Austin Zoo

We took a quick trip to Austin last weekend.  It's only 1 1/2 hours away, but it was fun to get away after tax season (and give Grandma a little break for one night...).  We stayed at a hotel Friday night and Sophie LOVED it.  I think it's her first hotel stay.  She played on the beds and jumped and dived into pillows pretty much until bed time.

 Playing games with Dad.

 Time to brush our teeth!

She has 11 teeth now that I can count.  I might stop counting.  They're coming pretty fast--she'll get 20 baby teeth.

 Saturday morning on the way to the zoo.  She got a power nap that helped her stay happy and awake while we walked around the zoo.  Then she slept the whole way home.  We planned it well. :)

Sophie was fascinated by all the animals.  The Austin Zoo has only rescue animals.  So some of the animals were looking pretty rough and some of them were gone to see the vet.  And they had roosters and peacocks walking around all over the zoo.  Sophie loved them even though she walks around with roosters every day at home.  We stood here and watched this rooster at the entrance for a while.  Very exciting. 

 This lioness was one of the rougher looking animals.  It's a small zoo so we got close ups of all the animals.  She had trouble walking and sitting and moving in general.  It was pretty sad to see.  Maybe she was just old?

 The lion looked a little better. 

 Sophie got to reach in and pet this pig.  We just watched Charlotte's Web and thought that Wilbur was a lot softer than this.  This pig was not soft at all!  But he was nice and let us pet him.

 We got to feed the goats, sheep, and llamas!  Sophie mostly liked watching us feed them. :)

 This guy was tall!

We also fed the llamas.  And one of them sneezed on Sophie's and my face.  We did not get a picture of him.

 We walked up to these cut-outs and Sophie started quacking.  It was really cute.  She was making all the animal noises.  There was a goose honking and she had to go over and honk back.     

 Sophie and Daddy being silly (and cute).

Sophie got to ride on a train!  She loves hearing the train at home (we live right by the train track).  She says choo-choo and toots the horn with her arm.  I wish we had gotten a picture with all three of us on the train.

Easter and a 16 Month Old

Sophie's best friends are Amber and Emma (my cousins).  Every once in a while they stay over pretty late and hang out with us (when their mom has YW's and dad is working).  The girls were watching Tangled and Sophie decided to snuggle up between them.  It was really cute (and didn't last long).

Sophie is loving being a toddler.  She toddles around all day long and never stops.  She loves to climb chairs and tables. We now lay the chairs on their sides so she doesn't climb onto the table.  She loves opening the refrigerator--which is now duct taped shut.  She loves climbing into the cabinets and rearranging everything.  She is good at throwing tantrums.  Throwing is the correct verb, because she literally throws herself on the ground and pouts.  She is getting pretty good at eating with a fork and really enjoys it.  She refuses to sit in her high chair, so she sits in a booster seat now, which she loves.  She loves taking walks in her stroller.  She'll climb into the seat and try to buckle herself.  It's really nice, because she usually falls asleep in the stroller and I can walk and walk.  She talks all day long.  She knows lots of words and I'm sure she's saying them. :)  She is pretty sure of herself all of the time.  She follows directions really well.  She unties Daddy's shoes and takes them off his feet.  She puts her dirty diapers in the trash can.  She gets the papers from the printer for Grandma.  She brings her shoes to me when it's time to go outside--and always brings the correct match.  She knows all the different places to look to find chicken eggs--her daily chore.  She brings whatever book I ask her for (train book, zoo book, abc book, etc).  She loves playing on Daddy's kindle and Grandma's ipad.  I don't have any cool electronics, so we just sing and play.  She loves to be outside.  There is nothing she would rather do EVER than to be outside.  Cold, hot, raining, whatever.  She drives us crazy sometimes, but we love her more than anything.  And her kisses and smiles make everything better.

Mom and daughter on Easter morning.

The kids all lined up in order from youngest to oldest.  This is a really bad shot and doesn't even get all the kids in the picture.  ...but Sophie looks cute!

 And she's off!  She picked all the eggs closest to the steps.  There were a LOT.  There were over 500 eggs for 10 kids.  Sophie only got 15 or so.

Once she discovered they opened up, the search was pretty much over.  It was time to eat candy!

She sucked on this mint thingy for a good 30 minutes.  

I think she looks like Megan here.  So cute!!!