whoah

well this is awesome!!!!! dad got me a kindle and i just learned that it has a wweb browser so now i can get online from anywhere and do fun things like this. maybe i can post some things a they are happening instead of forgetting them days later

dots

So I hear Zoe say "mom, it's stuck on. It's stuck on. It's stuck on." and I turn around and she's got these stickers all over her that Grandpa sent for her. And then she says that she has the chicken pox. I gave her a piece of paper and she transferred the stickers to the paper.

GeoTrax

where's tammy?

octopus

not a book.

Zoe is opening the cottage from Nana Jo. I don't know why she thinks it's a book. And I also don't know why she sounds so disappointed that it is not a book. But it's funny.

Birthday play-by-play

First - THANK YOU for all of the fantastic gifts and LOVE that you sent for Zoe. She had a great birthday because she has so many people that care for her.

We had a good day. Pete was working on a building in Lynnwood and he was able to come home for lunch and open presents with Zoe. She got an amazing Calico Critters cottage and furniture & accessories from Nana Jo and Aunt Annie. It even has lights that turn on inside the house. It goes with the bunny family that Zoe got from Rowan's mom, Jen, for her birthday last year. This, btw, is the doll house/etc that I want Zoe to have. So if you, or someone you know, wants to get Zoe a little gift that is "doll house-y", look at the Calico Critters stuff. It's at the usual toy stores & online. It is definitely a little pricey, but totally worth it in my opinion because it's so well-made and detailed. Nana Jo sent the Birthday Girl t-shirt that Zoe is wearing, too. Thanks!!! It might still fit next year?

Uncle Doug & Aunt Tammy sent some very fuzzy moose pajamas that I think Pete would have put on if they were a bit bigger. He loves them. There was also a great box of sea life animals with a submarine and a boat. Zoe took the animals out of the box one-by-one and then looked in the empty box and asked "where's the sea? where's the sea, mom?" And then she insisted on taking a bath so that she could play with the boats in the water. She really likes the octopus.
Uncle Doug & Aunt Tammy sent a GeoTrax set, too. It's really awesome! We were actually at the toy store last night and I looked at all of the parts & pieces that we could get to add on to the Radiator Springs set that Zoe has now. Some of the sets have remote control cars and the tracks are really sturdy and easy to assemble in lots of different ways. The cars stay on the tracks really well, which is the point of this brand, and they're big so that little hands can push them around easily. There was a cool Christmas set with a Santa train and a bridge with working lights & ho-ho-ho sounds. fun!

Betty & Everett sent some cute pj's and pink slippers with bows on them. Zoe looks super cute in them and they keep her toes toasty!

Pete went back to work in the afternoon and then Janie and Constance were here later. Rowan is out of town and everybody was kind of busy on the Monday before Christmas, so it was the 5 of us, which was just right anyway. We ordered pizza that Zoe likes [dominos] and watched Beauty & the Beast on tv. Then we piled into the jeep and went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream sundaes! Two scoops!! Then we went to Toys R Us so that Janie could get a My Little Pony for Zoe, but they were all modern & weird looking and not at all like the My Little Ponies that Janie loved when she was a kid [last year], so she picked out some My Littlest Petshop animals. She brought it back to the house and wrapped it up and gave it to Zoe who said "A present for me? I'm so surprised! Thank you!" and it was hilarious.

We are still enjoying all of the new toys today and I know that we will for a long time. It's fun to have things that we can add to - like the GeoTrax & the Calico Critters - instead of things that we have to replace.

********** Thank you again! Zoe is here saying "let's go mom, let's go mom, let's go mom, let's go mom" and I think she wants to play Candyland [my birthday gift to her] so I'll try to continue this post later!

FYI - we have the webcam & Skype set up for free video calls. If you want to do this, just call me or text or set up a time and we'll do it!

3rd birthday!

blowing out the candles

Zoe put the candles in the cupcakes and she wanted a candle in each one, which is why there are 7 instead of 3. While we were singing happy birthday she yelled "stop singing!" at us - hence the joke at the end of the video. The first candle that kind of sizzles & goes out is the one that she spit on instead of blowing on. I guess she kind of spit on all of them. We didn't really eat these, they were just for the song & candles.

build a bear

the santa experience

We finally had time to see Santa last night. We wanted to take Zoe to the fancy "good" Santa at Macy's downtown. They have quite the Santa Land set-up with moving reindeer heads and a sleigh filled with presents and giant toy soldiers, etc. As it turns out, it's also wildly expensive to take a picture and they don't allow personal cameras, which might explain why NOBODY was there in line. But it didn't matter because Zoe fell asleep in the car on the drive there and then freaked out when she woke up and we were in Macy's. I had told her that we were going to do "something special" and she was very excited about it until this point. She cried and cried in SantaLand and refused to do anything except sit on my lap on the floor and wail. After many minutes of this my leg was warm and wet and her pull-ups had weirdly leaked and then she calmed down. She is doing a fantastic job at potty training the last 2 weeks and she gets really upset when she knows she has to go but we're not at home and she really doesn't know what to do about it. So that was part of it.

