I never imagined...

Sophia would learn to ride her bike without training wheels in less than an hour...







I never imagined myself as a "soccer mom!"





Obviously... I am not your typical "soccer mom." Instead of texting on my phone the entire practice like the majority of other parents... I couldn't stop taking pictures. Can you believe I was the only one with a camera???? Obviously this is my first go round with soccer. Evidence?? I had to ask my neighbor (who is 11 yrs old, by the way,) how to lace Sophia's cleats and where to put the shin guards (over or under the socks??)? I guess I'm learning! Practice was a riot! It was so funny to watch the coach try to get this group of girls to listen and pay attention. There was so much going on around them on the other nearby soccer fields, that the girls were watching everything else but what they should have been. He numbered them off into teams by counting ones and twos. It was funny when he asked the ones to raise their hands....and then the twos to raise their hands...most of the girls raised their hands both times b/c they had no idea what coach was talking about! Too funny! I LOVE that Sophia chose pink shin guards, pink socks, and a pink adidas tee shirt. She is my pinkalicious fashion queen even on the soccer field.







And last but not least... I never imagined my mother could hula hoop better than anyone I know!!!





Hmmm I wonder what new adventures lie ahead this week???

School Days

It seems like yesterday that I was pacing around the house trying to keep her from crying...stressing about which formula was best for her tummy...then all of a sudden...just like everyone had warned....she turned into this beauty!



I was a bit worried that Sophia would have a hard time waking up so early...but she was sooo excited when I went to wake her that she jumped right out of bed and was more than anxious to put on her uniform so she could run downstairs and surprise daddy! Doesn't she look soooo grown-up??




Sophia must have been pretty excited because she WILLINGLY posed for some pictures for me after breakfast.



Notice how the little guy snuck in the last picture? It was so cute how excited he was for his big sister! But big sister wasn't too thrilled about him trying to steal her thunder....b/c this is what she looked like seconds later....



Back to being the star for the day...and happy about it!



Just a few more pictures as we were heading out the door! Watching her wave good-bye almost made me cry! But I was happy that she was so excited!




Still happy on the car ride to school!




Here are some pictures when we arrived at school! Here is Sophia standing next to her "Sophia S" apple...we made sure it was not the "Sophia M" or the "Sophia R" apple. Who knew it would be such a popular name?




Here are a few from her classroom. I think she started to get a little nervous when she was hanging up her backpack, but by the time she got to her table she was pretty relaxed and happy! Her teacher was even nice enough to let me take a picture of the two of them.






There weren't even any tears when we left. I was so proud of MY Sophia! Even though her school is only 3 hours....Joseph and I didn't know what to do with ourselves while she was gone! Here is what my little guy found to keep him occupied till 11:15!



I even brought the camera when I came to pick her up! I tried my best to snap a few pictures as she was walking with her class. Can you spot her with her cute pink backpack?



Sophia was so excited to come home and tell us about her day! Such a change from preschool when I would ask her about her day and say it was "fine." This year she's been really good about sharing lots of details! I'm thrilled that she loves it as much as she does.

Here she is before we headed off to another Sophia's house for a pizza lunch and play....what a day!




And if the day wasn't memorable enough....I ended up in the ER trying to get relief from a number of kidney stones.... not quite the way I wanted to remember her first day of kindergarten! But I guess it is surely a day I won't forget!

Hope you have a great first year, Sophia! We are sooooo proud!

ON YOUR MARK...

GET SET....

ALMOST ready for Kindergarten!!!!!

Today was Sophia's orientation as a Kindergartener!!!! Sooo hard to believe she is already school-age!!!!! We all know how difficult change is for me....but my Sophia......is FEARLESS! I'm so proud of her...she walked right into her classroom and began her work! I don't think she even noticed when we left the room! Hopefully things will go this smoothly when she begins on Wednesday!

Here are some pictures of MY Sophia (3 of the 6 girls in her class share the same name!!!), and I must say she is the cutest Sophia I know :)





And of course...I had to get a shot of her already hard at work in her new classroom...



And the mailman delivered a surprise at the end of the day....Sophia's brand new backpack! I was late in ordering b/c of course I couldn't decide if I wanted to spend the money on this custom-made backpack.... I went back and forth.... IMAGINE that!!! Anyway...when I finally made the decision....AND paid extra to rush the order....I was told the earliest it would arrive was Wednesday afternoon. I had already prepared Sophia that she would have to use her "old" backpack (that still looks brand new by the way...) for one day before her new one arrived....so you can imagine how thrilled she was that it came early. I got some pictures of her with it...and of course when I told her to "turn around" so I could capture the back, too, little brother "copycat" started turning around too:)






I do like the backpack.... I guess I made the right decision... with only one mistake...should I have personalized it with Sophia S.??????? (One of those other Sophia's might love it as much as I do!! :)

A Friday Frenzy

Oh my...what a day! As "Edith Ellen Eddy's" mother says in one of Sophia's favorite books "My minds in a whirl!" I feel like I've been juggling too many things in my head as we get ready for Sophia's first official school year that I tend to be forgetting more than I can remember. Proof that I am losing my mind among other things:

We ran out to grab a bite tonight with the kids...and were looking forward to a short walk when we came home. I came in the house to bring in the baby bag, etc and that is when I noticed that I was only wearing my wedding band...no engagement ring. Did I forget to put it on? Did I have it on at physical therapy earlier... Did I have it on a dinner.... I couldn't remember any of this...and I PANICKED. I quickly walked back out to the garage and delivered the bad news to Brett. He was NOT happy to say the least, but he offered to head back to the restaurant....and after a few prayers to St. Anthony and a lot of searching... he found it in the parking lot; a little mangled but still in tact. Whew!!!!

Still recovering from knee surgery....much of my time has been spent in physical therapy....so Joseph and Sophia have had lots of yiayia and pappou play time. Sophia has really loved having her pappou around as he enjoyed a few weeks of vacation. She is already sad that he will not be able to spend the day with her next Wednesday when she goes to Yiayia's. She was thrilled that Pappou took her to the pool a few times (as I have still not been given the okay to get my leg in the water) AND loved the fact that she got to eat lunch there too!! I wish I had some pictures

Both of the kids look so much bigger to me now than they did even just a few months ago. Sophia even has another loose tooth! Oh my...she (or Hannah) as she calls herself is growing up way too fast.



And Joseph is finally starting to have some understandable conversations with us. Today he told me he wanted "juice!" He normally does not like juice, but today he saw Sophia's juice cup and pointed to it and kept saying juice. So I gave him some juice of his own. He liked it!!!!.... (for a moment at least) before he let it spill out of his mouth...then he walked around holding his apple juice smelling shirt and saying "Uh-oh juice!" Tooo cute!




Sophia had her first pedicure (really it was just a "polish") at a real nail salon today. She's been wanting to do this forever...so when I decided it was time to get my toesies painted....I decided she could join in on the fun! She of course chose a fabulous pink and was very particular about the flower she wanted... particular....imagine that! We had a good time together...just the girls!






And a little picture of a little project I've been working on.... silhouettes for the guest room! I think they turned out pretty cute. It might be fun to make them again in a few years and see how their profiles have changed!



Sophia decided it was time for Joseph to have a special friend in his bed during his nap just the other day. Of course he had more fun playing with this cute little bunny and decided playtime in his bed seemed more fun than actually sleeping. After I came in and gave him a few "sh, sh's" he did finally fall asleep and this is how I found him before he woke up! Hopefully our transition to kindergarten next week will be this peaceful!!