Catching Up: Zoey’s Birthday Party, Part Two

Like last year, we had Zoey’s birthday party this year at Greg’s dad and stepmom’s house on Little York Lake so people could swim if they were so inclined. You know, mermaid/under-the-sea party theme…it just sort of works better next to water. The only problem was that for about a week before the party, the weatherman had been predicting a 30 to 40 percent chance of rain in the afternoon—smack dab in the middle of Zoey’s party.

Needless to say, I was a nervous nelly about the weather for a good week or so. Sure, if it had rained, we could have had the party inside, but I knew Zoey was looking forward to swimming and I had told all of her cousins to bring their swimsuits And OMG IT BETTER NOT RAIN.

Grandpa Hoose’s Surprise Birthday Cookout

Sooo, I’m a little late posting these pictures and all because we surprised Grandpa Hoose two weekends ago. Heh. But remember what I said in another recent post about recent craziness and not having time to blog and being behind and…okay, enough of the excuses.

So.

A couple of weekends ago, my daddy turned, um, twenty-nine-ish and to celebrate, almost the entire family was able to surprise him with a cookout. How did we do it? Pretty simple–my mom had arranged for the family to show up at a certain time with food. In the meantime, she had mentioned to my dad that it seemed like a good day for a hot dog roast, so he got their fire pit ready. He didn’t realize that he was getting it ready for his own party. Sneaky, sneaky, right?

Our Day (OMG)

Our day:

We went to swimming lessons, which consisted of Zoey screaming the entire time that she wanted to jump off the side of the pool into Greg’s waiting arms. And then for the last five minutes, when it was free time, she actually got to do the jumping which put a smile on her face for the first time in the who thirty-minute class (btw super-huge props to her teachers Emily and Eliza for trying to help Greg and I get her interested in actually being a part of the class. And super-super huge props to Emily for listening to me say, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s up with her today,” and saying with a shrug, “That’s okay. We all have an off day.” Greg and I really wish she was available to babysit because she is AWESOME).

Then we went to MacDonalds where even though Aunt Kim made a surprise visit (which was really cool, btw, and made Zoey’s day), Zoey still managed to smear a bunch of her barbecue sauce on my sweater sleeve.

When we got home, I insisted on Zoey taking a nap. I shouldn’t have. Girlfriend went crazy when she woke up. Observe:

Our Easter Weekend, Part Two

If you haven’t read the first part of our Easter weekend, you might want to take a look here.

Let’s get right into it:

So, as I mentioned in the last post, the Easter Bunny had left a special basket full of goodies for Zoey at Aunt Kim’s house. She had already tried out the bubbles with her cousin Lisa at their house, but when we got back home, she was all about trying out the sidewalk chalk. Since the weather was actually cooperating for the first time in MONTHS, Greg, Zoey and I headed outside to play.

The sidewalk chalk was shaped like a piece of cake, a doughnut and a piece of pie.

Our Easter Weekend, Part One

This weekend was packed with lots of fun and craziness. We were on the go almost constantly and by Sunday night, poor Zoey was just absolutely exhausted from all of the excitement.

Here’s how it started:

Saturday started out with swimming lessons, which Zoey LOVED. Her favorite part? Jumping off the side of the pool at the YWCA into Greg’s arms in the water. She would have done that for the entire class if we had let her.

Although she continues to be unsure about whether or not to like pool noodles, she really enjoys the singing games that we always do for half of the class after a couple of drills. And her teachers, Emily and Rachael? BEST teachers EVER. If we could hire them to be babysitters we would. Zoey adores them and even when she’s telling Greg and I that she doesn’t want to do something, Emily or Rachael just have to smile at her and she complies.

After swimming lessons, we took Zoey to lunch at MacDonalds–her special treat for being such a good girl in swimming lessons.

Then we went to the grocery store for a few things. Miss Zoey insisted on pushing the cart all by herself–which means her arms were extended all the way above her head so she could grip the handle of the cart. And yeah, she couldn’t see where she was going. I stood at the end of the cart and gently guided it around obstacles like shelves and people. When Zoey asked my why I was holding onto the cart, I told her that it was so I didn’t get lost (otherwise she would have tried to make me let go and then she would have run the cart into the nearest wall).

We’re Famous! (Kinda)

Remember when I told you guys about participating in the Lupus walk with Zoey, my sisters, my nieces and my mom? If you don’t remember, click here for the whole story. Anyway, part of our experience this year was that the volunteers for the Lupus Alliance stopped my mom halfway through the walk and interviewed her. Lookee what my younger sister, Cristy, found on Youtube yesterday:

After the walk, when we were hanging out waiting for the raffles to begin, a woman from Syracuse Woman Magazine approached us, took a picture of our team and said we might just be in the next issue. Check out what I realized is on their Facebook page this morning:

There you have it. We’re awesome. The end.