Best Sophia Quote To Date

Last night I was snuggling Sophia after her bath and she looked at me and said:
"Mommy, I love you. You are wooooooooonderful!"
I can't describe how completely happy I felt at that moment. :)

See what the big THREE year old's been up to!

On July 6th Sophia and I buzzed up to Grand Forks, ND to meet the newest cousin, Ava Joy. I am a very proud Godmother!
Ava with her mama (my sister-in-law); Lindsey

She is so beautiful!

Two days later we had a small family celebration of Sophia's THIRD birthday!

Sophia eating cake with one of her presents: a fork and spoon shaped like tractors, from Uncle Sky and Auntie Berta! She LOVES them! That's my sweet little redneck!

Two days later we had her big party at the splash park in Grand Forks! It was a hot, beautiful day! Sophia chose "Carnival Theme," so we set up loads of games around our Pavillion. It was so hot the 6 eldest cousin decided to turn the duck fishing pool into a reprieve from the sun!

Little Ava having a diaper change :)

Cousins!

Grandpa hanging out with his two littlest girls (the two Joys!)

The pinata was a hit!

Gabby getting in a good hit!

The dive for treats!

Talk about beating a dead horse...

Jaylin's "action shot"

Dennis and Travis testing out the badmitton!

Then the horse shoes! (Nothing like mixing beer and kids' games!)

The boys, DJ and Gunner, doing the ball toss!

Grandpa Ralph shows off his juggling skills!

Awww... little miss Ava with her doting daddy!

Cake time!

Yes, Sophia gouged the cake with her toe and then licked the frosting off her feet... it's her birthday! Anything goes!

Sack race!

Gunner and Sophia doubled up!

Opening presents...

Travis and his mom hitting up badmitton again!

Later on Sophia had to try out all of her presents, of course! I like this look!

Today we braved temps in the 90's and high humidity and headed to the fair with some new friends! Sophia loved holding the newborn quail chicks in the Ag Ed barn!

Sophia and her friend, Aria, in the "Corn Box." How do you know you're in the Midwest??? Hey, I have to admit, it feels pretty cool to hang out in a corn box!

The girls admiring the duckling slide! The ducks seemed to like it!

Sophia with a chicken chick

Petting zoo!

And, of course, the girls had to hit a gazillion rides! This year Sophia was close enough to 36" tall to go on them by herself! I know she looks serious in the pics, but she LOVED it!

That's Aria to the right and Sophia in hot pursuit!

Roller Coaster!

And the bouncer, of course!

One last motorcycle ride!

Ended with a bale maze. Love fairs :)

Happy Spring!

April 17 was Travis' birthday... Sophia and I waited up for him to come home from work and then we celebrated! (We also snuck to his work and filled his car with balloons, which I hear got him lots of "happy birthday" wishes!)
Nothing like homemade applesauce spice cake... at 10 at night...

Sophia tucked in her horses :) (and an airplane in the foreground)

Grammy (my mom) flew in from VT on Travis' birthday! She wasn't able to stay up for the 10pm celebration... but that's ok since it took her 2 days to get here! United Airlines. Yeah.

Grammy helped Sophia participate for the first time in my family's tradition of dying hard boiled eggs!

Sophia looking for the hard-boiled eggs! My family's tradition was to dye them and then "the Easter Bunny" would hide them Easter eve and all of us kids would find them in the morning. It's so fun to continue traditions with Sophia!

Easter celebration in Grand Forks! Sophia's big cousin, DJ, took her for a ride!

Looking for eggs (the plastic kind with treats inside!) at Ralph and Carmen's "Belmont House."

The big search!

Sophia with both of her grandmas!

All the cousins! Soon there will be 7!

The cousins with grandparents Ralph and Carmen...

The Easter gang! (Sans my mom, who was taking the pic)

Three generations :)

Sophia's loot!

The three big girls! After the big Belmont egg hunt we walked to Laura's house for a wonderful, fattening, very fun Easter dinner/celebration!

Soph with her grandpa Ralph

Travis and his sister, Laura, enduring a "happy birthday" song (both born in April)... mom and I made a carrot cake and stuck a couple candles in it :)

Performances, of course!

The boys attacked Travis!

He got them back!

Then the girls pitched in!

DJ feeling his new baby sister :) Awww...

The real Easter morning! Sophia woke up to find her basket and presents in her bed! After some basket fun we got dressed up, went to church with my mom, and then went to the airport to see her off!

Sophia LOOOOVES the airport!

May 1st... ugh...

The tulips were like, WTF?

Thank goodness that didn't last! We've been enjoying some beautiful days... today was hot and in the 70's! This is a pic of one of our recent picnics at the park by our house... having picnics is one of Sophia's new fave activities!

Lots of fun at the park :)

Happy Spring!