Zoe Turns 3!

We had quite an eventful weekend last weekend!  Zoe turned 3 and we celebrated...and celebrated...and celebrated...

Jay's sweet parents, Papa and Gramma came in Friday night while I was still traveling in from San Antonio. (I was fortunate to go and hear the Lovejoy Varsity Women's Choir perform at TMEA!!!  Wonderful trip, fantastic music-making, and just a lovely time! This is the group that achieved such an honor while under the direction of Bethany and myself! Such a proud moment!!!)  Anyways, we hit the ground running Saturday morning to prepare for Saturday night's party with family and Sunday afternoon's party with some neighborhood friends!

We had a surprise visitor Saturday afternoon, sweet Ruthie from church!  She is Zoe's aide on Sunday mornings at Prestonwood.  Then, Gramma and I iced cupcakes and survived a minor lavender icing catastrophe while doing so :)  Practice makes perfect I guess!  Zoe's sweet family started coming in that evening for her Rapunzel themed party Saturday night.  We had cupcakes, pink margaritas, and celebrated by launching these amazing lanterns.  If you're familiar with the movie "Tangled," then you know exactly what I'm talking about!!  We lit and launched about 36 lanterns into the Murphy sky Saturday night.  We texted a few neighbors and ended up creating a bit of a crowd with strangers driving down the street pulling over to see what these UFO's were all about!!  It was exciting, special, and quite memorable for all.  Keep a look out for a potential article in the local newspaper.......more to come!

Sunday morning started out way too early...someone was VERY excited to be turning 3 and woke up especially early ;)  We prepped for about 12 kids between the ages of 18 months old and 11 years old to come over for Zoe's Pinkalicious party.  Everyone was encouraged to wear pink, pink, pink!!  We were just blown away by everyone's kindness, support, and love of Zoe.  I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

Zoe and Ruthie...yes Ruthie dressed up for the occasion!!

Now Zoe has a matching tu-tu!!

First attempt at homemade cupcakes!

Yes, the Rapunzel braid from Halloween made an appearance for the party.

Mama, Zoe, and Jenna!!

Aunt Missy, Abby, Zoe, and Grammy

Zoe and Megan getting ready for the launch!

Still waiting!!!  And freezing!!!

Anticipation...

AMAZING!! 

Party #2

Cookie station

Pink, pink, pink!!

Tiara and visor decorating station!

Glitterfied and nail painting station

Our lovely assistants...Cousin Rachel's besties!

Rachel!!

New favorite gift!!  A sand and water table

Yum yum!!

"Joel hearts Zoe!"  Love this kid.

Best part of the entire party was when Jay read Pinkalicious to everyone :)

Did I mention Zoe turned 3?!  Well, she did AND started a new school the very same week...she wasn't too sure about it the first day, but she hung in there.  PPCD is going to work out wonderfully for her.  We are going 2 afternoons a week, and starting on Tuesday she is getting picked up by a SCHOOL BUS!!!

Wasn't quite anticipating the emotion that came with this moment, but it was a bit overwhelming to see my little girl following directions, wheeling down a hallway of an elementary school, not crying AT ALL when I hugged her good-bye.  Silly because I know it's just for 3 hours, but seriously...where did the time go?!  So proud of her. (sniff, sniff...)

As if I didn't have enough going on and Jesus loves me

So, as most of you heard on Tuesday, we had an interesting visit with the ENT.  Yes, that was when the nurse inserted her foot in her own mouth when she asked me, "Does Zoe sleep walk?" Wow.  Still laughing about that incident.  I'm sure she's still kicking herself for that.  Anyway, ENT was great and has told us her tonsils are medium sized so he sent us down the hall for an X-ray of her adenoids and a prescription for a couple of nasal sprays to help decrease the possible congestion at night, potentially causing the snoring.  That was a crazy run-on sentence!  We are going to try this for a few weeks, and if we see / "hear" an improvement in snoring, we will follow it up with another sleep study.  Yay us!  Kind of.  So I learned from our brief conversation on Thursday that anything above 2 sleep disturbances during REM for a toddler is definitely not OK.  Well, Zoe has ... drum roll please ... 23 sleep disturbances during REM.  Bless her heart!!  That means her sleep is not restful whatsoever.  I'm desperate for improvement.  Anything to help her feel better, eat better, have more energy, and be less argumentative.  I don't care, just give her relief!  Hoping it's as minimally invasive as nasal sprays, but I'm quite skeptical.  Jay doesn't even think any of the sleep study results are valid.

So, as if I didn't have enough going on with my billion rehearsals right now...anything from UIL solo/ensemble rehearsals, to ACDA, to private voice lessons, to recording sessions, (wait, didn't I just resign to stay home?)  Well, I've turned into one of the busiest non-working, stay-at-home moms ever I think.  Which is why if I'm choosing to add one more thing to my plate means it's something I truly believe in!  I was given a 5-day trial of this new anti-aging skin cream, Nerium. It worked wonders for my skin. If you haven't heard about this product, take a moment to learn more.  Visit my website and read more about this amazing product.  I fully believe in it and can't wait to tell you about all of the benefits of this wonderful new discovery.

http://brookegrall.theneriumlook.com/cp/129

And this was today :)  Have a great weekend!