March 31

Today was a loooooooooooong day! This picture tells the time that I arrived home which just gave me enough time to squeeze Sophie a few times and put her to bed. This week, we're interviewing for our new principal, and it's quite a process. It's neat that we get to have a chance to meet the 10 candidates and have them present to us. I have another couple of long days ahead of me, but it's worth it!

March 30

I love it when my little flowers pop up in bloom before the irises crowd them out. I'm terrible with the name of flowers, but these petite little purple and white beauties are one of my favorites!

March 29

The weather finally got better, so we headed for the beach! This was Sophie's first time walking on the beach (she went to Seaside last year). It was incredibly windy and cold, but Sophie loved every minute of it. She walked and fell and walked and fell, but laughed the whole time! I am so glad we got the chance to hang out on the beach, even if it wasn't the greatest day!

March 28

The weather was horrible for the entire day! We usually get out and walk down the boardwalk into Seaside, but the rain did not let up at all. I spent most of the day looking out the window longingly at the ocean and wishing we could be on the beach! I did delve into the book, "Twilight," while Sophie was napping, so the day wasn't a total bust!

March 27

I finished up my spring conferences at school and we hopped in the car and headed for Oregon. It was our annual trip to join up with the rest of Dad and Marcia's family in a gigantic house in Seaside. Sophie did wonderfully and made it the whole way without falling asleep, but it kept us quite busy! Note to self, bring lots of books for her to look at!

March 26

Gramma came over for some Sophie time (I think she wanted to see me too, but mostly Sophie!). They enjoyed reading together and goofing around as you can see in this picture. Sophie loves her Gramma!

March 25

Poor Sophie! She was reaching for a stuffed animal, lost her balance, and bumped her forehead into the edge of her crib. She ended up with a nasty bump on the upper right hand side of her forehead, but she wouldn't let me put ice on it. We cuddled and she eventually got over the ordeal. I love the shot of her because she is getting into her sleepy phase and is settling down. Such a sweet girl!

March 24

Today, my favorite band in the whole, wide world released their new album! The Indigo Girls released "Poseidon and the Bitter Bug" and I have been listening to it nonstop since I got home! As usual, I love it and can't wait for the upcoming concert this summer!

March 23

Another book club tonight to discuss Garden Spells. Good book and great company as usual! We met at Jennifer's beautiful home and I couldn't resist trying to capture the beautiful wood work inside. I loved how the outside wood peeks into the picture from the background. If I had more time, I would have taken lots of pictures to try and truly show the beauty of her home. I tried not to be too jealous...

March 22

After naptime, we took a stroll down to Starbucks. It was a tad chilly, but we bundled up and enjoyed getting some fresh air. On the way home, we spotted some ducks in one of the neighborhood retention ponds and stopped by for a visit. Sophie hadn't really seen ducks in real life, so she pretty much flipped out! She was so excited! We had some Cheerios in the diaper bag, so we thought we'd feed the ducks. That didn't work out so well because the ducks were scared of us! It was very fun to see Sophie checking out our fine feathered friends!

March 21

We have a narrow window right next to our front door, and Sophie enjoys looking for people through it. She loves greeting her grandparents and others when they come over to visit. Today, she looked from the outside in at me and I couldn't resist getting a shot of her little nose pressed against the glass. Cute!

March 20

A night out with the girls! Just what I needed! We enjoyed great food at Ricardo's and had a lot of fun discussing pretty much everything under the sun!

March 19

Sophie has a lot of energy! Tonight, she raced around the house, playing with every toy she could get her hands on! She climbed onto her rocking horse, and went to town. She climbed up in the big chair to have dinner. She learned how to climb up on the ladder of her slide and went down on her own for the first time. And, she is trying to learn how to jump! Whew! We're exhausted, and hopefully she is too so she'll sleep well tonight!

March 18

I know it's early, but we got Sophie her first potty last weekend. So far, the only thing she's done with it is play with her "poppy." She carries it around, sits on it, and it's even taken a ride down her little slide! I'm glad to see she's comfortable with it, but hopefully she'll learn what it's actually used for someday!

March 17

Today is St. Patrick's Day, but I was so lame about it! I had big intentions to make everything green for Sophie and to at least discuss St. Patrick's Day at school, but I didn't! I didn't even wear green! Well, there's always next year. I caught a quick shot of Sophie before bed, and couldn't resist that cute look of hers!

March 16

Mmmmmmmmmmm... there's nothing like a yummy Lofthouse cookie after a hard day's work and taking care of a sick kid! I rarely buy these cookies because they are a tad pricy and they don't last long in our house. It's fun to have a treat every now and then though!

March 15

Today we had another bout of snow and some incredibly crazy weather! It certainly doesn't feel like spring is around the corner! Sophie and I met Mara up at Babies 'R' Us and it was so windy when we got out of the car. Sophie thought it was funny, so I had to catch a glimpse of it on film.

March 14

Sophie and Will had a playdate today! It's always so much fun to watch the kiddos "play" with each other, or rather, Sophie watches Will play with her toys! It's great though, because you can tell that she's learning from him. They also had a great time playing with Guster, our cat. Will was very gentle with him, unlike Sophie, and Will thought it was the funniest thing. His laughter is contagious!

