Sofia at 111/2!

Today our girl is 11 1/2! She is growing up so fast and it sometimes feels like she grows over night. She is 5' 3/4" tall and weighs 111 pounds already! She wears girls size 16 clothes, mainly for her height and also wears a women's size 8 shoe! I can't believe how quickly she'll be a young lady and not just a little kid. She still loves to play and have fun and especially enjoys playing with Olivia and also roaming the neighborhood with Antonio and sometimes Brandon, although Brandon is getting a little too "mature" to be roaming around with such little kids. Usually it's just Sofia, Olivia and Antonio and maybe a few plastic swords or light sabers. She enjoys occasionally having a friend over and loves when Liam is free to come over and play. She really loves having Milani over or going over to her house, although that usually means they sit around playing MineCraft together! Since the summer, Sofia has really fallen in love with MineCraft and she and Olivia enjoy playing "hide and go seek" together in their "world." They also love playing My Little Pony together and also watching the MLP episodes. They love to build an elaborate storyline with all of their MLP figures. The story goes on through days.

Sofia is now in the middle of 6th grade, her first year of middle school, but seems to really be thriving and enjoying it. Every day after school, she jumps into the car and tells me about every period, how it went, what they are learning and any highlights (or low points) of the day. However, it is mostly always positive and she is happy with her day. She's befriended a girl who is new to the Aspire Program, named Carmel and she and Sofia have made fast friends. She sounds like a super witty and fun girl from the stories Sofia has told me and I keep telling her to get her phone number or give her mine so maybe she can come over one day. Thankfully, 6th grade seems to be an easier workload than 5th grade was for Sofia. She said it's partially because they have Wolf Time every day which helps give her time to work on homework or any unfinished work. She has math homework once a week which is usually due on Friday. We hired Hailey, our 16-year old neighbor to help with math problems and questions every week. She comes for an hour every Wednesday afternoon and she and Sofia go over that week's math homework together. It has helped Sofia tremendously. She enjoys all of her classes, although math is a little more difficult for her than the others. She really is doing well and has great grades in everything else. Her art teacher, Mrs. Lemmon is a little bit strict but she enjoys the class, although I think she's half afraid of the teacher. She's joined the ceramic club, which meets once a month. She really has enjoyed it a lot of wants to learn how to use a pottery wheel to throw bowls, etc. I'd love to teach her, if I can.

She will be going to Cotillon in a few weeks and I look forward to hearing what she thinks of that. So far school seems to be going well, other than the fact that she really misses having recess to decompress and socialize. She said they barely have time to switch classes, so she never has time to talk with her friends. She and Liam actually share their first three classes together, yet they hardly have time to talk. Lunch is also difficult since she can only socialize with kids that are within her lunch group. It's just a totally different world than it was in elementary school.

When she grows up she wants to be an author. She says she would most like to write books for kids or teenagers and would like to write science fiction books. Although she loves playing MineCraft on the computer and playing My Little Pony with her sister, she still really loves to read and has thankfully gotten off the "Warrior" series, which we were checking out from the library since there are over 80 books!

Her favorites include:

Breakfast: French Toast or egg and cheese English Muffin sandwich

Lunch: In-N-Out cheeseburger (with only onion, cheese and ketchup) or peanut butter and jelly (preferably on wheat)

Dinner: Spaghetti or flank steak

Vegetables: Radishes, carrots, bell peppers and sweet potatoes

Animal: Dragons, snakes, cats, and Griffins.

Books: The Unwanteds, or the Keeper of the Lost Cities series

Snack: Cheez-Itz

Show: My Little Pony

Movie: How To Train Your Dragon 1, 2 and hopefully 3!

Show Characters: Cadence, Twilight Sparkle, Muffins, Sunset Shimmer, Spike, Queen Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, Discord and Starlight Glimmer.

Movie Characters: Toothless, The light Fury, Hiccup, Astrid, and Stormfly. And of course the Sentinels.

School subject: Humanities


This sweet girl is 111/2! Such a beautiful girl!

With her best sister! They are very good friends and have so much fun together!

She loves reading to Olivia and will often put her to bed for us.

Sofia loves school and was named to A-B Honor Roll!

