Happy 5th Birthday, Zoe!

Zoe hit what feels like such a milestone age on April 7th. I cannot believe that our baby girl is already 5 and will be starting kindergarten in just a few short months. She is growing up way too fast! We had a great day celebrating our big girl. She started her birthday at preschool where she got to celebrate with her friends with cupcakes. Her teacher made her a special birthday crown and she got to hold the class birthday bear. We picked her up from school and took her to Swamp Rabbit Cafe for lunch and a special birthday cookie. She got to play on the playground there and walk along the trail for a bit. It was a rare meal with just Zoe and us and she really enjoyed that special time together. When Ava got home from school, Zoe got to open up her presents. I think her favorite gift was her Ada Twist Scientist doll that Ava picked out for her. Of course, I had to get some pictures of the birthday girl. She chose to stay in her footie pj’s, which there really isn’t anything more Zoe than footies. The girl lives in her footies. As soon as she gets home from anywhere, she gets right back into her footies. So, taking birthday pictures in her footies seemed like the perfect way to capture Zoe at 5 years old. We ended the day with waffles for supper, a favorite of Zoe’s.

This little girl is so filled with joy and we love celebrating her and her infectious smile. Happy birthday, baby girl! We love you so much!

The Party Details

Since we had Zoe’s party at the dance studio, I didn’t have to come up with a lot of decorations. It was nice to keep it simple but I made sure our little princess felt special on her big day. She requested chocolate cupcakes and I found princess goldfish for another treat. As usual, I made sure to pick up some special flowers to decorate with that served as a special tribute to her beautiful birth mama. We all had so much fun celebrating our hip hop princess (who even agreed to pose for some pictures before the party)!

A Princess Hip Hop Celebration

Zoe got to celebrate her birthday (a few days early) with some of her best friends at one of her favorite places, her dance studio. She was able to celebrate with her cousins, her best friend from dance class, her best friend from school and several friends from church. This was the first time I’ve hosted a party outside of our house and I am now a big fan of that. It was so nice to not have to worry about cleaning the house before the party. Zoe’s studio helped make the party a super special day for the girls. They set up an obstacle course for the girls to enjoy. Then Miss Lilly taught the girls a couple dances and they had a blast dancing. After the dancing was over, we headed to a different room for a crown craft and cupcakes for the little princesses. It was a special day celebrating our big (almost) 5 year old! We are so thankful for all these precious friends.

Introducing, Sookie

Not only were we keeping Disney World a secret from the girls, we were also keeping another HUGE secret from them. On the ride home from Disney, we gave both girls a picture of their new puppy, Sookie, and told them we were getting her the very next day. DJ kept saying this was any kid’s dream come true, twice…a trip to Disney and a new puppy. After we lost Lucy, we knew we’d eventually get another dog but we did not think it would be anytime soon. We were kind of enjoying the simplicity of having just one dog. But, we started to realize that the girls really needed to be able to have their own rooms. Well, neither girl was willing to sleep without Winnie…so we decided maybe we should go ahead and start considering a puppy. I decided to check our breeder’s website to see if she had any upcoming litters and she just so happened to have a litter with 2 girls available that would be ready right before we left for Disney. I contacted her about the puppies and asked if we decided to get one if we could wait another couple weeks to get her when we got back from Disney. She was happy to keep the puppy a little longer for us. I fell in love with this face immediately…

DJ couldn’t say no to that face either…I mean, how could you? So, we decided to be crazy and get a puppy. The breeder named her DJ Suki because her litter was a Trolls themed litter. When DJ and I were considering names for Kate and then Lucy, one name we considered was Sookie from Gilmore Girls. It just all seemed meant to be. We decided we’d go ahead and name her Sookie (so the girls wouldn’t argue over who got to name her) and that name fits her. She is a goofball who is always getting into messes, just like her namesake. Needless to say, the puppy excitement helped ease the Disney withdrawls. We all just love this little fluff ball.

Disney World 2022 - Day 5

We headed back to Magic Kingdom for our final day in Disney World. We packed this day full to finish out our trip, starting when they opened the park and ending with the fireworks. We made sure to do all the favorite rides again (some more than one time), met all the princesses, watched the cavalcades, ate Dole Whip and let the girls watch the Enchantment, the nighttime spectacular for the very first time. It was Zoe’s first time ever seeing real fireworks in person and Ava doesn’t remember them from when she was little. It was a special way to end our wonderful trip.

We had such a great time at the Most Magical Celebration on Earth! See ya real soon, Mickey!

Disney World 2022 - Day 4

The next day in Disney, we headed to Hollywood Studios. We got there right around the time they opened the gates and were able to ride Toy Story Mania without much wait at all. As the day went on, that line grew like crazy so we were thankful we finally got to ride it. The rest of the day was spent enjoying character meet and greets, our Disney Junior Play-n-Dine meal with Doc, Vampirna, Goofy and Fancy Nancy, the Disney Junior dance party, the Frozen Sing-a-Long show (always a huge favorite), Mickey shaped pretzels (everything’s better when it’s shaped like Mickey) and exploring Galaxy’s Edge (DJ’s favorite place in all of Disney). Since this park doesn’t have as many rides that the girls could ride, we were able to end the day with some time in Disney Springs to do some shopping and get Dole Whip. It was another great day in this happy place!

The Disney Junior Meet and Greets were the only ones with Photopass Photographers. They were able to get some better shots of Zoe when she met some of her favorite characters since she was looking at them instead of me. Zoe was in Disney Junior Heaven!

Disney World 2022 - Day 3

We spent our next day in Disney World at Animal Kingdom. We enjoyed the day seeing all the animals around the park, riding the rides (especially the safari), learning to draw Donal Duck, collecting Wilderness Explorer badges, watching the Kite Tails show, looking for the character flotillas on the river and eating dinner at the Tusker House Restaurant with Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy (our favorite character meal ever). DJ especially enjoyed exploring Pandora.

And of course, we took advantage of the photopass photographers here as well.

Disney World 2022 - Day 2

Our 2nd day in Disney was filled with all the 50th Celebrations at Magic Kingdom. We arrived just in time for the Welcome Show at the castle and got to see Mickey, Minnie and friends in their 50th outfits in front of the beautiful castle. The day was full of rides, character sightings, cavalcades, the parade, the castle show and Dole Whip. This year Zoe was tall enough to ride more rides and she was all about the rides this day and did not want to waste time waiting in line to see the princesses. Both girls loved the Tomorrowland Speedway and DJ and I are both NOT ready for them to drive real cars, ha. Dumbo was a huge favorite for Zoe and both girls loved the indoor play area in the line for Dumbo. It was a big year for Zoe because she was finally tall enough to ride a roller coaster. She got to ride the Barnstormer and we learned very quickly that Zoe does NOT like roller coasters. Ava got to see Chip and Dale, some of her favorite characters. Zoe got to meet her beloved Eeyore and wave to him. Due to COVID, the Festival of Fantasy parade was cancelled for a while, with smaller cavalcades taking its place. Well, right before we went, they brought the parade back but also kept the cavalcades. It was so great to be able to see the iconic parade and enjoy the smaller mini parades, especially the new Adventure Friends Cavalcade that featured Moana. We had a wonderful day in the Most Magical Place on Earth!

This was my first time going to Disney World without my real camera. It was nice to just use my phone for pictures but I also made sure we got some good pictures with the Photopass photographers. Thankfully the girls obliged my request for multiple photo stops (without too much complaining). I love having these family portraits from our magical vacation!

Disney World 2022 - Day 1

We pulled off a huge surprise again for the girls for spring break. We were sure Ava overheard some conversations but she actually seemed truly surprised. When they woke up the first morning of Spring Break, they came downstairs to find Minnie ears and Disney gift cards at their breakfast spots and surprised them with the news that we were headed to Disney World. They were both super excited…as were we. This was a trip we’ve been wanting to take for such a long time but were waiting until things got back to more normal (the thought of wearing a mask in FL heat all day seemed miserable). We kept watching things and were very hopeful that by spring break this year, things would be better. Thankfully, right before we left they dropped the mask mandate except for on transportation. They also changed the rules for character dining to allow you to stand up when the characters came by your table (still no hugs but much better than it had been. Hugs are back now so we just need to go again, ha). And best of all, we were able to go during the 50th anniversary of the Magic Kingdom. It was amazing to be able to see all the celebration in person (especially the beautiful castle updates).

Friday morning, we packed up the car, dropped Winnie off with my mom and then drove to my Aunt Emily’s house in Daytona. We are so thankful for Aunt Emily letting us crash for the night so that we could get an extra day in the parks. It was fun for the girls to get to spend some time with Aunt Emily since we don’t get to see her often and they loved visiting with her and her cute dog, Sadie.

Saturday morning, we said goodbye to Aunt Emily and then headed straight to Epcot. We were there during the Flower and Garden Festival and it was fun trying to find all the topiaries as well as all the different character sightings around the World Showcase. Since character hugs were not back yet, the characters would pop up in random places and you could interact with them and take pictures from a distance. I think my favorite character sighting was Pooh because he was trying to catch butterflies and he really interacted with Zoe. We did get to do a meet and greet with Anna and Elsa in their Sommerhaus, but it was still from a distance. Also, as part of the 50th, there were the Fab 50 statues all over the 4 parks. I had a list of where to find them and it was fun to try to check them all off.

We took a short break in the middle of the day to go check into our hotel room and then headed back to Epcot for supper and more rides, like the Living with the Land. This was a new ride to us and it was so cool to see the gardens where they grow so much of the produce and flowers that are used all over the parks. When we headed back to the hotel for good that night, we found that housekeeping had arranged the girls’ blankets and stuffed animals on the bed. Then we got to watch the Epcot fireworks from our room. It was a great end to the first day.

School Dress Up Days 2022

Ava had a couple different dress up days early in the spring semester (and thanks to her teacher, I was able to get pictures from both days). The first one was the annual Book Character day. This year, Ava decided to dress up like one of the characters in her favorite book series, Star Friends. She even carried her little fox with her.

The second dress up day was a big event that 4th grade does every year (except the past 2 because of COVID). The whole grade was so excited they could actually have Oregon Trail Day this year. They all dressed up like pioneers and learned about life on the Oregon Trail. Ava had a blast with her friends at this fun day.

The Wetzels in Asheville

We were able to enjoy a couple days in Asheville with DJ’s family. We spent a day at Biltmore and a day at the Western NC Nature Preserve. The kids had a blast exploring Biltmore (especially the playground) and the Nature Center (and especially the playground beside it). It was a really fun time together as a family.

Basketball 2022

Ava not only tried dance for the first time this year, she also tried her very first team sport, basketball. Our pastor’s wife, Allison, was coaching the 7-9 year old girls team for a different church and asked us if Ava would like to play. Ava said she would like to give it a try. Little did we know, we were starting her out on the best team in the league. They finished their undefeated season by winning the championship game! They even had some shut out games. Ava had a great time playing for Allison, she was an amazing coach! She made some sweet friends on the team and we were so proud of her for getting out of her comfort zone and doing something like basketball for the first time. She even scored a basket in the last 2 games she played, even making a free throw in the championship. She had quite the cheering section in the championship game because Nana, Papa, Grammie, Uncle Eric and Piper were all there to cheer her on. We are not sure if she’ll stick with basketball but she had fun on her very first sports team.

Lucy

Exactly one week after we lost Kate, we had to say goodbye to our precious golden, Lucy. This loss came as a complete shock to us. Sunday morning before we left for church, Lucy fell going down the steps in the garage. That evening we noticed her breathing seemed off and knew we’d need to take her into the vet the next day. When we woke up Monday morning, Lucy’s breathing was very shallow. As we were doing things to get ready, DJ went to check on Lucy and got a huge shock that she had passed away. It was such a shock and we all hated that we did not realize what was going on or we would have been surrounding her with love. But she died peacefully at home and we are thankful we did not have to make any hard decisions. She and Kate are buried side by side in our back yard. Lucy (aka Lucy Goose, Goose or Luce) was the best dog. We could not have asked for a better first dog. She was a therapy dog for the girls when they were scared to sleep alone and she knew just how to comfort them. She loved us as much as we loved her and we all miss her every day.

