Sophie's 4th Birthday

My little sister, Sophie, turned 4 this year. She wanted to have a "Rainbow Unicorn" birthday party so I insisted to my mom that I make the cake. I had so much fun making something special for her. I'm not a perfectionist but I tried really hard to make it look as neat as possible. I made sure to pull out my food coloring, too. I pulled out all the steps, guys. ;) I divided the cake batter into three cake pans, all in different colors & stacked the baked cakes on top of each other so when you cut the cake, it's colorful. This was a detail that was missed on Sophie, though. She was mostly interested in the icing. Nevertheless, I had fun making it & I think it turned out pretty cute, too. Sophie had her birthday at "Catch Air." When my mom told me she was having her party there, I had no idea what to expect. Once we got there though, I was completely in love with the place & used any excuse possible to run around the place. i.e. play on every spiny thing possible. hehe. Why don't they make places like this for adults? We had a 45 minute slot where we got a room to serve the kids pizza, cake & open presents. You know, four year old birthday parties are weird, honestly. None of the kids really talk to each other, so it's just all of the parents quietly talking as they sit around a table of 4 year olds quietly eating there pizza. Haha. I think my mom calls this "parallel play." I guess by next year's birthday party they might be interacting a little more with each other?
Rainbow Bright made sure to attend the party via the table ware & goodie bags. These are all the photos I have from Sophie's party & the place (they don't have a website or great pictures online! But if you're in the Austin area & have kids- take them! It was great!). I wish I could have taken more! All the pictures that I have of Sophie herself, were super blurry, so that's a bummer. Anyways, at least you got a little peek. :)  And now, a few (only a few, it was a packed year!) highlights from Sophie's past year:

 Sophie played in the snow for the first time this year. When she saw it, she immediately laid down & tried to make snow angels in the hard, crunchy Texas snow. Actually, this "snow" was a small plot that my grandparent's neighborhood brought in for a "snow day" for the kids in the community. // We took Sophie & our cousin, Mckayla, to see Veggie Tales Live this year. // Sophie got her first bike for her birthday!

 For Sophie's actual, on the day of, birthday my grandma made her cupcakes & Suphie requested they be Spiderman & Puppy themed. Where does she come up with this stuff? // Sophie went to a pumpkin patch this year! // She also started (pre) school, which she loves!

 Sophie was the flower girl in my brother's wedding! // She also partied hard & had her first chocolate hangover. ;)

Other highlights from this year for her: Going to Jamaica, The Grand Caymans & Cozumel, trying her first hot dog & her first biscuit & jelly, getting a trampoline & watching Scooby Doo & My Little Pony on the reg.

LOVE YOU Sophie-girl. So happy to have been here for your 4th year of life. Looking forward to this next year! Muah, out "little cup cake." 

Chocolate Coma

This past weekend was my brother & new sister's wedding. We hosted the reception in my mom & step dad's backyard. It was amazing but no one had as much fun as Sophie! The girl knows how to party! She was the flower girl & was promised a big chocolate bar if she did a good job. I think this promise alone set the precedence that wedding's are places you get down & let loose! hehe. 

 

Before the ceremony, Sophie's party already started. She was running around the gardens with her little white dress flowing & her blonde hair flying, like a painting, you guys. She looked straight out of secret garden. We had to fix her flower crown several times & a few times I saw her walk by me with her hair amiss, super amiss & super sweaty. She was having everyone play monster & chase her & running as much as possible. She was having the time of her life.

 

"Chase me monster! Chase me!"

During the ceremony time, you'd never know her hair was so cray-cray just a few hours before. She was the picture of grace. Gently plucking each petal from her basket & dropping it down. She made her way to the front, sat in my mom's lap & was perfect. Quiet as a mouse. She did such a great job!

