A Hodge Podge...

This past weekend saw a couple of things going on...our friend, Madalyn's 5th birthday party, Mommy had a MNO (Mom's Night Out) with friend, Terri, and my nephew, Mitchell, had his SENIOR PROM! Wow...where did the last 18 years go!? This weekend also marks the beginning of a whirlwind of events between now and the end of May pretty much! Stay tuned for those stories to come...

Easter & Oklahoma City - Pt 2

After an eventful day on Saturday and a lot of good rest, we were ready for Easter Sunday! We were guests at Ray's mother's home for the afternoon - we had yummy home-cooked food and the kids (Zoie & Isaiah) got awesome Easter baskets from Auntie Susan and then did an egg hunt in the back yard. Here's how the hunt basically went: Zoie carried the basket and Isaiah found the eggs and put them in the basket. If he tried to take the basket or get eggs out of it, Zoie promptly turned it away from him and said, "Mine!" Go figure! It was a lot of fun to watch them for sure!













That evening, I think we were all tired (as you can tell, Zoie was!) so we just chilled at Susan & Ray's and I packed up as much stuff as I could that evening. The next morning, Zoie and I got up and around and headed back north with some wonderful memories. We thank Susan & Ray for their hospitality - we love them bunches and enjoyed being with them and in their home, where we felt very much at home as well!

Easter & Oklahoma City - Pt 1

Ahh...we've finally made it to the first day of spring (even though the weather doesn't always feel like it)!! It's nice to see the robins in the yard and the tulips starting to come up in the flower beds and the grass start to get green! And, yes, another indicator of spring is the Easter holiday, which was VERY early this year - less than one week after St. Patrick's Day! Since Zoie & I weren't able to get south to visit over the Christmas/New Year's holiday like we planned and because I had holiday time at work for Good Friday, we decided that this might be a good time to pay a visit to our great friends, Susan & Ray, in Oklahoma City. Zoie and I got up and left on Good Friday at 4:30 a.m.!! I just left Zoie in her pajamas and put her in the car with her blanket, pillows (the one Aunt Chris made her AND the one with the Beauty & the Beast pillowcase that I got as a gift from Mitchell many years ago), lovey and, of course, monkey! She luckily slept until about 8:00 or so and woke up seeming to enjoy her "backseat lounge"...


She even pulled off her socks and would rest her feet on the window! We were blessed with awesome weather and driving conditions; leaving that early in the morning and driving through very rural areas of Nebraska and Kansas helped! It was dark when we left and, as we were driving south, at one point, I could see the moon on my right in the sky and the sun starting to burst over the horizon on the left...it was awe-inspiring! We made a surprise stop to see our sweet friend, Linda, in Wichita at her work - and I think she was surprised! She hadn't seen Zoie since she was about 3 months old other than pictures so it was great for her to get to see her now and even better for us to see her! What a sweetie she is! I don't have a lot of good things to say about the drive once we hit the Oklahoma border (they definitely aren't focused on road conditions) other than I got some MUCH needed coffee for me, some milk for Zoie and some warm, gooey cinnamon rolls at a Braums for us both - oh, and it meant we were getting closer to our final destination! I was getting tired of driving! We finally rolled into Susan & Ray's house about noon...not bad time for having a little one on board! After getting our stuff in and many hugs, we did some catching up with Susan (who went and got us some lunch) and then had a much needed nap - for both of us! After 3 hours, Susan actually had to come into the room and ask how long we wanted to sleep! LOL Well, we got up and by this time, Ray was home so we all got ready and went and had some delicious Mexican food at Alfredo's (give me another Tecate with lime!). After dinner, we dropped Ray off at home and went to visit Kelly & Isaiah so that we could all finally see Zoie & Isaiah together!! They were pretty darn adorable - separately & together!
[SIDEBAR: Kelly is Susan & Ray's friend and she lives with Ray's nephew, Tony, and they have Isaiah, who was born 3 months before Zoie...from the minute Susan found out that both Kelly and I were pregnant and then that one was having a boy and one was having a girl, she has "betrothed" Isaiah and Zoie.]






Then we came back to the house and just chilled for a bit before settling in for a FULL night's sleep.
Zoie really loved their house and really took to "Uncle Ray" and Killer, the weiner dog (who I didn't get ONE pic of!)...she enjoyed being out in their backyard in the swing with Susan & Ray, too. Made me really sad that I don't have all that for her - yet!



On Saturday, the weather was beautiful and our big plan was to go to the zoo with Kelly & Isaiah so we went over and got them and got the kids loaded in the truck...and they were stylin' with their shades & Susan's cellphone!


