With the End of the World and All.....

Whether you believed it or not, the world didn't end on Saturday. I guess God had too much penciled in his date book and pushed it back to October 21, 2011. Even still, our little family pretended it was the end of the world and realized that is probably how we should spend all of our days! But we're thankful to at least have a few more months before the Earth becomes a giant fireball.

Well it sure rained like it was the end of the world! We have absolutely zero complaints and not because you'll ever hear us utter the one phrase that will turn my mom's blood to ice: "But we need the moisture!" Truthfully, we don't. We had at least one wet Spring snow a week from February on, making our grass rival the Everglades. And the Yellowstone River is high and raging and dark brown; people are starting to get a little scared. Closer to home, the room in from the backyard looks like a muddy war zone, and the dogs have marked everywhere they've been in the kitchen with their paw prints. I love that the seasons are changing but I'm really getting tired of mopping the floor every other day.

But with it being the end of the world and all, we did a lot around the house but still pretty minimal in comparison. Somehow when I clean I manage to make the house look like a tornado went through it so I just stopped caring (HA! Like I could ever do that. In truth, I'll clean this weekend when Zoey is with her Grandparents). What we did do a lot of was playing!

With Zoey being 8-months old (TODAY!), she is awake for longer periods of time and interested in absolutely everything. And she is STRONG. We thought maybe it was because I was a on a gallon-of-milk-a-day diet during the final weeks of my pregnancy. At any rate, playing with her has taken on a whole knew meaning, including sore backs, tired arms, shaky legs, and a lot of catching your breath. Seriously, people should have to pass a physical to have children. For one thing, she crawls like a speed demon and my dainty knees have not been conditioned to the carpet and linoleum like her's (apparently). After one pass around the kitchen "chasing" her (of which she dissolved into a fit of giggles) I had a bruise and a cut. I'm too much of a pussy to have kids, I guess. :-)

Zoey has a cornucopia of toys but, of course, we find things around the house that prove to be the best toys ever. Great! Can I have my money back for those other toys, thenokthanks! For example:

Please take note of the toy sitting behind her. :-)

So with the end of the world and all, and our ever-growing, curious baby, we did some hard-core playing this weekend.

First, Mommy learned what Daddy likes to do during playtime! ;-)

After a few passes, Zoey got the feel of things and thought playtime needed to be a little more advanced.

So on to kitchen skiing it was!

Shortly thereafter, she wanted to drive around herself; takes after her father. :-) She still adores her Elmo cart and loves tooling around the kitchen, no matter how big she gets and how small the floor gets.

Miss Hippo. At least that is what I call her. Zoey loves her to bits, loves to hold her, chew on her and loves when I make it so the Hippo is giving her kisses.

After a few hours, we had had a lot of excitement. Honestly, Mommy and Daddy needed to sit down for a minute. For an 8-month old Zoey has a pretty large attention span. The theme of this weekend was Bee Movie as we managed to watch it in its entirety every time it was on cable all weekend. And Zoey would sit with us for a good 20 minutes, absorbing the bright colors, fun sounds, and cute characters. Or maybe she's just a hard-core Jerry Seinfeld fan like me. :-)

Snuggled with Mommy during one of the many rounds of Bee Movie.

As she is getting older, we've noticed her enjoyment in interacting with us has increased greatly. In addition to any food we might be eating, she is enthralled with everything we do, mostly using the remote control. But a great deal of time is spent on the couch, sandwiched between her Mommy and Daddy while we make silly noises and stupid faces to get her to smile. It doesn't take much but those Zoey smiles are like crack! *shakes* Can't get enough!

 

For the most part, Zoey will spend her time with us crawling and climbing everywhere within arms reach and babbling the entire time. But other times she'll just sit and nipple on her fingers. Or ours if we let her, which we don't since she has some pretty lethal puppy teeth.

Whew! I'm pooped. Enjoying Daddy's lap during some pre-nap relaxation.

Aside from soaking up as much Zoey love as we could before the world's end we did the normal around-the-house stuff. I have yet to plant my flowers, herbs or tomatoes with the incessant rain and we haven't really been able to get out of the house much. I'm sure the dogs are pissed since they (and we!) got a small taste of nice weather.

This coming weekend the Earth will still be here and it marks the opening of the Beartooth Pass, Jacob's favorite place (besides with me and Zoey, of course ;-)). This weekend also marks a very special occasion. Drum-roll please..............................

LOUIS AND DURBY'S 7TH BIRTHDAYS! I know, I can't even believe it. We had to start buying them food designed for Senior dogs, and I think it gives them the runs.

Ok, ok, the real specialness of this weekend? Jacob and I's first wedding anniversary. To celebrate I think I shall finally print and put in frames our wedding photos.

So thankful the world didn't end! At least until October we can enjoy each other, enjoy Zoey, and just life in general.