Valentine's Day

Before we left Grandma Sue made a special delivery of Valentine's fun to Sophia, Charlie and me. Sophia loves anything that she can push a button and watch it sing and/or dance and Grandma didn't disappoint! She got us these hilarious Hallmark animals that have saucy Valentine's sayings. Sophia got a kick out of them for sure!

Valentine's Day in Seattle...
My Valentine!

A beautiful and festive table scape designed by Stephanie!

Notice the various candy hearts strewn about the table adding a colorful flair!

Jonathan treated me and 10 of their closest friends to a wonderful Valentine's feast! Sadly I didn't get any pictures of us that night, but we looked gorgeous! Zoe and her friend Natasha were 'hired' to do the plating and serving and they really did a fantastic job. It was hard work, especially since Jonathan cooked 7, count them...7 courses! Wowser! My favorite was probably the fillet, which was made special for me in lieu of the fish course (blech!), which was unbelievably tender and delicious! There were two desserts, a lemon tart which was absolutely to die for and chocolate ravioli, handmade, of course! The only thing missing was my darling husband!

All Good Things Must Come to an End

So, after disproving my two other theories, it seems that for the first time in 17 months, my child has the flu!

My poor little pumpkin is struck down with a fever, vomiting (which has thankfully stopped) and diarrhea. She's in pretty good spirits, but extra cuddly and extra tired. She woke up at 7 and went back to bed at 8:30, slept for three hours and honestly looks like she'd sleep some more! It just breaks my heart! We have been very lucky, however, that she honestly hasn't been sick at all her entire life. This is her first fever and we going to do it up right by spending the day in jammies, drinking Pedialyte, and reading books....we're just a bunch of party animals over here!

I'm still working on getting those Seattle pics up! Stay tuned!

Back in One Piece...Mostly!

So Sophia and I arrived back home from our week long vacation in Seattle! We are home and tired, and at least she's back on schedule! I mean, seriously...I have an amazing child. We took a flight out of KC that left at her bedtime and as planned, she slept the entire flight. When we arrived in Seattle she awoke and entertained herself through the airport, on the way home and while we set up her crib. She went right back to sleep and slept her way into the new time zone. Gotta love it.

The way home was just about as good. She only slept for about an hour, but it was the middle of the afternoon, so I can't ask too much! We read books, ate snacks and sang songs for the other 3 hours, which was tiring, but not as bad as I expected. She was really in good spirits, despite her injury...

So let me preface this by saying it is REALLY hard to entertain a toddler by yourself, in an airport, while schlepping around a boat load of stuff!!! That being said, I guess I have to make some smarter choices from now on! ;) So here's what happened; while playing in the airport upon our departure from Seattle I was hoping to entertain Sophia by swinging her by her hands. Well....not such a good idea I guess. Long story short...there was a small cracking sound, a little crying and no moving of her left arm the entire flight. So, there I was at 30,000 feet with nothing to do but fret! As soon as we landed I freaked out to Charlie and made him drive us straight to the ER. In a nutshell, she probably popped it out of socket and put it back in while waiting in the very busy Children's Mercy waiting room. When she started putting weight on it and sucking her thumb again, we bailed! It's been perfect ever since and I learned my lesson about the whole 'swinging' thing! ;)

Once we got home, she ate some dinner and since she'd only napped an hour, was pretty much ready to go to bed at her normal KC time, so there ya have it! Overall, we had a great time filled with lots of playing and family and I will most definitely post pictures soon!

A Visit from Lily

Lily made herself right at home rearranging the furniture and toys to her liking!

Everyone enjoys a relaxing lunch. The girls enjoyed cheese puffs, cheese puffs, and more cheese puffs.

Okay, look here...smile..no over here...wait, no...oh well!

This was my favorite picture! There were diapers everywhere!

For a brief second there looked to be fatigue, but it was quickly remedied!

Kathleen, Carl, Lily and Kathleen's sister, Angela, all stopped by for a wonderful afternoon of playing, talking, and lunch! They were on their way to St. Jo where their other sister lives. I was so thrilled to see them all and catch up, especially since it's been years since I've seen both Carl and Angela. The girls played wonderfully well! It was so nice for Sophia to have a play mate and they just had so much fun! They entertained each other and I actually got to have adult conversation! It made both of us wish we lived closer, but now that they're back in the Midwest, we'll have to make plans more frequently! We have plans to head to St. Louis next month so it won't be long at all! Good to see you guys...miss you!!!

Play-Doh and Slides...Who Could Ask For More?!

Only a few short weeks ago Sophia was terrified of Play-Doh, but now, not so much. I think it was because Emma and Isabelle were having such a good time with it that she figured it couldn't be that bad!

Behold my ball of white Play-Doh!

Then we hit the community center for their free toddler room. Sophia had so much fun sliding, climbing and playing with her friends! We will have to visit this place again!

Today's Latest

So this morning as I was getting out things for Sophia to eat I sneezed. She said, "bless you." And then she said, "vagina!".


Oh.


Well, I blamed Charlie for the 'boobs' comments, but this one is all me! I mean, I guess I say that word when we take baths so that she learns the correct terminology, but I just never expected it to come up at the breakfast table. Whoops.

Spring Fever

A sea of people and dogs!

climb,

climb,

slide!

Still happy all the way home! She was trying to pose with Walter, but he wasn't cooperating!

The weather here on Saturday was absolutely gorgeous! I think we peaked at about 65 degrees and we couldn't have asked for a more pleasant day, except for the fact that now we're back into single digits, it was a cruel joke on the part of Mother Nature! We took full advantage of the day and headed to the dog park, where we have never seen it as crowded as it was that day! Sophia loved to watch all the doggies run and play and Walter loved to be one of those doggies! There is a playground in the same area so Sophia got some time to run and play for herself! Then we headed to Blue Chip Cookie to round out our full afternoon...YUMMY! If you have those in your area and you haven't yet tried them, get on it! Best cookies, ever!

Sunday looked sunny and warm in the morning but it just didn't last! :( We did get outside and do some quality bubble making before it took a turn for the worse, though! Sophia is very excited about bubbles but makes quite a mess, at least bubbles are made out of soap right, so maybe she's getting cleaner in the process...is that how it works?!

No, daddy, you do it!

If you listen closely in this video she dips the bubble wand in the solution and then she does blow, just not into the wand...details!