Happy Birthday Shyla!

One of my best buddies' little girl just turned three and her birthday party was today! Of course, Zoe LOVES a birthday party and we rehearsed singing happy birthday to Shyla for her big day. We had such a good time at The Monkey's Treehouse, which I didn't even know existed until today. It is literally a child's paradise! And that Shyla is a beautiful princess....I think you'll agree when you see the video below!

Dressed and ready for the party!

This slide is sooo FUN!

My beautiful girl now stopping to pose for pictures!

This cupcake is AWESOME!

I love playing in the balls, Mommy!

Zoe & The Wiggles

Zoe's day care, McKendree United Methodist Church, closes four times per year for teacher training. I don't complain about it either because it's worth it for the care your child receives. I've been with the day care from Hell and GREATLY appreciate every single aspect of having my child at McKendree. Anyway, they were closed on July 25th so I took the day off to spend it with Zoe. It just so happens that The Wiggles were also having a concert in Nashville so it worked out perfectly. My child is a HUGE fan of The Wiggles so, needless to say, she was sooo excited about going. WE HAD A BLAST!

Dressed and VERY excited to go!

Totally mesmerized by what she's about to see!

Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car



This is video of Zoe & Wags the Dog!

This is a video of The Wiggles singing Zoe's favorite song.

This One's For You Dad!

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Face Plant = Big Boo Boo

While Zoe was at school on Monday I got a call from her teacher wanting to let me know that she had been running with a friend in the gym and done a face plant in the gym floor. She wanted to call and let me know because she didn't want me to get to school and see it without knowing what had happened. She knows me pretty well, doesn't she? Anyway, I would consider this Zoe's first huge "boo boo." The funny part in this? One of Zoe's new favorite sayings is "no way!" Heather said she tried to put ice on it and Zoe wasn't having it. She then tried to give her a teething ring (like you would give a baby) that had been in the fridge to see if she would put that to her lip. Zoe's response? You guessed it....."no way!" That sounds just like my Zoe. She considers herself such a big girls now. This pic was taken on the first day. It actually looked pretty gnarly on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm happy to report that it seems to be much better today.

All Dressed Up for Church

This past Sunday when we went to church Zoe just looked too stinkin' cute. Just wanted to share......

Tie-Dye & Stinky Fish Smell

While we were at the St. Louis Zoo, I had to buy Zoe a shirt and found the perfect one as we were leaving the Penguin House. I'm sure you can guess that Penguins tend to smell a little "fishy." Anyway, when we got back to Steve & Patty's house with the shirt it stunk like fish. It was AWFUL! I took the shirt and soaked it in laundry detergent in the bathroom sink for a day while we were still at Steve & Patty's house and it still stunk like fish. I then washed it twice while we were there and IT STILL STUNK! I had to wrap it in a plastic bag just to get home with the shirt and to make sure it didn't stink up all of our other clothes. Anyway, I did a little research and actually soaked the shirt in laundry detergent with baking soda. I also let is soak outside in direct sunlight. Apparently, the sun has a way of getting rid of strong odors. Guess what? It freakin' worked! So, remember that concoction the next time you have some really sinky clothing. It works like a charm! And after all of that Zoe finally got to wear her shirt to school with her Polliwalks. I just had to post a pic.

I Come in Peace

Zoe was taking a bath the other day with her Daddy. Mark began hollering for me to come in and take a picture of Zoe. So, being the camera slut that I am, I grabbed my camera and took off at a sprint. This is what I discovered.....

It reminds me of that movie Coneheads from back in the early 90's. Hence..."I Come in Peace!"

Crape Myrtle

This post has absolutely nothing to do with Zoe; however, I'm so proud of Mark and how he has taken care of our Crape Myrtle. We got home from our family vacation and this is what it looked like. Isn't it beautiful?!?

Visiting The Lawrences

Every year when we go up to visit with Mark's family, Steve & Patty always have a BBQ so everyone can come over and visit with us. Anyway, they carried on that same tradition and had a BBQ on July 4th, which was wonderful. And Steve's cooking was WONDERFUL! If I ate his cooking all the time, I'd be as big as my car, but I digress. Anyway, attached are some pics from the BBQ and some while we were visiting with Uncle Steve & Aunt Patty. Steve & Patty, thanks again for making our time with you so special. You're awesome and we love you!

