Zoe’s Awards Day

Zoe had her first awards day this year. Her teacher created a sweet slide show of the year and read the same book she read to the kids on the first day of school about how their class is a family. Zoe’s teachers gave her the “Safety Patrol” award because they said she is always making sure everyone is being safe in whatever they are doing. The next day, the class voted on awards for each other and they gave Zoe the most likely to become a teacher award. Zoe had such a great first year of school and we are so proud of all she accomplished!

Zoe’s Beach Day

For the last month of school, Zoe’s teacher created a fun activity for each day based on the letter of the day. For “O” they had an ocean day and wore beach attire. They did their work on beach towels on the floor and made a fun beach themed snack. Zoe wore a hula skirt and a lei for her beach attire. It was a fun way for her to finish out the year.

Beauty and the Beast

Ava got to be part of a really exciting chorus event. The Paris chorus was invited by Wade Hampton High School to sing during “Be Our Guest” in their performance of “Beauty and the Beast.” Not all of the kids in chorus participated but Ava decided she wanted to give it a try and was cast as a napkin for “Be Our Guest.” The director originally planned for them to just be part of the one song but kept adding them into other parts of the play. The 5th grade girls were part of the village in the opening scene and then everyone filled the aisles with glowing roses for the transformation scene at the end. It was a lot of extra rehearsals and a lot of extra nerves but it was worth it all in the end. After the opening night, Ava was so excited and said she wants to do another play. She had such a great time backstage with her friends and really enjoyed the performance. They did three different shows and she did such a great job each time. The Wade Hampton kids did a great job. We were very impressed with the kid who played Beast. And Zoe was excited to see her friend Chloe’s big brother as Lefeu. It was so fun to watch Ava doing something she really loved. She is excited to look into more theater in middle school.

Zoe’s 1st Career Day

Zoe got to dress up for her first career day this year. She chose to dress up as an Imagineer. I made her a cast member badge and she wore her Mickey/Minnie dress with her Minnie ears. DJ kept saying to make sure we get a picture of this to show her when she does become a real Imagineer in the future. It will be fun to see what she does with her little engineer brain!

Ava’s Spring Art Market

Ava’s after school art program ended this semester with another market. She created 3 paintings to sell at the market with oil pastels. She did a great job with her paintings and presenting her brand to the group. Her art teacher does such a great job at encouraging the kids and helping them learn different techniques. Ava is excited to help volunteer there some this summer.

Ava’s Last Chorus Concert

I cannot believe we are so close to the end of the school year and are already experiencing all the “lasts” for Ava. Spiritfest and now her last chorus concert at Paris. I am not ready for her to be done with elementary school and I know she is not ready to say goodbye to Paris. Ava has such a beautiful singing voice and it is always fun to watch her sing with chorus. We are so thankful she was able to participate in chorus after it had been cancelled for so long with the pandemic. Her chorus teacher is so great and Ava really enjoyed her time in chorus.

Spiritfest 2023

Spiritfest is always a favorite school event. This was Zoe’s first Spiritfest as a student and Ava’s last one. Unfortunately, it rained the night of Spiritfest so everything was moved inside. The girls had a blast even though it was chaotic with all the bouncy houses and games inside. I don’t have any pictures of Ava because she ran off with her friends but I snapped a few of Zoe enjoying her very first Spiritfest as a Paris student.

Easter 2023

We enjoyed a really nice Easter this year with my family. We dyed eggs on Zoe’s birthday. This year, I added 2 dye tablets to each cup instead of giving each girl their own colors and it made the eggs really bright. Ava even tried a few ideas she had seen on YouTube to make the colors more vibrant and she ended up with some really dark eggs (I forgot to take a picture of them).

My mom joined us for church on Sunday. We snapped a few pictures with my phone before we left for church. Zoe let me get a few pictures of her after church but I didn’t get any of Ava in her dress (she’s getting tired of mom always trying to take pictures, ha).

After church, we headed back to our house to have lunch and enjoy the afternoon with my grandmother, Ron and Kay. Kay’s birthday was Easter Sunday so we celebrated the 2 birthday girls. After lunch, we did our annual Easter egg hunt. Ava managed to convince DJ and Ron to hunt for the eggs with Zoe the first round. I am so thankful for my uncles who help fill the grandfather void on my side of the family! Ron Lindsay wasn’t able to come this year but he and Ron Sporrer both step up to play with my girls and I am so thankful for that. And of course, we couldn’t find one egg at the end of the day. Thankfully, DJ found it the next day…it was in plain sight so we have no idea how all of us overlooked it!

