opened! It would literally have taken days at home. The best part was that CK and I only had to take pictures and enjoy the party! After the presents were open, we thanked all of our guests and headed home. It was a great birthday party!
Frosting the cake - Sofia's a huge help cleaning the beater, of course!
Yum!
Opening her present from Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Jay, Chandler and Jillian!
Setting up and playing with her new kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa! She loves the phone attached to the side!
Looking at her cake - she hadn't seen the decorations yet.
The fun begins!
Weee! Sofia LOVED this!
The Ladybug car
The "Happy 4th Birthday, Sofia" cake
Making a wish!
The party in full swing
The Happy Birthday gal!
Opening presents
and even more presents....
The group photo
Eating BBQ that night with Grandpa Joe and Papa at the Hart 8 BBQ - delicious!
Grandpa Joe and CK headed out to get Sofia's birthday balloons while Sofia and I went to Sunbelt to set up. Sofia's friends arrived and the kids were taken onto the gymnastics floor while the parents were sent upstairs to the observation room that was set up as the party. It was great! The parents were able to socialize upstairs and watch while the kids were led by four instructors (in two groups) through the gymnastics. Several of my friends have new infants and they were so happy not to have to chase after their older kids at the party. It really was a fun event for the parents too.
The gymnastics lasted over an hour, at which point the instructors led the kids upstairs to the birthday tables. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Sofia, she blew out her candles - by herself! - and then everyone was handed a piece of cake and a drink. After Sofia was done with her cake, the instructors pulled her into the center of the room and she started opening gifts. We'd debated whether she should open presents at the party or at home, since she really enjoys opening and playing with each present, but we're glad we did it at the party since she had so many gifts and it was great to get them opened! It would literally have taken days at home. The best part was that CK and I only had to take pictures and enjoy the party! After the presents were open, we thanked all of our guests and headed home. It was a great birthday party!
Frosting the cake - Sofia's a huge help cleaning the beater, of course!
Yum!
Opening her present from Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Jay, Chandler and Jillian!
Setting up and playing with her new kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa! She loves the phone attached to the side!
Looking at her cake - she hadn't seen the decorations yet.
The fun begins!
Weee! Sofia LOVED this!
The Ladybug car
The "Happy 4th Birthday, Sofia" cake
Making a wish!
The party in full swing
The Happy Birthday gal!
Opening presents
and even more presents....
The group photo
Eating BBQ that night with Grandpa Joe and Papa at the Hart 8 BBQ - delicious!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Our little Fish!
This summer Sofia has become quite the fish! We swim nearly every evening and she's become very comfortable in the water and can swim from one end of the pool to the other without taking a breath. Her latest is that she likes to dive down and swim right along the bottom of the pool and then come up to the surface right at the last second before the stairs or swim shelf. She also enjoys throwing the dive rings and collecting them from the bottom. She's become pretty good at doing a forward roll under the water too and she and CK have countless hours of fun in the water together. I enjoy swimming with her too, but CK and she have their own little tricks and fun together. Here is a video of Sofia with her new fins on swimming at the bottom of the pool. She swims particularly fast with her fins on!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Sofia at 4!
Our little girl sure is growing up, and it seems that she changes every few days into a more "grown up" little girl. She's so much fun to be around and CK and I always remark at how happy she is and how much she enjoys whatever it is that she does. I was concerned that of all of her activities she's participated in, she hasn't really picked a favorite or even voiced how much she enjoys doing any specific thing, but she literally just enjoys it all.
Although she's growing up so quickly, she's certainly still a creative toddler who absolutely loves making up stories or living within her own world, but also knows that her stuffed animals aren't real. She still spends hours pushing her Thomas trains around the wooden track while making up some elaborate story about what they are doing, where they are going, etc. She also will crawl around on all fours (even up and down the stairs) when she's a "frog," "puppy," "horse," or any other animal that she so often is. Of course, I'm then "Mommy animal" to whatever she's acting out at the time. Her other favorite animal is "baby duck" which she'll often play that she's in an egg (she'll use a blanket as the shell), and I have to "hatch" her out of it and then she's a baby duck who follows me (mommy duck) around.
Since watching the Royal Wedding a few months back, she also remains very interested in the "prince" and "princess" and often wonders when we hear bells tolling if that means another prince and princess are getting married. She will always point out the photos of the prince and princess on the magazine covers at the grocery store and loves looking through them.
For months she's been in love with "Beetle Bugs" (Volkswagon Bugs) and will point them out as we drive or even when one is parked in a parking lot She's got incredible vision for her Beetle Bugs! On the rare occasion that we see an original bug, she'll point it out but then say "That's an old one." She also will point out every Jeep Cherokee that resembles ours and call it "our car" or any car that looks like CK's and say "Papa's car." She's very observant of these three types which is pretty interesting.
She went through a phase recently where she had a favorite dress and would want to wear it over and over for days. Luckily the favorite dress changed each week so we could actually launder it, but now that she has a whole rack of dresses that she can pick from she doesn't seem to have a favorite that she wants to wear over and over. For months now she'll only wear dresses, which makes sense since it's so hot here and dresses are comfortable. I wonder how long that will last once it gets cooler outside.
She's still very excited about "baby sister" and gives my belly lots of hugs and kisses each day. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday a few weeks before, she said she only wanted her baby sister to come out so she could play with her! She also has asked if she can crawl down my throat and play with baby sister. Other times, she asks what baby sister is doing - whether she's sleeping or moving around or eating...it's very cute and I love how interested she is.
Our big girl at 4!
With all of her animals
Although she's growing up so quickly, she's certainly still a creative toddler who absolutely loves making up stories or living within her own world, but also knows that her stuffed animals aren't real. She still spends hours pushing her Thomas trains around the wooden track while making up some elaborate story about what they are doing, where they are going, etc. She also will crawl around on all fours (even up and down the stairs) when she's a "frog," "puppy," "horse," or any other animal that she so often is. Of course, I'm then "Mommy animal" to whatever she's acting out at the time. Her other favorite animal is "baby duck" which she'll often play that she's in an egg (she'll use a blanket as the shell), and I have to "hatch" her out of it and then she's a baby duck who follows me (mommy duck) around.
Since watching the Royal Wedding a few months back, she also remains very interested in the "prince" and "princess" and often wonders when we hear bells tolling if that means another prince and princess are getting married. She will always point out the photos of the prince and princess on the magazine covers at the grocery store and loves looking through them.
For months she's been in love with "Beetle Bugs" (Volkswagon Bugs) and will point them out as we drive or even when one is parked in a parking lot She's got incredible vision for her Beetle Bugs! On the rare occasion that we see an original bug, she'll point it out but then say "That's an old one." She also will point out every Jeep Cherokee that resembles ours and call it "our car" or any car that looks like CK's and say "Papa's car." She's very observant of these three types which is pretty interesting.
She went through a phase recently where she had a favorite dress and would want to wear it over and over for days. Luckily the favorite dress changed each week so we could actually launder it, but now that she has a whole rack of dresses that she can pick from she doesn't seem to have a favorite that she wants to wear over and over. For months now she'll only wear dresses, which makes sense since it's so hot here and dresses are comfortable. I wonder how long that will last once it gets cooler outside.
She's still very excited about "baby sister" and gives my belly lots of hugs and kisses each day. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday a few weeks before, she said she only wanted her baby sister to come out so she could play with her! She also has asked if she can crawl down my throat and play with baby sister. Other times, she asks what baby sister is doing - whether she's sleeping or moving around or eating...it's very cute and I love how interested she is.
Our big girl at 4!
With all of her animals
Sofia's Fourth Birthday!
Sofia's big 4th birthday was a day all about what she wanted to do. Lately she's become a fan of either pancakes or french toast for breakfast (who can blame her, right?!). So, her morning started off with french toast and milk followed by a few hours of playing with trains and toys. Then we headed to my weekly prenatal yoga class (I guess the day wasn't completely about her), where she plays in a little play room while I'm in class. After, we headed home to meet Ms. Megan, Sofia's long-term sitter, who wanted to give Sofia her gift. Ms. Megan gave Sofia her very first birthday present - a Thomas Train Rescue from Misty Island set! She LOVED it - big surprise! So, we ended up setting it up and Sofia played with her Misty Island set for over an hour before I finally convinced her that it would be a perfect time to go to Rainforest Cafe for lunch. By the time we arrived, the wait for Rainforest Cafe was nearly an hour! So, we put our name in and then took the train ride around the mall. Sofia loved waving to everyone as we went along and especially liked each time the train tooted it's horn.
We enjoyed the whole Rainforest Cafe experience and even sat next to where it "rains" and we had to visit the elephants before we left. We headed home and Sofia's Papa got home shortly after we did and brought her a very cool gift - her very first snorkel set. Since our vacation to St. John, Sofia has been fascinated by the stories and pictures of the fish we saw and how we went scuba diving and snorkeling and CK has told her that next time she'll go with us. So, she was very excited and they raced to get their suits on for a swim and to test out her new snorkel! She got the concept immediately and especially loved using the fins which allowed her to rocket across the pool! We enjoyed the pool together (and a little bit of cooling off) before we got out for dinner.
I'd asked Sofia what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she said "grilled cheese and broccoli," so that's what I made her. After we'd had dinner, CK and I sang Sofia "Happy Birthday" while presenting her with her birthday cupcake! The cupcake was chocolate with a frog made of green icing on top - she loved it! I think she had a very fun and special day for her big 4th birthday!
Birthday Breakfast - French Toast and milk -yum!
Opening her very first present - the Thomas Train Rescue from Misty Island from Ms. Megan
Having fun on Misty Island
Riding the train while waiting for our table at Rainforest Cafe
Rainforest Cafe with her new friends - elephant, lizard and frog...
Posing with the Rainforest Frog
Proof that a four year old STILL sucks her thumb! She has been saying for weeks that she'd stop sucking her thumb once she turned four.....
Sofia's brand new snorkel set!!
Sofia and her mask and snorkel
Swimming with her new snorkel set
Our little fish! She could (and does) spend HOURS in the pool!
The three of us
Opening presents after dinner
Playing with her new horse stamp set from Sue, James and Maya
The BIG 4!
Her new outfit from Aunt Shirl and Uncle Steve
Happy Birthday Cupcake!
Made with VERY green frosting!
We enjoyed the whole Rainforest Cafe experience and even sat next to where it "rains" and we had to visit the elephants before we left. We headed home and Sofia's Papa got home shortly after we did and brought her a very cool gift - her very first snorkel set. Since our vacation to St. John, Sofia has been fascinated by the stories and pictures of the fish we saw and how we went scuba diving and snorkeling and CK has told her that next time she'll go with us. So, she was very excited and they raced to get their suits on for a swim and to test out her new snorkel! She got the concept immediately and especially loved using the fins which allowed her to rocket across the pool! We enjoyed the pool together (and a little bit of cooling off) before we got out for dinner.
I'd asked Sofia what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she said "grilled cheese and broccoli," so that's what I made her. After we'd had dinner, CK and I sang Sofia "Happy Birthday" while presenting her with her birthday cupcake! The cupcake was chocolate with a frog made of green icing on top - she loved it! I think she had a very fun and special day for her big 4th birthday!
Birthday Breakfast - French Toast and milk -yum!
Opening her very first present - the Thomas Train Rescue from Misty Island from Ms. Megan
Having fun on Misty Island
Riding the train while waiting for our table at Rainforest Cafe
Rainforest Cafe with her new friends - elephant, lizard and frog...
Posing with the Rainforest Frog
Proof that a four year old STILL sucks her thumb! She has been saying for weeks that she'd stop sucking her thumb once she turned four.....
Sofia's brand new snorkel set!!
Sofia and her mask and snorkel
Swimming with her new snorkel set
Our little fish! She could (and does) spend HOURS in the pool!
The three of us
Opening presents after dinner
Playing with her new horse stamp set from Sue, James and Maya
The BIG 4!
Her new outfit from Aunt Shirl and Uncle Steve
Happy Birthday Cupcake!
Made with VERY green frosting!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Sofia's "new" room
On Sunday July 24th, CK moved Sofia's bed up to her "new" room for her first night sleep upstairs. When we first started discussing which rooms Sofia and the new baby should sleep in, I originally suggested that the baby's room be upstairs, but CK wisely convinced me that having the baby in Sofia's room downstairs was easier and safer. So, we decided to move Sofia up to the larger of the two guest rooms and she wasn't that impressed with the decision to begin with. However, the more we talked about it she got more and more excited. Finally, she was ready to move upstairs once we repainted her new room. She originally asked that her room upstairs be pink, and we agreed that one pink room per house was enough, so I picked out a few sample colors that were a more gender-neutral blue-green-silver color that we thought would work in the baby's room. I painted a few sample squares on the wall and Sofia completely fell in love with one of the samples and kept saying she wanted it for her new room! Problem solved! So, we had her new room repainted in the blue-green-silver color she picked out and repainted the baby's room so the bead board bottom half of the room is now white and the top half of the walls are a a little brighter pink than before.
Along with the bed, we moved Sofia's books and most of her toys upstairs, but are waiting to pick out a book case to store all of her books (we need the baskets that are holding her books for the baby's room to hold diapers). So, Sunday night CK took Sofia upstairs after hugs and kisses and read her stories in her "new" room. She slept great that night and has since! She also goes upstairs every day to read and play and also whenever she needs to go potty. She's completely taken with her new room which is exciting and a lot easier than we expected!
PICTURES TO COME (once it's better organized).
Along with the bed, we moved Sofia's books and most of her toys upstairs, but are waiting to pick out a book case to store all of her books (we need the baskets that are holding her books for the baby's room to hold diapers). So, Sunday night CK took Sofia upstairs after hugs and kisses and read her stories in her "new" room. She slept great that night and has since! She also goes upstairs every day to read and play and also whenever she needs to go potty. She's completely taken with her new room which is exciting and a lot easier than we expected!
PICTURES TO COME (once it's better organized).
The Balloon Festival
On Saturday July 23rd we drove about an hour to Midlothian to watch the afternoon launch of hot air balloons in the DFW Summer Balloon Classic AirFest. We really wanted to watch the morning launch, but after we figured out we'd need to leave our house at 5:30am, we decided to go for the afternoon festivities instead. When we arrived we caught the last half of the air show taking place, which was interesting to watch. After it ended, we went into town for a quick Mexican dinner and returned just in time to watch several of the hot air balloons launch! Sofia loved it! She was so excited that we'd be watching hot air balloons and couldn't stop talking about it before and after we saw them launch. We stayed and watched the "balloon glow" at dusk before heading home. Although a very hot afternoon, it was worth the drive and fun to watch.
Sofia and her Papa near the runway
Watching the air show
Playing in the shade. Sofia found some shade under the wing of an airplane on display and played with her toys while we watched the air show.
The balloons filling up and getting ready to launch!
There they go!
Sofia really wants to go up in one....(so do I)!
Two more balloons in the air.
Getting ready for the "Balloon Glow"
With Mommy
The "Balloon Glow" which was really beautiful to watch. They fired up the balloons several times before it got dark.
Sofia and her Papa near the runway
Watching the air show
Playing in the shade. Sofia found some shade under the wing of an airplane on display and played with her toys while we watched the air show.
The balloons filling up and getting ready to launch!
There they go!
Sofia really wants to go up in one....(so do I)!
Two more balloons in the air.
Getting ready for the "Balloon Glow"
With Mommy
The "Balloon Glow" which was really beautiful to watch. They fired up the balloons several times before it got dark.
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