My oh My .... where has the time gone...

WOW - it's really been awhile since I've blogged! Since July we've had Zoe's baptism!

 Little sweet pea, Zoe :) Nic & Rob and Mommy, Uncle Kraig all of us in Chicago in August :)

 It was a quick trip but well worth it, to see this little princess and her Mommy & Daddy!

 I'm not sure what happened to September, other than.... Mommy started a new job and it required alot of time.... Now we are carving pumpkins with Conrad and Christy!

 There's the munchkin :) I can't believe she is almost 3.....holy smokes,  my baby is getting so big!

Daddy wont be happy with me for this picture but it was the only one I got of him before the battery in the camera died :( Look at my Sophia :) The next time I blog, it will be after Thanksgiving. We hope everyone has alot to be thankful for and we Love you!

Raise your glass and toast to Good times, Good friends and Good food!

Check out the pictures of Mommy Niki and Zoe, my GOD-DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!! :)

 Ok people, Nicole and Zoe! Yes, I know they are photogenic. We snuck in a little visit with the growing family earlier in the month. Let me tell you guys, this little bundle of joy is such a sweet pea! I mean, I am speechless! It doesn't happen often but watching this little girl with everyone... she is a social butterfly in the making! She should fit right in ;-)

 It was also pretty amazing to see Sophia with "Baby Zoe"! She knew that she had to be "sweet". Yes, I keep using quotes because we had to stress those words every time Sophia was around the baby. Lets just put it this way, Sometimes, Soph aint the most gentle thing... So, we had to make sure she understood this was a real baby doll :)

 This picture captures the trip in a snapshot! Soph asking, "but why?" at Zoe, longing to play with her! She just can't figure out why Zoe is just going to lay there and not play with her! I mean she had to get on the airplane that goes really fast to see baby Zoe!!! :) Then there's Grandma Bren in the distance, not to far distance :) Grandma Bren saved our bacon on this trip! Thank GOD! She was able to take some time off of work and watch Soph while Mommy and Daddy (yup! Daddy went too!) went to work :) Love you Grandma Bren!!!

                 

Now for the most adorable picture of the day! Sophia and Zoe with matching outfits!! The only 2 people missing were Abi and Ali! Then we would of had all the girl cousins together!! Not to worry, we will have more opportunities in the future:)

Now for some pictures from the 2nd NG attended, Jacksonville Suns Baseball game! We at work have been looking at opportunities outside of work to get together and have some fun! Those of us that like attending baseball games sure do enjoy the hotdog good time we have at the JAX Suns games:) No, Sophia didn't get to go on the field with Southpaw this time.... :( Maybe next time! Oh, something cool at this game was the tribute to Roger Maris. That's right! To the left is Roger's widowed wife and his children. We also got some free plaques. Which, we like anything that's free... well, most of the time :)

There is he is on the jumbo tron! Is Jumbo tron a word? Gosh, that looks strange written down. Any-hoo, what a legend! I think the symbol* should be deleted from the english dictionary. Yeah, and Roger should be in the hall of fame!

Now, on with the show! So, to the left is a picture of Rae and Sophia! We met Rae a few weeks ago, she's the daughter of a great friend of mine and Mike's, Christy Foutch. Who is the girlfriend of another great friend of ours Conrad. So, we've been hanging out with them because Christy just finally moved here!! Well.... you will notice Rae and Sophia jumping on Rae's bed before her bed was put together.... :) And - Rae is such an awesome person! She would let Sophia follow her around everywhere, "RAE RAE!!!!!"

