Memorial Day Weekend

Aunt Martha & Sophie

close-up view of the meerkats

Matt, Martha & Sophie model their hats and sunglasses

Last weekend, we visited the zoo. It was pretty crowded since it was Memorial Day but the weather was great for it. I realized when I pulled up these pictures that we didn't really get any pictures of the animals. Oh, well. For some reason, Sophie really wanted to see the farm animals at the zoo this time. They do have a section with just farm animals so we did that. Sophie was really interested in the "sick" horse who was laying down in the barn. After our zoo trip, someone would ask her what animals she saw and what was her favorite. She would say, "the sick horse." We also went to the petting zoo where Sophie petted the goats and a llama. We enjoyed seeing many other animals. I wish that I had taken a picture of Abbie. She was there but much like her sister at this age on our trips to the zoo, she slept the entire time. It worked out great for us because we could enjoy seeing all of the animals. We didn't do too much Memorial Day weekend but we did get together with some of my mom's family for a cookout.

I'll try to get out some new pictures of Abbie soon and update you on her latest accomplishments. =)

New Playmate

Sophie & Anna Kate

One day this week, we went over to play at the McDonald's house. They're a family from our church who we've just gotten to know recently. Sophie and Anna Kate are only a few months apart. They have a baby, Will, who is about 8 months old so he and Abbie are close in age too. Anyways, I went to Lipscomb with both of their parents but we didn't really know each other. The girls had a good time overall. It's funny though how at 3 years old children can be so independent and opinionated about what they want to do. One of them would say, "do you want to play this?" and the other would say, "no." Too funny. They had a great time playing at the water table outside but they both wanted the pink cup. Thankfully, Lauren had 2 cups that the girls could play with. =) Also, the girls got soaked! They had some fun tossing water on each other as they tried to pour water into the funnel. I didn't bring extra clothes for Sophie so Lauren came to the rescue and let me borrow some of Anna Kate's clothes until Sophie's could dry off. Maybe I can learn my lesson on that one and keep some extra clothes in the car. We had a lot of fun!

Abbie's 4 months old and other happenings

Sophie & Matt after a quick bike ride (it started raining)

the girls

Abbie in her patriotic attire

Abbie in her swing

I just haven't found much time to blog lately. Abbie is 4 months old and we never know what her schedule is going to be. Sophie's out of school for the summer now so I'll have less time with just one of them home with me. Abbie's feeling a lot better now after her double ear infection. She smiles a lot and is sleeping much better. Sophie is enjoying being outdoors when it's possible to play on her new swingset, help out in the yard with watering the flowers and stuff or drawing on the sidewalk. Sophie has always enjoyed sidewalk chalk and recently I found some sidewalk paint that had been given to Sophie last year but never opened. She has been begging to do the sidewalk paint. Yesterday we went out and tried it and she loved it. Also, Matt took Sophie to the neighborhood swimming pool for the 1st time. Sophie sometimes takes a nap and sometimes doesn't. On the days that she doesn't get a nap, we are having a real "doozie" of a time with her because she falls apart late in the afternoon. Then, we have to put her to bed early. That's not all bad except that then she gets up really early (for us anyway). Sorry none of the pictures really go along with anything. Sophie loves to "love on" Abbie but Abbie is becoming more and more mobile now. She's been rolling front to back for a while now but she can also scoot while on her back or tummy now. She can almost roll from her back to her tummy. So, it won't be long until Abbie is getting into all of Sophie's stuff.

By the way, here are Abbie's stats: Weight: 15 lbs 1 oz (80th percentile), Height: 24 3/4 inches I may try Abbie on some rice cereal soon. Our pediatrician gave me the all clear on that if I want to try it. I didn't introduce cereal with Sophie until she was about 5 1/2 months but I'm all for trying it with Abbie if it would help her sleep a little bit better at night.

A Few More Pictures

Well, we had some pictures made of the girls together. I have been so excited about doing this for a long time. I've been able to picture them in matching dresses getting their pictures made for a while. Boy, it is not easy to get a good picture of both of them but we liked a couple of them. Both of the girls did great individually but Abbie doesn't last as long as Sophie does. Sophie's last day of Mother's Day Out is today. I'll have both girls home with me this summer. I've signed Sophie up for swimming lessons so hopefully that will be good. We also have a neighborhood pool and we'll do some travelling this summer.

