A Wonderful Winter



After all of our fun fall activities, December rolled around and kicked off winter fun with my birthday!  In the spirit of keeping things low-key, a friend of mine from work went with me to a painting class.  In these painting classes, you can bring your own beverage (a bottle of wine), and an instructor teaches you how to paint one painting in 2-3 hours.  The step-by-step instructions are broken down so easily, anyone can create a masterpiece!  Not to mention a little adult beverage to get the creative juices flowing...

Dan and I attended a holiday party hosted by his department at Universal Studios.  We got dressed up and had a great night with friends!

Our beautiful tree

Christmas Party time!

Sophie attended her best friend Sloane's 2nd Birthday party.  They held it at a park with a playground and grilled up some hot dogs and hamburgers.  It was Cowgirl themed!  Sophie got dressed up in a cowboy hat and a cute bandanna.  She ate two hot dogs, lots of chips and one giant sugar cookie.  She worked on that sugar cookie for about 30 minutes.  We kept asking her if she was done, to which she promptly answered, "No!".  When we put her in the car seat to leave, she was still working on that cookie.  After a few minutes, she fell asleep with the cookie still clenched in her hand.  "Sweet" dreams!

"Howdy y'all!"

We went to see the Macy's Holiday parade again this year.  We took Sloane and her parents with for the fun.  The girls were mesmerized!  Sophie kept waving and saying "hi" to every balloon and character that walked past us.  The evening ended with a wonderful show by Mannheim Steamroller!

Sharing snacks before the parade

Look closely, two stunned little girls!

Mannheim Steamroller

Grandma and Grandpa Swartz came to visit this year again for Christmas.  They spent nine days with us and it only felt like two!  We had lots of fun baking, cooking, playing with all of Sophie's new toys, and taking many trips to the park.

Sophie had gone with me to the airport to pick up her Grandma and Grandpa.  When we pulled into our driveway, after getting her out of her car seat, she yelled "Papa!" and dashed over to her Grandpa with her arms up in the air.  Someone must have made an impression on her the last time he was here.  Over the course of their visit, Sophie regularly called out for "Papa" or needed to sit on his lap. Such sweetness!

One evening, as Dan was getting Sophie ready for her bath, he removed her diaper and to his surprise, found it was "dirty"!  Sophie took off running (per her usual streaking stint before bath time). We all heard Dan shout, "Someone grab her please!"  I didn't realize the gravity of the situation, I just thought we had a naked baby running around.  Grandpa was the first to get his hands on her, only to find that some of her dirty diaper was still stuck to her bum!  When I walked around the corner to see what was going on, I find the following situation.  I grabbed my phone and snapped a great moment!

HA! HA!  Two guys and a little lady...

Her first present this year under the Christmas tree from Santa. A doll house!

This girl loves Elmo!  An Elmo train track from Grandma and Grandpa

Tickle time with Grandma

A wagon from Grandma and Grandpa Swartz

Elmo doll: check!  Elmo PJ's: check!  Elmo blanket and pillow: check, check!

Walking with Daddy

On the swings with Mommy

In January, we went to see the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus while they were in town.  Sophie's friend Sloane was going for her birthday, so we decided to take Sophie as well.  She did a great job sitting through most of the show.  I guess I've never been to the circus, or it's been a long time, but it's so long there is an intermission!  We saw tigers, elephants, dogs, tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, motorcyclists, and much more!  Sophie made the noise of every animal she saw.  Needless to say, after the 11 o'clock performance, it was way past Sophie's bedtime, and she passed out in the parking lot before we even made it on the road.

Silly Mommy

The death-defying sphere of motorcycles!

Fun with her buddy Sloane

We have finally had a few cold days here in central Florida!  This Midwestern girl was so excited!  But also a little unprepared...  Grandma Cindy to the rescue!  She sent Sophie a hat and pair of mittens to keep warm during our time at the park.  Sophie loved them so much, she frequently wears it around the house.

The City Beautiful!  A day at Lake Eola feeding ducks and swans

A sassy pose!  When I want her to smile for a picture, I tell her to say "Daddy!"  This is what I got, along with a sassy hip!



We are finally slowing down a tiny bit before we rev back up for another party!  We will soon have a two-year-old in the house, and we plan to celebrate this with a little get-together.  Check back for all the party details!

Love,
Dan, Jess, Sophie and Lucy

A Fantastic Fall!

Let's go back a few months to October.  Life has been busy since the holidays!  And by holidays, of course I'm including Halloween.  In this household, it definitely counts as one of the more important ones!  We had our annual Halloween party this year.  We couldn't have done it without a few of our ghoulish family members. My mom, Aunt Linda, and Aunt Regina all came down to visit, decorate, and babysit Miss Sophie.  Grandma Cindy whipped up a cute costume for Sophie again this year.  She was Little Red Riding Hood.  She really made that costume look adorable!  We spent a good week preparing for the party.  Everyone helped out in such a big way, I don't know how we would have done it without them!  Aunt Regina got a one-on-one course in making Jell-O shots.  She was a pro by the time we finished our 400th shot, I think she even made a few batches on her own.  Grandma and the Aunties were nice enough to check into a hotel for the evening with Sophie.  They had a great time during the sleepover, and even more fun at the park the next day!  They sat and watched ducks in the pond for a long time, Sophie just couldn't taker her eyes off those birds!

The sweetest Little Red Riding Hood!

Carving our first pumpkin

Our first lollipop



Fun on the carousel at Universal Studios. That's Grandma Cindy and Aunt Regina

Aunt Linda, Dan, Sophie and I

A few shots

I've taught her well!

Dan the squirrel, and my homemade Pinata costume!

We spend a lot of fun day's with our friend Sloane!  Sloane's mommy is a teacher, so when she has the summer off, we find so many fun things to do together.  These girls go to the same daycare, so I'm sure they see enough of each other as it is, but they have a great time together.  When I tell Sophie we are going to play with Sloane, it's all she can talk about until we've actually made it to our destination!

We went to Naples for a visit with Grandpa Don and Grandma Sally in November.  The weather was beautiful!  Sophie had a great time at the Naples zoo.  Sally took us to feed the birds and fish.  We saw an animal show with a sloth and a skunk.  We even watched them train alligators!  We also spent a day at the beach!  I couldn't imagine going to the beach in November, but for some reason my gut told me to pack Sophie's swimsuit.  It was a beautiful day!  Sophie played in the sand and could not resist the water.  She headed straight for it and I thought she wouldn't like it because it was cold.  I was wrong!  She loved splashing in it, running into it, and falling over in it.  She giggled so much!  I had to take her out at one point and wrap her in a towel when I noticed her shivering.  She couldn't wait to go back in!  Sophie had so much fun, she fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot.



Feeding the birds with Grandma Sally





Training alligators...??

Reading a book with Grandpa Don

Sophie participated in her first cooking making experience.  It was a rainy day and I just so happened to have everything we needed to make chocolate chip cookies.  I let her help pour in the ingredients, stir the batter with the mixer, and of course lick the beaters!  She was a great helper and so patient.  She even enjoyed the finished product, and is not an expert at saying the word "cookie"





Patiently waiting for the finished product



The best part!  She loved it of course



There are many things Sophie enjoys doing everyday.  One of them is loving on her dog Lucy!  They have a fun time playing on the bed together.  Sophie usually tries to "wrestle" with Lucy by throwing herself on top of her.  Lucy is such a good sport that she takes it, or gets up to get out of the way.  At night, when it's time to go to bed, she says good night to Daddy and Lucy.  We then head to her room to read a few books.  When I lay her down in her crib, I tell her, "Mommy loves you very much, and Daddy love you too. Sweet dreams."  The other night, after I said that, she asked me, "And Lucy?"  I could have cried!  I answered her, "And Lucy loves you too!" So sweet...

 

We go to the park just about every day too.  She helps me walk Lucy around the block, then we take Lucy home and go to the park for some fun.  She' s very brave climbing up all of the sets to go down the slides.  Of course, every time we enter the park, the first thing she has to do is swing.  Those are some of the biggest smiles I get out of her, when she's soaring high on a swing!

 



Snuggles with Lucy

The most serious kid on the playground!

Two dogs while riding a bike? Now that's talent!

A Purdue game with the family!

 

Read on to the next one!  It's time to play catch up....

 

Love,

Dan, Jess, Sophie and Lucy