November in Our Yard

Sisters

messy house

Spin Spin Spin!

Here is a nice, long video of Sophie since videos are few and far between.

Love,
J

Sophie's Second Birthday

Today is Sophia's Second Birthday. (and her friend, Ana's 3rd birthday). I wanted to read her the Dr. Suess Birthday book this morning but, I couldn't find it! I'll have to keep looking and maybe read it to her tonight or tomorrow at her family party. We bought her a Radio Flyer red wagon for her birthday. Jason put it together last night and we put all her presents that have come in the mail in it so she would see it in the morning.

She really liked her wagon.
Here's some video of her coming downstairs to her wagon:

Then we got dressed and played in the wagon a little bit before leaving for our special day.

So then we went to story time for kids 4 and under at the Bounce zone. I thought she would love it because she just loves to bounce on the ball and jump on the bed and climb all over everything at the playground. I know she's shy around other kids but, I didn't expect this! She had a super melt down for story hour - she hated the yelling and the singing and dancing. Then she thought about having fun in the Bounce Zone but, decided to lay on the ground and scream and cry instead. for a good 15 minutes we tried to get her over it but, it was not happening. Here she is having her temper tantrum in the middle of Bounce Zone:

I felt so bad that I cried too. But, no one took a picture.
She did alright for the craft and snack part and watched a little of a movie they were playing. Then we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch which was a lot of fun. They gave her a balloon and a cow and a card and free ice cream. She climbed up in the play thingy with Lisa but, wouldn't do it alone. Lisa and Analise gave her a nice doggie with a doggie house for her birthday. Here's a few pictures and videos from chick-fil-a:









And finally at home before nap time:

Night Night Toys

We were playing with the sandbox in the back yard and she decided to put all her toys to bed. She was looking for a blanket so, I got her a face cloth to use and she went to town. So cute! My favorite part is when she says, "what's that?" about a toy and when I tell her it's an airplane, she goes, "vroom!" and flies it, ever so briefly, in the air before putting it to bed with the other toys. hehehe.

I Luff You, Daddy

I Luff You Daddy

No Mommy Help

Gardening w/ Sophie

Here are some gardening videos for you

Gardening w/ Sophie

Here are some gardening videos for you

This is Daddy blowing bubbles for the doggie and sophie. He's holding the wand up to the fan and letting it make tons of bubbles. Holly wants to eat the bubbles and Sophie wants to pop them.


Daddy bought Sophia some window markers that draw on and wash off the windows. Here's fifi drawing on the window. She wants to see herself on the camera not realizing i'm trying to record her. haha.


Here's sophie cleaning up her drawing. I showed her how to spray water out of the spray bottle and gave her some paper towels. she spent a good half hour spraying and wiping the window. Mommy's little helper. :)

We're Really Back now...

I had been having such trouble with YouTube that I gave up on the videos for a while. However, now that flickr allows video uploads and it happens to be very convenient, I should get caught up! Here are THREE cute videos of sophie outside that I have saved up.







Don't forget to check out her latest pictures on flickr too!

screwdriver & sidewalk chalk

House Tour

Here's the house where we stayed in Mexico. Presented by Sophie...
Part I:

Part II:

Airport to Mexico

Here we are at the airport at the butt-crack of dawn. We woke up at 3:30 am to get to there on time. Chris stayed up all night to drive us there which apparently is his regular schedule anyway. Sophie wanted to 'share' my breakfast sandwich - she took half of it and it was huge! very cute. The first part of the trip (3hrs to Dallas) was not easy because she was very tired and screamed in that way that only a toddler can, until she finally fell asleep in an adorable heap on my lap. (see flickr for pictures). She was pretty good for the second airplane ride, another 2 hours or so, with only a few shrieks and then she napped on the shuttle to the town... another 2 plus hours. All in all - I was impressed, yet again, with her tenacity and adaptability. I must admit that I felt like screaming a few times myself. It was a long and uncomfortable trip and I understood what was going on! She just went with it and didn't even know there was a reward for all the suffering. What a champ.

Table

Sophie eats lunch at the big table. She's sitting on a big book...

Jump

Sophie practices Jumping:

Sophie's first chocolate easter bunny

Sophie's first Chocolate Easter bunny:

Housework

Here are two videos of us doing housework... ;-)

Catch up Videos

Okay - so, the doctor gave me a miracle cure for nausea and I feel a million times better! Here are three videos from that I never put up...

Cute

Okay - this is not my kid but, it's really funny to me and cute. i have two videos to put up but, i'm telling you - it's hard to focus on stuff when everything is spinning and i feel like puking so, bare with me please. :)

Daddy & Sophie

Hi all. I'm super sick so, I'm really behind in blogs. I haven't left the house in a few days... ick. We have watched a lot of TV this week. Fifi is feeling better so, hopefully I'm next. If you haven't heard, I'm also building another human being again ;-) so, morning sickness is creeping in as this cold/flu is creeping out. Should be great in Mexico. I can't wait to get outside and run again. I'm convinced that my running is somehow going to take the edge off of the morning sickness. Anyway... enough about ME here's a video of my cute kid and her cute daddy.

what's so funny?

Turtle & Melon

Sophie has a little cold today so, she's quiet and cuddly. She's watching WETA kids all day and snuggling up with toys and mommy. We made a short video of her saying new words since we have been so bad about putting up videos lately. There will be more again soon :)

She learned how to jump yesterday so, we'll get that on video soon. One other funny story is that last week she was talking in her sleep! All was quiet and peaceful in her room when suddenly she said, "Book!" in her sleep... and that was it. no other sounds or movement! hahaha.

Brrrr

hi, bye, whyyyyy?

Baby Loves Disco

Wow! What a busy weekend.
Friday: Aunt Sandie & Uncle Reed came down for Mom's birthday and spent the day with us. We went out to lunch and watched a movie at Mom's house then we went out to dinner at 8pm (which is waaaay past Sophie's bedtime). she had a little trouble with the late night but, considering we were out until 10 or so, she did really really well. I was tired from training (and a little PMS) so, I think I did really well too considering ;-). She woke up at about 1:30am and went back to sleep fairly easily. I, however, did not. Daddy was awake with me for a long time but, even he fell asleep finally. I think I got to sleep at 5:30am. :-/ meh.
Saturday: She took an early nap and when she napped, we napped. Then when she got up we went to Baby Loves Disco (see video) with Jodi, Elliot, Noah, & Amanda.

From there, we went straight to Annapolis to meet Gigi for "coffee" which turned out to be a surprise shopping trip for me to Annapolis Pottery with a cool gift certificate. :) Sophie went home with Gigi to spend the night and we went out for my birthday celebration. We ate at the Chart House and went to Travis & Kristen's house to watch a movie. I was falling asleep so we went home and went to bed around 11:00. hehe - party on.
Sunday: Daddy and I slept until 10am because we could!! Then I got up and ran a few miles and we hung out together when I got back. We went to Annapolis and I got to go shopping for some new running stuff for my birthday and a new book from Border's. We walked around downtown Annapolis for a little while. Then we went to The Goldblatt's for my birthday celebration. We had dinner and yummy peanut butter, chocolate, ice cream cake for dessert. I got more running stuff for my birthday and we came home... fifi went right to sleep. whew! and I spent the rest of the night working on this video so, I hope it's okay. Some parts aren't very clear but, at least there's some music to listen to in between:

Daddy's Crazy

This video speaks for itself.

