Triple Threat

Aubrey, Sophia, and Lauren

Both girls had an infatuation with Sophia's hair. They kept mauling her but she didn't seem to really mind, I think she's used to Walter constantly mauling her for some reason!

Sophia and Lauren share the phone, although they both have different ideas of its ideal usage!

Everyone loves Cookie Monster!

Sophia and Aubrey drumming away!

Sophia enjoying the Bumbo inside the tent

Another successful play date was had with the Cubs! Now that they're getting a bit older it's been so fun to have play dates. Jill and I are hoping that we can venture out to the park or something else fun next time! Sophia had a great time with all their toys, especially the tent...oh and the Bumbo! She loves that silly chair! She carries it around and still manages to fit in it, although I must say, I'm not sure how! She carried it in the tent and read quite contentedly for a bit. Lauren and Aubrey are getting so big! I can't believe they're just about a month away from their first birthday! I'm so excited for the future when the three girls are all mobile and active enough to enjoy various festivals, parties, and activities together! Yay for girlfriends!

Berry Picking Adventures

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It's berry season again! This year we picked a much nicer day for berry picking. We had a full crowd and were lucky enough that Grandma Sue was on vacation and joined us with Julie. All her farm experience growing up really put her at an advantage for getting those blueberries! She had quite a bucketful at the end and even had Sophia and Julie for helpers a lot of the morning! I was impressed with my almost 2.5 lbs of blueberries, but I must admit, mom gave me her stash too, so I didn't do it all on my own! Sophia LOVED this experience and had a delightful time. She probably ate a half pound of blueberries going from bush to bush and that is no lie! At one point I turned around and she was shoving a handful of about 8 berries into her mouth at once! I can't really say how many of those blueberries, were actually ripe, but hey, whatever. After her well deserved nap this afternoon, the first words out of her mouth were, "I want a muffin!" (We had bought some blueberry muffins from the patch.) She then went on to tell me proudly that "I picked blueberry...YUM!" She hasn't stopped talking about it all morning and was just as excited to look through the pictures with me and talk about it all over again! I'll have to whip up some tasty creations with all these berries! Can't wait!

If you're interested...see how much we've changed in a year!

The Force is With Her

A hug she did give Yoda

wielding her light saber



Our neighbor, Alex, graciously invited Sophia to his Star Wars Themed 6th birthday party. She was definitely the littlest bit amongst all those boys, but kept herself busy on the trampoline and warding off evil. They had made the kids their own light sabers out of pool noodles with duct tape...ingenious! Every kid absolutely loved them and many a battle ensued! When it was time for cake, she was right up there with those boys fighting for her piece too. My kid doesn't mess around when it comes to dessert!

Just Ducky

That's one cool duck!

Sophia hugged and high-fived McGruff the Crime Dog

Sophia and Daddy watching the Marching Cobras

her first bounce house experience

I accidentally mixed these two up, but you can see my climb and our decent!

sweet kisses

the spot Charlie proposed! Awwwwww!



This weekend we visited the annual Duck Derby. We sponsored six ducks, one in each of our names including Bama, Spud and Walter. If you're unfamiliar, the Duck Derby is held every year and rubber ducks are sold to benefit a children's charity. The ducks are then craned above the creek and released. They have people on wave runners moving them along and the first duck to the finish wins a brand new Harley Davidson! Since ducks don't ride that well, whoever paid for the duck gets to keep the motorcycle. A pretty good deal, too bad we didn't win. :(

Anyway, we had a great time, and it cooled off just a bit, I think it was in the 90s! Sophia experienced her first bounce house and she loved it, of course! It wasn't too busy, so we figured why not...she was a little intimidated and mostly just sat in one place letting the older boys bounce her. We also decided to take her on the giant inflatable slide...uh that wasn't so fun. First of all the thing was totally on fire from sitting in the sun and the "ladder" was a disaster. I made it up by sheer will alone. Once we got to the top, Sophia was terrified and I was so winded I was just happy to sit down! At least it was only a 2 second ride to the bottom! We won't be doing that one again until she's a little older. Meeting McGruff was also a highlight and Sophia thought he was pretty cool. I also got the opportunity to have her fingerprinted and photographed for free so I was pretty happy with that. Finally, we made a nostalgia stop on top of the bridge where Charlie proposed almost 5 years ago. It was pretty sweet to visit that spot again, especially since we had little Sophia and little Spud with us! I love my husband so dearly and being pregnant I can get easily emotional about him! ;)

Graduation!

pre-class wading

Uh...Dad, you missed the most important part of the picture!

