Sophie's Special Day

We celebrated Sophie's birthday at school just two days before her actual birthday.  I came along as her special helper and then took the rest of the day off to spend with her.  Craig also took the afternoon off and we had fun playing with our girl, who got to skip nap for the day!  (A big deal!)

She got to wear a new dress for her special day that she'd opened the night before and I kicked off her morning with her very favorite food:  yogurt!  I made her a little parfait so she'd feel fancy and she loved it.

Sophie just doesn't seem to have figured out the whole smile-on-request things with taking pictures.  They just never look genuine unless they're candid lately.  Oh well.

Me & my girl - getting ready to leave for school.

Silly faces.

We swung by Lisa's and picked up Jax like we always do on helper days.

Coloring me a name tag with Jax's supervision.  :)

Circle time and special helper duties on Nana's lap.

Silly Stelly

Mya getting some love from Aunt Shirley.

All of Sophie's school friends sang a birthday song to her at circle time.

"It's a special day,

when it's your birthday.

That's the day to say,

Happy Birthday, to you!"

This is repeated with lots dancing around and then they all point at her when they say "to you!"

Telling the class about her "All About Me" poster.

And a hug for Nana when she was done.

This was show and tell and the kids were listening to one boy talk about his toy tractor.

Stella got the clean up award today!

Working on their Clifford magazines.  Sophie's decided to be a righty this morning.  She changes it up, but most often she uses her left hand.

Cute cousins.

I'd forgotten until earlier this week that this happened to be the day of their "field trip" to the pizza restaurant across the street from the school.  So we brought some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for dessert after this lunch.  A police officer met us outside and held the traffic until all of the students, parents and teachers were safely across.  So nice!  It was very windy and warm today!

I wasn't so crazy about the beverages served for lunch time.  Why they couldn't just bring out a pitcher of water, I don't understand.  Instead the kids got to choose orange pop or root beer.  :(  Whatev... it's not a regular occurrence.  But it just wasn't necessary.

Waiting briefly for pizza to come out.

I love Sophie's eyes in this picture.

"Cheers, Cheyenne!"

Yum!

After lunch, the kids played the arcade games and the juke box in the restaurant until it was time to go home.

Craig and I had plans of taking Sophie to the park and trying out rollerskating, but the wind just wasn't going to allow that.  And having already eaten pizza at school, we couldn't really take her out to lunch.  So we just pulled her sweaty hair off her neck and played several spontaneous rounds of hide and seek and Duck Duck Goose at home.  It sounds blah, but it was easily the highlight of her day.  She laughed so much and had so much fun with her mommy and daddy's playful attention.

We also took a moment to measure our growing 4 year old's height and mark it on her growth chart in her room.  40 1/2" already!

Sophie is soooo big!

(Again with the cheesy, fake smiles...) Daddy bought Sophie an ice cream sundae and took her to the toy store to pick out a small present of her choice.  (His special ritual with the kids now.)

And then we picked up big brother from the babysitters and the four of us went to the theater to see The Croods, which was very cute.  We were the only ones in the theater and both kids sat so well and enjoyed the movie.

I told Sophie she could pick whatever she wanted for dinner and I would make it for her tonight.  Guess what she picked...  Peanut butter and jelly.  We all said:  "Really? Are you sure? That's what you want?"  And she insisted that it was.  So that's what she had!  Haha!

A fun, special day with our girl!!  

InstaFriday

Life has been a little on the slow side the past couple weeks.  And I'm not complaining!  By slow, I do not mean less full.  I mean more routine and less eventful.  All good things.  Hence the back-to-back InstaFriday posts with nothing in between.  Thank goodness for my iPhone!  

Fewer extracurriculars also allowed for more yoga practice.  So, of course... more pictures.  Pictures are the best way to track my progress and see where I need to put a little extra effort.

So grateful to some Instagram yogi pals for their detailed pointers on nailing Utthita Trikonasana (or triangle pose) this week!  I practiced against a wall for a bit to make sure my right hip and left shoulder (or vice versa) were touching simultaneously.  Probably still need to lift my front toes and turn in my back foot a little, but I'm trying to keep it all in mind.

