Before heading up to Neal's parent's house for Martha's birthday dinner (of which she cooked herself) we stopped at Starbucks for a little family coffee date to celebrate Valentine's Day. Sophie had a great time, of course, she is a Starbucks veteran and loves the hot cocoa! Neal loved watching Sophie act like a big girl and enjoy her hot cocoa and in true Neal style snapped some great pictures as well. Thanks to Auntie Nancy for the Starbucks gift cards, you made our Valentine's Day that much happier!
Today my mom came down to celebrate Valentine's Day with Sophie and I a day early. She arrived just as Sophie and I were putting the finishing touches on the heart cookies we were making for Valentine's Day. While I cleaned up my mom and Sophie played in the play room with, well, what else, Princesses and Princess stickers! Once the cookie mess was cleaned up I was off to get a shower, by myself, YAHOO, with no little monkey pulling back the shower curtain every 2 minutes asking, "Whatcha doing Mommy?". As cute and sweet as she is, getting a shower while she and my mom played outside was nothing short of a visit to the spa!
After my lovely shower (did I mention I showered ALL BY MYSELF?!?!?!) we were off to lunch at one of our local favorites Chantilly's Tea Room, it is a fabulous little restaurant in an old Victorian Style home with great food and great service too. If you are ever in Gastonia you should definitely try it out, they are only open from 11am until 2pm and is usually packed. Sophie was so great while we were there, I was actually kind of floored at how well she behaved! She is growing up so fast, she had a little pre lunch converstaion with us and even made sure to let me know half way through the meal that she needed to potty, my baby isn't really a baby anymore! Once we finished up with lunch it was back home to play with Sophie's new No Spill Bubble Bucket that Gigi brought her for Valentine's Day. She had such a great time playing with Gigi and the bubbles! Thanks Gigi!
Wednesday night it was SO windy that we lost power for about 2 hours. It would not have been so bad if I hadn't just put Sophie in the bath tub! Poor little thing she freaked out, it took her a minute to get upset because the lights flickered first and then came back on for a second then dimmed again and went out completely and there we were sitting in complete darkness in her bathroom until Neal came rushing up to save the day with a flashlight. Once she saw Neal with the flash light she let out a very cautious little giggle, luckily I had not wet her hair yet, so I just finished up washing her body and pulled her out, nothing like a much needed bath cut short! Getting Sophie to bed seemed to go okay until the wind and rain really started to pick up and whip around outside, and with no monitor it was hard to hear her crying upstairs while we were downstairs, but there is nothing like the ears of a Mommy listening out for her baby. So, mine and Neal's little candle lit (we had tea lights all over the house, it was kind of romantic and fun!) game of Uno was cut short so that I could go and tend to her. The power went out around 7:15pm and finally came back on at exactly 8:56pm leaving me 4 minutes to get downstairs and watch LOST! I was so excited, I felt like the LOST Gods were shining down on me when the power came back on!
We are finally getting a little break from the cold and this weekend we are supposed to be climbing to 68 and 70 degrees on Saturday and Sunday respectively! Can't wait. Friday, we got a little preview of the wonderful weekend weather to come, the morning started off quite chilly, but as the day progressed we experienced a significant warm up. Neal came home around lunch time since he is dealing with a bit of nasty head cold right now, and once Sophie got up from her nap he thought it might do us all some good to get out and enjoy the nice weather and fresh air since we have been cooped up so long. Sophie and Neal had a blast rolling around on their bikes together, she is starting to get the hang of using the peddles a bit more, especially watching Neal peddle around. It was beautiful outside and really gave us a taste of Spring and has me longing for some permanently nicer weather!
In an attempt to do something fun for the afternoon and help pass the time since it has been bitter cold for us here in the Carolinas, Sophie and I experimented with some Magic Grow Safari Animals, an idea that we poached from our friends, Abbie and Morgan. When we saw that Abbie and Morgan had so much fun with these odd little capsules that I loved playing with as a child too, I remembered that Neal had a package of these capsules from a couple of Christmases ago when I could not think of anything else to stuff in his stocking. Well, either the capsules were too old and busted or I didn't put warm enough water in because I had to basically rip open the capsules to reveal the spongey safari shaped animal trapped inside. Regardless of how the little animals emerged from their capsule, Sophie had a blast playing in the water and talking away to me and herself in her secret little language that she has come up with in the recent weeks. She thinks that it is absolutely hilarious that she is being so silly and that Neal and I have no clue what she is saying, all we can do is say, "What???" and giggle along with her, which only makes her laugh harder and continue to act like a goofy little two year old girl. I hope it makes you giggle too!
YAY Steelers!!!!! I know, I know, I am a Patriots fan by birth and would probably be disowned by my entire, and I mean my entire family, near and far, if I abandoned the sacred Pats, I assure you, my blood still runs blue and red! However, since the Pats weren't in it this year and I married into the Steelers legacy some 4 years ago I cheered right alongside my very, very excited husband for that cute quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. It was a very exciting game to watch, especially at the end with Steelers pulling it out with so little time left, man I tell you what those guys really know how to keep their feet on the ground and in bounds when necessary!
Neal and I attended a Superbowl party at our friend's house while Sophie hung out with Gigi and Papa Keilty. We dropped Sophie, the mini Steeler's fan, off at Gigi and Papa's house right after church, but before we did we made sure to snap some pictures of her in her "Oh So Cute" pink number 7 Roethlisberger jersey (Thanks Ruth and Jack!!) and her Steeler Bear, Daddy made sure that she got to wear her jersey to church to show off her Steeler pride!
Thought I would share some really cute shots Neal got Saturday when we went to the local natural history museum to check out the animals that Sophie loves so much, Bessie Mae Moo Cow is her favorite! Enjoy!
Before heading up to Neal's parent's house for Martha's birthday dinner (of which she cooked herself) we stopped at Starbucks for a little family coffee date to celebrate Valentine's Day. Sophie had a great time, of course, she is a Starbucks veteran and loves the hot cocoa! Neal loved watching Sophie act like a big girl and enjoy her hot cocoa and in true Neal style snapped some great pictures as well. Thanks to Auntie Nancy for the Starbucks gift cards, you made our Valentine's Day that much happier!
