Wildlife World Zoo

During Christmas break we were able to spend a lot of time with family. One special activity that we planned was taking a trip to the Wildlife World Zoo. Since it wasn't too busy, Sophie got to run around and truly enjoy our trip. We saw most of the animals and even rode some of the rides. A few memorable moments were when Soph got to ride the Merry-Go-Round for the first time and when she got to pet stingrays.



Not to sure of the giraffes

Feeding the duckies with Uncle Dickie and Daddy

Uncle Dickie and Aunt Linda


Sally, Poppi, Aunt Dede, Na-Ma, Josh, Me, Anna, Ryan, Sarah and Sophie

He's done it again....

Since moving into our new home a couple of months ago it has been Josh's mission to restore, redo, repaint and replace everything that we weren't happy with. He used these two weeks of Christmas break to cross off a couple more projects from his list. Our formal living room had sat empty with an ugly copper-ish color on the walls. This is what it looks like after Josh finished painting, bought new furniture and built an incredible wall unit for our books, games and other nick-knacks. There is still quite a few things that we need to finish in this room but we are pretty happy with the way things are turning out.

We were both blown away by this pin on pinterest and my amazing husband was able to beautifully build this for our house. Here are the Ikea bookcases put up....


and this is what they look like now!
Didn't he do a great job?!?!?

This is our room as of right now...

Check back for updates of the finishing touches!

Zoo Lights

Sophie got to experience Zoo Lights for this first time this Christmas break. We had so much fun strolling around the zoo with our family and friends looking at all of the lights and animals.

Christmas 2011

Sophie had a blast at Christmas this year! Her favorite part had to be the Christmas lights! Anytime we were out at night we would have to see "Ristmas lights". She would shout, "Rristmas Lights... pretty!", "more,more" or "OOOO!!!", as we drove past them. Christmas also meant we could spend a lot of time with the people we love. Sophie loves being with her grandparents, aunts, unlcles, and cousins. It was so nice spending so much time with them during our break.

We were also amazed by all of the presents Sophie got this year. It was nice to have Christmas in the beginning of our time off because Sophie has enjoyed playing with all of her new toys this past week.

Playing with Aiden on Christmas Eve while everyone else is playing games that Josh planned. We had soooo much fun!!!
Horst Family Christmas... the little ones!
Sophie's new bike from Gramma and Poppi
Hanging with Poppi
Sophie and all of her presents
All dressed up!

Life of a 19 Month Old

I wish I could record everything that Sophie has to say because she has the sweetest voice in the world and is absolutely brilliant. Here are some little sayings and sentences that our little one can spout out...
* "What's Lucy doing? " She sounds like she is from back east when she says doing... so cute!
* "Where did _____ go?" If we ask her where someone is she will tell us that they are working, at home, in the car or the most recent answer has been... eating.
* If we ask her where she wants to go she almost always says Erin's. She loves her daycare provider soooo much!
* A favorite of ours is when we say I love you she always replies..."I love you, too!"
* We have a future singer on our hands! I think I talk about how much she loves songs in every monthly post but it is one of her favorite things to do. Recently, she has been a big fan of singing and dancing to the ABC's, skida marink a dink a dink, twinkle twinkle little star and 5 little monkeys. She also puts songs together to create adorable medleys for us to listen too.
* "I want a ______" She is so good about telling us what she wants whether its a toy or something to eat. She will ask for a "drink" when she wants something other than water or milk.
* Sophie is extremely polite and says please, thank you, and bless you, without us having to remind her.
* When Sophie wants to sit down somewhere she will say, "Sit down me."

We said good-bye to her binkies this month. The day we got out of school for Christmas break we put the binkies away for safe keeping and we told her that they went bye-bye. We had a couple rough nights but nap time was defineately the hardest for her. (Now that break is about over, we can confindently say that she is doing better and hasn't asked for her binkies at all.) She is getting to be such a big girl!

Josh and I love our Sophie girl with all of our hearts. We just can't get enough her!!!


Sophie has her midgets (mittens), hat, and shoes on and is all ready to go see Miss. Erin.
Driving in her new car... she loves to go for rides!
Posing for the camera. Soph likes getting her picture taken and then looking at it afterward.
Our very, very happy family!

Details...

Baby Henderson #2 is due the middle of June. We had our first ultrasound on Friday, December 16th and it was amazing. Sophie was mesmerized and did a great job of watching as the tech took measurements of the baby. He/She measured a bit bigger than expected so our due date was moved up a bit. Sophie due date was June 6th and she came a bit early so we are not to focused on an actual date for this one. This pregnancy has been wonderful so far and I just feel so blessed to be feeling so good!

Sophie LOVES babies! She got a baby for her birthday and it has become her best friend. She loves to rock her, wrap her up in blankets, give her kisses, clean her, and much more. We know that Soph will be a GREAT big sister! She will be so helpful and loving with her baby brother or sister... we're sure of it.

Thanksgiving 2011

Josh, Sophie and I cannot even begin to count the things that we are thankful for. Each year our blessings grow and we are forever grateful for all that we have. This year, Sophie helped announced another thing that we are thankful for ... Baby Henderson #2!!!! We had fun celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family (from both sides) and sharing our big secret.