what gives?! (you say)

I know I was doing well for a while and then fell off the proverbial face of the blog earth. Have no fear, I have an excuse (as usu.) SO, I was blogging lots b/c Craig was out of town in a hot and sandy non-vacation kind of way, and I like to keep him connected to us with lots of pictures and funny stories. Then, we went to NY/RI for a little extended family time, pre-bday party for the lil' princess, and finally caught up with Craig in NY and all got to fly home together. Which means I had to make The-Trip-I-Swore-I-Would-Never-Make-Alone-Again, which I also call threeairportswithtwosmall(napless)children,2carseats,adoublestrollerandallourjunk... and a diaper bag. They were, of course, little angels and I have to admit I had fun watching strangers fawn over them, compliment them, and play peek-a-boo with them all day long.

Joshua and Zoe got to meet the pilots on our second flight to NY. Joshua told them that we were in a helicopter like his Daddy flies.

Daddy teaching Zoe how to drive. We were waiting for the ferry back to Long Island then Ma and Pa came for a visit and Zoe's 1st bday party (pictures of that later, I have a lot of catching up to do!) What a fun visit!

Happy Birthday Zoe!!

Can't believe our little Zoe cakes is already 1!!

We've just returned from my family reunion and are getting ready for Zoe's birthday bash. This was supposed to be a small event, but apparently the little socialite has quite a few friends. Craig was deployed for a little while, so we're still enjoying having him back home! I don't have any pictures right now (for shame!!), so I'll keep it short.

- Zoe took her first 4 'real' steps in the kitchen on her birthday - Wednesday the 22nd!
- We like to call her Zoe Cakes because her name is Zoe Kate (I think it's also a spin off of 'Pamcakes' from Meet the Parents)
- She has a sweet, very social personality. She loves to wave anytime someone within earshot says 'bye bye'. They don't have to be talking to her, she just waves and smiles.
- She SHREIKS at unexpected and inconvenient times, for no apparent reason (for example, on the airplane all the way from Laguardia to Chicago. Nice.) - she may just be the loudest baby in the world. I thought she had grown out of it, but then she started doing it again last week.
- 7 teeth and holding... for the past 3 months. What's up with that??
- She says a bunch of syllables, but not sure if they're her words or not. Except for 'Ma' and 'Da' :) She signs for 'more' and 'all done'

I'll add more fun Zoe facts later, as well as some Bday party pictures! I also have to tell y'all about all the fun things I did while Craig was gone. I couldn't blog about them because it was a surprise for Craig.
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shake time

Joshua loves to drink shakes for breakfast. He loves for his Daddy to make them for him and they both drink tons and tons of shake. Although I made this shake (Craig would argue that it is, therefore, substandard), they still seemed to enjoy it - this was Zoe's initiation into shake time. She was determined to try to figure out how to use this straw. They make good popsicles too!

Here's what's (usually) in them. I have been known to add extra veggies in the form of leftovers and unused baby food. Enough strawberries and bananas will cover up the veggie taste.

~ 1 cup frozen strawberries
~ 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
Craig adds frozen raspberries
banana
apple
yogurt (mixed berry)
vanilla protein powder
~1 cup broccoli
handful of dry oatmeal
Craig adds cottage cheese
Craig adds honey, I add stevia
...and whatever else I feel like throwing in. Craig usually doesn't deviate from his 'recipe'

pool party

Here we are at Addison's 1st Bday party. Joshua and Zoe both LOVED the pool (this was their first time in a big pool like this), so I think I'll get them signed up for swimming lessons as soon as I can. I hadn't done it sooner for Joshua because I was convinced that he would hate it. Oh, and because the words "mommy and me" and swimming lessons involve me being in a swimsuit in public.

Zoe likes her watermelon just a little. She is doing her "more" and "all done" signs very well now... especially "more" when blueberries or watermelon are involved.

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oh yes I did...

Have to wear the cowbell, that is. Unfortunately (for you), there are no pictures of this fashion infraction. Except for the one on the Chick fil A lady's camera that I'm hoping does NOT end up on the wall in our local Chick fil A. Should that be the case, I think I was sufficiently hidden behind Zoe... oh, and the giant (Chick fil A employee dressed up as a) COW! And they still only gave me an entree. That's right, no meal unless you're head to toe cow'd out. What was it he called me... oh, I remember

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, you're only a partial cow."

