A Weekend With Dad

I am the luckiest girl! I got to spend a last weekend in New Orleans with these girls,



our friend Tracey and my sister.

I love that city, it was my fourth visit and I never get tired of it. We spent some time in the Garden District, ate a fancy lunch at Commander's Palace and walked around the French Quarter. All the while, Dan was home getting some one on two time with our sweet girls who, despite my elation about my alone time, I missed like crazy. I kept begging him to text me photos and videos. I'll share some of them here so you can see what a weekend with Daddy is like.

So while I shared with him pictures like this,



he would send me sweet shots like this. Quite a contrast, huh!?





I was sad to miss Russian Christmas this year while I was away, but I thought of the kids as we passed by the nativity scene at the St. Louis Cathedral. I sent this picture to Sofia since she has such a fascination with baby Jesus and the nativity. Notice on the face of the church the shadow that is cast from a statue of Jesus in the courtyard. Our tour guide called it a Before and After scene of Jesus. I thought it was pretty cool.



Dan sent me pictures from Grandma's house of Sofia wearing Aunt Mac's red hat,



and video of her playing with a new Christmas present from the Henkes.



and video of Ana being Ana... crazy.



I sent them video of the street music on Bourbon Street. (Turn down your volume; it's kind of loud.)



It was also a big football weekend so they laid around in their pjs watching the game,





and Sofia got her puppy ready for the Dog Show



before heading out to the park.



They're so sweet - all three of them. We sure are lucky we have such a great daddy! I know they probably had even more fun than I did with these girls - and that's saying a lot.





But it's true what they say... "distance makes the heart grow fonder," ...I came back loving my kids even more than I did before. Thanks, Daddy!

The Park with Daddy

Daddy took Sofia to play at Memorial Park. Can you believe how big she looks or is it just me?

I loved this series of pictures. Sofia can get easily distracted and it could take quite a few tries before you can get a remotely decent smile from this kid.









But he managed to get this sweet one which captures her pretty well...

Celebrating Valentine's Day

There's Sofia in one of the cute heart outfits she wore to celebrate Valentine's Day this year. Unfortunately she was feeling a little sick this week but she got to spend extra days at home with Mommy and Daddy and even a whole day with Grandma and Grandpa. Luckily after that she was well enough on Friday to go to her school party.

I read about this great idea for kid's valentines on a friend's blog and I just HAD to make some for Sofia. They turned out so cute! It was so fun to pass them to all her friends and teachers at school. We also sent some to her grandparents and all her cousins.



I got Dan a workout book he's been wanting and some chocolates.



And Dan helped Sofia make Mommy a Valentine's Day breakfast. She stirred up the pancake batter...



helped crack the eggs...



and helped to scramble them!



She even helped clean up.



Mommy made heart-shaped pancakes for Sofia.





It's been a fun morning so far. It's cold outside today and Sofia's still a little congested so we'll probably just spend the rest of the afternoon at the house playing and napping. Hope your Valentine's Day was a special one!! Love to all...

**UPDATE**

Dan came home later in the day with some sweet Valentine staples for his two favorite girls... heart-shaped box o' chocolates...



beautiful flowers...



a heart-shaped balloon, or as Sofia says, "ah-boon" ...



and a sweet little Dr. (of love) Snoopy doll.



And since the weather turned out to be beautiful I ended up forgoing a day of laundry and instead went to Discovery Green with these two cuties.



Sofia loved the park!



It was a beautiful day spent as a happy family...

Days with Daddy

I had some minor surgery a couple of weeks ago. Sofia spent a Friday with Grandma and Grandpa but the weekend she got to spend with Daddy while I rested on the couch.

So here's Sofia's day with Daddy.

Daddy wakes up to find a naked baby...



Daddy gets her pjs back on and gives her and her "mah-kah-ney" some quiet time with Barney.



Daddy bundles Sofia up and takes her for a jog.



Daddy lets her play at the park...



but then decides it's too cold so he lets her warm up and explore unfounded territory in the front seat of the car before heading back out.



Daddy gets her dressed up for church (I did her hair, he still has yet to master that) and lets her pick out some quiet toys to take with her.



After church Daddy puts her in an outfit of his choosing...



and she's ready for some play time!



