Loving Our Family

Category: Holiday’s

  • Independence Day!

    We love July 4th. We love it because it represents Summer, freedom and celebration. In celebrating we always make the most amazing memories. We joined Grandma & Grandpa Mund, Aunt Steph & Uncle Levi and your cousins James & Cole again for our yearly vacation up North. This year we went to Grandview Lodge. You were all dressed up like a little firecracker and had so much fun playing with your cousins.

    Our view from our cabin at Grandview
    Our little firecracker!
    James, Cole and Sophia in their 4th of July shirts

    You conquered walking in the sand at the beach and had a blast playing in the water. You also learned to play croquet, mastering it with mommy’s help.

    WE HAVE PIGTAILS!! Plus she conquered not liking the sand like she did last year.
    Learning how to play croquet with mommy
    Playing like a PRO!
    This is Sophia's mad face.. Watch out!
    Perfect moment captured!

     Happy 4th of July our lively little firecracker!

  • Easter..

    Easter, what a JOYOUS celebration! Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross and savings us all! 

    Our celebration of Easter was a weekend full of festivities! Starting off with going to Grandpa & Grandma L’s for a delicious lunch, some Easter egg hunting and opening Easter baskets. Lunch was fabulous as always, then came hunting for Easter eggs. Sophia was so cute looking for Easter eggs, and would get excited at every one she found! When she found an egg she would make a huge surprised face, it was the cutest thing ever! She was also very blessed enough to receive an Easter basket from Gpa and Gma L, Nana & Papa and Belle! A special thank you to the Easter bunny for the wonderful gifts! (And to all our wonderful family!)

    Sophia's surprised "O" face
    Reading one of her books from Nana

    From Gpa & Gma L”s we headed over to my parents to color Easter eggs and have dinner. Coloring Easter eggs was so much fun to sit back and watch. All three kids excitedly wanting to color EVERY egg, in EVERY color and look to each one of us with the dirt brown colored egg showing off their masterpiece. They all made some beautiful eggs! Sophia also received an Easter basket from Gpa & Gma M, with some cute clothes, a visor, some Easter eggs of her own and a windmill to blow. Thank you so much again Easter bunny.  

    Coloring Easter Eggs at Gma & Gpa M's. House
    Sophia’s shirt after coloring Easter eggs. (Her bruise was from running around the kitchen, tripping and hitting her head on her highchair ..)
    Easter egg hunting w/her Easter basket from Gma & Gpa M.

    Easter eve night Nate and I stayed up late stuffing eggs and filling Sophia’s Easter basked of goodies. The next morning we “hid” Sophia’s Easter basket near the kitchen stairs and sat back and watched proof that its always, always worth it! Sophia got some books, new shoes, some Sesame Street flash cards and some little people. We all then headed over to Mayer to have brunch with Great Grandma Harriet. A wonderful finish to a busy yet eventful, fantastic weekend!

    As always here is our girl in her Easter dress, CUTER then ever!

      

    Cousins: Sawyer, Sophia & Camden

  • Happy St Patrick’s Day!

    For St Patrick’s Day we didn’t go to any bars, didn’t eat any corned beef or cabbage, but we did celebrate with our girl! We dressed her in her St Patrick’s day shirt and celebrated how lucky and blessed we are to have such a ray of sunshine in our life!

    Here is our Lucky girl. I love how she laughs, her giggle, her composure everything about it!

     

    Happy St Patrick’s Day to all our Irish friends!

  • California.. So much to be THANKFUL for!

    We are back!! And we had a blast!!

    First off, Sophia handled the flight to San Diego and back like a rockstar! She was up for a little bit during take off and landing, other then that she slept. It was such a relief and Nate and I were both happy that she got a nap in.

    When we landed in San Diego we were immediately greeted by Russ and Sophia went right to him! She was so happy-it was the cutest thing ever. We loaded up everything in the truck and went back to Gpa Russ’ house where we relaxed for the evening since it was late, and Russ was going out with Carly for her birthday- (Happy Birthday again Carly!). Sophia also made sure to chase Gee & Malikeye. Nate, Sophia and I settled in for the night-excited for the weeks adventures and family time. The next day we had breakfast, and went on a family walk around the neighborhood- the weather was fantastic! We then went to lunch and went to 57 degrees so Nate could help his dad out with a few things. We made plans for the week which included: going to Legoland to see the Aquarium, Sea World, San Diego zoo and walks on the beach. Without going into every detail of our week-we accomplished all those things AND more. It was fantastic!

    Our first adventure was to Catalina Island, where we had lunch at the Catalina Island hotel and went for a walk on the beach. Sophia was skeptical of the sand at first, but after Gpa Russ found her a sea shell she was in LOVE! She ran and walked up and down the beach and was mesmerized by the ocean waters.

        

    The next day we drove out to Legoland and went to the Sea Aquarium. Sophia was able to stand next to and watch the fish. She was also able to touch some sea life, which she did with NO hesitations! She is so outgoing and loves trying new things. She liked watching the fish next to the tanks best!

     

     

    A few days later we made our way to San Diego Zoo. Sophia loves animals so we knew this would be a treat for her. We saw the giraffes, elephants, monkeys, tigers and a few others. It didn’t take too long for her to get tired out and she fell asleep. Nate and I walked around for a little bit longer before we headed home.

     

    Our next adventure was to Sea world. We weren’t to sure Sophia would be able to keep up with the dolphins and Shamu swimming around, but she was beyond thrilled with the dolphin show. She would get so excited when the would jump and swim around. On the other hand, for Shamu-she wasn’t excited at all and wanted to move on. This was probably a combination of no nap and that Shamu really didn’t swim much-Nate and I were disappointed as well. We went to the Shark exhibit as well-but Sophia fell asleep here too. Our little girl was tuckered out!

    In between our adventures we went on walks on the beach and the boardwalk-San Diego is so pretty and the weather was great most days. While walking on the Boardwalk we were able to bring Sophia on the Merry go Round which she loved as well. Sophia also had a favorite restaurant (as well as Nate and mine too! ) which is Old Town Mexico-its DELICIOUS! We were also able to spend some quality time with Gpa Russ and Carly. Our hearts are full from all the family time we got and we are blessed that we had this opportunity to spend some time with Gpa Russ. Nate and I both feel its important for Sophia to spend time with all of her family. We cant wait to come back again soon!

     

     

    Last, but not least, for Thanksgiving this year we got to celebrate with Grandpa Russ and Carly! We decided to stay in and have a home cooked meal. Russ and Nate cooked the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries and more and we all sat down and had a family dinner! We have so much to be thankful for and we feel so blessed to be able to spend time with Russ and Carly and celebrate some holidays here- since we aren’t able to for all of them!

  • FIRST Kindom family vacation..

    We are headed out today on our FIRST family vacation, just Nate, Sophia and I!! We are flying out to visit Grandpa Russ and Carly. We will be gone from November 18th-28th.

     Nate and I have mixed feelings about this trip, only because of the flying aspect. Sophia has never been on a plane and we aren’t sure how she will handle flying. We checked into everything, upgraded to first class and she is going to be sitting on my lap. We are also gate checking the stroller and car seat free of charge! -Cant get any better than that!! The flight is roughly 3 hours, and we will be packing toys, snacks, bottle and DVD player with Toy Story 3 for her to watch. Hopefully Sophia will fall asleep on the flight and it will be peaceful for all. We are worried that we will be “those” parents with a screaming child, but there isn’t much we can do if it happens. Another thing that is of concern is that Sophia JUST got over an ear infection 2 weeks ago. I brought her into the doctor yesterday and she said that Sophia still has some fluid by her ear, so she gave me an RX for antibiotics just in case and some numbing ear drops as well-just in case.

    Other then those few concerns we are more then excited to be spending time with family and bringing Sophia to a few tourist attractions while we are there, that she is sure to enjoy! I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving and I will post when we get back 🙂

    HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

  • Halloween 2010

    Sophia’s second (first being able to participate), Halloween was such a blast!We chose Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz for her costume, and let me tell you she was SO adorable! We dressed her up and went over to Auntie Steph & Uncle Levi house and had dinner. After dinner I went with Steph and the boys trick or treating while Nate, Sophia, Gma and Gpa stayed home to hand out Halloween candy. We did not take Sophia out this year since she had a cold and we didn’t want to make it worse. Sophia had alot of fun playing with her cousins.

    Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz..

     

    James & Cole: Optimus Prime & a robot..

     

    Optimus Prime & Dorothy hugging..

  • 1st Birthday Party Pictures..

    For Sophia’s 1st birthday we chose a theme of pink, brown and white. We borrowed a bouncy house from Aunt Rachel for all the kids, which was a hit! We had all of our family and friends over for a BBQ and cake/ice cream. In total there was a little over 50 people that came to celebrate our girls 1st birthday. Boy did she have a blast too! Here are some pictures of her big day!

    Our Birthday girl!!

    Bouncy house..

      

    Opening gifts..

    Eating her 1st birthday cupcake..

    Our birthday girl had such a great day! Thanks to all that came out and celebrated with us 🙂

  • First family vacation & some updates..

    Sophia had her 9 month well child visit on Monday (07.05.10) and she is doing great! She weighs 19lbs and is 27inches long, her head is 17.5 inches around-big noggin! The doctor commented on how strong she is, and I agree that she is.

     
    We went to Craguns in Brainerd over the 4th with my whole family and we all had a blast. Sophia went on a pontoon boat ride, her 2nd boat trip ever. She didn’t like it when the water splashed her and she was sleep deprived from not to long of a nap, but other then that she had fun. We tried playing with her in the sand, and she isn’t a fan of that yet. Cant wait for next year 🙂
     
     
    Sophia is cruising along fast. She is crawling, climbing up stairs and walking along all furniture. It wont be to long before she is walking alone. We have also been incorporating some “adult” food into Sophia’s meals and she is LOVING it. She really enjoys feeding her self and so far everything we have tried she LOVES. Her top teeth have also just barely popped thru the gums, so she now has about 4 teeth.
     
    We cant believe how fast time has flown since our little princess was born, in 2 1/2 months she will be turning 1. Time to plan that big party.

  • Easter and 6 month well child visit..

    Sophia had her 6 month well child visit on Friday and she is growing perfectly! She currently weighs 16lbs and is 25 1/2 inches long! She is in the 50th percentile for her weight, height and her head circumference. The doctor said that she is ahead still on her milestones, and she even started scooting across the table while we were there! She sits up great and plays great and is starting to scoot! The doctor did say that she will be crawling before long and wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t crawl for long if at all since she has great leg strength and that she has been sitting by herself for quite some time! 

    Sophie’s first Easter was also alot of fun! Getting to watch her discover things in her Easter basket was a blast! Nate and I didn’t get her an Easter basket this year cause my parents got her one and also Nate’s grandparents. Sophie had so much fun opening and discovering the gifts in the basket my parents got her! I have some fun pictures that I am adding! Sophie also did enjoy a fun toy that Nate’s grand parents got her. We also went to an Easter egg hunt with our church, unfortunately Sophie fell asleep during it! She was exhausted and had a little bit of a fever from her shots the day before. Overall it was a great weekend, that ended with having brunch with my family and my Grandma in Waconia.

    Opening her Easter basket from Grandparents Julie and Jeff:
     
    Easter at Grandparents Ruth & Dan, with Nana & Papa too
     
    Coloring Easter eggs (pretending), no dye being used with Sophia.
    My FAVORITE, Sophia in her Easter bonnet- snoozing away..
    We also were able to take Sophia outside to play with her cousins for the first time, since the weather has been so nice. She wasnt to sure of the grass at first, but quickly was exploring and having fun.
    The look before getting down to explore outside..
    Sophia playing with her toys, and finding dirt!

     
    Sophia and cousin Cole playing..

     

  • Happy New Years!

    HAPPY NEW YEAR’S!!

    Sophia has had such a great week developmentally! On 12.31.09 she stayed home with daddy while I went to work since he had the day off, and she rolled over for the first time!! Nate even caught it on video! It was beyond exciting!! She rolled over from tummy to back, and she now does that every time we put her on her tummy! She is getting to be such a big girl! Then today 01.03.10 she laughed!!! That melted our heart! Other then that I am now back to work full time and Sophia goes to Nate’s grandma’s during the day for daycare. She is doing good with that as well, and gets to spend time with her cousin Sawyer!