Taking Bets

How long do you think the Christmas tree will survive the Sophinator?

Sophie's first haircut

Sophie behaved like an old pro in the salon chair. It may have been the marshmellows Mommy fed her, or perhaps it was all the attention the cosmotologists lavished on her, but she sat still while her stylist trimmed those baby curls away--okay, straight, fine baby hair that resembles her father's.

Happy Halloween

The biggest difference between Halloween of last year and this one is that Sophie has acquired a taste for chocolate. I don't know from whence it came nor how she learned what lies beneath those brown wrappers, but she knows.

We carved Jack-o-lanterns and hung ghosts from the porch. She loved the pumpkins, mainly because they look an awful lot like big orange balls.

Our friends Shala and Darrell bought the giraffe costume for Sophie while on a road trip. They found it in a thrift shop and just couldn't resist. We're glad they didn't.

To Claire Marie

Beloved friend, one time flower girl, sister of my heart, and all around rockin' chick, we sure wish we still lived near you. You would be Sophie's most beloved babysitter and confidant (think you could handle hearing butterfly, butterfly, butterfly over and over again?) We miss you and your family so much. Not a week goes by that we don't think of you and pray for you and wonder in amazement over the fact that you must be 17 or 18 now. Say it isn't so! Maybe we will try to visit you over the holidays. xxo

Sophie Goes Camping

It wasn't her first trip to the Rocky Mountains, but this time she roughed it in a tent with bears roaming nearby. Okay, there weren't any bears, but we did see a rattlesnake, and our friend Eric swears he saw a moose. We pitched tent a little south of Breckenridge--or maybe it was west, frankly, I have no idea--but as soon as we got there, Carl discovered that his hiking boots has disintegrated from disuse. Literally, the soles fell off. He found a fishing hook in the dirt around our campfire, a bit of string from his camping kit, and knit the soles of his boots back onto the leather. We feel he deserves a badge, so if any of you former Eagle Scouts have a "knows how to sew boots back together" badge, send it our way.

This backpack looks cool but hurts like heck!

At Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs and where we saw the rattlesnake being prodded with a stick by a German tourist. Or maybe he was Swedish. Frankly, I have no idea.

Poor Casey and Eric had to do all the heavy lifting, while Sophie sat around doing this:

Recent Acquisitions

As Sophie nears seventeen months, her vocabulary is building slowly. Here's the current inventory:

Mama: applies equally to her Mother and her baby doll
Baa Baa: bottle
Book: pronounced "Bok"
Hot: pronounced "ot"
Hat: pronounced "at"
Ball: any round object
Dada
Bye Bye: also means good-night
Hi
Uh Oh: applies to food dropped on the floor purposefully as well as accidents
Quack, quack: pronouced, "ack ack," meaning duck

Sophie and me on the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls

More Wheaton Pictures