"Winter" Celebrations

Happy New Year!!

 

There is never a dull moment around here!  We keep this little girl of ours as busy as we can, it keeps her out of trouble. :)  In November we took a little trip to Gatorland.  It strikes me as a Central Florida must do.  Of course we saw some gators, but there are so many more creatures to see there!  There was actually a spot where you could sit and take photos holding a snake or a baby gator.  While I had some issues leaving my two year old sitting alone holding a snake (which looked like some sort of constrictor) so I could snap a picture, I had no problem with her petting the baby gator.  It did have its mouth taped shut, so no worries, right?  After she pet it and squealed, "It's soooo cute!" she proceeded to ask to have a baby gator in our home for the rest of the day.  Crazy kid!



 



That's a lot of gators!

Hanging out with Miss Linda at Gatorland

"Can we please have a baby gator at home??"

Brave girl

Feeding Andy the goat

Lucy selfie

Ah, potty training.  It's interesting to say the least.  Sophie has had zero interest in going on the potty. When asked she would politely say, "No, thank you."  We have had a few successes over the past 6 months or so, but nothing consistent. Fast forward to today.  Just today Sophie used the potty FOUR times!!  We're thrilled with idea of not having to change diapers anymore and with the thought that our little girl is growing up just a little bit.  Let's hope she keeps it up!

Princesses pee pee on the potty too

The Christmas season came and went far too fast this year.  In November Dan and I attended the Universal Foundation Gala and had nice date night out in style.

We decorated for Christmas as a family and it was so sweet to have Sophie participate this year!  This was the first year, therefore, that we decorated the bush in the backyard, because Sophie insisted on it.  It actually looked really cute and brought a little festiveness to our dreary backyard.

Pretty Lucy with our tree

Waiting to see Santa!

Best. Santa. Ever!

A day at Universal calls for hot dogs with Daddy

Macy's Parade at Universal

Another date night for Dan's Christmas party

Mom and Dad came to visit for Christmas. Of course we had a great time, enjoyed a wonderful Christmas, had lots of yummy food (thanks Mom!), and enjoyed some great Florida weather!

Diagon Alley at Universal Studios. Enjoying a Butterbeer with Dad

Petting a "baby dinosaur"

Candy bracelet

Fell asleep waiting for Santa

Since I had to work on Christmas day this year, we started our celebrations a day early.  We had my cousin Kurt over for a meal and he so kindly helped Sophie decorate her cookies for Santa.  Mom made us a yummy meal of enchiladas, empanadas, and Spanish rice.

Sophie was very proud of her creations! Thanks Kurt!

On Christmas morning, Sophie woke up to find that Santa left a few presents sitting out for her.  There was an easel with a chalkboard, dry erase board, and a roll of paper that she could paint on.  He also left a little kitchen for her, which included a microwave, hot dog and hamburger.  But Mommy's favorite part of the little kitchen was the built in espresso maker (yay!).

"I love treats"

Pretty princess accessories, including clip on earrings

Nakey painter :)

Nap time after some fresh toe polish

A fun day at the Science Center with Papa and Grandma

Labor and Delivery Christmas crew!

Happy New Year!

New Years Day fun!

We took Sophie bowling for the first time with her friend Sloane.  I had no idea they had bowling shoes her size!! I almost died when I saw them, they were so cute!  I also had no idea the fancy contraption you can use for little kids to get the ball down the lane, along with bumpers for the gutters.

A ramp! Genious!  By the end of the night, she carried her own 6 lb ball up there and pushed it down the ramp

Before and after. We ruined their hopes and dreams. We said they could not have a sleepover that night.

That wraps up our Christmas season fun!  A new post will be right around the corner with updates on our addition to the house!  Come back soon

Love,
The Yorks

Summer into Fall



Aw shoot!  It's been so long since my last blog. 388 pictures long. That's how many pictures I downloaded to my computer off of my phone.  It actually could have been 400 pictures since my last post, but my "smart" phone told me, "You better remove some of these pictures from the phone, or I'm not going to take any more photos for you."  I held out for a few days to see if I could get away with snapping a few more photos.  Didn't happen.  Darn you iPhone!  Does anyone else have this problem?  Maybe I just snap way too many pics with my phone. And, for some reason, I still have pictures on my phone from the day Sophie was born.  I know they're downloaded, but I just can bring myself to delete them...

 

Anyhow, a lot has happened since June.  That's when we went to Seabrook Island to celebrate my parent's anniversary.  We then got together a few weeks later in Indiana to celebrate my Grandma Doris' life.  We had a nice memorial followed by some good company.

 

Sophie and Great Grandma Ardis



A little drink, a toast to Grandma. The bottle is from Grandma's house. The label says 1958

Of course we visited the local winery! It was so quaint. The wine was delicious!

Helping Grandpa water Grandmas flowers

Summertime means Sophie's good friend Sloane gets to come play all the time!  Sloane's mommy is a teacher, so we have many play dates over the summer.  Sloane and Sophie were babysat by the same lady, so they have grown up together.  And, since Sloane's mommy and daddy have no family around like us, we end up spending a lot of time together and helping each other out.

Lunch-time shenanigans

Dress up

"Sophie Potter"

Curious George exhibit at the Orlando Science Center

Of course many play dates involved the beach or a pool. Whew! It's hot here!

All this time spent together means they are the best of friends, really...

This dog... Good girl

Every visit to the Science Center involves astronaut ice cream.  Just like when my Dad used to take me to the museum

Park "Selphie"

Last trip to the beach for the season

Grandma Elaine came to visit for Dan's birthday!  We enjoyed a nice dinner out for his birthday. Elaine also babysat Sophie so we could have a party for Dan. Thanks Elaine!

Grandpa came to visit next!  He was here for a whole week and we had a lot of fun in the area. Here are some photos of the things we did.
 

A free admission to the botanical gardens

Of course we had to show Grandpa the Bat exhibit at the Science Center

Chillin' with her Grandpa!

Universal Studios! We saw the animal actors and took pictures with a few nice guys...

"Beethoven"



No trip to Florida would be complete without a stop at the pool!

After Grandpa left, we had a few weeks until our next visitor arrived.  In the midst of preparing for our annual Halloween party, we attended a friends wedding downtown.

Uber selfie

Then we ran in to Justin Timberlake!

Sophie decided to go as a scary skull door knocker this year

Just kidding, she was a princess of course!

We went trick or treating at Disney World!

And Sophie got to meet two of her favorite Disney characters!

My Mom came to town to take care of the little princess while we held our annual Halloween party.  They had comfy accommodations at Dan's new hotel, Cabana Bay Beach Resort. They went for a swim and watched a Halloween movie together. My mom offered to make us some of her delicious homemade pizza to cure our post party blues! Sloane and her parents joined us for pizza and a little pumpkin carving.

Slumber Jack and Army Girl

Didn't get pics from Gramma yet from her visit. So we will throw it back. Way back...

 

Next up on our list of things to do...an expansion!!  On our house.  Let's not get carried away :)

 

Love,

 

The Yorks