Storytime With Daddio

Eureka!

After months and I do mean months of encouragement, talking, reading, and even bribery, it has finally happened. Sofia has done the deed. She has dropped the kids off at the pool, gone to the office to do some paperwork, taken the Browns to the Superbowl...whatever you want to call it! Our kid FINALLY dropped a deuce in the toilet!

Woo hoo!!!!!!! I know this seems really stupid, but in our little world of toddler-ese, this is a momentous occasion!

I can already feel my wallet getting thicker with the prospect of NO MORE DIAPERS!

Zoo!

Today I took Sofia to the zoo with my friend Lee-Ann, her daughter, grandmother and mom. So fun! This was the first time that Sofia was really interested in what was going on with the animals. In fact, she was so interested, that she actually got scared at a couple of exhibits! She did so well while we were there that we were able to see the entire zoo. The whole time she just kept asking tons of questions and pointing out different things she was seeing. I loved it! I do believe we may have a future scientist on our hands. :) Not a clue where she got those genes from...

Only the best seat in the house to watch the sea otter's show!

When we got to the zebras, Sofia could hardly contain herself. She was so excited she tried to climb the retaining wall and just kept giggling with intermittent exclaims of "Look!! It's the zeeeeebbbbrrrraaaaassss!" It was hilarious!

A chipmunk decided to follow us for a while and got a little too close for comfort for Sofia. At one point, it was standing on it's hind legs with one paw on her stroller wheel!

The flamingos were another "zebra" moment. Apparently when Sofia gets super excited now, she either puts her hands in her mouth or closes her eyes.

And the cute kid contest winner is...

My Little Garden

We love our house, we do. But, we would love it even more if we had our own back yard. We are currently waiting for the land across the street to be landscaped into a 25-acre park which will be A-MAZ-ING when it gets finished (whenever that is)! For now, we decided to get creative and really use our balcony space. ***Note: It was really cloudy the day I took these pictures. Usually, the mountains are VERY clear from our balcony, which I why we love to be out there. :)

My pretty petunias.
Where we hang out. Notice Sofia's water bucket. She likes to help water the flowers. :)

Candle lantern turned potter! This is my favorite gardening design.
Last, but not least, the Topsy Turvy Tomato Plant! We already have about 12 tomatoes!

I just love her!

I was watching Sofia today thinking about how much she has grown up and came up with this. Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day

It's no secret that I am desperately in love (still!) with my husband of 5 years next week. I'm not sure that God could have designed a better match. He is my everything. :)

Watching Chris over the past 2+ years be a father to Sofia has drawn me back over and over to the first moments that I realized I was in love with him. To see his tenderness, commitment, humor and unyielding love toward Sofia simply melts my heart. Chris is an incredible father. Period.

I think often back to the days when I was a young girl and Father's Day would come around. I would think and plan and think some more about what the gift would be the perfect one. I wanted my dad to LOVE it! Most of the time, my sister and I would decide on a tie (which we would paint on...another story for another time) and then watch, barely holding ourselves together as my dad opened his long awaited gift. Without fail, my dad would make the hugest deal over his gift telling us it was the "best one yet!" and my sister and I would giggle with glee. We had done it!

Sofia is still a little too young to plan her daddy's Father's Day, but I did teach her how to say "Happy Father's Day!" to Chris without him knowing. This morning, I pulled the secretly stashed cards out from under the bed, gave them to Sofia and sent her into the other room where Chris was sitting. As she handed him the cards she said, "Happy Fawdder's Day, Daddy!". Chris looked so stunned and the smile that grew on his face was incomparable to any other he had shown as a father. I was immediately propelled back to being a little girl...but this time, Sofia had done it! This really was the "best one yet"!

To all the men in my life, Dad, Brian, David and Chris, THANK YOU for being such an inspiration to what fathers can be. You are so loved. :)

So Proud

My mom is one of the most inspirational people in my life. I feel so honored to be her daughter...especially as I now watch her pursue one of her life-long goals: obtain her PhD. My mom begins her program in the Advancement of Leadership and Service tomorrow in Milwaukee at Cardinal Stritch University. She has also decided the join the ranks of the blogging world. Be sure to check out her Journal from the Journey as she writes about her experiences pursuing an advance degree.

Go Mom!

Irony

I recently purchased a recommended reading for my program at Walden. The book is called How to Read a Book. Supposedly, the book talks about ways to read quickly, efficiently and break down different types of scholarly readings so that you take away only what you need. The irony? The book is 426 pages!

So here's where we're at...

Last week was rough! Sofia and I both had the stomach flu AND it was the last week of school for students and teachers. By the time Friday hit, I was so excited, I could hardly stand it. Granted, I still have a few days left at work to wrap up odds and ends, but hey, a Friday is a Friday!

We had a really great weekend. On Saturday, we did dorky stuff around the house, hung out in our pajamas until late in the morning, went for a walk, took naps and then had an awesome impromptu dinner with our friends Matt, Linda and Lilly. It was just one of those days where I truly enjoyed the company we had in one another and our friends.

On Sunday, after having a bite to eat in the morning, we decided to head over to the mall so Sofia could play on the giant bananas, bacon strips, eggs and waffles and we could do a little browsing. We seriously have not gone to a mall in forever! It felt so foreign. We didn't have anything in particular we were shopping for...just wasting time. It was fun!

Once we got back, it was time to get to work. Sofia went down for her nap and I got down to writing. In week 2 of my PhD program, I was already writing an 11 page paper! So, I sat down at my cool new desk that my hubby built for me, and wrote. And wrote. Oh yeah, and wrote some more. 6 hours later, done!

This program has certainly reawakened my scholarly sense. I really forgot how much I love being a student. So dorky, I know! But, it's true. I love being challenged by my classmates and I particularly love the format of online learning. There are some really cool aspects (i.e. one of my books is on a DVD) about it all that I will be sure to share in the near future.

That's all for now. We'll be sure to update soon when there is actually something worthwhile to talk about. Love to you all.

Munch - Short for Munchkin

Sofia has a stomach bug. Last night she went to bed saying, "My tummy huuts." She vomited a few times and then slept in until 9:30am. She still isn't 100% but she is feeling a little better. She lifted her shirt to show me all the goldfish crackers she ate and said, "I got a lot of fishes in my tummy." Five minutes later she was passed out again.
Finally got a "cheese" while the camera did it's thing. Love this smile. Love it!

Here's to you Raider Fans! Go Broncos!
Growing up so fast it makes my heart skip a beat.