Birthday parties

Kids birthday parties are so much fun!

Bubbles!

Sophia has learned to blow bubbles in the water, and loves to do it as long as you'll let her.

My little fishy.

Undies!

We went to pick out Sophia's first pair of undies.

She chose boy underpants, because she wanted the choo-choo trains.

No gender stereotypes for this girl!

Just playin'

We went to this cool library- they had so much to do.

Sophia's favorite part was the music room.

She loved pushing the babies in the stroller, and also dunking the basketball.

Eventually the baby doll got dunked as well.

Photo Crazy continues.

She LOVES this cute little tea set from Oma. When I get home from work, she whips it out and serves me play dough cookies.

She's so much fun.

Easter and March Recap

We have had a great Easter and a great March!
Before we 'hop' in to Easter pictures, here's a quick recap of our last month with Sophia.
Favorite moments this month:
-Let me introduce you: Sophia loves to introduce us to people "This is my mommy". Lately this has progressed one step further, and now she says "This is my mommy, her name is Lisa". Haha- I guess that's how I introduce her, so it's only fair.
-"Watch me!": She always is telling us to "watch me!" when she does something- jumping, twirling, dancing. etc. All the world is a stage?
-Onomatopoeia: Sophia is a big fan of sound effects. Her current favorites Kabonk! and Kaboom! It makes life interesting.
- Vocabularian: I know that's not a word, but it describes how fast she's picking up words and their meaning. One of her favorite books recently is 'Green Eggs and Ham'. We were reading it the other day, and she pointed at the main guy (the one who doesn't want to eat the eggs- he doesn't have a name) and said 'he's frustrated'. I was like, wow?! one- where did she get that, and then second- that she understood what it meant and when a character reflected it. Umm, my baby is a smarty pants.
- Water artists: she loves to paint with water by spilling/spitting her water on to the table and drawing in it. We're trying to help her learn to not spit out her water on the floor or table, but it is creative?
- Joker: Sophia loves to laugh, and love to make us laugh. She learned to tell one knock knock joke, that doesn't really make any sense, but she thinks it's hilarious- and tells it all. the. time.
"Knock, knock"
"Who's there?"
"Banana"
"Banana who?"
"Orange who! hahaha!"
I think it's a take on "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?"- but it's still funny to me!

- My friend: I love that she's my little buddy, and when she sits down, she tells me "you can sit next to me"- melt my heart, why don't you.
- Scared-y cat: she's developed a thing of saying anything that makes her feel uncomfortable "is scary". It's funny how all of the sudden she is very vocal in letting you know what that is- be it a dinosaur or the blender.
- A very merry Un-birthday!: Sophia has not had very many birthdays (only 2 to be exact) but apparently they've made an impact. Because now she always is singing "Happy Birthday" and will give me random things (like her leftover toast), and say "Happy Birthday Mommy!" Um, thanks? We'll have to work on gift giving.
All in all, she is a hoot, and more and more so each day!
On to Easter!

My little model Bunny

Here comes Sophie-cotton tail...

Cheating at the egg hunt.
Bad bunny.

 

Don't worry to much.
Once she figured out there was candy in the eggs, she stopped hunting altogether, and started eating.
Yep, that's my girl.

 

Daddy bunny showing Sophie how it's done.

Dye those eggs.

 

 

 

Sophie's Easter basket

Daddy's Easter basket

That's a great dress daddy...

....now for some chocolate for breakfast!

Admiring herself in the mirror in her Easter dress

I LOVE buying Easter dresses for her.
My pretty little girl.
These are the few minutes she'd keep on her headband.

 

 

Some afternoon sun- got to snap a few pictures

 

She's like a ray of sunshine in this dress.

 

 

Easter egg hunt with our friends before the traditional feast

We had so much fun- lots of ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, and chocolate.

I found her like this after everybody had left.

May your Easter be full of friends and candy-
and leave you passed out at the end of the day!

Potty Time!

We purposely haven't pushed potty training with Sophia, but just have been exposing her to it.

We got this potty a while ago, and let her sit on it in the morning and before her bath at night- but she's never done anything on it.

She also loves the movie 'Elmo's Potty Time' and this potty book. 

So she's known what is expected, and was excited about it.

And today it paid off!

We were so excited and called up Oma and Grandma right away!

Way to go my big girl!

You never thought bodily functions could be this exciting.

Little Green Monster

I make a green smoothie every morning for breakfast, and she's a fan.

I also drink it from a large mason jar, whose mouth is about the size of her face.

(hence the juice on the forehead)

Drink your veggies!

What a real Super Hero looks like.

I've never loved Rick more than seeing him as the amazing father he is.

He's her hero.

He's my hero.

Hand holdin'

Sophia and her little buddy Finn. They hug every time they meet. Have kissed! (Whoa there tiger!) And walk around holding hands. Too cute.

My little yoda

My best friend gave us this when Sophia was little, and she is just now starting to appreciate how awesome it is.
We are her parents. She will be a nerd and love Star Wars, and be awesome because of it.

It's okay...

Feeling angry/betrayed/depressed by more snow this morning. 

Then I saw this happy little girl- despite the snow.

Maybe she just doesn't know better (she has yet to live in California for a Winter), but it made me feel like it will be okay.

The Book of Mormon

We've been wanting to see this for sooo long! And it toured through Detroit!

It was crude, rude, hilarious (what else would you expect from the creators of South Park?) and actually quite touching in some ways.

I don't know why non-Mormons would even be interested in it- I don't think you'd get half of the jokes! I don't know the last time I laughed so hard.

Just from the point of view of a Mormon- it has absolutely nothing against Mormons. In fact, it portrays them as overly nice and naive people, who are just trying to help- and in fact do. I think that is kind of spot on. It pokes fun at a lot of our peculiar doctrine (umm, can you blame them?), but in the end the message is- who cares what the 'story' is, or if it's true- if it makes people happier, then it is good.

I really loved it.

Not to mention, the music is just plain catchy.

The ONE picture I have of us with some of our very best friends/ kindred spirits here in Michigan. Loved that we didn't even have to ask each other if we were going to see "The Book of Mormon" - it was a given.

Cousins

One more reason FaceTime is so great.

Peek-a-boo!

Rick and Sophia playing Peek-a-boo on FaceTime.

We usually FaceTime with Rick every morning (he leaves at 5am)- she loves it!

And she's kind of addicted to the iPad. 

At least we try and do smart things on it?

Kid crack, I tell you.

I know I could have just left her in the apple store, gone shopping, and she'd be there still when I got back.

I don't like vacuuming...

Sophia doesn't like it when I vacuum. She says it's "too loud". So in non-violent protest, she lays there and clings to her blanket.

Jumping!

This seemed easier than going to a gymnastics place.