Halloween by Bill

As many of you know, Brian works for a *small, little-known* computer software company. Every year they throw a fantastic Halloween party for the kids of all the employees in his building. There's trick-or-treating, a Haunted Lab, and lots of fun costumes and gags. Sophia really seemed to enjoy herself, and as always, we had a wonderful time showing off our cutie to all of Brian's coworkers.

After receiving an orange from our friend Leslie, Sophia decided to take Mommy on a tour of the offices.


Here we continue our tour. Special stop off at the elevator. Infinitely fascinating for babies.


Can you believe these spoiled engineers get their own slushy and frozen strawberry lemonade machines? Sophia was pretty keen on the lemonade.


Have you seen the Mac/PC commercials? If you look carefully, this lovely fellow has an "I'm a PC" nametag proudly displayed on his shirt. Nearby signs warn those who enter that none may leave without killing all bugs.


Sophia gets her chocolate fix.


"What?"


And, of course, when in Rome...do as the geeks do!

Picking Pumpkins With Our Peanut

Last Saturday, after our annual church Harvest Fest, we took Sophia to pick out pumpkins at a local patch. It was lots of fun. I think Sophia particularly enjoyed picking out her own pint-sized pumpkin. It took her nearly five minutes to decide which one she wanted!

Sanctuary Harvest Fest 2008

Every year, our church in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle throws a Harvest Fest for the local kids (and parents!) We have tons of carnival games and way too much candy! We also set up treats and hot drinks for all the parents. This year, we got a bunch of hay bales, we had a great musician come to bless us with his talents, and the Salvation Army set up a truck to hand out free nachos. It was a blast!

One of Greenwood's finest.

Sophia and Mommy are having a great time!


Our busy little bee.

A little witch enjoys the beanbag toss.

Spiderman 1 and Spiderman 2 enjoy some self-decorated cookies with their sister.


Elmo gets some popcorn.

Our pastor, Randy, showing off his Nordic roots.

Our little friend Nicholas is a very serious little boy.

But when he's with Daddy, you can sometimes get him to smile!

Little Evie the chick tries out her wings!

Some canine companions show off their costumes.

Bee and flower twins.

I didn't know ducks used pacifiers.

Our face painters really made the kids' days.

Go fish! And, if you'll notice, our little Sophia is fishing (pilfering) in the candy bowl behind the fish pond.


Whew! What a day.

Growing Girlie: 14 Months

Our friend Torrey who is a gifted photographer took these impromptu photos at our church's monthly gathering at a local pizza place. Unfortunately, they don't show off her three beautiful pearly whites that well, but they are still wonderful pictures.

So, yes, Sophia has three teeth now: two on the top and one on the bottom. She has not begun walking on her own yet, but she can really cruise if she's holding onto your fingers! I get the feeling that when she does finally "walk" it will not be walking so much as running. Her new favorite accomplishment is to say "Hi!" to everyone while waving at them. It is very cute...except perhaps in the middle of church when she begins egging on the other toddlers with her adorable antics.

Oh, and a final "break-through" to share with you all: You'll probably think I'm lying, and I would have thought I had imagined it if Brian hadn't been right there to confirm. Last night, Brian and I watched in awe-struck silence as Sophia hummed/sang "Just You Wait 'enry 'iggins" from My Fair Lady from her highchair (minus the words, naturally)! We watched the film the other day, and I've been going around singing this song, so I guess she picked up the melody! But, we were both totally shocked by the accuracy of her pitch! Maybe we'll have a musical child, after all.

This Post Has Nothing to Do With Anything, But the Pictures Are Cute

The tooth is coming in nicely, and now she has another one on the bottom to match.

We attended our downstairs neighbors' bible study the other night, and it turns out some of their friends brought their baby, too: a blonde nine-week-old dauchsaund named Samson.

Sophia and Samson make friends.

Sophia loves to sit in her highchair at the piano and give us concerts before dinner.

And, a smile to brighten your day!

Our Little Starlet

We took Sophia to have her birthday portraits done at our local Kiddie Kandids this afternoon. She's wearing her special birthday dress from her Grammie (except in the bathtub shot where she is just in her diaper).

We have had countless people tell us that we should have her model. After this, I'm thinking we should consider it. We woke her up from a much-needed nap to bring her in to take these... and she just sparkled!

I wish I could post these with the nifty color effects they used. It made the pictures look much softer and better composed, but these originals are still quite good, I think.

So elegant. Sophia loved playing with the string of pearls.

Who doesn't love a baby in the bath?

Old-time traveler.

Just beautiful.

Our little lady.

Sophia's Birthday Pictures

Sorry these have been so long in coming, everyone! Between my mom's visit to town, then my visit to Rochester, I haven't had a free minute to upload these. But, here they are at last. I hope they are worth the wait.

Sophia wants to get a head start on the presents.

A veggie tray, care of Mr. MacGreggor's garden! I had toothpicks with Beatrix Potter illustrations in nearly all the food.

Grandpa and the birthday girl all dolled up in her party dress (a present from Grammie--my mom)

Mrs. Elizabeth Knighton and Mrs. Julie Eidson enjoying the summer sun and some fresh squeezed lemonade.

Guests having a good time and passing around cards.

I think Brian likes the elephant hand puppet even more than Sophia.

More quality literature--who doesn't love Dr. Seuss? This one was placed on our doorstep early that morning by our downstairs neighbors who had gone camping.

Sophia's birthday cake--coconut layer! She loved it. We also had raspberry and raspberry-peach pies. I loved making her first birthday cake; there is something so special to me about a birthday cake being made with Mama's own hands and recipe.

"Uncle" Tom playing with Sophia's duckie push toy, a gift from her Grandma & Grandpa Hudson. Sophia is looking on, giggling.

Mama, Sophia, and Grandpa

On the morning of Sophia's actual birthday, she received her card and presents from Mama and Daddy. Here is her "special" gift, wrapped in bunny paper.

Sophia becomes acquainted with Hazel the Hippo.

George is liking the look of those stacking rings. I'm pretty sure Sophia liked them, too.

Sophia's "special" gift: her first Growing Up Girl.

Later that day, Grammie took Sophia and me out for tea at a lovely little teahouse in Bothell called Elizabeth & Alexanders. We had a wonderful time. Here, you see Sophia playing with a little metal teabag holder--though we ended up having looseleaf.

So many tasty treats! And, I must say, Sophia acquitted herself quite well with all of them She especially liked the checkerboard shortbread (vanilla and chocolate) that you see on the second tier.

Sophia loves her kitty!

The birthday "cake": a mini lemon cupcake leftover from afternoon tea. I figured one layer cake and two pies was plenty for this mama to make in one week.

Make a wish!

"This is all for me?"

We started off so daintily...

...but quickly dropped the pretense.

Our precious little birthday girl.
How does the time fly so fast?