Holidays '06 Part 1

Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas!

Belated Thankgiving

I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting the Turkey photos from the Pinch (Upper Pinch to be exact) but we have been busy! So here are a few photos with no text. Chris A. I need your pictures - mine are not good! We had a lot of fun & I think the kids had a blast!
IP

halloween

Ok, I love Halloween and last year Sophie was cooperative, so I thought this year would be no different. Wrong! Ask, "do you want to wear your dragon costume?" Answer "no dragon". Ask "can you say trick or treat?" Answer "no trick or treat".........And so it goes on from there. I am posting a picture of the costume we refused to wear, the last minute idea Mommy had of wearing one of our chef hats & aprons - which was actually very cute, and one cute one in our Halloween pjs. That is all I got! But Halloween ended up being fun. We only trick or treated to 3 houses, but our neighbors across the street had their 3rd annual Halloween bonfire so we went to that, hung out and had fun! Maybe next year we will wear a costume!
IP

Fall

Fall has been good to Sophie. We took in the Long Grove Apple Fest a few weeks ago with Fran, Bob & Anna and Anna's aunt and uncle. Anna had a ball - can't you tell!

Sophie went apple and pumpkin picking last week in Indiana. She is not a "field person" and I think she felt we were belittling her by making her pick fruit off of trees. Perhaps she is a descendant of royalty and we don't know it.

The final picture is Sophie at Pleasant Home, a national landmark in the OP. Sophi spent this past Saturday touring bungalows in River Forest. She now has tons of renovation ideas for the Tiny Bungalow in the OP.

Sophie's Birthday Week - Part 3

Sophie's birthday "week" was capped with a dim sum brunch in Chinatown. The girls had a lot of fun playing Ring Around the Rosie. Luckily we got home early enough to open gifts and play with the kitchen.

Webster's Pond

Sophie's Birthday Week - Part 2

A real treat in Syracuse was Sophie's birthday wioth her cousins. While in NY, we also went to the fair for a horse show - Sophie loves to copy everything that her cousins do! We also got to visit Webster's Pond (see pics in previous post). I think that this was a bit overwhelming and Sophie no longer has a fascination with ducks.

Sophie's Birthday Week - Part 1

Sophie has had a very busy couple of weeks. We had a trip back to Syracuse to see my family and it seemed that everywhere we went, someone was throwing her a birthday party. Sophie loved the gifts and now she has a better outfitted kitchen than Emeril!

Sophie was great on the trip - well behaved in the airport and on the plane. She loved that we brought her car seat everywhere.

The final pic is to raise a question - will Sophie become a chef or is a career in construction in her future. She is absolutely nutty with the towers she builds.

Do you think she likes the new digs?

The most popular question we have had since moving into the new house has definitely been, “how does Sophie like it?” I think that you can look at the pictures and judge for yourself. Since moving, Sophie has become a prolific artist. She has quickly made the basement wall into her gallery.

Sophie has also become somewhat of an organizational freak. Besides her obsession with cleaning up any “mess” around the house, she absolutely loves taking things off of her shelves and stacking them on the floor and then putting them back on her shelves.

Since the basement is “in-progress”, Sophie also enjoys working alongside her dad. While I made myself busy with installing the ceiling and stair “rails”, Sophie occupied her time building a house of her own out of blocks.

Everything is not fun and games at the new place though. Sophie has recently learned a new face. If you ask Sophie to pout, this is typically what you get. Frankly, if you do anything that Sophie does not appreciate, if you turn off Blue’s Clues, or if you tell her you need to change her diaper, you get the same face.

I guess you can say that things are pretty good in the new house… …as long as we can keep the pouting to a minimum. With all of the rain we have been having lately, Sophie has had a little cabin fever. Yesterday, we ventured outside. Sophie was so excited to put on her raincoat so that we could go out.