17 Months...

Someone reminded me that I hadn't updated with Zoey's 17 month page.. I was surprised anyone read it..

Here's our girl at 17 months...

Zoey can...
- say a ton of phrases like.. 'oh no' 'i know' 'love you' 'thank you'
- repeat most words we say to her.. or at least try
- say everyone in the family's names
- sign a bunch of words.. new ones- halloween, candy, cracker, cookie
- say two syllable words
- run faster and faster
- climb...
- say her abc's (repeating after me)
- do the hand motions to a lot of songs
- tries to sing the songs
- recognize a ton of new objects from books and life.. she knew the sky the other day
- understand most commands like 'go get me...'

Zoey likes...
- playing
- reading books
- eating - carbs! lots and lots of carbs and mcdonalds.. go figure!
- milk
- being a ham and the center of attention
- singing songs
- doing buckles (car seat and high chair)
- playing outside

Zoey doesn't like...
- not getting her way
- going to sleep.. she has recently boycotted naps.
- getting dirty
- getting stuff on her hands

Oh the places we have gone...

September has been a CRAZY month for the Mattes household. We have put 3000 miles on my car in that span of time going to Gainesville TWICE, Missippi, Tampa, Orlando TWICE, Richmond and finally home! We even had a family visit in there as well! So.. needless to say we are exhausted! but had a TON of fun...

Gainesville - Gary surprised me with tickets to University of Florida football! We bought two separate games, so he went to the first game and met Darrin in G-ville. Then the next weekend we went to the FL v. Tennessee game! We enjoyed an awesome game and got to meet up with Kurt! After we met up with Brett in Tallahassee for a couple of hours! All-in-all definitely worth all the hours in the car!

Mississippi - Gary once again surprised me with tickets to KENNY CHESNEY! so we drove to Biloxi, Mississippi for the concert which was amazing! We were sooo close to Kenny! It was AWESOME!



Tampa/New Port Richey/Orlando - This was insane.. but the things you do for CHEAP flights! Last week we drove to NPR to drop off Zoey with Papa, Nana, and Abuela for the weekend, so that we could DRIVE to Orlando to take a flight to Richmond!

Richmond, Virginia - Gary's cousin Becky got married this past weekend to Mike Iaconelli! SO we went up for the wedding! It was awesome! We got to see family we hadn't seen since our wedding, and thanks to Josh and Courtney got to stay there for FREE! We had a blast! and returned on Sunday!

The 'beautiful' bride, Mike- well sort of, gary and I


Mike, Mom and I


Gary and I


Like I said, CRAZY MONTH! but we are soo thankfull that we have been able to have fun and see family!

Read to me Dada...

Definitely a favorite sight in the house!

Upgrades!

The Mattes household has been getting some upgrades recently...

Thanks to Zoey and Moutain Dew we had to get a new laptop...


So Zoey got the old one... upgrade for her!


Our friends the Kintner's were cleaning out their house and gave Zoey this cool doll house that we use for storage right now.. Zoey loves tearing the books off the shelf. Zoey also got a new chair in her room...


Last, but certainly not least, I got a Dyson! It is amazing! It picks up sooo much dog hair its amazing! It almost disturbs me how much it picks up, because that means that used to be on my floor without my knowledge... needless to say a HUGE upgrade from our old one!

Blocks!

Before I left for training in August, I bought Zoey a big bag of blocks! She/We love playing with them.. it has definitely brought back a little kid in us...

Most of the time Zoey is either dumping them all of the floor or we are stuffing them into her clothes... which of course makes us laugh and bugs her!


Belly full of blocks!


Cyrus is a HUGE fan of the blocks... since they get chucked at him on a daily basis!


Fun for the whole family!


My castle, built with EVERY block in the bag!


You have to love a toy that can produce these kind of faces!

Gone fishin'

Gary's cousin Becky is marrying Mike Iaconelli in a couple of weeks... he is a professional 'angler' (I had to use the proper terminology) and they were fishing right outside of Montgomery this weekend, so Zoey and I went with Grandma and Pop-pop to visit them for a little while.

Mike with his big catches! He was in second place after that day!


Zoey was more interested in the ice bucket! She is obsessed with ice...


