The many faces of Sophia

Lucy is becoming eager to walk these days. This reminded me of Sophie when she was 7 months so I started looking back at pictures of her from the last year. It's just amazing to me to see how much she has changed and matured in a year.










Then I looked back at pictures from over a year ago...I got choked up. She's only 2. I know I have lots of time, but these are the moments when I realize how fast it will go...









These are the faces I live for. I know I have many years of silly faces, sad faces, serious faces, but these pictures are taken...these moments are gone. For those of you who have little ones or hope to have them someday, cherish every moment you have. They really do go by in a blink.

Outdoor activities

Along with the rest of the country we've been toughing out the heat as best we can spending as much time outdoors as we can, but still doing our best to avoid heat related illnesses. Yesterday we broke out the new chalk....

Lucy did her best to try and keep cool.

Sophie doesn't care what the weather is like, she just loves being outdoors. She cooperates well when it comes to staying hydrated, but has a hard time understanding that we have to put limits on our sun exposure.

Notice the red cheeks?

Can we please go in now mom???

The sand box

My new sandbox...the pictures say it all.

Just takin' in the view

This morning I went in to get Lucy up from her nap and this is how I found her...

How could anyone resist such an adorable smile?!

Playing together!

I was in the kitchen doing some dishes this afternoon when I heard what I thought was crying. I glanced around the corner and both girls were in their bedroom laughing hysterically! I walked in to see what was so funny and found them playing a game together. Sophie would go hide under Lucy's crib and Lucy would crawl in after her...lots of laughter...fun starts over. It was such a blessing to be able to see my two girls really playing together for the first time! Sophie, of course, wouldn't let me snap her picture, but I was able to catch a few of Lucy...

Better pictures of the piggies...

Lucy crawls.

Mommy was cleaning the floor with that big black monster a couple weeks ago and I decided that he was worth catching. I knew I couldn't just roll over to it, that wouldn't get me there fast enough. I needed to get there before it stopped growling. So I decided I would crawl. My mommy was so thrilled that she made him stop growling so now I have to find other things to go after!

This is how I begin. This is also how I make my way across hard surfaces.

What you don't see is that I was looking right at our kitty.

Here kitty kitty!

Piggies!

Sophie wouldn't really cooperate with us to get a good picture, but they are finally here! We can actually put her hair up in pig tails. "Hony tails" (long "o") is what she affectionately calls them.

Brewiners

For those curious: this post may only be relevant to me and as such I'll apologize for my egotistical interest here.

When we moved to Milwaukee I decided that the Brewers would be a good team for Sophie and Lucy to grow up on and me to root for. My reasoning was that being they were in the National League and also since both they and the Mariners well....stink, the possibility of having to choose one over the other in say, a playoff game, was (and still is) remote.

I have come across some fun history though: After the 1966 season which saw the Milwaukee Braves (previously the Boston Red Stockings and Boston Braves) move from Milwaukee to Atlanta; a used-car salesman from Milwaukee started pursuing a replacement team. At the same time on the left coast; the owner of the Rainier Brewing Company (Emil Sick) had closed his wallet to bail out the Mariano brother's struggling expansion team, the Seattle Pilots. During the 1969 World Series, the used-car salesman from Milwaukee brokered a secret deal to buy the Pilots and move the team to Wisconsin. So after the 1969 season; the Seattle Pilots became the Milwaukee Pilots for their first game and the Milwaukee Brewers thereafter. Bud Selig (the used car salesman) had brought baseball back to Milwaukee....

So in effect, whether I root for the Brewers or the Mariners I'm still rooting for a team with roots in Seattle. Go Brewiners!



This is a flyer used during a promotion in Milwaukee by Bud Selig to garner support for a new MLB team in Milwaukee prior to the arrival of the Pilots. Note the Pilots logo.



Above is the Seattle Pilot Rookie Card for the greatest manager any Seattle baseball team ever had. Next I'll be starting the blog "www.firegrover.blogspot.com".

And down our street we found....

When I was younger I had a Dukes of Hazzard Matchbox car. I know it is still at my parent's house somewhere and the last time I remember seeing the Duke it was "paint-bare". When I "raced" Matchboxes on the Matchbox racetrack at my Campbell Grandparents' house (you know, the orange non-powered plastic kind) the Dukes of Hazzard car never lost. EVER. Strange how certain things make such a long lasting impression on young boys.

Wawautosa Parade

We would have MUCH rather been in Johnson or eating grilled pancakes. Nonetheless, the city of Wawautosa puts on a fabulous 3 hour long Freedom Parade.

These guys stopped every 20-30 yards and fired their muskets.

We DO live in Wisconsin. Note the flags. There were hundreds of these guys.

Fireworks!!

The first picture was the view. The second is of Sophie throwing rocks into the marina below South Shore Park. The third is obvious with the Milwaukee skyline in the background.

Hiking at the Kettle Moraine Forest

Dear Luke, Livvy, and Lily: Did you know that Wisconsin is the king state of outdoor activities? Did you know that the Kettle Moraine State Forest has some of the nation's best mountain biking trails? Did you know that Wisconsin has nearly as many lakes as the Land of 1,000 Lakes-Minnesota? Did you know that the University of Wisconsin-Madison has a great medical program; and that it sits among some of the greatest of these lakes? Did you know that Milwaukee is the city of Festivals (Summer, German, Polish, Irish, etc)? Did you know that there is wonderful flyfishing and hunting in Wisconsin? Did you know that there are as many as 10 Farmer's Markets w/i 10 minutes of Milwaukee from June to September? Did you know that we all miss you? Here's a sample of one of our most recent outdoor activities. We hiked 4 miles around one of the hundreds of hiking-biking-snowshoeing trails in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. One of Sophie's priceless comments was, randomly (all in one breath, playing both sides of the conversation: "God thank you for the forest and the trees! Oh, you're welcome, Sophie."

Everybody stand up!

I can officially hold myself up. I've also started cutting my first tooth.
We'll keep you updated as it makes it's appearance.