Columbus Day Hike

Joseph had Columbus Day off so we decided to have a picnic and a hike on our favorite trail when our grand plans of apple picking and going to the beach were thwarted.

Sophie was so excited to walk by herself like a big girl this time, which of course made our hike 3 times as long because the girl cannot pass a rock without picking it up and throwing it.  She also loves to carry sticks, especially big ones.

Avery rode in my pack until Sophie got out of hers, then switched to the big one on daddy's back.  She loved it.

She thought she could head up the same hill that Sophie did but found it was a little more difficult in clunky shoes than she would have liked.

We saw a beautiful view of our city from the top (although Sophie was convinced it was a new, secret city we had just discovered).  Avery entertained herself most of the time by stealing daddy's hat off her head and putting it on her own.

Pumpkin Patch

I took the girls to a pumpkin patch at Cal Poly last week to pick out our 4 pumpkins.  There were literally a couple thousand pumpkins spread out all over this huge field and all the way up the hill, too.  It was beautiful.

We had kind of a rough time while we were there because it was realllllly hot (mid-90's) and pretty miserable being out in the sun all that time, so we had a lot of tears from Avery.

But fortunately we had some smiles, too.  Sophie had a blast picking out pumpkins for each of us, and she made me walk all the way to the top of the hill to find them, of course.

Once Avery got over her tears she was content to just sit down in the dirt and get all dirty.

More tears, but this time it was Sophie who had just stepped on an ant hill and got attacked with bites, so I can't blame her at all.  This was also at the end and I even felt like crying by this point.  We left right after this picture.  But it was still a fun adventure, and we can't wait to carve our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns!

Still Just a Little Peanut

Avery and Sophie both had checkups at the doctor last week, Avery for 15 months and Sophie for 3 years.  They were measured and weighed, and I was surprised to see that Avery is still only just 21 lbs!  She wasn't quite 20 lbs. yet when she had her year checkup, but that means that she's only gained like a pound and a half in 3 months.  I shouldn't be too surprised, though, when neither of my children are good eaters.  Seriously, sometimes I wonder how they survive at all.  

Avery is in the 30th percentile for weight, but she's still in the 80th percentile for height!  The doctor said she's still on target to be 5'8" like her mom, while Sophie is looking like she'll be more like 5'5" or 5'6".  That will be a strange day when Avery is taller than Sophie I think.  (And I love this picture of her with her phones!  She loves to call Gramma on the phone.)

She's our little Peanut, but we sure love you, Avery Jane!  Thanks for being our sweet toddler girl!

Our Sophstar is 3!!

Sophie Jo turned 3 years old yesterday!  (I have a 3-year old--crazy!)  The partying started on Thursday and lasted all weekend long, just as birthdays should. :)

Sophie requested a My Little Pony theme for her party.  I decided to try my hand at my first tiered cake and thought the 2-layered pony cake turned out alright.

It definitely wasn't perfect, but Sophie liked it, and that's all that mattered.

Sophie has a "twin" named Kate and her mom Shannon and I decided to do a joint party for them with their friends.  We had about 15 kids and their mommas come and had a great time.  We started it off with a game like musical chairs called "Pass the Pony".  Sophie didn't want to get out when it was her turn to.  "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" went through my head more than once during the party, but all in all she was a good sport and had a lot of fun.

These are some of the friends who came to celebrate with us.

Sophie and Kate got to wear these cute crowns that Shannon made them to blow out their candles.  Then we dove in and ate up that bottom layer pretty quickly.  I kept the top layer for her to have to blow out candles on her actual birthday.

Sophie dreamed and talked about breaking open this pinata for the entire week leading up to the party.  She gave it several good whacks but it didn't budge.  In the end, nobody was able to bust it open and we had to pull the strings on the bottom.  They sure make them impenetrable these days.

Avery spent the majority of the party wandering around with the helium balloons trailing behind her.  She's such a sweet, funny little girl!