 

 

After full filling her flower girl duties & making her way to the reception, at her own house, where she feels most comfortable, the party started up again.
We now know that this girl LOVES weddings! And dance floors. Upon, entering the backyard, she made her way straight to the dance floor. How she even know that was the area for dancing is beyond me because no one was dancing yet! She didn't let that stop her! She was dancing up a storm. She even had a dance on the ground rolling around to the music. Girl can work it.

 

At one point, I walked over to her & said "Sophie, do you want to dance?" with my arms outstreched to her to which she replied with some sass to her voice, "I'm already dancing!" Total rejection.
Another time my 8 year old cousin came in to tell on Sophie because dancing queen wouldn't "let anyone else on the dance floor!" My grandma made sure to have a talk with her about how the dance floor was for sharing.

 

 

She's wondering when they'll move off the dance floor so she can start dancing again. ;)

 

Through out the night Sophie was spotted with chocolate & brownies constantly in her hand. The s'mores table was filled with unwrapped chocolate bars & the counter with brownie bites with strawberries, her favorite. Both the table & counter holding these tempting sweets were directly at her arm's reach, too. A little chocolate loving girl's heaven.

Caught red handed.

Sophie danced the night away while shoving her face with chocolate. She was laughing, running, playing, blowing bubbles on the edge of the dance floor at the Bride & Groom during their first dance. She was the life of the party!
 

 

Come 11 pm, all that sugar & adrenaline came crashing down, though. Leaving Sophie passed out on the couch. :) To which we had a Zach Attack moment by sticking some chocolate in her mouth. Precious baby, started eating the chocolate in her sleep. Hehe. So sweet. LEGAL DISCLAIMER: She only ate a TINY bit of the chocolate we stuck in her mouth while sleeping. Tiny. Like just sucked off the very end of the chocolate. We in NO WAY were to blame for the following day. 

 

Anyways, we got some silly pictures with Sophie, to which she cracked up at the next day.
 

The next day, as you can imagine would happen when a little girl runs & dances all night with a belly of chocolate & sweets that she kept sneaking, she threw up chocolate & brownies the next morning. Classic sweets hangover. ;) Don't worry though, she's fine now & asked for more chocolate later that morning. (To which she got a resounding NO!)

Overall, I think Sophie had a heck of a time. I won't be surprised if over the next few months when we ask her what she wants to do she says she wants to go to a wedding.

Sophie Girl at Church

This is a post to simply show how sweet my little sister, Sophie looked at church the other day. How precious is she in this white dress? She's hilarious guys. She says the funniest things, as kids do. I loove it. Right now, she's having trouble pronouncing the first letter to most of her words. So, it's quite adorable that she calls Zachary "Brother Ack!" She's obsessed with Chara! My mom asks her, "Sophie, who are your sisters?" She says, "Heather, Harly & Chara." Since she's only 3, it's unclear as to whether or not she actually believes Chara is her sister! ha. At church every Sunday, it's a routine that she's started, that everyone goes into the church library and sits down where she tells them to at the kids table, so Sophie can give them the stuffed animal decorations decorating the library she selects for them. She gave daddy the bear above. hehe.
She's a little ham and comes up with the most random, cute stuff. I'm loving getting to know her!

 Do you have kids/small siblings/students? What are the cute things they say/do? 

Walking with Sophie

My sweet little sister Sophie is loving having us home. Which makes us feel pretty special! We love, love, love her! She's so sweet to her "Heatha" & "Brother Ack." Sophie stays with my grandparents Monday through Friday during the day while my mom & step dad work. One day we went to give them a break for a few hours by taking Sophie for a walk in their neighborhood.
Chara went on the walk with us. Sophie LOVED riding Chara like a "Orsey."
"Brother Justin" knows alot about plants & flowers so he taught Sophie all about the ones we saw on our walk. He let her taste the edible ones, smell the cedar, mint & rosemary & taught her which plants not to touch. We made our way to a small park with a little hill where Zachary taught Sophie how to log roll down it. It was precious watching her run up and down the hill & timidly try to roll down it. We love our sweet sister and are so thankful for her & these sweet moments, like going for a walk, we get with her. :)