It was a special day celebrating Easter with my family!

April 7th

April 7th, a day that is always filled with so many emotions. It is a day filled with joy as we celebrate Zoe’s birthday. But, it is a day filled with so much sadness as we remember my dad. We celebrate life and mourn death on the same day every year. I know I’ve said it before but I never thought I would have a reason to celebrate on April 7th but God had a plan to redeem that day for our family with Zoe’s life. Celebrating her gives us reasons to smile that day but it does not take away the pain of missing my dad. I so wish he was here with us celebrating Zoe and that April 7th was just a day of joy. I will never understand God’s plan but we know He had a reason for taking my daddy so early in life. This year, April 7th fell on Good Friday. April 9th, the anniversary of daddy’s funeral was on Easter Sunday. We sang In Christ Alone at church which is what we sang around Daddy’s death bed with our family, his assistant pastor and some elders and what we sang at his funeral. I still can’t get through that song without tears but I love the message of the hope we have because of Easter that we will see my dad again one day. It hurts so much but we know this is not the end and I am so grateful we have that hope.

Zoe girl, I say this every year but I always want you to know that your Grampie loved you even though he never got to meet you. He was so excited to have another grandbaby. You’ve said so many times recently that it isn’t fair that you didn’t get to meet him and all I can say to that is yes, it is not fair. I hate that you didn’t get to be spoiled by him like Piper and Ava. You are missing out on such an amazing influence in your life and I hate that. But, I know he is waiting for you in Heaven to joke around with you, sneak you candy and give you hugs. Until that day, we will tell you all sorts of stories about him, look at pictures and you can hug your Grampie bear tight until you can get the real hug.

Daddy/Grampie, we love you and miss you so much!

Zoe is 6

I still cannot believe that Zoe is 6 years old! She is growing up way too fast and I wish time would slow down.

Zoe had her well check right after her birthday and she is right on track developmentally. She is a very healthy little girl. Zoe’s stats were:

Height: 44.9 in (45th percentile)

Weight: 43.8 lbs (45th percentile)

Zoe is a petite little girl. She is wearing mostly size 5T or 6 clothes. I think some of her shorts are actually 4T and they fit, just not long enough for the school dress code. She wears size 11 or 12 shoes.

Zoe is growing in size but also in how much she is learning. She absolutely loves school. She’s been asked a few times what she likes most about kindergarten and she says learning. She knows all her letters and is even starting to read. She knows most of her early level sight words and can sound out simple words. It is amazing to watch her figure it out. She knows her numbers and can do basic addition and subtraction facts. She said her favorite thing she is learning about in school is animals, especially the unit they did on arctic animals. The other day she was rattling off facts about animals and said she has a computer in her brain that knows all these facts. She is a smart little girl!

She picked up this habit in kindergarten….and now she’s obsessed! Really hoping we can break it soon.

I continued with the annual birthday questions with Zoe this year. Like I’ve said before, I love being able to remember the girls at different ages in their own words.

How old are you?

6

What is your favorite color?

Orange and purple and pink 

Our little Clemson girl loves her orange and purple. Pink is making a comeback as a favorite color again.

What is your favorite food?

That’s hard…mac and cheese and pizza

Zoe is starting to eat better but still eats like a bird some days. I asked the pediatrician again about her food intake and she said she isn’t concerned because she is gaining weight and growing taller (which is actually more important than the weight to make sure she’s getting the nutrition she needs).  Zoe still loves most fruits but strawberries are her favorite. We just bought some farm fresh strawberries at the market and she is obsessed with those because they are so much better than the grocery store ones. She also still loves any kind of pasta, brown rice, almonds, pretzels of any kind, quinoa, and any kind of bread. She is a big fan of dips, especially Chick-fil-a sauce and ketchup. I think another type of meal that is still her favorite would be any kind of breakfast for supper. She loves pecan baked oatmeal, waffles, pancakes and biscuits with scrambled eggs and homemade tater tots. She also still loves her yogurt and applesauce pouches. She also still loves her almond milk. She is starting to eat more veggies and a recent favorite is edamame. That trend is because of Bluey - and she calls it entamale beans just like Bingo does in the show. Thanks Bluey! She told me the other day that she eats the salads at school and DJ said she ate broccoli when he had lunch with her at school. 

What is your favorite restaurant?

