Daycare Picnic

Our first day back in Omaha marked the "Graduation celebration" and picnic for the kids from Zoa's daycare. The kids all sang songs and performed a couple dances as well. Zoa participated a little more than last year, but still was not too keen on performing in front of the parents. She either stood next to the rest of the kids, but did not sing or dance, or she stood by us. By the last number, she had warmed up a bit and started dancing around. The picnic concluded with a water balloon fight, which was definitely Zoa's favorite part. We are hoping that by next year she will be willing to participate more.

Here is Zoa plugging her ears while the rest of the kids sang. I guess she was not impressed with their vocal talent. Notice the Elmo party hat she insisted upon wearing to the picnic. I guess this was our fault for calling it a party.
















Zoa took this picture of the other kids performing. Notice her finger in the corner
















Free for all at the bucket of water balloons.

Mad Trip to Madtown

We have just recently recovered from a busy trip to Madison and surrounding areas. We visited family and friends and said good-bye to Great-Grandma's farm. We did not do a very good jobs as photographers this trip, so unfortunately not all our visits are documented here. Zoa enjoyed visits with Grandpa, Great-Grandma, Nana, Papa, Grandma Jan, Grandpa Fuzzy, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Jen, Uncle Don, Aunt Sara, Cousin Mackenzie, Aunt Steph, Uncle Steve, Cousin Nora, Great-aunt Deb and that is just the family!

Zoa really enjoyed her last days at the farm. They were filled with games of Pooh Sticks at the creek, riding Max's Power Wheels, swinging, climbing hay bales, and riding on the tractor with Grandpa.

Here some highlights of the trip.

Feeding cousin Mackenzie. I think that Zoa enjoyed this more than Mackenzie as at one point Zoa used both hands to shove the bottle down Mackenzie's throat. Don't worry, she is fine!
















Hay bale climbing at Great-Grandma's farm. Good fun!




















Playing dominoes with Aunt Jen on the farm. They were making flowers out of them.
















Cheering on Grandpa and Bill at Paddle and Portage.




















Playing with Liam in his bedroom. We visited with Ceri, Glenn, Liam and brand-new baby Amalia (She is beautiful.). I asked Zoa if she was interested in holding Amalia's hand or foot, and she just responded, "No. I'm not interested." Liam was much more fun!
















Jumping on Grandpa's neighbors' (Amy, Greg, Maggie & Sam) trampoline. Zoa said this was her favorite part of the trip.

4th of July Fun

We are in Wisconsin now, so we will post the highlights of our trip when we return. I had uploaded some photos for a post about the 4th, but I never actually wrote one. So, here they are. We spent our holiday at home in Independence City (Ralston, NE). We hit all the small town highlights like the all town picnic, the parade and the fireworks display. Zoa absolutely loved the parade. There is nothing better than marching bands and clowns who throw candy. My personal fave was the Star Wars float. Although, we were a little dismayed that rebel fighters were marching side by side with storm troopers and the Imperial Guard

Summer is finally here...

Here are a few photos from the last few weeks. Most were taken at the zoo where we celebrated my birthday. It was a perfect day, except for Zoa's intermittent temper tantrums.

Happy? Birthday

Zoa's 3rd birthday has already come and gone, but I wanted to post something to the blog about it, since it turned out to be an ordeal rather than a celebration. The day before her birthday party, Zoa has an allergic reaction to Augmentin and was covered in hives. She also had a fever and her joints became so swollen that she began to walk like Frankenstein. So, we went to Urgent Care, who sent us to the ER. The ER Doc thought it was a virus, don't ask me why, and after about 4 hours of observation sent us home. The next day we canceled the birthday party as Zoa was still had a temperature, and although the rash was changing, it was not getting better. So, Saturday we headed back to the doctor's office where she got a steroid shot. The shot did not really help that much and so on Monday, her birthday, we went to see her regular pediatrician who referred us to an allergist. Monday afternoon we saw the allergist who gave us the initial diagnosis (serum sickness) and the treatment plan (oral steroids) first recommended by the Urgent Care doc 4 days earlier. After her 10 days of steroids and countless doses of Benadryl, the rash finally started to go away. It took about 3 weeks for it to really clear up. Needless to day, Zoa did not really have a great birthday. On the plus side, Grandpa was here visiting and she did get to eat cake, so it was not a total wash.

Grandpa and Zoa's rash on Saturday.















Sunday, rash turns into one big gray blob with a raised red border. Left eye practically swells shut. Very itchy!

We Miss You Grandma

For those of you who know us well, you understand the reason we have been away from the blog for such a long time. I realize now that it has been 6 months since I have contributed anything. The last six months have been the absolute worst and left our family a little bit lost.

It did not seem right to start posting to the blog again without acknowledging the great loss that Zoa has suffered (and the rest of us too). Zoa is not quite aware enough to realize that she will not have the privilege of growing up with my Mom in her life the way that I did. She will miss out on my Mom's endless enthusiasm, constant support, bright and loving smile, and overall pride in her family.

Zoa was truly a great light in my Mom's life since her arrival three years ago. Here are just a few pictures of the two from over the years.















Proud Grandma holding Zoa for the first time.















Grandma visiting and taking a fall hike at Arbor Day Farm, 2005.




















First Christmas at Grandpa & Grandma's house.














Play time with Grandma and Great-Grandma before 1st Birthday.



















Touring the "new" Guthrie Theater with Grandma in Minneapolis summer, 2006.



















Visit to Omaha spring, 2007.



















Fun at the Madison zoo summer, 2007.














Drawing with Grandma summer, 2007.














Sitting on Grandma's lap wearing her glasses summer, 2007.




















Playing with puppies and Grandma in October, 2007.

Happy Christmas

Today we are preparing for our trip to Wisconsin for the holidays. We leave tomorrow, weather permitting. Zoa has been kind of out of sorts the last couple days, but we have also been coming down from an extremely stressful time for Brian and me. Brian was absorbed with final exams the last two weeks and spent several nights in Lincoln studying. I was busy here with the other side of finals: the grading. So, yesterday was our first day of break; although, I still have one final paper to finish grading.

Zoa, meanwhile, has been gearing up for the holidays at daycare filled busy with Christmas-related crafts, visits from Santa and gift exchanges. I was impressed that she actually sat on Santa's lap at daycare because the sight of him usually causes her to burrow her head in my armpit. Apparently peer-pressure and the prospect of receiving a candy cane created the ideal Santa lap-sitting environment.

Well, we will be back after the New Year, so I hope to have time to write a better update then. Hopefully, we will be seeing many of you soon.

Happy Holiday Season

Just a quick post with some post-Thanksgiving photos. These were taken last weekend during Ralston's holiday kick-off. We went on a short carraige ride (much to Zoa's protesting), drank hot chocolate, watched the kids sit on Santa's lap, and pet some reindeer. All and all it was good family fun. I meant to post these last week, but a stomach bug hit the family and took us out one by one.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick update today as we are getting our house ready to host a small Thanksgiving get-together this afternoon. Yesterday was the first snowfall of the season (only about 1/2 - 1 inch), which seems odd to me as Monday was 70 degrees. Weird Nebraska weather aside, Zoa was completely enthralled with the snow. Where last year she wanted nothing to to with the stuff and cried when I tried to engage her in any kind of winter fun (snowball making, snow angels, sledding), this year she begged to go outside and play. We made snowballs and pulled her around the yard on her sled. She especially enjoyed eating the snow and trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue.