Last Day of Summer

Today is the last day of summer. Back to the grind tomorrow. :(

To make the most of it, we met up with Lauren & McKinley at the zoo. Such a beautiful morning with a break from the heat! The girls had a great time!

Sophie climbing the wall to the go down the slide in the Children's Zoo:


Walking along the rope balance beam all by herself:
On the carousel. It was McKinley's first time and she was a brave girl to get on that hippo!
Sophie, on the other hand, has ridden the carousel many times, but was not so brave today. She wanted to ride on the bench and wasn't really happy about the whole experience in general.
She liked the children's area much better. Houses to play in and space to run around.



This is the face we get every time we ask Sophie to smile:

The Jeep was a big hit. This was the best shot I could get:
An altogether excellent visit to the zoo with great friends! A wonderful way to end the summer!

Between Then and Now: Wisconsin

I'm going to tell you the story of Wisconsin backwards. I always forget that blogger does this to me and I'm too lazy to fix it.

On the way home, we stopped back in Milwaukee to have lunch with Cousin Becky. We went to a really cool & trendy area down town. It was a beautiful day and we ate overlooking the river and got to see part of the air show taking place for the state fair.

The last night there we took the boat into Sheboygan and trolled on the river/harbor. We docked at a fun little restaurant to eat and enjoyed the views.

On the boat:
A view of the lighthouse taken from the river out into Lake Michigan.
"Cheese!"

We enjoyed our time on the beach while we were there. The first few days the water was pretty cold, but on Saturday it was nice and warm and we played in the water and on the beach all morning.
"Shhhh. You have to be quiet so they can sleep." (I forget what/who was sleeping at this point, but this is a common phrase around our house...and apparently on the beach, too.)


I checked out a ton of books from the library before we left home. This one was her favorite. It was about dancing and had glitter on the cover, so she was sold. We read several times a day, every day.
Driving the boat with P-Pa.

I love this picture. It captures Sophie so well.


We got to the cottage late Monday evening. On Tuesday we headed back to Milwaukee for a bbq with Matt's grandparents, cousins, and aunt & uncle. Sophie loved Becky's doggies.

Sophie cracking up with Aunt Patty:

Shooting some hoops with Daddy:
Tossing the ball with Great-Grandpa:
It was a great trip! Sophie did great in the car and we had a nice time with family! And the break from the St. Louis heat was especially nice!

Between Then and Now: Everyday Life

More of the "inbetweens" of summer:

My grandparents took the entire family out to dinner to celebrate their anniversary. PF Chang's...yum! Here's Sophie with a lettuce wrap:

Kelsy was in from California and Sophie warmed up immediately!

The family clockwise around the table: Aunt Linda (my mom's sister), me, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Neil (Mom's brother), Cousin Brian (Linda's son...one of 3). Not shown: A lot of family members also sitting at the table. It was a big group!

At the park with Izzy in early August.

This next one is Sophie's first drawing that is "legible." (She drew this on Aug. 8th...for my own record keeping.) She said, "I'm going to draw Mommy & Sophie." She drew the heads and then I said, "I think we need eyes." Then she drew the eyes, noses, smiles, legs, and feet with a little bit of prompting. I was pretty impressed. I'm the one with blue eyes. She demanded that her eyes should be pink. She's been a little obsessed lately with pink.

At Tower Grove Park with Weston:

The kids struck this pose on their own. It was so cute! I was wishing our friend Erin was there to capture these pics, b/c I just couldn't get that "perfect" shot with my point-and-shoot. This is the cutest one I got:

I'm sorry, they are just too cute together. Sophie has started calling Westie her "boyfriend." She told me that they like to hold hands a lot.

Earlier in the summer we went to Purina Farms with Weston, Lily, and Abigail. It was a beautiful day to be at the farm!

This summer has been all about hair bows & dresses. She likes these hair-bands the best and she demands to put them in herself. They are meant for infants, but whatever. Be sure to check out the bracelet/pajama combo, too.

We also took a trip to the Magic House back in June. Got this shot downloaded before we lost our camera in Florida. The other ones may have made it to Facebook...I'm not sure.

