Running a 5K on Turkey Day

So I figure if I put my plan to run the Turkey Day 5K on here I will hold myself to it and push myself harder.  Karla and I ran every morning this last week and although I have a long way to go it feels good to get started and have someone to help me keep going.  I ran some before I got pregnant with Z but I have been having a harder time getting back into it.  It is a little more difficult pushing a stroller while running but I do have Zoë saying: "More run." when I slow to a walk or stop.

My favorite running buddy

The girls getting their workout in after ours

Who likes Tomatoes? We Do!

One of the local farms her in Bowling Green (Need More Acres) hosted the 2nd annual TomatoFest.  This idea stemmed from the East Nashville TomatoFest that we will also be attending in August.  This festival was free of charge and they had a ton of venders sampling delicious food all using Heirloom Tomatoes about 50 feet away from where the food was being served.  It was all so go but the Ice Cream was mine and Zoë's favorite.  YAY for ice cream with no eggs!  Derek liked the cornbread, its like he is from Georgia or something, crazy.  They also had a tasting station with a ton of different varieties of Heirlooms.  One of the local artist and some festival attendees in all ages helped paint a huge tomato mural on the side of the barn.  And of course we are in Kentucky so it would not be complete with out some Bluegrass being played on the front porch.  Zoë's favorite part was blowing bubbles and watching the chickens.  It is so beautiful out there and I am so sad I did not take more photos.

Baby Ezra

Both yesterday and today Zoë and I have been graced with the presence of an adorable baby.  Z has not spent very much time with babies and Ezra is 7 months old.  I was not worried to much with her behavior as much as curious.  She loves her dolls and gets excited to see babies when we are out and about.  Some of her favorite games include pushing around her dolls stroller and putting her dolls and stuffed animals to sleep.

I was beyond proud of my daughter for how sweet she was with him, and also her lack of jealousy when I was holding him.  The only thing was she was a little aggressive with her hugs, this is something she does to all her friends.  This makes me feel a lot better about some day giving her a younger sibling.

Ezra was just hanging out playing with the floor mat when Z decided to climb behind him.  He just kept laughing and smiling at her, this is true even tho the first photo he looks a tad worried.

She's Crafty

So there are times and even some times a whole day that I feel like a really stellar Mom.  Then of course other days that I do not feel like such an awesome Mom, and most days I don't have time to even think about if I am a good or bad Mom.  With the beautiful site that is Pintrest I have gotten a lot of easy, cheap and fun ideas for crafts and experiments.  And sometimes we even do some of them.

Yesterday we used empty apple juice bottles and loaded them with:  ribbon, yarn, felt balls, and buttons.  We then added water.  It is kinda like a fun snow globe.  The task of adding all these items to the bottle was far far more fun then the end product.  Well Zoë actually hates the finished product.  I guess it really is all about the journey not the destination.

Story Time

Our local library does a Toddler Story Time every Tuesday.  We have gone a few times and it has been a lot of fun.  It last about an hour and they read stories, sing songs, dance, do a craft, and even play with toys.  Each week has a theme and todays was Owls.  Today is the first time I remembered to snap some photos.

Playdate with Ellie

We are sad to say that one of Zoë's friends who is just 4 days older is moving to St. Louis.  She got to hang out with us while her Mama did some packing and we had a blast.  I had added some food coloring to ice so as to make water play a little more colorful.  Then we had some Kiwi and Tangerine loaded in ice cream cones.  Ellie loves to play in the ball pit and Z loves to play in her tent, this made Z a little frustrated.  I told her to play with Ellie in the ball pit for a little while and then maybe Ellie would want to play in her tent with her.  Instead Z just played by herself in the tent, but then Ellie decided to come play in the tent too and both the girls had a blast.  We are going to miss Ellie and her Mama a lot, and hopefully we can make it up to visit some time in the not so far future.

Louisville Zoo with Trip

Heather, Trip, Zoë, and I went up to the Louisville Zoo yesterday and also hit up Trader Joe's since it was just down the road.  The Louisville Zoo is quiet a bit bigger then the Nashville Zoo and you can get a lot closer to the animals, especially the Giraffes which is both mine and Zoë's favorite.  One of the Giraffes was so tall that just his legs were as long as I am.  Another plus was that there was a baby Giraffe and if any thing can make something better its a baby.  We also saw a hippopotamus which like a lot of the bigger animals that we were just inches away from (only separated by glass) she wanted to get closer until it was too close then she was scared.  We got to bounce around with the Wallabies and some Geese tried to take our lunch.  We had a fun time and it was perfect weather, as it has been in the 100's here and we got lucky it was only in the 80's and overcast.  It is really funny living in the south where we have the humidity and such warm summers with mild winters.  I spend way more time inside during the summer and in the winter we play outside way more.