Kate

Unfortunately, our snow days were also filled with a lot of sadness. The Friday before the snow hit, Kate was acting very strange. She was extremely lethargic and she started eating her cat litter. We knew something was up. Our vet was completely booked that day, as were all other vets we tried calling. So that evening, I took Kate to the emergency vet hospital. We waited a long time to be seen and then I had to leave her there for them to actually check her out, which was so hard to do because I knew something was really wrong with my kitty. We got a call in the middle of the night from the vet saying she was 99% sure Kate had very advanced cancer. She had never seen levels as high as she saw in Kate’s blood. We were left with some decisions to make about what to do next but ultimately decided to bring Kate home after she got some fluids, steroids and an appetite stimulant. We knew she probably didn’t have much time left and we just wanted her home. With the impending snow storm, we realized there was a good possibility we wouldn’t be able to take her to our vet but we wanted to be with her. That Monday, she passed away at home. She was 13 years old and was apparently stronger than we even realized because she hid her illness until there was no way she could hide it anymore. I’ll be honest, she wasn’t a very nice cat but we still loved her. She was our first baby and she spent many hours with me curled up in my lap while I worked from home. We all miss Baby Kate, the Duchess of Fieldgate (as DJ and I called her) very much!

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyways

When you have epic snow (for SC) and you have an Elsa dress….

Snow 2022

This year, we got the best snow we’ve had in years! It was amazing to have so much snow and for it to stick around for a few days and be able to play in it so much. The first day, we even walked through our woods to Paris Mountain State Park. It was so beautiful to see the park and the lake all covered in snow. We enjoyed sledding down our hill, a campfire with marshmallows, made snow cream, drank hot chocolate, built pretty epic snowmen (complete with Olaf, Chilly from Doc and Kate) and a snow slide. Lucy and Winnie were living their best life romping through the snow too. Because of new rules, Ava still had to do e-learning but they were very kind and did not give her much work to complete at all so most of the days were spent enjoying the snow. We had a great time with our first snow at our new house (but were also very glad when it went away, one big snow was good, now we’re ready for normal life again).

Ava is 9 and a

Ava turned 9 and a half in January and I am going to try to sum up how Ava has changed in the past 6 months. I cannot believe she will be double digits in just a few short months! She is growing up way too fast. 

Ava is getting so tall these days. She is 4 ft 7.25 in tall! She is really going to catch up to me soon, I think. She is still wearing size 10/12 clothes but her size 10 jeans are starting to look a little short. We are ready for warmer weather so she can put away the high water jeans, ha. She needs the bigger sizes for length but not for her waist so finding clothes that fit is a little challenging sometimes. She’s also already outgrowing some of her fall/winter shoes. She is into size 4 for the next season. The crazy part of how shoes fit is that she can actually wear some womens shoes if they are small enough! How that’s already possible I have no clue!

The past 6 months brought on some new changes for Ava. Back in the fall, she graduated from Occupational Therapy! That was a big deal since she had been in it for 6 years. We were so proud of all she accomplished and how much she grew in OT. She also stopped tutoring in the fall because her tutor took a full time job at the school. She loved working with Mrs. Tessmann, who was her 2nd grade teacher (long-term sub, turned teacher) and was a long-term sub in 3rd grade when her teacher was out for surgery. Mrs. Tessmann helped so much during our e-learning days and helped Ava understand the new math concepts that are taught so differently than DJ and I learned. We are so thankful for all the time she spent with Ava!

Ava also started some new activities. She played on her very first team sport, playing basketball. She got to play for our pastor’s wife and with a few girls from our church as well as some girls from the church they played for. Ava learned so much about basketball and playing on a team. She made some sweet friends and loved playing basketball. Their team won the league championship game, finishing off an undefeated season! Ava scored during their last 2 games of the season, which was so fun to see! Ava also started dance in January (right before her half birthday). She is taking jazz at the same studio that Zoe goes to and she is loving it. We love the studio because they have beginner level classes for all the dance classes/ages so an older kid like Ava can start and not feel super behind. Ava’s class is a sweet group of girls and she really likes her teacher, Miss Iris. They just started working on their recital dance, which they will perform in June. It has been fun to watch Ava take on these new things and do really well with them!

Ava is really enjoying 4th grade! It has been nice to have a slightly more normal year this year, without the e-learning days (except for when we all had COVID and the snow). Ava has a great teacher this year and her class also has a teaching intern from Clemson, who is super sweet. Ava’s made a couple new friends this year as well. This school year has been a shift in being a little more challenging and the teachers expecting a lot more out of the students, so that has been an adjustment but she is doing so well and maintaining A’s and B’s on her report cards. She loves social studies but is not a fan of math. She also loves eating lunch at school and we love that the free lunch benefit from COVID has stuck around. Her favorite days are the nacho bar and the breakfast bar days.

Ava  is still a pretty picky eater. Her favorites though are still pizza, chicken pot pie, any breakfast for supper meal, black bean and potato tacos, chicken tacos, and lasagna soup. Chick-fil-A and Mexican are still her favorite places to eat out.

Ava’s favorite things to play with these days are her Barbie style Disney Princess dolls. She recently said she doesn't’ like playing with her American Girl doll or her baby dolls anymore. She is growing up so fast! Her favorite thing to do when she has down time is any sort of drawing/craft. She still loves that type of entertainment. And she is still an avid reader and loves books. She and DJ have gone to a bookstore a couple of times to spend Christmas/Birthday money and picking out new books is probably one of her favorite things to do. 

Ava still loves music and sings all the time. Her favorite music (and movies) is from Descendents. She sings those songs all the time. Encanto is also a big favorite in our house these days. Ava’s favorite song from Encanto is Surface Pressure, and we hear it all the time and it stays stuck in everyone’s heads. Finding movies/tv shows to watch is a little challenging these days because the things Ava likes are too much for Zoe. But they can usually agree on things like Elena of Avalor, Disney kids bake-off, Trolls, and Pup Academy. If Ava has time to watch something on her own, she likes Descendents, Carmen Sandiego, Hannah Montana and Izzy’s Koala World. 

Like I said, it does not seem possible to me that Ava is almost 10. She is growing up to be such a special young lady. She is definitely hitting those pre-teen times but we can also see her sweet, caring heart through the hormones. She cares so much about her friends and never wants to do anything to hurt them. She is a big feeler and is very empathetic. She loves big and we are so blessed to watch her grow into the young lady God has planned for her to be. We have the front row seat to watch that, a privilege we never take lightly.

A Couple Random Pictures

Because I can’t resist when Zoe actually asks me to take her picture, here are a couple of really cute random photos from my phone.

First Day of Dance 2022

The new year means a new semester of dance. Zoe is continuing with her Tot Hop and Tumble class this semester. She loves this class and will be sad when she ages out of it at the end of the semester. She has made some sweet friends in this class and looks forward to dance day every week.

This semester, Ava has decided to give dance a try. The nice thing about the studio is they have beginner classes for all ages so you can still start dance at age 9. Ava did some trial classes in the fall and decided to go with jazz. We are happy to watch her try something new and see how she likes it.

Christmas 2021 - Part 3

Our final Christmas celebration was spent with DJ’s side of the family. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins (lots of dress up), crafts with Nana and playing with their kitten, Ashley (who kept us all entertained). And the Christmas miracle was that I managed to get some pictures of the kids and the kids with Nana and Papa where all 5 kids are looking and smiling! Of course, after the normal pictures, they had to take silly face pictures too.

We are so thankful for all of our family, who helped make Christmas such a special time for us all. We loved celebrating Jesus’ birth with each of you!