We finally left Macy's and Pete changed Zoe's pants in the car to the "emergency" pants that only sort-of matched her plaid hoodie in that "who cares what a 3-year old wears?" way.

So on the drive home she starts singing a song and then says that she wants to do "something special" and go "downtown". I ask her plainly if she wants to see Santa. If she wants to sit on his lap and say hi and tell him Happy Christmas. And she says yes. ok. she'll do it. And I tell her that he is visiting a store from the North Pole and that we can go say hi if she wants to. And she says yes. ok.

So I check on Pete's phone to make sure that Santa will be at the mall for awhile. And I keep asking Zoe if she wants to do this. So we go to the mall in Lynnwood near our house. There is a bit of a line, but it's not a mile long like last year. We decide to walk around for a half hour and then come back. And Build-a-Bear is right there by Santa and Zoe RUNS to the store and yells "toy store! toy store!". Luckily there is nobody shopping at Build-a-Bear [last year there was a mile-long line here, too]. And I explain what happens in this store and Zoe agrees that she would like to fill something up with fluff and take it home. So she picks out this big, green frog and a heartbeat and a giggle box that we put in his hand. The girl that helped her stuff it was fantastic at her job and had Zoe help her with everything. It was actually really sweet and a lot of fun. But we also did not have to purchase a wardrobe and a car and accessories and friends for the frog. I can see how build-a-bear could empty your bank account quickly.

So then we went back and stood in a shorter Santa line. I asked Zoe if she wanted to sit with him and say hi and she still wanted to. He is a really great Santa - the same one that held her when she was 4 days old. It's not exactly Santa Land like at Macy's, but still a good time and they don't care how many pictures you take with your own camera. She refused to smile but as soon as she walked away she was skipping and yelling that it was the "best day ever!" We went to a 50's diner-type burger place called Ruby's and had some yummy cheeseburgers. Zoe played with the ketchup, the napkin dispenser, the salt & pepper and watched a train go around a track hanging from the ceiling.

She loves trains. I think I've told you that she can sing "chugga-chugga choo choo" over and over and over and over and over again.... really really loudly, too. She really likes the show about Thomas the Train and then there is a Disney show called Chuggington that she also likes.

So we got our Santa photo this year. tah-dah!

art or not?

I took these shots from the car last night with a super slow shutter speed. I like how sparkly they are.

robe

After bath time Zoe puts her robe on and she says "I have my robot". [robe-on] Last night she told Constance [who had her robe on] "you have a robot!" Grandpa sent Zoe this fuzzy blue bathrobe-ot.

take a picture

the video below uploaded so quickly I decided to try another one!

lizard's hungry

I finally got a video to upload. I think this is really early in the morning and we were just playing in her room. I love how much Zoe is talking and watching her play with her toys is fun.

phone call

I have our landline phone set for a 5am wake up call during the week. It just rings a few times and although I've never 'answered' it, I think it says 'this is your wake up call' if you do. Since Pete doesn't actually get out of bed when his alarm[s] start ringing at 4:15am, this is a back-up system. And yes, we do have an alarm clock.
But sometimes we don't need any of those things because Zoe is really good at screaming "WAKE UP MOM, WAKE UP MOM, WAKE UP MOM, WAKE UP MOM" and stabbing her very pointy knees and elbows into my back.
So this morning we were already awake when the phone rang at 5am to wake us up. Zoe picked up the phone and said something like:
Santa? You have reindeer? I have a big problem! My presents are missing! I can't find them. I can't find my presents. Ok, bye.

conversation

"ummm, mom?"
"yes?"
"Santa's at the North Pole?"
"yes. with his reindeer."
"and JINGLE BELLS!"

****

"Hey Zoe, you got a package."
"It's a package for ME?"
"Yes."
"Thank you!!!"
"Zoe, do you want to open it?"
"Yes. Oh my! What's this? It's a game!"

early morning butterfly

Zoe put on her "costume" and was a butterfly all morning.

Pete's Birthday!

Pete's birthday was Friday December 3rd. We went out to a delicious dinner at the Buenos Aires Grill on Thursday night with friends and then just stayed home on Friday. Pete was given an awesome birthday present in the morning from PSF Mechanical - a work shirt and a van! Hooray! They have warned him that if work slows down they have to let the "last guy hired" go first, but it seems like everything is going to work out. This is the same company that sent him to Baltimore in November. Because they have the Nordstrom account there is a chance that Pete might be asked to travel more. woohoo!