Princesses (and Daddies) on Ice

Today we celebrated Julianna's birthday at the ice skating rink. She had 7 of her friends come, along with Grandpa Ed, Grandma Fran, Diddy, Grammie, Grandma Campbell, and Grandmother Leete. Most of the girls had never been ice skating before so Jason got a good workout this afternoon. He helped the girls get their balance and their confidence up enough to skate on their own by the end of the afternoon. And just to toot his horn, because you know he will toot it anyway- Jason skated for 3 hours and NEVER fell- yes, I married a stud. He dominated ice skating. Julianna had a lot of fun skating with her friends and she even managed to get Grandma Fran and Grandpa Ed out on the ice. All in all- great party, few injuries, and happy faces. Can't beat that.

Happy 5th Birthday!

Tuesday, Julianna celebrated her 5th birthday!!! We can't believe it. She celebrated her birthday by taking a big cookie cake to school to share with her friends. She was very disappointed when I started cutting the cookie and told her that she was going to have to share- I think that she thought that it was for HER snack!!! After school Grandpa Tony and Grandma Hazel took Julianna and Mason to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate their birthdays (Mason's was on Monday). Grandpa said that together they went through 150 tokens!!! We picked her up from Grandma's house and brought her home to open all of her packages from family (when we picked her up Grandma informed us that she had been wearing her princess earrings and Birthday crown-compliments of Amy- all afternoon). She opened so many beautiful and wonderful presents. She loves them all and tries to decide every night which one she will play with for the evening.

Day at the Dentist

Today Julianna had her first dentist appointment. I was a little concerned because I had an appointment at the same time, so I knew that I wouldn't be able to sit with her in the office. I explained to her on the way there what the dentist will do and nervously asked if she was excited, she said "I'm not scared, Dora went to the dentist". Thank God for Dora!
She did a great job while there. She went right back and got in the chair and Judy cleaned her teeth while Goose wore sunglasses (because the lights are so bright- they have never offered me sunglasses). The dentist said that Julianna's teeth looked great and that she was an official member of the "No Cavity Club". She even got her picture put on the bulletin board in the office. Oh, but the big news is that there are 2 loose teeth- the Tooth Fairy may be paying a visit to the Zak house soon!

She's Creative All Right...

Yesterday we tackled the mall and went Christmas shopping. While we were out Julianna found one of those plastic thingies that goes into a men's dress shirt. She tends to pick up things off the ground wherever we are, calls them treasures and keeps them (last week in AC Moore it was little pieces of garland and broken ornaments at school it is always rocks and nuts). We asked her what she was planning on doing with this newest find and she said that it was a crown. After a couple hours of shopping we got in the car and she began designing her crown with her crayons and stickers that were in the backseat. We were amazed with her creativity. We passed a minivan on the way home with a kid watching a DVD in the backseat and Julianna asked when we were going to get a car like that. We explained to her that if she were always watching tv in the car she would miss out on the fun stuff like making crowns out of treasures that she finds.

Christmas Time is Here...

Tonight we spent some time decorating Julianna's Christmas tree. We put it up in her room on her desk and let her put the decorations wherever she wanted on it. For an extremely "particular" mom it was a little difficult at times, but she did me proud. She was beaming when she was done and said that it was the prettiest tree in the house. I would have to agree...

Turkey Time

Yes, I realize that Thanksgiving was last week, but things have been busy at the Zak house. Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful. Grandma Fran, Grandpa Ed, Uncle BriBri, Aunt Katie, baby Megan, Grammie, Grandpa Bob, Auntie Erin, Grandma Campbell, and Grandmother Leete all came to spend the holiday with us. The food was great thanks to all the help from everyone. I guess that we will actually have to make a tradition of having Thanksgiving at the Zaks (well I have about 360 days to decide that). The nicest part is that everyone left the leftovers at my house. I haven't had to cook in 5 days!Friday evening we celebrated Christmas with Uncle BriBri, Aunt Katie, and Megan. Once again we enjoyed eating way more than usual. Julianna and Megan had so much fun playing together this past week. We are going to have to make more trips to Columbus so the girls can visit.

Can't I Pretend to be Sick?

Today Uncle Brian, Aunt Katie and cousin Megan came to our house for a visit. They are down from Ohio for Thanksgiving. We all had lunch together and went to the park. Megan and Julianna had so much fun coloring, playing babies, and playing at the park- they were both so sweet with each other. When Megan left to go back to Grandma's, Julianna asked why she couldn't go with them. We explained to her that she had school tomorrow, but that we would see them all on Tuesday. It was then that she asked "Why can't we just pretend that I am sick tomorrow? Last time Mrs. Johnson didn't miss me that much!" She is already too smart for us....

November Already?