Zoey and I, Mike, Becky, Grandma and Pop-pop in front of the truck and boat!


It was so fun to see them again (we hadn't seen them since our wedding in 2006) and have a new experience of seeing a bassmasters tournament. All in all a fun weekend! Can't wait to see them again in a couple of weeks!

Zoey has discovered the joy of eating food whole, she doesn't want it in small bites anymore!

Crazy Hair!

For daycare we have to put Zoey's hair up so that it doesn't get covered in food and yuck, so this is the result when we take it out..

Poor girl.. pictures last forever!

Adorable...

I just couldn't resist.. so adorable!

Horn on the bus...

I apologize for my horrible camera job and singing...



But since Zoey has been as school for all of 8 days she has started singing more and doing the motions to songs... Her words are also better, you can actually understand some of them, and she is saying a million more words than before! She can say everyone's name in our family, including the aunts/uncles/cousins... Kimber is the only one we still haven't gotten anywhere close to.. but we are working on it. She is pointing out objects, more than just ball or dog. She is obsessed with babies and points out any kid as a baby! It really is incredible to see all that she can say and do now.. our baby is no longer a baby!

1st Day of School

Zoey is in "mini" school 5 days a week, while I work at home...


She is already adapted and loving her school.. and they love her. Everyday they comment on how much she smiles and how happy she is. Today was the first day she didn't cry when I left her. But then when I pick her up she immediately smiles and says "ooohhh!" It's definitely the best part of my day!

Help me Dada....

16 Months!

Zoey is 16 months old... where did my baby go??

Zoey can...
- sign please
- say more, open, play, ok, no no, 'op' - stop
- run

Zoey likes..
- playing - blocks, books, 'cooking', throwing anything
- eating - fish sticks, GRAPES!, fruit, graham crackers, chicken nuggets
- trying to do it herself
- going to school
- baths
- pushing buttons on anything!

Zoey doesn't like...
- us taking things away from her
- saying bye-bye to mommy - She definitely became a mom's girl while I was away
- being told no

You might be a redneck if....

you strap your child to a chair with a belt...


We were visiting friends for Kathy and Gary's (Zoey's Grandma and Pop-pop) 40th Anniversary party, and realized we didn't have a chair that zoey could sit it and still eat with everyone... so we improvised.... Congrats on 40 years!

My New Life...

Today marks the beginning of something that I have been dreaming about since I graduated college. I am working from home... (angels singing)! This is truly the BEST job EVER! This is my new 'office'...

I am working for Florida Virtual School as a Driver's Ed Teacher, so while I am not working in a traditional sense, I still have a lot to do throughout the day.. I just get to set my own schedule!

So today for instance..
I woke up, got Zoey ready and took her to 'school' (yes, zoey is still in school throughout the day.. have you ever tried working with a 16 month old running around.. and not to mention its good for her to get out..), went to wal-mart, worked, did yoga (part of the new life), ate lunch, worked, and now I am blogging.. and going to get zoey! Its awesome! I love it.. and I hope this continues!

Zoey's new ride...

While we were gone to Tampa, Gary decided 16 years was far too long to wait for Zoey to get her wheels... So when we got home waiting in the garage was a PINK barbie mustang PowerWheels... So we put her in for a test drive ...




...and her feet were about six inches to short.. what can I say? She is my kid. But for now Zoey has a blast playing with all the buttons... Gary is happy, Zoey is happy.. which of course makes me happy...

Visit to Tampa....

Zoey and I packed our bags and headed to Tampa to visit EVERYONE! our schedule was crazy but in the end we had fun and were DEFINITELY glad to be home again... Originally we were only going to be there for a week, but after i got called for an interview in Orlando we extended our trip until the 12th... It was long but of course worth it since i got the job! Here are some of the highlights of our trip.. be prepared for picture overload...

Eating with Nana... zoey was a champ at eating while we were there...


some quality time with Papa


Zoey, Papa, Nana, and Me at the park..




Visiting friends...
Baby Cole


Cousin Gavin



The Jews



Some more quality Papa time



Quality Uncle time...


Visiting the Saba's


One more time at the park with Papa, Nana, and Brett...



Bath with Abuela


Finally on our way home... yes my child is on a leash.. it worked great!