Move In Weekend

Today we spent a great family fun day at the U of M Campus. Little did we remember, but it was move in weekend for all the new students. Hal and I got a kick out of the freshman walking around with their name tags and all of their Gopher gear. We walked around the campus and of course I forgot my camera. Oh well, we are planning another trip in the fall to go look at the leaves. I had never walked around campus before, and it was fun to have my own tour guide (Hal) who knew what the buildings were and where to show me around. Sophia really enjoyed it as she got to have some Cheerios. Then we made a stop at the bookstore to get Hal's birthday present. We also checked out the Gopher gear and found some new clothing items to get when the weather gets cooler. After our adventure on campus, we headed home to have some lunch.


We tried to get little miss Sophia down for a nap, but with all of the excitement from earlier in the day she wouldn't go to sleep. So we decided to head out and get some groceries for our family bbq tomorrow. We had to go to two different grocery stores looking for the brownie mix that I wanted.

When we got home we played toys and Sophia played attack daddy. She really enjoys climbing on people. She was quite set on sitting on Hal's head. It was awfully funny!

When Sophia decided she had enough, we decided it was time to head out for dinner. We went to Great Waters Brewing Company in St. Paul and found a great table on the patio. Sophia was having a great time reading the menu and looking at the birds. We were loving the weather and the guy playing music across the street. It made for a fantastic evening.

Hmm what should I have for dinner?

Family photo at Great Waters after eating dinner

Once we finished our dinner, we headed over to Rice Park to walk around and check out all of the hype surrounding the RNC. It was pretty busy in the park with the huge stage and all of the people getting set up. We did find the Peanuts characters and Sophia got her picture taken with a couple of them.

Then we stopped over and admired the flowers at the St. Paul Hotel before heading home for the evening. Sophia was pretty tired from her busy day with no naps!

Finger Painting Friday

Tonight Sophia had her first finger painting experience. She really enjoyed examining the paints before I opened them for her. Then once it was time to pick a color to start with she seemed to be interested in the green.

She was a bit tentative when I opened it up and she first put her fingers in. She wasn't quite sure just what exactly she had gotten herself into.

Here is Sophia looking quite serious while working on her first masterpiece.

After she painted with the green for quite a while, we decided to pick red as the next color to use. She enjoyed using the red just as much as the green.

When we finished up with the red, it was time to get cleaned up. Sophia had great fun and I loved that the paint was washable and cleaned up very easily! Who knew that a cheap finger painting kit would be such a great one!

"What should I paint next?"

When we finished cleaning up, Sophia read some books with Papa (my dad). She really loves her books.

Tomorrow I am sure will be another busy day with more new adventures.

Naked Morning

Sophia and I got to sleep in this morning as I had conferences at school. I got up early and went to the Y and was back just in time for her to get up. She decided that she didn't want her pjs on after she got up, so we had a naked morning.

She was so excited to run around in her diaper and eat breakfast with no pjs. While she ate breakfast, she thought she should have some sunglasses too. Take a look at the movie star in the making.....

We played toys for quite some time and then it was into the kitchen to play letters, again with no pjs.

Finally, it was time for us to begin the day and Sophia had to put some clothes on to go to Corey's house. She had a great day at Corey's and then Hal went to pick her up. I had conferences late into the evening, so while I was gone Sophia and daddy went on a huge walk. Hal took her to the park at Red Rock Elementary. She loves going on walks and enjoys the slide just as much.

When I got home, she greeted me at the door and then we were off and running. We read some books and played toys before bed. Tomorrow is my last day of conferences. When I get done Sophia and I are a single pair. Hal is off to his fantasy football draft. Hopefully he will get some good guys. We might experiment tomorrow night with finger painting! Stay tuned.

Half way through the week

We have made it half way through our busy week. Sophia has been doing great with the transition back to Corey's. Yesterday she took a huge nap! I think all of the excitement finally caught up with her. She also had her favorite meal of meatballs and spaghetti. We went to the park last night and went down the slide several times. She loved going down on her tummy and giggled over and over again as she went down.

