Just Some Pictures Before We Go

Well, we are leaving for Virginia in a couple of hours, but I wanted to get these pictures from Sophies 3rd Birthday (and a few bonus ones) up for you all to see...

UPDATE! - I now have taken the time to res-sort and comment on the pictures! Yes, I'm posting again!

Sophie is a Dora Freak (and secondarily Diego and Kai-Lan) - so it was natural for her first "aware" birthday party to be a Dora party. We went all out, Dora plates, cups, napkins, cake, and a banner!

In the time-honored tradition of children everywhere, Sophie sneaks some frosting...

Here is the "Giggly" Kai-Lan doll that we got for her - it reminds us of how she looks when she does her big smile :) That's grandpa Ziegler looking on...

At this party, she was really figuring out presents, and this present had a bunch of different things in a bag big enough for her to fall in, and she almost did, trying to get the stuff on the bottom...

Sophie got her first Barbie, which she is showing off to her friend Jayden, as grandma and grandpa Ziegler watch...

When Sophie has stayed with grandma and grandpa Gabriel, she and grandpa share some super big marshmallows, so grandpa got her a big bag for home use...

Just a small portion of the pile o' presents...

Sophie had such genuine enthusiasm for everything she received (whether she knew what it was or not) - I hope she keeps that...

Giving grandpa Ziegler a big thank-you kiss...

Eating her lunch with her baby and grandpa Gabriel.

"How old are you?"

The previous evening, Stacy and I gave her the bulk of the presents from us (so it wouldn't be just a mom and dad fest with everyone else there).

I had been finding some awesome deals, and we got her a V-Smile learning system and a bunch of games so that she could get started with some other types of fun learning.

Sophie loves playing with hair, so we got her a set of hair toys...

She also gt her first Cabbage Patch Kid (we tried to get one that looked like her)...

Sophie's aunt-aunt gave her a couple of games that she already had, so I traded them in for something we knew Sophie would love - a play vacuum. Every time I vacuum, she wants to hold the handle and help - now she has one made just for her. The middle section pops off, and can be used like a dust-buster. She loves it! Thanks, aunt-aunt!

Another thing we've started, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me, is to get her started with Legos. Right now, she has all of the Dora and Kai Lan sets (actually Mega Bloks, but they work with Duplos) - and she loves to build and play with them. She's getting much better at stacking and arranging them, and she loves being able to play with her favorite characters too.



Grandma Orsund got her a couple of costumes, including this cowgirl outfit, which looks very cute on her...



See you later!

Larry

Catching Up - Dad and Daughter Weekend II, Silly Gril, and the Zoo!

Well, I apologize that it has been so long since the last post - we've been pretty busy...

I'm going to just unleash a ton of pictures here, with no real description, as I am extremely tired right now, but I want to get the pictures posted.

I may come back in here and edit the post with descriptions... we'll see...

I hope to dive back in with a full-on status report soon, but for now, I hope this satiates those clamoring for new stuff...

Saturday In The Park

It's been a very long time since my last post, but I thought I'd sneak one in about our first trip to the local park a couple of weeks ago...

We've been living here for over 5 years, and until two weeks ago, had never even thought about going to a park, but we finally did, and Sophie had a lot of fun!

A few days earlier, I was cleaning out the garage, and Sophie wanted to climb up on my yard tractor. Since it was in gear and I had the keys, I let her up there and she pretended to drive...



In ten years I'll be asking her to mow the lawn - we'll see how much she smiles about it then :)

Anyway, we went first to get Sophie's hair trimmed (you can see how long her bangs are in the above picture), then we hunted down Mark Park, which is about two miles from our house. They have a splash park there too (not pictured), but we were interested in the playground equipment...



This is the larger of the two main pieces, there are also two swing sets at the park.

Sophie on the bridge to the slide:



And here she's sliding down the aforementioned slide:



Like many playgrounds, a steering wheel attached for no particular reason is included:



Mommy helping Sophie up after coming down the big slide:



Sophie sliding down yet another slide:



And climbing a spiral ladder:

You can see from all of the pictures that Sophie loved the park. Next time we'll bring a swimsuit so she can play at the splash park.

It's also important to note that with very few exceptions, Sophie did all of the climbing and sliding completely unassisted. She's getting better coordinated every day, and playing like this definitely helps build more strength too!

Stacy should be popping in here in the next day or so to give a report of their trip to the local nursery, where Sophie fed some deer and pet some puppies!

Later!

Larry