Our little Poppen family was treated to a lovely vacation in Texas! We flew down in early January and spent a week enjoying the company of Zac's parents, aunts and uncles and cousins. Mommy and Daddy had an absolutely wonderful time taking a break from "normal life" and letting Didi and the Aunties play with Zoë. :) It was also so fun to watch her at this age interacting with everyone from little Rebecca (whom Zoë calls "Gaca!) to Gruncle Herm (whom Zoë calls "Bapa!").
Cousin besties - giving a sweet kiss to Rebecca
A picnic with Didi
(Special thanks to Didi for some of these pics ;)
Zoë LOVED playing with Papa's iPad.
(And he seemed to enjoy it too!)
Showing off her new hat that Papa made to Didi and Gloria.
She fits right in with the hipster crowd!
Reading with Gruncle
Snuggles with Cousin Brooke and Auntie Judy
("Ju-Ju", as Zoë likes to call her)
Cousin bath time! What a riot!
Gloria's big bear was the house favorite. All the kids wanted to play on him,
and didn't really want to share (especially someone by the name of "Zoë")
We had to tell Zoë that there was no way we could fit Big Bear in our tiny apartment. :)
With Rebecca at 11 months and Zoë at 20, they made pretty good little playmates!
A little rough on the sharing part, but that is to be expected ;)
Meal times with Rebecca were the best! Zoë actually ate her vegetables because
she saw Rebecca eating them. Of course when I tried giving her the exact same thing
at home (canned green beans), she refused.
At the Chinese Lantern Exhibit. SO cool!
Some R&R time - this momma sure needed it!
Riding in the golf cart was another of Zoë's highlights.
She was so proud that she got to sit on her own between mommy and daddy. :)
Family picture! Just missing Uncle Daniel
Thank you Texan & Iowan family for such a wonderful time! Is was hard to come home. Fortunately, Zoë did AMAZINGLY well on the 4-hour flight and gave us hope for trips in the future.
I give credit to Zoë's special Snack Attack Pack (check it out! Zac found a simple tackle box and we filled it to the brim with all sorts of goodies ;). And the iPad. And several trips to the bathroom to wash our hands. Oh the joys of having a toddler!
Twenty months feels awfully close to twenty-four; how is it possible Zozo is coming up on 2 years? Currently, Zoë is growing taller and leaner, stronger and faster. She loves running around with her arms out behind her (the "V" run as we call it), wants to climb on EVERYTHING, and wants to do everything on her own. She loves dancing to hiphop, washing her hands or washing dishes, loves saying "no," rearranging the fridge, loves saying "no,"and enjoys labeling to whom each item belongs.
We have enjoyed a season of spending time with family - first my side of the family in Corbett, Oregon, for Christmas, and now with Zac's side of the family in Irving/Dallas, Texas. Here are some pictures of Zoë having fun with her Farner cousins, aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles, grandma and great grandparents.
Washing hands with Auntie Nancy
Game time
Chillaxing with Anna and Joshua
Playing with the big kids!
Helping Judah tune his guitar :)
All the grandkids and great-grandkids
Dancing with Uncle Corby
Singing carols - upsidedown :)
Presents!
Zoë is at such a fun age and it is delightful to watch her play with cousins and interact with her relatives. Tune in next week for Family Fun Part II for more with our Iowan and Texan relatives!
Ring out the Old, bring in the New! This past year has been full of change and growth for all of us, but especially for this little one - she is constantly surprising us with new words, abilities and her cute-quirky personality. We celebrated the New Year toddler style today at the Portland Children's Museum with a noisemaker craft, dancin' and our very own countdown (at 11:00 a.m. :). It's most fun I've had on New Years in a long time!
Zoë LOVED dancing with all the other kiddos :)
Check out her moves!
Happy New Year from our family to yours!
May this coming year be full of adventure, joy, and beauty.
Now for mommy and daddy's New Year celebration tonight...sushi, a little sparkling cider, and watching the ball drop (according to EST - so that I can go to bed. Haha! :)
Zoë and mommy got to take a special trip to The Dalles for Lola's Christmas Concert. We made it just in time to enjoy the matinee practice performance and Zoë enjoyed seeing all the little kids! Later that night, she decided she wanted to be up there dancing and singing with all of them and made a run for it every chance she could get. :) I enjoyed seeing my mom direct her students in their Nutcracker Concert, and Zoë has loved some special time with Lola, Uncle Judah, Oma and Opa.
"Helping" Lola conduct
Sugar Plum Fairy :)
Jingle bells with Oma
So special!
Happy 19 months to our ever-energetic little girl!
November has been a month full of thanksgiving, and once we find one thing to be thankful for, we realize we have many, many things for which to give thanks. On the top of our list is: the goodness of God, a precious daughter, and wonderful family near and far.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with a feast at Uncle Dan and Aunt Sheron's home, with a good portion of the Farner clan and Sheron's family - around 25 total! Zoë missed the big feast, but we made sure to save her some of the deliciousness...and it was nice to have her napping so we could savor our Thanksgiving meal. She loved the sweet potatoes. That was about it. Oh, and the pumpkin pie. :)
Happy Thanksgiving with Oma and Opa
Uncle Judah and Lola spent the rest of Thanksgiving break with us and we had a great time together. Zoë loved watching Uncle Judah and liked to copy whatever he was doing. :) So precious.
