Happy Thanksgiving and 2nd Birthday!

We celebrated Sophie's second birthday on Tuesday evening before heading down to Miami.  We did a quiet dinner with ourselves, Patti and Grammie.  We then went home to open presents.  How fun!  I can say hands down this was my best birthday ever.  Hopefully it was Sophie's too.  I don't mind sharing with this special little girl one bit.  After lots of present time we went right to sleep to be prepared for our 4AM waking and trip to Miami.

Wow!  All I can say is that I'm amazed by how quickly this little girl of ours is adapting to new situations.  She has seen my parents before but had never come to their house.  She made herself at home in no time.  In fact, it took seconds for her to want to jump into the pool.  Scary!  Is this the same little girl to pitched a fit and didn't want to go swimming in Guangzhou?  Yep!  She played all day Wednesday, minus nap time, and met the neighbors I grew up with...well, those not out of town.  She LOVED Robert who lives next door.  He's sixteen and probably could have cared less about a two year-old, that is until he realized he was being idolized.  He pushed her on her tricycle, helped her find her special dollar weeds from the grass, and let her inspect all of their mail.  They were so cute together.  After going inside it wasn't long before he and his mom Vilma were coming over to bring birthday gifts and Vilma's famous cake.  Try two of blowing out candles, still no luck.  While Sophie took control of Robert's phone, we chatted some more and then did our second birthday celebration.  Yes, we lit the candles on the cake before eating dinner!  Oh well!  Bedtime rolled around early as we prepared for an even bigger day, relatives being met for the first time, pool, ocean, and LOTS of breakables. 

Thanksgiving day we traveled up to Fort Lauderdale to Aunt Debbie and Uncle Pete's house.  We arrived first which was perfect for Sophie.  She got to meet her great aunt and uncle as well as her cousin Melinda before everyone else arrived.  She seemed a little apprehensive at first but then her cousins Casey, Dylan, and Drake arrived as she was in heaven.  They are all of my younger cousins and therefore I think Sophie knew they'd be fun right away.  She hung out with her cousin Casey, who is nine, all day long!  Casey was amazing with her and also enjoyed being idolized.  Actually, Dylan joined in at one point and won her heart too.  They were both so good with a little child.  They made sure to consider her safety and tended to her needs.  Casey even taught Sophie three new words, cheese, up, and down.  Amazing!  Needless to say, Sophie was feeling super comfortable and didn't attempt to pick up a single breakable.  She also met her cousins David and Carl, Jim and Lori, and several family friends.  She had a blast!  At dinner time she ate very well, minus the yams...not a hit.  However, she LOVED Lori's cranberry sauce filled with fruit.  We also had our THIRD birthday celebration.  Attempt three at blowing out candles was another failure...but hey, there is always next year! 

A month of being home, meeting countless new friends and relatives, taking her first road trip since coming home, and having a birthday.  A lot is changing and she's taking it all in stride.  Amazing!

And in preparation of Black Friday.... comfy heels and biggest purse!