Quack Quack went the little duck..

Last night we took Sophie down to the little pond near our house with some stale bread to feed the ducks for the first time.  She had a blast throwing the bread into the water...some of the ducks weren't too sure of her because she was loudly talking to them, but after we walked away they swarmed the area to pick up the leftovers.

Beery's Ordination

So after flying most of the afternoon last Friday we finally arrived in Columbia SC and were greeted by Aunt Lisa and Uncle Michael.   We arrived back at their apartments around 7:30pm and several of their friends and part of Lisa's family and the Bishop joined us for Pizza.

After dinner we headed back to the apartment we shared with my parents and went to bed since we had just had a big day and the next day was going to be busy as well.

Most of the morning we just relaxed and we visited with Scarlet and Gray....the definitely remembered Sophie and greeted her with lots of kisses.  She did not seem to mind.

We had sub sandwiches for lunch with the same group of people we had pizza with the night before plus a few more of Lisa's family.

Michael showing Mom and I their stoles

The two Reverends to be setting up for lunch

After lunch was the ordination service.   The sermon was fitting, the music was lovely, and the red stoles that Michael and Lisa had anxiously been awaiting were placed around their necks in front of family, friends, and many clergy members.  

Take Note that Michael's stole has Scarlet and Gray Tassles at the bottom.  Once a Buckeye always a Buckeye.

Lisa and Michael with the Bishop

Michael and Lisa with our Youth Pastors from our childhood Seth and Shelley who are both Lutheran Ministers and their oldest son Noah who is Michael's God son.  They made the trip from Ohio as well.

It was a wonderful day and a wonderful celebration followed by a reception of very delicious cookies made by Lisa and her mom.

Dinner that evening was the famous Southern BBQ that we'd been told about several times.  It definitely lived up to it's expectations along with all the fixins.   Dinner was followed up with opening of a few gifts and more fellowship among family and friends.

Sunday morning we were at the airport by 8:30 and spent most of the day flying back home.

 Congratulations and Best Wishes Michael and Lisa on your trip to Minnesota and your new calls.

First Flight..

This past weekend we did a really quick trip by plane down to Columbia SC for Uncle Michael and Aunt Lisa's Ordination.

Sophie did great on all four planes...thank goodness for a DVD player and Curious George.  She loved looking out the window and the change in air pressure really did not seem to bother her.

I think we may have a frequent flyer on our hands.

Swimming Like a Big Girl

Last night we decided to try out the local pool to see if it would be something that we as a family could enjoy.

It was and I am certain we will be venturing back there a few more times during the rest of the summer.  It was a perfect set-up for Sophie to play in the water.

There was a slide she could climb up and go down by herself...

Fountains to play in and shallow enough water that she could walk around in the pool with our supervision of course.

We were there almost an hour and had a blast.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

So here it is...what the audience has been waiting for...that's right it's Sophie singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Please ignore the other voice singing.

Traverse City Vacation

 About a week ago we headed up to Traverse City with Daddy's family for five days to stay at a condo near the lake.  We got there Sunday afternoon and checked into the three bedroom condo that Aunt Becky booked for us..it was super nice.

That evening we had pizza, played in the water a little down by the lake and then put the kids to bed and watched the sunset.

Monday we spent a good portion of the morning at the lake front behind the condo in the lake and the sand.

Later that day Sophie's Great Auntie Sharon, cousins Lynda and Billy, and Morgan drove down from Sault St Marie Canada for the day so Morgan could play with the boys and Sophie and we could visit since we had not seen them in four years.

Here are all four kids with Auntie Sharon

The kids, Uncle Eric, Poppy, Mommy, Daddy, and Billy had a blast at one of the local beaches which was a little more sandy than the one where we were staying.  While Grammy, Lynda, and Aunt Becky when shopping downtown.

The boys

The Girls

On Tuesday we did some shopping downtown, Sophie took a nap in her stroller and Uncle Eric, Austin, Aaron and Poppy rode the train..

