Lessons Learned 4-27-2007 @ 3:00 am

1. Don't let Zoe have entire sippy cup of milk 1/2 hour before bed time

2. Making a bed at 2:30am (after being asleep for 3 hours, then abruptly woken by a crying, wet child) should be an Olympic sport - I mean how many times can you turn a sheet before it is on the right way?

3. I hate vacuuming stairs - not that I have done this yet today being that it is only 3am, but I need to, really, really need to - before approximately 30 people arrive at my house this weekend for Tony's poker tournament

I am off to again attempt falling back asleep...

$47.00 4-24-2007

$47.00 at $0.10 per can/bottle = 470 cans/bottles

Maybe we should rethink the biyearly recycling plan...

WICKED!! 4-22-2007

This weekend, Tony & I travelled to Chicago to see the musical WICKED. It was a great time. We stayed at the Hotel Allegro which was 3 blocks from the theatre. The weather was beautiful, the show was terrific... a very refreshing weekend.

4-18-2007 Celebration Dinner

Zoe much enjoyed her celebration dinner at McDonald's - especially the ice cream!! (She even went #2 in the potty while we there). Yeah!!

YEAH!!! 4-18-2007

Well, today might be a break through. Zoe went #1 and #2 in the potty. We are celebrating with lots of candy, a balloon & a trip to McDonalds tonight for supper. It has been an exhausting morning, but hopefully this trend continues....

Daughter - what daughter? 4-17-2007

This evening, I had a sudden craving for peaunt butter bars - like the ones we used to have in elementary school. (Please do not read anything into the use of the word craving.) I went online looking for a recipe that I had used in the past. I found the recipe & discovered that we had about 1 teaspoon of creamy peanut butter (not quite the cup and a half the recipe called for). Well, we did have an almost full just of crunchy I could use. I start working on the recipe & discover it requires an egg (something we also don't have - we borrowed 3 eggs last night from our neighbor Susan). Next plan, I lovingly asked my husband to go get a mix for them at the store (& some eggs & peanut butter while he's there - can you tell I was on vacation last week & did no grocery shopping?). Anyway, Tony is not too receptive to this plan, so I decide to go myself. As I am getting my shoes, Tony says that he will go. But, no that's okay, I will go. He then asks if I want him to come with me. I laugh and say "Yeah, right!". He says, defensively, "I said I would go or come with you!!" To which, I reply, "What about your daughter upstairs asleep?" He says, "Oh yeah, I forget about her." Hmmm....guess his plan of us both going isn't going to work. Needless to say, I went by myself, procured the peanut butter bars and am now waiting for them chill. As for Tony, I am not sure how he could forget about Zoe since he spent half of his evening in the bathroom with her sitting on the potty, but not actually going potty.

Happy Easter!!! 4-8-2007

Travelling for the fourth weekend in a row, we returned to Columbus to celebrate Easter with Tony's side of the family. Zoe had a great time playing with all of her cousins, hunting for Easter eggs & finding her Easter basket (the candy involved may have been the best part). We also celebrated Shannon, Zoe & Grandma's birthday on Saturday - including a quick dip at what has to have been the coldest indoor hotel pool ever!! Nonetheless, the kids all had a great time. Sunday, Aunt Kathy prepared a delicious Easter brunch. We went to the noon service at their church where poor Shannon threw up during the service. Quite a memorable Easter all-in-all.

We stopped for dinner on the way home at my Aunt Kathy's to drop Zoe off with my Mom & Dave with whom Zoe was spending the following week. Zoe got even more candy in another egg hunt with Carson & Ava.

Easter Eggs 4-5-2007

This evening, Zoe colored Easter eggs. She had a great time with Daddy helping her color them & then Mommy helping her decorate them - as princesses of course.

Fort Rapids 4-1-2007

This weekend, we travelled to Columbus to Aunt Kathy & Uncle Jason's house. Saturday night, we cheered Ohio State on to its victory over Georgetown. On Sunday, we went to Fort Rapids where the three girls all had a great time. It is safe to say that all parties involved were exhausted by the time we returned home. (I do not actually remember being this tired anytime in the recent past.)

Roller Skating with the Easter Bunny!! 3-29-2007

This morning, Zoe went *roller skating* with the Easter Bunny!! Disappointingly, the Easter Bunny didn't actually roller skate. I mean, if you were "really" good, you could skate in one of those costumes.

