Bye Dada!

This past week, Sophie turned 18 months and started producing two-word phrases. Sometimes all verbal (i.e., bye Dada, I eat, kitty meow, no poo) and sometimes verbal and sign (i.e., want food), and sometimes all signed (i.e., milk please). A proud daddy's and speech-language pathologist mommy's dream come true! You go, Sophie!

Celebrating Christmas

First of all, Merry Christmas to all of our friends and loved ones! We are so fortunate to have such wonderful people surrounding us. A genuine thank you to all who bless our lives, provided gifts, sent cards, and keep us in their prayers. We hope your Christmas was delightful and that you were able to ponder on Jesus Christ despite all of the beautiful distractions.

Our Christmas week started out with our weekly Sunday service but this time with a Christmas program, of course. The earlier part of the week was spent cleaning and doing a bit of last minute shopping.

Christmas Eve, we had dinner at the Olive Garden with Neal's dad and step-mom, Rudy and Becky. Yummy! and less work! Then, back at the house, we let Sophie run outside in her pajamas while we fixed a few screwy Christmas lights and waited for Rudy and Becky to meet up with us again. Yes, the weather has been very mild. We feel like we are in California. So any out-of-state readers can relax. When the arrived we spent the evening playing games.

On Christmas morning, Neal and I read over the Christmas story in Luke before we welcomed Rudy and Becky again for brunch and present opening. We were very grateful for the thoughtful gifts given to us by family and friends. Neal was happy to finally get his hands on a GPS, while I was most excited about the Mama Mia DVD. Sophie enjoyed a bounty of wonders including a very noisy toddler pinball machine, tunnel, sesame street garage, toddler crayons, and stuffed animals, which included a screaming monkey.

After Rudy and Becky left, we napped. All three of us. It was wonderful. Late in the afternoon we welcomed our friends, John and Carly, and their children, Ben and Ella, for dinner and another evening of games. It was a very nice Christmas!

Expressing Disgust

Repetition may be a beautiful thing for learning but sometimes it can be down right irritating. For instance, Sophie's new obsession is to proclaim, "Eeeeew!" to anything mildly unpleasant to her. Ants, a speck of pepper between her fingers, lint on our clothes or floor, when anyone uses the bathroom in her view (that one we have to agree with though), a piece of dried leaf that made it into the doorway, anything that has washed off her and into her bathwater, a can or Styrofoam cup that we find along a walk, crumbs on the kitchen floor, and so on, and so on, and so on! We hear "Eeeeeew!" to an excessive degree each day. Keri has notice that "Ew!" is in her own vocabulary but Sophie picked it up and ran, ran like the dickens with it!

Chilly Day

It's 30 degrees outside but she still wants to play out there. Brrrrr!Look at those cold red nose and cheeks! Time to warm up with some baked goods!

Christmas Activities

On Saturday night, we went out for Bar B Q and then headed to Frisco's Fire Department for their Christmas festivities. They have a miniature town used to teach kids about safety but it was all decked out for Christmas with lights and singing. Each building had an activity such as visiting Santa, viewing a nativity and menorah, getting a balloon, having a reindeer nose painted on your face, etc. It was great! We met up with two other families there and had a great time.The cause of receding hairlines--

What the Heck?

This is Sophie in the tub with the bathroom lights off so she can enjoy her light-up floating Santa ducks. She loves them!

At the Aboretum

On Friday, we enjoyed time at the Dallas Arboretum. We went with Carly and her two kids, Ella and Ben. They had some Christmas decorations out and Keri stole a moment with Sophie under the mistletoe (even though Sophie fought it). They also had a lovely nutcracker display in one of the buildings there. Wish we could have taken a little longer to take in the details but strollers were not allowed inside and it's hard to hold a 24+ pound squirming child for any length of time. Sophie was quite popular in her Little Cindy Lou Who piggy tails. Everyone passing by would stop to say how cute she was and that they loved her hair.

Nativity Exhibit

Today our family was off to the Nativity Exhibit held at our church building. It was open to the community and other churches even volunteered to come and sing. We came during the time the kids from our congregation, ages 3-11, were to sing because Keri helps with the children's group at our church. They sang several simple religious Christmas songs and did a good job. Afterwards, we meandered through the displays. We found our nativity that we donated for the event and many other beautiful and unique creches. We saw some homespun pieces and other more elegant pieces. There were many form around the world including Bangladesh and Madagascar. It was wonderful to focus on something relevant as we start our Christmas season.

A Christmas Carol

On Friday night, Neal and I dropped Sophie off at Oma and Opa's house (thanks again!), and took off to McKinney's community theater to see Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. We had to park a ways off because the old town area was all closed off as a Christmas parade was ending. The play was fun and moved quickly. We had a great time.