She loves cats and loves visiting the Casual Cat Cafe.

Hanging out with her 5th grade teacher, Ms. Hayes!

Our Cat Lover

Yesterday after school I took Sofia to visit the Casual Cat Cafe in Hurst. One of my friends posted on Facebook that she took her daughters and after I told Sofia about it, she was adamant that we go. The Casual Cat Cafe is actually a great idea. It is a cafe that offers coffee and snacks and for a small fee you can sit in a room with a bunch of cats that can be rescued. Most of them are strays and it's a great way to get a sense of a cat for adoption, if one was looking to adopt. The girls have begged to adopt a cat, but CK has explained that he is "allergic" to them. He's actually allergic to the idea of having a cat in our house. So, visiting the Casual Cat Cafe seemed like the perfect compromise. Olivia was over at Hannah's house for a playdate, so it was just Sofia and me. We arrived and I got a coffee and hung out at the table while Sofia played with all the cats. There were 15 cats in total and they all had their names on their name tags, so Sofia soon knew all of their names in a matter of minutes. One of the kitties, Sugar, was drawn to me and kept wanting my attention. She was a really sweet long-haired cat and I started rubbing her chin and soon she was purring. I called Sofia over and she felt a cat purr for the first time! She was totally amazed! I told her about our cat, Kitty, who purred so loud that you could hear her from across the room. We could feel Sugar purring but couldn't hear her.

Since it was a Thursday afternoon, we were the only ones at the Cafe except for one lady who said she visits the kitties nearly every day. Sofia pet all the cats and also played with them with the cat toys. We ended up staying until feeding time. The fifteen cats were so excited to get their dinner. She had a great time and didn't want to leave, or rather wanted to visit the Casual Cat Cafe every week. I do love her enthusiasm, although I don't see myself visiting weekly. The cats are all pretty cool, but I left feeling like I had enough cat hair on me to build our very own cat! Sofia is desperate to take Olivia with her next time and can't wait to show her all the cats and tell her their names. So, it looks like we will be visiting again at some point.

The cats are ready for us to come inside

Petting her first cat, who actually wanted Sofia to rub her belly

Sofia and I had a great laugh over this poster

Cuddling with the kitties

Playing with the cat toys

Feeding time! Fifteen cats were so happy to get their dinner.

I loe this t-shirt! So cute!

Goodbye Taos!

We woke up on Monday morning and headed to Michael's for breakfast. We'd told Yolanda that we didn't plan on having breakfast at the Inn because CK guaranteed us that the very best breakfast was at Michael's and we had to eat there before we headed home! We said goodbye to Yolanda and promised we'd be back. She's such an amazing lady who has led an incredibly interesting life. Kristy and I kept telling her that we'd love to spend a day having coffee with her and letting her tell us all her stories. We took our final photos by the Inn and then headed to Michael's. It was amazing! Kristy and I actually both had the same thing - the cheese and green chili omelette with avocado slices. It was SO good! It was also huge and impossible to eat even half of it. We both agreed that it was the best meal we'd had since we arrived at Taos and an excellent meal to end our trip on.

We headed to the airport and after waiting for it to be warmed up in the hanger, we loaded up and pointed for home. We were actually able to swing by Taos Clay, were I was hoping to check out some cool new tools, but they actually didn't have anything interesting. They did have some nice pieces from various artists, but most were very over-priced. I wanted to buy a bag of clay, but knew an added 50 pounds would be frowned up by CK. Next trip! We returned to the airport and headed for home. We actually made it home in record time and the flight was smooth and easy. Kristy slept most of the way and I finished my book. We were on the ground and heading home and I was ready to see the girls! We got home and realized that they really hadn't missed us at all, which was better than really missing, I guess. Although, Sofia actually asked if maybe we could go away again, since she wasn't ready to say goodbye to Miss Megan! Brother! That girl. The did both tell us how much they would love to go skiing in Taos next time. I do think they would have a great time, as long as they stayed warm. I can't imagine the level of complaining if they got too cold.

