Sophia is 6! Happy Birthday!

Sophia had quite the birthday celebrations this year.  Not only the party at school, but a party at Build-a-Bear and then a family dinner afterwards.  She also counts her birthday breakfast (complete with Mickey Mouse pancakes) as another party…

(Licking the chocolate batter off the spatula after breakfast!) Sitting in her Balloon throne opening presents! and a new bike! Training wheels to come off as soon as the snow stops…

Vancouver

Just a few photos of our fun in the city that isn’t sleeping right now, not even if you want to take a nap in the sun.  There is just too much going on!!

First Hair Cut!

Ever since Sophia cut her own hair (last Mother’s day) she has been trying to grow her bangs back out, and this latest hair cut was the first time that they have actually started blending back into the rest of her hair… They are starting to frame her face quite well.

Alexandra’s hair was beginning to look a bit fly a way, and we thought it would be nice to get it cleaned up a little bit.  Never did I imagine her response to the cutting – BIG TEARS – but the stylist did a great job, even with all of her moving around, and she looks so sweet! besides, ice cream always things better… just in case you’ve forgotten already, this is what it looked like before I can’t believe how much she now looks like a little girl!  No longer a baby…

Seattle Sunshine

What an amazing trip we had, I’ll just go on record as saying that we have never had a more beautiful February in Seattle.

Lunch at Rays on our first day – NO SNOW SUITS!!!

The first week was filled with Doctors Appts, but these were the views from the windows.  Not a bad way to spend a few hours… Then there was lots of park time with friends. and of course the joy of swings, and then jet lag would take us all down,

A fasching birthday party

Sophia was lucky enough to celebrate her birthday early this year because of our travel schedule and the school ski break.  It also happened to fall on the friday that the kids were asked to dress up for the fasching celebration, which meant that most of the kids were in fun costumes and it looked to be a real party…

I turned into Martha Stewart and made cupcakes (with the best chocolate cake mix the US has to offer) and cake to share, Sophia did the sprinkles decorations and put crossed hearts on for a bit of Valentines as well.

and yes, I bought a frosting tip to make the roses…

and silliness was all around!

Ballet Show

Sophia has been taking ballet after school on Fridays, and following her birthday celebration she had a small performance with her class to see what they’ve done this year.

They just had minimal lighting on the stage, so these were the best I could do without using a flash, but the actual dancing photos are pretty blurry…

Fasching 2010

It’s the annual Fasching celebration in Munich right now, as the city warms up with Carnival – Munich’s own series of parties and balls around the city leading up to Fat Tuesday.  You may not think of Munich as a hot spot for Carnival, but the city really adopts any reason to party, even sending most workers home at noon on Fat Tuesday. But they have to be at work on time Wednesday morning.  As it kicks off with a parade that goes by our corner, we decided to invite a few friends over to help us bring in the Fasching season.  The girls loved getting dressed up, and loved even more having so many friends to watch the parade with.

Alexandra discovering her wings – actually Sophia’s wings as they are being passed down, the scourge of being the second child. Alexandra kept running around the house saying, “I’m flying…I’m flying” with her new wings.  Then she showed off her posed smile.

Sophia with an elegant look over her new wings.  She started off with a costume as a cat, but then decided that she was partial to a flying cat.

Sophia with her Hello Kitty costume on.  Like there was any other kitty that she would dress up as.

Sophia and her friends awaiting the beginning of the parade.  All you could hear is, “Sweeties, Sweeties, Sweeties.”  All the floats throw candy (sometimes aiming them directly at the kids heads – seriously do you know how much suckers hurt as they are being hurled at you!), and the kids had their bags ready to pick up as much as they could fit.

Alexandra loved her skirt so much that she wanted it over her ski suit. Sophia standing back and watching the group of witches go by.  She decided to keep her distance from this group.

Sophia, Aidan and Sarah looking for candy as it’s thrown from the floats.  We constantly had to keep moving the kids back away from the floats (driven by farm tractors with 8’ wheels), but there was little hope of keeping them away from the candy. 

The picture of the crew of kids and the spoils from the parade – all with their own bags filled with candy.  One child even used one of the parents hats to gather all the loot.

Aidan, Maddie and Sophie – partners in crime when it comes to gathering candy at the parade or playing at school.