She decides she'll make some dinner for Daddy ...



once dinner is ready, Daddy joins and they say a nice toast before their meal.



Daddy bundles Sofia up again so she can take her doggy on a walk...



and Jaxy-boy too!



Daddy waits patiently while Sofia rejects about a hundred rocks on her quest for the perfect one.



Found it!



Sofia and I both are so lucky she has the greatest Daddy a girl could ask for. We love you, Daddy!!!

January Happenings

Here are some of the fun things Sofia was up to in January...

Happy Birthday ... Again!

Having a child born on December 25th will probably prove to be complicated the older this little girl gets. I absolutely loved the idea that she was born on Christmas day. Her birth, a surprise happening on Chirstmas day, had so much meaning to me and it was a beautiful way to end a horrible year. So it always bugged me a bit when strangers would lament the fact that her birthday was on Christmas. "Poor girl," they would say, "she'll get gypped on presents," or "she'll get lost in the shuffle, etc."

On the way to the hospital in total shock and surprise I said to Dan, "I can't believe she'll be born on Christmas Day." and his immediate response was, "Well, we'll have to give her a birthday party in the summer with her friends." Who knows if that's what we'll end up doing; I think every year will depend on the circumstances and her own wishes. The first year it didn't matter - she was too young to care - and we had a big bash at Bobo's house. This year was a bit more low-key. It did prove to be more work since there is so much going on with Christmas preparations too, so that's partly why it was more low-key.

I think we'll always celebrate it on Christmas night but as she gets older and makes friends we'll decide how to celebrate it with her friends. This year I just decided to put her cute little birthday cake dress back on and bring some cupcakes to day care. I left the camera with Sherry, one of her favorite teachers from her old classroom and let her document the "party." I also sent a little present so she'd have something to open. It was very impromptu and last minute but I'm guessing it will be the last year I can get away with that!













Children's Museum with Isaiah

Thursday nights at the Children's Museum is free so my friend Lindsey and I decided to take the kids to play. The Museum District is right by the Texas Medical Center and since both our husbands work there we had a little family date night. Sofia absolutely adores Isaiah so it was a lot of fun for all of us.











They had these cool chairs you could sit in and pulley the kids up. Sofia cried bloody murder so this is as far up as she got. Isaiah is a brave little boy though and went way high.





Afterward we went to dinner together where the kids went crazy...



and the dads showed off their dorkiness. It was a really fun night!



Nolan's Birthday Party

Sofia's favorite friends at school are all little boys: Kyle, Nolan, Aaden and Bennett especially. So when she was invited to Nolan's 2nd birthday party I knew it was something we couldn't miss. The party was at a Bounce House facility and I thought she'd LOVE it but alas our little princess was scared. I thought maybe forcing her to go down the slide would prove to her just how fun this place was. But that didn't really work. Check out her face in these pics. She's like, "Get me outta here!"







It was funny though that once we got her around her friends and she saw that they were having fun she was alright. Already succumbing to peer pressure... at such a young age. But, whatever works! Notice how much happier she is in these pics.







She looked like such a big girl sitting around the birthday table. This was the first birthday party she'd been invited to and I felt like she was such a big kid now.



Her boys, Aaden, Nolan and Kyle.



Her sweet daddy helping her with her cupcake.



More cupcake, mommy?



Riding the Train at Hermann Park

It was a beautiful day one Sunday so we decided to take Sofia to ride the train at Hermann Park. I underestimated just how much she'd love it. She cried when we left, talked about it for days after (the crying and the train - she always talks about when she cries) and is now in love with trains. So the other day, sick of Barney, I put Thomas the Train on for her and it seems she now has a favorite show. She calls it Phomas. The only problem is that the entire episode all she does is point to the screen and say, "Train, mommy, train. Green train, mommy, blue train, blue train, mommy. Blue train sad. Train has a boo-boo. Elephant! Oooh, train, mommy. Train!" So it looks like we may be back to Barney soon since he's like a hypnotist who keeps my kid quiet. Mother of the year, I know!

I digress; here are the cute pics from the train...








And On a Final Note...

Why would Snoopy need that tiny ol' cowboy hat when it would look so cute on little Sofs? I love that smile!