I realized I'd left my wallet in the airplane, so we loaded up and returned to the airport and then went out to dinner with the girls. It wasn't really how I envisioned the evening ending, but it was such a fun long weekend and at least I didn't lose my wallet like I thought I had at first. Such a fun long weekend and it was really so much fun traveling with Kristy and John. They are an easy couple to travel with and a lot of fun! We will have to plan another fun long weekend together.

The four of us outside of the Taos Country Inn

CK, Yolanda and me. Such a sweet lady.

The amazing cinnamon rolls at Michael's. We didn't have one, but should have!

Taos Clay!

Flying home....

Kristy snoozing.

Such a beautiful landscape!

CK and John in the front seats.

Olivia is ready to go skiing!

This was in Olivia's school folder a few days after we returned from Taos. It says "This hand belongs to Olivia Grace Lee and will someday ski in Taos." Love it!

Another Fun Day of Skiing!

We woke up on Sunday and headed out for another great day on the slopes. It was actually forecast to be colder and cloudy, but ended up being gorgeous and another perfect day. We made it to the slopes much earlier than we did the day before and decided to ski on the other side of the mountain. First, we headed to the very top of the mountain to buy shirts from the rescue dogs. There was a really terrible avalanche the day before we arrived that killed two skiers. I can't imagine how awful it would be to lose someone like that, or to be involved in an avalanche. We actually met one of the dogs who helped find the skiers, which is pretty amazing. Her name was Izzy and she is super sweet and shy. The ski patrol told us all of their rescue dogs were actually rescued and trained, which is pretty amazing. I'd imagine that there is a lot of laying around on couches for the dogs, but when they are needed they are crucial.

After we bought shirts, we headed down the mountain and started our day of skiing. It was so great and the snow conditions were perfect for our second day. We ended up lunching at the Whistlestop Cafe, located on the other side of the mountain. We had frito pie which was probably not great, yet tasted like the best food ever! In fact, I decided I needed to make it for the girls for dinner one night. I knew they would love it. After lunch, CK hung out on the chairs outside soaking up the sun! It really would have been great to sit outside and soak up the sun, but the afternoon was getting away from us and we headed back out for more skiing. My shins were absolutely killing me that morning but I moved my socks so that it became more comfortable. By 3pm it was actually starting to bother me again. John was really exhausted by 3pm and called it a day. We skied to the bottom of the run and he and CK hung out with a hot cocoa while Kristy and I took a few more runs. It was great skiing, but I could tell I was getting tired and started to worry about falling. I had fallen earlier in the day, but it wasn't too bad, but I was still so worried about falling and getting hurt. Kristy and I finished up around 4pm and joined the guys in their hot cocoa drinking. We peeked into the shops and bought the girls Taos t-shirts and Taos stickers.

We'd talked to the girls every day and they were having a great time with Megan. As fun as the weekend was, it really would be so much fun with them! We'll have to plan a spring break skiing trip with them.

We left the ski mountain and were a little sad to be leaving our skiing behind. Although I will say my shins probably couldn't handle any more skiing! It has been such a fun two days of skiing! I can't believe we haven't skied in all these years. We drove down the mountain and returned all of our rented equipment. Again, the owners were so super sweet and gave us a warm welcome and also gave us 50% off anything we wanted to buy. So, I found a dark red "Taos" ski sweater that is awesome and so comfortable. John bought a ski helmet. We told them we'd be back and I hope we are soon.

For our final evening in Taos, we ate at Orlando's which is a great local place that has excellent Mexican and New Mexican foods. We had a great meal and talked about our next trip together. We really wanted to watch the playoff games but we noticed there were really never any televisions in the restaurants we ate in, and Orlando's was no different. We pulled up the play-by-play on my phone and sort of watched it, although it was a bit odd way of "watching" the game. I really wanted Kansas City to beat New England, but of course, New England won! So frustrating! They always win. We headed back to the Inn and packed up and hung out for a bit until bed time.

On the lift together for a full day of skiing!

Izzy, the rescue dog.

Ready for our first run of the day!

CK and me!

Mountain Selfie!

View of the base from one of the runs

The ski run down...

CK and me on the ski lift

CK relaxing in the sun after a great lunch!

Another view!

Another ski lift photo!

Kristy and CK ready to go down the mountain!

Orlando's for dinner and the moon before the eclipse.

CK and me at dinner!