Earrings for my big girl!

Last week Sophia decided that she finally wanted to get her ears pierced. After much deliberation of going in the store and then changing her mind, she did it. I kept telling her it would only be a little pinch and then it would be done. She continued to repeat this to the ladies at the store.

Being the planner that I am, I called the store to make sure that in advance we would be going at a time when two people were working. Well, it turned out we didn't need the two people because she ended up getting them done one at a time.

She was SO brave!! After she got her ears pierced she proceeded to go and pick out a prize of sparkly Hello Kitty polish in the store along with a pair of earrings to wear when she can change her earrings in 6 weeks.


For now we are working on keeping them clean three times a day. Sophia loves her earrings and shows EVERY person we come in contact with that she has earrings. She even stopped a teenage boy the other day in the store to show him that she had her ears pierced and he also did. Needless to say he had quite the bling in his ears....nothing compared to the tiny little silver balls she has. Oh well, he found it quite funny and was a good sport about the whole thing.

Camping and a Coin Carnival

Last week my friend Rana and I took our three kids camping for the first time ever. We went to a local state park that wasn't too far from either of our houses as a "just in case" precautionary measure. Little did we know the adventures that would ensue over such a short 24 hour period of time.

We got to Lake Elmo on Thursday around noon. We got checked in, picked up the fire wood, and then headed to the beach. Our original plan was to set up the tent first, but the people at our site had not yet checked out and they had until one o'clock. So the kids had lunch/snacks and swam for what seemed like forever.


The weather was beautiful and the beach was packed. The kids had so much fun playing in the sand, covering themselves in the sand, and then rushing to the water to rinse it off. To my surprise it took Sophia quite some time before she actually put her head back in the sand. She was however quite the brave little turkey in the water and at one point got in way over her head literally! She didn't seem at all scared when I pulled her up. I was waiting for the tears, but she said "lets do it again".

After the beach, we went back and got the tent set up.

The kids had a great time bouncing all over the air mattresses and sleeping bags. Who knew you could create a jumpy right in your very own tent. We decided to head back to the beach for a bit more play before dinner. Then we came back and the kids made pizza pockets over the fire. I was quite proud at finding a recipe online and then inventing it to make it "kid friendly" and tasty!

After dinner we went up to the play area and lets the kids run free for a while. Then it was back to the tent for the long awaited smores. Boy did they turn out fantastic! I had this wonderful idea to use a Reeses peanut butter cup instead of a Hershey bar and I couldn't believe how yummy it was!

The smores were eaten and tummies were full. It was time to get pjs on and get ready for bed. The kids listened to some books that I brought and sat by the fire for a bit.

Eyes were droopy from both moms and the kids. It was quite the big day. So we put the kids in bed. Rana and I sat by the fire and then it happened................we could hear some rustling from the bushes, but couldn't see anything. All of a sudden two beady little eyes popped out right by our campfire where we were sitting. It was a raccoon!!!!!
We ran over and picked up rocks, but it didn't stop that hungry little critter from getting our trash and trying to rip it open. So I went to find a place with my flashlight to dispose of the trash. We didn't want to have any more close encounters with the fuzzy kind.

In the morning the kids surprisingly slept in. We got up and had breakfast and then cleaned everything up. Then it was off to home for a quick clean up and heading out to the Coin Carnival. The kids had so much fun playing all of the games.

By the time lunch rolled around, we were all tired and hot. So we opted to cut the Coin Carnival short and head to the pool. By Friday night we were so tired. Sophia slept like a log and so did I. I would have to say that our first camping experience was quite fantastic. Hopefully we can do it again sometime soon!

My little gymnast

Sophia has been attending gymnastics since June 14th and she is just loving it. I am amazed at how far she has come in such a short amount of time. They really do "real" gymnastics compared to some of the other places that I see where they just crawl through tunnels and such.

I would love for her to continue gymnastics for a while this fall and will hopefully sign her up for at least 2 of the five sessions offered. We love her teacher Miss Frankie and luckily we would be able to get into the same class with her during the school year that doesn't conflict with dance.

This week there focus was on balance and I got a couple of great shots of her focusing on her skills.

Standing on the high bar balancing without one hand


Trying to stand on the swing and balance

Hot fun in the summertime

We have been having a wonderful time in all of this hot weather so far. Friday marked the start of a long weekend with Hal which was so nice. Sophia and I spent the day on Friday by the pool with my family and Hal worked on getting our landscaping in the front yard done. Friday evening we went to Pier 500 for dinner. After dinner we went to get Sophia a fish. She has been wanting a pet for quite some time and a fish is the perfect one for her to have. She named the fish Firefly and just adores it.


Saturday we spent the morning looking for new shrubs and then went to my parents for the rest of the day. We lounged by the pool all day and snacked on apps and drinks. It was the most perfect day! By 6 everyone was completely sunned out and we went home.


Sunday was the Fourth of July. We spent the rainy morning relaxing at home and then took Sophia to her first ever movie "Toy Story 3". She loved every second of the movie theater, but I think she loved eating the popcorn and Whoppers even more. She didn't share very much with us and by the time the movie got done she was tired and ready for a nap. Hal went to take care of his parents cats and then I got the food ready for the party that evening. We went over to our neighbors for the party later in the evening. The food was great and it was so fun to hang out with everyone.






Monday the weather was so completely weird it didn't know if it was going to rain or be sunny. So after we had gotten all ready to get up to the pool for the day, the tornado sirens went off. What a bummer. There were funnel clouds spotted in the area so we spent lunch time down in the basement. After we were given the all clear, Sophia played outside in the rain. Then we got ready to get to gymnastics. We were all completely wiped from the weekend and went to bed early that evening.

Yesterday I took Sophia to Como Zoo. We had such a great day looking at all of the animals, going to the shows, going on rides, and having a picnic lunch despite the extreme heat.




Then we spent another round at the swimming pool after we were completely done with the zoo and the heat. Last night we also had a family dinner with my grandma. Today it looks at though they predicted wrong again. The skies are sunny and the weather is hot, so it looks like we will be yet again at the pool. So needless to say, there has been quite a bit of fun had even with the heat of the summer.

The wagon parade

Last night our community center had a 4th of July parade for the kids. I wasn't able to attend due to a CPR class, but Hal took Sophia. We spent yesterday afternoon getting her cute outfit ready and decorating the wagon.

Hal said Sophia had a wonderful time seeing the firetrucks, police cars, and getting pulled in the "parade". After all of the kids went around the circle in the parade they had ice cream. Of course Sophia didn't pass that up.

Today we are off to spend the day by the pool with Uncle Ryan who is home for a week. Bring on the warm weather.