I can't believe that next week is Thanksgiving. This past week really flew by. Tuesday night Julianna went to the advanced gymnastics class. She said that she didn't really like it because she did not know how to do the advanced stuff, but we will see tomorrow if she decides to go back. It is hard to know whether to challenge her, or to just make sure that she enjoys herself and still likes going.
Saturday afternoon Julianna's friend Avery (with her at Halloween) had a birthday party at an indoor pool. Julianna had a great time swimming and now can't decide where she would like to have her birthday party- Monkey Joe's, swimming, ice skating, roller skating...so many decisions. We have been trying to make sure that at least a short nap is on the agenda for Saturday afternoons, since she still gets up at the crack of dawn and I am worn out by 11:00 (that is am). Here is a really cute picture of her napping with Chubs. Jason and I went to a friend's wedding this weekend. Julianna spent the night with Grandma Fran and Grandpa Ed. Julianna and Grandma made decorations for the Christmas tree out of dough. We have to finish painting them so that when we put up the tree we can hang them on it.

Happy Halloween

Tonight was the big night. Julianna got all dolled up as Dorothy and we went trick-or-treating with the neighborhood kids. She did almost the entire neighborhood. As they rounded the street towards the house, Jason was getting geared up to go another round when the kids announced that they were tired and ready to go home. It had been almost an hour and a half of trick-or-treating- which is more than enough candy for our little missy. Grammie and Grandpa Bob came over to see Dorothy and to help pass out candy while we trick-or-treated as a family. What a fun and memorable night!

Proud Parents

Tonight when I picked up Goose from dance the owner of the dance studio pulled me aside. She asked if Goose had ever taken before and I told her that this was her second year. The instructor was amazed and asked how we felt about moving her up to a more advanced class. Jason and I had been thinking that she needed a little more of a challenge, but were worried that maybe that was just us being "proud parents". Guess we were right. Next week she will start taking an hour long gymnastics class and then an hour and a half dance class. The owner of the studio said that she was a natural!

Julianna had a great weekend with her Papa and Nanny. They went shopping, colored, played at the playground- pretty much did anything that the princess wanted. She is having a hard time adjusting to real life now! Here are just a couple really cute pictures from this weekend.

Teacher Conference

We have had a busy week this week. Tuesday morning Jason went to a parent conference with Julianna's teacher, Mrs. Johnson. Mrs. Johnson said that Julianna was a sweetheart. She said that she is doing a great job in school learning her numbers and letters. Mrs. Johnson also said that sometimes throughout the school day she will feel a little body standing beside her and it will be Julianna standing beside her wanting a hug. How could she not be the teacher's pet?
Oh, and just so everyone knows- when Julianna turns 5 years old, she won't be scared of "nothing". Not lions, tigers or bears- not even lightening! (that lightning thing is a big one).

Great Grandmas

We had a really fun weekend with lots of visits with grandmas. Friday evening we went to dinner with Grammie, Grandma Campbell, Grandmother Leete and Uncle Scot. Julianna said that three grandmas was not that many- coming from a girl that got 5 new ones this summer! I think that the highlight of her evening was making her own ice cream sundae! Julianna didn't have too much to say to Uncle Scot, but after finishing her ice cream the shyness started to wear off. Funny how we are so much more sociable after a little sugar. After dinner Grammie took Goose out and bought her a new dress with ballerinas on it that Julianna picked out herself.
Saturday Julianna spent the night with Grandma Fran. They made snicker doodles and watched The Wizard of Oz movie two times. Goosie said that she wished that Dorothy was real so that she could meet her. We went to the grocery store this evening and serenaded everyone around with the "lullaby league" song.

Sweetness

Hi all! Julianna and I had a fun afternoon together. I picked her up from school and she wanted to go to her favorite store, Target, to buy a toy (imagine that). Instead I talked her into going home and making brownies. The one thing that she loves more than a new Barbie is chocolate. We had fun licking the bowl- as you can see. We just got a little chocolate on the new "convertible" (aka reversible) dress that Grammie got her. Oh, and tonight Julianna volunteered to say the grace at dinner (never before). She prayed for Jesus to tell Papa and Nanny that she loves them and she also prayed for all of the sick people in the hospital. She is so thoughtful. What sweetness!!!

Dancing Queen

Last night Julianna had dance/gymnastics class. She really looks forward to it every week. She takes the class with her friend Emma, although both are too shy to speak to each other, they still
seem to enjoy seeing each other. Before dance we went for dinner at Quiznos. As any mom knows, any quick place that serves a free dessert and toy with the purchase of some semi-healthy food (Sun Chips are healthy, right?) is a thumbs-up. We took a couple quick pics of Goose posing before class.

We're New at This

Okay, here we go...I am a new blogger, but we really want to keep family up-to-date with how everything is going in the life of our ever changing Goose. She is doing really well in school- everyone tells us that she is "so well behaved". She brings home a smiley face everyday and has never had to turn her card to yellow- we are very proud.

We had a really fun/chilly weekend in Ohio. Julianna spent a lot of time hanging out with her Nanny, Papa, Aunt TT, and cousin Dawson (who she enjoys bossing around). It was Dawson's 3rd birthday, so we enjoyed the awesome (and very Martha) dinosaur party that Tara planned. It is always hard to leave Ohio and her family, but in only two weeks Nanny will be visiting and getting in some quality time with Goosie. She is already counting down the days.