I May Be Little But, I've Got Big Plans

Today we went to the mall to see Kidsinger Jim play his guitar and sing. There were lots of other kiddies there. Sophie did not make any new friends but, she sure wasn't shy. She didn't dance for the video but, she did get her groove on for a few beats. ;-) After the 'concert' we picked Daddy up at school and took him out to lunch at the Roadhouse. Fifi had her first hot dog and her first ketchup. She liked the hot dog and she lovvvvvved the ketchup. She even put it on her pickle! I think she gets this from her Aunt Laura. ;-)
Here's a little idea of what it was like at the mall. The sound came out horrible so, I put one of Kidsinger Jim's songs over the audio:

Coffee & Walk

This morning we met Lisa and Anna at Caribou Coffee. It was very crowded so, Lisa and I had to sit at the kid's table. Then we went for a little walk around the shopping center and a little pond. We went into Marshalls and played with the toys and read some books and looked at a few grown up things. I forgot to take video again... Lisa had to go pick her other daughter up at preschool so, we took Holly for a walk someplace we'd never walked before on the other side of the street from our neighborhood. It was fun! We saw two trains go by. We picked up lots of pine cones and sweet gum balls. We put them in our pockets. Sophie said 'puhcuh' for pine cone and 'tuck' for stick. We saw some geese and quacked at them. We smelled the flowers and trees. We got a little wet and muddy. It was a very nice day outside. Here's some video of our walk.

Playgroup

We went to Friday morning playgroup with the Mom's Club this morning. We had so much fun that we forgot to take a picture or video. I brought my camera and everything. There were five other kids there. Two little girls about Sophie's age. Two really little kids (3 mos and 10mos) and one 3 yr old girl. All the mom's were really nice and all the kids were too! Everyone shared their toys and snacks. We had a few owies that made people cry and lots of hugs to make them better. Here is us "reading" a book together yesterday instead of play video. I will try to remember to take video next week of playgroup.

The Box

My birthday present from Jason came in a nice big box from amazon.com so, I gave it to Sophie to play in. We played with it all morning and all afternoon. We put stickers on it and we drew on it. We decorated the inside and out. :) We played peekaboo in it. We really didn't do much else today except laundry. she helped me put the clothes in the basket after I folded them. But, then she wanted to wear everything so, we put on a cute jacket and took a picture to get her mind off of all the other clothes. :) This is a picture of her in her green windbreaker & then a nice long video of the evolution of the box. Wonder what we'll do with the box tomorrow? :)

Finger Painting & Shopping

Finger Painting is fun.
This morning we went to Marshall's and Caribou coffee. Fifi is a lot of fun to go shopping with. We smelled all the different lotions and perfumes and looked at all the clothes and shoes. Sophie tried on a scarf. We bought grandma a birthday present and then we played with the toys they have for kids at Caribou coffee. We bought a gift card for our neighbor's birthday and one for ourselves because if you register your card online they give you a free $4 credit on the card. free coffee. yeah.

That is what she looked like before we left for Marshall's.
She ate really well today - spinach, mushrooms, garlic and green onions in her eggs this morning and a ton of fruit salad at the coffee shop.

While they work...

While most of the people I know were at work creating profit for someone and earning a paycheck...


we were at home creating other worlds with imagination, furniture and blankets. :)
We started with a simple card table and blanket and then it evolved to a much more sophisticated structure. hehehe.

Frutti Tutti

We went to the grocery store this morning and she was a good girl, as usual. We both have a little bit of a cold but, nothing to keep us down. She picked out her fruit and we had some when we got home. She has been a finicky eater for the last month so, I was happy to see her eating something besides crackers, apples, chicken and peanuts today. She actually took the fruit out of the bag when we got home and asked for it. woot woot. Now if she'll ask for broccoli when she wakes up from her nap we'll be golden! ;-) It's too cold to go outside and play today! Hope it warms up soon.
Here's my cutie fruity tutti:

Thursday

Today was a slow day. Sophie napped early and long today. I read and meditated while she napped. I stayed in my pj's all day. We basically just played and ran around the house. She was a little moody today and I was a little lazy so, we made a fine pair. She got better at the shapes today which you can see in the second quick video. Here she is running around upstairs and hugging her giant teddy bear. What a sweetie.

Circle, Square, Triangle...

Sophia is really getting which shapes go in which holes in her shape bucket. She actually got them all by herself a couple times today. Here's my little genius putting shapes in the bucket.

