BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO SOPHIA MARIE

Sophia Marie (she has MY middle name) is 9 years old today. She was supposed to be a Christmas eve baby, but missed the mark by being about 2 weeks overdue. She was 8lbs. 7 oz and a real cutie.

People often told Kelly that Sophie reminded them of the Gerber baby. She's 3 months old here.6 months

She's one year old and holding up 1 finger.

I don't know why, but this is one of my favorite pictures at 18 months old.

I love the lady-like pose in this one.

2 years old, "Watch out world!"3 years old and full of life.

She always wanted to have Kelly straighten those adorable curls.

At age 4, Sophia was watching Oprah. Oprah got her ears pierced at age 50 and Sophia decided she wanted her ears pierced "like Oprah". She kept asking and asking and finally Kelly took her down and here's a picture of her pierced ears. Sophia likes jewlery in general, necklaces and braclets too.

Starting to grow up.

Sophia really grew up fast this year.Some of the things Sophie likes are the park

Animals and some she is allergic to, but she still loves 'em.

She enjoys gymnastics.

She likes soccer.She loves spending time with her dad in Oregon.

She likes swimming.

Sophia likes bowling and she even went bowling today on her 9th birthday.

When she was a baby, Penny used to do daycare. When Sophia comes to visit to Oregon, she always tries to get in a visit with Penny.

Sophia LOVES sugar! She loves anything with sugar, like this sugar cookie, and candy and pop and sugar cereal and . . . well you name it and if it has sugar in it, this girl loves it.

I think Halloween might be one of her favorite holidays because of the CANDY

She likes the snow and

the beach. Especially the beach at Grandma and Grandpa Burks house.

Sophie likes face painting too, what kid doesn't like that?
Sophie has a lot of friends. This is Kaylee. She is the only friend that is almost as tall as Sophie.
Sophia, Payton and Miko one of her shortest friends. She lives next door.

Sophie with her Oregon friends.

These girls are all the same age as Sophia.

So how tall is Sophie at age 9, 5 foot!

She's never quite sure what to do with those long legs.

She loves her family. She admires her big sister, Addy.

She loves to entertain her little brother and her little cousins.

Her cousin Alex and her are very much alike. They are "2 peas in a pod". They have a lot of the same likes and dislikes and even look a little bit alike.

Sophie, Grandpa and Grandma would like to say, "We think Nine is Fine!"

and we want to wish you a very Happy Birthday and we love you!!

SOME AFTER-CHRISTMAS FUN

The day after Christmas, we went to visit the Carlile Clan. Everyone was there except Evan and his wife, Whitney, because she is about to give birth to their first baby. She will be a baby girl. Here's Meredith and Brandon with their firstborn, Gunner Lewis Winter. He's only 2 weeks old.

Such a cutie!

Here's the girls, Adrienne, Kelly and Lesley and Crystal. These girls have been friends til the end. The Coverstone and Carlile families have been friends for almost 30 years.

Steve and Adrienne's twins, Abby and Savannah celebrated their 8th birthday on Dec. 28th. They are going to get baptized this New Year's weekend in Albany and we are going to go.

Besides visiting with the Carliles, we had lots of other after-Christmas activities. Like watching TV in bed with grandpa.

Perfecting our driving abilities on the Wii with the Mario Kart game.

Taking time for a few last Belly Buzzers with grandpa.

We went back to the Autobahn at Hoodoo on Tues, the 29th. This time we took Kelly, her girls, and James and Julia and their 2 boys. It began to snow pretty hard the last hour that we were there.Nice smile Jim

Addy had fun. She got tired of waiting in the tow rope line and actually hiked up the hill at least 5 times and got the most runs down the hill than any of us. If I tried hiking up that huge hill, I'm sure it would have been renamed "heart attack hill" (and we know why)

Snow princess Sophia.

Here's a video of Addy and Kelly and Sophia going down the hill.


Here's what it looks like after a fun day at the Autobahn and hiking up the tubing hill 5 times.

On Wed. the 30th, we managed to get in some shopping at the Woodburn Outlet Mall. Kelly and Crystal call it "tax free shopping".

On New Year's Eve the girls and their families headed home. Actually Crystal went to Bend for a few days to stay with some friends and then Ryan and her and the kids will drive home to CA on Sat.
I took Kelly and Dylan to the airport. Addy and Sophia will be driven home by their grandma Mary on the weekend.
That's a "wrap up" of our year-end activities. It was a great 2 weeks for us. We hope yours was good too. Happy New Year 2010!!

CHRISTMAS DAY 2009

Christmas day was a wonderful day. Family and friends make the holiday a great time. Our day began with opening the stockings.

We prepared the Christmas meal. Everyone contributed to the meal so it was nice and easy. Some of us cooked and some of us "licked".

We had our family, minus Chris (he worked) and Kelly's girls were at their dad's house.

We had the Pittman clan, Alex's dad-Trevor and Lindsey, Alex's grandma, aunt, uncle and friends.

And we had the Meyers, Ryan's mom and step-dad; grandma and grandpa to the kids.

We ate a lot of food.
Opened a few gifts.

Watched the movie, "Four Christmases".

Had some after-dinner conversation.

Shot clay pigeons.

Load up those pigeons and"PULL!"

Some pigeons got shot, but I noticed several fir trees also got "trimmed". We had a great Christmas and thanks to everyone that came. Thanks to Grace and Darla for cleaning all the dishes and the kitchen! Happy New Year!!

A FEW ACTIVITIES BEFORE CHRISTMAS

On the 23rd, the evening after our Autobahn trip, Santa came to Grandpa and Grandma Meyers' house(Ryan's mom). He brought a gift for each kid.

Payton got the Lil' People nativity set. She's had a real infatuation with Baby Jesus this year.

Owen is not so excited to see Santa. He has his face hiding in his blanket.

Owen wouldn't sit in Santa's lap, but he did accept the gift from Santa with Grandpa Chris' help.

Owen did love the candy cane.
At the end, Santa read the kids "The Night Before Christmas".

On the 24th, we picked up Kelly and Dylan from the airport.

We had our Christmas with our kids and grandkids on the 24th. Owen and Payton's pajama tops say, "What Santa doesn't bring me, grandma will".

The Smiths
The Burks, minus Chris. Both Kelly and Crystal have a tradition of giving their kids pajamas on Christmas eve, so they look all cute on Christmas morning.
This is the aftermath.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.