The zoo was a great time...the kids seemed to enjoy it and Zoie really liked walking around like a big girl and looking at the animals - elephants, rhinos, apes, tigers & leopards. One of her favorite things was the ape house...there was a ledge she could stand on and watch the apes...she looked at me at one point and said "In dehr?" (In there?)...I said no, honey we can't go in there with the apes...she was a little upset until one of them started walking right towards the glass where we were and she jumped onto me like a flash! I think she realized it might not be so good after all! She also tried to chase down a wandering white peacock which I couldn't believe.




The kids also got to go on the merry-go-round and a little zoo train. Zoie's been on carousels before but I didn't know how she'd react to the train ride...she LOVED it!! And, as you can see by the following pic, she did NOT want to get off and got a tad miffed when she had to...LOL This will be one of those pics she'll look at some day and be like, "Mom!"



We then got something to eat (much needed for us all) and hit the gift shop and headed back to Susan's for some rest!

Give Me My Lucky Charm!

And for Zoie, her lucky charm would be CHOCOLATE! One morning when I was getting her ready to go to daycare, she saw the small dish of M&M's and candy corn on the table...Zoie looked at me with hopeful eyes and said, "Canny? Canny?!" (Translation = Candy!)..so I said, "No, honey, we don't eat candy for breakfast."...totally devastated, she dropped her shoulders and whimpered, "I need chocate (aka chocolate)!" So, the evening St. Patty's Day, Zoie got a special treat - some chocolate! You can see the pure pleasure on her face as she eats her chocolate!

Friend's 1st Birthday!

Our sweet friend, Piglet, celebrated his 1st birthday and his party was on March 15th...I'd talked to Zoie about going to a birthday party and she was so excited! However, the night before the party, bedtime came much later than usual. So...the morning of the party, she was in rare form...overtired, upset, throwing tantrums like I haven't seen up til now. She even went down for a MORNING nap which is so unlike her! Luckily, mom offered to watch her and let her sleep while I went to the birthday party. So I went - and felt totally guilty the entire time. There were other kids there and I just knew Zoie would have had fun...plus everyone asking, "Where's Zoie? We were hoping to see her.." I tried to be cheery (because it WAS a great 1st birthday party) for the party but I was also very glad to get home to her - and she was in a MUCH better mood!

Here's the Happy Birthday boy!


And here's my happy girl when I got home!

To sleep, perchance to dream...

"There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep." -Homer, The Odyssey

Quick Visit to KS

We finally found a free weekend to getaway to visit some of our relatives in Kansas. We only got to see a few people but we had a great time...when we arrived, it was to Aunt Linda & Uncle Dan's to say hello and drop Zoie off so that mommy could go spend some grown up time with Shelly. Zoie had a great time at Aunt Linda's and loved playing with Tyson and Spencer...the fresh pineapple from Mexico wasn't bad either!

On Saturday, Shelly, Spencer, Zoie and I went to town and had lunch and did some quick shopping. Spencer and Zoie were riding in the backseat together and Spencer was really amused at trying to get Zoie to say all kinds of different words - it was quite comical! That evening, Uncle Cousin Tony babysat Zoie all by himself...they got along great!! I think they both charmed each other! While Zoie was with Tony, and Spencer was at a birthday party, Shelly and mommy were having fun at a piano bar...silly girls we are!



As always the visits go too fast but we did have some time to get outside for a while on Sunday...it was a beautiful day after a couple of cold ones so we took a walk to the school playground. It's the very same playground and school where I went to Kindergarten in 1976!! I think the little slide Zoie was on is also the same slide I went down many times as a child...pretty neat!


After some time at the playground, we went back to the house and hung out on the porch and Spencer showed us his little tree fort...







It was a nice little trip and we had much fun.....thank you to Spencer from Zoie for playing basketball with her and playing the piano with her too!

All 4 Kidz Expo!!

The first weekend of March brought a fun event and GREAT weather to get out in! This expo had ALL kinds of things for kids - games, petting zoo, things to learn, vendors peddling their services (from the Fire Department to the local racetrack to kids camps, event planners, toys, books...). We went with Swister Wendy, Pork Chop, Piglet, Catie & Baby J. Zoie loved it and didn't want to leave when we were done (althought, she was really ready for a nap!). Her favorite part was the big inflatable bouncy slides & jumpers they had as well as 'driving' the fire truck! It wore us both out though and we had a good nap that afternoon! Here are some pics:

Not quite ready to get in the drivers seat of the sprint car (which is just fine with mommy!)


Checking out the first 'bouncer'...

Coming down the inflatable slide...wheeee!!!

Going back for some more 'bounce'...


Coming down the BIG slide with Catie...and all by herself!



Petting the little black lamb, the horse and the little chicks at the petting zoo..there were also little piglets and llamas.




Doing a little dress-up and make believe in the castle and the jail.

Maybe a couple of future soccer superstars?!


Rocking the Cake Walk Rock...but, darn it, we didn't win any cake!

Cutest little firefighter I've ever seen!!