My Baby Z... 5:27 PM

She's one. She went and turned a year old on me. I can't believe it! Simply crazy how fast a year can go...

AND she's walking. Today she took more than a couple steps. She has moved onto 'knowing' very well what's she's doing, and wants to walk everywhere!!! It started with this morning. I was in the kitchen, and she crawled towards me, stopped - stood UP, and walked the rest of the way to me! It was AMAZING!!! What a girl! ;)






I did it! AND ZOE IS ONE!!! 5:49 PM

I made it through my first week back at work! Whew! It was exhausting, and stressful, but at least it's over. Zoe did pretty good at Gillians (her babysitter) but broke my heart a bit when I would go pick her up and Gillian would say: "THERE's her smile!". What?!? She didn't smile for her ENTIRE first 2 days!!! This is MISS SMILEY. All you have to do is LOOK at her and she smiles. She was also having milk issues (she has a touchy stomache, and the homo milk was bugging her) so by day 3 at the sitters, she was smiling. YEAH!! :D

Today Mom looked after her since she had swimming, while I cried at work feeling like a horrible mother because I wasn't with my baby on here FIRST birthday. :( I got over it though, I knew she was being loved by Nana, so that helped. And I got LOTS and LOTS of squishy hugs tonight when I picked her up, so all is good now! :)

Zoe got her present tonight and LOVED it! It's a piano/toy thing that she can stand up and play with. It's nice because it's easy to move, so I put it in the kitchen with me tonight so she could play while I cleaned up a little. HANDY!!!

Here are some pics from tonight...let's just say she was quite happy with her chocolate cake...

Her new toy - so exciting for EVERYONE!
Ahhh...the box. ;)


Her FAV meal - Kraft Dinner... *le sigh* It's already started...

Hmmm....

Ahhh...YES! WE LOVE CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Daddy and Zozo playing with her new toy! FUN! :)

A 'couldn't be more beautiful' day... 12:03 PM

Today is beautiful...I mean in so many ways. I'm home with my babes, it's my husband's birthday and the weather couldn't be nicer (well, it IS March after all...). This morning I took all the kidlets over to Mom's then to her park. Oh what fun!! I didn't bring my camera - on purpose - because I just wanted to enjoy everything, and just not stop. And we did. We even (Shhh....) peed in the bushes. OH MY! Ok, so I didn't, but the kids did. Oh what fun I tell you! ;)

Anyway, you will just have to imagine all the fun we had today...!

Now yesterday I did get the camera out for approx 2 min (!) and got a couple pics of the SIX kids that I had! Justin, Colin and Rachael came for a visit, and we had a blast! It's unbelievable how much they can EAT!! LOL! I'm just used to little ppl, not these BIG kids! And oh my - as Deb so nicely pointed out - Justin is almost as tall as me. WTF?!?!?!?!?!?

Anyway, the kids had a blast - and were EXHAUSTED last night, which was nice for us!!
So here are 4 of the 8 pics I took (!) yesterday. Including Mr. Max with his FAV hat on. He is completely in love with his dragon hat, and simply MUST wear it at all times. :)




Our fashion show 5:52 PM

Today we went shopping. Rick got us a rental van, so he left me his old silver one 'just in case', so we used it! We went to Zellers to pick up 'The Princess and the Frog', plus a few more items... ;)

When we got home Ella wanted to do a fashion show - and who was I to stop her? ;)

This is new new nightgown, she was pretending to sleep...with a smile! ;)


Yes, I know - a BLUE outfit. But SHE picked it out...?!?!?!


A pretty new fairy dress!!




A shiny dress - so much prettier IRL...and weird, because it was a size 10!!!!!



And, of course - Zoe wanted in on this action:

Mas is THREE!!!! 6:34 PM













And this morning - his actual "Birthday" cake! (Thanks AGAIN Aunt Erin!)



Wow, WHERE did time time go?

