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Friday, December 31, 2010

Holiday Mayhem!

The week before Christmas we spent the weekend at Carmen and Ralph's and attended the annual Williams Yankee Swap party as well as Carmen and Ralph's 30th Anniversary party! Prior to all of the party madness Sophia shared some (very brave!) downtime with the bird...
Hanging with Uncle John at the Yankee Swap

The cake Laura ordered for Carmen and Ralph's party!

Carmen and Ralph!


Playing in the snow! We have had 7 large snowstorms this month, with another one coming tonight! We have several feet of snow right now

Christmas morning! We followed a tradition started by my paternal grandparents: we filled Sophia's stocking on Christmas Eve and laid it in her crib (at like 2 in the morning) and then watched Sophia find it and open it Christmas morning :)

About to unwrap!

After unwrapping presents at home we picked up my parents at the airport and headed to Carmen and Ralph's country house (Grand Forks) for more Christmas!


Carmen and Ralph with all of their grandchildren... number 7 is on the way!


Mom with her new "Sophia bag" (Carmen got one too!)

Next we headed over to Travis' grandparents (Snookie and Cash) for Christmas dinner!


Sophia with her great-grandpa Cash

Finally, we headed over to Grandma Mary's to say hello to Mary and Kathy!

Christmas night we hauled over to Ralph and Carmen's lake house (Bemidji) to spend a couple of days hanging out
Sledding! Sophia LOVES sledding!!!


And snowmobiling!

This one is for blackmail... we can send it to Ralph's Dr to prove that Ralph hasn't been very good at convalescing!


Before our latest round of poor weather we had a couple of beautiful days in Fargo/Moorhead and indulged in a sleigh ride!

Followed by cocoa and cookies


My parents wrapped up their vacation by helping us load our friends' U-haul... they are moving to Alaska! Sad :( But, we're really happy and excited for them! Today we are all snowed in at home, and just baking/cleaning/and packing! My parents fly out tomorrow (New Year's Day) and then life will be back to "normal." Happy New Year!

Friday, December 17, 2010

One More!

One of our VSO volunteers just shared this photo with me... she snapped this shot of of us in front of the Usher's House fireplace at our office's holiday party! Can you see the feral gleam in Sophia's eye? It was soon after this picture was taken that she (and the other toddler in attendance) discovered that there were doors on each end of the (interior) room, and commenced running in circular laps. :)

Monday, December 13, 2010

Catching Up!

So things have been a little hectic lately! We thought we'd be having a fairly quiet week last week... we spent much of last, last weekend just hanging around and enjoying a playdate with Levi and "Auntie Kari." But, on Monday my father in law, Ralph, went into the hospital with chest pains, and by Wednesday he was in surgery for a triple bypass! So we spent much of last week traveling back and forth to Grand Forks and crossing our fingers. Luckily, Ralph has pulled through the surgery and is already home! And now things are getting (pretty much) back to normal, and I thought I'd just catch up on the blog a bit before things get crazy again with the big Williams "Yankee swap Christmas Party" coming up this Saturday!
Yes, it's been frigid, but we all have our little tricks for staying warm! Sophia and Charlie can often be found snuggling in the sunshine.

We have french toast every Sunday morning before Trav goes to work... last, last Sunday the horses had a hankering for French toast, too!
I think that Clydesdale is keeping an eye on Sophia... making sure she doesn't eat all the French toast...
And on Sunday we had a playdate with Levi and Kari! Doesn't Levi look thrilled to be going outside?!
We pulled them on sleds through the neighborhood...


And even took turns climbing the big mountain in the park!

Yes, this is the big mountain. And, yes, Sophia calls it a mountain! :( Flat-Lander!

After sledding we went to the library, which Levi was much happier about!

This last weekend we were trapped inside quite a bit... the wind chills on Sunday were so bad that Sophia and I literally did not leave the house! We stayed inside cooking and baking all day! We did go out Friday night for my office Christmas party, which was SUPER fun! Sophia was WILD! She was especially excited to wear her special Christmas dress, with the matching doll dress. She has been in the habit of begging to wear this dress every day, and sometimes I let her. She was over the moon to be allowed to wear it out to a party! I love the dress, and you'll be seeing it a lot more in pictures to come! :)

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

More winter!

Prior to our latest blizzard we actually had a couple of nice days when we could go out and enjoy the snow!
I think the snowman likes it! ;)
And our very first real Christmas Tree!!! LOVE IT!!!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Comparison Photos!

Sophia...
And me!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We went and stayed with Carmen and Ralph in Grand Forks for Thanksgiving... On Wednesday Sophia got into the dress-up clothes and modeled a few princess dresses! Here's dress number 1...
And her favorite, dress #2!
Getting silly with Aunt Lindsey
Playing with cousin DJ
Digesting on the floor with Grandpa! We had Thanksgiving dinner with Carmen and Ralph and Lindsey's family, and then went into town to visit with Laura's family and Grandma Mary/Aunt Cathy.

Sophia saw her 2nd cousin, Mairie, and Grandma Mary's... Mairie is SO into Sophia!

Mairie kept hugging Soph... it was so sweet! And of course I could only get blurry pics or they would turn their back to me.

Saying goodbye to their great-grandma Mary! It was a busy and fun Thanksgiving!