Grandparents Galore!

I'm still working through birthday pictures, and I'll try to be better about posting them more consistently. It's been crazy the last couple of weeks trying to get ready for the big move...only one more week!

Here are some pictures enjoying her birthday weekend with her grandparents who were able to come.







Do you think she had fun?!

After-Cake Play

I'm sorry it's been so long since the last post. As you can imagine, Ian and I have been incredibly busy preparing for our trip. My grandma Linda also came for a visit last weekend, so we just haven't had time to post more birthday pictures.

After cake, we took Sophie out to play with her new sprinkler. She loves playing in the water! And I know that there are a lot of these pictures, but I think that they were the best ones of the weekend!








Here, Aunt Heather is teaching Sophie that she can direct the water wherever she'd like:

In her mouth...
Or at everyone sitting on the porch watching her play...you should have seen everyone run!

We wrapped her up in her towel afterwards and called her "Burrito Baby." She insisted on walking around the yard like this:

Birthday Cake!

Sophie's Mickey Mouse birthday party was rounded out by a Mickey Mouse cake. As you can tell, it melted a little toward the bottom, but Sophie loved it anyways!

This is while we were singing the "Happy Birthday" song to her, which she loved so much, she made us sing it to her a few more times. All of us were happy to oblige! That night, over the monitor, we could hear her singing the song to herself in bed. ;-)

The little characters on the cogs actually moved. Here is Sophie trying to do it herself:

She started out with her fingers...

...but then decided it was too messy and used her fork. I'm not sure that using the fork solved the mess problem!

Mickey Mouse Birthday and Presents...

So, as I may have mentioned before, Sophie actually requested a Mickey Mouse birthday party, so I did what I could here in Kentucky. When she went down for her nap on her birthday, we decorated the dining room with Mickey Mouse banners, a table cloth and some balloons, as well as all the necessary plates, cups, and napkins. She was quite surprised and impressed when she saw it.

I have to say, though, the hit of the party for her was really some dip that Grandpa Fine bought. I couldn't get her away from it...


We also got some Mickey Mouse ears for Sophie, and we had some leftover for other party goers...

Here she is talking to Grandma Schmidt on the phone:

And finally, her presents. We asked that everyone give her money for her birthday so that we can buy her toys when we get to France, but we all know how grandparents and aunts and uncles are! So she had a few presents to open:

She got a cute pair of jeans from Grandma and Grandpa Wilson, which she insisted on putting on and wearing under her party dress. Oh well, this is the style in France, so maybe she's just ahead of the fashion curve!



This is a great little travel creativity pack from my aunt Chris. She loved that it was decorated with her name on it, and I've since had to hide it from her so she won't use everything up before the big trip!

Posing with her new SpongeBob game from Aunt Heather. Uncle Kyle and Uncle Matthew got her a travel-sized LeapPad to take with her, so now she has a couple of games to play.

She really got into opening the presents:

And she received a little travel bag from Grandma and Grandpa Fine. Big enough to actually pack things for her, but small enough that she can pull it behind her. This will be her carry-on full of toys and games for our long flight(s) to Strasbourg.


Thanks to everyone who gave her a gift or card! I'll post more tomorrow with the birthday cake...

Uncle Kyle's Birthday Visit

Uncle Kyle drove down from Wisconsin for a quick visit before he had to be at his next job in Pennsylvania the weekend before Sophie's birthday. His MO seemed to be to ply Sophie with sugar whenever possible!

He took her to Burger King one day, and here she is sporting her crown:

It was a little too big.


We also got Sophie's hair cut for the second time while Kyle (and Aunt Heather) were here. Her hair was getting long and scraggly, so we got it trimmed. Here's her before picture:

She was such a good girl in the big-girl chair:

Checking out her new 'do in the mirror:

Showing it off:
As a reward, Uncle Kyle took her to A&W (which shares its space with Long John Silver's) for an ice cream. She also received a sucker from the salon, so she was in heaven. Here's what we came up with to save her sucker while eating ice cream:

Uncle Kyle tried on the pirate hat:

Uncle Kyle also introduced Sophie to the joys of money. He gave her all of his change in his car, which was a considerable amount, and she spent a lot of time putting into her monkey bank, taking it out, and starting all over again.