* Thanksgiving 2008 *

First of all - this is a L-O-N-G posting! Secondly, here is a pic of Zoie with some 'turkeys' she made at preschool...my kinda turkeys - very funky!

Zoie's preschool put on a Grandparent's Day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so Grandma went to that (I have no photos...sorry!) and then she, pop-pop Jim and Zoie headed west to Gary's. I had to work until 3 that day so I stopped at the house, chilled out for a while, then got my things ready to go. Indie & I piled in the car and we were off! It's been almost 3 years since it was just Indie & I on a road trip and he stretched out the entire length of the backseat and was loving it! Uncle Gary's had a room all set up for us and Thursday morning, Grandma had a bread making/baking lesson with her 3 grandsons to pass on her knowledge of the tradition...


The rest of us just chilled...even sleeping in a bit!

Chris made a yummy breakfast casserole for us to have, but Zoie wanted a bowl of cereal - I think mostly so she could drink the milk from the bowl!

Dinner was prepared through-out the day as usual. After I'd gotten ready, I took the opportunity to snap pics of me with my girl, with the nephews and of Zoie with her cousins.








When dinner was ready, I used it as an opportunity to snap some group photos of Gary's family and of Mom with her grandkids to commemorate the holiday!



Then we said our prayers of thanks and dug in!




We all just chilled out afterwards - Aaron & I played the game SORRY and we all king of watched The Polar Express (what a classic!) on TV then hit the hay. Gary had to go to work this night still so he got rested up too.




Friday morning, Chris, Brandon, Aaron & I actually got up at 4 and braved the crowds to get some good shopping in on Black Friday. We got some great deals and came home dog tired - even after refueling at Starbucks! Riding in the car gets ya everytime!


After some napping, we settled in to watch the NU vs CU game - and what a game it was! Awesome football and even better as Nebraska came out victorious! Gator bowl, here we come!! Not to mention CO-Big 12 North Champions with Missouri! Woohoo! And speaking of Missouri, they had a big game on Saturday against KU...yet another awesome football game. We all figured that Mizzou would have an easy game but the J-birds really came to play and down to the last few minutes or seconds of the game, they scored a final touchdown and that was all she wrote! I felt bad for Aaron as he was the only one rooting for Mizzou...hard pill to swallow, but that's the way it goes! I wanted to get Zoie outside for some fresh air and exercise this day so we did some running around outside Uncle Gary's house...she looked so cute and was having such fun!!



We headed home late that afternoon and just vegged out Sunday...again, I'm SO thankful to the Lord for all the blessings He has bestowed upon me and continues to do so and I pray for those who weren't fortunate to be with their family or to even have a family. I can't imagine being in a place where you don't know if you'll live through the day due to hunger or rebels, like the orphans in the Congo or those just going about their daily business in Mumbai, India, when they were gunned down by terrorists. Makes me thankful for where I live, even with all the problems we have in this country. A phrase my mom often says comes to mind: "There but for the Grace of God, go I." God bless you all!

Hanging Out & Havin Fun

Pop-pop Jim's grandson and our friend, Brayten, came over and hung out with us last night (Saturday) while his mom & dad went to a grown-up function. Zoie and he had a lot of fun together and had us cracking up!

Can you say cheese?!



Zoie: "Can you hear the words comin outta my mouth?!" Brayten: "Woman, what you want now?!"

Pears & Tumbling Along!

Juicy, fall pears - one of Zoie's favorite snacks, except for the peel. Notice how she eats it down, like a slice of watermelon to the rind!




I enrolled Zoie in a "Tiny Tumbler" class at our local YMCA and she LOVES it! They do some little stretching exercises first (she's so darn flexible!) and then get into jumping, somersaults, balance beam and by then, a group of ten 2 year olds are pretty much done! Here are some pics from her workout one evening...Jane Fonda, eat your heart out!

Lil Santa

Trying to get Zoie more familiar with who Santa is, we started talking to Zoie about him and how he has a big belly. To illustrate the point, Grandma made Zoie into a "little Santa" using her pillow. She walked around with her face scrunched up going "HO! HO! HO!" in her little deep voice...

Doctor & Dentist Visits

Last week, Zoie had her 2-1/2 year old (yes, she's that age already!) check-up. A couple of days prior to going, we did a lot of pretending that she was "Dr. Zoie" and she would check Grandma's heart and mine...we had to take a LOT of deep breaths! She even got to play with Grandma's real stethoscope and heard her own heartbeat finally...before this time, she was too afraid to put the earpieces in her ears for very long. All this play must have paid off - or else she really is just growing up...*sniff, sniff*...because she did GREAT at the Doctor's office; no crying at all! She also got her flu shot and made quite the face when the needle went in but still didn't cry...she did say, "It hurt!" She is very healthy and doing great on all fronts! Her stats this visit:

Heighth: 38-3/4" (97+ percentile; almost a 3 inch gain in 6 months!)
Weight: just about 31 lbs (75th percentile)

This last Monday, we completed our round of yearly maintenance by hitting the dentist! They have nice flat screen tvs in all the rooms so once they got her focused on Scooby Doo, she could have cared less who was prodding around her mouth! She wasn't too keen on that darn suction thing though and I don't blame her! She did like 'riding' in the chair that went up & down and back & forth as they adjusted it as well as the 'diva' sunglasses they let her wear while laying back in the chair! All I had was my phone camera, but it gives you the idea! After a glowing report from the dentist, she got to pick out some toys and was sent on her way with a little goody bag full of toothpaste, toothbrush, stickers & toys...she said, "Bye, Doctor!!"

Squirrels, Cats & String Beans

Granny D has a couple of little stuffed squirrels that she uses as part of a fall display decoration in the house and Zoie got the opportunity to play with them a little bit...and, of course, added her own personality to the experience!






On this day, the cats had been up and crazy all night long so they were sleeping the day away and re-fueling for another night full of antics! I hadn't posted pics of the kitties for a while so I felt they warranted some blog time:






Because the Nebraska VS KU game was pay-per-view, we opted to go to Barnes & Noble and meet Connor & Vonda and watch the String Beans instead! The kids were a little subdued compared to other times they've seen the Beans, but came to life when they figured out afterwards that they could run around the store...gotta love 2 yr olds!!