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 :))

Blog Catch Up

Let's see if the blogspot software is working better now. It's had a 4-mo break since I've attempted to use it. My fingers are crossed that it does indeed work, because I'd like to continue posting updates! ZOE'S A RIOT!!!!!!!!!

I'm keeping this one short for trial purposes, but if it works I'll be updating again as frequently as possible :)

FYI- these pics are from this past spring (April/May 2007)