21 MONTHS

Every month Sophie seems to be growing at least an inch or more.  It might be Mommy's imagination but somehow I doubt it.   Over the past month Sophie has become so much more fluent in her speaking abilities.  She is starting to form two to three word sentences in which we can understand her, and knows when to use please and thank you.  Some examples of sentences are...over there....stop it (bopit)...I did it...no way..shoes on..shoes off..

We have no developed a love for eating apples whole.  Forget about me cutting them into slices..she wants to hold the whole apple and take bites out of it...a few times she's been able to eat the majority of it.  She has also recently decided she like rice and frozen peas, and still I believe her favorite foods are cheese and peanut butter.

Her running abilities have improved over the last month and she has only wiped out once on the sidewalk skinning her knees recently.  She really is not a fan of bandaids even though they have Curious George on them...I think she sees them more as stickers.

Curious George still seems to be her absolute favorite with Clifford being a second favorite..thanks to Kohl's we now have our very own Clifford the Big Red Dog.

A few weeks ago she took her first shower with me and loved it....Bob was not home and I did not trust her while I showered after a run so she joined me and all she could say was "rain Mommy."  She is so fascinated with water it is not even funny, sometimes we start her bath 45 minutes before bed just so she can get enough swimming in and get washed up.

She is now quite the little singer...when I sing a song to her, she sings along and it really does sound like she is singing and she sometimes does the hand motions too...She loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, This Little Light of Mine, ABC's, You are My Sunshine.  I can hardly sing because I'm trying not to laugh at how cute this really is.  I'm going to try to capture video soon to share with you all.

She is also finally able to say her name and it really does sound like Sophie....in addition to counting to five....she isn't really consistent with that yet, but she does do 1,2,3 pretty well I think it's cause she has heard me count when she is into something she should not be or is not listening.

We are really enjoying this age with her even though there are trying terrible almost 2 moments.  Such as whining, using the word No and pointing at us, and testing our patience we do realize there will be great days, and there will be days where timeout is used more than once but she is still sweet 90% of the time which we feel fortunate for.

Swimming...

Otherwise known as Hmming in Sophie's words This summer Sophie's absolute favorite thing to do is go swimming.  Usually on average she gets to go swimming at least 3-4 times a week or more.

I'd swear she's a fish if I didn't know any better.

In the morning at her sitter's house they go swimming in some little pools she has for them.

Sophie and Charlize

Sophie and her buddy Griffin

Then I get her home and usually after nap we either play in her water table or the pool depending on the temperature...and before bed we give her a bath and she lays on her stomach in our bigger tub and pretends she's swimming.

On weekends we have swam at Grammy and Poppy's and Grandma and Grandpa's in the big inflatable pools as well.

Daddy and Sophie

Now that's a pool full of silliness

The gang's all here

We are thrilled she loves the water so much, I think we'll look into some parent/child swim lessons this winter at the rec center so she's safer when she is near the water.

Celebrating the 4th of July

Over the 4th of July weekend we stayed pretty busy.  Saturday we went out to a few garage sales one which our friends were having.  Then later in the afternoon we did some shopping and headed over to Sophie's babysitter's house for a cookout and we were there up until it was her bedtime.  Sunday morning we drove 2.5 hours north to spend the rest of the weekend with Daddy's family.  His Aunt and Uncle drove down from Canada to spend almost a week at his parents house and we had not seen them in over four years so it was a great opportunity to visit and they had not met Aaron or Sophie yet.

Over the course of two days there was a lot of eating, swinging,  playing in the sand and in the pool.   

Here are the kids all cleaned up and ready to watch the fireworks

By 8:45 Sophie was so tired she couldn't stay awake anymore so we put her to bed before Daddy put on an awesome fireworks display in the backyard.  After the fireworks Austin and Aaron caught lightening bugs with some of the adults...its funny how certain activities can make you feel like a kid again.  

Boo!

"I got it"

"Whoops I think I squished it"

Bye Bye Binkie

Poor Sophie, after almost two years of having her soothie, it was time to part with it.  Not because she was ready to, more because the soothie was starting to crack.  So I cut the Soothie off the monkey and performed minor surgery on the monkey's mouth to repair him.  Last night when she went to bed we gave her the monkey along with her lambie.  She seemed a bit confused but both Daddy and I reassured her it was okay that she was a big girl and did not need it anymore since it had broke off.   She pouted a tiny bit but went to sleep after a little bit longer time period then normal.  Today she took a nap with the same process and seemed to do okay without the soothie.  It will probably take a few weeks for it to not matter anymore but she has still gotten to keep the monkey that was attached.  I just could not see giving her another soothie when it was the perfect opportunity to make it disappear.  Daddy and I have to remain strong and not give her another one without the monkey attached...patience will pay off I am sure of it.

I wrote the first part of this after two days with no binking.  Here it has been two weeks and we are doing well. No major meltdowns at bed or nap time.  She still sleeps with her monkey that was originally attached to her binkie and her lambie...in addition to two curious george stuffed animals that she talked us into after she gave up her binkie.  She also lays in bed and says "mommy" about 50 times before falling asleep, along with talking to her stuffed Georges.

20 Months Old

Sure hard to believe our little girl is four short months of being two.  Where does time go really?  Seems like just yesterday we were wishing that she would walk and talk.  Now she is running and chitter chattering non-stop.

This age however is a lot of fun.  With every month she is learning a few new things, and continuously growing taller and looking all toddler now.

She has recently given up her binkie which is a huge accomplishment since that was her prize possession.  We have gotten her a little potty of her own just to test the waters.  She has a great time sitting on it and playing with it currently but she has not gone on it yet.  I'm not pushing it yet, just letting her have a good time with it to become familiar..she will do it when she is ready.

At the park and in the backyard she has been doing more climbing and sliding all by herself which makes a mother worry a bit more, but we do not want her to be afraid of it.

Also recently she has been playing in the pool at the sitters with the other kids and just having a blast..everyday when I asked her what she did she says "pool mommy"

She loves it when Daddy and I jog and take her along in the stroller she is great a cheering us on by saying go, run, go run.  She is also starting to run and kick the ball really well in the backyard.

She loves finger painting, play dough, coloring, and stickers.  Loves reading books, helping Daddy make the bed, helping Mommy fold laundry, and playing in homemade tents we set up for her.

We have had a few more play dates with Teagan and she loves having a little friend to play with.


We are eating a few more foods in addition to last month.
She's loving carrots, and apples with peanut butter, and snapped peas.  Spaghetti has been a little more interesting to her as well.

We are saying prayers with her at night now, and she is saying Amen when we are all done.  She now also likes to be covered up with a blanket.

She is also able to count up to 5.  Her favorite color is yellow, and she loves Curious George.

We have learned what timeout is. She's starting to sing parts of songs along with CD's and us..

Her new phrases are...me do, uh-oh, mommy/daddy please, thank you(when it is supposed to be used),  whimming (swimming), hey, and uh-huh.

We are teaching her the letters in her name.. she recognizes the I and E so far.

Father's Day Weekend

Over Father's Day weekend we spent time in Daddy's hometown.  Where he grew up has a really awesome park with rides that all three kids and even the adults enjoy.  So went spent a couple hours there riding rides and then we went to the playground area.  All three kids had a blast. 

Here are Austin, Aaron, and Sophie driving the cars.

Sophie riding the plane...

Austin after his Cherry Slushy

Aaron sliding down the bumpy slide

Monkey see Monkey do..

Drinking out of the water fountain with Daddy's help..

She loves water so much that this could have went on for awhile

Whee!

"My Turn"

"Me Do"

Sliding is her next favorite thing besides water

Is that Curious George or the boy with the yellow shirt?

Grammy, Sophie, and Austin hanging out in the clubhouse

Triple trouble on the swings..