Our little Sophie turned TWO on October 1st; wow
has time gone by quickly. I can remember clearly the day Stewart and I welcomed
her into the world. She is a delight to have in the family, always making
Stewart and I smile.
Because Stewart was on the road coming home from his two
month rotations in Colorado and in Wyoming; we were not
sure he would make it home in time to celebrate Sophie’s birthday with us. So
we decided that if needed we would postpone celebrating with cake and ice cream
and presents until he arrived. Lucky for Sophie, Stewart got home that
afternoon while she was taking a nap. But I will get to that later on in the
post.
Last year I threw Sophie a large fancy party this year I
decided that I was going to do things low key and just invite a few of her
friends over for a small play date. It worked out perfectly, her little
boyfriends (I say boyfriends because all the little girls her age have moved so
she hangs out with all the little boys now) came and played with her, we had
cupcakes, and made a fun spider, and then they left. It was good morning and I
think Sophie enjoyed herself. Here are some fun pictures from the play date.
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| Playing with the Kitchen |
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Sophie and her "boyfriends" with their spiders we made
Jeremy, Calvin, Collin, Sophie, and Jack |
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| The mini Cupcakes I made for Sophie's play date |
After the play date we cleaned up and then I put Sophie down
for her nap. While Sophie took her nap Stewart got home and unpacked (it is so
nice to have him home by the way). When Sophie woke up from her nap I told
Stewart to go to the living room and wait for her to come find him. I told
Sophie that I had a surprise in the living room and that she should go find it,
she walked out there sleepily rubbing her eyes, looked at Stewart and said “hi
dad” she then did a double take and ran to him and gave him a big hug. It was
cut but I was to slow at getting the camera out to capture it. Darn. Anyway, we
opened her gifts later that afternoon, and then had cake and Ice cream with her
after dinner. It was a great birthday, and we loved spending the time together
as a family after such a long time being apart.
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| Sophie and her Daddy when she woke up from her nap |
Opening her Gifts
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| Making the most of the box her boots came in :) |
Sophie and her Cookie Monster Cake
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| Should have covered the cardboard with foil... lesson learned. |
One of the gifts we gave Sophie for her birthday was a
family trip to the Columbus,
Ohio Zoo. Since Stewart had the
week off, before his next rotation started in town we took off and spent
Thursday night and Friday day in the Columbus
area. We had a great time going to the zoo and exploring some of the Columbus area. Sophie
enjoyed the zoo; her favorite exhibit was the fish probably because they were
the most active. She also liked the Elephants, the petting zoo, and anything
that was up and moving around. Although the zoo was a lot a fun, I think
Sophie’s favorite part of our mini vacation was walking around the park we found
in the downtown area of Columbus.
The park was large with some botanical gardens, a walking trail wondering
through it, a man made stream with small water falls and several small ponds.
We had fun playing by the water falls, in the shallow areas, wondering through
the gardens and playing hide and seek from Sophie. Sophie was truly enjoying
herself not worried at all about keeping up with us. She took her time stopping
to pick up rocks or a stick, looking at this bug or that plant. After the park
we drove to the temple and walked around the temple grounds. It was neat to
tell Sophie more about the temple, and know she understood what we were telling
her. We had a lot of fun on our mini birthday vacation, it was nice to take our
time and be together as a family.
At the Zoo
At the Park
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| Sword Fight |
At the Temple
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| Look there is Angel Moroni |
