Sophie Turns 10!

Our little Sophie Rose is ten years old today! Sophie has been such a blessing to us since the moment she entered our lives. She has the most contagious laugh and is full of creativity. Sophie loves big and is kind to everyone lending a helping hand to both friends and strangers. Sophie loves dance and playing outdoors with her friends for hours and hours. We are so proud of our little "Rosie-Posie!"

Easter 2014

We celebrated Easter yesterday as a family and with friends and enjoyed the beauty of a warm sunshiny day here in East Tennessee. Our Easter Day celebrations included church service on Saturday and Sunday as well as egg hunts in our neighborhood, at church and at home. My heart is full with the hope and joy that is Easter. On this post I share our photos as I collect my thoughts on the joy and hope that it means to live as an Easter people. We wish all a blessed Easter season as Easter is not just a day but lasts on not only through the days of ahead but also in our hearts.

 I was so proud of my big little girl for reading the Gospel at our church's Children's Easter service!

 Sophie and Ella served as greeters for the Children's Easter service on Saturday.

 The children were amazed at the amount of eggs to hunt at our church's egg hunt on Saturday. There were over 3000 eggs to be found!

 After the hunt, all sat and enjoyed their confections.

 The girls also enjoyed hunting Easter eggs in our neighborhood with friends. I am so happy they have so many opportunities to build memories and fellowship with friends!

 Our Forest Brook Easter egg hunters!

 These sweet girls posed for a photo with their friend the Easter Bunny aka another sweet fiend of theirs! Love how they support one another!

 Emma-Caroline sang in the Hallelujah Chorus on Easter Sunday which was amazing!

Our annual Easter family photo!

 Happy Easter to all!

Pearly White

When I was a little girl, my dad used to say, "show me those pearly whites!" and I would grin the biggest smile! I remember the first tooth I lost in kindergarten. I was ecstatic because I was going to be a part of the "Tooth Club." Oh the little things that brought so much joy! This past Monday, our sweet Sophie became a member of the "Tooth Club" with the loss of her first tooth. Big sister aided in pulling her loose tooth and in setting up a note for her new tooth fairy. Sophie was surprised the next day to find $ for her lost tooth and a note from her tooth fairy introducing herself as "Pearly White!" Well now isn't that just a coincidence! We are happy to have a new tooth fairy at the Avery House! Here's to many more lost teeth!

Music Makes Your Heart Sing

One of the things that both of our girls enjoy is music. You will hear them singing, composing, playing and listening to music at some point during each and every single day. I love hearing their sweet little voices belt out familiar tunes as well as spur of the moment melodies they sing as they happily go about the day. Emma-Caroline enjoys singing in our church's children's choir and both girls love their music classes at school with Mrs. Parker. On Tuesday, I was invited to chaperone Emma-Caroline's class field trip to the Knoxville Symphony at the Tennessee Theater. I was thrilled to go and hear the orchestra play in one of my favorite venues. I snapped a few iPhone photos to document our day. It was a wonderful trip with my favorite little second grader!

Wishing for Snow!

I was listening to NPR today, (yes, I am not afraid to admit that I listen to NPR) and they had a segment on "All Things Considered" about a town in Alaska getting 18 FEET of snow and expecting 3 FEET MORE through the night! That is CRAZY snow accumulation!!! Here in East Tennessee, we would settle for 18 inches of snow and then 3 inches more to give us a nice snow day of playing outside and building a snowman or two.

  Instead of snow, we have had LOTS of really mild weather days in the 60's and a few rain showers here and there.

 On the plus side, Emma-Caroline and Sophie find it almost as much fun playing outside in the rain as they do the snow.

 Every day that it has rained this month, they have run to put on their rain boots and to grab their umbrellas for some fun splashing in the rain.

I love their excitement for the rain and just hope that it will be cold enough soon for some of that rain to turn into snow!

