Happy Birthday, sweet sweet Sophie...

July 31st, 2009... right before noon... Miss Sophie entered the world... Immediately, our family of three became four, and it felt perfect.I won't ever forget the feeling of holding her for the first time... how is it possible to have so much love for someone that you've met 3 seconds before. Well it is... and it's happened to Eric and me twice now. Oh how I love being parents to these sweet sweet kids. God has blessed us in amazing ways... and he continues to. I'm so very thankful that HE has chosen us to raise this beautiful little girl... with it comes much responsibility... but I'm honored to have the chance.

Lucas wasn't quite sure what to think. I'll never forget him coming in with his little bag of popcorn with Grandma... and ever so cautiously taking a step toward Sophie and giving her this sweet kiss... from a big brother to his new little sister. Wow...talk about a run of emotions for me.

And now... exactly one trip around the sun later... here we are. Lovin' on our baby Sophie each day has been pure JOY. Here's an assortment of my absolute favorite pictures of Sophie. I believe these really capture who she is...

***Sidenote... I chose to put this post in purple. Now, Sophie can't tell me her favorite color yet, but through circumstances that have occurred... she's led me to believe that she prefers purple over any color. A Mommy's instinct I suppose...

The celebrations have begun...

Eric's mom was in town last weekend to help us out with the kiddos while we both had things going on. Since it was just one week shy of Sophie's birthday we decided to do a little celebrating. First stop... the playground at Hamilton Town Center. While Lucas zig-zagged all around, we chatted on the sidelines with Sophie who was perfectly content watching Lucas from the stroller.

Next stop...Noodles and Co. We picked this place because Sophie thoroughly enjoys her pasta, just like her Mama. The kids and I ordered the Wisconsic Mac and Cheese (amazing!) and Sophie went to town!!!
Not sure what Eric's doing in this pic but it's the only one of him and his mom from the whole night... I really like it... makes me laugh. :)
Eating mac and cheese with his chopsticks. He refused to break them apart. I was quite impressed with his technique... it worked for him!

This picture really captures our little Sophie... so smiley and giggly...

Tummy full... relaxin'...

Now on to dessert. Evelyn made cupcakes (white...then I put strawberry frosting on them) and we sang Happy Birthday to her... complete with one pink candle in the center. And she loved it!!! Unlike Lucas, she dug right in. I still remember Lucas picking around his first piece of cake and thinking how funny that was. (Of course, now he finishes off a cupcake in 30 seconds.)

I love the mountain of crumbs. She kept opening and closing her fists... I think she loved the way it felt.

Big brother... happily sharing the spotlight by the way. He was so good with her this evening... singing to her and telling her, "When you get bigger and turn 3 you can play in the playground, too!" ... things like that.

Opening presents from Nali... she was happy to just sit on my lap at first, but then she discovered how fun the ribbon was.

And of course, Lucas jumped right in and helped out.

Sophie got an adorable princess tent and boy, did she love it. Both kids laughed and squealed for quite awhile playing around in it.

So that's that. Up next... Sophie's birthday!!!! Tomorrow's the big day. So hard to believe a year ago today I started having that funny feeling that I remember quite vividly from when Lucas joined our family... more on that to come on my next post.

Thank you!!!

Dear Uncle Zach, Aunt Amanda, Zara, Caden, and Little Babe,

Thank you so much for the package you sent us for our birthdays!!! The kids had a blast opening it and of course, discovering all the goodies inside. So much thoughtfulness put into each of those gifts. The picture already has a frame and is hanging in Sophie's room by the way... it fits perfectly. Lucas has already devoured lots of "rocket" popsicles and is so intrigued with making them. Sophie sported her ice cream outfit for her first birthday celebration, too. (And I wore my new green shirt to date night last night!!) So thanks... from the Blands. Love you guys!

Never a dull moment around here.

Our sleeping burrito...

I just love how Sophie sleeps... it takes every bit of me to not just pick her up and snuggle her...Who knew feet could be so cute...

*************************************************************************************

On a different note, I redecorated Sophie's room the other day. Both kiddos did a pretty good job of distracting me throughout this task. :)

Peek-a-boo!!!!

Bath time...outside??!!

The other night Lucas and Eric decided to do bath time outside. Complete with washclothes, soap, and shampoo...

Check this out... it was SO hot outside, the camera steamed up!!!

And here's a pic after the camera got used to the heat...haha...

Hamilton County 4-H Fair

This was the 2nd year in a row that we ventured out to visit the 4-H Fair here in Hamilton County. Once again, it was a hot, humid, rainy day just like last year... but it didn't keep us from having fun!!
And to top it all off, we all enjoyed some corn on the cob... (although Sophie's was corn-picked-off-the-cob)...

Who knew...?

Who knew a vacuum cleaner tube could be transformed into a tuba??

Well, Lucas figured it out.

Summer heat...cool treats!!!!

My absolute favorite summer meal... BLT's... (with lettuce and toms from the garden...)

...and fresh peach pie.

Lucas' prayer...

Lucas' prayer tonight...word-for-word:

Dear Jesus, Thank you for making the sun and the moon and the stars. Thank you for making people and animals and the Earth and basketball players and Rust-eze. Amen.

(Rust-eze is Lightning McQueen's sponser in the movie Cars...)