Gotcha Day! (1 Year Later)

Happy Gotcha Day!

It has been a whole year since we met Sophie for the first time...



Wow. I think back, and I am getting very close to crying. I love her so much - I always have!

I try to think about all of the changes all three of us have gone through in the last year - and as I sift through all of the memories, it just boggles my mind that so many things have happened in such a short time...

What will the next year bring?

...

And now, for something completely different...



I have one of Sophie's table and chair set in my office so she can color or play when I'm working in there, and a few days ago she decided to grab a couple of spare keyboards and play like she was typing. She had earlier set Elmo up on his own chair so she and he could color together.

On the same day, she was playing with he fishy puzzle, which has a bunch of fish with tacks in them, so that the included magnetic fishing pole can grab them. I think this is her favorite puzzle because it's not only a puzzle (which she loves) but she likes the fishing play mechanic as well.

She also plays with the fishing game we got her for Christmas for the same reason.

A week ago we got Sophie her first purse! It's a Hello Kitty, of course.

I can't believe how in one year she has really gone from the baby look to looking like a little person. Amazing.

Now that her hair is getting long enough (almost) we're trying to get Sophie used to having it pulled back, rather than the bowl look. Stacy put a headband in her hair, and she actually liked it (she hates it when we play with her hair - must get that from her mom). She looks so different with her hair pulled back!

Sophie's uncle Cory sent a valentines gift for Sophie - a nice doll and a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star book. She loves them both - thanks, Cory!

Tomorrow, Stacy and Sophie are going to a Princess Party at the local Christian book store. I'll see if I can get Stacy to not only take pictures, but to hop in and write about it!

Later!

Larry

January Update

Hi everyone!

We've been so busy lately, I haven't had much chance to post, but I've managed to find a few minutes tonight to get some new Sophie stuff up.

A week ago, it was warm enough again to play with Sophie outside - this time Stacy was home so she could take pictures. Here I am pulling Sophie in her sled up and down the driveway - she loves it!

A rare picture of Sophie and daddy together...

I have been building up a pile of snow everytime I clean the snow off of our driveway, and I finally got started digging out the inside of her fort...

So far, we have a nice throne for our princess...

So that's the fun we've been having in the snow!

Yesterday, Sophie got a very nice gift in the mail from her cousins Maddie and Jake:

They made a fish and ladybug for her - they are really nice, and it was very cool of Jake and Maddie to do that! Sophie loves them - thanks guys!

Well, time for me to kiss Sophie good night - see you all later!

Larry

Fun In The Snow

About a week ago, on one of the few days it's been warm enough that I feel comfortable letting her go outside, Sophie and I played out in the snow for about a half hour (until it got dark and colder)

Of course, I got Sophie all bundled up in her coat, snowsuit, hat, gloves, and boots...



The first order of business was to play with her new sled that she got for Christmas. I dragged her up and down the driveway a bunch of times both slow and fast. She loved it. I can't wait to go sledding with her for real!



I'd be a bad Minnesotan if I didn't teach her how to make snow angels! Not bad for her first one - okay, I moved her arms and legs to make it, but still...




Over the last few weeks we've had an average of two snowfalls greater then 4 inches per week, and all of that snow from our driveway I have been piling into a big hill on the far side of the garage (where we don't normally drive) so that Sophie and I can make a snow fort.

Unfortunately, the weather here has been cold - and I'm hesitant to take her out when the air temp is below 15 degrees (with wind chills near or below zero), so hopefully we'll have a warm snap soon and we can get that fort carved out.

Later!

Larry

Christmas 2008

Okay, so I'm a few days late - but here is the wonderful Christmas 2008 post!

To begin, we already had the big family Thanksgiving / Christmas celebration with Stacy's mom's family, so we now move onto last Tuesday evening, December 23rd...

We went over to Stacy's mom and step dad's house, and had a small get-together that was just for the five of us.

We had a good meal, and then it was time for presents.



It didn't take Sophie long to figure out the whole presents thing. She had previous experience both on her birthday, and at thanksgiving, but that was just a warm up for the next few days...



Sophie got a lot of nice gifts from Deb and Duane, and was especially thrilled with the last present, a sled!



Duane and I pulled her across the carpet several times (until we got tired) - she loved it.



It didn't take long for her to figure out just how much stuff she could get into her sled, so that she could drag it around herself...



We had a nice evening, and then went home so I could get sleep before work the next morning...

On Wednesday (December 24th - Christmas Eve) - I had to work a half day, and then we hopped in the van with my sister Allison, and I drove us all up to Aitkin (so close to the edge of the Earth you can see the dragons lurking) to see my mom and step-dad.

Again, we had a good meal, and then it was off to the presents! But first, Stacy and Allison took Sophie upstairs so that we could pretend the Santa had come with presents (the tree was pretty bare when we first got there.)

One of Sophie's first gifts was some dress-up stuff - a crown and earrings...




Now would be a good time to mention Sophie's unwrapping style. She tears a small piece off, then must give it to someone or set it carefully on the floor before tearing again. We had to keep egging her on to get her to get the paper off in any reasonable length of time - it was pretty funny.



