August update

Wow! It has been an exciting month but it has gone by too quickly.

We started the month with a trip to Grandma Barbs. We always have fun when we visit. It is filled with shopping and eating out. We also spent some time with Uncle George and Aunt Linda and Sophia's cousins.


Nick came to visit for a weekend. It just happened to be the same time of the year that we get our family pictures done. Nick was able to join up for the first time in five years. We were thrilled.


We went to our yearly Chinese family reunion. It is amazing to see how nicely the girls get along. They played from the moment we got there until the time we left without any fights. I am glad we are committed to making this reunion happen every year. I hope it is something we continue to do as the kids grow older.

Katie went back to her mother's to start band camp at the end of the summer. We miss her but she will be coming to visit this coming weekend. Sophia is thrilled.

Sophia celebrated her last day of daycare with a farewell party. She is going to miss her friends and Mary Beth so much. Mary Beth has taken care of her since December 2006. We have been very fortunate to have Sophia there.

Sophia attended her kindergarten orientation on August 26th. She went to her classroom while the parents met in the media center. She walked right into her classroom and didn't look back. It might have helped that the parents organized two play dates at the park so she knew a few of her classmates before the orientation.
After her orientation, Sophia and I spent our last "Mommy and Me Day" at the state fair. Sophia and I have been doing "Mommy and Me" days every Friday for five years. Now that school is starting those days will be happening less often. We were at the fair for seven hours. Sophia had a blast running from ride to ride and making new friends. We looked at the animals and saw a pig race. It was a great day.
The first day of school was delayed by a day due to the hurricane. Many schools were without electricity. Her first day of school was on Tuesday, Aug 30. She was a bit nervous on Monday night but was thrilled when she woke up on Tuesday. She had a great first day. She was exhausted when she came home but clearly loves school. On Wednesday she woke up early, got dressed, ate breakfast and wanted to wait outside. It was an hour earlier than when we had to leave!
Did I mention that we also had an earthquake this month? As I said it has been exciting month.

How my brain works

Sophia explaining how she remembers things on 7/18...

Sophia--My brain takes pictures. Then it goes down (a conveyer belt is what it looked like) and then I sort it.

Me- how do you sort it.

Sophia- well they go into boxes.

Me- Boxes? What kind of boxes?

Sophia- Well, I have a car box, a nature box, a food box, an animal box. The helping hands takes it from the in box and puts it in the right box.

Steve- what does the helping hand person look like?

Sophia- it is not a person. It does not have eyes.. just lots of hands and it is big.

July 2011

It has been a very hot and very busy summer thus far. That has not kept us inside. We went to the July 4th fireworks which Sophia loved despite the fact that she had her fingers plugging her ears the whole time.

We went picking berries. They were great in yogurt and made yummy smoothies.

Sophia got her haircut in July. She decided she wanted to grow out her bangs and then get her hair cut shorter. She did a little trimming of her bangs on her own...right in the middle of her forehead. It is going to take months to grow back there is no way it could be blended in with her new haircut seeing she cut it so short.
Sophia's art work has really changed over the summer. Guess she is getting all those skills in place for Kindergarten in the Fall.

We took a day trip to Dutch Wonderland this month. Sophia had a blast jumping from one ride to the next. It was a hot day but that didn't stop us from having fun.
We also went to see Katie's race on the last day of her crew camp. Another hot day but thankfully the race was in the morning.
We put Chloe to sleep on July 26th. Chloe was Anne's fifteen year old cat. She was such a great cat. She used to sleep on the bed every day when it was just me. Once Steve and his cats joined she took to sleeping on her favorite bed or the ledge going upstairs but she jumped up to the bed every morning and night to get some loving. We will all miss her.

July 1- through the years

July 1st... Referral Day

2006
2007
2008 2009
2010 2011

June 2011

June has been another busy month.

Sophia had her dance recital. She performed a tap and ballet number. She did a great job. She smiled the whole time and had fun. She remember both routines. She is a confident girl.


We have spent time outside, gardening, going for walks and bike rides. We also spent some time at home hanging out and playing with the animals. Noelle sleeps with Sophia almost every night regardless of where Sophia decides to sleep.. the floor or the bed.

May 2011

We took our annual May 1st picture again. It is amazing to see how Sophia has changed over the years.

Sophia started her horseback riding lessons this month. She is so happy about it. She talks to the horse as she rides it. She is confident on the horse which is a big plus.



We started our vegetable garden in back and planted flowers up front. Sophia loves to dig in the dirt and help out.
We went to see Thomas again this year. Sophia had a great time.



We spent Mother's Day with Grandma Beadle, Grandma Bev and Grandpa Skip. We had a nice day together. Sophia was the only one brave enough to go into the pool.

Sophia had a tea party for some of her most cherished friends. I am amazed with how well Sophia entertains herself. She is quite creative.

We ended up the month visiting Mom in Connecticut. Sophia always has a blast visiting grandma. Grandma always has cool gifts for her when we arrived. Sophia loves shopping, going out to eat and playing with her cousins. We went out on Chuck's boat for an hour or so. The girls had a blast but the movement put Sophia to sleep after a while.

We also went to a Memorial Day party at my cousin, Paul's house. Sophia had a blast playing with her cousins and spending time with Aunt Philly. I am glad we are able to visit Grandma as often as we do.



We also celebrated Chloe's birthday with a can of tuna fish. Chloe is Anne's favorite cat. She turned 15 years old. She has a big tumor on the top of her head but is in good spirits. I know that we are going to have to put her down soon but now we are just enjoying the fact that she jumps up to be petted as soon as I walk into the room, eats well and seems to be pain-free. She doesn't look pretty especially now that it is affecting her eye but we still love her.