Old Friends, New Kids

When I had Zoie, I was living in Texas...five weeks before Zoie was born, my friend, Amy, also had a baby girl and then moved from Nebraska to Colorado...and back here in Nebraska, my other friend, Wendy, would soon be finding out that she, too, was going to join the ranks of motherhood. We were all so excited to be having children around the same time - but here we all were in 3 different states!! Not what we imagined once we all (sorta) settled down and embarked on our journeys of domesticity! Well, as we all know, I ended up moving back to Nebraska when Zoie was about 6 months old...just in time to be here when Wendy had lil' PCJ a month before Zoie turned 1. So, Ms. Amy was the one holdout (not on purpose, of course)...well, no longer! She and her husband and daughter moved back to Lincoln and we all finally got together with our kids! It was a little surreal, but truly awesome. I have a few other friends around my age who either just had children before I had Zoie or shortly after. And here I was worried that none of my friends would have kids around Zoie's age! Life can be pretty cool sometimes!


From L to R: Heather w/ Zoie, Wendy w/ Marty & Amy w/ Sawyer


Sawyer, PCJ (Marty) and Zoie in Marty's cool wagon...

Pomp & Circumstance...and SNOW?!?!

Our family had yet another milestone reached...the first of the next generation, Mitchell, has graduated from high school!! Wahh!!! Mom was at my brother's for a few days prior to help get things ready then Zoie & I came along the Thursday before and then things really got rolling - decorating, cooking, stressing out...all the good stuff that comes with these kinds of events! Ha! And, yes, in true Nebraska fashion - there was SNOW flurries the day of his graduation in May! That is one way to have a memorable occasion made even more so!

We're all so very proud of Mitchell...he earned and received I think like 10 or 11 scholarships! I know he'll be a success at whatever he does...he's a very driven young man with an excellent work ethic and he's also an all-around good guy!

Here he is receiving an award at the Jr-Sr High School assembly...

This is the table he made out of car & other parts that he won an award on...

Zoie got all tuckered out over the excitement!

My 3 very handsome nephews!!

Parades & Batteries

A little community area near us called Bethany has an annual parade to celebrate spring so I took Zoie...we brought her new Minnie Mouse lawn chair to break it in! As we got settled and were waiting for the parade, I took a couple of pics...and then my camera batteries promptly died! So, here are the only pics from that day but we did have a lot of fun. Zoie was really into it and gave high fives to the team mascots that were at the parade, ran out to grab candy that was thrown from the floats, and she loved the group of young girls with pom-poms who marched & danced along...Zoie started dancing too!

Zoie is 2!!! (Part 2 - Her Actual Birthday)

On the actual day of Zoie's 2nd birthday, she got more presents from Mommy - a Minnie Mouse lawn chair, a Doodle Pro, a Jungle puzzle and a CD of Beach music!





After that, Grandma Lucy took us out to birthday dinner - it was really nice! Then, we took Zoie to Morrill Hall (aka Elephant Hall) on the UNL Campus for her first museum visit. I thought she might be scared of the big elephants, fossils and dinosaurs but she had no fear!






"Don't Eat Me!!"

Zoie as compared to the lower leg bone of an African elephant.





It was a fun time but we were all still a tad wiped out from the party the day before so we headed home...at which time, Zoie & I proceeded to take a SIX HOUR nap! Wow! Maybe this is why birthdays only come once a year, huh?!

Side Note: At her 2 Yr Checkup, Zoie was 36" tall and weighed 28.5 lbs...she's still in the higher percentiles but is very healthy and that's the main thing!

Zoie is 2!!! (Part 1 - The Party)

Unbelievable as it is...my little baby girl is 2! And, of course, birthday = party!! The idea for the party was to have an Build Your Own Sundae Party...but I couldn't find any invites that had ice cream on them so, with Grandma Lucy's help, we just made them...and I thought they turned out really cute!



Grandma Lucy and I also made the birthday cake...



The party, held the day before Zoie's actual birthday, was at a local restaurant that has an old fashioned soda-fountain bar. It was a glorious spring day out so it was perfect! In the morning, Zoie went with me to drop off the cake and then we went to get her LOTS of balloons - she loves them!! Next we went home, got all ready for the party and proceeded to the festivities. Zoie is very blessed to have awesome people in her life (and so am I) - Grandma Lucy; Pop-Pop Jim; Jill, Travis & Brayten; Auntie Lindsay; Donna S.; Bernice H.; Wendy, PC, & Piglet; Aunt Linda, Cousin Shelly & Spencer - who drove over 3 hours to come to the party!; Vonda & Connor; Daycare lady Pat & her husband, John; Terri T; and EJ! Everyone had marvelous sundaes and yummy cake - Zoie loved it all! Enjoy the pics!!



















Zoie even got a brand new pink & purple tricycle...and she cruised it all over the restaurant!!



Thank you to everyone who was able to come to the party and make it a huge success! And to those who I know wished they could be there, we missed you - you were there in spirit for sure!

Illness Strikes, The Train, and Boston

My company has an annual user/customer conference, and, this year, I was honored to be attending in the role of trainer for some of the courses at the conference which was being held this year in Boston, Massachusetts (next year - San Diego!). Grandma was more than willing to step in and watch Zoie while I was gone...that is until she got the flu - AGAIN! And, boy, did it have her down! I've never heard someone cough so hard and so often. She also had a fever that, well, had her a little delirious the saturday before I left...and it really scared me. I knew that even though she wanted to, that there was no way I could leave with Mom being like that...she wouldn't have been able to get out of bed let alone chase after a toddler...so, Aunt Chris to the rescue! I called to see if there would be anyway she could come and stay while I was gone and it just so happened that it would work...they put her on the Amtrak to town and, due to a slight change in his schedule, Gary was on days for the week so the boys would be fine and they could come and get her on the weekend when I got back. Talk about a relief! So, Zoie and I picked Chris up at the train station around 7:15 a.m. - even though she was supposed to get in 3 hours earlier! We had a day to get her oriented with where to drive and all and then the next day, I took off for Boston!


Flying into Boston I had a great view of the harbor but, because I was there for work, I spent most of my time inside the hotel conference rooms and my room. I had to laugh though...the hotel was called the Westin Waterfront - but check the views we had out our hotel room...the air conditioners!! Glad I didn't have to foot the bill for that view!

Luckily, my company was also sponsoring a hospitality suite on a higher floor that had GREAT (albeit a tad overcast) views.



Being a person who works remotely, I don't SEE people I work with, so this was an excellent time for that! One evening, my company sponsored dinner at the Boston Museum of Science, which was really cool! We did also get out for dinner a couple of nights - great food there! Boston is definitely a town I'd like to get back to and see more of one day! A little trivia - you'll see a "Cheers" sign, but it's not the bar that was from the tv show...before the show I don't know if there really was a bar called Cheers...the one you see in the opening credits of the show is a place called the Bull & Finch.