Grandpa Ira

Andy's grandpa Ira passed away last night. He is one of the people that Andy looked up to the most in his life. He lived next door to Andy practically his whole life and taught him so much. He always had big hugs for the kids and he will be missed so much!

11 Months Old

Sophie is 11 months old today. I can't believe how quickly time has gone by! My new little baby is a little ball of personality and almost 1!
What Sophie's been up to this month:
-She loves to empty things out; buckets of toys, drawers of socks, kitchen cupboards, or baskets of laundry.

-She learned how to climb down the stairs, now she can go up and down.
-She pulls every hat, headband or hair thing off her head.
-She sits inside any empty basket or bucket.

-She learned how to get her little self into the bathtub by herself. When I'm looking around for her that's one of the first places I look. She just sits in there fully clothed playing with the bath toys.

-She says mama and dada on demand
-She always wants hugs and snuggles, unfortunately I can't always give them to her and that brings on tantrums.
-Yes, she throws tantrums. Particularly when her brother comes around because she knows she's going to loose whatever is in her hand to him.
-She is always carrying around an item of clothing. I find her walking around with her head through the sleeve of Andy's shirt and Maddie's ballet skirts around her neck.
-She sqwills and laughs and brings a smile to all of our faces!

one of her favorite places to sit is under the TV-

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Another Beautiful Fall Day

We've had some really nice weather lately. Today we spent lots of time playing outside and went on a nice walk with friends.

Sophie sporting her rug burn head-

Garen playing in the sand with friend Milan-

Maddie's Girl Scout Karate Night

Maddie had a blast at Kenpo Karate last night. There was a lot of kicking, punching, running, screaming, and laughing. The instructors did a fabulous job with the girls, teaching them what to do if someone grabs them. They had races and loudest scream contests. I posted a video on the girl scout blog if you want to be entertained further: gstroop1857.blogspot.com.

They even gave the girls badges to put on their uniforms

Maddie's first grade picture

How cute is she!

I can't believe how grown up she is getting. Her new thing lately is trying to explain how everything works and creating inventions to make things easier. I hear several great invention sales pitches a day.

Friday Fun

Maddie didn't have school on Friday and Andy had the day off so he took Maddie fishing. They had a wonderful time! Andy said Maddie didn't stop talking the entire time!

When they got back, I took the girl scouts to Dominoes to learn about making pizzas. Unfortunately, something was broken and they couldn't let the girls back there. But they did give us free pizza and we went to a nearby park to play and eat.

Sophie Mae

Sophie was cold and tired, but oh so very cute!

Garen

Garen didn't really want his picture taken and was not very cooperative so I was pleasantly surprised to see some good shots of him. We convinced him to throw leaves and that no one was trying to take his picture.

Maddie

We mainly met for a big family picture, but the photographer was nice enough to shoot some pictures of the kids separately

showing her missin teeth-

Fall Family Photos

Some of my favorite family shots:

Amber, Jann, Boyd, and Andy-

the kids with cousin Levi-

The whole family (on Andy's side):