Lola gave Zoë an early Christmas present and we enjoyed having a little photo shoot and dancing session together. Zoë loves twirling around and around!
Uncle Judah helped us in our attempts to capture Zoë's smile by
hiding a monkey off to the side. Zoë made sure to point it out!
Who is this little girl, all grown up? I hardly recognize her!
But she will always be my chubby-cheeked, silly little goober
Full of thanks for another year of life full of blessings!
We can't even imagine what our lives were like 18 months ago - so much has changed. We have changed, and this little girl is constantly changing too! She is blossoming into a cheerful toddler with a comedic personality, full of passion and energy, and constantly observing and testing the world around her.
Here are some of the things that we love about our one-and-a-half-year-old, and some of the things that drive us crazy (and don't miss the video at the end!):
- Zoë is 2' 9'' tall and 24 lb 10 oz.
- Zoë discovered the moon on her ceiling one night (we had left a handheld mirror on the dresser and it was reflecting the light of the lamp). Now, every night she looks for the moon, and then tries to make it move by knocking on the dresser. We've started playing around with placing different items on the mirror to change the moon phases. :)
Playing dress-up
- Little Miss Social Butterfly! Though we unfortunately do not have many toddler friends for Zoë, she seems to make friends everywhere she goes - the store, restaurants, appointments, church. Someone asked me today how we got her to be so friendly, and I said, "I don't think we had anything to do with it! That's just the way she is!" So far, church nursery and coffee hour seems to be the best place for her to run around and play with kiddos her age, and she enjoys that very much.
- Imitation, imitation, imitation! If mommy takes her purse to the store, Zoë wants to take her purse too. If mommy is making pizza, Zoë wants to make pizza too (she actually did a really good job pushing out the dough, spreading the sauce and stealing handfuls of cheese!), if I'm cooking eggs, she gets out her plastic eggs and starts cracking, if anyone is washing dishes, Zoë is pushing her stool over to join in the action. It is sweet and cute and frightening all at the same time - and keeps us aware and careful of our actions and words, knowing that we might see them coming from her.
Stealin' the goods
(she learned that from mommy...oops.)
- Zoë loves to dance and sing anytime she hears music, or when she is reading a book in the car. Her singing started out sounding more like a complaining whine or nasal hum, and it took us a few times of getting frustrated at her before we figured out she was just singing. :) Now we love it!
Budding musician
- She has also become quite an accomplished pianist and performer, turning around and clapping for herself after each composition. :)
- Talk, talk, talkin'. Zoë carries on very animated conversations on her cell phone and is constantly telling us about what she is thinking. Someday we will understand! Zoë is signing like crazy and now the spoken words are slowly starting to enter her vocabulary. So far her favorites are: "zoo" (usually meaning "bug"), "uh-oh", "dadda", "hi","ou" (owie), "mama" (meaning "food," of course :s), "nap-nap", "bapa" (grandpa), and the newest, "Jesus." Oh-so-proud.
Reading on the potty
(We only seem to get to the potty after the fact, but hey - it is a good start!)
- Zoë has developed an intense fear of bugs, namely spiders. Mommy is partially to blame for this - I freaked out one day when I opened our front door and almost ran into a very large spider. Now, Zoë refuses to walk on her own out the door and will have a meltdown anytime she sees something that looks like a bug on her wall. :(
- The rainy days have kept us inside more than Zoë would like, but she has found a couple of favorite activities to help pass the time: playing in her crib with every stuffed animal she owns (too many!), rolling around on mommy and daddy's bed, wrestling with our blanket on the couch, and playing in her pasta-sensory-bin.
Rockstar!
-Favorite books are "Goodnight, Gorilla", "Goodnight Moon," "Bellybutton Book" and "Baby's First Bible" (she likes looking at all the animals...)
- Zoë has discovered her terrible-two-toddler scream and face-plant tantrum. Ufta. We have been trying different things with more or less success. Yesterday, I tried removing myself, and she just crawled to the next room and started all over in front of me. Haha! Fortunately, a quick little timeout in her room has seemed to help her calm down in most cases.
Bundled up at the Zoo
- All zippers and buttons are owie. All of them. It makes putting on coats, p.j.'s, and snap diaper covers a little tricky and usually results in a meltdown. Oh boy.
- Zoë likes to be with the crowd. She has several friends that are regulars in her crib, and she always has an armful of stuffed animals when reading or nursing. It's quite comical sometimes! And, if anyone drops, mommy or daddy MUST pick them up immediately. She loves to give her Teddy/Cocoa/Monkey/Billy Goat/Dolly lots of hugs and kisses.
With her buds
- Speaking of kisses, Zoë's kisses are the most precious things in the world! (Especially when her lips are fully closed - the accidental bites are a little painful.) Kisses in the morning, kisses at night, kisses for goodbyes to family and friends, and even kisses on skype!
- Her little legs are going-going-going. Though it is hard to know when a fast walk technically becomes a run, her feet seem to be going pretty quickly to us!
Words cannot fully describe our little one, who is truly full of Abundant Life. Enjoy a few clips of everyday life with Zoë:
