Pumpkin Patch

We finally got to the pumpkin patch this past weekend. We had to rush through some things so someone, who shall remain nameless (cough, Andy, cough), could see kickoff of the K-State game. Moving on!

This was our first try at Johnson's farm and it was a huge success. It was $10/adult to get in, plus the price of the pumpkin you picked, but it was well worth it. Sophie could have spent all day in the maze and slides they had set up. Plus they had a huge swing set an bouncy ball thing. However, the best part for me was the pig races. Who knew how fast they could move. Unfortunately they ran so fast, I wasn't able to get any pictures.


Here is the pumpkin we chose. Sophie wasn't supper thrilled about how big it was, so we also got her a "baby" one.



How cute is this little sign. I can't believe my baby is 3 feet tall. Such a big girl.

Here we are riding the cute little barrel train. Seriously, I loved this place.

Finally, here we are on an old fire truck. I think this was her favorite part.

Any way, we are super excited for Halloween next week. I guess I should be thinking about costumes. The sad thing is that this is probably the last Halloween I will be able to pick her costume out for her. Any suggestions?

BTW, they also had a pumpkin canon here. So cool! Maybe I had more fun than Sophie did? How sad is that? Well when you can't drink or have sushi, you have to find joy in the small things.

Day at the Park

Last weekend, while the boys were playing golf, Soph and I headed to the park. I think she would have stayed there all day if I let her, but coming a pregnant person has got to eat!

This is the face I get whenever I ask her to smile, what a goofball.



I love this park, the jungle gym is big enough that I can get my ever growing backside up it to help Soph go down the big slides (or go up them the wrong why, whatev).

Year update

Hello all, it has been almost a year since I updated the blog (worst mom ever!). Anyway, here is the is year in pictures, reverse order.

We discovered our first Chucky Cheese. This was Andy's first time as well and I don't think he will ever let us go back. However Soph and Addie had a great time.


We discovered the wonder that is frozen yogurt!!



We enjoyed a K-State game. Soph really just liked the tailgating portion of the day, which was always her mom's favorite as well!

We had our first ride on a boat. This was very very exciting. I didn't think we would ever get that life jacket off of her, she is a little water baby.

We spent a whole weekend playing with balloons. I had to pop them in the middle of the night to get rid of them. Luckily two year olds forget everything after a good night's sleep.

We started a new school, yeah for no more one hour commutes. Sophie even has a new best friend there, Ava. They are so stinkin cute!

We had lots of fun at the park this summer.

Here is the only picture that I could find with me in it! Yeah for 4th of July and celebrating Sophie's second birthday.

We really enjoyed Easter this year and got our first sugar high. Seriously if any one gives this kid sugar, I will hunt you down and you can take her for the night. I bet we spent an hour just running around the front yard like a crazy person.

We also took the kid to Disney this year. We rented a house just a few miles outside the park and spent a lot of our time swimming in the pool.

Here we are walking into the park. Disney was amazing! Sophie was able to ride almost everything and we had a blast. Best family vacation ever. I can't wait to go back.

The best part was being able to share it with Andy's family.

All the wonderful and unique rides at Disney and Sophie could not get enough of the Merry-go-round. I bet we went on this thing 15 times. Luckily there was hardly any line for it.

And that brings us to Christmas, she loved all the tissue paper. This year I am just getting her a box filled with the stuff.

Here she is in her princess house. You should see me trying to fit through that tunnel.

New Michael family tradition, pictures on the steps Christmas morning. I love these fools!

We can't wait until next year when we will have another little one to share all these memories. Sorry it has been so long! Hopefully it won't take another year for me to post.

Happy Halloween

I love Halloween, especially when I get to dress up the munchkin in outfits like this:

Sophie was a pony for her second Halloween experience. Why a pony you ask, I have no idea! We went to one of those Halloween stores that pop up everywhere this time of year and saw this one. Not only was it super cute, but it was also warm and (probably the most important) it was the cheapest one. Here is a better view of the the top of it:

Our dear friends invited us over to check out the goodies at The Prairie Village Shopping Center and then dinner at their house. We got a late start because of the Chiefs game, but there were still lots of people to hit up. Grandma got her this adorable trick or treat bag. She thought it was the best thing in the world, but we had a hard time grasping the whole idea of putting candy in the bag.

Here is the little pony with her bestie, Tinkerbell.

Finally, me and the cutest thing in the world.

Little Pumpkin

Last weekend we made a little trip up to Louisburg Cider Mill for their annual Ciderfest. We were meeting some friends there at 10:00am, which was an unfortunate time because this was in the middle of Sophie's morning nap. But heck, when faced with the choice of nap or hanging out with 200 hundred of your closest friends at a craft fair, you always choose the latter.

Until late I never knew that Soph enjoyed the sweets as much as her dear old Ma, however, as evident by this picture, we can't get enough! ME LOVE DONUTS

This is during a rare break from jamming donuts down our mouth. A word to the wise, don't stand within arms reach of this little monster, she will steal and eat your donut too. Poor Ryan learned this the hard way. Good thing we bought a dozen of them!


