You Make Bathtime Lots of Fun

One of Zoe's favorite things to do in the world is have a bath.  If she is in a bad mood and we can't seem to cheer her up, all we have to do is put her in the bathtub and the world is wonderful again.

Look at how crazy her hair is when we take it out of a style!  I can't believe how long it is getting.

She loves being in the tub, just splashing and having a good time.

Here she is, all clean, hair tamed a little.  What a cute little angel.

Dinosaurs!

Last week, for spring break, we went with some friends to the Dinosaur Museum.  It was really busy since it was spring break, but it was still a lot of fun.  We ended up staying there for over four hours.  We went through the entire museum with our friends and then, when it was time to go, Robby decided he wanted to see some things again, so we went through the whole thing all over again.  He loved it and it was fun for me to see him so interested.

Zoe was a little trooper through the whole thing.  I couldn't believe she lasted through 4 hours at the museum, but I think she had a pretty good time.

Robby wanted to read all of the signs and learned so much while we were at the museum.  One of his favorite things was a big map that would light up to show you where dinosaurs lived.  He was fascinated by it and would have probably stayed there all day.

Zoe's favorite was sitting on the floor in the little play area, playing with the dinosaurs.

Zoe loved anytime she could get out of the stroller and crawl, but she didn't like when Robby tried to get her to sit still so we could take a picture.

Sometimes getting her to hold still wasn't a possibility.

At the end of the museum, they have a big sandbox where you can dig for dinosaur bones.  Robby loved it.  He enjoyed digging and probably could have spent hours just in that sand box.

I didn't know what Zoe would think of the sand, but she really enjoyed it too.

She loved to wiggle her toes in the sand.

We all had a really great day.  It made me excited for summer when we can spend more time together doing fun things.

9 Months

Wow, what a difference a month makes.  Zoe has changed so much in the last month.  It is crazy.

Her whole short life, Zoe has been completely immobile.  She didn't learn to roll over until just recently and she never used it as a method of getting around.  She has never been able to scoot or really move around at all.  We had a couple of tough months where she was really frustrated because she wanted to be able to move, but couldn't figure out how to do it.  Then, about 3 weeks ago, within one day, the whole world changed.  In one day, everything clicked.  One day she couldn't move, the next she could scoot, crawl, sit herself up, pull herself to standing, and walk around furniture.  I couldn't believe she learned it all at once.  She is now so mobile and so happy.  She can go anywhere she wants and is really fast.  She gets into everything, but is so fun to interact and play with.  This is an awesome age.

She loves to crawl around now and explore the world.  She will go off on her own and find things to get into.  The second she sees me though, she comes crawling back as fast as she can and pulls herself up to me so I will pick her up.  It is my favorite thing that she does.  I love to see her so independent and so excited to discover the world, but I also love knowing that she wants to come back to me, that she loves me, and feels more comfortable with me than anywhere else.  It makes me very happy.

In the last month, she has also grown two very cute teeth.  She now pretty much refuses to eat baby food, but wants to eat whatever is on our plates.  Her favorite foods right now are meatloaf, graham crackers, and cheerios.

Zoe is just an amazing little girl.  I can't even believe how much my life has changed in the last 9 months.  I can't imagine our family without our little Zoe.  She fits in so well and really makes our family feel so right.  She is the most beautiful girl in the world to me and I will always be grateful for her.

Easter Festivities

I think Robby has only dyed Easter eggs once in his life.  In my defense, I think that boiled eggs and vinegar are two of the nastiest smells on the planet, but I guess that is really no excuse.

This year, I decided I really should let him dye eggs.

He had a blast.  When it was over, he asked me how I came up with such a great idea and if we could make it our Easter tradition.  I had to explain to him that actually I am just a terrible mom, that most people do dye eggs every year, and that yes, it could be our tradition.  I guess dealing with the nasty smell is worth it when I see how happy it makes him.

Easter day was great.  We woke up to eggs hidden all over from the Easter bunny.  When Robby walked in the room, he saw eggs all over the floor.  He asked me why the Easter Bunny would just put eggs on the floor, he should know that Robby is better at finding eggs than that.  It took quite a while before it dawned on him that those eggs were for Zoe.  It is hard to get used to the idea that the world doesn't only revolve around him now.

Zoe wasn't really too interested in the eggs, but she still had a lot of fun.

Robby got a new watch for Easter, which he was really excited about, plus quite a bit of candy.

After Church my family and Kirk's parents came over for dinner.  It was a lot of fun spending time with all of them and just enjoying being together.

My parents brought Zoe this big huge ball.  She thinks it is the greatest thing ever.  She loves playing with it, even though it is bigger than she is.

I made Zoe's Easter dress this year.  I procrastinated it until the last minute, so it was a little stressful, but I was really happy with how it turned out.  Unfortunately, I never managed to get a very good picture.  Here was our best attempt.

Yes, she is part lion.

And here is one more pictures, just because I couldn't resist.

One is Silver and the Other's Gold

Tuesday, Zoe and I went and visited Amy, my roommate from freshman year at BYU.

It was so great to see her.  I haven't talked to her in almost 10 years, but we had so much fun.  It seems like it wasn't that long ago that we were sitting in our tiny little dorm room talking into the wee hours of the morning.  Amy cooked us a great lunch, including homemade bread.  Yum!  We sat outside on her porch, ate our lunch, watched the babies play, and just talked.  It was so fun to get caught back up and hang out with her again.

Amy has an adorable little boy, Sam, who is just a couple of months older than Zoe.  It was the first time Zoe had been around another crawling baby since she learned to crawl, and she loved it.  They had so much fun, crawling around in the grass and the dirt, just hanging out together.

We already are making plans to get together again.  I see a zoo visit in our future.

I love reconnecting with old friends, and Zoe had a great time making a new one.  Thanks Amy and Sam for a great day.

Swimming for the Birthday

Last weekend, we had Robby's final birthday celebration.  For a few years, when Robby and Kalvin were younger, we used to take them to a little kid indoor amusement park for their birthdays.   They always had a lot of fun, but they have kind of grown out of it now.  So, they decided that this year for their birthdays, they wanted to stay in a hotel and go swimming.  We stayed at a hotel a whole 15 miles away from our house, but the kids had a blast so it was worth it.

Zoe is very much our little fish.  She loves the water.  We have been wanting to take her swimming for a long time now, so it was nice to finally get the chance to go.  Robby, who has always hated the water and refused to get his face wet, is finally doing better in the water too.  He even jumped in the pool, which was pretty impressive.

Isn't she cute in her swimming suit.  I actually bought this suit at the dollar store.  I couldn't pass it up for $1.  I love it.  Also, notice the cute hair.  This was our first time putting beads in her hair and it was so cute.

I love the smile on the birthday boy's face.  He was having so much fun.

Robby and Kalvin had a blast playing together.  We swim together a lot in the summer, but it has been a long time.  They were happy to get back in the water.

Zoe loved swimming.  She didn't like being in this floatie much though.  She wanted to be in the water where she could splash and play. The floatie lifted her too far out of the water.

Me and my kiddos

Even though he is missing in all of these pictures, Kirk did swim with us too.  He just got out of the pool before the rest of us and played photographer.

I couldn't believe how much fun Zoe had in the water.  She wasn't too sure about it at first, but it only took a few seconds before she was completely comfortable.  She just kept splashing as much as she could.  Her face was soaking wet and it didn't bother her a bit.  She loved it when I would throw her in the air and catch her when she went into the water, making a huge splash.  It is kind of weird having a water lover in the family.  We will see if that sticks.

Robby really enjoyed hanging out with Kalvin and just getting away for the night.  It was really a lot of fun for all of us.  It was a bit of an adventure staying in a room with the kids.  Zoe doesn't sleep well without her bed, but we took the pack and play and she actually did pretty well.  Robby on the other hand, was up all night, groaning because he didn't feel good.  That wasn't much of a surprise considering the fact that he ate soup for dinner, then later he ate a piece of pizza, some rootbeer, 2 cups of hot chocolate, and three and a half doughnuts.  He must be going through a growth spurt right now because he has been eating a ton, but that much food would make anyone sick. Even with the rough night, Robby had a blast, and was sad when it was time to go home.  We were all pretty exhausted, but it was all worth it to see the kids have such a good time.

Wacky Wednesday for a Pretty Unwacky Little Boy

For April Fools Day, the 1st graders at Robby's school had Wacky Wednesday.  They were supposed to dress wacky, do their hair wacky, and they did everything on a wacky schedule.  Robby has a real problem with days like this.  He is a rule follower and a perfectionist in many ways.  In his mind things should be done a certain way and any deviation from that really throws him off.  When he was two, he had a schedule of clothes that he would wear.  The day after laundry day he wore his red shirt, the next day his blue one and so on.  He would melt down anytime I tried to get him to wear something that wasn't in the schedule, and I don't even want to remember the trials we went through when he grew out of those clothes.  In preschool, he refused to wear anything that they made in class (hats, necklaces, anything).  He though that they looked funny and they were not normal things to wear so he was not going to do it.  We did finally have a massive breakthrough in kindergarten when he let me do his hair spiky for crazy hair day.  So this year, we were ready to go all out for wacky wednesday.

He wore his pajama pants tucked into a pair of my socks, he wore his shirt inside out, and he let me spike his hair.  It just about killed him to do it though.  Our conversation on Wednesday morning went something like this:

R: Mom, are you sure it is okay that I am wearing these weird clothes.

M: Yes, I'm sure.  It is Wacky Wednesday, you are supposed to dress weird.

R: Ya, but only the 1st graders are having Wacky Wednesday.

M: So?

R:  What if the principal sees me? Will he know that the 1st graders are having Wacky Wednesday?  Will he care that my hair looks weird?  What about when I go to lunch?  Will they let me have lunch when I look silly?

M: It will be fine bud.  Everyone knows that it is Wacky Wednesday.  Everyone will think you look great.

R:  But mom, there are security cameras like every 2 feet in our school.  I don't know if it will be okay.

I did manage to convince him that everything would be okay.  He wore his crazy clothes and crazy hair and he survived it.  In fact, I think he even enjoyed his day.  The moment he walked in the door after school though, he asked me if he could change his clothes and if I would fix his hair.  I am sure that it drove him crazy all day.

For dinner, I told him that we were going to have dessert first.

We had meatloaf and mashed potato cake.  It didn't look quite like I wanted it too, but it fooled Robby.  He really thought I was going to let him eat cake for dinner.

After dinner we had cookie hamburgers, made out of Vanilla Wafers, Grasshopper cookies, frosting, and coconut.  They were lots of fun.

Robby struggled a little bit even with the April Fools dinner idea.  I kept telling him that he needed to eat his dessert so he could have dinner.  He kept telling me that it wasn't actually dessert that we were eating, it was dinner.  He could barely handle it that I was saying it wrong.

Robby's perfectionism and gullibility are two of the things I love most about him, but I am very thankful for days like April Fools Day that help him learn to lighten up a little. It is fun to watch him struggle with something that he knows isn't quite right, but still have fun with it at the same time.  At least for his sake, April Fools Day is only once a year.