Aunt Patty, Patty's Mom & Dad, Patty's Sister Pam
Kevin (Mark's Cousin), Mark, Steve (Mark's Brother), Herman (Mark's Dad) and Dennis (Mark's Brother)

Making Pig Noises with Daddy

Looking Beautiful for the 4th

Say Cheese!!!!!

Uncle Steve a/k/a Poopy

Aunt Patty

Yeah Daddy!

My Beautiful Baby Girl!

Aunt Patty & Zoe Playing

Meramec State Park

The Meramec State Park was quite literally outside Mark's back door where he grew up. So, he wanted to make sure we took Zoe to see it. We found a little playground inside and Zoe had quite a time playing with Daddy & Uncle Steve. It was too cute and you should hear her say "Uncle Steve." We missed Aunt Patty because she was working that day and couldn't join us:0(

Zoe Sees the Slide and Can't Wait to get on it! This slide is too much fun!

Did you say monkey bars? How on earth do these work Uncle Steve?

The St. Louis Zoo

For our family vacation this year, we decided to travel to Sullivan, Missouri, which is Mark's hometown, to stay with Aunt Patty & Uncle Steve for the week. We got there on Sunday, June 29th, and left on Saturday, July 5th. I can't begin to tell you how much fun we had while there. Since Sullivan is located about 60 miles outside St. Louis, we decided to take Zoe to the St. Louis Zoo. First, I HIGHLY recommend the St. Louis Zoo. It is phenominal and puts the Nashville Zoo to shame. There just isn't a comparison. And the great thing about the St. Louis Zoo is it is FREE. That's right.....FREAKIN' FREE FOR EVERYONE. My frugal friend Shelley will appreciate that greatly! And, if you get there when the zoo opens, which we did, you can park along the street for FREE! Even if you end up having to pay for parking, it is only $10.00 for the entire day, which is well worth the money. AND if you get there when the zoo opens, you can get in the children's petting zoo for FREE from 8:00 to 9:00. Cool, huh? I just know Shelley is salivating at all this talk of free! And let me tell you how huge the zoo actually is.....it took us four full hours just to get through it. They have a monkey house, penguin house, reptile house, children's petting zoo, big cat country (there's no way those cat's are getting out of there), bears, zebras, gorilla exhibit (sadly closed while we were there due to construction updates to the exhibit), etc. And the giraffes will literally bend their heads down so you can touch them. Plus, there's a train that goes around the entire zoo. I could go on and on, but you should visit the website and check it out for yourself here. Also, St. Louis has a ton of stuff to do for your family and A LOT of it is FREE. Check it out here. Okay, I really must stop all of this talk about free because I'm sure Shelley just can't take much more of it! Love ya, Shelley:0)

I took so many pictures; however, here are a few of my favorite pics from our day. I was having a little fun with my camera, too. Enjoy!

Daddy & Zoe

This is "Classic Lawrence Family Household"

Such a Beautiful Creature!


A Puffer Penguin




This Little Guy Literally Posed for Me!

Grizzly Sleeping in the Water!

No,Your Eyes Don't Deceive You! This Guy Decided to Lay in Front of Me and Scratch His Butt!

The St. Louis Zoo's Newest Addition!

Can You Say Huge?!?

Camels Hanging Out.

Wow! These Zebras are too Cool!

Zebras

Asian Elephants

Mommy & Zoe Petting Baby Goats

This Jeep is Cool! Can I Have It?

Papa's John Deere

We started off our family vacation by traveling to Nana & Papa's house on Saturday, June 28th. When we got there, Papa took Zoe for a ride on his tractor....his John Deere Tractor to be precise since that's what Zoe calls it. You call tell by the pics she had a blast and loved it. She hasn't quit talking about it since. Plus, she saw horses while they were riding around and I don't need to tell you what she thought about that....LOVED IT.

Cheese Nana!
Hey....Do You See Me Riding with Papa?

Papa, this is so much fun!