More to come...

Between Then and Now: Florida

We had a full summer! Sorry for the lack of posts in the meantime. We were busy! We spent a lot of time at parks & pools, and took a couple of vacations, too. Here are some pictures (not in order) from the summer. I don't like the way blogger downloads photos, so I'm going to post them all separately. First up: Florida!

We spent the 1st week of July in Florida with the whole family. My brother and his family flew down from Kansas, and my parents hopped in our "new" minivan for the 14 hour car ride. It was a long drive, but SO worth it! It had been a long time since I'd been down there (Mom & Dad still go at least once a year), and you just forget how white the sand is and how blue the ocean looks! It was great!

The whole family:

Me with Sophie on the beach:

The 3 of us:

We lost our camera on the trip, so the rest of the photos will have to come from my parents' camera. They e-mailed me these pics, but there are more! I'll post them when they come.

1st "official" day of summer

Remember this picture from last year, taken on the first day of summer?

1st day of summer 2010

Well, I decided today was a good day for the same adventure...maybe we'll make it a tradition. Here's the pic from today:

1st day of summer 2011

She looks older, right? I think a lot of the "babyness" is gone. She looks more like a big kid now. She was all smiles the whole time.

Sophie definitely loves the water. I can't wait for the parent/child swim lessons we're taking at the end of June...and the beach at the beginning of July.

This was before she entered the fountain area. Just thought it was a cute pic.

What a fun way to start the summer! I think it might have to be a tradition.

I'm trying to take more pictures and post more blog entries this summer. I'm off to a good start, right? ;)

Sophie's 1st Haircut

On Friday, we met my parents in the valley and Sophie got her hair cut for the first time at 32 months old (2 years and 8 months). It was definitely overdue.

Before

The first snip

So patient

Finishing touches...including glitter! (Way too much glitter...it's still there and won't wash out!)

Sophie making a silly face...she likes it!

Overall, I like it, too. It's taking some adjustment, but it's pretty darn cute. She was so patient and relaxed the whole time. She's such a big girl now!

Ode to Beth

My friend Beth likes to remind me that I once had a blog and that once upon a time I actually posted pictures and stuff. There have been many reasons that blogging has not been a priority lately, but I am willing to write one now, especially for Beth.

You see, my dear Beth is moving. Away. On Saturday. And to be honest, I'm not handling it very well. I have a history of not dealing well with friends moving away. Just ask Lauren; she'll tell you. It's ugly. And to make it worse, Beth is one of my last remaining friends in this little area of St. Louis where I live, and that makes this really hard.

I know you're probably thinking she's moving across the country by the way I'm talking, but she's not. She's not even moving across the state. Just across town. And I know that this move isn't the end of our friendship or anything, it's just not going to be the same. But I'm not going to ramble on about all of the reasons I will miss her and hate to see her go. Instead, I'm going to list just a few of my favorite things about this lovely lady**:

1. She has been my trusty running buddy for over 7 years now, AND she will wake up insanely early so that we can run together before I head off to work.

2. I can call on a whim to see if she wants to _____ (Fill in the blank with things like: go to the park, meet at the zoo, come over so our kids can play, etc.)

3. She always has cute hair and necklaces.

4. She will go grocery shopping with me on Thursdays when we can save $10 at Sappington Farmer's Market.

5. She listens intently, doesn't judge, and offers words of wisdom and Truth into my crazy life.

6. She prays for me and my family. I cherish that.

7. I love watching her mother her children. She is a patient, loving, F*U*N, gentle mom. I have learned so much from her.

8. She loves my daughter (and will help us out in a pinch if we need a sitter for a day).

9. She's not afraid to eat pie for breakfast.

10. She is one of the most honest, genuine, authentic followers of Christ that I know. I admire her faithfulness.

I know that our friendship is one that will last until we're old and wrinkly, but there's just something about being neighbors and doing life together.

I have loved our time together in South City, Beth. Thank you for your friendship. I will miss living so close to you and your sweet, sweet family.

**Please note that this list is not all-encompassing. I could go on, of course. There's no end to the awesome-ness that is Beth.