Sophie was given so many ponies for her birthday!  She definitely has a plethora of them now.  This largest one was from her Gramma Jensen.  Thanks, Bob!

Here are my girls in their matching outfits.  Avery's pants look like bell-bottoms and we call her our Flower Child when she wears them.

Our gift to Sophie was this Disney Princess kitchen.  She and Avery both have loved playing with it and have used the fake food that she also got for her birthday to make me and Joseph meal after dessert after meal to eat.

Sophie loves her daddy and she loves apples.  So you can see why this is one contented girl right here.

I just think this is such a cute picture.

We sang once again to Sophie for her family party and she thought long and hard about a wish before blowing out her 3 candles.  It was very cute.

We sure love this Sophie Girl!  She brings our family so much laughter and joy and we're so glad she made us parents 3 years ago!  Happy Birthday, Sophstar!

L.A. County Fair

We checked out the LA County Fair tonight and had so much fun.  Joseph got free tickets from BofA which made it even more fun!

We drove our wagon on down to Pomona, which after arriving we realized was a big mistake since it would have only taken 15 minutes to get there by car!   Our horses weren't the fastest....

We weren't prepared for the craziness that is Fair Food and about died when we saw this: Chocolate covered bacon.  CHOCOLATE COVERED BACON!  Who in their right mind would eat that?  Okay, so it probably isn't half bad, but if it tastes anything like the last snack I got then I bet it's as gross as it sounds.  They had another booth selling anything and everything DEEP FRIED.  I got sucked into trying a deep fried twinkie.  As if a twinkie needed any more help being totally unhealthy and disgusting.  They also offered deep fried s'mores, avocados, zucchini, and probably anything else just sitting around.  Gross!  But now I can say I have had a deep fried twinkie.  (Mrs. Rother would tell me it'll still be sitting in my stomach 15 years from now!)

We enjoyed some sea life along the way, because after all, this is L.A.

I thought this octopus was pretty adorable.

And this is by far the cutest crab I've ever seen!

I wanted to get this diver's number, but as you can see he was a little preoccupied.

One of the highlights of the fair was the petting zoo.  If you know anything about goats, you know what that entailed.  We were all trying to keep our clothes on us and out of their mouths the entire time.

Avery was super excited about touching all the animals, but she quickly changed her mind.  This picture was taken exactly .2 seconds before the goat bit her.  Poor little Peanut!

She spent the rest of the time safely in my arms and didn't mind when the goats nipped at her toes instead of her hands.

Sophie was getting to know a second cousin here.  (My maiden name is Lamb.)

She realized the safest end of the goat is this one!  They sure are aggressive little beasts!

Avery wasn't sure if another animal would attack her, but thank goodness the sheep there were very docile, and she warmed right up to it.

Here's two cuties resting their feet for a little bit.  Sophie didn't want to budge from this pink massage chair, even though it wasn't even on.

We each got to choose a fair snack and we chose cotton candy for the girls since they'd never had it before.  It was definitely love at first taste.  I don't think they'll ever go back.

Sophie's saying here "Um, WHY have I never had this sugary goodness before?"

Avery got it everywhere, of course, and they both had a ton of fun playing with it as well as eating it.

Overall, we can say we are fans of the L.A. County Fair.  We even saw Bikini Girl there!  (If you didn't watch American Idol last season that will mean nothing to you.)  It really was her, and she barely had any clothes on there, too, sadly.

Family Pictures '09

My friend Tonya once again delighted us with a photo shoot, this time with the entire family.  We had plans to do it at the beach (hence the sandals we all wore that were never meant to be in the pictures!) but it was so dark and overcast that evening that we changed locations to olde towne in the City of Orange.  It was beautiful and so colorful and just right for us.  Despite the quickly fleeting light and wiggly, uncooperative girls, we still managed to get some nice shots.  Rather than narrate them all, I'll just post them here for you to peruse.  The one we'll use for our family picture is towards the middle with the green door behind us.  Thanks again, Tonya, for being an incredible photographer as well as an incredible friend.  Enjoy!