I am pretty sure that the kids had a lot more fun at Trader Joe's.  It was a smaller store and not too busy so they both made lots of new friends.  Z and I would go to the next aisle over from Heather and Trip and Z (who is very loud these days) would just yell as loud as she could "Triiiip!".  At check out they both got stickers and Trip was so cute he put one on a pregnant ladies belly behind them in line.  Zoë put all her stickers on her left cheek and one stayed on for a few hours before she noticed it again.  They were very cute on the drive back, Trip was so nice and shared his toys with Zoë and she only wanted something if Trip was playing with it or had touched it.

She got all of about 20 minutes worth of nap in and did great the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Really likes to hold hands these days

Concert in the Park is back!

Here in our lovely not as little as it use to be town, free local music is provided in two of the downtown parks every friday evening in July and August.  This also happens on Wednesday at noon but that's nap time.  Zoë got some of her favorite friends together to dance and play, a little splashing in the fountain also occurred.

It's Zoë's world

It has been a crazy few months for us and I think we have only had 1 weekend in the last 3 months that we did not have an event or trip to go to or on.  Which also means that during the week I usually have many errands to run or packing to do.  So Potty Training has not gone so well and now Z who was off to a good start has now refused to sit on her potty.  One plus on that subject is that she really hates her diapers now so I think with a little more work on it we will be headed back in the right direction.

Zoë has recently developed her first crush on our friend Phil.  This morning she grabbed an old phone case of mine and pretended to make a call.  I asked her "Who are you calling" she said "Phil".  She also will ask for him randomly, which she also does with her other friends Olivia and Trip.  Sometimes when Phil is over she will get upset when he leaves.

Now whenever we go on a walk she likes to race.  Also when she sees a "pretty flower" or a "pretty leaf" or even a pretty piece of trash she inspects it by smelling and sitting on it.  Our walks in her mind are to find birds and dogs to hug, but whenever someone walks up with a dog she freezes.  She will also try and pull up weeds in the ally and I ask her to wait and weed until we get home.

She goes back and forth with referring to her self with "I" and "Wowie".  If we are playing outside and she is jumping which is one of her favorite things to do she will sometimes say:  "I Jump!" or other times "Wowie Jump!" another favorite is "Wowie do it" or "Mommy do it"

When I ask her how old she is she always says "Three"

A few of Zoë's favorite things

Food:  Fruit and couscous, she took out half a watermelon in just two days.  Also Popcorn is a new favorite.

Book:  Any books about potty training, also we have a Dora book that is in Spanish and she just loves it.  We read about 4-6 books before nap and about 10 at bedtime plus a few during the day, she just can not get enough of her books.  It is funny now that she has favorites so at bedtime she picks a few out then I pick a few out and either way I will get a few pages in and she changes her mind.

Park:  She has not wanted to slide at the park for the last few weeks and will only swing for a little while.  Now she just wants to try and conquer the tire swing and this rolling pin thing or just explore the edges of the park.

Game:  Hide and seek.  She will hide behind a curtain (or really anything even just pull her shirt over her head) and say "Wowie".   So I guess since she is an only child she has learned to play Hide and Seek on her own.  Blu learned to play fetch by him self, he would sit at the top of the porch and drop a ball so it would bounce down then a few seconds later he would run after it.  She also loves to hide in a closet and jump out and say "Boo"  She also has been pretending she is scared of Blu and will say "Blu Crazy" and want to run and hide in her play tent and cover up with a blanket.  This is really funny since our old dog pretty much just sleeps all day and is usually sleeping when she does this.  It is not a real fear as she will hug and kiss him but it is so amazing how big of an imagination she already has.

My baby is growing up so fast it is amazing to watch.  She wants to do most things on her own and has the cutest face ever when she is really concentrating on figuring something out.  We have conversations now and they are always very funny.  My favorite part of the day is on my way to bed I check in on her and she is so cute and amazingly funny and confident in her self it warms my heart and brings a tear to my eye I love her so much.

Playing with her friend Ellie at the fountain 

Checking out butterfly's at Lost River

At the Nashville Zoo visiting her one of her favorite animals the Zebra

All 34.5 inches of my daughter

Making the neighbor's dog upset