Today was another busy day. After I got done with school, I picked Sophia up and rushed home. Then Sophia and Hal had dinner and it was off to the Y for me. I had several people in my class tonight which was really fun! When I got home, Sophia and Hal had gone to Target. After they got back, she was off on a mission to explore. Tonight her favorite place was my gym bag.

She carried my gym lock and some lotion around for quite some time. Then she took a bath and it was off to bed.

Sophia and I are excited as we get to sleep in tomorrow. I have conferences tomorrow at school until late, so I get to go in a bit later. I am excited to have breakfast with her and spend some mommy time too!

I know that she will be excited to be at home with all of us this weekend. Happy Wednesday!

Our first day of school

It was our first day back at school....or in Sophia's case back to Corey's house. When I dropped her off this morning, she was a bit tentative. She warmed up quite quickly when she saw her good friends Peyton and Mocha. Peyton is just two weeks older than Sophia so she will be 16 months coming up quite quickly. Mocha is one of the school aged kids and Sophia is crazy about her!

Then it was off to work for me as Hal left quite early. It never fails when you are in a hurry that there would be an accident causing a major traffic jam. I had a great view of 494 for over 30 minutes! Late for school my first day, good thing I didn't get fired.

Corey said that Sophia was non-stop all morning. She thought for sure she would go down for a nap. Not my little Energizer Bunny. She had a fantastic lunch of meatballs and spaghetti. She loves meatballs, very unlike her mother.

When I went to pick her up, she was still quite tired as she didn't nap for nearly long enough. After we got home to my parents house, we took our first day of school picture together.

Then we greeted Nana and Papa and Sophia was off and running. She has discovered several new favorites in my mom's closet. She really enjoys all of the treasures she can find. Two of her favorites are my dad's cowboy boots and my mom's "flute" or what we would call a recorder.

Here is Sophia getting ready to play the "flute"

After we had dinner, Sophia took a walk with Nana and Papa so I could go on a run and Hal could eat dinner. When they got back from their walk, we went out in the backyard to play. We bought Sophia a bubble gun, as bubbles are her absolute favorite. She was completely amazed by all of the bubbles that came out. She didn't really want to press it herself, but was completely content with chasing the bubbles and screeching! Check out some of the pictures from her bubblicious adventure.

Here is our first picture with the bubble gun.

Sophia loved chasing the bubbles.

Wild Weekend

What a wild weekend we had! Yesterday we started off the day with a 3 mile walk around White Bear Lake. The weather was just gorgeous and there were several people out walking. When we got done, we came back to my parents house and got ready for Woodbury Days. It was Sophia's first Woodbury Days as we did not go last year. She really enjoyed her crown that I made her as you can tell from the picture. The highlight of Woodbury Days for Sophia was getting a balloon. It is amazing how she is able to spot a balloon from anywhere in a crowd. This was great balloon as it was a bit bigger than most.

To finish off our busy day we went looking at patio furniture and stopped at Trader Joe's to get some groceries. Then it was off to bed for all of us as today we had a very early start.

This morning we got up bright and early to head back again to the Minnesota State Fair. I ran in the Milk Race this morning with my friend Courtney. We had a great run and the weather was perfect. After the race Hal and Sophia met me and we were off to see the sights and the food!

Sophia started off her fair experience this morning by having some Pronto Pup with her dad. She loved it and even ate it with mustard. What a surprise. After that we walked around and went into many of the buildings. We looked at the cars and then headed to the John Deer Tractor Kids Farm. Sophia got a bucket and then had to collect things along the way such as: corn to feed the cows, wool from the sheep, and she also planted a seed to get a pumpkin.

Here she is driving the tractor in the middle of her collecting.

When we were finished collecting all of the necessary items, she got to pick a prize. The prize she picked was a box of Golden Grahams cereal. This was also a first for her and she ate the whole box with a little help from mom and dad.

Taking a break with the chickens on the farm

Next, it was off to have some Sweet Martha's Cookies. This was also another huge hit in her world. The chocolate on her face can prove it!

