Quotable

"When me and my mom have a baby, I'm gonna be a big sister." -Zoey

Evidentally she said this to John just now...  while they were outside.  She's picking freshly sprouted blooms.  He's prepping the grill.  (He came in to tell me...  "This is a very quotable zoey blog post.")

I suppose this stems from past conversations about siblings and such.  Plus the fact that she wanted to dress up her teddy bear in clothes this afternoon...  so we opened up a box of her old baby clothes in the basement.  Looking at even the tiniest share of what I have held onto... it simply floods my mind.  

Zoey's phone calls

"Hello..."

Because I took this video on my phone and the file is too big to download directly...  see Zoey on YouTube! 

This is us preparing for Fourth Christmas here at the Manor.  Zoey was calling her friends and family in order to get dinner planned. (I figure.)  She called many people that day.  I even took a video of another few calls, but this one is the best!  I simply LOVE this kid and her imagination!

Enjoy!  (Video from early January 2013)

**Evidentally, I shush her and turn my back when I'm on the phone...  "Monkey see, monkey do!"  oops! 

one very observant toddler...

This is so funny that I stopped in the middle of lunch to write it down!  We are sitting here eating lunch... Zoey has asked (very nicely, mind you) to have the mirror placed near her.  She's carefully eating her dessert (grapes).  When out of nowhere she says,

"This gumball machine doesn't have any place to get out the gum balls?!"

"What?"  I said.

(Pointing to her shirt that has a pink graphic gumball machine on it.)  "This gumball machine, on my shirt, doesn't have any place to get the gumballs out."

"You're RIGHT!"  I said. (pretty shocked... because she is, in fact, RIGHT!  The one on her shirt has a place for the coin and a turn knob, but NO place for the balls to come out.)   "You are very observant."

Then she went right back to making faces at herself in the mirror and eating her grapes. 

****Ah, sweet child.  Sweet, SMART, child...  :)


On this note, I'll also add what happened yesterday (at lunch as well).

We were out shopping trying to find some long sleeved shirts and pants for this long baby...  My sister reminded me that our upcoming trip to the mountains could be rather chilly.  Time was passing, clothes were not to be found (yet).  It was late and time to EAT!  We stopped at Panera.  (Not usually where I like to take a toddler...  but I have finally found something that Z likes and me too... finally.)  We had a bit of a rough start (at the counter)...  not having eaten when we should have...  but we got our food, sat down, and had a really lovely lunch. 

The place was pretty busy and we ended up at a little table situated pretty much IN the booth next to us.  Well, you know what I mean... We were close.  But I never really paid a bit of attention to anyone else but Z and the manager sitting on our other side who was gracious enough to "keep an eye on" Zoey while I went to get the drinks.  As the elderly couple in the booth started to clean up their table and leave, the man started to talk to me about Zoey.  He was very flattering - saying how well behaved she was and what a pleasure it was to see us in the restaurant.  It was really sweet.  As we chatted, he said something that stuck with me...  "Having a child and being a parent are very different things."  How true.  How true. 

He also said that we very both very lucky.  Me lucky to have such a nice kid and she was lucky to have a mom like me.  It was so sweet and unexpected. 

The funniest part was, as we chatted, he told me he thought Zoey was 6 years old!  He almost fell out of the booth when I told him she was just 3.  :)  When his wife came back, she was pretty shocked too at the age.  She probably wouldn't have said 6 (as usually women have a bit better sense of those kinda things), but she was not even thinking 3.  ...Especially when Zoey held up her fingers and told them she was "free." 

The threes are trying at times.  very trying.  for both me and Zoey.  Emotions run at the surface.  We each have our own ideas of what is to be done "right now."  While I know I can always do better....  who's better is really best?  I'm quite proud of the little person that John and I are raising together. 

I just hope she has nice things to say to her therapist later on...  HA!!  ;p

Memorial Day at Sun Valley, Part Two

Here are a few pictures of randomness and fun from Memorial Day.  (And SUPER UBER CUTE...)

I forgot my sandles at home... so I ended up wearing Tracy's around.  (Her feet are two sizes smaller than mine.  She didn't seem to mind.)  :)

The clothesline.

I came into the kitchen from outside to find Tracy and Keith in a bit of a baffled awe...  It seems Mom couldn't get the cardboard box open with her fingers, so she used a pair or scissors to STAB it.  Normally a fine idea (at least for those of us that are quick to rage).... not so much for pressurized cans...

"The fallen."

 After a day of sunscreen, sprinklers, and juciy watrermelon...  I figured this kiddo of mine needed a bath.  Instead of cleaning out the tub (that hasn't been used in more than a decade...  most likely more than two), I found this old washtub.  Zoey LOVED it!  I was just going to sponge her off, but she decided to sit.  :)  Reminds me of when we'd bathe her in the giant sink here at the Manor...

Adorable!!  (Delia helped me... that is her foot in the pic.)

Washtub toes.

There are more super cute tub photos... but I just don't feel like putting those up on the webbie-web.  If you'd like to see them, stop by the manor with some kind of food item (I'll provide the mojitos) and plan to sit for a spell.  :)  

Spinning!

Catching up on my Zoey quotes...  I give you one she uses frequently these days:

While she's spinning around in circles, arms outstretched. 

"I'm spiiinning.  I'm spinning....  I'm spiiiinning! I'm spinning... (stops spinning.  Trying to stay upright.) Uh Oh, our house is gonna fall over!"

While spinning outside...

"I'm spinning. I'm spinning.  I'm spiiinning....  (stops.)  Uh Oh, the outside is gonna fall over!"

Sometimes it sounds like she says "I'm spanning.." which is too cute!

"CHEESE!"

Taken Thursday, January 20, 2011

Perfect family moment.

John's on the phone tonight (Friday).  It's a business call...  so I'm sipping my delicious Zinfandel and sorting through some pictures.  I came across this:

This picture takes me back to that day (January 31st)... almost two weeks ago...  Zoey and I were playing in the front room.  I went to the kitchen for "whatever"...  when I returned to the front room I found this.  The baby of her doll house in this position.  Zoey was no longer interested in the dollhouse; she was on to another toy or game. 

The rest of the family was situated in their own places.  Seen here:

Little Mommy is in the chair, top floor - left side, looking out over the porch area.   Little Daddy is in the kitchen, bottom floor - right side, standing at the stove/sink area.  And of course, the Baby (Little Zoey) is standing on the toilet at the bathroom sink, top right.

I asked Zoey what the family was all doing...  What's the baby up to...?  and all...

She said... (The quotes here are as I remember it - since I forgot to write it all down at the time... so I'll use my motherly artistic license here, mind you...)

"The baby's brushing her teeth."

This is hilarious to me because, as you see, the baby is standing on the toilet.  That's how Zoey does it here.  Her little potty is also a step stool.  She stands on her toilet to brush her teeth.  Genius, I say!!

"What is everybody else doing?"

Zoey: "Little Daddy is making lunch.  And Little Mommy is sitting looking at her flowers."  (John and Zoey had played that there was a garden on the side of the house that could be seen from the bedroom porch.  They played that WEEKS prior to this little exchange of ours.) 

At that time, I asked her many more questions about the family.  Zoey had all the answers.  She had the perfect little set up and knew exactly why she had placed them in the house.  It was AWESOME!!!

**Just thought I'd share that little ditty with you tonight.  :) 

Outtakes!

Here are some outtakes from the mini photo session I pulled together this morning for our Christmas card...  Actually the whole thing could be considered one big outtake - because I was just messing around.  She's not even "dressed up" for a special card.  But then I decided, to just roll with it and order anyway!!  This is real life Christmas, baby!!

I almost used this one as part of the card -simply because it's the face she makes at me a bunch lately.  "Real Life, yo!"

This one is simply titled "Bored."

Too bad this one wasn't in focus - or exposed properly! :)

One of a series of "Runaway" shots....

More evidence of how the whole thing went this morning... :) 

Bribery....

And, just in case you were checking out my house...  We still haven't put any ornaments on the tree.  We might just skip it this year.  Zoey and the cats are doing really well not messing with anything as it is...  and while at Grandma Pat's house, she tried to take every ornament off.  I think I can handle the simple beauty of just lights this year... skip the possibility of something getting broken or eaten or chased around the floor at night (that'd be by the cats).  :)  Or we may put up a few way at the top (like we did when the cats were kittens), but eh...  we shall see. 

And nope, my furniture isn't usually like this...  but moving everything makes a mean area to pretend to ice skate and we frequently move things around for massive dance parties in the afternoon!! 

In the runaway shot you can see the balled up quilts on the hearth...  Usually those are spread out for two reasons...  1) an attempt to keep some cold air out and 2) a slight buffer in case Zoey would happen to fall. 

Oh and none of these pictures have been edited... like at. all.  I'm just not into it - especially without the proper equipment.

Those are just a few of my secrets!!  Happy almost Solstice and Christmas!! 

View from my...Toilet Humor

Sometimes stupid things just strike me as funny at the most random times. Case in point:

This is the view (today) from the toilet. I chuckled to myself at this close up:

Yes, I've seen this package at least one hundred times. Yes, it's moronic. Yes, I still giggled. And, yes, I decided to share!