Elf Steve

Elf Steve
Zoe's Advent Calendar

Elf Steve is such a great elf of Santa! We met Elf Steve on November 30th this year. Zoe was able to name him and he is going to be part of our Christmas traditions from now until forever...hopefully he can be passed down to Zoe's family, or her little sister's. Here is a little about Elf Steve...he is Santa's little helper that hangs out at our house during the day, then he goes back to the North Pole to help Santa and report back to him about Zoe's behavior at night. If she has been nice, he comes back the next morning and we find him in a new spot of our house. No matter where he is in the house, he is always on the lookout for Santa and he has great ears, so he hears conversations from very far away. We even have him on "speed dial" on our phones. Each morning, he brings Zoe another little present in her advent calendar, if she was good the day before. He has brought her so many neat things...finger puppets, princess figurines, princess polish, and princess tattoos. She is so happy to see him every morning and she makes sure to tell him "thank you" for her little gifts. She has even had a few conversations with him...it is pretty cute. She tells him to tell Santa she wants Barbies, Lalaloopsy dolls, and pink truck keys. I am sure Santa will pull through for her ;).

Thanksgiving in Montana

Papa, Great Aunt Linda, Daddy, and Zoe
YiaYia, Papa, and Zoe

Papa, Nona, Daddy, and Zoe

Nona and Zoe

First Time in the Snow

We have traveled so much this year. Although our trip to Montana for Thanksgiving was unplanned, it was such a great time with family. Shaun flew up on the Friday before Thanksgiving and Zoe and I flew up on Monday. Shaun took all of our luggage, so I just had Zoe and her backpack full of tricks for the airplane. The flight was about 2 hours, so not too bad. Now that I have had some time to wrap my preggo brain around that trip, she wasn't half bad. She was pretty good, then we flew home Friday and Shaun was with us. Zoe and I surprised Nona. She didn't know we were coming :). It was chilly, but not bad by the time Zoe and I got there. It had snowed right before we got there, so Zoe was able to play in the snow. She absolutely loved it! The cold did not bother her a bit! She would have played for hours if we would have let her. We had a great Thanksgiving and TONS of food!

A Tribute to Great Papa on Veteran's Day 2011

Dear Great Papa,

You were a great story teller and my Daddy loved to listen to all of your stories over the summers when he stayed with you. He thought you were Superman. Some of the best memories he had was riding around Havre on the bikes that you restored for him and his cousins. The stories about the family and things that you accomplished were the best every time he heard them. I really loved visiting with you when I came up to Montana. I'm very little still, but I am sure that your stories will live forever through my daddy. I love saying, "See you in the funny papers," as I go to bed. You will be missed, but ALWAYS remembered.

Love,
Zoe

More from Kauai (Hilarious Conversations with Zoe)

First flight with her own seat! OUCH $$$!!!

Mommy and Zoe with matching dresses...:) First Bingo Game Ever! (At the wedding)

It took me a little while to get back to blogging...we have been very busy and we are FINALLY on vacation for the holidays! Now I have a little time :). This blog dates back to the end of October when we were in October. Grandma gave us some more pics, so I thought I would post them. Zoe got her own seat on the airplane for the first time. It is definitely not fun to pay for a third ticket!!! Zoe was not a fan of her harness seat belt, so let's just say that the lap belt was enough. I wasn't about to fight that battle for 5 and half hours. Also, she got to play Bingo for the first time and she won a Barbie and a baby doll. She was so excited that she stayed up for it. It was 9 o'clock by the time the game was coming to an end, which was midnight our time!!! (Zoe's record, for sure!!!)

I promised some of the conversations she had with us on the trip. She is so inquisitive already, Shaun and I are having a difficult time keeping up with her and her thoughts! She is also at the age where everything is taken quite literally. So here goes...

-We were waiting to board our plane, so Grandma took her to watch the planes that were taking off and landing. She kept asking Grandma if each plane was our plane. Finally, she saw one take off and she said to Grandma, "That looks scary. I think when our airplane takes off, I'm gonna freak out." Grandma couldn't do anything, but crack up.

