Summer Playdates

Meredith, Sophie and Abbie

Sophie (middle) and Meredith with Joe in back

Sophie and Lauren with their dolls

Abbie and Ashton (in front)

Well, I am way behind on our blog again.  I'm sorry for those who've been checking it lately (all 2 of you).  =)    I have a lot of pictures that I need to post on here because we just got back from our vacation to visit Matt's family in Virginia.  We were able to do a lot of fun things while we were there.  For now though, I'm going to post some pictures that were taken before our trip.

The first couple of pictures were taken at one of the member nights at the zoo.  We met our friends, the Smith's, for dinner and then we headed over to the zoo.  It was really hot that night but we still had a good time.  There was also a pretty good crowd there.  They offer free carousel rides, free train rides (their new attraction and they have some other special things going on.  We stayed clear of the train because it is really popular right now with long waits.  We were able to ride the carousel before it closed though.  We were also able to see several of the animals.   They offered free tours of the old home that is on the grounds so we took a quick tour of it.  All in all, the girls enjoyed spending time with Meredith but we were all worn out at the end of the night.

The other pictures that I included were from a little tea party that we had at our house.  It was somewhat informal but it was something that I thought would be fun for the girls.  My friend, Kathryn, had mentioned earlier in the summer that it would be fun to get our girls together with their American Girl dolls and let them have a tea party.  I thought it would be really neat for a birthday party sometime to do that with a bunch of girls but this time, we decided just to try it with one other family.  Our older girls (Sophie and Lauren) are friends and our younger ones (Abbie and Ashton) are a little different in age but enjoy playing together.  Each of the girls brought her doll and she sat with her.  We had star shaped sandwiches, jello, etc for lunch and then we made some little ladybug cookies for dessert.  I think all of the kids had a nice time including Ethan, my friend Kathryn's oldest child who is 8 years old.  I set him up on our Wii.  He did not have to sit at the girls table but he enjoyed decorating the cookies and eating them.  =)  Kathryn told me that she shared with Ethan's Sunday school class later that week that he had been to a tea party that week and a bunch of the boys snickered.  She definitely broke the ice when she shared that with the class.  =)  More to come on our trip soon!

Fun with Friends

Sophie and Meredith are so silly!

the girls eating their picnic lunch

Matt and the girls getting ready to go through the maze up to the slide!

Earlier this past week, Meredith was able to come over for a play date. She and the girls had a great time! Sophie & Meredith enjoyed modeling the Potato Head glasses! They were both sweet about being quiet for a little bit so that I could get Abbie down for her nap.

Then, on Saturday, it finally started to warm up outside! It was pretty cool in the morning but we decided to head to the zoo anyway. We all enjoyed being outside and it had been a few months since we had been able to go to the zoo. The girls enjoyed seeing all of the indoor exhibit with the turtles, fish, snakes, etc. We also saw a few other animals, enjoyed a picnic lunch and then had a great time on the playground. Both of the girls went through the maze and down the slide with their Daddy. We ran into Meredith and Luke at the zoo too!

Ice Day at the Zoo

Sophie & Matt with elephants

one of the tigers with his ice treat

This past Saturday, we decided to head to the zoo for Ice Day. They were giving out free Blue Bell ice cream, they had ice sculptures, special ice treats for the animals, and more. We really enjoyed it! Nana ended up keeping Abbie so we didn't have to get her out in all the heat. There was a big crowd there but we got to see a lot of the animals. We watched as the tigers got their special 5 pound buckets of frozen turkey broth (hope I didn't make anyone sick). Anyways, we had a nice time and definitely enjoyed the free ice cream with the humidity we had on Saturday.

The End

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. =)

Venturing Out

Sophie on her tricycle

Sophie & Matt riding the carousel

Sophie poses in front of the meerkats

Sophie & Matt

Over the weekend and on Monday, we had beautiful weather and we tried to get out and enjoy it while it lasted. On Saturday, we took Sophie over to one of our neighborhood parks (even Abbie went). Sophie can now climb the little climbing wall pretty well and she will go down even the biggest slide (a big improvement from last summer when she had to be coaxed to go down almost any slide)! We all had fun! Sunday, we just hung out on our street and Sophie tried to practice learning to pedal on her tricycle. Matt helped her but she prefers not to use the pedals.

