Christmas pictures

Jim actually had the day off (for once!) so we decided to do a small family thing for Christmas in the morning, then Cirque had a party/end of North America tour celebration later in the afternoon. Sophie loved her presents from the grandparents! We celebrated by reading a passage from a prayer book over breakfast and tried teaching Sophie what Christmas is all about, not just presents. She didn't really understand any of it, except that we got to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. :]

Our tree, all four feet of it!:


















Her puzzle and books from the Lutzes.


















Her alphabet magnet toy and bracelets from the Mallorys.




































Her new hat to match her new jacket:


















After she was trying to put it on her doll:














Her absolute favorite thing to play with:


















In fact, she was so taken by the wrapping paper and bows, we still had two presents from us she never even opened.

Here are a few shots from the Cirque Christmas party. It was on the roof of a restaurant in South Beach. It was so hot and sunny that we just sat in the shade and talked the entire time. And drank mimosas. :]
Sophie, on the other hand, did not have such a grand time. She was soooo tiiiiiired and at the end she lost her pacifier over the edge of the building. Poor baby!

Not a fan of the big guy. I have no idea what Jim is doing in this one.














She got to wear a pretty dress that she picked out (that cost $4):


















Before, clapping during the speeches:


















After losing her paci forever but gaining a cozy skull cap (in 75 degree weather).


















Anyway, we came home, ordered a pizza (you know, like ya do) and watched "A Christmas Story" while Sophie slept. It was magical.

Twinkle Twinkle - by herself

I can't believe she knows ALL the words! She is so bright! I swear this will be the last time (for now) that I post vids of her singing.

More singing, but no Mommy this time...

Here is a medley of songs that Sophie likes, but this time Sophie is singing all by herself. Gosh, we love this little girl!

Yup. More singing.

She keeps getting better and better!

Part 1:



Part 2:

Merry Christmas!

Happy holidays to all!

Singing goofiness

Yup. More singing. She absolutely loves it. Once again, turn your volume down. If you don't, it may cause a neighborhood disturbance when the dogs start howling uncontrollably. These were taken last week during dinner. Her pitch is pretty good, for being two years old and all. She cracks me up!



I love it when she says "Good job!" in this one:

Birthday, with pictures!

The Monday before Sophie's birthday, we met Sasha (saxophone/clarinet/keyboards), his wife Olga, and his 1 1/2 year old Iris at a botanical garden, Pinecrest Gardens. Iris and Sophie adore each other! By the end of the day, they were holding hands and giving each other hugs. Sophie's favorite part was watching/stalking a bumblebee, petting the pigs (only) in the "petting zoo", swinging and going down the slides. She even talked about swinging today, that's how much she loved it! Then we shared lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, which I had never been to before. The Caesar salad was excellent and the Kahlua cheesecake was so rich that I had about three bites and Jim had the rest.

On Sophie's birthday, we had a small breakfast and couldn't wait to do presents and cupcakes! She got a cell phone toy, a Red Wings sweatshirt, and books that were recorded reading to Sophie from Grandpa and Grandma Mallory; a LeapFrog Tag junior reader and clothes from us; and special books for the reader from Grandpa and Grandma Lutz. I even made the special girl a special t-shirt to wear for her special day!

She looks just like my Mom in this one!




































LOVING her Little Mermaid cell phone
































CUPCAKES!




















































































Later in the day, we went to site for dinner. Jim put his makeup on and Sophie was interested, so we let her have some too!














I made 96 mini yellow and chocolate cupcakes to share with site. They put them out at intermission and Jim said they disappeared within minutes! I made the white and chocolate butter cream frostings myself, and the '2's are homemade marshmallow fondant that I used a cookie cutter for.


























































We would like to thank everyone for their gifts, thoughts, and well-wishes. We are truly blessed to have such a sweet, caring little girl in our lives. Thank you all for thinking that too! :]

HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY!

Well, the time has come. I must admit that Sophie is no longer a baby and is her own person.
We went from this (Day 1):














To this:














I both love and loathe this age. Every day her emotions take over. She has at least one fall-down-on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming-flailing-everything tantrum a day. And it's usually about something completely not important, about wearing pants or having her blanket. I'm not proud how I handle it sometimes, but overall I think I pass the test of a good parent. And the thing is, ten minutes later she wants you to read a book like nothing has happened. She still needs us to help her, but she's old enough to communicate that need to us. ("Help you," she says.) I LOVE that she can tell us if she wants more juice, if she needs a diaper change, if she wants to eat ("Hungry" she says), etc. She is excellent at using colors as adjectives ("big red truck"), making things plural ("One ear, two ears"), and using past tense ("It fell" or "I dropped it"). I am so proud of her! She still literally and figuratively needs to hold our hand , but she also can let go without fear. We're always going to "help you" whether or not she needs it! Overall, Sophie makes everything more beautiful. She opens our eyes to things we don't notice that are right in front of our faces. I'm so grateful she is in my life. She is my life.

