Zoey's First Hair Cut

I'm not sure how or when it happened, but Zoey went from having very little hair to a crazy amount. Last night Scott and I were giving her a bath and realized that when wet her hair in back goes down past her shoulders. It's harder to tell when it's dry because it's got some crazy curl going on in back.

Anyhow, I had been driving myself crazy with the decision of whether or not to give her her first hair cut. For some reason there is something symbolic about that first hair cut that means your little one is no longer a baby. However, I couldn't hold off any longer because her bangs kept falling into her eyes. So on Thanksgiving day on a whim I gave Zoey her first hair cut.

We set her in her high chair, gave her some snacks, and I placed a line of scotch tape across her forehead. This seemed perfectly normal to me because that is always what my mom did to cut my bangs and that's how I continued to cut my bangs up until I realized I was a bang cutting addict and went cold turkey 5 years ago. LOL! However, based on the comments I have gotten from people the tape thing is apparently weird. Whatever, it works.



I think they turned out super cute and make her pony tails stand out even more. Sadly, I think I'm going to have to take her to a salon soon because her sides are starting to get too long and curl into her ears. LOL!

Photos of the Month

I am behind on photos of the month, so here are my favorite Zoey photos from both October and November

October

November

It's a Ladybug Birthday Party

Zoey celebrated her first birthday on November 5th. It's hard to believe that it has already been one year. Time flies so fast when you have a little one!!!!

I decided on a ladybug theme for Zoey's party around the time she was 4 months old and have been planning it in my head every since. LOL!

Above is the invitations that we sent out. In late September I took Zoey to Inniswood Metro Park and did a ladybug photo shoot in her Halloween costume. I took approximately 130 pictures and then had to narrow it down to my favorites, which was not an easy task. All in all I was very happy with the way the photo shoot went and how the invitations turned out.

In terms of decorations for the party, I decided that I wanted to keep with the traditional red and black ladybug rather than the pink and black ones that are out there. This made things a little bit frustrating at times, but I'm glad I did.

I kept things pretty simple. I bought some wooden lady bugs at Hobby Lobby which marched across the cupboard. We hung up some red and black streamers. I bought the Zoey sign from a seller on Etsy. The other decorations came in the form of favors and the food, as well as a few balloons.

I also made a photobook on Shutterfly of Zoey's first year for the guests to look through. The plan was going to be for each guest to sign the inside cover of the book, but we kind of forgot to have them do that.

In terms of food, I had a really difficult time finding ladybug themed items. I ended up going with just snacky type things. I made various types of pinwheel roll ups and then made ladybug cards for them identifying what was what. I ordered some miniature ladybug sugar cookies from a seller on Etsy. I found ideas on line for ladybug crackers and ladybug bagel bite pizzas. Then I had a simple meat, cheese, and cracker tray, spinach dip and bread, and Scott's mom made a fruit salad.

Now the cake is where I spent the most thought and planning. Scott would probably say I was obsessed with the cake. Originally I was going to have the lady who made our wedding cake make Zoey's cake because our wedding cake was SO good. However, I didn't think I could justify the $350 she quoted me on a birthday cake, so we went with Scott's second favorite cake, Sam's Club. I had them do a marble cake with white frosting and a red border. I think they thought I was crazy for ordering a cake and then not having them do anything with it, but I had a plan of my own. I ordered a ladybug made from gum paste from a seller on Etsy, as well as some stars in red and black. I used stickers to spell out Zoey on the stars and my friend Heather did the grass around the ladybug and all of the finishing details. It turned out super cute if I do say so myself.

I found the idea online for Zoey's smash cake, and my wonderfully talented friend, Heather, made it for me. It turned out so cute. The picture doesn't really even do it justice.

I'd say that all in all it was a pretty successful 1st Birthday party. Now to the next exciting year to come :)

Zoey's First Halloween

Zoey was a ladybug for her first Halloween. I think she probably wore her costume more than any other outfit she has ever had. Her theme for her birthday was ladybugs, so she wore it for a ladybug photo shoot we did for her invitations.

We then dressed her up and took her to Boo at the Zoo. I think this event may become a tradition, but needs to wait until she is a little bit older. I see that it has a lot of potential for older kids, but it was too dark to see any of the zoo animals, which is the reason we took Zoey. They also have a maze and kids haunted house that I think could be a good time for her when she is older.





The next Halloween event we did was Trick or Treat at Grammy's retirement home. There were tons of kids there, so Zoey got a little overwhelmed, but she handled it well. She got to go back to Grammy's apartment where Grammy gave her an awesome play house as her Halloween treat. Zoey loves that little house. She also got to wear Grammy's witches hat.

A couple of days before Halloween, we got around to carving the pumpkin Zoey picked out earlier in the month when we went to the pumpkin patch. Zoey was very interested in watching Scott carve the pumpkin and she loved playing wi the guts. I think Scott did a pretty good job with the pumpkin considering he hasn't carved a pumpkin in a very long time.

On the actual day of Halloween, we took Zoey over to Aunt Phyl's house and skipped actual trick or treat. Zoey is too young for any candy, so it seemed kind of pointless.

Starting Fresh

Zoey will be a year old tomorrow and in the time I have been doing this family blog, I have not done such a great job at keeping it up to date. So I've decided that rather than try to catch up on the blog posts I should have written in September and October, I am just going to start fresh. In reality nothing too big happened. I think the most significant thing was that my best friend, Amanda, and her boy, Colin, came for a visit. It was a good time and having Colin around seemed to give Zoey the inspiration needed to start scooting. Since then she has been constantly on the move. She still isn't really crawling, but does scoot like crazy and is now an expert at pulling herself to standing and cruising along the couch.

I will hopefully have a few minutes to do a post on Halloween sometime later tonight. I will eventually get around to updating Zoey's reading list because it is three books behind, plus quite a few shorter books we have acquired.

Shaylin's Visit

Well, this post is only two months past due. LOL! I have gotten really bad about this, but I am bound and determined to continue to blog the events in our life, even if they are WAY past due.

My beautiful niece, Shaylin, turned 16 in May and for her birthday I gave her the option of either taking three of her friends to Warp[ed Tour in Denver or flying out to Ohio and going to Warped Tour with Scott and I. For some unknown reason, she picked coming to Ohio over her friends. I think it must mean she loves us!

Anyhow, her visit happened the first week of August, and it was so great to get to spend some time with her. Since I moved to PA in 2005 I haven't seen my family as much as I used to, and I really miss them, especially the kids.

Shay got in during the wee hours of the morning on a Monday, so while I was at work, she spent the day sleeping.

Tuesday rolled around and Scott and I made good on our promise to take her to Warped Tour and after getting stuck in traffic for forever, we finally made it to the show just in time to see one of the bands she wanted to see, Attack Attack! The main bands we saw included August Burns Red (way too hard for my taste), Reliant K (I was stocked to see them, but the set up of the stage was horrible), and A Day to Remember (Shay's favorite band). It was super hot and I have sadly realized that I am WAY too old to go to Warped Tour. However, it was nice to share the experience with my Shady Sides.

The first part of her visit was chalk full of activities, so on Wednesday we went to Zoombezi Bay with Scott's mom and step dad. It was a perfect day for it. It wasn't too hot and there weren't too many people there. Scott and Shaylin pretty much were slide buddies for the day while I hang out with Zoey and Bev. I did get to go on a couple slides with Shay. I think the consensus was that the bowl slide was the best. I took Zoey in the lazy river and the shallow end of the wave pool. She really didn't know what to think of either, and wasn't a big fan. She especially hated the wave pool after a big wave took us out!

Other adventures during her time with use included going to a book signing for one of the indie authors that Scott did a review for on his blog. Shay and I had a fun time giving him a hard time, but it was actually pretty nice for him to be able to go meet one of the authors he reviewed.

Of course we also made a trip to the zoo, because well that's what I do. LOL!

Shaylin also had her first taste of Chipotle!

We also went to COSI for the Dinosaur exhibit, which I must say was very disappointing. However, we at least got a cute picture of Shay and Zoey as dinosaurs.

While Shay was out, I took the opportunity to get her pictures taken. I think they turned out really nice.

It was really great to have Shay out for 10 days. Zoey enjoyed hanging out with her cousin, but was very sad to see her go.

Red, White, & Boom

Every year in Columbus they do a big 4th of July celebration downtown called Red, White, and Boom. You basically spend the day camped out on the grass and they have vendor booths, music, and what not, and then at 10:00 they have an awesome firework display. We went last year with some of Scott's family and even though I was pregnant and the heat bothered me, we had a good time. This year Scott had to work on the day of Red, White, and Boom but I decide to take Zoey down to enjoy the day with Scott's family.

It was miserably hot!!! I can't even describe how hot it was. I tried my hardest to keep Zoey shaded.

We basically spent the day playing games and talking.

Once 10:00 hit, Zoey got her first fireworks experience, and she LOVED it!!! She was so amazed and wasn't the least bit afraid.

Hopefully Red, White, and Boom becomes a family tradition for us.