Zoe in Chi-town

This year, the top jazz band from Leif's school was invited to perform at the Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic in Chicago (which is a really big deal....) So that gave Zoe & I an excuse to go up to Chicago to hang out for a bit while daddy was attending the clinic sessions, concerts, and such. The process of just getting to Chicago was pretty involved, and poor Leif had a TERRIBLE experience- but it's not all that exciting, so I'll spare you the details :) It did involve Zoe's 1st train ride, though which was a big hit since she didn't have to be constrained to a carseat the whole time! She did great on the train- she got a little squirmy toward the end, but it was a much more pleasant experience than driving with her while awake, that's for sure! I have to insert a huge THANK YOU! to Grandma & Grandpa Green, who got us from their house to the Metra train station and back again :) Without them we would have been really stuck!!!!

OK so now for the trip itself.... we got there Wednesday afternoon (Dec 19th) and checked into our hotel room, which ended up being HUGE! What a blessing when traveling with an energetic toddler :)... We must've been quite a site, because we had 2 large rolling suitcases, a rolling backpack, a laptop bag, and a small rolling suitcase lovingly referred to as "Elmo Bag", which contained Zoe's toys :) I think we did a great job of managing all that, and Zoe was very helpful (as usual) as she toted Elmo Bag around for herself (which was cool, because eventually I just made it her "diaper bag" for our outings so she actually rolled all of our stuff- my purse included- in that bag!).

Thursday morning Zoe & I walked to the GIGANTIC Harold Washington Library (one of the Chicago Public Libraries) and got a library card so we could check out some books for bedtime and general leisure. If you don't know much about Zoe, know that she LOVES books. She has gotten to the point now that she will shout "I READ IT" if she wants to just read on her own instead of having a book read to her :) ANYWAY- once we were at the library, Zoe decided that instead of looking at books we should spend 45 minutes going up and down the MULTIPLE FLOORS-worth of escalators. I think this was her 1st experience with them, and she thought they were absolutely amazing.

After the library, we trekked a couple more blocks to the Walgreens to get some milk and other snacks for the hotel room, then we hit the Subway for lunch, and then we finally made it all the way back to our room- it was a challenge to carry everything, but as I said earlier "Elmo Bag" made it all possible :) The only pitfall was that when Zoe got too tired to walk anymore, I had to carry her plus Elmo Bag, plus our Walgreens and Subway bags. I was happy though, because I got a workout out of it!

Once I finally got Zoe down for a nap, I sat in the closet cross-stitching because I was worried to try watching TV or anything like that because of the light/noise factor and I had left my book in my car because our bags were SO overstuffed already I just couldn't find the extra room for anything! Needless to say, I got a lot of cross-stitching done during this trip!

Thursday night was probably the most fun of all, because Leif took the night off from attending conference-related events and went with us to Navy Pier. The Chicago Children's Museum is there, and it was family free night, so we figured it was the perfect time to check it out. We had a great time..... we got to see exhibits plus we got free ice cream sundaes, watched a dancer perform, painted on walls, played house, built things with huge dominoes, and more!










We also saw the "Winter Wonderland" display at Navy Pier, which we would highly recommend to anyone! It's free to walk around and see everything, but you have to pay to participate in the activities (like bounce-houses, slides, ice skating, and more).

The rest of our trip was fun too- Zoe seemed to love the city as much as I do! Every time an el train would go by, we'd stop, she'd wave, and say "bye train!". I can't tell you the number of people who made comments about how adorable she was toting Elmo Bag around ;-) People probably thought I was making her pull that thing, but quite the opposite was true- she's get upset if I tried to help her with it! (well at least until she was totally exhausted). The weather was quite cooperative, and we were able to walk all around and have a great time being together. It was nice to be able to focus on her without being sidetracked with school or other obligations, too!!! :)

We got to meet up with some college friends and past coworkers, etc... Midwest Clinic is always good for that... we were going to see the Nutcracker Ballet, but unfortunately Zoe can't go 'til she's 5. Sad day! Something to look forward to....

When all was set and done we got back to my parents' house in time to hang out for a night and then we went back to our house Sunday afternoon to get ready for Christmas!!!

Our little acrobat!

