December 19

The annual gingerbread house raising! This year, Jim and Marcie Hays gifted Sophie and I with a great gingerbread house. I attempted (as always) to put the thing together, and then Sophie gets to decorate. She loved "painting the roof with snow" and adding candies all over it. This was the first year we put snow on the ground so the trees and gingerbread babies could stand in front of the house. We also made a walkway to the front door and other miscellaneous decorations. We had a lot of fun making it!

December 18

Rayna and Abby Brandon joined us for a mommy/daughter date today. We lunched at Red Robin, spoiled the girls with some clothes, and took them to the Nutcracker for the first time. The girls really enjoyed the show, but Sophie had a tough time sitting still towards the end. When the pretty ballerinas came out, she wanted to be down on stage dancing with them! She settled for some dancing in front of her seat! Hopefully the people around us didn't mind!

December 17

Every year, thanks to dad's gigantic yard, I put together a Christmas bouquet. It's the only time I really try to arrange flowers, and I do my best. I pick up cranberries for the vase and red carnations, but everything else comes from dad's yard. It's a cheap bouquet, but it looks beautiful, and lasts for a long time!

December 12

We went to the Capitol building this afternoon to check out the big Christmas tree in the rotunda. I got Sophie all gussied up for a photo op, but she wasn't really having it. I was having a hard time with the lighting in there, and she pretty much wanted to run around the whole time instead of posing. I managed to get a few cute shots and hopefully will be able to make a scrapbooking page out of them!

December 9

I took the day off since Sophie had a few doctor's appointments, but thought we'd start it off with breakfast at the Bread Peddler. Sophie chose the maple frosted pumpkin bread, and no, she didn't eat it all! Good thing we started out with something sweet since Sophie had to have her eyes dialated (hated it) and got two shots. We ended the day at the Hands On Children's Museum so the day wasn't a total bust!

December 7

The Santamobile came down our street tonight! As Sophie was getting ready for bed, I heard the telltale sound of sirens and music and said, "Sophie! Santa's coming down our street!" After she freaked out because I was so excited, we got on our boots and ran outside in the rain to see Santa. Sophie clung onto my leg and finally eased up when Santa showed up. It was a lot of fun!

December 6

Sophie got her first teeth cleaning this afternoon. She was quite a trooper and stayed still while the hygienist cleaned her teeth, flossed them, and put fluoride on. I was amazed how well she did and only got a little skittish when Dr. Danny came in. She was happy to get her prize at the end though!

December 5

Sophie and I had fun decorating the tree this evening. The tree is a little bottom heavy, since Sophie put all of her ornaments within her reach and I tried to even out the top. The tree looks great though, and I'm keeping her organized chaos because it's so her!

December 4

We met up with Dad and Marcia at the Ames Tree Farm to find the perfect tree. We were there a little early, so Sophie and I walked around and checked things out. She was very interested in the tall weeds that were growing, but we ultimately found our lovely noble fir. I asked Sophie several times if this was the one, and she said YES every time!