Beginning My 6th Month

Here is a bellylicious picture of me at the start of my 6th month. There is definitely a bump there. No! I mean in the front. I have a girlfriend, Toni, who is due in March, and her doctor says that we need to be big in the backside to help balance, otherwise we may topple over and hurt the baby. I love her doctor!

Family Time at the Park

Today was sunny and warmish, after a few cold days this week. We get so busy doing regular life stuff during the weekends that we forced ourselves to go have some fun at the park.

First Prayer

Today Sophie said her first prayer! Usually she tries to draw the spirit closer by repeatedly hushing whoever is offering the prayer, or if we are holding her, she enjoys poking our closed eyes with her finger. More recently, she has been holding her hands, palms out, over her eyes. It's quirky but at least she is not poking our eyes. So today at lunch, mommy tried to break the prayer up into smaller phrases so she could try and copy the words. It went something like this:

Mom: Dear
Sophie: Dee-uh
Mom: Heavenly Father
Sophie: He-duh
Mom: Thank you for the food
Sophie: hooood
Mom: In the name of
Sophie: (nothing)
Mom: Jesus Christ
Sophie: Je-juh
Mom: Amen
Sophie: Amen

Happily, Heavenly Father understands all His children's prayers. Good job, Sweetie! (If you are wondering what is on the plate in front of her, it's leftover meatloaf, ketchup, grapes, and crackers. See! It needed to be blessed!)

Winter Charm

If Heavenly Father was cleaning out the freezer yesterday with all our ice, then Heavenly Mother must of done some baking this morning! We got a fine dusting of powdered sugar--well, snow! Very light but very nice!

Good Job God!

Last night we had freezing rain followed by a short period of sleet and this morning we had sunshine. Everything was iced over and the trees looked SO beautiful. It looked as though every twig had been delicately dipped in glue and fine silver glitter or diamonds. It was breath taking! We took pictures but it just looks like grey wet stuff--totally not what we are actually seeing. We are also very glad to have cars for transportation rather than having to walk. Chunks of ice are sloughing off from power lines, phone poles, over hanging branches, and the like. Look out below!

In Honor of our Chinese Ancestors

Okay, I think there is only a grand-aunt that was half Chinese but still....we celebrated Chinese New Year in a toned down fashion! On Saturday, we cleaned out and organized our food pantry and emergency food storage as well as another catch-all cupboard. This to honor the tradition of thoroughly cleaning one's house to get rid of the old and bad and to welcome in a fresh new year. Then Sunday, we invited Opa and Oma over for dinner and played a game of Uno (thanks for the salad and cake!). Neal made red beans and rice for the first time and it was very yummy and VERY filling. Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year Eve by having a feast and playing games with their family that evening. And on Monday, we ate Chinese food because we are too frugal to hand out red envelopes with money and because we love food. Actually, our friend Kari, made a stir-fry (thanks!) and we ate with chopsticks. Enjoy the Year of the Ox!

Oh Look! More Pictures of Sophie!

Sophie is such fun company to be with. She does several things a day that just melt my heart (and a few that raise my blood pressure). I am so happy that I can be a stay-at-home mom and that I have such a romantic husband that makes that possible.

Yesterday, while on a walk in a near-by green belt, we went along a creek that many houses back up to. Sophie said hello to friendly dogs (apparently no psychological scars from our recent GPS trip), sat by the creek, and best of all, slid down a not-so-smooth hill and said "Weeeeeeeee" the whole time. And repeated this new found joy twice. Today we went to the park where they have contraptions called "slides" made specifically for this purpose.

Latitude 33.097078, Longitude -96.64474

So yesterday Neal had work off so we decided to have a bit of fun. He punched through some formula and came up with the coordinates seen in the title. He entered that into his GPS and we took off. This is how our journey went...
It started out so nice. We filled the tank and made sure we were all comfortable.

After some time on the main freeway we pulled off in the city of Sherman, population 37, 710. We went through downtown which had many bail bond businesses and an abandoned mill. After passing a few more dilapidated homes we headed out into the country, east of Sherman. A couple miles out of town, we pulled onto a country road and passed several old ranch homes. Nearing a turn in the road we came upon our destination. This...

See the horse that stared at us wondering what the heck we were doing out there?

So Keri suggested to Neal that he get Sophie out of the car so she could stretch her legs. And he had just done so when guess what came tearing across that field?
See that dog coming right for us. He's right between the horizontal bars of the fence; which, might we add, hold horses in but not dogs. His tail was wagging and his tongue was flopping out and he looked very happy to see us. Neal, being the protector of the family, asked that we get back in the car. He was already buckling-in Sophie. The dog seemed friendly as Keri was trying to get his head out of the way so she could close her car door. However, just as we got situated and the car doors closed several of his less friendly canine buddies joined in. Where they all came from we can't quite say. But there were about 7-8 barking, growling, unfriendly dogs surrounding the car, and every time we tried to move forward, they would chase us.

