Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone. Here is a sneak peak of the little girlie with many more photos to come. We had a wonderful, chaos filled Halloween night with good friends and family and will update with lots of photos tomorrow.

Sof and the Roni

I love this series of photos. Jeeves was sleeping on my lap and Sofia made the most of this rare opportunity to get hands on with her kitty cat. She was ever so gentle with him and he, in return, put up with her attention for quite a while before retiring somewhere high and out of reach. This little girl loves this old cat so.

The Munkey Patch

This weekend we made a trip to the pumpkin patch. Sofia calls pumpkins "munkeys" and she had fun checking all of the fun fall stuff out. We rode the train, watched the pig races, visited all the farm animals and bought fresh baked munkey pie to take home. And, of course, we picked out some perfect munkeys to carve on Halloween night.

Things my daughter teaches me

I am learning so much as a mother and now that Sofia is getting more and more words, I am learning things that, well, quite frankly I never knew. Take this wee conversation that just transpired in my living room. Sofia and I were taking turns putting pieces in her farm animal puzzle. When it was complete, we named all the animals and went over what they say. Here is how it went.

Mummy: What does the cow say, Sofia?

Sofia: Moooo!!

Mummy: What does the horse say?

Sofia: Neigh!

Mummy: What does the pig say?

Sofia: Cookie!

I mean.....who knew?

Ready to join the band!!

YIKES!! I don't think I like where this is headed. This mama doesn't think she can live in this little house with two trumpet players!!

Wi-ki

Sofia and I were reading her "Little Kiwi 123" book tonight. I said "Sofia, can you say Kiwi"?

Sofia says "Wi-Ki".

I said "Say Kiwi".

She says "Wi-ki".

So there you have it all you folks in New Zealand....Wiki's you are!!!

An ordinary Saturday

I love Saturdays. Today was just a goof around the house day. We did chores and then called G-ma and Papa to join us for dinner and it was a perfect day.


Dressed up and ready to go.


Playing with Daddy before we leave.





Sofia rode her bike for quite a bit of the way to the restaurant but then insisted on helping Daddy push the bike the rest of the way.


Sofia loves her G-ma and Papa so much. Look at her, walking with the big boys and holding hands with G-ma.




Sofia's bike locked up and parked in the big bike stand.


Ready for bed in her almighty bus jammie jims.

Autumn Walks

Ahh, how our girl loves her walks in the evening. I will be very sad to see the daylight hours shorten and although I am sure we will venture out in the darkness, the evenings are just perfect right now. She spends most of her time running or doing some kind of goofy walk and not always very controlled. We have had several face plants into the footpath. YOWZER!! She insists on carrying the house key with her and we have to stop at every parked car to see if our house key might perhaps open the door or maybe a gas cap. She always stops at the same light pole to see if the key works somehow on that as well. So here is a not so brief picture of how our walk goes.

Blurred Beauty

So, I know these photos are out of focus. I was mucking about with the camera today and, well, apparently I didn't quite get it right. None the less, I love the look on Sofia's face in these pictures. She is beautiful even when she is blurry.

Lounging on a Sunday afternoon

About a month before we left to pick up Sofia in Guatemala, Clyde and I were thrown a wonderful baby shower by our family and friends. We were so aprehensive about the huge changes that were about to happen in our life, and had so many questions about what kind of parents we would be and how we were going to connect with this little being who was soon to be the center of our world.

My sister, who was not able to be at the shower, sent us a copy of the following poem....

There are little eyes upon you
and they're watching night and day.
There are little ears that quicky
take in every word you say.
There are little hands all eager
to do anything you do;
And a little girl who's dreaming
of the day she'll be like you.

You're the little angel's idol,
you're the wisest of the wise.
In her little mind about you
no suspicions ever rise.
She believes in you devoutly
holds all you say and do;
She will say and do, in your way
when she's grown up just like you.

There's a wide-eyed little girl
who believes you're always right;
and her eyes are always opened,
and she watches day and night.
You are setting an example
every day in all you do;
For the little girl who's waiting
to grow up to be like you.

I cried at the time, and I am crying again as I type this only because I now know first hand that these words are too true.

There is no doubt that Sofia's birth mother and birth father gave her her beautiful smile, her bright eyes and her deliciously silky jet black hair, but there can be no doubt that she learned how to lounge on a Sunday afternoon by watching her Mum and Dad.

An Autumn Stroll

...okay, maybe more like a power walk. It seems that the only speed Sofia has right now is fast forward. We have been taking a walk around the block every evening after work. Today, we took it a little earlier than normal being a weekend and all. This is my absolute favourite time of year and I have a feeling if Sofia could tell us she would say the same thing. She seems to still love the wind and the rain and now that the leaves have started falling, and they fall and fall in our neighbourhood, she loves to walk through them dragging her feet as she goes. She will even stop and point to a leaf as if asking if it is okay to step on it. I always tell her that it is fine and she stomps her little foot down on the leaf she has picked out. Thank goodness, she doesn't pick all of the leaves to step on or else it might take us all night to get around one block.