Now to the important part, PUMPKINS! We had two choices when it came to pumpkins, either pay the $8 per person to go into the pumpkin patch/corn maze or just pretend and take pictures outside of it. Being the cheap family that we are, we just snapped some photos by the display and called it a day. We were getting pretty tired and this was the best we could do.

Now see all those lovely pumpkins, nice right? You could not purchase them there, you had to go all the way up the hill, past the stinky sewer smell, through the craft booths to buy your pumpkin (or you could pay the $8 and then by your pumpkin). Needless to say, my one and only goal of getting the Sophapotamus a pumpkin, was a big fat FAIL. Hen House pumpkins, here we come!

The day wasn't a total lost, we got to spend the day with great friends and I got this picture of my two favorite people. Life is good!

Across The Pond

First off let me say that this trip scared the crap out of me (question, can you say "crap" on a blog about your baby?!?). Anyway, back to what kept me up at nights - the FLIGHT!!! If you have a been around Sophie in the last few months you know that this is not a girl to sit quietly and not make a fuss. This is a mover and shaker. There is no obstacle big enough, no room loud enough. If there is a something to climb on we are on it, if there is a quiet room we will scream just to hear our voice. I could just imagine the daggers coming at us when we boarded the plane, the snide comments about how children shouldn't be allowed to fly. I was expecting the worse!


However, as with most things, this wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. The flight to Chicago was a cake walk. Even people commented on what a good girl she was. Of course this was just the appetizer before the main event!! The NINE HOUR flight to London was still ahead of us. I read every website, packed our favorite toys and some surprise ones in our carry-ons, brought plenty of snacks (seriously, I should buy stock in Goldfish) I was ready. But really what could you do with a one year old for that long. Luckily my child is amazed with saying hi to everyone in the world, so friendly!! That occupied us for at least an hour. Also good for us is that we bought her a seat. This was an absolute life saver, I really have no idea what we would have done if the three of us were sharing two seats. Another lucky thing came in that there was an open seat next to us, so when we tried to get Soph to lay down I could push over a bit. Here is the nifty little restraint that my boss let me borrow. Isn't it cool? Plus we didn't have to lug a car seat!


Sophie was a complete angel on the flight. We had a little airline food and proceeded to sleep for the next 5 hours of the flight. We woke up on our way down, about 4:00am in the morning our time. Here is us rejoicing in the fact that we made it with our sanity still intact.

I love England!! I love the people, obviously. I love the atmosphere. I love the little red phone booths. I love it all. I was happy to finally be there and get to spend some quality time with the In-laws. Here is Soph playing with Granddad, although you can really see it. This pictures was just too cute not to include. My CDs!

Almost every morning we got up and took a walk around town and out by the ocean. It is so quaint and charming. Seriously, you don't get this kind of stuff state side.

Corfe Castle in Dorset is probably my favorite place in England. I had been there once before a couple of years ago, but it was so great to be back. The scenery is amazing and they serve the most delicious scones with cream and jam you have ever had. Seriously, i would go back just to have tea and scones here, it is just that good!

Being down in Poole, we had to take Sophie to the beach. It was kind of cold so we didn't really want to go in the water, but you have to at least put your feet in. This is a girl that hates being in the grass or playing in the sand box so it should come as no surprise that we hated the ocean as well. Oh well, at least we can say we were there!

The best part about hanging out in England was that Sophie got to spend plenty of time with the other side of her family. It is amazing the bond you have with family, Sophie went to them like no time had past and they had always been there. Elaine and Buller are the best grandparents you can imagine.

Once we left Poole, we went back in to London to see Andy's brother and his family. We were able to stay with them while we were there and it was amazing. Because of my love for everything King Henry, here we are at Hampton Court Palace (one of the King's many houses). Sophie really didn't care, but we were able to run around in the huge garden.

While in London, we had lunch on the River Thames. Because that's how we roll!

Finally, here is a picture with Sophie and her cousins. They love entertaining her and giving her lots of cuddles. This isn't the best picture of them, but it was the only time we could get all of them at the same place at the same time.

So that is it! 10 days, two nine hour plane rides and lots of kiss from the Michaels. Thank you England for having us, we will be back soon.

P.S. On the flight home there was a baby on the plane that cried for 4 hours (no joke) and you know what, no one said a thing. We all just felt bad for that poor mother (I was just thankful that I had the good kid!)

Happy Birthday to our Sophapotamus

In order to catch up, here is what you have missed over the past 6 months. Our little girl turned one. Thank you to everyone that helped us celebrate the big day in our new house. Here are a few pictures from the event, please note the adorable dress from Mady and Me:

Sophie doesn't really care about what is actually inside of the box, but only if she is allowed to climb and/or sit on them. Needless to say, we loved this one.

I actually don't know if this is my kid, she had absolutely no interest in her one of a kind Hippo cake. However, I enjoyed much of it the day after. I guess I do deserve something for pushing this little watermelon out of me last year :)

Staying with the Hippo theme, here is our little girl playing with her giant pink Hippopotamus.

Again, thank you all for making Sophie's first birthday memorable. I can't believe it has been a year. Sophie, you have changed my life in so many wonderful ways. I can't wait to see what you do next. Thank you for being the most amazing daughter. Happy Birthday