Surprising Zoey!

Back in November we surprised Zoey with a trip to Disney World!  We started planning it back in February.  It was hard and fun at the same time to keep the secret from her.  There was times when I wanted to tell her so we could do a countdown, but then I knew I wanted that element of surprise when we told her.

As soon as we decided we were going last year, I started working on her autograph book for meeting the characters.  Thankfully we do not use our dining room that much nor does she go in there because that came my station of mess for creating the book! I got the book done with a week to spare. :)  That's pretty good for me!  My sister helped me embellish it once I had all the character cut out and put together.

We left Sunday morning early to head to the airport.  Our flight left around 10:30 am from Memphis.  We got up early and told Zoey we were heading to get donuts.  Thankfully she cannot read yet! :)  She had no idea what her shirt said.  After getting donuts, she realized, hey wait a second.  We are not headed back to the house, she started asking to go back home. So we told her where we going instead.  I was hoping we might could get to the airport before we told her, but she wanted to go home.  I got it all on video! I love my sweet girl!

Zoey learning we are going to Disney World!

First Hair Cut

After putting it off for as long as I could, Zoey got her first hair cut in January.  I was so afraid that if I had her hair trimmed, the curls would fall out.  We have been lucky that her hair has grown fast and even!  I made it three years before I got it trimmed.  I was a little nervous how she would do and was afraid she would cry or throw a fit.  She did AWESOME!  We went to Phipps Salon, B and I both go there, where Melissa cut her hair.  Bragging moment.  Everyone there was so impressed with how well she behaved and sat/stood still. Typically three year olds do not do as well.  Her hair was so long, Melissa had her stand instead of sit in the chair to trim it.  When it’s wet and brushed out it’s almost down to her waist.

Before.

After.

Snow Angel

I am so out of order on posting but it's ok.  This past weekend we went to my parents house. We left early Friday to avoid the ice on the roads that we feared was coming. As we got close to their house, it started to have snow dusting the ground. Zoey got so excited! She started on wanting to make snow angels and build a snowman. We told her there might not be enoughy for that but we would see when we got there.  

There was enough for her to get down in the driveway to do a snow angel! The cutest happiest little snow angel ever.

Father/Daughter Ball 2014

In June, Brian took Zoey to the Father/Daughter Ball.  This was their first year to go.  They went with 2 other father/daughter couples from church who are roughly the same age as Zoey.  The girls, Zoey, Claire, and Wesley, are in Bible class together so they know each other well.  I knew this would be fun for her to play with her friends.  I do believe they both had a blast! 

The week before the Ball she kept talking about it and was dying to go.  We had to show her about every day on the calendar what day it was today and how many more days till the Ball.  She would say she is Cinderella, Daddy is Prince Charming, and I was a horse. Finally by the time the day arrive, I become the Fairy Godmother.  I got her dressed and she LOVED her dress! Brian actually picked it out for her; he is the BEST!  She never really has twirled in dresses until this one.  I got a few videos of her after she got dressed. I know overload, but she is so CUTE in them!

I tried to get a good picture of the two of them, but Zoey wouldn’t look at me.

Several of the princesses were there.  In true Zoey fashion, it took her a bit to warm up to everything.  Brian took a few pictures and sent them to me through out the night.  Oh, did I mention, mothers are not allowed in the building at all during the night.  I find that sweet they want to make it all about the Daddy’s and their girls. 

Meeting Belle, you can tell this is at the beginning and Zoey is not warmed up yet.

 

Dancing with Claire and Wesley.

 

 

Selfie!

 

 

Brian said she walked up to Elsa on her own. She was very excited about seeing her! I know it doesn't look like it but she was.

 

 

The formal picture, a picture of it.

 

Zoey update; 2.5 years

My sweet baby will be 2.5 soon!  She is so much fun!  She is talking up a storm and learning new things all the time.  It’s nice to be able to really communicate with her and not have to always guess what she is trying to say.  She can sing her ABCs, count to 20, sings just about any of her favorite songs by memory (boy does she have a great memory!), act out scenes from Frozen, and much more!  She has finally grasped the concept of saying “Please” and “Thank You”.  It’s hard to say no (even when she doesn’t need what she is asking for) to her when she says “please”. 

The beginning of the year we bit the bullet and cut down on paci time.  I was really dreading this and just knew it would be a nightmare.  Zoey surprised us; she did really good.  We cut it down to just naptime and bedtime.  She has done great with this.  I am dreading when we take it away completely. But we did learn last week, that she had gone that week without for nap.  Brian had forgotten to put on in her bag all week. 

