Happy 7th Birthday Sophie Ann

On July 31, 2001 we welomed this beautiful little girl into our lives and now she's SEVEN . . . lucky number seven. What a blessing she has been to our family - such a precious, sweet, and loving girl. So gentle and kind to all her friends and filled with so much spunk around her family :-). When she was a baby, her great-grandma Jean nicknamed her "Sparky" and it still fits. Her grandma Janice and grandpa Terry call her "Ladybug," and the rest of us refer to her as just "Soph." We LOVE you Sophie and are so happy you are ours!

Some of Sophie's favorites: Anything and everything that has to do with a HORSE, playing tennis, giggling with friends, riding bikes, ballet class, the beach, swimming, and reading.

Here is the rundown of Sophie's birthday "extravaganza" as Chris referred to the past couple of weeks . . .

Her "big" present: Two private horse riding lessons. She was in heaven . . . if you want to see what pure, unadulterated joy looks like - take a look at Sophie's smile. She learned how to groom the horse, use the reins, halt, turn, and trot. Now she believes her life calling is to be a professional "horse rider" as she puts it.

The birthday festivities began in Bear Lake when grandma Janice pulled out surprises for all three Howick grandkids who celebrate birthdays in the same week (Miriam turned one on the 27th, Avery 4 on the 30th, and Sophie 7 on the 31st). The only drawback was when grandma made her grand entrance with birthday goodies for the three kids, Liza immediately wondered what was up and why she wasn't getting a surprise too . . . . oops, we had some explaining to do!
Celebrating all three birthdays with the Tilt and Howick families at the park before Jenna and Bryan made their way back home to Oregon. Avery was nice to share his "dinosaur cake" with Sophie.
Now, for the actual birthday . . . a little gathering at our house with a few friends, first lunch . . .

then SWIMMING! Fun times . . . well, except for Liza who was disappointed that she didn't get a ring-pop in her goodie bag. Oh well, she survived, and Sophie made it up to her by making her a sno-cone from her new "Snoopy snow-cone maker" that evening after our family birthday celebration.

Well, chalk up another 7th Birthday success in the Cantera family - boy, I still remember Ryan's 7th birthday party like it was yesterday . . . time flies, but we try to enjoy it all and make it special for each child. Gotta love a birthday, even if mom is completely wiped out by the end of the day!!