Zoe had a housefull of playdate friends this morning, and she was a bit of a rough hostess.... she managed to claw two of her little guy friends (sorry, Tai & Jesse!!!) and she was a bit of a grump aside from when she was eating... We had fun painting (on paper, our clothes, or hands and feet, you-name-it) and chatting all morning from about 9:30 'til noon. Then once everyone was gone, Zoe begged to go read books... she chose the "Action Alphabet" that we're borrowing from the library (MAN I love that place...). Anyway, we got to the letter A which is "Arching" and she looked at the photograph of the little girl doing a backbend, and decided that she could do that too. So she said "Awkeen" and then bent over forwards into a lovely "downward facing dog" for you yoga fans out there. After that she did something totally amazing. She got the idea in her head to go up on her toes and push herself off the floor. Indeed this produced a fascinating result- ZOE DID HER 1st SOMERSAULT!!!! I have helped her roll over a few times in the past, but this was her own idea and it was incredible to watch. So as I cheered her on, I ran into the kitchen to grab the camera, ran back to her room, and caught her in action. She just kept somersaulting over and over and over! Just a few nights ago, we cleared our living room floor and all 3 of us rolled around (like you'd roll down a hill or something) and she got a kick out of that, so maybe that helped inspire her to expand upon her acrobatic vocabulary :) Here she is in action... enjoy!!! Oh and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


UPDATE**: Apparently the video isn't working- I'll have to ask Leif later. I'm sorry :(

A Family of Clowns

I just realized I totally missed out on sharing our Halloween festivities with you, so here goes....

Leif had to teach all day, as usual for a Wednesday, but fortunately his grad classes were cancelled, so we got a lot of great family time together :)

For Zoe and I, our day started with getting all dressed up in our clown outfits and doing our hair and make up so we could get to our playgroup Halloween Party (so wonderfully and graciously hosted by Kelley!). Zoe had no problem getting into her clown suit- she's been BEGGING to wear it ever since she discovered it hanging in her closet a couple months ago (we got it for 75 cents at a garage sale! Woo Hoo!). I coerced her into allowing me to put her hair in pigtails as I had done to mine... And although she really hates the process of getting her hair done, she usually has a great time checking out the cutiepie looking back at her in the mirror afterwards. Such was the case this time, when she figured out that if she bounces while wearing pigtails, the pigtails bounce as well :) What a crack-up!






Anyway- we finally made it over to the party. Here are some pictures of Zoe and her friends.... Oh and there was another clown there who was about 1 year older than Zoe and their two outfits were nearly identical, except they were inverse left-to-right. What a coincidence :) I made some balloon animals, which was fun, and eventually we all headed over to a local nursing home to visit with the residents and spread some holiday cheer! They loved having us, and we have a standing invitation to bring our playgroup back there anytime.

Well after playgroup, Zoe and I spent 2.5 hours at Hessel Park. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Then she napped in the car while I helped the guard get ready for their NY trip (which is now over, btw and it went great and Zoe had a FANTASTIC time hanging out with Grandma Gracie and Aunt Meghan for the weekend!!!). After band, daddy had to get dressed, so we came home, touched up our makeup, and went to the Savoy Rec Center's "Trick or Treat" street. It was cool for a toddler- it was indoors so it was not dark like being outside, and there wasn't a ton of candy involved- just enough to practice our "please" and "thank you"s. We ran to the grocery store in our clown outfits, too because we needed a couple things, and finally we made it back home and Zoe hit the sack.





The final "Spook" of our Halloween was in the middle of the night... about an hour and a half after she went to bed, Zoe very matter-of-fact-ly yelled out "Yah" in her sleep! It was so bizarre! Leif was in the computer room, and I was studying in bed. We looked at each other with puzzlement and concurrent hope that we were either just hearing things or that she was actually just sleeptalking. Well apparently she actually did say something... and luckily for us, she stayed asleep 'til the morning :) Every once in a blue moon Leif or myself will talk in our sleep, so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised, but it still makes you wonder what it was that she was dreaming/thinking at that moment! It sounded cheery, so let's assume she was having pleasant dreams of her day as a clown.

The persistence of squirrels

Zoe spent 2.5 hours at the park one day last week, and a majority of that time was spent chasing squirrels! They just kept coming back for more... I guess they must have been having as much fun as Zoe was.



"Oh, if only I could climb a tree!"



Zoe has also discovered mommy's iPod. It's a hit! We also use it in the car (with a radio signal adapter doo-hickey thing-a-ma-jigger) and it makes car rides a wee bit more tolerable when we can sing along with Raffi, Jack Johnson, and her other favorite singer (whose name is currently escaping me... OH! I think it's Joanie Bartells or something like that, but don't take my word for it...)

BTW Potty Training has just about stopped ever since we installed the triple-lid toilet seat (it's like a normal seat only with the addition of a "kids seat" layer in the middle). I don't know why she stopped, but I hope it wasn't because of the seat, because it took Leif quite some time to change it out (I had tried, too but had no success).

Well Zoe's having nightmares tonight :( She keeps screaming out :(

That doesn't make me feel any better about leaving her behind while I join Leif in NYC this weekend for the band's performances, but I suppose she'll be alright. She'll be in great hands, at least... and if she gets really angry at us for not being her, I guess she'll forgive us eventually, right?

I-L-L.... I-N-I!!! and a broken camera

Go Illini!

Leif, Zoe, & I went to the homecoming football game yesterday because Leif was able to get some discounted tix from a classmate.

Zoe ate a TON of pizza and went up and down the stairs a bunch (which I'm sure didn't please the other fans... I tried to only let her do that between plays), and she loved hearing/watching the alumni band and the marching illini. In fact, after they would play, she would beg "More! More!". Too bad we couldn't put in a request ;-)

Zoe got lots of compliments on her orange "I might be small, but I'm a big CHIEF fan" t-shirt (THANKS TIM, LYNNETTE, JORDAN, AND JADE!).

We got to see some fireworks when the team scored, and OH YEAH- during pre-game there was a fly-by of 2 fighter jets... HOLY SONIC BOOM, BATMAN it was loud and unexpected and rather scary. After my heart stopped for a moment as I was thinking the world was ending, I was able to jump up and down and act excited so that Zoe (who was in my arms) wouldn't be frightened. I think she was just trying to figure out what the heck happened, because by the time we heard it, the planes were pretty much gone.

Well Zoe didn't last through halftime- I felt her head slump down partway through the MI performance. So we left and walked the mile-or-so back to our car (parking is nuts on gameday) with Zoe snug-as-a-bug in the warm-fuzzy, red blankie Aunt Meghan made for her :) She took a LONG LONG nap at home, too so I guess she enjoyed all the new sights and sounds at the game!

Today we get to go to the mens' basketball scrimmage (with the tix I won on the radio), so I suppose we'll have fun there too. Oh and maybe we'll get to see Michael Jordan's son play for the Illini! Oh, what gigantic shoes to fill when you're the kid of a superstar like that....

OH YEAH- I ruined our small, highly-portable digital camera at the marching band comp last weekend :( I accidentally spilled Mountain Dew all over it. Darn lid wasn't screwed on all the way... so we have a lot fewer pics of Zoe right now, which is why these posts have been sort of boring in that way. We pulled out our fancy digital camera, and snapped some cute pics of Zoe in her Halloween costume this morning.... she INSISTED on wearing it!!!

MORE LATER!!!!!!!!!

Bye :)

Be careful what you ask for...

OK so this post is off-topic for Zoe, but I wanted to fill you all in. I was a 'big winner' on Mix 94.5, a local radio station who is running a contest called "Pick Your Purse". If you're a member of their email club, you're entered in the qualifying round. They choose names at random to announce on-air. Each person called has 9 minutes and 45 seconds to call the station to win a small prize. At that point, you're considered a "qualifier" for the grand prizes that are being given away every Friday for about 6 weeks or so.

Thursday afternoon last week my name was called, and I just lucked out to have been listening, so I call in and I won a t-shirt and 2 tickets to an Illini men's b-ball scrimmage and I was officially qualified for the subsequent grand prizes that would be awarded for the next few weeks. Each grand prize consists of a designer purse filled with a ton of gift certificates for local vendors and such. Well wouldn't you know... Friday morning I set the alarm clock to get up at 7 so that I would hear the name of that week's grand prize winner and IT WAS ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy moly. So after yelling out loud with excitement and COMPLETELY freaking poor Zoe out (she was sitting next to me when my name was called and my shout-out startled her to tears) I called that station and claimed my prize.

Well come to find out the whole thing was worth $1145. And if you win a prize over $600 in value, you have to pay taxes on it. I suppose it would have been most wise of me to decline some of the prizes that I didn't want so that I wouldn't have to pay taxes... but I didn't think of that until later :( aargh. But what REALLY makes me upset is that once I got home and looked through all the "gift certificates", I realized that the one I wanted the most (it's $250 for a local pro photographer) isn't actually a gift certificate- it's a COUPON. The fine print says that you have to spend at least $750 to get the $250 discount. Well now we have a problem. I need to get back over to the radio station tomorrow and work this out. I should not have to pay tax on a COUPON! Especially since I can't afford to spend that much on pictures anyway, and the so-called gift certificate which is really a coupon would just sit here and go to waste while waiting for tax season to roll around.

So anyway- the moral of this story is that you should be careful what you wish for and you should not just take anyone's word for it... some things aren't as they appear.

BTW- the purse is sort of hideous and I can't imagine every wasting the suggested retail price of $425 on it.... but that's beside the point... I feel eBay coming on.... either that or I'll dontate it to the Central HS Band Boosters to raffle off for a fundraiser or something.

Familiy Portraits

Last Sunday we had some portraits taken of Zoe & the whole family (well, not really because Roxy wasn't there :( but it was the human portion of our family, at least).

They took a ton of pics, so here are just a few of them. If you would like a digital or printed copy, let us know- we'd love to share them :)

ENJOY!

New Milestones

So here are a couple of recent Zoe developments...

1. As a birthday present to mommy, she has decided to begin potty training. I would have never imagined being so excited about someone sitting on the toilet and making the 'tinkle' sound.... but let me tell you I was cheering her on like she had just done something completely groundbreaking :)

2. As of today, she can open the fridge. The biggest problem with this is that our fridge doesn't close easily, so now I am fearful she'll open it without me noticing and that it will waste away a ton of energy... At any rate, when we got home from a trip to the "Berry" tonight (aka the library) Zoe went directly to the fridge, pulled it open and took out the leftovers that she hadn't eaten at dinner. I heated them up, and she finished the whole bowlful and then she was satisfied and ready to move on to other things. It's so amazing how much she can "choose her own adventures" nowadays... thank goodness for her seemingly high level of intelligence and communication skills. Sure beats that first 6 months of screaming!!!!

3. Zoe can also blow her nose now!!!! I think she hears/sees mom & dad do it so often that it was a no-brainer for her :)

I'll have to edit this post later with more updates, but for now I have to shower and get to bed because Zoe & I have to leave for school in about 7 hours!!!! SHEESH I wish I weren't such a night owl- I am so exhausted Tuesday mornings...

 

I never realized exactly how difficult it would be to get a picture of 4 babes in swings... I took multiple shots, but there was always at least one baby missing. I almost got all 4 of them in one shot, but I cut off Zoe's head and Audrey's body, so it was a little freakish ;-) SO....

Here are Zoe, Natalie, Mason, and Audrey (she's hidden but she's really there in the swing past Mason :))

They're enjoying a morning at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana, IL the first week of October... the unseasonably warm weather was still with us at that point. Now we're getting back into the chillier midwestern fall weather.

Zoe the Homecoming Princess

I got creative with one of the color guard tops that was made too small.... I made it into a dress of sorts for Zoe :) She wore it to the homecoming football game Friday, Oct 5th and it was a big hit... she was really adorable :) The weather was actually unseasonably warm, which worked out well since it's not exactly a warm outfit! Tonight we have another game, but she won't be wearing that again... it's getting down into the 40s at night now!!! We didn't get much 'breaking in' period from the hot weather to the chilly weather.... I hope winter is relatively nice to us this year. I'd rather not get snowed in again... but time will tell!

The last "catch-up" post

Here are some pics from a couple trips to local parks, Zoe with Grandma Gracie at the EIU Marching Band Festival *GO MAROONS* (the band got 1st place)... and Zoe picking out pumpkins for our decorating/painting projects :)

we're almost there...

Here's our friend Mia reading books to some playgroup babes, Zoe's awesome red airplane, Zoe accessorizing, Zoe's 1st car... she gets on/off really easily these days :)... and finally, Zoe with her rolling Elmo bag, heading into the garage for a trip in Mommy's car... we're off to the park, and then to marching band practice!

I dunno what # this is... but it's another update :)

Feel like you're getting up to speed? Or at least like you're enjoying some more Zoe pics?... hope so :)... here are some more... The last one is of Zoe dancin' away at the Urbana Sweet Corn Festival... she was having the best time ever! People cleared the way so she could keep dancing!

You guessed it.... Update August 07

Here are some shots taken in August 2007 :) They include chillin' at home with Pooh in the swing, the petting zoo and Champaign's Prairie Farm (with daddy), a trip to Indy for the zoo and a hotel pool visit w/ grandma Gracie, and a new "used" car from grandpa Green. She's 1 going on 16, from the look on her face! YIKES!!!!

Photographic Update #3

Here's the rest of July 2007 :) The 1st pic is of some of our playgroup friends (btw Zoe is NOT in the picture...), and the rest are from our REALLY GREAT visit from the CA Green Crew!!!

OK more "past pictures"

I think that last post may have been successful (please tell me if you're not able to view the pics... that was the problem we were having last time I quit using this program)

So here are some more..... I'm not going to explain them all. They're just a 'blast from the past' so you can also see how far Zoe's come in this year and a half :) (They're in chronological order, and the Daddy, Zoe & Ball picture is from July 4th if you're wanting some perspective :))