Sophie T’s Blog

Sophie had a wonderful introduction to horses today at a gorgeous farm where I rode horses for the first time 28 years ago. When I rode there, the Linton family was leasing the barn from a family that my parents now know. Luckily, the owners invited us to come out and see their rescue operation. Sophie not only loved the goats, cats, chickens and dogs, but she fell in love with horses for her first time. It was hard not to do so with this beauty….

We spent the 4th of July on St. Simons this year, which was fantastic. We were all too tired to stay out for fireworks, so we had a picnic at the pier and headed home. Here are some of the photos….

The best part of the weekend came the next day at the old Cannon’s Point locale.

In May, I completed my first marathon. It was a beautiful route and a gorgeous day, but the best part was that my family was there at mile 26 to support me. Sophie even ran with me for a little bit! Here we are when I first saw her after 25 long miles.

I haven’t blogged for a couple of months. Sophie has been enjoying school and doing a lot of artwork, gymnastics, reading, and generally been enjoying life. She is still as easy-going and happy as ever. Here are some shots of her.

She loves playing in her playhouse:

She also loves the garden. Here she is in the strawberry patch:

But her favorite thing to do is to spend time with her cousins. Hannah was recently in Willy Wonka. She was an oompa loompa and did a fabulous job. We had a blast watching her:

Sopes loved pulling these up. We had a whole bucket full!

Wait… how’d Piper get in there?

Sophie thoroughly enjoyed the Southeastern Wildlife Expo at Marion Square. She especially liked the serpentarium tent with all of the reptiles. She wasn’t scared of anything in there. In fact, she embraced the creatures (literally)…

I can’t seem to get Sophie inside out of the snow for bedtime. She scraped the little flurries off of the chair outside and ate them. That was kind of gross, but Mark reminded me that this will probably only happen once in Sophie’s lifetime, so I let her.

The next morning, I woke up to Sophie’s precious little face pressed against our window and her shouting, “Wake up! Wake up! There is snow outside!” I definitely did not expect this kind of snow here!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

She’s as dedicated as michaelangelo, only prettier.

Sopes and Lisa reading the paper.

Sophie wished for snow and sure enough, our last day here in NY the skies opened up and let loose 12-18 inches of snow. Here is Sophie in the evening when it started to flurry.  She could not wait to do a snow angel.

She loves to eat the snow.

…but she really loves to play in lots of snow!

Sophie did a spectacular job in her school performance today.  They sang about days of the week, months, continents and numbers — in English and Spanish!  Go Sundrops.

Late Fall in South Carolina allows for an extended growing season, and here’s Sophie with her November 21st harvest.

Sophie sorted all the different vegetables for us.

And here are the beans, served for lunch!  we’ll have the banana peppers tonight for dinner.

In other news, while these veggies were growing, we were driving up to Huntersville, NC for the Renaissance Festival for a Sunday of fun.  I was dubious, but Mark convinced me, and I’m glad he did because Sophie loved it and the shows there were fun.  We watched a crazy acrobatic/fire juggling show that was quite memorable.  Anyhow, here are some pictures of Sophie, the biggest fan of the festival.  She has never wanted her face painted before, and we have had plenty of opportunities, but she wanted it painted here to go with the dress and the wings we rented for her.

I think she likes what she’s seeing!

Yes!  It’s official, she loves it.

I can see why.  It makes the outfit!

She also loved the petting zoo!

Here is Sophie on Grandparent’s Day.

Sophie, Piper and G-mama relaxing on the couch while Mom and Dad get to go out and celebrate their anniversary:

Sophie loves school.  She has really thrived in a Montessori environment.  Here are some shots that Ms. Shannon took at school and emailed to me.

This was Sophie’s second trip to the pumpkin patch this year.  This time it was with her whole school.  She had a great time.

Kids love picking beans.  Sophie showed Elijah how to do it.  He was a natural!

Mark and the fam. helped to build a square foot garden at Sophie’s school today.  It was a GREAT experience for everyone.  I think the photos speak for themselves.

Here is Sophie helping/entertaining herself in the driveway while we constructed the frame for the garden.

Sophie and her friends Ainsley and Logan help spread the soil at school.

Sophie helped dig holes.

Hannah and Lily came to help as well.

Pictures of the final product to come!!!

We missed our photo appointment at the Dunes West “Clubhouse” because the organizer told us “the Clubhouse” and then when we went to “the Clubhouse” they weren’t there.  They, instead, went to the golf clubhouse, which is way back in the Dunes West development and its not what everyone refers to when they say “the Clubhouse.”  Normally, everyone refers to the building near the pool that the Dunes West association calls… the clubhouse.

So, we didn’t get our pics taken by a professional photographer, but that didn’t stop us from putting a white sheet up on the wall and posing in front of the camera!

She doesn’t like to eat them, but she loves to help me pick the hot peppers!

We’ve been picking one or two a week, but now we’ve got a bumpercrop:

Sophie went to her first ballet class on Tuesday.  I asked her if she wanted me to sign her up for the entire semester and she said, “Yes, I love it.  I want to come here every week.”

Sophie headed back to school on Monday and couldn’t be happier.  Sundrops is wonderful.  As an added bonus, Sophie carpools with two of her friends every day.  Here she is on her first day hamming it up for the camera.

Sophie helped me (Daddy) make naan (Indian flatbread) for a big Indian meal I prepared one recent Friday evening.

First, she mixed flour, baking powder, and a little salt and sugar in a bowl.

Then she kneaded the dough until it was nice and smooth.

Here is it, hot from the oven!

I made spinach dal (lentils) and curried chicken. Yummy!

It reads:  “Thank you these presents are great.  Sophie.”

Sophie and Lily helped make fresh lemon sorbet.  It was a family activity.

First, everyone peeled lemons for the juicer.

Then the kids helped Lisa make fresh squeezed juice.

Sophie stirred in the lemon zest.

Aunt Erin and Hannah showed up to get Lily as the sorbet mixture was in the ice cream maker.  Good timing!

Hannah takes a peak at the machine freezing the sorbet.

Ready to serve!

Slightly sour faces!  Hey, it was made from fresh lemons.  It was slightly tart.

Sopes loved it.  She eats raw lemons without making the sour face.  I found the sorbet light and refreshing with a slightly tart taste.  All kids had seconds!

Best idea ever (if I do say so myself).  Sophie loved the waterslide.  We have no shame about the neighbors seeing our entire family piled into a 5 ft. inflatable pool at the base of our new playset.  It’s HOT here.  I hope Mark uploads the video of Sophie FLYING down this slide into the pool.  It was actually a lot of fun.  We all took turns.

While Aunt Linley, Uncle Greg, and Elijah were visiting for Sophie’s birthday, we hit the pool.  Sophie is a fish these days.  She also loves going down the water slide.  All of her timidity from last summer is GONE.

For Sophie’s fourth birthday, she received the biggest birthday present ever. . . .a huge playhouse.  She had a party with a lot of her friends, the (Jones side) cousins, the (Jones side) Aunts and Uncles and both sets of grandparents.  We had a jump castle and lots of food and fun.  As a special treat, Uncle Greg played music from Mr. Greg’s Musical Madness.  Thanks Uncle Greg.  Here are some pictures from the party:

And here are pictures from the playhouse assembly. . . .everyone helped a little, but Pop Pop built the whole thing.  He was up at 7:00 a.m. and didn’t like quitting for dinner.  He worked on it for three days!  Thank you!!!

Here are some photos of Sophie and Piper from a few weeks ago at my Mother’s Day dinner.  Sophie is a great big sister.