Goodbye summer... It was fun.

A Day at Home

Today is one of the few days in the past month that we just stayed home. It was great! Sophia was a good helper and we cleaned and dusted. Griffin kept himself busy (which isn't always the case with that little koala bear). He pulled out a couple new hilarious tricks today that he came up with all on his own. The first being a mean face. Chin tilted down looking at you through a scowling brow - then when I would look back at him the same way we would both break into a smile. So funny. The second trick of the day - walking around on his tippy toes. Just randomly and for no reason that I can come up with. Sophia would do it at that age, but she also had ballet lessons from mommy. Griffin has not. I checked his heels for splinters - nothing. I guess it's just fun to walk around on your toes sometimes!

Summer Ballet

Sophia finished her summer ballet classes a few weeks ago. The last day was dress-up day and she chose to wear one of my old ballet costumes - my lion costume. I think I was 7 or 8 when I wore it, though. She is a TALL girl!

So here are the first few seconds of her little performance for the parents and guests watching. Then I ran out of memory card space and frantically started deleting old photos so I could free up space to video the end of the little dance. Hence the two videos...

It just makes me smile to watch these videos. She such a little dancer and absolutely loves it. She is learning tap as well as ballet now in a class called Discover Dance. We are still at Studio West Dance Academy and I am still so impressed with the management and teaching there. I hope Sophia continues on this path!

She will also have preschool 3 days a week this year. She is really looking forward to seeing her friends again in a couple weeks.

A New Big Boy Toy

I don't know who loves it more... Daddy or Griffin??

Chalk Art

Sophia has been having a lot of fun on the new cement slab we had poured out front last April. She is really getting good at her letters and pictures.

This was the first time she did her name by

herself without asking me the last few letters!

This was her first attempt at her last name

A cute little person

A Sunshine

And the most impressive, a picture of her brother

(with his hair spiked up, of course)! How cute is this!

Sodo Mojo

Kyle has always loved Ken Griffey, Jr. So you can imagine his excitement when it was announced that Griffey was coming back to Seattle. In fact, that is where our inspiration for Baby Griffin's name came from. Kyle liked Griffey, but I, of course, liked a full name - Griffin.

So we finally bought some Mariners tickets and a week later Ken Griffey, Jr. calls it quits. Just our luck, huh? Oh well, the game was still fun without "The Kid" and it was a gorgeous day!

Griffin just couldn't take all the excitement.

He had to take a little snooze by the 5th inning.

A New Level

Oh Boy - just a quick post. That's all I have time for now that Griffin-boy is even more active. He can now open the doors in the house since we have the lever-style handles. He can climb up onto the couch. And he is trying his darndest to get up onto our bed. (I'm sure we will have a few trips to urgent care in the next few months, he has no fear of falling straight on his head.) He is into every nook & cranny, but somehow still manages to always be under my feet! I don't know how he does it.

Just a warning, if I finally get a moment to sit down (without being a human trampoline) - I will no longer jump up to get the phone if it rings! Ha!

Yum!

I decided to try my hand at strawberry pie a few days ago, but then decided it would be even more fun to do little tartlettes in the mini cupcake pan. They are so yummy and pretty easy. Topped with a little whip cream - delish!

In other news... Griffin popped a top molar out a day or two ago! What a big boy!

Old Pictures

I just realized I never shared the pictures I took when the kids and I stayed at Kim's during Apple Cup last fall. Abby was a brand new tiny baby, and Griff hadn't had his first haircut yet. They both look so big now compared to these pics!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=476630490408%3A598933799&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Share

Kora's Bridal Shower

My Sister-In-Law, Kora, is getting married this August to a great guy. It is so exciting to have all the wedding festivities going on finally. All of us bridesmaids threw a shower for Kora a couple weekends ago. It was beautiful. Kimberly was gracious enough to have the shower at her house and she did all the decorations. It looked so festive!

Here is the Bride-to-Be

Sophia and Claudia (Nick's mom)

helping set up

My pretty girl

Kora modeling a new apron

Kora and cute little niece, Abigail

Claudia, Kora, and Deniece

The cute decorations and setup

Kim is so good at this!

The cake I made to match the invitations

Marisa, of course, took all the great pictures. Here is her album on Kodak (you'll have to sign in to view the slideshow):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=897761886309%3A1686251363&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee


It was so fun and I am so excited for Kora and Nick's big day. They seem like such a perfect match!! The wedding is going to be amazing!

Silly Boy!

Sophia Turns 4!

Sophia turned 4 on May 29th.

It was a great party with Ariel (Little Mermaid) as her theme.

Her cake turned out really cute and
didn't take much time at all!




Griffin had quite the setup... Kind of like a buffet for him.
He would just walk around the crowd with his mouth open
until someone gave him a bite of cake or ice cream!



OOOOHHHH the motherload. All she talked about all week was
Barbie Mermaid Merleah doll! We put in a special request to
Aunt Risa, who of course delivered!



Mommy and Daddy thought it was time for our
big girl to have a big bike. She picked out the blue one
while her and Daddy were browsing stores the
week before her party.



And the time finally came that I was dreading,
she asked for a pinata! I just get so nervous with a bunch
of preschoolers swinging a bat around... Luckily, I found one
with pull strings, but she still wanted to have a whack at it.
Sophia, Lauren, and Carson each had a few turns
before we finally pulled the strings.

And you know what, it was still just as exciting and much safer.

Thank you to everyone for all of her great gifts.

She is always so excited to host a party, so that

really is the best part for her. As she would say,

"Let's invite everyone... All Our WHOLE Family!"