The Lee Family: Sofia at 7 Years Old!

Today our little girl turned seven! I can't believe it! As a little pre-birthday, I took her with me to Sparkle Nails to get a pedicure for her very first one. She wasn't completely sure what she thought and talked and wiggled her way through it. The ladies giving us the pedicure were completely entertained with her comments on the "ground grass" (the green foot scrub) and the "cheese" (orange foot cream) as well as her thoughts as her toenails were trimmed, filed and her feet scrubbed. She picked out a bright pink polish and the woman giving her the pedicure gave her a white flower on each big toe since it was her first pedicure. It was fun to do together and at the end she said it was fun.

Sofia is such a big girl and so much fun. She's now 50 1/2 inches tall (85%) and weighs 60 lbs (82%). She is tall so wears size 7/8 clothes and often that size skirt is too short. She wears a size 1 shoe. She absolutely loves to read and devours books. Once she starts reading a book, she'll spend hours sitting on the couch reading, will have her nose in a book while we drive somewhere, and then will read the book over several times over the next few weeks. She loves horses and pretends that she takes care of and rides her horse by sitting on my saddle on the saddle stand. She and Olivia will play for hours together and Sofia is very good at including Olivia (and telling her how the game will be played). She's a fun, happy girl who loves an adventure as much as she loves sitting at home reading or playing quietly. She's still very social with people she doesn't know and talks easily to adults, which I hope she always has that ability. Sofia loves Papa John's cheese pizza, grilled salmon, broccoli, grilled cheese sandwiches, pb&j sandwiches, apples, carrots, and BBQ chicken and ribs.

Since we just returned from California on Thursday, I didn't really plan on having a birthday party. We figured a trip to California is a big part of her present and as much as I love to host friends for a pool party, it's a lot of work and we feel like Sofia doesn't really need a ton of gifts every year. She gets plenty of gifts and experiences and plan to do a mid-summer pool party with cupcakes in a few weeks instead of hosting an actual birthday party for her.

So, this morning CK brought home donuts that the girls enjoyed before we headed to Meeting. Sofia picked the chocolate glazed donut with mini marshmallows on it. She also told us that she stayed up reading until midnight because she wanted to "see what it felt like to turn 7". She said it didn't feel any different and she still felt like she did when she was 6. Plus, she was so tired she went to sleep right after midnight. After Meeting we decided to have lunch at The Porch in Dallas and then visit the Perot Museum. The girls enjoyed playing on the frogs and splashing in the little river before heading in. The museum was really crowded and we were thankful to be members so we could walk right in without standing in the crazy long line. We started up on the top floor with the dinosaurs and worked our way down. We actually only made it to the gems and minerals before we decided to head home. It was already 2pm and we wanted to be sure Olivia got a bit of a nap. It's such a fun museum and there is so much to see and explore, I think we could visit a dozen times and still not see it all! The girls, especially Sofia, had a great time.

On our way home, we stopped at Market Street where I picked up the Frozen cake that Sofia picked out on Friday. Since we plan on just having a birthday celebration with the four of us, we asked that the cake be made into a 1/8 sheet so we don't have cake for the next few weeks. The cake is so cute and Sofia was super excited when she saw it (Olivia was asleep in her car seat). We returned home, Olivia woke up, and CK took the girls out for a swim. First, the girls played up in Sofia's room, reading stories and washing their horses. The girls swam and I joined them before we set up the table for dinner. CK asked Sofia what she'd most like for dinner on her birthday and she said "BBQ!!" So, CK picked up smoked chicken, ribs, macaroni and cheese, green beans and coleslaw from Feed Store. The girls dug in and ate more than we thought possible! Then, they swam for a bit longer before getting out for birthday cake and homemade vanilla ice cream CK made last night. It was delicious and Sofia loved it!

After baths it was time to open presents. As usual, Sofia got lots of great gifts and had a ball opening her presents. Since they were all sent in the mail, I wanted to wrap them this afternoon but Sofia wanted to help me. So, I wrapped the boxes and she added the tape. Who else wraps their own presents?? She got a Lego set and Lego Ideas Book from John and Lynn after playing with their kids' set in Santa Barbara. She got a horses stamp set and Herd Your Horses game from her Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Jay and family. Her grandparents sent her an adorable pj set and heart shirt as well as $50 to spend as she wants!! Sofia also got a handmade bracelet from her Mimi's best friend Kris (Olivia got one too). Kris made it and sent it to her because Sofia liked the one Kris made me, but we let her open it on her birthday. Finally, she opened the two gifts from us - a new scooter which she asked for a few months ago and horse lessons! I suggested horse lessons to CK yesterday and haven't really researched it, but figure thats something we can do together. She absolutely loves horses and horse camp so we'll try lessons and see how it goes.

Sofia and Olivia headed out front and rode on their scooters (Olivia on Sofia's old three-wheel one) and had fun before we put them to bed. What a fun birthday!

Ready for her first pedicure