Just photos....

2 Years ago today......

.....we saw Sophia's face for the first time. It was an amazing day and one I will never forget. I was the second to post on our DTC yahoo group that had gotten the call - I was a close second to a travelmate of ours! I took pictures of Sophia holding her referral picture and I am amazed at how she has grown over the last 2 years.

Last year's photo

This year's photos:

Speech Therapy and Gymnastics

Well, first let's talk about speech therapy. Sophia has done amazing with speech therapy - so much so that she has tested out of the First Steps program! Her therapist is just amazed by her progress. She has one more lesson in this plan and we are finished. I don't know what she is going to do when Miss Dana no longer comes to the house.

Sophia has started gymnastics and absolutely loves it! She loves to play and it gives her some mommy time since it is a parent/tot class until she turns 3. Olivia continues with gymnastics and still loves it. She was asked last spring to join a developmental team that prepares kids for competitions. We decided not to start with the summer session but did start this August. She loves this and is continuing to improve. She was in a parade last Saturday - unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. Ugh! Her first parade and I missed it! Here are a few pictures of Sophia doing gymnastics.

First Day of School

The first day of school went off without a hitch! Olivia asked every day after we went to the open house and met her teachers if she got to go to school that day and I always said no not today but you will go on Monday. Well, Sunday night she picked out what she wanted to wear and what Sophia was going to wear before heading to bed. Monday morning she woke up and I could hear her skipping through the kitchen saying "I get to go to school today" over and over again. She is going 4 days per week and Sophia is going 2 days. She has since decided that she doesn't like going to school when Sophia isn't there. Here are a few pics of the first day:

State fair and good friends

Today we went to the State fair and met up with friends, The Hedden Family, we met through our DTC group while waiting for Sophia. I would link their blog in this post but I have no idea how to so I will just say see the link on the side under Emma and the Boys. They come to our lovely state fair every year and this is our second year of meeting. We got to meet their new son Sam for the first time and he is a real cutie! Olivia and Robbie (their 5 yo son) picked up right where they left off last year. At one point I thought I was going to look back and see them holding hands! Sophia and Emma were opposite each other - when one was in her happy phase the other was not so I didn't really get any good pictures of them. So without further ado, here are some pictures.

Jack, Robbie, Sam, Emma, Olivia, Sophia and ColemanRobbie and Olivia last year

Robbie and Olivia this year

The only half-way decent pic of Emma and Sophia I have.

Swimming

Olivia is taking swim lessons with a friend of hers in a semi-private lesson. She is doing so amazingly well. She loves it and is becoming fearless of the water which is kind of scary. My mom, my brothers and their families came over last Sunday for a cookout and swim party. My brothers were throwing both Olivia and Sophia up in the air and Olivia would come back to the top and swim either to the side or the nearest adult. Sophia they would catch since she can't swim yet. She loved it as well. I was able to take a few pics.

Speech

Sophia's speech is going so well. Here is a short video of her saying her name.

Camping and Holiday World

We took our annual camping trip to Holiday World last month. We usually take the tents and rough it but after fighting to get the kids to take a nap in the heat last year our group decided to rent cabins. It was nice! We drew the short straw and got the futon while our cabin mates with their 3 kiddos got the bed and bedroom. We ended up putting our air mattresses up in the loft with the girls and it wasn't half bad - unless you needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Friday afternoon everyone arrived and after supper the dad's took the kiddos to the swimming pool. David is so impressed with Olivia's swimming. So am I for that matter. While they were gone, the moms/wives made the camp fire. Yea us! We had S'mores and after we all put the kids to bed we stayed up and talked around the campfire.

Saturday morning we went to Holiday World. We had planned on spending the day at the water park but it was kind of windy so we decided to devote the day to riding rides. Olivia has just amazed me at the things she will try. She rode the scrambler which she liked until it started going real fast but she stuck with it and didn't cry or scream. She rode a ride called the Turkey Whirl twice and rode the roller coaster. Sophia will try almost anything one time. She rode the roller coaster too but didn't like it one bit! When it was time for a nap, we all went back to our cabins. We took our cars over to HW and rode the shuttle back to the campground since it takes longer to catch a shuttle at night. Well, that turned out to be the WRONG thing to do. Olivia was fine until she got off the shuttle and got to our cabin door and it was like a light bulb went off in her head. She realized at that moment that her beloved Taggie was in the car and she would not/could not/can not go to sleep without it. Our good friend and cabin mate, Mr. B (as the girls call him) went back to our car and got the Taggie for Olivia. I think he did it as much for his kids (so Liv would quit crying and his kiddos could sleep) as he did for Olivia. She was so thankful and so was/am I! Thanks, Mr. B! We went back and rode more rides - including a log ride for Olivia (she loved it) and mommy - and we closed the place down! Olivia did an awesome job all day! I was really nervous about not taking a stroller (took one for Sophia) or wagon for her because she has not walked a place like that for an entire day. She walked all day and did not complain until we were walking to the car to go back to the cabin.

Sunday we all packed up our cars and went to HW again. This time we did spend much of the day at the water park. Sophia takes a while to warm up to the water attractions. We stayed until just after naps and got home late Sunday evening. I need to load the pics from my camera to my computer and I hope to do that this evening.

Vacation

Well, our vacation was wonderful. There were a few melt downs by the girls and well one from me too. We went to Myrtle Beach with my in-laws including my SIL, BIL, his girlfriend and their 2.5 month old baby. Here is the rundown of the week:

• Sunday - It rained some so we just hung around the condo and went swimming in the indoor pool.
• Monday - We tye-dyed t-shirts. We did it last year too and Olivia loves it. Sophia really didn't care one way or the other. More rain and more swimming in the indoor and outdoor pool (when it wasn't raining of course). The 5 adults went out to dinner and to see a show (Legends in Concert) while the kiddos stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.
• Tuesday - We went to the beach!! The girls picked up right where they left off last year. We only stayed about 2 hours as it was hot, the girls were getting hungry and cranky. I had to take my FIL their extra set of keys because the ones he had were gone - we think in the ocean. That evening me, David, his brother and his girlfriend went to the outdoor terrace and listened to some Karaoke. David even sang 2 songs.
• Wednesday - David, his dad and brother went deep sea fishing while me, the girls, sil and M went to Broadway on the Beach. I wish I could have stayed longer but the girls were cranky, Sophia wanted me to carry her and I couldn't rent a stroller as they lost the keys and couldn't rent me one. It seems the shoes she was wearing rubbed little sores on her toes.
• Thursday - We went to the beach. After supper, we played putt-putt. It was the first time for the girls and they LOVED it! Did they do it exactly as they were supposed to? No but they had a great time.
• Friday - We actually got to meet up with some friends from our travel groups there. We traveled to China with this family both times and Olivia and Sophia had a ball. They were at a different resort and we went up to visit with them. We went to the beach where some of the kids started building The Great Wall of China. David saw a bigger picture and built a sand castle complete with roads and cars. I don't know who had more fun David or the girls.
• Saturday - We drove home and made it in about 12.5 hours.

So that was our week in a nut shell. I will do another post with more pics tomorrow. My next installment will be CAMPING. I must admit I am a bit apprehensive about camping this year after how our camping trip last July ended.

A little preview...

I know you are just waiting to see beach pictures so here is a little preview. I am hoping to post tonight a recap of our trip.

New look

I know I said the next post was going to be about our vacation but I changed the look of the blog and wanted to make a post about it. I have been wanting a new look for quite some time but me being the non-computer savvy person I had to find an easy template to download to change it. I would have liked to have a banner of the girls picture but I found this and liked it so there you have it. Tell me what you think!

Next post really will be about vacation - I promise!

AHH picnic

Well, I was a little disappointed with the AHH picnic this year. They moved locations - too far out of town - and changed the way food was done - no longer catered. They had food vendors that were supposed to be there until 6:00 pm but as luck would have it they were sold out and gone by 2:30! The were supposed to have more bouncy things but they actually had less than previous years. It didn't seem like there were as many people there this year either. I could name probably 20 families that I know that didn't go. Those are just a few of my disappointments but on to the good things!

We had a good time hanging out with our friends all weekend. We arrived at our hotel Friday afternoon and went swimming while we waited for some friends to arrive. We met a travel mate (D) and her darling daughter (M) at a restaurant for supper and had a good time catching up with her. Unfortunately her hubby (J) was out of town and we didn't get to see him but their daughter is getting so big I think it might be time for them to move her out of the sink and into the tub for baths! ;-)

We arrived at the same time as our two time travel mates the Elkins family. We hadn't seen their oldest (AK) since we returned home from China and it was wonderful to see how she's grown. Sophia had a great time hanging out with their youngest (L). We got to meet their boys and see their oldest daughter again. (She went with them on their/our second trip to China.) We saw my DTC buddy Laurie and her family and it was great getting to see her again. We went through so much together while we were waiting and I loved seeing her. Love ya Laurie!!

After the picnic, we went back to our hotel. We swam a bit, ate pizza and the kids played outside together while the adults talked and caught up some more. I hope the Elkins' can come back soon! I love all of our travel groups and miss them terribly. I will share just a few pictures from the weekend.

Olivia, Sophia and M playing at the pool

Olivia at the picnic

AK and Olivia swinging

This is how I found Sophia Sunday when I went looking for her to eat lunch:

Up next: VACATION

Okay, okay....

So, I have been called out by my friend Julie for needing an update. There is so much to catch up on, where do I start?

• Swim lessons for Olivia are going great! She is swimming under water and having so much fun although it makes Daddy nervous for her to stand by the ladder and blow bubbles.

• Potty training for Sophia is back to the good phase. She went through a phase where she would pee in her panties (only at home) and some of them she was trying to make it to the potty but just didn't make it in time. Here is where I found her the other morning when I heard the bathroom door shut and I assumed the worst (I thought she would be playing in the sink). After taking the picture, she said "out, please". I guess she wanted a little privacy. ;-)

• Speech for Sophia is going great! She is finally saying a ton of words and Olivia is so excited that she can finally say her name. She is still doing speech every other week and I think once this 6 month plan is over she will test out.



• Father's day was great! We decided to take daddy to the water park at our local amusement park since we could take him for free. Olivia has had a major break through in regards to rides and the characters there. She is riding the rides she refused to ride last year and loving it. She has been talking about riding the roller coaster so we rode it and although she rode it and didn't scream or cry she doesn't want to ride it again. The only character she wants to see right now is Tweety Bird. The girls made David a coffee mug for Father's Day and he loved it. Here are a few pictures:
  

Next post will be about the AHH Family Reunion Picnic this past weekend......

Blog rating......

I got this from my friend Sam's blog and I thought I'd give it a try.

Not according to plan

Well, last Thursday did not go according to plan. I had an appointment to get my hair done and my dear MIL was babysitting the girls for me. I had some things that need to be taken back to several different stores and get my oil changed - you know the stuff that is easier to do with out the kids - so the "plan" was for me to do these errands before getting my hair done and David was going to take the girls to his mom's before going to work since he doesn't leave the house until 11:15 a.m. Well, the phone rang at 6:04 a.m. and it was David's work. They were canceling his run and offered him another run so he had to go in early in the morning. There went my plans for the morning. Now granted it was a longer run and he would get home earlier I was in a snit that my plans were ruined. Yes, I could have asked my MIL if I could bring the girls earlier but I hated to impose on her any more than I already was. Well, I got my hair done, picked up the girls, gave them their naps and then cooked supper. We (me and the girls) ate supper and they wanted to go swimming. Well, I knew David would be home soon so I told them we would once he got home and ate. We went outside about 8:00 and stayed out until almost 9:30. We would throw Sophia in the air to one another and would throw Olivia in the air with her floaties and ring on. They had a blast. Since we were all in the pool I have no pictures but at one point I told David "This makes not getting my errands ran today so worth it." Olivia is going to start swim lessons this week with her friend S. Hopefully, she will do well. Here are a few pics from their last photo session.