Being Two

Zoë at two is a lot of fun.  She does a lot of pretending and is really understanding emotion.  She is a little obsessed with looking at pictures of herself and I am not sure if it is a bad or good thing.

Funny things she says:

Hippy Hooray is Hip Hip Hooray

Hippy pot mus is Hippopotamus

When she says Goodnight now she will also say Sweet Dreams

When she says Bye Bye she sometimes will say Nice to see you

Her favorite food is Broccoli and she also loves Cheese.  If she can dip a food it makes her very happy. Their are not to many foods she will not eat.  Sometimes she pretends something is yucky even though she really likes it.

Her current favorite books are: The Giving Tree and a Bad Case Of The Stripes

Blue is her favorite color but Pink is a close second.

Itsy Bitsy Spider is her favorite song and she can sing most of it.

She can say her ABC all the way to E and when she counts now she says: "2 1 2 1 4" instead of just a short time ago she would just say 2 over and over again.

She still really likes to hide and scare people.  She will be standing there not even hiding and just scream "BOO!"  O ya she loves to scream, which is not fun.  She is only allowed to scream outside and will stop when I remind her of it but man those times in the car when it comes out of nowhere is going to give me a heart attack one of these days.

Dinosaurs are really big for her.  She has probiotic that she takes everyday that is in the shape of a dinosaur.  When Granny was here for a visit she got Zoë a little rubber dino that Z cuddles with and she carry's it around in her purse.

She is constantly talking she says usually everything she is doing while she is doing it.

She really likes to talk about her friends, when we drive by her buddy Tripps house she says: "Tripp House!"  She pretend calls Gracie on her play phone.  And at bed time she talks about the kids in her class and we talk about who will be at class the next day.

Fall in Florida

We spent our Fall Break down in Pensacola Beach Florida.  It is a 9 hour drive and with a 2 year old this worried me a little.  Of course the amazing Zoë did a great job!  We borrowed a friends DVD player and this was a big help.

Once we arrived we went straight down to the beach.  Z loved the surf.  She kept pushing me away saying Go Away Mommy which of course made me sad.  When we left the Beach we had to strip her down and rinse her off before we could go back to our room.  I was completely unprepared for her fearlessness.

On days two and three we stayed mostly in the room since a bad storm was coming in and it was very windy.  We did squeeze in a little pool time when the sun came out.

After the storm past we had beautiful weather.  We spent most of the days napping, at the pool or at the beach.

hunting for sea shells

First sand castle at the beach!

 We cooked most of the meals at the condo but did go out for a couple meals and our favorite was Peg Leg Pete's where my mom was able to see us on the bar camera.  We also got to feet fish and they had a playground so Zoë loved it!  Sadly I did not get any good shots from Peg Leg's.

One night the six adults went out while the five kids stayed at the condo.  I so appreciate the girls watching Zoë, Thank you Carrie, Emily, Natalynne, and Malory.  Extra special thank you to Emily for dropping us off and picking us up.  While out we all walked out on the Pier where we saw a few sharks and stingrays.  We walked to a couple bars and a big drink in the region is called a bushwhacker and it taste like a chocolate and coconut milk shake, so good.  One of the bars had Skeet ball!  We were all playing and a few tables over an awkward gentleman who was only wearing swim trunks and a creepy smile began to do air skeet ball, mimicking us.  I was trying so hard not to laugh as he creeped me out and I did not want to encourage him.  I totally wish I would have gotten a photo of him.

Renee took some family photo's for us as it seems so difficult to get a shot of all three of us let alone a good one.  Zoë decided she did not like the idea and the sun was so bright we only got a few good shots out of more then a hundred photos.  Thank you so much Renee!

How sweet huh

This is what we really looked like

It was a blast and was a much needed vacation.  I think it may be a new fall tradition!

Back to School

So I started a new job way back on August 13th and I am just now getting to blogging about it.  I am a three year old assistant teacher for one of the early learning centers here in Bowling Green.  I absolutely love it, its not easy by any means but I really love it.  The hours are perfect 8:30 until 2:30 Monday through Friday.  The program runs on the county school schedule so I get a week off in the Spring and Fall as well as Winter and Summer break.  Plus all Holidays.  Zoë comes with me and is in the one year old (due to when her birthday falls) class room directly across the hall.

The days fly by and it has really been a challenge to balance it all but its well worth it.

I am beyond amazed by the three year olds in my class.  It crazy to think Zoë is only a year away from that.  I can not believe how clever and creative they are!

First Day of School!

Warning this will make you dizzy

Zoë loves to video herself as well as look at herself in the mirror.  It has been fun to see what she videos when I had her my phone.

Dancing

Around the house

Chattanooga

Last weekend we headed south for a visit in Georgia to see Na Na and Pop.  When we can we usually head to Chattanooga for some fun.  This time we really had a lot of fun at some places we have not been to before.  First we hit the Zoo.  The Chattanooga Zoo is small but really neat, it had some really cool creatures.  Zoë walked the entire Zoo all on her own no stroller and rarely had to be carried.  A couple times when we were just on the other side of the glass from a Jaguar or Cheetah she would say "I scared" and want to be held for a minute then she would say "Wowie down".

The best family photo :(

Derek's highlight for the weekend was a trip to Champy's chicken.  He claims it is the best fried chicken he has ever had.  Since he is the one from the south and also has eaten much more meat in his lifetime then I have I will take his word.  Bernie's on NE Alberta in Portland is still my favorite.  Any who the place had a great vibe and beer is served in 40 oz. size with a 40 oz. coozie which was very fun.  Zoë of course had a blast and as usual ate her weight in food.

That night Derek and I got to have a date night.  After dinner we watched a bike race that was a 24 hour race.  These dude's were going very fast especially considering they were about 18 hours in.

It was a great weekend and we had lots of fun but it must have worn us out as we all came home sick.

Tomato Festival Nashville Tenn.

As previously mentioned we did attend the East Nasty Tomato Festival.  We were accompanied by Ben, Brandy, and Ezra.  It has been a couple years since we have been and it sure has grown.  There was a lot of pretty art to look at and lots of fun people to watch.  We had Z in the stroller and I apologize to all those feet I ran over.  Her walking was out of the question and it was pretty hot for the backpack.

We were all pretty hungry soon after we arrived so we headed to Drifters and found a great table outside, then after what seemed like an eternity of no service and a hot sun beating down on us we found another great table inside.  We finally got to order our food and eventually got it, and it was super yummy!  The wait staff was great and they were super busy so I felt bad for them.  The whole food ordeal took 2 hours and I was pooped after it was all done.  Keeping my crazy wild child entertained and sitting in one spot for 2 hours past her nap time was about all I could take.  Then when we stepped outside to change diapers and load the kids in the strollers, we all thought we heard Jack White on the stage about a block away.  Now he is known to hang out in that neighborhood and he resides some where in the Nashville area so this was not far fetched to be true.  Upon arrival to the stage we find out that no it is not at all Jack White but defiantly sounds a lot like him.

We got loaded in the car and Z was asleep within minutes.

freedom after lunch

Her favorite part of the day, walking along the curb all the way to the car

Painting with water

One of my favorite crafts is getting out the crate paper, small dish of water, and paint brushes.  This keeps Z happy for a while and she loves when I "Paint" with her.  Another great thing is we can use the same crate paper over and over again.