Except there was one or two especially intimidating ones that kept jetting in front of the car as if to herd us off the road. See that dog at the front corner of the car? He was really aggressive!
Anyway we finally pulled away without harm to us or the dogs and drove a short distance when we remembered the road had no outlet and we would have to turn around and face them again. But most had gone back to wherever they had come from and we were able to pass a couple others without any major conflict.

We just love adventure! How often do you wake up in the morning and think, "Hey, I wonder if I'll be chased by a wild pack of dogs today!" Besides, what a great story.

A Day in the Life of Sophie

Sophie is Sprouting Perfectly

At Sophie's 18 month well check, things looked , um, well! She weighs 27 pounds (80th percentile), is 34 inches (95th percentile), and her head measures at 19 inches (88th percentile). So we have a healthy, well proportioned little girl. She only got one shot and took it in stride. Good job, Sophie!

Sweet Freedom

Well, because Sophie has met the 18 month mark and no longer needs the coaxing of her father, Sophie is now attending the nursery class the last two hours of church on her own. She gets to play with friends, eat snacks, have a gospel lesson, and enjoy music time (her personal favorite). And because Keri has been working in the Primary with the 3-11 year old children, Neal has been tending to Sophie on his own, forever it seems. Now he can actually pay attention to the lessons in Sunday School class (scripture study) and in Priesthood class (men's group). Sweet Freedom!--well, until Rhys arrives.

In Other News

Freaky Thursday! Keri was startled by Mohini, our kitty, (lovingly referred to as Mimi by Sophie) when out of the corner of her eye she saw him up in the window, ABOVE the front door. This is a new place for him.

And Sophie tweaked mom's brain when she adamantly requested her kitchen apron be put on and then crawled into her stroller to indicate we were going for a walk. We passed many people, petted thier dogs, and Keri was so good--she didn't attempt to explain the kitchen apron once.

The Results are In--It's a Boy!

The final results of the gender poll were 22 votes total, 5 (22%) for girl, 17 (77%) for boy. And according to the sonogram this morning we are happy to announce that we have a BOY on the way! Please leave in the comments whether or not you guessed right or wrong. And, yes, we hope that this is the only instance, EVER, that our son's genitals are posted on the internet.

Pathetic

Sophie likes to "read" her books in her chair. She climbs up there and we hand her a book or two or four and she is good to go for quite a while. Today I found her like this...

Wacky Winter Weather

This was Monday...

Friday is suppose to be in the mid 70s. We have had about 3 weeks that range like this over the last month. I just start to think I'm in CA when suddenly I'm reminded I'm in TX. Brrr!

Curtains Up, Christmas Down

We decided to put up heavier drapes because people could see everything we were or were not wearing if they passed by the front window at night. Sorry peeping toms! Here, Sophie is "helping" Neal get the job done.

The next day we got a shot of Sophie in her gay apparrel before taking all the Chirstmas decorations down.

Wanna Drag? Vroom-Vroom

She crawled in there herself while Keri was emptying out trash from the car. Only 15 years more to go! Hang in there, Sophie. You'll have your day.

Groovin'

Ever since her second cousin, Kenzie, showed Sophie her MP3 player, Sophie has been opening the desk drawer in the office and pulling out earpieces (connected to nothing) to "listen" to music.

Final Report on Destroyed Christmas Items

This Christmas Sophie only destroyed a train set, pieces of a music box, a candy cane ornament, and a monkey ornament. We will chalk up the first 3 items as due to exploration. The monkey ornament, however, suffered repeated attacks and attempted repairs. She either really loved the ornament (a bit too much) or detested it.

Tick, Tick, Tick

Only a week to go before we hopefully find out the gender of our baby.

Happy Girl, Tolerant Cat

Sophie was just having some fun on our lovely unmade bed this morning and I thought I'd catch a few photos.

Keri's Best Childhood Friend Visits

Angela is Keri's best friend from 5th grade on. She was able to stop in on her way back from California to Virginia. It was great to see her sweet family and catch up a bit. Thanks to Neal for the yummy enchaladias. By the way, in the photo of us and our daughters, she is holding my Sophie and I am holding her Allison.

Visiting Family

We were lucky to have some of Neal's family drop in between Christmas and New Year's. Neal's paternal grandmother, Marie, and one of his paternal aunts, Winnie, and her hubby, Pete, and daughter, Kenzie, were all a pleasure to see. We finally got a picture of Sophie with that great-grandmother. And thanks to Kenzie, Sophie wants a MP3 Player.

Horsey Ride

Instead of getting a pony for his 58th birthday, Opa Rudy got to be the pony! Better than an ass! Happy Birthday, Rudy! You are loved.

Previous Quote of the Blog

CHARLIE BROWN: I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about. Isn't there anybody who knows what Christmas is all about?

LINUS: Sure Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about. Lights please.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.