Sofia's Kindergarden Photos

Today Sofia brought home her school pictures which were taken a few weeks ago. They turned out great, although I can't believe how grown up our girl looks! She absolutely loves school and I'm pretty sure recess, play centers, and lunch are her favorite, although we hear a lot about Mr. Pirkypile and her art class as well as music and P.E. Not entirely sure what they do during the rest of the day because Sofia never tells us, but I'm sure they are learning.

Every Tuesday the class has a "share reader" come in the morning and read stories. I've done this a few times and it's a lot of fun. Sofia has 16 kids in her class and her teacher, Mrs. Patterson is very sweet and kind. The night before Sofia gets to pick out a few of her favorite books that she'd like me to read to her class. At 10am, I read the stories to the class with Sofia sitting next to me. What's interesting about share reader time is that the girls sit on their chairs or on the floor and listen intently, sometimes raising their hand to ask a question, while the boys can barely sit still for 2 minutes and are constantly trying to poke the person next to them.

After I'm done reading, Sofia gets to leave class with me and get ready for lunch early. Then, we meet up with the rest of her class outside of the cafeteria and we go in together to eat lunch (yes, at 10:30am)!! As a parent in the cafeteria a lot of time is spent helping other kids open containers they can't manage and get things for them like utensils and ketchup. It's a lot of fun although I don't get much eaten usually. I always bring a PB&J or a container of sushi because the cafeteria food scares me. After lunch, I say goodbye to Sofia and watch all three kindergarden classes head out to the playground for 30 minutes of recess.

I really love how much Sofia is enjoying school, but I miss her a lot and feel like the day is way too long, especially when she's expected to come home and do homework! It just seems like they get enough time from 7:45am to 2:45pm to teach Sofia that I shouldn't need to spend up to 45 more minutes at home going over homework. She's a very good student, loves her teacher and classmates and loves learning so we can't complain too much!

Sofia's Field Trip

Sofia's very first field trip! The entire school's Kindergardeners (three classes of 18, so approximately 54 kids total) went on their first of two field trips. We went to the Hall's Pumpkin Farm and had the entire place to ourselves since it doesn't open to the public until 3pm. I went along as one of the chaperones, so Olivia stayed home with Ms. Megan. The kids started off going to the petting zoo where a few of them were lucky to touch a goat. Then, we went on the hay ride and fed the cows hot dog buns. A few of the kids were a little leery of the cow's tongues so some were able to get extra chances to feed the cows.

After, we headed to the corn maze where we would split into groups of four kids to one chaperone. I must confess, I'm not a fan of the corn maze on my own so the thought of having four kids to look after absolutely chilled my blood! What if we never made it out? My group included Sofia, Annabella, Riley and Erika. They all stayed together for the most part, but Riley kept crying whenever the girls wanted to go another way than he did. I tried to keep them together as well as I could but finally I just gave up and decided to stay behind them so no one was left behind. We did finally manage to fine the the maze's exit but the owners had to help us a little at the end.

After, each kiddo picked out a small pumpkin before getting back on the bus and heading to Parr Park where they ate their lunches and played. It was fun to watch how the kids played with each other. Two or three kids would play together before one would peal off and go elsewhere or play by themselves. After all the kids were tired out, they got back on the bus and headed back to school. What a fun day!

Getting on the bus at school

Petting the goat

Our little scarecrow

Annabella, Erika, Sofia and Allen

Playing in the hay house

Heading out to feed the cows

Feeding the cows

Back on the hay ride

The corn maze

Getting started!

A class picture on the tractor

Picking out their pumpkins!

Olivia at 14 months

Olivia continues to grow and develop and it seems like we see changes in her in a matter of days. She's 24.2 lbs and 30 inches long and still loves to eat just about anything and everything, except avocado and eggs. She's also not a fan of seafood or meats, although I can sneak chicken in on her at times. She loves any and all fruit and vegetables and especially loves cheese, crackers, yogurt and bananas. I'm convinced she's thinking Sofia's sole purpose is to entertain her and make her laugh and one of my favorite parts of the day is when we pick Sofia up and they are soon both laughing like crazy while I drive. They also like to play "hide and seek" in the evening with Sofia hiding from her and Olivia trying to shuffle after her as quickly as she can. At some point Sofia will show herself and Olivia will laugh uncontrollably. It's very sweet and Sofia is a great big sister.

One of Olivia's favorite things to do is to negotiate door thresholds and the slopes of our driveway and yard. She loves figuring out how to walk over uneven ground and is getting very good at it too. She also loves to open and close doors and is especially good at closing kitchen cabinets and any open doors, which is very helpful. We're thinking she may be CK's co-pilot since she's the first one to pick out airplanes and birds in the air. She'll pick up on an engine's noise and before we know it she's looking skyward and pointing out a plane. She also loves carrying and kicking her soccer ball around the house and will spend as much time as you have to give to play ball with her. Similar to Sofia at her age, she adores dogs and loves petting them and gets so excited when she sees one. She is also social and friendly and will often reach out to go to someone I'm talking to and spend as much time with them as they can hold a 24 lbs toddler.

Olivia's hair is certainly growing and she seems to have a lot more, especially in the back and can actually wear hair clips in her hair. She's pretty good at keeping it in her hair too, although she will end up pulling it out at some point usually. She has four molars that have joined her eight front teeth and is good at chewing up anything we give her.

Olivia is such a delightful and easy little girl and she's growing up so quickly!

Look at our big girl!

You can see all those teeth hiding in there.

Olivia's close up

Giving her doll a hug

Such a sweet girl

We took these at Sofia's Fall Festival about 10 days before Olivia turned 14 months. She loves playing with balls and it was so fun to watch her enjoy herself.

Visiting the Pumpkin Patch

Since yesterday was a holiday, CK was home so we decided to visit the pumpkin patch since this month seems to be filling up quickly and we're not sure when we'll get a chance to go as a family. We weren't the only ones with this idea, but it was a perfect time to go - it's starting to cool down and it felt like a perfect Fall day!

Once we arrived at the pumpkin patch, we stuck both girls in a wagon and headed into find the perfect pumpkins! Of course we stopped and took pictures of each of us with the girls, which we've done every year and also took a few photos of just the girls with the pumpkins. It's pretty hard to get them both still, looking and smiling! Olivia generally wants to keep moving and Sofia is then watching what Olivia is doing. But, we were able to get a few good pictures of them. After that, we walked around and visited the hay house, the play area, the character cut-outs and just enjoyed the patch. Sofia asked to do the corn maze, so she and CK did it and they finally found their way out after about 25 minutes! They said it was really well done with lots of dead ends and wrong ways. Sofia played on the play structure and climbed on the tractor tires and hay bales before we headed home. It was a great visit and both girls had a lot of fun.

On Wednesday afternoon, I met two girlfriends and their kids at the pumpkin patch again, since it's such a great place to play and have fun. Plus, we ended up not buying any pumpkins while we visited on Monday, so Sofia picked out two big pumpkins and two small pumpkins for each of us to carve.

In front of our house

Our sweet girl

Trying to corral Olivia is difficult...I have a lot of pictures like this.

At the pumpkin patch!

Our sweet girls!!

Sofia and Olivia with the pumpkins

Olivia!

CK and his girls!

Sofia, Olivia and me

Sofia

Our cowgirl, Sofia

Our other little cowgirl, Olivia

Olivia and pumpkins

CK and Sofia after the corn maze

Sofia playing on the hay bails on Wednesday afternoon

Our sweet girl!

Love this picture!!

Sofia and the pumpkins we bought....Olivia is making a run for it in the background.

Visiting New Orleans

On Thursday afternoon, we loaded up in the Baron and headed to New Orleans with the girls. Luckily, Sofia had a short day so we were able to leave at 1pm rather than after school, which would have put us into New Orleans pretty late. CK had a conference there and I looked forward to exploring the city with the girls by day and enjoying receptions and dinners at night while the girls stayed in our room with a sitter.

We arrived and got settled into our posh room at the Ritz Carlton, ordered the girls room service, and got ready for the first night's reception and dinner. The sitter who arrived was friendly and did a good job with them while we were gone. It was a bit nerve racking to leave them with a college student who we've never even seen before, but both girls didn't seem to mind and it all worked out. It was great to be out with CK and socialize with his colleagues.

Friday morning CK headed off to his conference while I loaded up the girls and headed to Cafe Du Monde! I must confess I don't love beignets but their cafe au lait is heavenly. We walked down Canal to catch the trolley (the Canal Street trolley is closed due to construction) and met a couple from St. Louis who were very friendly and were also going to Cafe Du Monde. So, we ended up going with them and ate with them, which was great fun. They just returned from a cruise and were leaving that afternoon and were very interesting folks.

I ordered beignets, a large cafe au lait, a hot chocolate (for Sofia) and milk (for Olivia). I was certain Sofia would gobble up the beignets and would dunk them into her chocolate milk and enjoy the perfect combination....however, she took one bite of a beignet and never touched it again! She focused on her hot chocolate and was perfectly happy! Olivia on the other hand, tasted her first beignet and squealed for more! I brought her a slice of banana bread that I'd made at home, so I was able to get most of her belly full before she wanted to eat every beignet in the place! Sofia had a bit of a fever that morning, so I don't know if that may have affected her lack of interest in beignets.

After our Cafe Du Monde experience, Sofia begged to go on a carriage ride, which we'd done about two years before when we visited. She actually remembered the mule's name too - Shine! We couldn't remember the driver's name, but we asked about Shine and he was apparently "at the farm"...not sure if that's code for something else or not, but we met all the other mules. So, we walked around Jackson Square and then took a carriage ride. Both girls enjoyed it, although neither had slept well the previous night so Olivia fell asleep on my lap within minutes and Sofia was nearly asleep by the time we got back.

Since both girls were tired and Sofia still had a little fever, we decided to return to the hotel, eat and take naps. It was a good first day exploring such a beautiful city! Sofia's favorites included the trolley ride, petting all of the mules and the carriage ride.

That night, the girls stayed with another sitter while CK and I went out to dinner at Antoine's restaurant which was outstanding! There is no lack of great food in New Orleans!

Walking down Canal Street

Watching beignets being made....highly recommend this after you've eaten. The color of the cooking oil isn't as appetizing beforehand.

Wonder how many he makes a day?

Sofia and her hot chocolate

Olivia's first bite of heaven

Jackson's Square

Sisters

Trying to be artsy

Meeting the mule that will take us on our tour (we couldn't remember his name). Olivia LOVED touching him!

Sofia and the mule

Sofia is ready to go!

Olivia approximately 5 minutes after the tour started

Lucy, our tour guide

Love this city!

Sofia's beloved trolley

Watching life on the Mississippi River go by

Heading back to the hotel with two tired gals