March 13

I teach 5th grade and one of my favorite parts is teaching U.S. History. Right now my students are learning about the events leading up to the American Revolution. Today, my students had a debate; Loyalists vs. Patriots discussing if America should become independent from Britain. Three students became the Loyalists, Thomas Hutchinson, Lord Dunmore, and Jonathan Boucher, and three became the Patriots, Mercy Otis Warren, Samual Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. The debators wore masks as you can see in the picture, and they're "Public Relations Assistant" are standing behind them. The students did a great job stating their character's beliefs and arguing (mostly correct) statements. It was fun to watch and even better when I heard a student say, "That was really fun!" at the end of the debate.

March 12

I just love it when cats get in baskets! They must think they're invisible once they get in there because they crouch so low and just stare at you! Max here did just that until Sophie bonked him with on of her toys. Our fun little household... :)

March 11

Today was beautiful, but cold!! After dinner, we decided to take a little walk with Sophie to the ghetto toys that are up the street. The sun sets a little later now, so it was at the perfect time to check out our shadows. I don't think that Sophie has realized she had one, because she was very interested in it! She had fun at the toys, even more so than the really nice brand new ones that are a few blocks away. In fact, we had to take her away kicking and screaming until we said "Say goodbye to the toys," and she waved bye-bye almost all the way down the street!

March 10

Ever since Sophie has gotten more confident with her walking, she insists on doing things on her own. When we go to and from the car, Sophie gets sidetracked by our front yard and all of the exciting things she finds! She loves picking up rocks, checking them out, and even tasting them from time to time (I know, ick!). She loves pointing out the flowers that have started to bloom with an enthusiastic shout of "fower!" And she likes to wander all over, poking at the trees and plants, just to see what will happen. It's a lot of fun to live through her eyes, seeing things new for the first time and learning new words. The hardest part is removing her from the paradise that is our yard and making her go inside or to wherever the car takes us. Once the weather warms up more (keeping fingers crossed that it will be sooner than later) we'll be able to spend more time outside. Oh, and yes, that is a cell phone she's holding. It's my old phone that she loves to play with and wouldn't let it go today!

March 9

Well spring is right around the corner, but we woke up to snow again today. I just can't believe the weather we're having! I took a few shots of the snow, but decided to keep the one showing the flowers. I just hope this cold weather doesn't zap my plants, I want flowers this spring!

March 8

Boy did we have wild weather today! Let's see if I can name all of the types of weather we had today: wind, sun, clouds, hail, snow, rain, freezing rain, rain/snow mix, and cold temperatures. Did I miss anything? I was in the car during the 5 minute hailstorm, but I opened up my car door and got a shot with my point and shoot. Crazy day!

March 7

We headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house again today to water the plants, but walked into what I liken to as the "ET house." Dad and Marcia are having new hardwood floors put in as well as redoing the old floors to match while they are vacationing, so everything was behind heavy plastic to keep the dust out. I couldn't get in to water the plants, but I was able to chase Sophie around the yard and steal a TV (Dad said I could take it!). It was a beautiful day from the looks of it in the picture, but the weather sure was whacko today. Sun, then rain, then rain/snow mix, then snow, you get the picture!

March 6

Sophie spent some time coloring with the toddler crayons at her little table today. She loves seeing the colors show up on the paper for a few minutes, and then enjoys tossing all of her crayons onto the floor. One of the crayons broke however, and she was quite distraught! She still colors with both hands, but seems to be getting a better grasp (no pun intended) on it!

March 5

I sure take a lot of pictures of Sophie! She is a great subject and usually has a smile on her face, so it's fun to take shots of her. Today I stayed home to help her get well (temperature and cold again). We made a visit to the Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor and discussed whether Sophie should get tubes. Both the doctor and Matt and I are on the fence about it. Since we're getting out of cold season, we decided to take the "wait and see approach." If she gets another ear infection, she's getting tubes.

Matt and I also had our first photography class tonight. It was nice to learn some different ways to look at how you take your picture. I am definitely going to try to improve my picture taking now!

March 4

I'm a cat lover and I'm not afraid to admit it! My two boys, Guster and Max, are very sweet cats. Yes, of course they can be annoying, but they let Sophie beat up on them continuously and they have adjusted to the fact that they aren't the center of my universe anymore! Each night, the boys go to bed in the garage and curl up together on the heating pad. They go in there willingly to have their supper and to hang out for the night. They tend to get pretty restless in the middle of the night, and Max likes to cuddle with Sophie in her crib, so to the garage they go. I can never seem to get a shot of them with their eyes open, but they still look cute, nonetheless!

March 3

Sophie enjoyed giving ketchup a try tonight! She was not feeling well, and her appetite wasn't great, but once she learned that she could dip things in the ketchup, she was on board! Unfortunately, Sophie's temperature went up and she'll be staying home tomorrow. This poor baby, it's just been cold after cold after cold with her!

March 2

Matt was in charge of the camera tonight! Sophie and I were playing with a little car before bedtime. I would race it up her back and down her front while saying "vroom, vroom" and she thought it was the best thing! She gave it a try, driving the car up my leg, but quickly discovered that it was much more fun if mommy did it! She's getting the hang of the sound effects too!

March 1

Today was a very busy day! Matt and I had nursery duty at church, and then Sophie took a short nap. While she was napping, we got a knock at the door telling us that Nikki was roaming the neighborhood! She had busted through some rotten boards in our fence and was having a free for all. So, Matt worked hard to repair it in the rain while Sophie and I made an obstacle course in the living room. My mom and Matt's parents were coming over for dinner so I had to prepare for that as well. When my mom came over she brought my old kid table for Sophie to use. Sophie was very excited and immediately climbed in the chair like she'd been doing it for years! It's great for her to have a little space to draw and read her books that's all her own.