Sophie T’s Blog

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.

I planted my mother’s day plant this weekend while Sophie found critters and “played with” (read: tortured) them.  Here was her best catch all day:

She proudly displays and traumatizes him:

This weekend was action packed.  First, Sophie had her group swim lesson, where she excelled at blowing bubbles in the water (she’s been practicing in the bathtub).  Then, we headed to the Splash Zone on James Island to meet up with Megan, Luca, and Jane.  Sophie had the best time ever going down the slides by herself.  She is becoming brave.  She voluntarily went down the tunnel slide (twice!).  We’ll be going back there soon.

Sophie helped me (Daddy) plant seeds again this year.  She’s even more help when it’s time to pick and eat some peas!  Here she is picking some sugar peas.

I’m so happy that the pool days are back, but I wish the water were warmer.  We went to the pool for the first time this past weekend with Aunt Erin, Grandmama, Boogie, Hannah and Lily.  Sophie got to try out her new swimming skills.  Her favorite thing to do is to pretend like she is swimming by floating on her stomach in the shallow part of the pool and walking on her hands while she does it.  She loves the water.  It’s just a matter of time before she swims.   Here are some pre-swim pool pics.  I wish Piper wasn’t looking the other way, but I guess we need to get used to having to get two children to pose for the camera at the same time.  No such luck at the pool.

Sophie no longer stays for after school care at school, so I get to pick her up early in the afternoon now.  Today we went to the park for an hour and then came home and played in the sandbox.

She has also been working on a 100 piece puzzle.  She and Daddy finished it tonight.  She still loves puzzles, but can’t do them on the floor anymore because Piper is mobile and loves teething on puzzle pieces.

Today Sophie, Gabby, Aunt Erin, Hannah, Lily, Piper and I went strawberry picking.  I will post pictures from last week’s festival on here soon, but for now, here are pictures of Sophie’s first annual harvest.

Sorry we haven’t updated in so long.  Now that I (Lisa) have quit my job, I’m sure to update the blog more often.

Sophie has been up to a lot the past few months.   We went to St. Simons for Easter and she has been reading like a champ.  She can read a few books by herself, like Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You and There’s a Wocket in My Pocket.  She can read most books, but she needs help with big words.  She’ really into reading and drawing and writing words.  She can trace entire books (pictures and words) and seems to enjoy quiet time where she can focus on her work. We are really proud of her.

Lately I am trying to get her more active.  She had her first swim lesson with her friend Gabby who lives a few doors down and goes to school with her.  They are tight.  Her teacher was Ms. Mary, and Sophie really enjoyed the experience.  We’ll be doing this every Saturday and hitting the pool every day once school lets out.  She should be pretty comfortable swimming small amounts by the end of the summer.

Here she practicing kicking with Ms. Mary:

She and Gabby took turns:

Gabby and Sopes in the locker room:

It was Crazy Hair Day at Sophie’s school today.  I don’t think there was a contest, but if there was, the other kids wouldn’t stand a chance.  Nobody can beat this crazy hair!

Watch the princess get primped and check out these photos!