New Clothes

Sophia is wearing her new clothes from Grandma and Auntie Sandie today and carrying around her new Kitty Cat toy everywhere. She brought it to bed with her last night. She can do the zipper but, not the button or snap yet. Here are some beautiful pictures of her in one of her new outfits.

Holiday Weekend

I know I've slacked on putting up videos. It was a long weekend. Friday night, Sophie had her first overnight at Aunt Laura and Uncle Deke's house. So, Mommy & Daddy had a date night. We saw a movie (27 Dresses) and had dinner at Lemongrass (Thai restaurant). We also walked around the mall and went to the bookstore. We had a fantastic time. Saturday morning we met Gigi and finally got over to Homestead to buy some flowers & stuff. Fifi played with the frozen water in the pots outside. Then Sunday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Boyd's house to celebrate our Christmas. Sophie got lots of new clothes and cute toys! Here she is with a new fancy kitty cat toy.

Today is MLK day and daddy is playing with Sophie while mommy gets some napping done and updates the calendar and blog. He's going to go to the golf store and have lunch with is daddy in a little while. Then when he comes home I'll go to the gym.
Here's some video of me reading the end of "Green Eggs & Ham" to Sophia. Daddy wanted a better video. She does really get into it more than what you see here but, this is cute anyway.

Here's a little video from this morning. She wasn't very talkative or anything but, she's still adorable. See the roses in the background? Those are from date night. :)

Bath & Bed

Here's a little snippet of our bedtime routine :)

Back Yard Music Video

I had to take some extra video to make up for the few days of no video so there are two blog entries for today and here is a cute music video we made playing in our back yard.

Mr. Potato Head

We put away some clothes that don't fit her anymore this morning and we put on this baby bathrobe... made me laugh. I vacuumed while she picked things up off the floor for me to vacuum under. Then she helped me put daddy's socks in his drawer and put dirty laundry into the basket. We had a great time and she really likes helping. she can help me put spoons in the dishwasher too. But, life can't be all chores and no play so, we had a good time with her new toy that we bought yesterday. It's a classic. Mr. Potato Head! She is surprisingly good at putting the parts into those little holes. She tends to be very precise in details so, it makes sense. I put together a little video of Ms. Sophia building a Mr. Potato Head. :)

Dress Up

Fifi is being very independent today and yesterday she needed lots of reassurance. It’s so interesting to watch her figure out her world and I’m so glad I can make her feel safe and encourage her to explore. She’s a pro at going up and down the stairs now and I let her go up and play in her room alone a bit today just checking on her every 5-10 minutes. We played dress up this morning and my camera batteries weren’t working so, that’s a shame... She was putting on our socks and shoes and big shirts and we put funny things in our hair and I tickled her nose with the blush brush and put lip balm on our lips... It was pretty funny. I got these super cute barrettes that stay in her hair really well. I’m charging my batteries now so, pictures/video will come later in the day or tomorrow.

Yuckie & Happy

Sophie threw up today :( it was her first time since she was a baby :( she didn’t like it. We didn’t like it either.
We got up and had a nice peaceful morning getting ready to go to Homestead Gardens to meet Gigi & Aunt Laura for coffee and plant shopping. We were in the car and I thought she looked so cute I took this picture:

Then two seconds later as I was about to take another picture she started throwing up! I felt so bad. We turned around to go home and I climbed in the back seat with her to take off her very smelly, wet, pukey clothes because she kept motioning to get it off of her. She really did not like it at all. When we got home I just held her and let her cry and rest her head on my shoulder. Then we cleaned up the rest of the 'yuckie' and put pj's on. It wasn't too long before she felt better and was asking for food again. Then she was 'happy' again. Tonight she was brushing everyone's hair. We're just going to have some dinner and bath time and we'll probably read a story and then it will be bed time. :) Here's Sophie brushing everyone's hair and saying the two new words she learned today "Happy" & "Yucky":

Pig Tails!