On Monday, we had a big day! Paula & Abbie dropped Sophie off at school and then went for Paula's 6 week check-up. Overall, Abbie did pretty well (we really haven't gotten her out much up until this point because of all the sickness going around). The weather was gorgeous that day!! So, after we came home from the doctor, Matt suggested that we all pick Sophie up from school that afternoon and head to the zoo for a little bit. It closes early right now anyway but it wasn't crowded and all in all we had a good time. Sophie's legs got tired of walking but it wasn't crowded and we were able to see some of the animals. I think Sophie's going for a record on how many carousels she rides! Some of the animals she most enjoyed were the lorikeets and meerkats.

Family Outings

Here's Sophie playing with her Little People dollhouse.
She still treats her big plastic giraffe as one of her "babies".
She enjoys asking us what we got for Christmas using
her Wiggles microphone on the other side of her!

Sophie is playing with some of her Potato Heads at
the new table and chairs she received for Christmas
from Mimi and Paw-paw Tom.

Well, I haven't had the chance to post in a while for various reasons. I tried to post a few days ago and it didn't work so anyway, here goes. A little over a week ago, we got to go on a couple of fun outings. A week ago on Saturday, we went to the Discovery House in Murfreesboro which is like a children's museum. Sophie & Paula had been but it was Matt's first time to go. Sophie's favorite things were the play grocery area and the area with the playhouse and baby dolls. We all had a good time (we didn't really get any great pictures though). Afterwards, we went to lunch and we just knew that Sophie would go to sleep on the way home because she was getting cranky during lunch. Also, it takes about 30 minutes or so to drive back from Murfreesboro. However, Sophie proved us wrong. Every time that she would appear to almost be asleep, she would ask us a question. What a smart girl. Anyways, I think she may be growing out of her nap and it makes me kind of sad. There were about 3 days that week where all of a sudden, she just wouldn't take a nap! I was hoping she would keep taking a nap at least for a couple of months.

Then, this past Monday, Paula & Sophie visited the Nashville Zoo with Nana after Sophie got out of school. It was a great day to go because it was about 70 degrees in January! Sophie enjoyed seeing some of the animals and playing on the playground.

Fall Happenings

This week, we've done a couple of fun things but I've either forgotten to take my camera or the pictures didn't turn out well. On Wednesday, Sophie and I met my friend Stephanie and her boys at the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro. It is a children's museum with lots of different things for them to play with and explore. They have a water play area, a big playhouse area (Sophie's favorite) with baby dolls, play kitchens, etc., a fire truck that kids can play on, tables with trains, and lots more. Sophie and Will both had a lot of fun! Jackson observed a lot from his stroller but had fun too. If you get a chance to go out there, it's a lot of fun! They also have some walking trails, a playgrounds and some other outdoor activities! We were able to go and see Stephanie's new home and have lunch with them too.

Then, on Friday, Matt & I picked Sophie up from Mother's Day Out and headed to the zoo for a little bit since we had only been once since moving back. The last time we visited there was a lot that we didn't see. There were very few people there since it was getting close to closing time. We had a good visit even though it was just a short time. We particularly enjoyed seeing the tigers. Sophie was disappointed that there were no pandas like the Atlanta zoo had.

This weekend, Paula's Aunt Mary is visiting from Arkansas so we have been able to visit with her some. It has been nice to see her and she was able to come out and see our house.

Zoo trip

Sophie running and jumping in one of the kids' play areas.

Matt and Sophie with an elephant

After a couple of months of being in Nashville, we followed up on our promise to take Sophie to the zoo. Nana was able to go along with us. The weather was great and we had a nice time. There was a big crowd there but it wasn't too bad. We bought an annual pass so we didn't feel pressured to try and see everything. Sophie has always loved seeing giraffes and she also got to see some farm animals. She said that her favorite thing though was the Gibbon monkeys that are really loud and were swinging around up in the trees. Sophie also had a blast in the kids play area.