My niece...

My beautiful niece Zoe is one today!!! I remember a year ago anxiously waiting to hear the news.
I love my niece. She is such a monkey and nothing like my daughter. She is active, playful, loud and so much fun! I love when she gives me her big toothy grin and tries to say 'shelley' - which comes out shhhhh. I love that when mommy isnt around she will come to me. I am her 'aunty mom'. I am so excited that our girls will grow up together. I look forward to what the next year brings for Zoe and how she will grow into a beautiful young lady.

The Zoo

I love going to the zoo! Last year Mike and I bought zoo memberships and it has been well worth the money. I have gone at least probably 20 times since June. I love being able to go for only an hour or for the whole day. It has been really neat because I have been able to go in the morning (when some of the cats come out and play) or in the afternoon, when they often do animal feedings. I don't always plan when I go. Sometimes I decide the day before. Every time I go, I always see different things.

I went last Saturday and to my surprise they were doing the grand opening/ribbon cutting ceremony for the bald eagle enclosure. It was that big of a thing but I got to see an eagle up close and watch them ''officially'' open up the enclosure. I was also able to watch Shadow, the grizzly, go into the water and eat her apples. On the bus tour, I was able to see both Vancouver Island wolves and the biggest and smallest black bears.

I love being able to go in different seasons. The animals act different depending on weather. It is really neat to see the differences. I have seen the Arctic foxes change colour over the seasons, the cats playing more and sleeping more depending on the temperature and many other animals behaviours. I think one of my favorites is the Eurasian lynxes. I love how thick their fur looks in the winter. They look all fluffy and nice.

I look forward to being able to ride our bikes through the zoo when the weather gets really nice! I also look forward to getting memberships again in the summer and seeing how the zoo continues to grow and change.

Hailey

Today was an interesting day for Hailey. So many new things! She is starting to finally learn to move forward (with help from mom). Instead of getting mad when I put my hands behind her feet, she is understanding to push off in order to move forward. It probably wont be long before she is doing it herself.

She also is starting to lift her chest fully off the ground. I found her like that this afternoon. I also found her on daddy's x-box. She had rolled her way to the x-box then proceeded to put her arms on top and lift her chest up (arms fully straight). Although we don't like her near the x-box, this was such a big new thing for her we let her take time to figure out what she was doing. We are going to have to move her crib down soon, because before we know it she will be able to pull herself up.

She starting "walking" today too. We have been trying to get her to walk with our help. She wouldn't even really bend her legs for us. Well today, I was walking with her and moving her feet with my feet and she starting moving her foot by herself. I love watching her grow up and learn new things.

She also tried salmon today. Definitely not her favorite.....I probably wouldn't even put it on the list to feed her again for a while. It is always so much fun to watch them try a new food!
One last big new thing for today. She learned how to use a straw!! It is still not easy for her, but she definitely drank from it.

We are so proud of our little girl and we look forward to the many changes that are going to happen!

Weddings

I love weddings. It doesn't really matter if I know the person, I just love weddings! I love seeing the dresses, the flowers the colours - just the whole feel of everything. I love to see what the bride (and groom) decided to do to make their ceremony special to them. I also love the food at the reception. When my sister got married, she had a caterer come in and we had finger food. It was amazing and I loved that it was different from most other weddings.

My friend that I have known since I was three, is getting married today. I'm really excited to go and see how she has put her unique spin on the wedding. I'm also excited to see her take this big step. The one thing I'm not looking forward to is leaving my daughter for the night. It will only be for a few hours but this is the first time she isn't with family.
Well I'm off to go get ready!