We're ba-ack!

Hi everyone! Long time no blog huh? Summer has been busy for us and has forced us away from the laptop and outside (I know this is so not like me! LOL). Sophia is now 22 1/2 months old and we have been a family for 10 months! Honestly the time has just flown by!!! Allthough we haven't updated our blog we try to check in on all of you as much as we can!

So what has Sophia been up to?

Sophia had a 1st and 2nd combined BIRTHDAY party! Since Sophia was in the orphanage for her first birthday and her 2nd birthday is the beginning of November we threw one huge party! 60+ people.

I love CAKE! Bounce house!

The theme was Poodle's in Paris and mommy was in heaven planning this party! Kept her very busy! mommy and daddy bought a bounce house for 13 kids most under the age of 3 to bounce their little hearts out. Of course, we had it in September to utilize the outdoors and guess what? You guessed it - - HURRICANE rains rolled through but good news is we had about 2 hours of the party we opened up the backyard and bounce housed it up! Sophia had a blast. She got tons of new toys, a doll house, a vanity, an easel, a kitchen, little people, clothes, food for her kitchen, doll baby strollers and babies, art stuff.... She woke up the next morning and was like - WOW this really did happen??? It wasn't a dream!

Doll house she loves it's fisher price twin house and it is sooo cute, she plays with this for hours on end!

aunt keri and uncle bo bought her a princess talking vanity. This was a hit. it talks and tells her how beautiful she is, how great the color looks on her , like daily affirmations- - my question is how can I get one of these??? I need this while getting ready in the morning!! It is really cute.

Sophia got a new kitchen which has proved the best investment yet - she plays with this for hours and allows mommy to get some cooking of her own done! Mommy puts real ice cubes in the cups and I think I'm hot stuff!

Sophia has hit the party circuit - attending 3 birthdays (not including her own) each weekend since the beginning of September.
Sophia and Robert - trying to get these two to sit still for a second was near impossible but they loved Robert's elmo couch!!!

Yeah folks this is how we roll!! Out hello kitty sunglasses we refused to take off - even napped in them for Maggie's 3rd bday

Thank you Mr Josh and Miss Michelle for this gorgeous little number I wore to party #3!

Sophia went to her first amusement park - Dutch Wonderrland and loved it! It was HOT, very HOT, she rode a pony for the first time!

Sophia peed on the potty for the first time (yeah mommy didn't get a pic of that - haha) but without even asking she said Peepee potty and I put her on and she went! I about passed out she's not even two, I'm not ready for this yet - guess i better get ready huh?

Sophia became a sunglass and shoe addict. Seriously it's worse than before. No sunglasses or shoes are safe in the house

She had her first Penn State Friday and survived her 1st PSU game day!! Oh and she says - WE ARE - PENN STATE and then roars like a lion!!!

In my PSU dress - daddy dressed me for school!

Game day with Uncle Justin and Elliot

Bounce House = good and bad! Sophia learned it's possible to jump on the bed TOO - here is maddie and sophia - double trouble. Yeah they were VERY quiet at my folks house and all the sudden we heard tons of giggles - and here is what we found!!!!And she's just been busy being cute as ever!

This has truly been an amazing last few months - although challenging at times as sophia struggles for some independece she is growing and like a sponge as far as learning.

We talk non stop. We sing. We scream at school buses causing mommy to almost wreck the vehicle. We talk in small sentences - Mommy more rice please!!!!! Can you believe it? We love books. We want to do everything all the older kids do and mommy - if mommy rolls her jeans up she needs hers rolled up if mommy has sunglasses on her head = sophia needs sunglasses on her head - if mommy well you get the picture. She is my little shadow.

She is a girly girl - hates her hands to be dirty, hates her toys to be dirty (outside!! like I can control that! hehe), she loves her nails painted and screams NAILS, NAILS! Loves make up (may-tup), loves shoes - accessories are king. She loves to comb her hair and put her hairspray on (detangler) and actually deodorant too - yes she saw me do it so I now put the cap on and let her do it she lifts her arms to show her pits and eveything!

She will shake your hand and say "meet you" for nice to meet you, she says please (which apparently to toddlers means they get anything they ask for), thank you , bless you, welcome (you're welcome), love you, sweet dreams, wake up, good bye and of course the crowd favorite - Holla!! And if you say it - - she responds by saying HOLLA BACK. Which is just hilarious. Of course we teach her the important things huh?

All in all she is doing well - she weighs about 22 lbs now and really getting tall. TONS of hair, like overnight! Her talking is what is blowing us away and how she comprehends stuff now - she will react to stuff with the appropriate reaction now and tells us what she wants, what she wants to wear. She loves books and has many of them we read at night memorized even to the back cover. Oh and of course let's not forget the tantrums - yeah we do them to and mommy has to walk away because some of them just make me want to laugh hysterically - she is going to be a drama queen - I guess what comes around goes around huh???? LOL

Hope everyone is doing great!!