Enjoying the Cool Weather Outdoors

We were happy to have Kenzie over for a visit. If you think Sophie is hurling into the flower pots, you are wrong. She likes hearing her voice reverberate down in them.

Previous Quote of the Blog

Quotes of Thanksgiving
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin
Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. ~Theodore Roosevelt
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. ~Aesop

Guess What?

The appointment for the sonogram is set for Jan. 8th. See the little poll to the right at the top? Here's your chance to guess what the baby will be. We are already betting on a human so we thought we'd leave the gender question up to you.

The Grinch in Disguise

Sure, she looks delighted by all the Chirstmas decorations and festivities but Neal and I are totally on to her. We have started a new list to the right. Check it throughout the holiday season to see what Sophie is secretly costing us.
See, doesn't she look sweet! Enjoying a moment with Daddy, watching the train he had just set up.

Later that evening, we found the train strewn on the living room floor, the links to each car broken, but with the track still oddly intact. Sophie was no where in sight but we were onto her scent....no, really...she needed a diaper change.

Carving the Thanksgiving Turkey

We were happy to have Rudy, Becky, and her brother, Paul, and David over for Thanksgiving. Everyone made some dishes which made the work easy. David made a chocolate pecan pie that was to die for.

We shared the things we were grateful for at the dinner table. That's when we announced that we were pregnant to the group. Neal cooked his first turkey this Thanksgiving. He didn't stuff it. We had dressing on the side. He did an amazing job because it was not dry. He's my hero.

Counting Our Blessings

One.

Two.

Three.

And much, much more...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Previous Quote of the Blog

The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

-Alton Brown quoting John Hammond

Cute as a Button

Mavs Game

Over a week ago, one of Neal's friendly co-workers offered us tickets to the Dallas Mavs vs Orlando Magic basketball game since her husband was not going to make it. So we, of course, accepted and our wonderful friends stepped-up to babysit and we had ourselves a fun date night. The Mavs, of course, lost but we had a great time.

Daddy Takes Care of His Daughter

So from the post below you know it was cold this weekend. Neal noticed that Sophie's hands were cold in the morning and went to town getting her properly warmed...

And a bit over-accessorized!

Cold Front Arrives

This is what it looked like when the cold front made its way over us this past Friday afternoon. We woke up to some very chilly weather on Saturday.

Sophie Quirks

When mom and daddy kiss, Sophie says "bye-bye" because one of us is usually on our way out the door. So it really catches her off guard when we just kiss for kissing sake.

Everything comes to a stop when Sophie's toothbrush is flashing it's red light (we turn it on after the brushing and it goes for 1 minute). When it goes off, we can easily remove it from her hand, say prayers, goodnight kisses, and sing a bedtime song before putting her down for the night.

Her new favorite accessory is her semi-empty bowl of food worn as a lovely hat.

When she hears good music she will put her hands up and make a kiss noise (her sign that she wants up) so mom can hold her in her arms and with one arm out dance around the room (ballroom style).

Our smarty pants loves to play a game where we spread out her flashcards on the floor (they are usually there anyway) and then say, "Where's the ___?" Then she will search for the picture and pick it up. She is right about 85-90% of the time. Hmmm, time for new flashcards.

When out running errands, if she see another toddler, even older and bigger than her, she will sign "baby" and point to them.

She says hi to everyone and even cars or mailboxes now and then. If dad is holding her, after a while of cuddle time she will lean in right in front of his face and give him a cheerful "Hi!"

We love the huge build up for a jump. It doesn't matter if it is a 2 inch step, she will squat down and hold her arms back preparing for the big jump and then gleefully step off the edge. No jump, just a wind up. But she is quite pleased with her "jump."

She hates having her noise wiped (like most toddlers) and if she sees me coming to her with a tissue, she runs and hides behind the lace curtain where I can't see her.

We are encouraging her to crawl into her car seat which she is doing pretty well most the time. This brings tears to our eyes and relief to our backs.

We love our Sophie!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

On the 7th of NOVEMBER, we saw TWO houses decorated for CHRISTMAS! One with its lights up and the other with two holiday inflatables on the lawn. That's nuts!

Problem Solved!

Brilliant! Grandma Susan sent us a bunch of clothespins to keep Princess Sophie's royal robes (blanket) on tight. See post http://nealandkeri.blogspot.com/2008/10/fun-with-sophie.html if you have no idea what is being referred to. Thank you oh genius of a Grandma!

Autumn Days

We are experiencing some wonderful, breezy, mild weather. The trees in our backyard have turned golden and are dropping their leaves in today's wind.

Fistful of red, armful of gold-
throw them up high and jump!
Bunches of scrunches
and crunches of color
land in a crinkly lump!
--Ann Burg
Below is a nearly 2 minute video of Sophie having some fun in the backyard. She likes to run through the leaves and listen to the rustling. This is 2 minutes of your life you will never get back again.

Celebrating Halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone!