Christmas Day 2009!

A nice, quiet Christmas morning with Gigi & PopPop. Always good to start out with a book by the fire.

On to the gifts! A fabulous dress and beret from Gigi. Tres populaire!


Then to Aunt Kathy's for Christmas Dinner with the whole family. There were just too many way-too cute kids there to take photos of much else! Here are: Sophie, Addison, Elizabeth, and part of Amanda wrangling Alex. Joyeux Noel, tout le monde!

Christmastime Fun

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Lately Sophie has been talking a lot about seasons and what happens when. We keep saying that sometimes in winter it snows, and here she has confirmation that indeed, it IS winter!

I think she likes it.
Merry Christmas!

Colorado Cousins!

We traveled to Heather's family in Colorado for Christmas week, and boy, was our Dance Card full! Starting with nothing less than Sophie's first-ever dance class with cousin Addison! Here she is doing quite a lovely arabesque, and unbeknownst to any of us, she is remarkably good at chaussees as well. Heather is thrilled at the tiny dancer genes that have trickled down into her daughter...

Then home for some rest and reading time with Cousin Addison...
...a little hair dressing from Gigi and Heather....
...piano time, of course....
...and then to Bounce Town! A big warehouse full of bouncy houses was just about the most crazy fun thing Sophie had seen yet. And all this in one day before naptime!!!!

Playdate

Unity and Polly and Brixton (not pictured) came over to play today. Unity and Sophie really did do a lot more than just stand in the corner and be cute... but it is pretty cute!

Orcas Thanksgiving

Another wonderful Thanksgiving on Orcas Island with the Culver Clan. Sophie enjoyed herself.

You can't tell, but Sophie and mom are hanging out next to a huge bonfire Ted & Carolyn had in the field. It was really fun, and Sophie got to show off her new coat mom made!

One Two Pony Tails

Sophie is finally getting just enough hair to make two tiny little "pony tails."

By the way, who is this little girl, and what did she do with my baby???

She's a Witch!

I thought I could get away with choosing Sophie's costume one more year, thinking I would do something cute and baby-ish like a pumpkin. When I asked her if she wanted to be a pumpkin she said,

"I wanna be a witch."

I waited a week to see if that would stick, and with every inquiry and at other random times I got the same response.

So, she is a witch.

We had some great Halloween events. These photos were taken on the way to the Pumpkin Prowl at the Woodland Park Zoo, and Halloween weekend we attended a Toddler Halloween Carnival, a visit to Nammy & Papa's house en costume, and we Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood. I am so excited for Sophie's future Halloween adventures, and can't wait to fill her costume order year after year!

We had a kitten for a week...

We had the opportunity to adopt a kitten from a co-worker of Brian's at the Children's Theatre. We brought her home, and named her Tess. While everything seemed fine at first, Sophie became increasingly competitive with the cat...

When I asked her one day if she liked the cat, she said,

"No, I don't like her."

"Don't you want to keep her?" I asked.

"No. I don't want the kitty in my home."

Pretty clear.

It was a fun week, but we returned the kitten. She has been re-adopted with one of her brothers, and her name is now Clementine. Sophie doesn't seem to miss her at all. Ah, two year olds.

Snack time

A little popcorn.

A little reading en francais.

Mommy's little helper

My tiny teenager

Beach Day

Sophie and I had many beautiful beach days this summer at Golden Gardens. Ah, summer.

Hot day, Cool fountain!

Hangin' out on a hot day.

Naps.

Just can't have too many of these sweet pictures.

This is Camping?

Lake Chelan, Washington, here we come! Our first camping trip with Sophie, though it's amazing it took so long! Sophie thought the tent was pretty cool.

Mom loves to make camp breakfast!
So, a little explanation is in order. When we say we went camping, we should say "camping." While we did spend our nights in a tent in the Chelan State Park for two nights, during our days, naptimes, and evenings we were the fortunate guests of Dinah and Tom Stotler at their lovely lakeside condo, with access to the glorious swimming pool there. This made camping oh, so nice! We arrived the first day just before naptime, so we drove straight to the condo to set up for Sophie's nap, and as Sophie strolled through the condo and out to the verandah she said, "This is camping?" Well, the kind of camping we're up for right now!

Mmmm s'mores!

I also love spaghetti.

(Thanks for the pasta delivery, Mom & Dad! -H.)

Fourth of July!

Gigi and PopPop came to visit for the fourth of July weekend. Since the weather was so nice, we spent the holiday at Cal Anderson Park doing our favorite things.

Swinging,

Playing in the water,
and Dancing!

Hijinx