 We (Daddy, Mommy, Sophia and KJ) spent the night Friday with Conrad, Christy and Rae! We cooked out, swam in the pool and had great conversation! Oh wait, conversation is a two way street, right? So, in that case, they did a great job listening to Mike, me and Sophia!!! 'Cause we sure did talk their ears off! ha ha!! We had alot of important life... uh well, we just like to talk :)

 

Now, for the grand finale... drum roll please.... My hibiscus! I love this plant! Here's why, it doesn't require an over abundance of maintenance to be healthy and strong! Don't get me wrong, when we first planted her, she did require nourishment and supplements but that's like anything entering into a new environment, right? Now, 5 years later it has everything it needs to grow and produce beautifully! All we have to do is water her occasionally and in the winter I cut her back down to a little stem. So she can grow again the next year. That's right! It also seems that with each year, she requires less and less maintenance, yet she grows stronger and more vibrant with the passing years. Such a gem to have :) Such a nice reminder of what it really takes to grow up and become self sufficient. Now, I'm not saying this plant doesn't require any TLC - what I'm saying is, over the years we've grown with this plant to know what she needs and just how much to give her :) Love you hibiscus!

Happy Fourth of July!

Ok, so we missed our June post. Slap my wrist and see if it happens again :) We were a tad busy, we had a new arrival to focus on! That's right!! Baby Zoe Tersigni Frappier made her grand entrance into this world! So of course Mommy had to go be nosey and sniff out the new addition! After all, how can I become her favorite Aunt if I'm not introducing myself to her at a young tender age? Every one agree? I thought so :)


Next we have a family trip in a couple of weeks so Sophia and Mike can meet baby Zoe and hug the proud parents! :) That's all Sophia has been talking about, "I go see baby Zoe! I fly on an airplane! It goes really fast!" Then she says it again and again and again! I guess the last one is one to grow on :) ha! We will also visit with Gramma Bren! It's a semi-work trip/family visit! FUN!!

Well, since we blogged last, we have had 2 little trips, one to New Smyrna to visit with Gamma and Jay! This was a great trip! Sophia swam with her new swim vest and showed Gamma, Jay and Daddy that she could do it!! I did not join them due to the fact that I was cooking up a storm :) That's right they got the royal treatment! Pasta in the summer!

Then we had a relaxing Father's Day, just chilin at the house. We couldn't go outside because of the smoke. Yeah, it sucked!!!

Now fast forward a couple of weeks past the work stories, Sophia acting like a terd stories, Daddy going to school stories and Sophia getting pink eye :(

Too...this past weekend! We had company! Yup, Aunt Mury and Uncle Bradley came down for a few days to get some Soph time in. I will say by the end of the visit we had accomplished our goal! Everyone was exhausted from all of the bonding :) Daddy and Uncle Bradley saw a baseball game, Mommy and Aunt Mury had a girls day of shopping/hair cuts/pedicures/good food! Sophia got to play with everyone, enjoy time with Boo Boo and Giz, go to the beach, pool, newly polished fingers by Aunt Mury and a lunch at the surf! Since she had pink eye earlier this week, it was kind of funny that we didn't even notice any signs of it by the time the festivities started!

In the Sophia news she will be moving up to the Duck class when she goes back to school!!!! WOW! Really? Yes, it is true.... sigh, my baby is growing up and loving every moment of it! I'm not sure if she will go to school this week because I'm going to try and take the remainder off! If I can swing that then she and I will be spending quite a bit of time over at My-My and TT's, swimming in the pool! Oh yeah!!

Ok, enjoy the pics and good bye for now! I tried to get a couple videos uploaded but google or my laptop doesn't want to play :(

Jax Suns game - video of Sophia with Southpaw!

Finally it's uploaded!!! Check it out!!

More Jacksonville Sun pics!

Sophia has been walking around with a bobble head's baseball bat and a baseball all morning saying, "baseball."

K9 Jax Suns.. this one is for you Christy Ostwald!

Sometimes I wonder what people think about me...kinda funny how things work out..... So tonight; we had the Northrop Grumman baseball night... as Mike, Sophia and I were walking through the door with some of the Ostwalds...minus Christy because she isn't here yet........ You know what.. Sometimes we have to believe and leave it at that. :) Here are some pics from tonight. I want to add more but sometimes you just have to give a piece of the pie :) We (Mike, Kim, Soph and KJ) miss you :)

Two Sweet peas :) Love the bond they are creating... oh yeah they are!

Mitch Willis and his lovely wife Jan are pretty friggin awesome.... they single handely put together this baseball outing.... oh yeah!