After her big day at the fair, she couldn't take any more excitement and took a cat nap sitting up in her stroller. We figured it was about time to head home as we had been at the fair for more than five hours. When we got home, Sophia was wired and took quite a long time falling asleep for her afternoon nap. It was nice to relax a bit before getting ready for the day tomorrow.

Tomorrow it is back to Corey's house for Sophia and back to work for me! I am so blessed that I was able to spend the whole summer hanging out with Sophia. I couldn't have asked for more. Until tomorrow...

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Today we started off the morning by closing on our house. We are very excited that it was successful and are thrilled to begin a new adventure of house hunting. When we got back from the closing, it was off to the State Fair.

Sophia and I went with my mom and dad. We got to the fair just in time for the sun to be blazing and the wind to kick up. Throughout the day it got cloudy and we were glad for the shade. Sophia began her adventure by trying a deep fried smores on a stick. It was pretty good, but I was a bit disappointed as I thought that the outside crust would be crispier. We walked all over the fair grounds and then it was time for us to eat again.




This time we shared french fries and of course she loved those too. We also captured the moment by having our picture taken with the giant bucket of french fries. Sophia thought it was quite interesting.

Later in the day we went through the Midway where Sophia proceeded to dance/bump in her stroller to all of the loud music from the rides and the games. She enjoyed everything and couldn't take her eyes off of the rides that would spin you around in circles until you got sick.


After walking through the Midway we headed off to explore the Miracle of Birth barn. Sophia got to pet a baby duck, a baby lamb, and a miniature horse. She loved all of the animals. We couldn't believe how small the baby lambs were that were born earlier that morning. Then we washed hands and headed off again in search of something to eat and the carousel.










Sophia enjoyed the carousel and had a great time petting her horse....that was until the boy behind us got scared. She then proceeded to try and get off of her horse while the ride was still going. Of course I was holding her so it didn't really matter. Overall, I think she enjoyed it quite a bit.

What she enjoyed even more than her first carnival ride was the treat that came after. Tom Thumb Mini Donuts! She had sugar everywhere!! I couldn't believe how dirty she got. It didn't matter though as she gobbled them up quickly.

Then it was off to the Creative Arts building to see if my scrapbook pages that I entered won a ribbon. No such luck this year. Oh well, I will give it a try again next year! Sophia loved walking around and looking at all the different entries throughout the building. The picture below is her looking at this Christmas Raggedy Ann and Andy doll set.




To end the day, my mom got her infamous foot long hot dog. Sophia of course had to try a bite. Check out the picture below.
On the way home we thought she would for sure fall asleep considering she woke up early and never took her two hour afternoon nap. She kept my dad awake in the back seat playing games and chatting up a storm.

When we got home she went directly to the bath tub to wash off the dirt and grime. It was a great day and we are excited for Woodbury Days tomorrow. I'm sure we will have some mini donuts again and try another carnival ride.

Sophia's trip to the Mall of America

Today we decided to head to the Mall of America to do a bit of back-to-school shopping for me. Sophia loves shopping, and of course she was quite thrilled when we got there. We found a new Lindt Chocolate store. Sophia wanted desperately to try a truffle, so I let her have half of mine. She gobbled it up quite quickly and soon wanted more.

Along with trying a truffle, she also met a shark. The shark gave her a coupon for Underwater Adventures. She didn't care about the coupon, but was checking the shark out with a serious face!

At one of our last stops, we found some funny Halloween hats. My mom and I thought that Sophia should try a couple of them on. She didn't really enjoy them, but we thought that they were cute.

Tomorrow we are closing on our house! Sophia is also headed with her mom, Nana, and Papa to the Minnesota State Fair. Stay tuned to hear about all the foods we ate that came on a stick.

Shoes

Sophia has a new found love for shoes. I thought that it would be completely appropriate to start our first entry here. She enjoys carrying any type of shoes she can find around the house. She is also saying the word shoes, which is one of my favorite words she says. Whenever we go to Target she points at the shoes and loves to pick them up and touch them. I have a feeling she is going to be a shoe girl!