There's the pretty little swimmer!

Sophia experienced her very first graduation...from swim lessons! I had originally planned on going one day to the pool with them to snap some pics but after consideration, I really didn't want to ruin their mojo. Sometimes, when I'm around, no one else can hold Sophia much less try and conduct swim lessons with her, and from what I heard, they were having such a fabulous time together that I didn't want to even take a chance at ruining a moment of it!

I did, however, send Charlie with the camera and instructed him to do what he could, you can see the results! Sorry, honey, but picture taking might not be your strong suit! In his defense, the class is obviously held in the water and it would be hard to take pictures during the lessons, but I was still hoping for a little something! He said their last class was a success and the kids even got to experience the "big slide" as a graduation treat. Sophia insisted on going down it herself (about 10-15 feet high and 5 ft wide, so I'm told) and had a blast! Our little daredevil was the only one in her class who chose this option, no real surprise there.

On a funnier note...before class Sophia was playing around the house and I notified her that Daddy was on his way home and we'd be changing into her swimsuit soon but that she had a few more minutes to play. Well, within that time she was talking on her play phone and here's a recap of the conversation....

"Hello, Charlie. I want to go to the pool. I getting naked now. Goodbye."

Priceless, seriously priceless.

More Girl Power!

Sophia and I were lucky enough to have both girls here again this week, although this time they came on different days to divide and conquer! ;) Zoe headed out of town yesterday so we got her on Wednesday to get in the last of our cuddle time! She also helped Charlie and me, because we are really clueless, with our iPods...yay! Now my iPod is Metallica free and ready to listen to, incidentally, today it's only playing Michael Jackson! Plus we baked some brownies and she did plenty of playing with and reading to Sophia. Sophia is so lucky to have such wonderful big cousins, who are both so good with her, to play with and look up to as role models. We will miss Zoe until she returns again! :(

cuddle time

play time

here Zoe was quite impressed with herself for being taller than Grandy Aunty Reni

group shot!

On Thursday Shelby, Sophia and I hit the pool and relaxed all day. At the pool, Sophia gladly demonstrated the skills she's been learning with daddy at swim class. She showed us floating, blowing bubbles, and jumping in. During nap time, Shelby and I caught up on our guilty pleasures of teen drama, Secret Life of the American Teenager....okay, okay, so maybe it's not so "guilty" for Shelby because she's actually a teenager, but I love it and I don't feel bad about it either!

Hello, Mommy, what can I do for you because I'm quite busy?

floating!

a couple of soaked kiddos!

This video is a quick glimpse of Sophia blowing bubbles and then she floats for just a second. She did a better job of floating when the camera was off, of course!

Father's Day Fun!

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Charlie got a very relaxing Father's Day yesterday. He got to sleep in, although I must admit, he didn't sleep as long as I expected, but that was fine by us! ;) He scooped himself a serious bowl of ice cream for breakfast and when Sophia inquired about it he replied that it was cereal. Of course she wanted some and responded with Daddy cereal good! Yeah, no kidding. On a side note, she did wake up at 6:45 this morning screaming from her bedroom, " I want ice cream! I want ice cream"...super. After his appetizer I treated him to a special pancake breakfast, and boy did those pancakes sure turn out to be 'special'! I realized that I have never in my life made pancakes before and it showed. I LOVE breakfast food but I don't really make it. I mean, I can make a mean casserole or quiche, but regular eggs or pancakes and I'm out! Anyway, I made Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes, thanks to Jill (and Rachel Ray) and although they looked a big ugly they tasted pretty good. I also cooked up a bunch of bacon. We don't eat that very often and it always tastes so delcious!


Later in the afternoon the rest of the Hirner/Jones clan came over for a big bar-b-que in the back yard. The brats were perfect and everyone brought over something yummy to share! We even have some leftover double chocolate pie that has my name on it for an afternoon snack! Charlie really enjoyed himself and was able to spend a quality afternoon chatting with his brothers and his dad. It really was pretty cute to look out back and see them all chillin' on the deck together. The kids had fun playing in the yard and I took advantage of the air conditioning. Happy Father's Day to my dear husband, who by this time next year will be father to TWO little munchkins...oh my!