The Fever is Gone!!!!

As you know Zoe had a fever Wednesday morning after getting her kindergarten immunizations the night before. Well, her fever would come & go, but never stay gone. Finally Thursday night her fever broke for good. So, that meant her friend Avery could come over to play.

What a good time they had! They played outside on the play set for quite a while & then came in for a snack & something to drink. They then went to the basement & played in Zoe's play room. I didn't hear a peep out of them. They enjoyed each other's company while I got quite a bit accomplished around the house. Play dates need to happen more often - about the only time I get my chores completed!!!!

34 Days 'til Kindergarten

Well, kindergarten is getting closer & closer. Zoe is so excited she can hardly contain herself. She's been practicing her letters & numbers & writing all of the words she knows.

Last night Zoe had to get her shots & lab work done for kindergarten. She was great with the finger stick for the lead test. Likewise with the urinalysis, even though it took three tries before she had to pee!! However, when it came to getting the three shots, that was a different story. She cried & cried & screamed & screamed! In fact, I ended up having to basically hold her down so the nurse could stick her. Once it was completed, Zoe was back to her old self again.

This morning though Zoe woke up with a sore arm (normal) & a fever (also normal). Zoe is prone for high fevers so I am watching her today. So far the fever has not come down any & she is just basically laying around. Her sweet friend Avery was supposed to come over to play, but I postponed that to another day. It's a cloudy dreary day so what better way to spend it than by staying inside & watching TV? Just wish Zoe felt better.

Here's a few pictures of Zoe right before we left for the health clinic last night. You can see, she was her happy-go-lucky self!

Guaranteed to Stir your Heart....

My sweet bloggy friend Kristi recently brought home her precious little girl, Lucy Lane from Ethiopia. Kristi put together this video of Lucy Lane's Gotcha Day not only for remembrance, but also to stir the emotions of those who have EVER thought about adopting. She is hoping someone somewhere will get it & be inspired to adopt one of the 147 million orphans of the world....Enjoy little Lucy Lane meeting her forever family. (PS - You might want to grab some tissues.)

(You will want to pause the music on my blog before starting the video.)

Swimin' with the Cousins

Bethanie & Caleb, our niece & nephew, came to stay with us for a few days. We always enjoy our time spent with them. It rained most of yesterday so we just hung out inside. However, today we watched Zoe at gymnastics & then swam in the pool. As always, Zoe was a little fish in the water.

Caleb hanging out in the pool.....

Zoe - the little fish.....

Caleb - AKA: Little Shrek!!!

(Love this pic!! Took it after Zoe & Bethanie did cannon balls!)

Her smiles make my heart flutter!

Swim, Fishie, Swim!

Zoe giving Bethanie bunny ears!!!!

The gangs all here!

Bops to Chips

Paul & I knew we were in trouble when we were in China adopting Zoe & he introduced her to potato chips. Paul just happens to be a potato chip freak so when he saw the bag of plain L*ys Potato Chips at the 7-11 in Chuzhou, he had to have them. (It didn't matter that they were about 8 US $! He was determined to have them.) Upon arrival back at the hotel he opened the bag & immediately hooked Zoe. From that day on she has loved her chips. In fact, shortly after arriving home from China, Zoe began calling potato chips - Bops. (Have no idea where she came up with that one!) When she was little she would ask for Bops all of the time, even going so far as standing at the pantry shelves & pointing to the chips.

Not much has changed, if she could get away with it, she would to this day eat potato chips for breakfast, snack, lunch, etc. However, instead of Dad's bag of plain L*ys, her flavor & brand of choice these days are Jalapeno Kr*nchers! The spicier the better!

So, yesterday as she was devouring a new bag of Jalapeno Kr*nchers, she was amazed to find this:

Her very own Jalapeno Nem* Kr*ncher!!!!

(Picture's a little blurry, but Zoe took it herself & was so excited that she'd found a treasure! She even mentioned trying to sell it on Eb*y. What do you think?!!!! Do you see millions in our future?!)

The Countdown Has Begun.....

It's hard to believe, but Zoe will be starting kindergarten in 47 days. As you can imagine she is so excited. I brought home some workbooks from my school that were going to be pitched. Thought she would enjoy playing with them. Was I ever right! She has played school every day & even asks me to grade each page that she completes. She is determined that she is going to get good grades in school so her teacher as well as Daddy & Mommy will be very proud of her. (She doesn't realize that we will be proud of her no matter what as long as she is doing her best & putting forth her best effort!)

Along with entering kindergarten comes the required eye exam, school physical, & dental exam. We've tried not making a big deal out of them, just basically indicating they were another step in the 'going to school' process. However, we hit a road block at the eye doctor.....

Zoe had never had an eye exam before. There was never a reason to think she needed one. She had never complained about anything concerning her eyes, eyesight, etc. However, we found out during her exam that she has terrible eyesight. In fact, when Dr. Hager was explaining to me the results, she said that Zoe's prescription is the strongest eye prescription she had ever written for a kid. I was a little stunned. Not because I don't want Zoe to have glasses, but because I felt so guilty. How could we have missed her poor eyesight? Dr. Hager went on to explain that it's very uncommon for children to complain about their eyesight because they don't have anything to compare it to. So in other words, Zoe wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong with her eyes because that's how she always has seen.

Anyway, Paul & I let Zoe pick her glasses out. At first she was not at all thrilled with the notion of having glasses. However, after a little intervention with Abigail, Zoe was very excited. She was even more excited when she woke up this morning & realized today was the day she got to pick up her glasses. So, without further ado.......

Before glasses......

With glasses!!!!

Doesn't she look cute as ever?!

Smoke Follows Beauty!!!!

Paul picked up a little bit of fireworks today for Zoe. Nothing major just some sparklers & snap-n-pops. You would have thought we had taken her to a major fireworks display. She was loving it. However, one set of the sparklers produced a ton of smoke. No matter where she moved to, the smoke seemed to blow back in her face. Her daddy asked her if she knew why the smoke was following her. Her reply? - "Smoke follows beauty!" (That girl is just too smart. Who knows where she'd heard that before!)

Daddy lighting her first sparkler of the night....

And off she goes.....

Proudly displaying her sparkler.....

(I just love this picture!.....)

And it goes out.....

Throwing a snap-n-pop.....

Two sparklers at once.....

Miss beauty herself.....

Happy 4th of July!!!!!