Daughtry, Lifehouse & the First Night Away From Zoe

You know, our daughter just turned four and I've never spent the night away from her.  Needless to say, it was time.  Time for Mark and I to have a night together and time for Zoe's Nana & Papa to get to have her all to themselves.  I don't think I have to tell you just how much fun they had.  They danced, watched movies and played, played, played!  We can't thank Nana & Papa enough for giving us the opportunity....but they would tell you that they couldn't thank us enough for leaving the house!  Ha!  Anyway, we booked a room in downtown Nashville and went to see Daughtry at the Bridgestone Arena.  One of my lifelong bestest buddies, Temple, came down with her husband Craig and partied with us!  Plus, my step-sister Heather and her hubby Chad showed up, too!  We had the best time!  Needless to say, I probably had a little "too much fun" (Daddy did for sure), but I wouldn't change a thing!  In fact, I can't wait to do it again and am already checking out future concerts I want to see! 

Finally!  A decent picture of Mark and I!

Mark and Temple!

Temple & Craig

Me and Mark...Self Portrait!

Temple & Craig...Typical!  This is HYSTERICAL!

Mark - Self Portrait!  I have no words...

This was us the entire night!  Bwahahaha! I can't explain Mark...

Good times!

Daughtry!

Daughtry Again!  Our seats were awesome!

Daughtry...I took this with my phone!

Another pic with the phone!  Daughtry & the lead singer from Lifehouse!  Awesome!

Lifehouse....





Daughtry....

Meredith's Birthday.....

Zoe's best buddy Meredith was born on the same day as Zoe (remember this story) and they are such good friends.  Anyway, we went to Meredith's house over the weekend for her birthday party.  Needless to say, my girl didn't want to leave and she had a wonderful time!  Here are some pics from our time at the Root house....

Getting a manicure from Meredith's mom

My beautiful girl....

So beautiful just sitting there...

Showing Daddy my toes and nails!

Check 'em out!

Making a necklace...

Lovin' the food!

Typical Meredith & Zoe when I asked to take their picture!

And another typical picture!  Little toots!

Meredith blowing out her candles!

The Twins Game

One of my best buddies (Shelley) has twin girls named Anna & Ashlyn.  They are wonderful girls and they treat Zoe so well.  Needless to say, they won my heart over a long time ago!  They are seven now and playing softball and Zoe and I wanted to see one of their games.  I must say that I was quite impressed....those girls are good!  And they are only seven!  Of course, my girl loved going, but she was so engrossed in the twins' little cousins that she hardly paid attention!  Go figure!  Of course, all she asks for repeatedly now is a baby sister, a dog or a pool!  Kind of a big wish list, huh?

Zoe girl and my Shelley girl!

Ashlyn playing first base....she ROCKED!

Just watching the baby....

Cute, sweet Rika....

Anna at bat....She did AWESOME, too!

My girl enjoying the sun!  See that fair skin?  I lathered her up with 85 SPF!

The Barbie Bike....

You know, there really wasn't much our girl asked for for her birthday except her Barbie Bike...and she LOVES it!  Check it out....

Zoe's School Party

Every year I usually take off from work for Zoe's birthday.  But, considering the circumstances this year, I couldn't.  So, Mark and I took cupcakes to her school and boy was our Zoe girl excited!  She loved having both of us there and she loved having cupcakes for all of her friends! 

Our prissy girl....

Check out the shoes...

So happy....

Icing Face....

Happy 4th Birthday Zoe!

Our Zoe girl turned 4 on May 25th.  But, since the founding partner of the law firm I work for passed away on May 21st, we had to celebrate her birthday on May 23rd because his memorial service was on Tuesday evening, Zoe's actual birthday.  Anyway, we had a great time with our little princess!  I can't believe my baby is 4!  Where has the time gone?

Zoe's door all decorated!

Baby Nurse Barbie!

 

Our beautiful girl!

Opening her gifts!

 

Blow out your candle!

Zoe's new Barbie bike!

Some Things are Better Left to the Professionals.....

So, I have to say that I've had some bright ideas in my life.  I've also had some terrible ones!  But, what fun would life be if we didn't attempt stuff that we have never done before?  Yeah, I had that happen to me most recently....namely with my bright idea to make Zoe a cake for her birthday.  Yes, I was trying to be frugal and decided that I could make my sweet Zoe a cake all by myself!  You know, it started out with me going to Joann's and buying a cake mold and then buying all the trimmings.  I should've known when I had spent way more money to make the cake than to buy one that I should've given up then.  But noooooo, I have to attempt to make the cake because I'm no quitter!  I decide on Sunday morning before church that I'm going to go ahead and bake the cake so all I have to do is come home and ice it.  The cake mold called for a "2 layer cake."  Have you ever seen a box that says "2 layer cake" on it?  Yeah...me neither.  So, in my brilliance I decide that I should buy two cake mixes to take care of that problem!  Ha!  I get everything together, get the cake in the oven and proceed to get ready for church.  I hear Mark say (well....scream is more like it), "Courtney!  What have you done?"  I run into the kitchen and there is smoke EVERYWHERE!  Yeah, the cake has spilled over the sides of the pan and it is dripping in the bottom of my oven.  Let's not forget that there are also little tiny fires in the bottom of my oven from the drippings, too!  Genius!  Needless to say, Mark had to stay home from church and clean up my mess because there was smoke in everything.  I get to church and ask my buddy Shelley to sniff my hair to see if it stinks.  I think she was being kind when she told me she couldn't smell anything because I couldn't get the smell out of my nose!  But that's what one of your closest buddies is for....right?  (Thanks, Shelley!)  Mark is nice enough to go buy me another cake mix (one this time) and go ahead and bake another cake before I get home with Zoe.  I wait until the cake cools and try to "turn it over" when part of it sticks in the pan and begins to rip.  Nice!  Could this get any better?  Uh...yeah it can.  Mark comes down and starts piecing it together....with toothpicks.....while saying, "We'll just make sure Zoe doesn't eat from this end!"  Bwahahahahaha!  I get Zoe to bed for her nap and begin to ice her cake with buttercream frosting.  Yeah, I follow the directions exactly and the icing is runny!  I can't begin to tell you how excited I was by this point (insert intense sarcasm).  Mark is nice enough to mix me another batch and it is thicker (we left out some of the milk to make it thicker) so I begin piping it onto the cake.  I'm thinking, "This is going to be so cute....you know....if you don't think about the toothpicks already holding it together!"  What else could go wrong you might ask?  Well, the icing I've piped onto the cake is now starting to run.  So, Mark says, "Let's put the white icing all over it and it'll look like a bear!"  We get the icing on there and it doesn't look anything like a freakin' bear!  If it's a bear, he looks like Beetle Juice with the shrunken head!  Needless to say, I just gave up.  Mark says, "You go to the store and buy my baby a cake!"  I must admit that the cake defeated me....but I got that stupid cake in the end!  Mark proceeded to bury his face in it and then I did the same.  Hey...at least it tasted good, huh?  I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed making that stupid cake (again...insert intense sarcasm here)!

This is what the cake should've looked like...

Does this look like a carriage...or a bear to you?

What else are you going to do?

It did taste good!

Thank you Publix!

Giddy Up Daddy

Soccer & The Sportsman's Medal

Our sweet Zoe had another soccer game on May 22, 2010.  She's been doing so much better and she really played her little heart out.  As a result, Zoe was awarded the Sportsman's Medal and we are so proud of her!  Way to go Zoe!  We could care less if you never kick the ball or score a goal so long as you're having fun!  Here are some pics of our sweet girl...