I love the sound of her voice. I love her laughter. She loves when you sing and leave out words that she can fill in, and when you do the same with her books. She can spell her name and count to ten. She can say a few words in French and in German. I love her excitement for learning and knowing what things are called.

I also witnessed her playing pretend for the first time a few days ago. She was crawling on the ground saying, "Meow!" It was super cute! She is growing and blossoming into such an amazing girl, and I'm privileged to have her in my life. Happy birthday beautiful girl!

Twinkle, Twinkle again

Every day she gets better and better at singing it! Here she is watching her one twenty-minute video ("Your Baby can Read") of television she gets a day. She's REALLY into music and especially singing. She demands a song about every. three. minutes. And as soon as you're finished "Again." (Notice, it was NOT a question.) It's cute the first three (hundred) times. We make her say please, so it's not as obnoxious as it could be. Plus, it's not like she's asking for a certain cartoon character that is an explorer or a sponge that lives in a pineapple under the sea. Television is more about quality vs quantity. If she does watch television, it's high quality stuff. I'm not saying Spongebob or Dora is bad per se (I actually love Spongebob!) but she's not even two yet. When she's older (i.e. in about 10 years) and she wants to watch it, she can. Sorry, rant over! Let's get on with the cute shall we?

Twinkle, Twinkle AND special bonus

We were coming back from picking up the Christmas tree (all 4 feet of it! Woo!) and Sophie wanted a song. Again. Here is what we sang. Please remember to turn your volume down, as I sing like Yoko Ono.

Miami Seaquarium

Last week our friend Angie visited from Maine and we wanted to check out the Miami Seaquarium. It was super nice, with not a lot of people but a lot of marine life available to look at and interact with. The first thing we did was go watch the dolphins in the large central tank. We went upstairs to look at them, and one came right up to Sophie, squeaked at her and dove down under the water. I took too many pictures to upload individually, so here's a slideshow I put together. I think the sea turtles were my favorite of the day!



Also, when we saw the dolphin show, Jim decided to get a video on his iPhone. The baby crying at the end is indeed Sophie!




Oh and HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I am TRULY BLESSED!
PS and Happy Birthday, Mom!

Annual Leave

This two-week annual leave was spent driving from Calgary to Michigan (three full days) in crazy wind and snow/blizzard warnings. We spent a lot of time in the car, but Sophie was amazing, pretty much as always. The only time(s) she was fussy was when she needed her diaper changed.
































We went from Calgary, to North Dakota, through Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The only way to get to the Lower Peninsula is to cross the 5-mile Mackinaw Bridge. The wind was so gusty, trucks were banned from crossing. We decided to stop for dinner, and as we sat down we saw a line of trucks go past the restaurant. They were allowed to cross, but only going 20 mph.


















So that's why we didn't see any in Banff.









We made it to Mt Pleasant later that night, and had a wonderful time catching up with Jim's parents, professors and even getting a chance to swing dance! Sophie and Grandpa shared a special time looking at the big band, listening to the music, and dancing of course!




































We also went to the CMU football game to see and hear the Marching Chips play Lady Gaga and South Park! HA! It was pretty awesome and the band looked and sounded great! They had Sophie's full attention as soon as they started playing until the very last note. We were bummed we missed a tailgate hang put on by my brother- and sister-in law (and our nephew Brett, since he attends CMU now) because Sophie was sleeping, but Jim got to go so that was a plus. He said both the food and the conversation were excellent. I think the team lost, but I admit I don't go to games for the actual games. The marching band was playing that day, and there just happened to be a bunch of guys there that like to get in two lines and fall down for a while.

The next day, we drove to Lowell where we were welcomed by my parents and my relatives, many who have never met Sophie. We seem to never be in Michigan on the weekends, so it could never be arranged. It was fantastically loud and chaotic, but I'm so grateful that so many made the trek just for us, and especially for my parents who hosted the fête. And the food wasn't bad either!























Sophie and her cousin Eve, who happened to be a puppy dog that afternoon.















My cousin Stacy, with her two kids Alex and Abby (the little one) with my nieces Ivy and Eve.










By far Sophie's favorite part of Lowell would have to be the dogs! They L-O-V-E her!





Cuh-laaaaay













Stella Bella




















And Grandma and Grandpa too, of course!














Here is some randomly random cuteness.




































































Yup. Let's Go Red Wings!



















Playing the drums like a natural!










After that, it was two days to Chattanooga to spend time with Jon, Tina and Erin. Then another two days to Miami. So far so good. The apartments are nice, and the view isn't bad. We had a friend, Angie, from Blast! visit. She just left this morning, so now I can focus on getting this thing caught up! Here's the view from our balcony, overlooking Bay Biscayne.