Playing Catch Up!

We're back!! First of all we are so very sorry that we have went an entire 3 months without any posts!! We have had a busy 3 months. Sophie is growing up fast. She is now 31lbs and 38 inches high! She loves to sing, dance, gymnastics and be extremely girly. We are gearing up for summer and lots of summer vacations.

We spent Easter with Belle and Bear this year. Belle managed to deck her out with the beautiful Easter dress! Thank you Belle. And of course the Easter Bunny came to MS as well as STL and TUL, busy bunny. Sophie came up with 5 lip glosses, a pound of jelly beans 1/2 pound of M&M's and lots of stickers (that are now all over everything).

Sophie on Easter Sunday.

Growing up so fast!

Bear and Belle

Us!

The Easter Bunny hooked a sister up!

Sophie's egg hunt in MS.

Mommy and Sophie

Coloring eggs with Poppa.

Sophie has truly developed into a sweet little girl, but she is defiantly putting us to the test! She is very smart and tries to get away with a lot! It's very clever the way she will ask me for something and if I say no she will go to Poppa, ask the same thing, hoping he will say yes--It has yet to work for her! Sophie now just assumes she can't "have it" for example, "Momma/Poppa I can't have 2 cookies right?" hoping we will say "no, not right Sophie you can have 2". It's very funny.

Sophie with her cousins Jack and Mason

Sophie is a BIG helper. She has become very independent. "I can do it" is a common phrase of Sophie's. She loves to do her own hair, dress herself and tries to cook for herself. I tell her she needs to be 6 before she starts using the oven and boiling water :).

Sophie and Poppa working in "Sophie's Garden"

Celebrating my birthday at our favorite place Pho Grand

Mommy's birthday present from Uncle Bub- CARDS tickets!

Sophie gets her wildlife on with Poppa at Wetland's for Kids day!

STL zoo, "look Momma a snake--is it real?" "yes Sophie it's real and it's o.k. to stand and balance on it's body..it likes it"

Punkie do's (Sophie and her Mema)

Sophie and her BFF Olivia Walker are very silly together...here they decided to do make overs.

Here they stuff their face with marshmallows..

yes...i am a piece of work

DONKEYS

What? You lookin'at me? I'm having a bad hair day.

Sophie loved the Alpaca farm.

Since the last posting, Sophie had major dental work done, which many other children that have been adopted from overseas have experienced. A total of 11 cavities and 9 crowns in one procedure, she looks great. It is the lack of so many things that most American children get such as pre-natal vitamins etc. that caused this. Her mouth is free of pain and her follow ups have been good.

We are looking forward to Mother's Day weekend, which also will be even more special as she will be baptized at St. Joseph Parish. Looking forward to having the family in town for the event. It will be amazing.

Winter Marches On..

It has been a long....cold....snowy winter in St. Louis. Old man winter is about to get a beating from the Belz! Keeping busy is never a problem for us, but finding warm things to do OUTSIDE is a challenge.....Snow play has been fun. Sophie was up to her waist last week in it. Today was amazing though and a nice change of pace. It made it to 51 so a zoo trip was in order. There was a black rhino born last week, but not on viewing yet, but there was also a baby Amur Leopard and Tree Kangaroo which was fun to see.

Sophie is getting ready to undergo major dental work in two weeks. One of the challenges with many internationally adopted children is oral health and Sophie ranks up there at the top. She will be having 14 fillings and 9 crowns....all necessary work. We knew it would need to happen as we could see the issues on our Gotcha day. Lack of all the vitamins, flouride etc we all take for granted was not available to her, thus.....4 hours of dental work :-(
So below are some photos of the past few weeks for us. Hey Spring? WE ARE REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEADY! Oh, wait......old man winter is gonna throw snow and ice at us...Monday through Wednesday!

JUST...COLD!!!!!!

Silly times with Poppa

I AM a total ham though.....

Are you talkin to ME?

Petting the goats at the zoo is always a favorite for her.

My resident gray squirrel in the back yard....He's ready for warm too.

GUINEA PIGS!!!

I....think....the....snow....was...YELLOW :-)

Fun in the snow.....

Snow "Angel in the Moon"

ITS UP TO MY WAIST!!!!

Driving home from school. :-)

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

We love you so very much. Today we honor and celebrate you as well as a special young woman in Vietnam who gave you life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE LEE-NGUYEN BELZ!!!!

Playing Catch-Up

We have a back log of photos etc to share, so to catch-up with everyone, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Sorry for the lack of updates, but we have had a ton going on in our lives. Time really has flown by! We spent Thanksgiving in Mississippi and Christmas in Tulsa. Hank started a new job, we celebrated two years as a family and just enjoying our little girl as she continues to blossom. She is just a pure joy and we love spending time with her.

She is a huge fan of art, music and really loves fashion. She will say "Mommy, I love your dress. That is cute!" When She and her Mom go get nails done the workers are teaching her Vietnamese and she can count to 10, say thank you and you are welcome. Growing like a weed to say the least with two spurts, two sets of jeans are high-waters :-). Soph is a healthy 28.5 lbs and just under 36"!

So, from all of us to all of you, may 2011 be a healthy and happy year for you and yours. And now to catch up, a plethora of photos.

Fall leaves, full of smiles

Enjoying 80 degree weather on Thanksgiving!

With Bear, Belle and cousin Jack. Mason was running around in the back.

A make-shift sled on our first snow of the year. Sophie braved single digit temps for about 20 minutes.

St. Nichols made his annual stop! SCORE!

December 9th will ALWAYS be special for us. HAPPY GOTCHA' DAY SOPHIE!

Santa made a stop to our annual "Jingle Belz" party.

A nice raccoon eyed make-over.

A family tradition of making our German Christmas Cookies. A recipe from way back when. Love 'em or hate 'em fun was had by all!

A family photo op in the center of Tonkawa, OK under the tree (which is in the middle of the street).

Helping Grandad pass out gifts at the Smith's annual Christmas Eve Party in Tonkawa.

Spending time with a few cousin and giving them lessons on how to make pasta.

Merry Christmas!

Hanging with Grandad at the Oilers game.

Yeah, the Queen of the jumbotron strikes AGAIN!!

Her first time on the ice...

Mommy and Aunt Jenny lend a helping hand.