It’s fascinating to watch her pretend play.  She doesn’t like to play much on her own when we are around; we always have to be playing with her.  While this is sweet, it’s also frustrating at times when you are by yourself with her and cannot get things done.  I would have thought that after all day of playing with other kids, she would want to play alone, but not her.  Sometimes listening to her play, makes me worry that we get on to her too much. :) She gets on to her toys (she loves little figurines and My Little Pony right now) and puts them in timeout or what not. 

One of her favorite scenes to act out from Frozen is when Anna is knocking on Elsa’s door asking “Do you want to build a snowman?”  Typically I am Anna and she is Elsa. Brian is either Kristof or Sven (the reindeer) and Sunni is Olaf!  I just love how her imagination works!  It makes me so happy to see her having a good one!  She also loves acting out the scene when Anna goes to wake up Elsa in the beginning to play.  “The sky is awake, so I’m awake, so I must PLAY” all while laying on you just like the movie. :)

A couple of weeks we took Zoey to her first fair.  I’m not a fan of fair rides, but Brian loves them!  Looks like Zoey loves them too!  She was laughing the whole time while on the teacups.

She loves to build caves/tents these days.  On weekends she has been either sleeping in her bed as a cave (a quilt over half most of it) or one Sunday afternoon, we got brave and let her sleep in the tent (card table with quilts) in her room.  She didn’t stay in it for when I went to go check on her, she was asleep right in front of her door.  Good practice for when she will sleep on a nap mat at Mrs. Hudson’s. 

She also loves pretending she is scared or the “snow monster”/”dragon”/”monster” is coming to get her.  We have to drive into our caves (either the tent or pull blankets over our heads) to escape it.  One day we were playing and she rolls over to me and puts her arms around me and says “I’ll protect you Mommy.”  Typically she will run to us and jump in our arms to be “protected”.  It was a sweet moment when she did that to me.

I really think this age is one of my favorites.  She is able to communicate with us and has an imagination. 

Thanksgiving 2013

While I know Thanksgiving was six months ago, I do want to share what we did.  This year my parents decided to rent a beach house in Gulf Shores for the week.  My parents and my sister and her family went down the Saturday before Thanksgiving, while Brian, Zoey, and I went down late Monday night. 

This was our first long (ie over 3 hours) car ride with Zoey.  Yes, I know, she was almost 2 years old and we still hadn’t gone more than 3 hours in a car with her.  She was not the best car rider at that point.  We decided to see if leaving around her bedtime and driving through the night would make it a easier drive.  Zoey finally went to sleep around 10:30PM.  The drive couldn't have been worse, weather wise.  It POURED almost the whole way down.  I tried to stay awake as long as I could to help Brian stay awake, but I faded.  We finally arrived to the house around 1:30AM.  Another first happened.  We ended up putting Zoey in bed with us.  She freaked out when we put her in the bed in the room with the girls, then she wouldn’t go back to sleep in the pack-n-play.  Only saving grace of the night was the fact we had a king size bed.  She WOULD NOT lay still nor really go to sleep.  The next day was a LONG day.  Zoey had another first that week, she sleep in a bed (aka not a crib) all week.  All three girls shared a room and she loved it!  She thought she was a big girl!

Zoey right before she finally went to sleep in the car.

This was Zoey’s first trip to the beach.  While it was FREEZING, very out of the normal code, she LOVED the sand.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

Zoey's first movie

A few weeks ago we took Zoey to see her first movie, Frozen. This was a great movie and perfect for her first experience. She sat still the entire movie. She loved the popcorn and anytime she sees previews for the movie she tells us about the movie and eating popcorn. 

 

 

I can't wait for many more movies with my girl! I think her Daddy might take her back to see it next weekend while I'm on my girls' trip.

Snow day

Yesterday was a "snow" day. We hardly got any snow on the ground but it was great to get to stay in and have fun with Zoey.  She must have known it was a snow day since she slept in till about 8:30.

 

This is all the snow we got. :( Not even enough to get out in.

 

Compared to the almost 5inches my parents got!!

 

On snow days you get to eat popcorn for breakfast. Ever since we took Zoey to see Frozen, she has a new found love for popcorn.

 

We played kitchen for most of the morning.

 

Then we moved on the play-doh.

 

We did a little sewing.

 

While I cooked supper, Zoey "baked" goodies for us. I am getting better about letting her make messes like this.

 

We ended the day with us introducing Zoey to Return of the Jedi!