Sophie got a nice porcelain doll with a music box, a "Moses basket" with stand, and a whole bunch of play kitchen stuff (to go with our big gift for her - the Rose Petal Cottage - see more on that below)

We left around 8PM, and headed home so that we could try and get Sophie's gifts from us all ready before Christmas morning.

Well, it took a lot longer than we thought it would to wrap all of Sophie's gifts and set up her play room withe the cottage and fort. We got to bed about 1:00 AM, and had to get up at a decent time so that we'd have time for our Christmas, as well as for me to make the meatballs for the Ziegler family celebration on Christmas afternoon.

We finally got out of bed around 8:45, and went downstairs to see what Santa brought Sophie this time!

By now, Sophie knew what presents were, and knew they were for her. She wasted very little time in digging in...

From us Sophie got an easel, a guitar, a Geo-Trax train set, a couple of kids games that we can play with her, and a mini mixer for her kitchen - which she had yet to see...

Which we set up down in her playroom...

The cottage is taller than she is, so it fits perfectly. She love playing house with us with all of her new stuff...

We also got her this modular fort from the people who make the Cranium games. It's kinda like the old putting blankets over living room furniture style, but modernized. She loves playing peek-a-boo in here.

All of this fun took us until after 11 AM, which put me wayyyyy behind on the meatball making.

Stacy gave Sophie a bath, and I cooked like mad. We were able to arrive at my step-sister's house only 30 minutes late.

We ate, and then came the presents, which were heavily focused on Sophie and her cousins Maddie and Jake...

Sophie got a set of twins, with a stroller and rocking seat, as well as some more play food and some bigger girl Legos (Duplo now, not the super big mega-blox).

Needless to say, she was very happy to get even more babies...

Here's Madison, Becky, Sophie, Steve, and Jake, posing together

Sophie also got some CDs, and the "Horton Hears a Who" DVD - so now we have a new movie to put into the van and listen too 500 times :)

Sophie has been working on playing catch with me and Stacy, and she needed to try some more playing with Grandpa...

We got home late in the afternoon, and crashed for basically the rest of the weekend...

Now we are a little more than a day away from the new year. 200i8 went by really fast!

I'm still working on the China DVD, but it will take some more time - there's a lot to do to make it coherent.

That's all for now - see you next year!

Larry

More Pictures Before Christmas

Well, things are getting crazy, what with Christmas coming up on us at light speed and me starting a new contracting job, so here's some more pictures from the last few weeks to get you through until right around the end of the month...

Her toy bag makes an excellent helmet...



Sophie LOVES pockets!



Playing Rock Band and eating prunes (prumes) - I don't think life could get much better for her...



It's fun to get the lint off of the couch...



Coloring on mommy...

Helping bring the dirty clothes downstairs...

And then helping us fold and hang the clean clothes up...

Visiting her new friend Baby Knox...

That's it for now, time for bed!

Larry

Trimming The Tree

Last night while I was doing a bunch of grocery shopping, Sophie helped Stacy get our small tree set up and trimmed.

As I wasn't present, I'll skip any commentary, but here are some great pictures that Stacy took:

Sophie's First Thanksgiving!

We survived Sophie's first Thanksgiving!

We drove out to Dawson, MN last weekend- where Stacy's mother's side of the family gathers for holidays - and had a combined Thanksgiving / Christmas.

Here is Stacy, her Grandmother Velva, Mother Deb, and the Sophinator...



Sophie is a weird kid - she makes going to bed a pretty unfun affair (like most kids her age) - but one of the games she has made up we call "Nie Nie" (short for "night night"). She'll lay on the couch or in this case, on a bed, and pat the pillow and ask us to go "Nie Nie" with her. Then you spend the next ten minutes playing modified peek-a-boo with her as she will wrap you in a blanket, and close her eyes, then try to catch you with your eyes open...



To save travel for the whole family, we combined Christmas and Thanksgiving into one event this year (finally) and Sophie got a lot of stuff that she loved, including two Cabbage Patch Kids, two Care Bears, and a new play cell phone.

Mommy helped her to unwrap the gifts, but already she's getting the hang of it...

It was a good holiday, until we went shopping...

We didn't do any early morning madness this year (what was there that was such a good deal? We couldn't find anything), but did drive into Watertown, SD to do some afternoon / evening shopping.

Sophie didn't want to be in any carts, and started throwing tantrums in every store. That meant that either Stacy or I had to take her out of the store and into the van right away and wait for the other person to get finished shopping.

Not exactly fun or relaxing.

It's been a while since I've had a chance to take a picture of Sophie at her most innocent (actually we may have been in China for the last one) - but We woke up Friday morning, and Sophie was dead to the world; flash photography, as well as the both of us talking at a normal level in the same room, didn't wake her up...

Normally she has over a dozen stuffed animals in bed with her (seriously) but for travel purposes, we whittled it down a little bit...

That's all for tonight - I've got more pictures queued up for the next post, hopefully tomorrow...

Larry