Crazy Day... 4:23 PM

Today Ella had her first birthday party for a girl in her class (Halle). She had a blast!
Max had his first birthday party today too (for Austin). Nothing like everything at once eh?
I had an accident with my van, and totalled it. Yeah, not such a good day for me though. :(

On a happy note - here is Ella thoroughly enjoying her new dress! (and twirling in it with Kevin!)



She's WALKING! 5:57 PM

Wow... my little Baby Z took her first steps today! What a monumental occassion! I'm so excited! (I have a love/hate relationship with babies crawling on the floor, LOVE that they can get around finally, but HATE that they are ALWAYS touching the floor - Ugh!) So I'm ecstatic when they can walk! Yippeeee!!!!!! :D

Um...and to bring it down a slight notch...(let's not forget how exciting it is that Zoe is starting to walk now...) she fell down the stairs yesterday. Ugh...ugh.

Yeah - hand over the 'Bad Mom of the Year' award...poor Zoe! But she's ok (obviously - have I mentioned the walking?) and there is hardly a bruise at all, so I think I'm in the good. ;)



...
You know when you have an AMAZING idea 'in the moment', and then when it comes time to execute it, it's really kind of stupid? Well, yesterday I was making 'special' sandwiches for the kidlets (as my crockpot chicken was not done on time!!), and I thought I would take pics of the sandwiches, and post them - because they were going to be SOOOO YUMMY!!!

Well, they weren't. I mean, they were ok, but nothing spectacular by any means! So now I have these pics to show what I did, but really, they were just 'ok'. More nutritious at least...

(BTW it's shredded carrot with diced ham, and marble cheese on top - grilled)



...
And last but not least, here is Ella-Bells. This is her new Matilda Jane knot dress that (HAD TO) match Zoe's! It's very cute, and she is wearing it tomorrow, no matter what. Luckily, she has a birthday party to go to (her first one!) so it's all good! ;)

I soooo want to teach Ella's class 11:47 AM

I volunteered today, probably one of the last times (unless I take time off of work), and LOVED it. Mrs. DJ was off today, so there was a supply teacher. WHAT LUCK! That made me happy because I knew more of what the kids were supposed to do than her. I felt so special!! :D

I simply LOVE helping out there, all the kids make me feel great - they all know me, and want me to help them (I mean, they all are 4 or 5 years old, so they are used to a 'Mom' to help them out quite a bit still!), and I just want to scoop them all up and take them home with me. LOVE IT! :)

The other day when it was beautiful and sunny, I took Max and Zoe to pick Ella up from the bus stop in the John Deere (!) wagon. Oh what fun!! The sun was sooo bright - it was simply wonderful.

Finally...the monkey party! 11:36 AM

After a LOT of planning, it finally came (and went VERY fast!). We had Max and Zoe's 3rd and 1st 'monkey' birthday party! It was crazy, chaotic fun. The house was full to the max (no pun intended...!). ;)

The kids loved their monkeys (thanks again Sarah!), and they all went home with a chocolate monkey sucker and a banana! I took approx 5000 pictures, so I had to downscale a bit. Here are just a *few*...

Here is GG with her Fab 5...

Auntie Deb with the Birthday Girl...pink cheeks and all! :)

Zoe with her new rugby shirt on from Aunt Dianne and Uncle Ron (the back says: "09 Zoe") It's sooo cute!

Our crazy Colin

I love this pic because of my brother's HUGE smile. He sooo loves his babies!!
(Note Justin, Max and Colby in the background? AND the monkey on the floor - Sarah?!?)

Zoe intently listening to Great Aunt Gail's explanation...

Then...((is she actually rolling her eyes?))

Max patiently waiting for Grandpa to get all his new toys out!

Great Aunt Flossie...


AND...the CAKE. Made by my sister-in-law Erin. A complete masterpiece!






And, just in case the cake wasn't enough...Erin made Max a John Deere TRACTOR!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D



HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D



And that's how it's done. ;)