HappyBirthday Sophia!

Sophia is 10! I(and alot of other fans of the Fia) can't believe she is a whole decade old!

It just seems like yesterday we were in Sacramento picking up our little bundle! All 4 pounds of her! It just seems like yesterday when we discovered her soaked through her diaper on our first night with her. We were instructed to feed her every 2 hours but no one mentioned we needed to change her diaper after feeding her...oops!

There are so many things I love about our Tater. I loved how small she was....so so tiny. I loved how she plumped up and how smart she was(not that we could tell at 3 months....) because this disproved all the studies that said "breastfed babies are healthier and smarter". I have never felt so inadequate as I did with a newborn!

These pictures are from her scrapbook. Just look at those cheeks!

I love her smile. I always got this comment"she is the happiest baby I have ever seen!". She would smile at everyone and laughed often and so easily. And her smiles showed on her whole face....i mean look at the side of her head...it looks like she is about to pop a blood vessel:)

(These are my dad's feet-which are very ticklish:) )

Sophia was a very "easy" baby. She travelled very well, took great naps and rarely threw fits. When she was brand new we started her off in a bassinet at the end of our bed. Well I couldn't sleep because she was making all these noises. I would get up and feed her every 2 hours but it would take her about 1 hour to eat and then I really didn't sleep much during that second hour because of her grunts! She just seemed restless....so I just layed her in the bed with us and she molded her body into mine and we both slept like...well babies. She never slept alone again. We loved having a family bed.

I love how Fia loves life. I believe she will be one of those people that will have a lot of friends who just want to be around her because she is "Sophia".

yes...i am too cheap to buy the school pictures! Isn't she so cute! And she finally had hair that could be styled....a little! This was kindergarten I believe.

I love how easy-going Fia is....she loves to be around people and to please them.

I love how she loves to learn. She has always excelled in her studies and rarely needs encouragement to do her work. Here she is holding her certificate for winning a writing contest.

Sophia's full name is Enid Sophia Alisa. Enid is my grandmother's name and SOphia is Richard's granmother's name. I wanted to honor my Nannie by calling her Enid but she just didn't look like an Enid...she really looked like a Sophia...so it stuck. Nannie was very touched that we used her name. Alisa is what she was for 3 weeks...what her birthparents named her after she was born. We kept it as a way to honor them.

With the name Sophia you usually think the nickname would be Sophie....but I really didnt' like that name and never used it. Her best friend Lillian or "Lil" (whose mother didn't want her nickname to be Lilly) began calling her Fia...and it stuck.

Sophia has never met a stranger. She loves to play with anyone of any age. She has developed some great friendships in her 10 years. And they stand the test of time.

While in the Philippines she bonded quickly to her cousin Molly. It was so sad to leave her.

Sophia is a great friend and tries to include others. She also stood up for a little girl who was getting teased on the bus.

I keep telling Nate that Fia could be his best playmate...if he would.just.stop.teasing. She is also a very forgiving child!

Movie Stars

We had so much fun planning this party together. I went shopping at Goodwill and Salvation Army for the dresses and had to control my spending or I would have had a whole closet of fun dresses and accessories! I bought make-up from the Halloween clearance and dollar store and dusted off my hairspray bottle and comb.

After getting all made up and hair teased and stiff the girls did a photo shoot. I turned on the fan so their hair would blow just like all the models and singers do.

Watch out Hanna Montana!

I don't know if I like these photos....she looks older than 10!

After the photo shoot the girls divided up into 2 groups and created a commercial. One was for poptarts and the other for hairspray. We video-taped each one and then watched them. They were so funny and very persuasive(thanks to Mrs. Tanner!). After watching them I gave out awards and the girls gave acceptance speeches...a few got emotional just like on the Oscars:)

isn't it funny how everyone acts like they are blowing out the candle too?

We had originally set the time for the party 3-7pm but I realized at 530 that we weren't going to have enough time so each girl called and asked if they could stay until 8. That way we didn't feel rushed and what movie star wants to be rushed!

And no party would be complete with out karaoke! And Dad couldn't resist showing off his skills!

Happy Birthday Fia!

happy halloween!

Sophia loves to do crafts...and i love doing them with her. Hallowen has LOTS of fun crafts! Sophia went on familyfun.com and printed off a few ideas.


These weren't from Family Fun but aren't they cute! I have admired these little guys every year at Chris's house and would think "they look easy enough to paint!". This year we got together and painted these. I learned a couple painting techniques and they weren't as easy as I thought:) By "easy" I mean I wouldn't have been able to recreate these beauties on my own! One of my new favorite quotes came from our painting time together...."it's only a candy corn". I would say this when I would be frustrated about what how mine were looking...and then i would remind myself that they were only wooden candy corn people!

I made these a couple of years ago and thought they looked so cool. The hardest part is finding the cheesecloth but they turn out so cute. The first time I made them I painted ovals for their eyes...

These are our ghost people. You make them from salt dough and harden them in the microwave. We couldn't get our dough stiff enough so they began to droop and sag. I looked at them and wondered what I could do to make them look like they were "doing something" instead of looking like they were melting. Can you guess what they are doing???