Los Angeles Zoo

This past weekend we took a little family trip to the Los Angeles Zoo. It was a beautiful, sunny and warm Sunday, especially for January! The Los Angeles Zoo was huge and took us most of the day, including a brief nap in the stroller to get through but we loved every minute of it. Sophie has always loved animals and this was the perfect excuse for her to show off her growing repertoire of animal sounds.

Sophie ooh-oohed at the gorillas

Made friends with a coati

Was fascinated with the bird show

Studied the giraffes

Tried to climb in to get a better look at the meerkats

Tried to walk as much of the zoo as we'd let her

She even did a little nose picking, while I was

trying to pose for a cute mother/daughter photo

And the award for the strangest animal goes to the Gerenuk. It had the skinniest legs, longest neck and tiniest head combination and just didn't look quite right.

Just Call Her Imelda

Imelda Marcos was known for her extensive shoe collection and Sophie is trying to match that collection. Actually, Sophie can't be blamed at all. While she loves shoes just as much as Imelda and could spend hours taking them in and out of her drawers, she isn't the one buying them. I'm not entirely to blame either. I have bought several but she has been gifted many as well. I'm waiting for her teeny tiny fit to still fit in to many of them (hello, little pink ballet flats!) Some of my favorites on her are the Tiny Toms, the Vans and her little silver Pediped Mary Janes. I just had to share a few pictures of her collection.

And this is what it looks like when you try to take a picture of Sophie's shoes while she is awake...

The Saturday Post

Hoarders

A&E's Hoarders offers a look inside the lives of people whose inability to part with their belongings is out of control...Sophie is getting close to needing an episode of her very own. Whether it's babies in the toy aisle of Target, bouncy balls at The Little Gym, or her beloved binkies, her hoarding is getting pretty intense. It's always only one item at a time though. You'll never catch her holding a ball, a baby and a binky at the same time. That would just be crazy.

We try to limit her pacifier obsession to naps, bedtime and in the car. She will generally give them up when she is asked to, tossing them across the car seat when it is time to get out or slipping a binky through the slats of her crib to put it back where it "sleeps." Sometimes when she wakes up in the morning or from a nap though, she's not quite ready to give them up. We will go in her room to find one stuffed in her mouth and as many others as she can find tightly grasped in her hands!

Bananarama

Sophie prefers her bananas whole and in the peel these days. Cut up bananas are for babies.

Baking on a Rainy Day

While the rain poured down on Monday, Sophie and I enjoyed a lazy day indoors. We cuddled in bed while watching cartoons, we had a late breakfast in our pajamas and then we did a little baking. Since Sophie's obsession with blueberries and all things blueberry related is still going strong, we found an easy recipe online and whipped up these muffins.

Eyeing the ingredients

Sampling the ingredients

Lining the muffin tins

Mixing it all up

The muffins were amazing and required very few ingredients. You probably have everything you need to make these right now aside from the blueberries. The crumbly, cinnamon top was the best part. Try them immediately!

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

(from All Recipes)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
• 
  
• Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top.
• 
  
• To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking
• 
  
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Walking My Girls

Or really, my girls walking each other...

A New Batch of Expressions

I managed to catch all these expressions in just a few minutes. Sophie is quite the little ham.

Please mom, no pictures.

Just kidding, you know I love it

Who me?

Did you hear that?

I know you're making that funny face, but I won't smile..

Oh yes I will!

Breakfast of Champions

Sophie enjoys a green smoothie full of spinach! She also enjoys finger painting with her yogurt.

No Sharing Today

Most days, Sophie will happily hand you a bite of anything she is eating. In fact, she usually will try to force feed it to you. Today at Starbucks however, she was not in the mood for sharing her pumpkin bread. It must have been an extra tasty piece.

Ice Cream 'Stache

Sophie and the Slide

Fifteen Months

Sophie turned fifteen months on Saturday! Still full of personality and crazy expressions, she is a busy little bee. Sophie is still obsessing over baby dolls and animals of all kinds. She can tell you what the owl, bear and lion say now. New words include moon, more, duck, shoes and my favorite...pom pom! The shortest sentence is also the sweetest coming out of her, either "Hi Dad" or sometimes "Hi dog." She loves eating oranges and continues to impress us with her dance moves.

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

Cousin Gannon teaching Sophie exactly what hotel beds are good for.

I wish I had an action shot, but I was too worried about

head injuries to take pictures during the actual jumping. 

Love at First Sight

Frenchie

Here is Sophie showing off a special shirt brought all the way back from Paris by her Gigi. And what does a little French shirt need to go along with it? A dainty little feather hairpiece, thank you very much.

Hairpiece made by me when I was feeling crafty.