Zoe's Boxcar Race

 

Zoe & Matt had a great time building her custom box car for preschool. They worked very hard together & Zoe was hauling!

Grandma visits

Grandma's been visiting! We've had a nice few days so far. I've caught up on a few things for moving, we've hung out, cooked some, enjoyed the girls, and of course she got to see our future home. I loved these photos of Grandma & the girls! Good times.

cheerio!!

Sophia tried Cheerios for the first time this week. It was adorable to see her try to get those things in her mouth! She is at a great age to start, great for the hand-eye coordination. It was so cute, though... I'm pretty sure I found more cheerios in her jammies than made it to her mouth! LOVE it!

Happy bears

We were so happy to have discovered the birthday party option at build-a-bear. It was a good deal & they did an incredible job. Zoe was happy because all her friends came & she got to be the star. They did a really cute ceremony where each guest got two hearts that said "I love you." They placed one heart in their bear and one heart in Zoe's. They also had lots of little games for the kids to play. All seemed to have a great time. Happy 5th Zoe!

A day for her

The day before Zoe's birthday we brought treats to her school. A few days after we were having a party with her friends. But I couldn't just NOT do anything on her birthday!! So at the begining of the day we made a list of all the things she wanted to accomplish on her birthday. It included:
go to the park, have a picnic, build a fire, get wood with daddy, legoland, play with carebears and CHART, find treasure, go on a walk, make paper snowflakes, play on the computer, have a puppetshow, watch a cartoon, make In N Out burgers & fries, listen to daddy on the radio, take a shower, have a photoshoot & draw on her hands.

We accomplished almost all-- except for have a puppet show & make paper snowflakes... and of course we couldn't go to legoland. When Matt got home at the end of the day, I was totally spent so he told Zoe she should thank mommy for all the wonderful things we did together that day. And she said "but she didn't have a tea party!" STINKER!!

It was a fun day! I'm glad we did it.

five

My sweet girl is turning 5. I am feeling quite sentimental as I look over these old photos. She has grown so quickly over these past five years. Everyone says they grow quickly, but I didn't believe how insanely quick it has been. Seems just yesterday she was a gift to us for the first time & five years have flown by!! It's fun to reflect and think about how she's changed over these last few years.

At age 5 "I can do it myself" is in full swing from getting her shoes on to cooking to manning the remote control. She is so very thoughtful & a good friend. She looks forward to the days she has preschool and adores her teacher. We love seeing all the things she has learned. Sometimes after we tuck Zoe in at night, we stick around to hear her sweet little prayers. Sometimes we hear her thanking God for her date with daddy, or getting to walk to school or hanging out with mommy.

We love that girl!!

oh to be 5!

Keeping it Fun

I need to be proactive in thinking of fun things to do in our every day. That's why I love blogs like A Magical Childhood, which is always full of fun ideas to make memories and enjoy the day to day with your kids. Below are some of the ideas I hope to accomplish in the next few months.

Do a photoshoot with each child (Zoe will be 5 next week & Sophia, 9 months)

Camp out in the living room

Start seeds indoors for garden

Start a recipe scrapbook

Sock skate on our big floor

Decorate the house with snowflakes

Have a tea party with Zoe

Help Sophia to crawl & stand

Make cards for winter birthdays

Smile as Matt makes a Valentines box with Zoe

Help Zoe make Valentines

Breathe on windows & draw on them

Send Matt & the girls off to the daddy-daughter dance

I would personally like to learn a new craft (maybe woodwork?) & take a class... we shall see.

I'm going to make this a living document, so I might be adding more as I find ideas...

Waving

just figured this out

Matching rockstars

I had to do some photos with the girls in these new outfits they got for Christmas. Pretty rockin'!

Zoe told me she wanted to look like her friend Meagan that day. She tried to describe her hair and I tried my best to do it. After I did her hair, I finished putting this outfit on. She got upset and said, "mommy, i wanted to look like Meagan, not a pirate!" :)

Little sitter!!

Isn't she adorable? She is finally sitting more solidly! We still have to keep a close eye because she often topples right over. :) But she's definitely becoming a strong sitter!