Visit with Cozy Nana

It has been SO great having Nana in town! We did lots of fun things together....nice walk at Lake Brandt, Mother-Daughter tea date, having a girls' lunch, strawberry picking, dinner on the lake, date nights with no curfew ;), Downton Abbey episodes... just to name a few!

 out for lunch....nothing could distract Sophia from the fresh, warm bread that had just arrived at the table....no one could blame her!

 Sophia loves eating out at restaurants! It's kind of surprising, since we don't do it that often...maybe we have our Saturday morning family breakfast at Chick-Fil-A to thank!

Sophia is grinning ear to ear after each sip of lemon water! She was cracking us up!

 Out for ice cream at Bruster's! Sophia sure knew what to do with her first cone!

'YMMMMMM - this stuff is awesome, Dad!'

She demolished this cone (with Mama's help with drips) in record speed! Extra fun that these kiddie cones are free! We look forward to more ice cream outings this summer!

Easter at Josh/Meagan's

Josh and Meg graciously hosted us for Easter dinner and egg hunt (Sophia's first!) It was extra special to have Nana there too! Sophia caught on to the idea of hunting for eggs and enjoyed finding the ones we "hid". :)

More than anything, she LOVED being part of the gang with her cousins...sitting on the bench sandwiched between big girl cousins, Molly and Annie, was definitely the highlight of her day! so sweet how much she looks up to and adores all her cousins. I wish Luca & Juliette could have been here too - we miss them!

Easter morning

We had a wonderful Easter, celebrating the sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus!

We started the morning off with delicious hot cross buns, baked by a good friend. (Thanks Jes!) They were laced with spices, raisins, and dried currants - really yummy. I love traditions, especially food related tradition, and apparently eating hot cross buns on Easter dates back to ancient Greece, then became custom during the Tutor period of English history.

Also, something fun is that Sophia has started smiling on command (most times anyway) when prompted for a picture...."CHEESE!"

Easter Eve!

This year, on Easter eve (night before Easter), we gathered with close friends for a simple dinner and wonderful discussion. We broke bread together, drank wine, ate cheese, and some other snacks. The conversation was deep and meaningful. I hope we can continue to find ways to celebrate this important holiday other than bunnies, chocolate, and colored eggs (though they have their place in making it fun and special too).

Sin has been conquered, death has no victory! Praise Jesus for his unwavering love and sacrifice so that we may have LIFE!

Look who's WALKING!

Sophia took her first steps one day shy of 14 months! Already, only 3 days later, she is *starting* to get steadier and LOVES practicing! We have one video I took as it was first happening (very early in the morning and I was trying to just turn it ON to record!) Hopefully a better one will be taken and posted soon. We are very excited and proud of our girl!

PS My favorite parts are 1) the pride and joy in her smile 2) that she bends down to get Daisy (her lovey)

Playing Dress Up...and so it begins

Yesterday, Sophia found a string of pearls in my nightstand, so I thought she might enjoy wearing them for a while. This is her hat for Easter this Sunday. I love having a little girl!!

(looks a bit like a chef's hat on it's own, but it is really cute with her yellow Easter dress)

Farm Fun!

So, it was made very clear to me last week that Sophia really loves animals! (that's my girl!!) :) Her first word was kitty and she absolutely prefers her books with pictures of dogs, cats, ducks, pigs...but last Friday I found out that she loves them in the flesh even more than in her books!

We went to a MOPS playdate with our church, hosted by a very sweet family that owns 42 acres of farm. While there, we saw goats, pigs, chickens, peacocks, pheasants, roosters, ponies, horses, baby chicks, rabbits and a cat. Sophia got excited about EVERY one of them. She was able to pet/semi-hold the baby chicks and was surprisingly more gentle than I expected! She loved petting the pony, wasn't so sure when he blew his breath out and sniffed her curiously, but she really loved touching his mane. The goats were being fed carrots and "food pellets" by any little ones who were interested. At first I thought Sophia would be too young to understand the concept, but she just was so taken by the goats and squealing with delight that I thought it was worth a shot to try it! Sure enough, she held her hand still while the goat nibbled and licked the pellets up. Her facial expression was pure AWE....so stink'in cute. We got to go on a hay ride also, on which she seemed the most bored out of the whole time there. I think it was because it was the only activity that didn't involve being close with any animal! :) Katie M. kindly took some photos since I didn't bring my camera with me.

My hand was on the fence because she was trying to pull it down to get to the soft rabbit!

nice pony named "Rooster"

you can barely tell from her profile, but she has a HUGE smile on her face as she touches this baby chick!

We will definitely need to visit a farm again soon!