Bye-bye Genie Mom & Papa Bill!

Genie Mom & Papa Bill have been watching and caring for Zoe since she was 3 months old. Genie Mom has been operating a day care for over 40 years (I'm guessing.) Well, the time had come for Genie Mom to retire. She and Papa Bill wanted to do some traveling and see family so we got a couple of weeks notice for Zoe's last day. That last day came on June 5th.

Papa Bill giving Zoe a hug and kiss goodbye...

Genie mom getting her last cuddles...

I don't think Genie wants to let go...

Outside Zoe's first day care...bye Genie Mom!

Zoe wouldn't be the fun-loving, caring and sweet little girl that she is without Genie Mom's caring influence and guidance. Thank you for loving our little girl so much!

Hot rod!

Out for a ride on her tricycle...Zoe's legs are finally long enough to reach the pedals and actually pedal! No more backaches from stooping over to push her along, yea!!

Here she goes...

picking up speed...

and leaving me in the dust!!

After her trike ride, we found Zoe relaxing in her own special way.

Playing with the vertical blinds just like a little cat...man, we must not have any toys in the house!!!

Picnic!

My company recently had a family picnic to kick off summer. Here in Southern California, though, summer sometimes doesn't peek out until July. The day of the picnic was classic May gray or June gloom, whichever term you prefer. At least it wasn't blazin' hot for the picnic which was very nice!

There was tons of activities to do...

pony rides...

bubble blowing...

frisbee throwing...

fruit eating...

ball kicking...

buddy walking...

(her buddy left her to take pictures)

sack races...

and falling...

water balloon tossing (or drinking)

catching??? open your eyes baby!

she could have played with just the water balloons all day!

and mommy could have eaten cotton candy all day!! (Oh wait, I did!)

Yum!

A smile just seems so much bigger with jam!!!

Interesting choices...

A shirt that doesn't quite match the pants which are then tucked into black patent boots. The original outfit included a gold princess tiara, but it was getting caught up on her ponytail, so she opted for the pink princess purse. Isn't she lovely??

Mother's Day (a few weeks late -OK, over a month late)

Every day is a happy Mother's Day when I look at this sweet face!!

Look at that hair! Locks of Love will be happy with her hair donation real soon!

We headed to my brother's house for dinner...Zoe needed to show him the "alligator" she found! Or was it a turtle?

Ah, cute couple...my niece and her fiance (whoo-hoo! congrats you two!)

Here's a mom of 6 and a mom of 1...(I have it easy!)

Oh no, skinned knee!

"Grandma, I hurt my knee...see?!"

The young couple with a bright future ahead!

Roger can cook and chat it up with Dan - check out Dan's new haircut...it looks so good! My bro looks hot!

Zoe found the pool (well, just the hot tub) and desperately wanted to get all in...not just feet...but mommy wasn't prepared for swimming.

Hey, anyone watchin' that kid in the pool???

Rogers Senior & Junior engaged in some serious conversation...

Two fat faces...

"Here Grandma, I picked out this card for you and see I wrote my name!"

Hey boys...since you're in the kitchen, why not do some dishes!

Aunt Teresa spent the weekend with her mom and therefore wasn't there for the evening's festivities. Zoe recounted her trip to Uncle Roger's house the next day on her way to day care. She informed me that Aunt Teresa wasn't there and that I was pretending to be Aunt Teresa. I asked her what I did to pretend to be Aunt Teresa. She said because I was doing the dishes!

"My new grandparents!"

The other day Zoe asked me if we can go see her "new grandparents."

I asked, "your new grandparents?  Who are they?  Oh, you mean your Great-grandparents?" She nodded yes.

"Yeah, I want to go to their house and play with the wheel and drive the ship!"  (See wheel below.)

We took a trip to visit Zoe's Great-Grandparents a couple of weeks ago.  She's only seen them 3 or 4 times before, so I was afraid she'd be a bit shy when seeing them.  Well, she walked right into their house and made herself right at home.  She sought out everything that looked like a toy and made it her own...the ship's wheel quickly became her favorite.

She also kept asking me for some Cheerios.  I kept telling her that I didn't think they had any Cheerios.  But, sure enough, she was right.  She had spied the Cheerios on top of the refrigerator.  See...right at home!

GGpa- a WWII Navy vet - gave Miss Zoe one of his model planes to hang in her room!  An Avenger Torpedo Bomber he made himself.  Not the typical gift for a little girl but she loves planes! She wants to play with it so bad - but it is very delicate, so she can only admire it from afar! I'm sure this plane will be cherished forever!

Zoe shows off her cheesy smile with GGpa & Grandma Sharon...

Zoe giggles with GGma-

and gives her some love!

So sweet!  She loves her "new grandparents!"