Hello Sunshine!

Today was so nice, my first Sunday off where I wasn't stressing about going to work the next day, and it was just gorgeous out. Tomorrow (Monday 5/18) my new job starts, hopefully Rick and I will hear back about our apartment, (I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!) So everything is falling into place :)

Zoe and I spent a lot of time in the sunshine today, we trekked across the street to get a creeme and a slushie at the general store. Aunt Beaner came by and played with Zo in the Mexican swing. After Aunt Beaner left Zoe and I went out and snuggled on the swing. She was so tired from running around with her grandparents that she fell asleep for a little while. If anyone spent all day inside today they are CRAZY! It was SO beautiful!

Summer Time?

It's spring in Vermont, almost summer, with the little fake out we had in April zoe and I are trying to get our bearings. The sun will shine but it'll only be 30 degrees...so we are having a hard time staying cooped up. Most of the time we bundle up and peel layers off all over the yard, Zoe has gotten in the habit of leaving boots, socks, sweatshirts, etc. scattered across the lawn. She's very curious, we look under rocks and around my mothers flower beds searching for insects and bugs and spiders and such. Zoe loves bugs, today we found an inch worm and she watched it creep across a branch trying to pet it saying "nice, nice worm".

Zoe also is a 'chicken whisperer'. There is one chicken that will always come out of its pen in our neighbors backyard to see her when ever she is playing. She talks to it and says hello, and the chicken will cluck and talk back to her. They're great friends and its really funny. My parents never seem to get the chicken's attention and it ignores them, but it will get almost close enough for zoe to pet when she's in the yard.

ECHO

wow its been a long time since I posted. Zoe and I visited Echo with Rick last week. We had a lot of fun, Zoe loved the turtles, and frogs. She even got a chance to pet a starfish!
When you first walk in (for those who haven't gone,) there is a big water fall...thing...and a tank of fish swimming around, Zoe kept shrieking with delight, and exclaiming "WOW!" "Oh Wow!" at everything to see and touch and explore. We had a fantastic time.

Krista Visits VT!

Today was WONDERFUL! Krista is back visiting from Alaska, and it was alot of fun, we went to the mall for a bit so Krista could shop, and then we went downtown and walked around, Krista met my Rick friend and we all had lunch together. Rick had to go to work so Krista, Zoe and I headed to my Nana's house. Here are some pictures of Krista and Zo Snuggling/playing:

Shelburne Museum / Balloon Glow Fest...

So little Zoe had her first trip to the Shelburne Museum. I only have one picture of her because my phone is stupid, and she wouldn't hold still.

While at the museum we took a rest by the pond near the blacksmiths shop and managed to become surrounded by DUCKS! Probably close to 50 little ducks were quacking and wandering around us as I threw crackers at them and Zo looked on cheering and babbling excitedly. It was pretty funny, all she would say was "duck, duck duck, duck, woooooooooooo, oooooohhh ahhh".

Later we went to the Castleton jail and locked the baby up. She loved peeping through the bars at us trying to get out as we snapped pictures.

We also stuck around to watch the balloons fill up with hot air and lift off the ground, apparently later that night they had a 'balloon glow' around the museum where they were docked and glowing....I didn't go. It was cold and I had enough 'quality' bonding time with my parents for the day.

Zoe Turns ONE!

We celebrated Zoe's first birthday on August 10, 2009. Boy what an event. Remind me to NEVER ever again have such a huge party. The break down: 7 boxes of cake mix, four 2 lb bags of powdered sugar, 2 lbs of butter and half a gallon of milk = a massive birthday cake for about 45 people, tons of sugar, wrapping paper and toys = one exhausted little one year old, but she had a good time and now has more toys and books than any toddler would ever know what to do with. (Pictures will be uploaded as soon as I have them).

Zoe seemed to be having a rough morning, so as the awesome parent I am, in order to get her to play and stay out from under my feet as I decorated her huge cake, I let her play with a plate full of frosting...she was covered, I was covered, the dogs were covered, and the dishwasher was marked with little hand prints. :D I thought it was pretty funny...until I tried getting the dogs cleaned up X-( oh well, Zazu was thrilled and was sucking on her hands and arms even after I gave her a bath to clean her up, ( I think she was hoping for some leftovers).

More on Zo!

So, time certainly does seem to fly. Little ZaZu will be a year old in just a couple weeks. It's pretty incredible. A few new land marks we've breached...more teeth, and with more teeth comes biting. Thats right, if she can get a hold of you, you're likely to be bitten at this point. ZoZo likes to grab hold of Aunt Kaitlyn's boxer Daisy, and Bite her often, for some reason though it doesn't phase the stupid dog. Zo also snuggles up to you like she wants to be loved on and when you least expect it she nuzzles your arm/shoulder/wherever she can reach and CHOMPS!

And it seems with age children just get more terrible. This child has quite the attitude. "No." and "Don't do that," and "Stop," are very frequent when Zo is free and roaming around the house. She gets into everything, her favorites being potted plants and plants in general. She LOVES picking the flowers and getting the dirt all over the house...its fantastical. My favorite thing about this is when she hears you scolding her or telling her to knock off whatever evil she is wreaking on the house she looks up innocently and give you a little, "I'm adorable, I'll do what I want" smile and return to her business, That or she'll stare blankly at you until you leave her alone and let her continue on her distructive path, these behaviors have caused us to nickname her "Baby Destructo," a name she earned after knocking down EVERY structure built with blocks. She also loves sitting on people who are sitting with her on the floor. If you're sitting on the floor, be warned, you are a prime target, and you will most likely be converted into a chair, like it or not, Zo just turns around, backs up and sits on your lap. It's pretty adorable. :D

But things aren't always stressful, yes she's a growing baby, I get that, and yeah she's going to get into EVERYTHING, I understand that as well. I'm really fine with it, whatever, C'est la vie. She's pretty adorable when she's behaving herself as well. We make a point of dressing her up in one of her seemingly endless supply of dresses. This kid has more clothing than I do...which is saying something...
That's her with my mom (who is trying to fix her bow in the back because someone likes to pull on it and step on it when she's getting into everything she shouldn't be...)

Anyway, all is well in our lives, Zo's 1st birthday is around the corner, the day we arrive back from camping in Maine for a week, so it will be interesting to see how we pull it all off. She's got lots of little friends who will be attending, including her 1st little boyfriend.

The story behind that is odd. I don't have any pictures and I truly wish I did, but anyway... Yaya and Pape took Zo to their friend's house down the road to visit, and they happen to have four grandchildren, so Zo has some little people her own size / age range to play with, well apparently one of them, Finn, and her hit things off and were sharing binkies, 'kissing', hugging, and playing nicely. We had the You-Can-Date-After-You-Get-Married-Talk as soon as I was informed.

Anyway it's 3:30...I'm sure tomorrow will be exciting, hope you enjoy the pictures (K and R you need to update!! I miss you guys!! btw when you come visit I'm thinking Sneakers, heard it's very good / awesome breakfast place)