Swim Lessons

The first two weeks of summer Zoey and I had swim lessons at UWF.. at first she was not so excited.. but then of course in true Zoey style the last day she LOVED IT! she was laughing and jumping off the side of the pool... hopefully we can practice a lot more at Grandma and Pop-pop's pool..
(sorry about the quality.. pictures of pictures)



Can you tell its the summer and our days are less than busy? this is like the 4 post this week.. i love it!

Oh Zoey...

Zoey has a mullet.. its official.. to try and offset that I am employing new hair strategies...



This is what happens when Zoey falls asleep while trying to eat..


This is what happens when Zoey is tired but is fighting sleep...

Seriously could she be cuter..

..the best day of the year..

MY BIRTHDAY! even in hard economic times... my husband went above and beyond (as always) to make my birthday AMAZING!
I walked in from swim lessons (Zoey's not mine) to this!


That used to be an amazing cupcake from Publix.. precisely what I asked for!


Beautiful NY Strip steaks.. my favorite of course!


A full dinner.. potato, salad and steak.. yumm!


Ice. cream. cake....glorious!


We are still celebrating.. because its June and I celebrate for a month! Thanks babe! you are still the best!

New and Improved

Thanks to Craigslist.. we here at the Mattes household have upgraded.. well Zoey has upgraded.. big time!


New Swingset... only $70.. retail $300!

No more redneck here.. we are have a ligit watertable!!

Dada...

One of the reasons I fell in love with my husband was the way that he was with children...to see the way he is with our daughter only makes me fall in love with him more and more everyday...



Happy Dada's Day to the best daddy in the world!

Night- Night Time...

Redneck Baby..

In attempts to find fun, educational activities for the summer.. we have been in search of a water/sand table for Zoey... but paying $40 just doesn't seem practical.. and even craigslist has offered no solutions... so this week i came up with my own solution...



Yes I filled a cooler with water and it is now her favorite outside toy... don't judge.. we saved $40 and hey she was born in pensacola.. what do you expect...

How can you not love that face.. even hot and sweaty... just too cute!

Our answer to annoying solicitors...

Now she runs to the phone whenever it rings...

... a little more dancing..

dancing with ellen..

dancing anyone? and update on Zoey... of course.

This toy has been without batteries for quite sometime.. i mean who uses AAA batteries anyway.. well tonight i put new ones in... she stopped and got the biggest grin on her face took the toy and started dancing...

13 months and going... (mostly for my memories' sake)

Zoey can...
- dance
- walk pretty steadily on her own
- start to run
- say.."mama, dada, woof-woof, quack, was-that, whos-that, something that sounds like thank you, lalala (elmo), hii, baba, bye-bye, papa, nana"
- sign.. food, more, bird, milk, fish
- sound of dog- 'woof-woof', elephant-raspberry sounds, sheep - 'baba', do what a lizard does - sticking her tongue in and out...
- find noses on her face and yours... almost can do eyes and mouth.. just be careful or she'll poke your eye out...
- do the wheels on the bus hand motions
- blow kisses, give hugs and kisses
- wave bye-bye and hi
- do "so big"
- starting to climb
- drink from a sippy - NO MORE BOTTLES! WOOHOO!

Zoey likes...
- playing with her kitchen
- sucking her LEFT thumb.. only the left one will do...
- getting whatever she wants
- food- peaches, cheese, sweets, eggs
- MILK
- playing outside
- petting and kissing the dogs...
- "cooking" - stirring, pretend eating...
- "cleaning"- sweeping, picking up dog food, wiping her tray, picking up her books
- reading.. LOVES to bring you books to read...
- dancing








Zoey doesn't like..
- not getting her way
- patience
- being in time-out.. but its working!!
- baths! - she has been screaming bloody murder...

She amazes us every single moment.. i'm so excited to spend the summer with my big girl!

ps- tonight is the first night in months that Zoey didn't SCREAM through her bath... maybe we have turned a corner! hooray!

Summer activities and goodbyes...

Zoey got two new toys this week to keep her busy this summer while she is at home she is already having a great time playing with them...

Zoey is learning to earn her keep...

cooking, cleaning.. this kid thing might have more advantages than we thought!

Queen of the castle...


We will have to have lessons on playing with this toy...

Lastly we said goodbye to our favorite neighbors.. due to the military.. We loved you guys!!

Zoey and baby Pierce

Domestic Goddess

Zoey has become quite the helper around her lately.. as you read in the previous post.. her are some other tasks she has begun...

Laundry...


Sweeping...



Taking a break to do a little reading...


Finishing her day the way we all domestic goddess' do.. chocolate ice cream!

Let's hope...

Zoey has some new "talents" lately, let's hope they continue...

- Cleaning her high chair after she is finished with food (thanks abuela)
- Putting away her books when finished, and grabbing the book i ask for
- Walking to her room when we ask/say 'night night zoey?' or 'nap nap'
- Walking to her room when she is sleepy
- Giving the dogs their treats in the morning
- Picking up the stray pieces of food that Cyrus leaves and feeding them to him

She is a girl after my own heart!

like i said... let's hope it continues...

Precious...

Beach Baby...

Papa, Nana, Brett and Steve came to Destin for the long weekend, and took Zoey for the weekend... allowing us a few nights to ourselves and some much needed sleep.. thanks Papa and Nana. Today we went to pick her up and spent a couple of hours with them on the beach...

Getting ready...Hat, Sunglasses, cover-up... she's one accessorized girl!

Daddy helps ease the fear.. Zoey has an aversion to any water right now..

Not too happy about the water..

Everything is better with Nana...

Playing in the sand was much better..

Pure SASS!

'applause please!'

Soo tired!

Thanks Nana and Papa! Zoey had a blast!

Only my kid...

Do you see it...?

Yup.. Zoey had a carrot in her belly button... at least now we know the belly button's purpose.. hiding vegetables..

Zoey's molar has popped through and is a much happier baby.. even after spending a couple times in time-out.. Yes, zoey had her first time-out experience this past week, and then had her second, and third.. but it worked! the first time she was not happy and cried and cried.. then the second she stopped crying after about 30 seconds after we put her in (timeout is the playpen).. and now it only takes about 10 seconds for her to stop crying... so far so good!

Picasso...

Zoey's first drawing..

We tried markers first, it was a huge MESS! but nonetheless crayons worked better until she started eating them... oh well..

Sorry no pics of the little one.. She is cutting a molar and the Zoey we know and love has taken a (hopefully) short vacation... more to come when Zoey returns to her laughing happy self.... oh God I hope soon!

12 more days of school! Today was my last day teaching... now we have projects, reviews, and exams! I can feel summer just around the corner!

Zoey's Second 1st Birthday!

I proclaimed April 29th a national holiday so this means that as a school teacher I get to take the day off and spend it with one of my favorite people.. Zoey! We had a wonderful day...

First we went to the park and tried to ignore the questionable people there...


Then is was off to lunch with Grandma and Juju.. I promise they were there....


Zoey and I came home and she took a very long nap... followed by presents...


Really more presents than any one-year should get... We have very generous grandparents and friends! Thanks everyone!

Then of course it was CAKE time....


At first she was ok with it..



Then she was done and didn't want anything to do with it..


We took it away and she was all better.. and cuter covered in cake!



Mom and Dad and the Birthday Girl...



We love one-year olds..
Forward facing seats!

Zoey's last can of formula.. whole milk is soo much cheaper!


Sorry this has taken me so long and that this post is soo long, i wanted to make sure it was well documented...