Anyway, you will also notice there are no pictures of Zoe with the Easter Bunny as she was too scared to get much closer to him than 6 feet. This is Zoe's 2nd time skating and she did a really good job - actually skating a bit. Last time was entirely comprised of roller-walking. She did manage to take both of us down once & I took us down another time. Of course, the best part was the easter eggs - which contained chocolate candy.

Happy Birthday Zoe!! 3-26-2007

What beautiful weather we had today (sunny and 80 - haha to those people in Arizona, it's not *always* bad weather here). Zoe and I spent most of the day outside. We blew bubbles & played hopscotch. Then, after a birthday lunch of grilled cheese, we walked up to Cold Stone & Zoe enjoyed some beary berry blue ice cream. We stopped at the park on the way home and then she had a nap. For supper, Miss Susan, Daddy (with 3 balloons) & the Saunders met us at Red Robin for Zoe's birthday supper. She especially enjoyed her free ice cream sundae. Zoe had a good day (although I don't think she really understood that today was her birthday!!)

Zoe's Birthday Party!! 3-24-2007

Today, we celebrated Zoe's birthday with my side of the family. Zoe had a great time blowing out the candles & opening all of her presents - she now has an entire summer wardrobe due some very generous grandparents. Lots of princesses could be found at the party - including Cinderella's castle (one of the cakes), books, dolls and lots of clothes.

Making Supper 3-22-2007

This morning, while I peacefully (read accidentally) dozed on the couch, Zoe lovingly made me supper -- on the kitchen floor -- using new bags of powered & brown -- that she opened using scissors -- my good "fabric only" scissors (she tried to used the kitchen shears, but couldn't figure out to get them unlocked) -- the scissors were obtained from the supposedly "locked" den (locked due to previous incident - see below). This is the last of many such incidents in the past week or so. These include:

-> Putting on make-up - using an entire tube of lipstick & mascara
-> Rubbing an entire glue stick on the foot of our bed
-> Emptying 3 things of chapstick in various places
-> "Cleaning" her room - this means emptying everything out of her dresser onto the floor.
-> Getting black paint all over herself (including her hair - which may still have paint in it) & on the floor of the den
-> Squirting suntan lotion all over the floor of her room & her crib & the footstool & the wall & the book shelf & the books.

I've come to the only appropriate conclusion -- that the next stage of toddler development involves her being tied to a chair since she obviously cannot be trusted once she is out of my sight -- the suntan incident having occurred while she told me she was playing with her dollhouse...

Anyway, I was too furious about the other incidents to have taken a photo, but Tony asked me to document this one (apparently there is some doubt in his mind that they are actually taking place)...

3-18-2007 Trip to Louisville

This weekend, Tony & I went to Louisville, KY to see the Blue Man Group - as my Valentine's Day gift to him. We stopped in Blufton on the way down to celebrate Uncle Ben's birthday & to drop Zoe off. We left Bluffton Saturday morning and stopped in Cinncinati to watch the Ohio State BB game (very close to Xavier actually). We stayed at The Brown hotel in downtown Louisville - home of the famous "Hot Brown" sandwich - which neither Tony nor I actually had. Saturday night we went to the show - which was very good - with lots of stuff we had seen before, but lots we hadn't also. We headed home on Sunday.

3-16-2007 Happy Birthday Uncle Ben!!

We celebrated Uncle Ben's birthday on this Friday. Zoe, as always, enjoyed helping him blow out the candles and unwrapping his gifts. She even told him what was in them - before he opened them - as she had helped me wrapped them.

3-3-2007 Happy Birthday Uncle Matt!!

After going to the OSU - Michigan basketball game, we celebrated Uncle Matt's 18th birthday. Zoe helped him blow out the candles & enjoyed her frosting. (Yes, Uncle Matt is a Michigan fan, but we won't hold it against him - well, not too much anyway).

3-2-2007 Princesses on Ice

Today, Zoe & I went to see Princess on Ice at the Palace of Auburn Hills. It was a neat show & Zoe had a great time - especially since she got to wear her Cinderella dress to the show.

2-22-2007 Sesame Street Live

Today, we met Daddy downtown to go see Sesame Street Live. It was mass confusion, but Zoe had a great time (although her favorite part might have been the M&Ms.).

2-14-2007 Valentine's Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day at home with Zoe. I made a heart-shaped red velvet cake & even heart-shaped muffins. Zoe enjoyed her gift - most especially the jelly beans...

2-9-2007 Happy Birthday Ava!!

We travelled to Bluffton this weekend to help Ava celebrate her first birthday. Ava enjoyed her cake tremendously - even though she was exhausted. Zoe enjoyed ordering Poppa Dave around & even got him to put on some princess accessories.