A partial cow??!!! I should think that a grown woman wearing a construction paper cow bell, accompanied by her two babies... calves, if you will... deserves a little more than "partial"! I wasn't really upset though, we had lots of fun and they were wonderful to Joshua and Zoe. They each got a full free meal (mommy ate most of the fries... and got a milkshake. Zoe was determined to figure out how to use the straw!), got their picture taken with the cow, got CfA cow appreciation day 2009 cups, stickers, little stuffed cows, and the little cow toy in their kids meal.

Joshua had the best time! He hardly wanted to ride the coin operated car/train/helicopter/motorcycle/ice cream truck in the (sorry excuse for a) food court (but who cares since they do have a CfA). Both of them spent the entire meal staring at the cow. Joshua kept asking me if the cow wanted our food, for example: "maybe the cow wants to try some of Zoe's fries." He got up twice in the middle of eating to go pet the cow (the first time, he made me pet him first). When it was time to get his picture taken with the cow, he asked me if the cow was going to bite him. I forget exactly what he said, but it was adorable and hilarious.

Zoe also spent the meal staring at the cow, except when she was waving back at people. Somehow, amidst all this staring and waving, she ate about 6 chicken nuggets. She was holding a fry in one hand and grabbing fistfulls of cut up nuggets with the other while kicking her legs, first with excitement over the chicken, and then because the chair was on wheels and moved around when she kicked. She seems to draw quite the crowd! I don't go as many places with her as I did with Joshua, but I love seeing our beautiful babies bring so many smiles to other people. She really enjoys waving though. She'll wave at me until I wave back, and then she'll sign 'more' until I wave more. She did that for about an hour at Lowe's, and waved at everyone who walked by us.

Well, that's about all the funny cow appreciation day stories I have. We'll have to do it again next year! Also, next year we'll have to go to the mall for lunch and the free standing CfA for dinner. I can hardly wait! If only every day was cow appreciation day.

videos

Joshua showing off his tumbling

And so does Zoe...

Zoe's sign language

some people...

Some people will do anything or free Chick fil A.

Joshua had fun taping the spots on his shirt. The first thing he asked me this morning was "is chick-fay open yet?" since last night, in order to get him into bed quickly (I had friends over) I told him that the sooner he went to sleep, the sooner he would wake up and it would be time to dress like a cow and go to chick fil A.

We'll be leaving as soon as Zoe wakes up from her nap. Have no fear, that little girl can put away some Chick fil A too. She makes Daddy so proud. I had forgotten, but Craig reminded me last night.

Lest you think I might not get some free chicken myself, I too shall be dressed as a cow (with some very small spots). I may or may not wear a construction paper cow bell, it just depends on how stingy they are being with the free chicken. I'll have it in my purse, just in case they play hardball.

God bless America!

it was pretty funny trying to get these two to pose for some red, white and blue 4th of July pictures. Joshua insisted on wearing his John Deere shirt, so it took me about 10 minutes to explain why that didn't jive with my grand 4th of July photo idea and convince him to wear the outfit pictured. I assured him that he'd be able to change as soon as I was done. There may or may not have been bribery involved. All I had to bribe Zoe with was this fun pen - glad she doesn't know the cap comes off.

Out takes.

Little Miss Cupcake. Zoe sure was filling out this 12mos shirt! I weighted them this morning - Joshua weighs 30 lbs and Zoe weighs 20!

f

All out of pictures! YAY!!!

the boys & bear all relaxing Doesn't he look about 6 years old?!! What happened?! He likes to wear his hair like this and say he's a rhino. or dinosaur, depending on the day.

Zoe's cute spikey hairdo. I waited 10 months for it to lay down, then spiked it up on purpose. What is wrong with me?! (don't answer that.)

Daddy's wrapped around her little finger

looking more like my baby boy!

This is the last of my pictures from June! YAY! I feel like I'm finally all caught up. Hopefully I'll be back to blogging regularly once we fix the whole internet/USB port/thumb drive issue...

No, they are not horns!

Our little ANGEL'S first piggie tails! Unlike cousin Masie, this little one can't stand hair in her face, so we've been doing her hair all the time lately. This was my first attempt and she barely has enough hair so they're a little crooked and do look like cute little horns. But truly, she couldn't be a calmer, sweeter, cuddlier, funnier, smilier baby girl. I can't believe she's almost 1!!