Elmo Party Pictures Continued...

After the party was over, we were all worn out. Sophie got in a little nap while the adults cleaned up and dozed a little. Later in the evening, we took advantage of the nice weather and headed to the beach for a little walk. To the right is Sophie with Nana, Aunt Leia and Mimi at Folly Beach.

Sophie loved all of her new toys and stuff, especially this new doll and a new bike. She was ready to stop and play with some of her gifts and got bored with opening new ones =). Notice, that Sophie has temporary Elmo and Cookie Monster tattoos on her arms. Sophie and a biker were comparing tattoos when we went out to eat that night =)!

Here's Sophie with her Elmo cake. She didn't quite get the concept of blowing out the candle and had to have some help. She loved her cake and ice cream though.

Here's Hannah, Spence and Sophie playing with the water toys. It was cute watching all of the kids playing together.

Birthday Party Part 1

Sophie turned 2 on May 1st and we had a BIG birthday party for her at our home. Both sets of Sophie's grandparents were able to come as well as Aunt Martha and Aunt Leia. To the left, you can see Matt, Sophie & Paula next to a pool filled with rice and lots of fun toys. We set up little stations with different things that the kids could play with and kept things kind of unstructured.

Sophie learns how to fish with little magnetic fishing poles!

We also had another "station" with water toys. All of the kids had lots of fun and we had a great turnout for the party! All together, there were 34 people and the party was a success. We had sandwiches, chips and sides. It was an Elmo party! Our prayers were answered and it didn't rain so that the kids could play outside. Plus, the weather was pretty nice for this time of the year in Charleston.

Fire Marshall Sophie

There is a new fire museum in North Charleston, and Matt took Sophie to the grand opening today. There were a few antique fire trucks there for the day on display that Sophie climbed up and pretended to drive. Sophie was so excited to see all the steam wagons, fire trucks, and firemen. She kept looking for her Great-Uncle Mike, who she got to visit earlier this month at the fire hall in Nashville where he is the fire captain. Sophie really is fascinated with trucks, buses, planes, and other large machines.

Zoo Trip

On Saturday, we went with several families from our church to the Columbia Riverbanks Zoo. The weather was perfect for it and we had a good time, although it was pretty crowded. We came with a large group but spent most of our time with Gayla Moseley and her 3 girls (pictured with Sophie). She has so much fun hanging out with the big girls! Sophie's favorite animals were the elephants and the giraffes. She also loves riding carousels and enjoyed riding the one there. It was a pretty long day for all of us so Sophie did fairly well, all things considered. Sophie woke up that day with a cold which seems to be allergy related and she's still not feeling well. One thing that was quite challenging for us at the zoo was that Sophie did not want to stay in her stroller very much. When we'd let her get down and walk, she wanted to be independent and try to wander off. That was our battle with Sophie throughout the day. Anyway, Columbia has a nice zoo and we enjoyed going!

Ashlynn, Sophie, Kinslee, and Haylie with an elephant sculpture.

the elephants

Outdoor Fun

Our family returned home from Nashville on Monday after Easter. On Wednesday afternoon, Matt's parents rolled into Charleston for a visit during Matt's mom's Spring Break.

Sophie gets ready to help Mimi and Paw Paw Tom do some heavy duty yard work while they are visiting.

Sophie takes gardening very seriously and she doesn't stay clean doing it either. Here, as you can see she's very wet from watering herself as she waters the plants. Later, she's covered in dirt as well and loving every minute of it. This was Sophie's first experience with planting flowers. Our yard looks much better thanks to everyone's help-especially Paw Paw Tom and Mimi's.

On Saturday, we all visited the Middleton Place plantation and walked around the gardens and visited the farm animals. Everything was so beautiful! Sophie really enjoyed seeing all of the animals!
A monumental occasion occured at our house this week-Sophie used the potty for the 1st time. Yay, Sophie! It's just the beginning but it's still exciting. She gets a couple of M & M's when she's successful.

Easter weekend

Paula's dad's siblings-Uncle Mike with Sophie, Paw-paw, Uncle Bobby,
Aunt Patti (front), Aunt Mary Tom, Uncle JoWie at Mary Tom's party

Sophie with her Easter goodies

Paula & Sophie-Easter Sunday

Sophie with Uncle Phil and Aunt Martha

There was a lot going on over Easter weekend this year. My great aunt, Mary Tom, turned 100 on April 7. Almost all of my 1st cousins (Paula's) and their families were able to come and celebrate her birthday and we had a big party for Mary Tom. Many of her old friends, relatives, neighbors, etc were able to come and celebrate with Mary Tom. She was well remembered because her church also held a large party in her honor and the assisted living facility where she lives honored her. We were glad that we could be with her to celebrate! I wish that one of us had taken more pictures of us cousins together but maybe someone got some pictures.

Sophie enjoyed spending time with her cousins. On Sunday, many of them had to head for home but we stayed in Nashville and went to church with Paula's family. On Saturday, even though it was very cold we had an Easter egg hunt for all of the kids. We had lunch together, we all went to the party for Mary Tom that afternoon and then that night we got together. Needless to say, by Sunday after church, Sophie was exhausted and took a 3 hour nap.

What will I be when I grow up?

Sophie and Paula spent about a week down in Nashville visiting Paula's folks and several friends before Matt joined them a couple of days before Easter. Sophie enjoyed playing doctor and she had some really exciting things happen while visiting her Nana and Paw-paw. One was that Paw-paw drove a school bus to the house one night and Sophie got to get up on the school bus. She loves pointing out school buses and had been playing with a school bus a lot recently. When Paw-paw had to leave and go pick up some inner city kids, Sophie ran over to her car seat and said, "Sophie's seat" "school bus" because she wanted to ride with Paw-paw (but she didn't get to go). Later that week, Paula's uncle, who is a captain at one of the fire halls in Nashville, invited our family over to visit the fire hall. Sophie got the "grand tour" of the fire hall and fire engines. She got to get up on the fire truck and see the lights and sirens in action, etc. She loved it! So which will it be-doctor, school bus driver, or fireman. Matt wanted to be a trash collector when he was little because he thought the trucks with the special mechanical arms were cool. So, in other words, you just never know what your kid will end up doing. =)