Big Weekend!

This weekend is the weekend that Zoey has been waiting for. She has known her birthday is coming for quite sometime now and has been excited to talk about it and sing to herself the Happy Birthday song. So in preparation for her Birthday Party on Memorial Day, her cousin Kylie (14 months old), Aunt Nicole, Uncle Robby (old), Poppa, and Gia (Grandma and Grandpa Nyhlen) came to stay for the weekend. It wore everyone out--even before the party! The girls had fun together. On Sunday the girls played all morning and after nap, we all went to the YMCA to swim. Zoey and Kylie went down the water slide almost the entire time. Then we played at the park afterwards.

Later on that evening Zoey and Kylie met for drinks in the tub to discuss world events.

After Kylie went to bed, Zoey and I got started on making those "Yellow Muffins"--AKA Cupcakes--for her party the next day. She is such a good helper.

On Monday morning, Zoey helped decorate the cupcakes, and by decorate, I mean eat all the sprinkles herself.

The Birthday Party

Guests arrived for Zoey's party on Monday morning. Above Zoey is with Baby Hazel--again giving big sisterhood a try. She is going to be awesome!

Then Zoey played with her friends in the "Messy Place," her sandbox. All in all there is still more sand in the box than there is on the deck.

Zoey wasn't quite sure how to react to everyone in the room singing Happy Birthday to her and blowing out her candles was still hard to do--especially when all she really wanted to do was dive in and eat her cupcake!

Ah! Finally I get to have my cake and eat it too! Even Kylie ate a cupcake. At her first birthday, she didn't seem to know what to do with cake!

Then of course it was time to open presents. Zoey got so many amazing gifts from her family. Thank you all so much for spending the day with her. She will be talking about today for the next few months (believe me!).

Grandpa takes the cousins on the maiden voyage of Zoey's new all-terrain wagon.

Zoey's new red car was a hit with all the kids at the party. We are still trying to figure out how to put it together correctly, but Zoey is excited to ride around in it. She uses a car just like this at daycare and just loves it--I figure it will be a good toy for a pregnant mom to follow around this summer.

After everyone left Zoey took the nap of her life and then woke up ready to do. . .not much. She decided to eat her snack inside the nice new storage boxes that Nanna and Poppa gave her. Then she perked up a little more when Grandma and Grandpa wanted to take her to the park again in her wagon. She even took her new books along to read on the way.

Zoey, Tyler and I would also like to say congratulations to my mom on her retirement. She has completed her successful teaching career and is now ready to move on. I would have never become a teacher if it hadn't been for her--she is and will always be my biggest inspiration and best mentor--Thanks Mom!

And. . .Congratulations Tammy and Eric on your engagement! The ring is beautiful and I can't wait for you two to set a date (so Zoey has another big event to look forward to--aside from the birth of her baby brother, that is!) We are all very happy for the two of you.

Just a few more pictures of Zoey's party that I just got from Eric. Thanks for sending these--they are precious!

Milestones. . .

As many of you know, Zoey has had a "fear" or maybe just a strong dislike of both sunglasses and anything that goes in her hair--like barrettes. Yesterday she came home from daycare with a barrette in her hair! And today she begged Daddy to go to the CVS on the corner when they got home. Apparently, she went and just put on a pair of sunglasses--so Tyler got them for her. You can barely see it, but the picture below shows her little red barrette.

Naming "Sprout"

Tonight we had just finished supper and let Zoey finish watching her daily dose of Sesame Street, as Tyler and I were talking again about baby names. I looked at Zoey and told her that she needed to help us figure out what to name baby brother. She thought about it and said, "Annika?" We explained that we thought that name was very pretty, but that we needed a boys name. She got up and walked over to the book shelf with a purpose in mind. She brings Tyler and I this book:



How the heck did she know to get THAT book?

Then we looked at it together and she picked out the names Maitias and Gidon--purely on a open the page and point system.

We will keep looking for names.

A Busy May

As the weeks before my school year slowely comes to an end, I am reminded how fast time goes in reality. Does that make any sense? I have been really tired lately, but very busy as well. Tyler and I made the decision that removing the wallpaper from our home would help the sale of the house. So far all it has done is make buyers focus on how old the upstairs carpet is. But the I think the walls look great! Tyler and his dad worked very hard on priming and painted last weekend. Thanks for all that work. So on Mother's Day, I stayed at Nana and Poppa's house with Zoey and just hung out.

Here is a picture of our bedroom--probably the place where the wallpaper was the most prominent. I love the color--it is so peaceful!



We had a showing on Thursday evening so we decided to take advantage of being displaced from our house and go on a picnic at Lions Coon Creek Park--one of Zoey's favorites. She is becoming so independent on the playground. She can climb and go down slides all by herself. Of course that doesn't mean that I don't hold my breath as I watch her play, but it does make me feel a little better about this summer--I was a little nervous about how to entertain her this summer being 8-9 months pregnant. I don't feel comfortable climbing around on the playground.


As for an update on Sprout, I am 30 weeks along. Sprout is growing big and strong--I can tell by how active he is--loves to move around and kick me. All my appointments have gone well. At my last one, the blood test said that my iron was low--so I am taking extra iron supplements to help. It would explain why I have been so tired lately.

Everyone think good thoughts and hope that we can sell our house and find a new one--I would love to have a new place by the time sprout has arrived.