Hi Dave! Is that a beer? Guess what? That's OK, you ARE at a baseball game :)

Since you want a formal pic :) This is good!

Ok, now we are getting into proud Mommy time... Sophia totally exeededed any expectation or non expectation or whatever.... she friggin did awesome during this!!!! Check the pics people! Sorry ... you only get a few pics.. more to follow :) hahah

 Eric and Kathy Wetherhold :) Mandy wanted to go to a movie :)

 Joey Merrier and Kathy Wetherhold :)

ummm, helloo... the sweetest princess in MY world!

My babies :) what Mike? Do we need to see a doctor with your jacked up finger? Just tell me, k!

I think Sophia likes her daddy :)

Ok!!! Jacksonville Suns look out because here comes Northrop Grumman... ha ha ha ... ok, here comes Sophia Dempsey!

Time to reflect

What do I want to say? What do I want to write? Which way should I go with this post? Those questions amongst many others pop into my mind when I'm trying to relay something of importance about Sophia to those of you that want to know. So,  I've been thinking about writing a post about Sophia that has a little bit more meat than, "well we went to the park today!" or "Sophia has strep throat again :(" or "Our status on potty training has changed!". I want Sophia to look back at this blog one day and know that this blog is something for her family but more importantly; this is for HER! What would she want to know about how she was when she was 2? What kind of questions will she have about her childhood? Well, since Mommy has a crappy memory; maybe Sophie and I can go through this blog together and talk about different topics from different days? :)

I wonder about that when I'm reading these posts and thinking.... is that enough? Do I think she will want to see all these pictures? What would she want to see here? Does she really care what age she was when she started walking? Is she really going to want to know how old she was when she pee-pee'd and poo-poo'ed in the potty? Will she want the entire world to know that stuff? Will she even care???

All of these questions and many others plague me as she gets older and we learn more about her. Will she want a baby book that says when she reached all the typical baby and toddler milestones?

All of this, everything I wonder and I still get drawn back to the simple conclusion that. She wants us to love her for who she is and take the time it takes to sit with her, kiss her good morning, kiss her good night and push her in the swing. Play with her in the dirt! Run around the house with her!! Sit and watch cartoons with her! Watch her color in her coloring book! Play animals! Play barbies! She loves all of her stuffed animals and wants almost all of them in the bed with her when she goes to sleep! Sophia's favorite show right now is Dora and we think she's learning how to count in spanish! :)What a blessing to have. To many times those small blessings aren't counted; they are taken for granted and forgotten. I don't want to do that! I don't ever want to forget anything that Sophia does!! Mike and I want to share every moment we can as a family. :)

Now, if I can; I'll dig even a bit deeper. Too many times in our lives we get caught up in what we want and not what we have.  Would it be nice to be debt free? Well hell yes! Would it be nice to not work and stay home with Sophia? Well hell yes!! Would it be nice to have a bigger house? Well hell yes!!! Where was I going with this? HA! Oh yea, I was going to say that the debt we have is crap and I hate it but guess what! It's part of life! The job I have to go to; well without it we wouldn't have daddy here every day! The bigger house we want? Well that's what dreams are for! Every little blessing (even in disguise) happens for a reason!

 One thing Mike and I are trying to figure out... during church when Sophia has to much energy, do we take her outside to the swingset, by doing this she doesn't learn that she isn't suppose to act up during church. She learns that if she acts up she can go outside and play. OR do we take her to the cry room and make her sit there, where it isn't fun? She's 2! What's the fine line? Well; as parents... we have to figure that out! We decide for Sophia and it's a decision that Mike and I have to make together and stick to! That's the key! We agree upon the plan of action and we follow through with it every time. WELCOME TO PARENTHOOD!! :)

Sophia, I hope you look back at this blog as a baby book/brag book/milestone marker/daily reminder of how special and wonderful you are! I hope you can share this with your daughter or son some day!
Love,
Mommy & Daddy

A walk in the park....

Here's our March post!

We decided to take a vacation day and go to the park! :)