-While we were in our condo in Kauai, the very first morning, we woke up SUPER early. So...it was 3:30 in the morning and Zoe was so excited to play with her toys and hang out with Grandma. She started running around and jumping. We were on the second floor, so I said, "Zoe, no jumping there are people below you." She proceeded to look on the floor and under the coffee table...then she asked, "Where are they?". My mom and I were cracking up so much! I had to use my parents house as an example of different floors, then she seemed to understand. We had to make a rule that there was no jumping and running around until it was light outside. That was difficult, but she was pretty good at peeking out of the window curtains to see if it was still dark.

Boy or Girl???

We had an ultrasound this morning and Zoe is having a baby SISTER!!!! Daddy is still adjusting to the idea that he will be the only man of the house, but we are excited. We are discussing room colors and I will probably pick out some decor to base it on very soon. It will be exciting to see the similarities and differences between the two girls. I will post ultrasound pics later.

Christmas Talk

List for Santa

We have started to talk to Zoe about Christmas already. She has stated that she does not want to sit on Santa's lap...she remembers from last year. Ooops! I guess that really can be traumatizing for some little ones. I told Zoe that Santa lives in The North Pole and she asked, "In the snow?" I can't recall a conversation with her that ever discussed snow where Santa lives, so she must have observed it somewhere. Next, she was asked to make a list of what she wants for Christmas and she did! It is amazing...we asked her what it said and she points to a part and tells us exactly what she intended it to be.

Kauai Trip 2011

We went to Kauai from October 26-31st (Happy belated 30th to me and my cousin's wedding). It was a great trip and the last with just the three of us. Zoe was very prepared for the plane ride. I was quite nervous because she hadn't flown since she was 15 months, so now that she is much more aware, it terrified me to think I may have that kid that just whines and fusses the whole way. To my surprise, she did magnificantly! I packed every trick in the book and it worked!

She was pretty cute on the plane and asked, "Is this Hawaii?" When we finally arived and we told her that we were in Hawaii, every new area we went she'd make sure, "This is Hawaii too?" We rented a car and she wanted to know where our car was. The first day we went to the lighthouse and she loved looking around at the views. The lighthouse is actually under some renovations, so Zoe was pretty fascinated by that too. It is so different traveling to a place like Hawaii with a small child. Shaun put it well by saying, "We saw the island through a 2 year old's eyes."

Grandma and Grandpa allowed us to take off for one special dinner, just Shaun and I. We went to our favorite restaurant out there, The Beachhouse. It had the best sunset that night out of the whole week. Our server even took pictures with his camera. I took a "bump" picture to with the sunset background. I am 17+ weeks in that picture. It was really nice to sit down and enjoy the atmosphere. Shaun and I enjoyed a meal there 6 and a half years ago on our honeymoon.

We went to a Luau on Friday night and we thought Zoe would just crash, but she hung in there until about 8:15 (11:15 CA time), then totally conked out. She loved all the Polynesian dancers, but she missed the flame twirler because it was at the end of the show. That was pretty amazing! Oh yeah! Zoe received her first flower lei there. She thought she was a little Hawaiian princess (and definitely looked like one).

On Saturday, Zoe had another long night, but did fantastically again! My cousin got married at a beautiful site at the Grand Hyatt in Kauai. It was perfect weather too. We all had to wear white, so it was a great picture opportunity. I did Zoe's hair and put flowers in it, then she got a little white flower lei. She looked so pretty! She danced on the dance floor and even played Bingo. She got a Barbie doll and new baby, that she absolutely loves! That was her prize for getting Bingo. Shaun got the new Kindle (arriving soon) and I won a gift card to amazon.com. It was a great idea that they incorporated because my grandma loves to play. Zoe survived until 9:15 (12:15 a.m. CA time) that night...I think her all time record, by far!

Sunday, we went swimming at the Grand Hyatt. It was a 3 level pool with water slides and lazy river. Zoe had a blast. Notice: her little bathing suit...I could not resist! I am usually not a fan of teeny tiny bathing suits on little girls, but in Hawaii, she definitely fit in! And looked stinkin' cute doing so.

The flight home was pretty good too. Zoe had trouble with her ears descending into LA, but all in all I have no complaints. Phew!!! It was very difficult to get used to Hawaii time because Zoe had a hard time, but Grandma was always there as her early morning buddy. She entertained us all and only had a few meltdowns because of the messed up schedule. I will post some hilarious comments she made while we were there later.