Catsup Part III: The Winterer

Well, this is the final update for today, and it'll get us caught up to February of 2011, so that's a good thing.

Now, I know that this is much abridged from the old style, but I do only have so long to do updates, and, well, the memory isn't as strong a year later.

The good thing is, now that I've broken the streak, and caught up, then I will be able to go to more detailed and frequent updates of the site.

Without further ado, here are the things that happened last winter (2010 - 2011)...

We begin with sad news. Sometime around Thanksgiving (I can't honestly remember exactly when it was) our cat Teddy had a stroke and passed away. Teddy was Sophie's friend the minute that we brought her home, and they were very close. That made it even harder to explain to Sophie what death was, and that Teddy was gone. We were plain with her, no lying, and after crying for a little while, she accepted it.
Every once in a while, she will want to pray for Teddy, or tells us that he's with God. She remembers him, but has accepted that he's not here anymore.



Here's a great picture of Teddy and Sophie hugging / playing. He was always good to her, and let her do just about anything, even carry him.



This is the last picture I have of Teddy, laying on the floor near the kitchen heating vent with his "brother", Puddin.



Buddy has always been a watcher over Sophie, but after Teddy passed away, he started playing with her more, and she with him.

Now, let's move toward celebratory stuff!



For the first time, this year, Stacy and Sophie made a Gingerbread House. While I helped a wee bit with the lattice on the roof, most of the house was made by the two girls, and it looked very nice.



Of course, Sophie got messy, as well as a sweet treat out of the whole thing. This house lasted for about four months before we got rid of it - very sturdy!



This Christmas Sophie got her usual haul, but we didn't take a lot of pictures of every single thing. Here is the Strawberry Shortcake house that she wanted, and Aunt Aunt got her a remote control Strawberry Shortcake car that Sophie plays with to this day.



Sophie got this home version of the Build-A-Bear Workshop bears from grandma and grandpa Johnsrud - she had a lot of fun putting it together!



Every year, we continue the tradition of our grandma Ziegler, and make Christmas cookies together as a family. Sophie loves helping with everything, so she digs in. Here, everyone is turning my admittedly dry (I'll get it right next year) peanut butter cookie dough into balls for peanut blossoms.



Sophie loves spreading the frosting on the sugar cookies, almost as much as dumping a *ton* of sprinkles on them afterward.



You have to keep your nubby clean!



And what does everyone love the most about Christmas cookies? Eating them, of course!



As she did last year, Sophie helped decorate our small Christmas tree.



Like we do every year, we had our immediate family (Stacy, Sophie, and me) gift opening on Christmas eve. We knew she'd like it, but we weer very happy that Sophie immediately started role playing with her McDonald's cash register - even telling us what they were out of after asking us what we want - very cute and funny.



Sophie and grandpa Orsund seem to be in cahoots here - I'm guessing that they gave Buddy some table food...



This is a book that grandma and grandpa Orsund gave Sophie for Christmas, which has a recorder so that you can recite the book, and the child can then replay it as if you are there reading to them. Pretty neat.



As I said earlier, Sophie wants to help / do everything, and loves to learn and try absolutely anything (well, except for foods that she "can't like").

I am slowly teaching her some simple cooking, and this time she is helping me make a Mexican lasagna...



And here she is proudly displaying the finished product.



Sophie got a Fisher Price doctor kit from grandma and grandpa Gabriel (just like the old ones) and Sophie decided that she was going to play doctor with her Zhu-Zhu pets.



And the shot "is going to hurt a lot"...



Stacy and I aren't outdoor people, by and large, but when the weather cooperated, I went out with Sophie so she could enjoy the classic wonder of winter in Minnesota.

Of course, the snow angel is a must.



And here Sophia is trudging though the back yard, next to some deer tracks.



This is a really nice picture of Sophia kissing her mommy. I really like the more candid look Stacy has here as well.



Sophie is famous for her looks, and she's been working on a few that make you bust out laughing. I believe this one is her coy look.



While playing checkers with me, she pulled this look out while literally saying, "Let me think."

She is too funny, and too cute.

Of course, that what keeps her alive - she *is* a four-year-old ;)

That's all for now, I plan on doing spring with the next post, and I might need one more to bring us into June.

Talk to everyone later!

Larry