Sophie's 3 year pictures

Well, I'm a little behind on blogging. I don't know where the time goes but we've managed to stay busy lately. Here's a few of my favorite pictures that we got of Sophie at Portrait Innovations. We had the girls pictures made there last weekend. Sophie is growing so fast! She's becoming such a big girl!

Doctor Visits

Well, I ended up taking both girls to the doctor on Wednesday but separately. (kinda crazy) Sophie had her 3 year check-up so I had already planned to take her. She had a good check-up. She's 37 1/2 inches tall (between the 50-75th percentiles) and 33 1/2 pounds (75th percentile). They did a vision screening and a hearing screen and she passed them both.

Then, I ended up taking Abbie in that afternoon while Matt stayed with Sophie. Abbie developed a cold a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like she was doing a lot better. Then, all of a sudden this week, she was crying almost constantly in the evenings and I couldn't get her happy! I'd get her to sleep and then she would immediately wake up crying, etc. I would have gone out of my mind because Matt was out of town but my parents came to the rescue. There's only so much crying I can deal with. I finally took her in Wednesday and found out that both of her ears were infected. Poor Abbie! At least I found out that there was a definite reason for all of the crying.

Here's a funny quote from Sophie. One evening, my parents were having dinner with us. We were eating hamburgers and fries. My dad was holding Abbie trying to keep her happy while he ate. We were laughing because we said that Abbie looked really interested in eating some "real" food. My dad said something about "Abbie sure does look like she'd like a bite out of this hamburger." Sophie lit into my dad and said very sternly while shaking her finger at him, "No, Paw-paw. Abbie not have any teeth. She can't have any food." It was so cute and funny. I had told her a few times that Abbie couldn't eat real food yet, etc and that we needed to be careful what was around her because she might put it into her mouth.

It's Party Time

Paula displays Sophie's birthday cake

Yum, doesn't that look good?

Sophie & her cousin, Grace, do some stickers

Abbie smiles at Aunt Martha

This year, Sophie wanted me to make her birthday cake. I said, "Are you sure?" I'm thinking, she does not know what she's asking or who she's asking. Well, anyway, it turned out OK. I baked a cake and made it into the shape of a butterfly. Matt and my mom helped me decorate it because that is really not my forte. The last two years, Publix has done a wonderful job providing us with Sophie's birthday cakes. I had seen this cake on the Easter M& M's package and it looked doable. I also baked some cupcakes. All in all, there were about 15 of us at Sophie's birthday party. We didn't do a good job getting everyone's picture but I think my sister did so we'll have to get copies of her pictures. =)

Sophie enjoyed playing with her cousin Grace and seeing several other family members. Abbie behaved very well during the party too! I can't believe that Sophie is 3. She got a little indoor basketball goal, a nice easel she can draw on, clothes, books and a few other things. Overall, she had a nice birthday! Her birthday's not totally over yet but I think it's going to be hard for her to come down from the birthday high of thinking every day she gets cupcakes or cookies. =)

Sophie's 3!

Here's Sophie on her birthday playing on her new swingset. We had beautiful weather for Sophie's birthday so we were able to go outside a lot.

Here's Abbie and Sophie

Sophie helped put sprinkles on the cupcakes for her party.

our family before Sophie's birthday party

Sophie just celebrated her 3rd birthday on Thursday. She's been so excited about it. On Friday, Nana made special rabbit shaped sugar cookies with blue icing (as Sophie's birthday drew closer she became more and more detailed about what kind of cookies she wanted). I was just going to go to Publix and buy some but Nana made these special cookies for Sophie to share with her class. Thanks, Nana!

This year, I decided that we would just have a family birthday party and invite all of Sophie's aunts and uncles that live in the area (which is quite a few). This is the first year that we've been in Nashville since Sophie's been born. We had the party at our home on Saturday and everyone had a nice time!

Got Any Doggie Treats?

Here's some funny poses from Abbie. You just have to laugh at her with that tongue out. No, I did not order any of these pictures even though my mom tried to get me to order at least one just for laughs. She makes me think of a little dog begging for treats. They had her arms propped up and someone was holding her lower body from behind.

Am I cute or what?!

Abbie's 3 month portraits

This past week, I took Abbie for her first professional pictures and she did great! I wasn't so sure how it would go because she's had a cold with a stuffed up nose. Also, I had changed the appointment time for when I thought she'd be awake but of course her schedule was different that day. I ended up needing to wake her up to get her ready for the pictures. Despite all of that, Abbie held up great and I felt like we got some cute pictures. Yay!