Another fun balance pose:  Ardha Chandrasana or half moon pose.  I'm supposed to be looking up at my raised hand, but if I do that, I fall over.  So the beginner pose keeps the eye gaze on the ground.

Hero pose or Virasana.  Saturday was such a great day :  early morning yoga practice, some fresh air at the park with kids, both littles took good naps while I got all my meal prep done for the week and Craig worked on the house, all laundry is done and bed sheets washed and now I'm ready for a new Zoya manicure before crawling into bed with my book.  LOVE productive weekends!!

On Sunday, Craig set up a "family obstacle course" for the kids to have fun with.  But he and I also raced with a timer and I won.  Just sayin'...  It was windy this day!

Here's another pic from last week of tree pose or Vriksasana. 

It was a beautiful sunny day outside but there was a Storm on my fingernails on Sunday!  Check out Zoya Storm.  It's in the same line as Aurora and Blaze that I adore so much.  I'm madly in love with this one too.  Yes, it's black.  But it's not at all goth.  Very dimensional.  It looks like a starry night sky and it's totally entrancing.  As my friend Jill said "I didn't want to get out of my plank pose 'cause I was too busy staring at my nails!"  :)  Looks really cool against the fabric of my Athleta yoga capris too.

Ustrasana variation along with other back stretching on Sunday. 

Feeling soooo much more comfortable and strong in Navasana in the last week.  Very little shaking and can hold it comfortably for many breaths.  I can lift my legs a smidge higher than this but not much before my back over rounds. 

One more Navasana pic from last week.  (Also called half boat pose.) 

Pulled pork tacos and fresh guacamole for dinner on Sunday night.  :) 

One of my favorite salads to pack for lunch at work:  grape tomatoes, white beans, diced mozzarella, red onion and basil pesto dressing.  So good and very filling. 

So proud of our little Dragon tonight!  He successfully tested for his brown stripe belt and has thus graduated up from the blue stripe.  Way to go, Will!

Our little karate student.  Age 5 years, 10 months.  1 1/2 years of training. 

Prepping for Marichyasana A.  Gotta' reach that left shoulder past the bend knee in order to reach behind for a bind. 

I really like this pose!  So far, all I can bind is fingertips to the second knuckle rather than hand to wrist.  But, as always, it's a work in progress!  I'm enjoying this posture though.  A great shoulder opener.

Don't worry, be happy!  :-)  Our little sunshine loves the smiley face on her shirt from Nana! 

So frustrating.  This is the furthest I can get in reverse prayer right now.  I'm hoping that changes but my right forearm has been bothering me with twists for about the last two years and gives me pain with this kind of rotation.  I'm pretty sure it's tendinitis.  My shoulders aren't the problem and I know my left arm/hand could go farther in my right arm would cooperate.  Boo.

Was feeling motivated this day and decided to squeeze in a 2nd workout.  An hour of yoga in the morning before work and then 40 minutes of lower body toning and another 20 minutes of a calming yoga routine before bed.  This was some forearm headstand work I was doing at the end.  Left to right:  headstand prep (trying to get up by stacking hips up and just raising legs rather than kicking with momentum), up with slightly bent knees and finally an attempt to pike my legs on the far right.  Can't quite make 90 degrees with straight legs unless I tripod my arms rather than balance on forearms.  Still fun to practice!  

This pose is so fun and looks fun too.  It's called Eagle pose. 

Extended side angle pose.  Practicing on my bedroom floor tonight.

It's slight, but I'm totally stoked about the progress in my forward fold over the last two weeks.  Look closely!  Do you see the straighter legs and spine?  (Say yes.)  Maybe it was just a particularly good day but my hamstrings were feeling much more generous this practice.  I may trade up some of my morning workouts if my body is willing to loosen so much more in the evening!

Let me share something about myself:  I got a NEGATIVE TWO in the V-sit reach in high school  My body fights flexibility with a passion.  But darn it, I'm fighting back!  Had to cut my head out to crop these progress pics but this one's even better!  Lifting up to fingertips to straighten the spine on the inhale.  (Though my spine does look a little rounder tonight.  Boo.)  Still, it feels soooo good to see visual progress!  This standing forward fold has been my biggest goal since starting.  Next, I want to be able to hug my legs with a straight spine and straight legs in this posture.  Oh, and I want to touch my heels to the ground in down dog.  It's good to have goals.  :)

Couple of pictures of Pincha practice (forearm handstand) from a week ago.  Small increments of finding more balance here.  And I love this pose!  Can't wait to get away from the wall! 

Attempted hollowback handstand last week too.  Such an amazing upper back stretch and chest opener!  Plus, it just looks cool.  ;)  Had a lot of fun with this one.  I want to keep building arm strength and play around with leg positions then.   

Our Kindergartener just moved up to the 4th grade reading list this week!  Woot! Woot! 

Utthita Parsvakonasana or side angle pose for this week's weekly challenge posture.  Love the deep stretch! I have some work to do on my bind (bottom picture) and wondering if my stretch to reach my wrist sacrificed my upper body alignment?  Gonna' work on it more this weekend.  I'm heading out now to meet my work friends for some girl time.  Hence, the jeans.

Playing around:  dolphin pose, baby Bakasana and mountain pose.  I need a little more lift in my baby Bakasana (bottom left) but I love focusing my posture in mountain pose (right).

A yummy Greek dip I made for our girls night tonight.  Also love the simply naked pita chips!  Delish! 

InstaFriday

Another insanely beautiful day!  Pancake breakfast, quick trip to the library and then we hit the playground!

Easter egg hunt lunch. 

Half camel practice this weekend to open the back using the side body and core as inspired by an Instagram pal.

Stealing a smooch from my tired girlie between parties on Easter Sunday.  It was a long day but the kids did pretty well and it was good to be with lots of family.

Sophie asked if she could take my picture.  Kind of an artistic shot for my budding photographer, no?  :) 

Did you remember to flip your calendar?  April's going to be a great month! 

Will & Sophie are signed up for the Dart Frog Dash 1K kids run next month at the zoo!  This will be Will's 3rd time and Sophie's 2nd time and we can't wait to join cousins Mya & Stella for some fun! 

Crow pose (or Bakasana) was one of the first fun poses I attempted when I started practicing a month ago.  I was excited that I could get into it with ease, but after seeing a picture, realized how much my arms need to straighten for it to look as it should.  Going to keep at it, though it's not very comfortable for me to press my knees into the upper tricep or armpits so I may have to improvise.  Either way, I love balance poses! 

Another quick variation of crow pose:  left foot crossed over right leg and then balancing. 

Heels are no closer to the ground, but I'm getting more comfortable with my feet-to-hands spacing and it's coming more naturally without readjusting.  I'm happy with that!

Love this intense side stretch.  Feels awesome. 

Transition collage...  Wide legged forward fold into a wide legged tripod headstand.  I'm grateful for being so comfortable in headstands considering my lack of flexibility leaves my head no where near the ground in my wide leg forward fold.  ;)  Hence the bendy squat pic to get into my tripod.  LOL

Several of my recent practices of Ardha Matsyendrasana.  It's a great twist for the spine.  The bottom left pic includes a bind with my arms that I assumed would be easy when I first saw it.  Nope!  Soooo awkward and challenging!  Need to keep practicing that one!

Before yoga, I called this simply a backbend.  It's also known as wheel pose, upward bow and Urdhva Danurasana (in Sanskrit).  Today, I was focusing on trying to lower my upper body to my forearms in wheel pose.  It's still pretty rough, but I was thrilled that this wasn't uncomfortable for my inflexibile back and, instead, felt awesome!

Matsyasana or fish pose with legs in lotus for a nice hip opener and back bend. 

There are all sorts of monthly "challenges" on Instagram and this was one of them.  They were called "awkward squats" and I held my squat position while raising my toes off the ground at different heights. 

My loves.  Listening to a bedtime story. 

Happy Friday!  Jump starting my day with a little upside down action.  :)

Also loving my new Lululemon sports bra.  Super cute and comfy.