OMG I finally got her to let me put her hair in pig tails and they stayed in and it looks so cute! haha. She slept through the night last night with only a few brief awakenings where she went right back to sleep on her own toward the early morning.
Okay - as I'm writing this she has taken the right pigtail out. so much for that. haha. This is a longer video than usual because she wasn't chasing me and tackling the camera like she usually does. hehe. Here is my cutie patotie:

Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes... and yabbie

We have been naming our body parts for a while now and I didn't realize that I never told her about her elbow until this morning. She was calling my elbow "Knee" which, if you ask me, is a really smart guess! Anyway, I told her it was her elbow and she was so darn cute when she said, "yaaabie" that I knew what the blog of the day would be immediately. :) Here she is naming and showing her body parts:

Sophie conquers the big hill...

Well, she slept through the night last night after we moved the night light from the hallway into her room. It could be that or it could be the new tooth I saw poking through today. Either way, we both feel happier and more well rested today. After her nap we went outside to walk around the neighborhood and stop by the swings for a quick ride. It looks windy and cold in the video but, it's actually hot outside. I learned a new trick with the video editor today so the movies might be getting fancy in the future.;-) In the beginning of this video she's making a sign that we haven't quite figured out what it means yet but she makes it when she hears a loud noise mostly. Anyway - here's our little walk to the neighborhood playground.

Love,
Sophie & Joey

Future Artist?

No sleep last night :( We're tired today. We had a nice morning and drew some pretty pictures with crayons. She's napping now. Hope she sleeps tonight!
Here's the future artist at work:

Night Night

We had a nice lazy Sunday today. We stayed in our PJs all day. We played and snacked and read books. She practiced going down the big stairs in our house today. She can go up and down "all by herself". Sophie has been back and forth about sleep these days. Tonight has been hard for her. She's starting to be afraid of noises and lights. I laid down with her for an hour and rubbed her head and we held hands. She would start to fall asleep and then jerk herself awake and take her paci out of her mouth to say 'mama' and then squeeze my hand. She cried out when car headlights came in the window. We gave her a bottle to put her back to sleep in her crib. Hope she's out through the night! I'm charging the batteries for the camera today so, no pictures or video. Here's a favorite picture of her though. We were at Homestead Gardens where they have a massive toy train set up and when the train went around the corner she did her "uh oh - where'd it go?" face just in time for the camera. SO cute:

Owie...

Today was a day of owies... This morning Sophie got her first big booboo right on her face :( she fell on a basket and cut her lip and nose. Mommy and Daddy felt really bad. She bounced back much faster than we did. We went out to David's Bridal to buy my bridesmaid dress for Haley's wedding and she fell in the parking lot (no booboos but, bruised pride I think) Despite the grueling physical demands of toddlerhood she is still very cheerful and fun-loving. I would say that she is a 'get over it' kind of girl. Here she is with her big owie:

Fun at the Playground

Today we took down all the Christmas decorations and put them back in storage. The tree will get recycled tomorrow. It was a really beautiful tree. We made a list of names of people who sent us Christmas cards and put it with the cards in the storage box and next year when we open the box to decorate we're going to see if we can remember who sent which cards. The person who guesses the most right gets to put the star on the tree. I don't think Sophia will play this year but, maybe a few years from now she'll be able to play! We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar before naptime today. After lunch we got ready to go to the playground and I couldn't find my shoes. I finally found them in the bathroom trash can. I wonder how they got there??? :) We took some video at the park today... it was super cold outside so we didn't stay too long and we had some hot chocolate when we got home. There are two videos - one at the park and one after the park so scroll down when you're done with the first one!

After the Park:

So Big

We had fun today. We cleaned out all the toys and put away 'baby toys' for the next baby. Organized all the 'big girl' toys we're keeping and then played! We made chocolate dipped strawberries and some vegetable purees. We're using them in some recipes from Deceptively Delicious - our new cookbook that sneaks extra veggies into kids' food! I got her to say 'poon' in the video once today but, you can't really hear how cute she says it. Then she did a few other cute party tricks for you today.
Here's another dose of sophia...