Break

We are going to be on a small blog break. We wish you all a very happy and healthy 2011.

We will be back in a week!

Birthday Girl

On this day, 6 years ago, our beautiful daughter was born. I can’t begin to count the ways Zoe has changed my life and the life of so many others. From the second I held her in my arms, my whole world changed. This is the first year since she was born that I’ve not been home with her. Now that I’m back to work full time so many things are different. It was hard leaving her this morning. I tip-toed into her room, woke her up, whispered Happy Birthday in her ear, and got as many kisses out of her as I could without waking her up too much. My whole drive to work, I just wanted to turn around, go home, and crawl into bed with my birthday girl.

On the flip side, I struggle with the thoughts of her birth parents. I always have and probably always will. Being in the hospital was one of the most surreal moments of my life. I was ecstatic yet my heart was breaking for these young parents who were trying to deal with the decision they just made. I wanted to embrace it all but the truth is my mind was on them. I couldn’t tell you one thing the nurses, social workers, or lawyer said to me because my mind was elsewhere. With that being said, I may never get over it but I’m okay with it. I will always have a BIG place in my heart for them and that will never change.

Tonight Zoe wanted a seafood feast for her birthday and that is just what she got! She started off with shrimp cocktail, then moved on to steamed mussels, and for the main course, crab legs. Each and every bite was an “oooohhhhh” or “ahhhh”. She enjoyed every second of every bite. I’m surprised we had room for cake but, of course we made room. After dinner we sat around the table and talked about the day she was born. She tells me, “Mommy, I know you were kissing me up in that hospital!” I told her about how they wheeled me down in a wheelchair while I held her tight in my arms. I even went out on a limb and told her the story about the aide who wheeled me down to the car telling me how great I looked after just having a baby and how for that moment, I went along with it. She said, “That is funny Mommy, didn’t she know I didn’t grow in your belly?” I said, “No, she just could tell mommy was completely in love with her newborn baby!”.

After dinner, it was time for gifts. Zoe isn’t much of a ‘gift opener’. She loses interest right away. She wants the gift, just not all the frill. She got tons of great stuff. This kid made out like a bandit. I can’t get over all the stuff she got.

My favorite part of the night was sitting on the couch with my birthday girl and her new doll from Mamaw and Pop Pop. We were feeding her baby and enjoying the moment. Oh, if I could only freeze time. 6 years old! WOW!

Happy Birthday Zoe Patches!

Cupcakes & Pinini

After waking up to 6 – 8 inches of snow, and having to shovel our way out to work, I barley made it through the day. Driving my hour commute on a good day isn’t fun adding wet roads, and 40 mph winds, and you have a not so happy camper. These are the very days I ask myself; why oh why do I work so far from the house???

By the time I got to work (after driving as slowly as possible), I had a pile of work on my desk after being out a couple days last week. Oh, I couldn’t wait for the day to be OVER. I just wanted to get home and be with Zoe. We had lots to do in preparation for her big 6th birthday.

As physically and mental drained as I was, I mustered up the energy to make cupcakes for school tomorrow. After all, you only turn 6 once! After we made the cupcakes, we tried out my new Panini pan that I got for Christmas.

Tomorrow is the big day; Zoe has been counting down since Christmas day. With that said, Mommy is turning in early for the night. I have to save all my energy for tomorrow.

Christmas Tree DON'T.....

This afternoon we were hit with a huge nor'easter of a snowstorm so, I thought what better time to take down the Christmas tree.

The dilemma this year was how to get the tree out without making a HUGE mess. I couldn’t for the life of me find the Christmas tree throwaway bag. I searched high and low, store after store. No luck!

The only thing that came to mind was to throw a sheet around the tree and hope for the best. Yes, I know… CRAZY! However, I didn’t know what else to do. Needless to say, it didn’t work out very well but I thought I would post the picture to show the creativity that went into it.

Christmas

Getting ready for Santa is no easy task around here. This year we mixed it up a little. Instead of leaving Santa cookies and milk, we decided to make some “snowman rice crispy treats”. We had a fun yet sticky time getting them all made – just in time for Santa’s arrival.

While we were making the rice crispy treats, we also made some cute cupcake cakes. What is a holiday without being in the kitchen baking?

We also had to get the reindeer food ready because after all, the reindeer need a snack too! Zoe got the oats ready and we ran out and sprinkled the ‘mixture’ on the grass. That way the reindeer could graze while Santa is inside leaving Zoe her gifts. Zoe has done this the past couple years and never forgets!

Once Santa and the reindeer are taken care of, it’s time to hit the sack and get ready for Santa the next morning…….


Zoe was up a little after 7am, ready to RUN downstairs. “COME ON!” “COME ON!” I wasn’t sure the sun was even up yet! I got up, went to the bathroom, (with Zoe on my heels), brushed my teeth, and was about to brush my hair. I looked in the mirror and Zoe was behind me rolling her eyes. I apparently was taking entirely too long. I threw everything down, told Mimi to come on, and we ran down stairs. Surprise!! Santa was here!!!!!



Zoe got so many wonderful gifts. It seemed like she got a package a day for the last couple weeks. I feel so blessed that family and friends always think about our little angel. Zoe always gets Christmas AND birthday gifts, it’s so overwhelming.

Thank you all for all your love and support. It’s been a crazy year and I’m very much looking forward to 2011. We hope everyone had a very happy holiday.

Christmas Eve

BFF’s have to exchange gifts and boy did they! Jaylyn and Zoe spent a couple hours together exchanging gifts and playing with all their new toys. It was never ending stuff for them to open. They were tearing into everything and then opening the stuff as they opened it. The floor was covered in wrapping paper. They got tons of cute matching stuff (just like they like it!)

Adorable sums it up…..

Birthday Bear

Zoe loves going to Build-A-Bear and Dana wanted to get her something special for her 6th birthday. Dana thought going to Build A Bear would be perfect. Dana let Zoe pick whatever she wanted, and this was huge for Zoe. Talk about letting a kid free in a candy store!

Zoe is a pro at the whole build a bear thing and knows just what to do at each station. The selection process is always the hardest. Which bear to pick? There are so many. Zoe looked at them all; touched them all, picked a few up, and then picked up and lingered over the ONLY bear that was geared towards a boy (a camouflage bear). The second she picked it up, I looked at Dana and she said, “GIVE HER A SECOND!” They had so many cute animals to choose from. Finally, Zoe put the boy bear down and fell in love with a little puppy with adorable ears. Her puppy was a boy and she named him Jonah after the Jonahs Brothers.

For the remainder of the day, Zoe carried Jonah with her everywhere she went. Zoe has never taken babies or anything else into stores with her but today she not only took Jonahs into every store but, he also joined us for lunch. He’s a pretty special puppy and we had a pretty special day!

Break Time

I'm taking a small blog break to enjoy some well needed quality time with a special little girl who has been missing her one on one mommy time!!

Happy Holidays!

We will be back after Christmas.

Zoe's House

Zoe's Gingerbread House