Sam and Henry are way into Magic School Bus these days, so we decided to make that the theme of the party, complete with science experiments, Jen dressing like Ms. Frizzle and a transformed tree house.

Wow! Sam is officially a 1st grader! Sam had a great year in Kindergarten with his teachers Sra. Armendariz, Sra. Molina and Sra. Carrasco. He's learned tons of Spanish this year and has an awesome accent... Derek is trying hard to catch up!

In order to ensure that Sophie understands that she has entered a family of travelers, she spent her 2-week birthday jetting off to Virginia for her Uncle Richard's UVA graduation! Turns out she's a natural - she slept through all four flights! She loved meeting all the Rothblatts, and never had to worry about being put down! Sam was treated to his first surprise party - just a few days before turning 6!

Even by Roth Gordon standards, our last week has been crazy. We came back to Tucson, Derek got back to work (hording paternity time for later in the summer), planning for Sam's birthday party got into full swing, we threw an impromptu (what with Sophie hasn't been impromptu?!?) open house, took Sophie to Sam's school for show-and-tell, and got ready to head to Virginia for Sophie's Uncle Richard's graduation. Whew! More pictures soon.

We're relieved, and yet a little sad, to be leaving Florida tomorrow. We've all had a really nice time here! We've spent a lot of time on the beach, enough for Sam to learn how to swim in the waves (he even learned how to duck under waves today!) We also took a water taxi today, cruising around the Intercoastal waterway around Ft. Lauderdale - it's really something if you haven't seen it. We can't wait to get back to Tucson, but we'll sure miss our week getting to know Sophie!

The picture-taking admittedly slowed down today, so we're posting a video from the day we picked up Sophie at the hospital. Just goes to show that Sam and Henry fell for Sophie from day one, and the love continues! It really is adorable!

The love continues in Florida, but following in her brothers' footsteps, Sophie officially does NOT love baths! She did have her first day at the beach today, though, which went largely unnoticed by her... but Sam and Henry sure had fun! Sophie continues to change a little every day, getting cuter and cuter if that's even possible! She still sleeps a lot, and only cries when hungry or poopy. The boys really enjoyed watching Henry's baby video tonight - it amazed us to see how much smaller Henry was than Sophie!

Sam and Henry just can't get enough of Sophie! It's really just the cutest thing. Sam has been competing fiercely for "holding time", giving everyone else about 2.4 seconds before he asks for her back. And Henry is just so fascinated with Sophie, truly amazed by the fact that holding her hand can make her stop crying. Sophie herself is doing great! She's still sleeping a lot, waking up every once in a while to take a look around. She's slowly but surely getting the hang of the breast feeding thing as well. And as for the car, well, so far so good - with Henry and Sam as entertainment, we're not anticipating too many problems!

Last night Sam was practically begging us to let him hold Sophie standing up. We tried to talk him out of it, but he was pretty adamant. So we made him do some practice laps with her - and he did great! Now he wants to carry her everywhere... the rest of us will never get a chance to hold her!

Sam and Henry are in love! They are having so much fun being big brothers, calming Sophie when she cries, and watching her in amazement when she sleeps. In between there's the expected poking and prodding... Sophie is NOT going to be bored!

After waiting for a few months to be placed with a birth mother, not only were we placed with a birth mother on Friday, but she was on her way to the hospital to give birth! So...

Please join us in welcoming Sophie Josephine Roth Gordon! Sophie was born Friday, May 2, at 2:11 in the afternoon. Weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 9oz, 20 inches long.
she's all ready to play with her big brothers Sam and Henry!

We've been taking turns visiting Sophie, (Sam and Henry aren't allowed in to visit in the nursery), and she is so fun to cuddle with. Things are looking good to take her home tomorrow... we're so excited (as are Sam and Henry who can't wait to meet their sister!).

Sam practices her new name after months of calling her Lady!