Christmas Party at Dance

Last night Sophia had her Christmas party at dance. They were all so cute and all of the parents felt very blessed that we were able to sit in on this very special class. Miss Mary their teacher showed everyone what a typical class is like and then the girls did a special Christmas dance to the song "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer". You can see from some of the pictures Sophia has her antler hands on her head. What a fun evening!

I am eager to have a date night with Hal this evening. Sophia is celebrating Parents Night Out at Corey's house our daycare provider. It is her thank-you to us at the holidays. She takes the kids until 8pm and parents are free for a night out. They make gingerbread houses, have a special dinner, make crafts, and cookies. It is such a wonderful evening for all. We are blessed to have her.

We are looking forward to making cookies this week and having breakfast with Santa too. It's beginning to look alot like Christmas.......

I heart Santa!

Last year Sophia saw Santa I think about seven different times and she hated him each time. She finally got close to him at her daycare Christmas party, but was distracted by all of the other kids. I have one adorable picture of her sitting in Santa's chair with him nowhere to be found.

This year however, he was the winner! Last night we attended a party in our community with Santa, live reindeer, crafts, cookies, and milk. It was such a wonderful night. Sophia loved every single second and so did we. We all had such a wonderful time. Here are a couple of pictures of Sophia with Santa:

Smiling all cheesy

Touching Santa's beard to see if it is fluffy

Sophia putting together her ornament craft project from the party

Tomorrow night Sophia has her Christmas performance at dance. I'm eager to see how it goes. Christmas is coming soon! Our paper chain countdown has now 19 days today.

Happy Turkey Day!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving Break! Wednesday, I had a half day at school. Then I quickly rushed to get the pie from Baker's Square, home to set the table, and work out all before I went to pick up Sophia. Then I got her and we came home so she could have a quick bit to eat. Then it was off to teach at the Y so that Hal could get the house cleaned before our guests came for the day on Thursday.

Thursday morning I ran the Fast Before the Feast Race in White Bear Lake, MN. I ran the fastest 5K that I have ever run before! I think I knew that the reward in the end would greatly outweigh the work!! I could barely wait for all of the yummy food. I headed home and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Sophia and Hal. We also had a mini treat to celebrate Sophia turning 2 and a half. I can hardly believe that my little girl is half a year away from being 3! We had such a great time. Then we all got cleaned up and Hal's family came over. We had appetizers and then Sophia went down for a nap. After she got up we played a couple of games and ate our fantastic dinner. Hal did a wonderful job on the deep fried turkey!! Thursday night we watched a movie and everyone left. It was a wonderful day!

Friday morning we woke up bright and early to go Black Friday Shopping. Sophia was such a trooper and I got some wonderful deals! We had all of the shopping done by noon and were home just in time for lunch. The rest of the day was a lazy day. Last night we decorated the Christmas tree and put up the rest of the decorations. Hal also put some more lights on the outside of the house. Sophia just loves everything Christmas.

Today we met some friends in Stillwater to get our family photos taken. I can barely wait to see how they turned out. My close friend from college Kristi took them. She did such a fantastic job with my tired little girl who just wanted to run around. Her daughter Aubrey and husband Adam were there too so it helped to distract Sophia a bit. After our pictures we came home and Sophia attempted a nap while I worked out. Tonight Hal is out with the best man from our wedding Dave who is home for the weekend from California. Sophia and I are going to play toys and get a bit of laundry before bed.

I'm not sure what we are in store for tomorrow, but what a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I can hardly believe that it is December next week. Bring it on Christmas!

Our adventure to the Children's Museum

Today Sophia had a playdate with two neighbor girls at the Children's Museum downtown St. Paul. This was the first time that we had ever been there before, but the other two girls had been there several times before.

Sophia had such a good time. We started in the first room that had a fall theme. She listened to the bird sounds, raked leaves, and played in the treehouse.

She also made her very own tag out of recycled paper to hang on one of the trees.

After hanging out in this room, we went into the room with all of the water. Sophia had such a wonderful time exploring the different water toys and blowing these huge bubbles in the tub of soap.

I think her favorite part of the museum was the grocery store. She just loved pushing the carts around, putting the items in the cart, and checking them out using the cash register.

Sophia and Ava playing in the grocery store

Then we took a break and had some snacks together. All of the girls were getting a bit hungry.


The last stop was painting faces. When we originally got to the museum Ava and Emerson painted their faces and Sophia didn't want to. Then before we left she changed her mind. Here are the results:

Sophia's pretty little face

All 3 girls with their beautiful faces

Sophia the babysitter

Yesterday we had the opportunity to babysit a neighbor's kiddo from across the street. Baby Sawyer was the highlight of Sophia's day! She will make an excellent big sister some day. She wanted to help feed him and cuddle with him. She also read him one of her "big girl books" because she thought he would like the pictures. She can't wait to have him over to our house again some time soon.

Pottery at the U and Tina the Turkey

Saturday Sophia and I had our very own private pottery lesson with Brie the art teacher at my school. We had such a good time working with the clay and attempting to make pots. I threw a couple of different pots, but only one turned out really well. Here are a couple of pictures from our adventure:

Sophia cutting her clay

Sophia intensely working with her clay

Sophia working with Brie to make her very own pot

Last night Sophia and I did a cool crafty project to get ready for Thanksgiving. She decorated her very own Tina (instead of Tom) the turkey. She had so much fun deciding what supplies to use and how to put them on the turkey. The finished product looks just awesome!

Sophia's First Gopher Hockey Game

Last night Sophia attended her first ever Gopher Hockey Game. She had a wonderful time watching the game, listening to the marching band, and watching the cheerleaders. I still think her favorite part was having popcorn for dinner! The game was really fun and all of the people attending gave us these cute smiles as we walked around visiting different spots during the breaks. Here are a couple of photos from this and many more to come hockey games!

Sophia and Daddy


Sophia and Mommy