Sophie's Christmas Pageant Part II, and a Confession

                  Last week I gave you a little preview of Sophie's debut as a Shepherd girl in her preschool Christmas Pageant. One week after the show, I am finally getting the actual photos posted.I will announce here and now that I am not going to beat myself over the head to try and get a post up for the days I missed in November as well as the few here and there that I am missing this month. My 365 project has far exceeded the 1 photo post per day (which in reality would only equal 365 photos). Those of you who know me and follow this blog know that I have posted 365 photos multiplied by 100 or maybe 1000. My goal of learning my camera has been achieved. Now my goal is to finish 365 without begrudging my camera. So there's my confession. I feel that my 365 project is complete as I wrap up this year. And I am happy with what I have learned including the knowledge that pushing myself to finish to the point of bergrudery is not worth it.
                 Now back to Miss Sophie Rose, my little Shepherd Girl. When Sophie was first told she was to be a Shepherd in the Pageant, she was not a happy little girl. "Why can't I be an angel, like Emily?" she wailed to me. After explaining to her that being a shepherd was a very important role and that she could wear a pink robe and headdress, Sophie was more enthusiastic about her part. We came to the Sacred Heart Preschool program with quite a bit of emotion. This was the last performance our family would be a part of. I had once worked at the Preschool in college while I was getting my Master's in Elementary Ed so I have known Miss Candi, the Director, and almost every single teacher there for many, many years. Having my youngest child about to graduate from the program is bitter sweet. We are happy that Sophie is going on to kindergarten next year, but we will miss Sacred Heart Preschool. In watching Sophie perform one last Christmas program, I was proud and nostalgic at the same time. She did an amazing job as a Shepherd girl and we all enjoyed our last show.

 Sophie's entire class before the pageant began with one of her teacher's Miss Norma.

 Looking for the star.

 Singing.

 Getting ready to say her line, "Wow, it's beautiful!"

 Look at Sophie and her friend Luci here. Tey had both just recited their parts in the pageant. They are so pleased with themselves. And look at the little boy on the far right. Hilarious!

 Singing loudly to end the show.

Proud big sister!

And hopefully this video will upload. All of the children were all super cute!

Sophie's Christmas Pageant Preview

On Wednesday Night, Sophie had her debut as a Shepherd girl in her Pre-Class Christmas Pageant. I have just begun to edit the numerous photos that I took, but I will give you a little preview. As Father David said before the Christmas program began, "Get ready for ultimate cuteness!"

 Emily and Sophie as an angel and Shepherd girl.

 Katty as Mary, Sophie, and Emily

Stay tuned for more from the actual show . . .

Fancy Nancy Has Nothing On Sophie

Let me just set the record straight, we are not in the business of spoiling our girls. Whatever niceties and pampering our girls receive happen with no intention put behind it what-so-ever. SURE, you are saying about right now. No, Emma-Caroline and Sophie do lead a very charmed little life, however, that is not to say that we don't mix in a few cup fulls of humility, a heap of gratitude, and a few tablespoons of "when I was your age" speeches to balance their little worlds. All in all, I really am blessed that my girls are conscientious and servant minded children even despite a bit of pampering, which leads me to the real point of this blog post.

This past weekend, while Emma-Caroline enjoyed the UT game in style with her Daddy, Sophie and Mommy went to the spa for pedicures. It was Sophie's first ever pedicure, (of which I promised myself I wouldn't take her to do until she was in high school), and she certainly loved it!

 She picked a nice shade of bubblegum pink and did not bat an eyelash as Miss Joyce pampered our little princess's feet.

Sophie especially loved the massage chair and the teeny flowers Joyce painted on her big toes.

This little occurrence at the spa will not be a regular one, but it was sure fun for the day. It was also nice to have a little Sophie-Mommy time together in a very Fancy Nancy kind of way!

Singing in the Rain!

Today, Emma-Caroline woke up, pulled her rain boots on, grabbed her umbrella and headed out doors. You would think we had not seen rain in several years. It had been a while since Knoxville had received nice soaking all day rainy weather. The girls took advantage of this nice change of pace and played outdoors for a while, all before breakfast. We're all happy for the rain and cooler temperatures. Now let's bring on the fall!

Ballerina III

This Wednesday, Sophie began her 2nd year of ballet. She loves putting on her leotard and tutu. She floats in like a butterfly swaying her arms and twirling as she goes. Sophie loves being a frilly little ballerina. I am posting the final set of photos from the ballet photo shoot after the girls' Spring recital at the Tennessee Theater.

Ballerina II

Emma-Caroline and Sophie both enjoy taking ballet lessons. I can't believe Emma-Caroline is entering into her 4th year of ballet and Sophie is entering her 2nd year. I had always said when Emma-Caroline started with ballet that we would continue until they said they no longer wanted to do it. Neither has said that. It is a wonderful thing that they have something that they both enjoy doing. And one day they may perform together on the same stage. Here are more photos from their portrait ballet session.