Guy quesadilla aka Mexican 

The name Guy Quesadilla came from Ava when she was little and we went to a Mexican restaurant. She asked where her quesadilla was and we told her the guy was making it…it became guy quesadilla from that moment on and still is sometimes. Zoe even picked up on that name. Zoe loves to get a quesadilla with rice, and the rice is her favorite part of the meal. She of course loves the chips and queso too. Another favorite restaurant is Tropical Grill where she gets white rice and yellow rice. She also loves Barbaritos and Joy of Tokyo (again rice). She still likes Chick-fil-A sometimes but isn’t a big fan of it anymore.

What is your favorite outfit?

My Elena dress

Zoe is obsessed with dresses and wants to wear a dress or a skirt every day. I bought fleece lined leggings for the winter so she wouldn’t freeze wearing dresses all the time. The Elena dress is not a dress up dress, it is a super cute dress (that she actually wore in her 1st day of Kindergarten pics) that she was so excited to pull out again now that it is warm. She does still like to dress up but doesn’t do it as much. Usually if she dresses up, it is one of her dance leotards/costumes. She loves a big tutu!

What is your favorite TV Show?

Bluey and Doc

I am glad that Doc is back in the mix. She went a while without watching it but recently started watching it again and I just love it so much. Bluey is a new favorite and it is such a cute show! She also loves Trolls, Ada Twist Scientist, Dora the Explorer, Daniel Tiger, Vampirina, Fancy Nancy, Mickey’s Fun House, and Cocomelon (although we are glad that one isn’t as much of a favorite anymore).

What is your favorite song?

I love lots of songs! I like princess songs and Hocus Pocus

Zoe still loves music and loves to sing. Disney and Disney Jr. music of any kind is the top pick in the car or the house. We usually listen to the Disney Hits playlist on Spotify. Recently they added a song from the new Hocus Pocus and Zoe absolutely loves it. She also loves Zero from Wreck it Ralph. One day in music class at school, Zoe got the star singer award. Her teacher asked the kids to each match her voice and Zoe did the best. We were super proud of our little singer!

What is your favorite book?

How to Catch a Fox and The Very Hungry Caterpillar 

How to Catch a Fox is a favorite of the whole family. It is such a cute book and of course the Very Hungry Caterpillar is a classic. Zoe still loves any princess book or Disney book. She loves Fancy Nancy and Amelia Bedelia. Berenstein Bears are a new favorite series as well. For Christmas, Zoe’s cousins got her some Zoey and Sassafras books. They are about a little girl named Zoey (who looks like Zoe) and her cat and how they help enchanted creatures by solving experiments. DJ has been reading them with her and she absolutely loves them. We ended up getting her the last 3 in the series for her birthday and she was so excited to have more. She loves that the girl has her name and is a scientist. All of Zoey’s experiments in the book led to our Zoe wanting to do experiments like make a volcano. She definitely has that STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) brain and it is fun to watch her put it to work.

What is your favorite toy?

Cozy coupe 

Zoe loves being outside and wants to go outside every day she gets home. I think this is why she said the cozy coupe is her favorite toy. When I bathe the dogs outside, she loves to wash her cozy coupe. She also loves bubbles, chalk, the swings and the trampoline outside. She can do all kinds of flips on the trampoline. Inside, Zoe still loves to play with her dolls. She is still obsessed with real babies as well (and really tries to be mama to anyone younger than her). Eeyore is still a favorite stuffed animal but I think her gray bunny may have overtaken the top spot. The bunny was her favorite when she was really little but then she put it away. She recently got it back out and he is a must have at bedtime. She usually carries the bunny downstairs when she gets up too. I love that she has gone back to her original lovie for sleeping!

What is your favorite thing to do?

I don’t really have a favorite but I do like to pick flowers

I love the honesty in this answer. We tell the girls all the time that you don't have to have a favorite for everything. She likes to do a lot of different things and has too many interests to pick a true favorite and that is ok. She does love flowers a whole lot. She loves to pick flowers anytime we go on a walk or anytime the grass is getting taller and the weed flowers are growing. She is always bringing in bouquets of her flowers. She was so happy when the first little wild violets started popping up in the yard. Zoe also loves to draw, create and paint. I love turning over her papers from school and seeing what she drew on the back of them in her free time, something she did in 4K and still does in kindergarten. She loves to build with anything - blocks, magnatiles, recycling materials. She is always creating something and goes through so much tape that she asked for tape for her birthday. Taking her to the ReCraft store where she could build to her heart’s content was the best birthday activity for her!

Where is your favorite place to go?

To the pool

She is very much looking forward to summer when we can go to my grandmother’s neighborhood pool. It will be fun to see how far she can touch this year after getting taller. She has not had swimming lessons yet but I am working on finding the best option for her. I think she will figure it out pretty quickly…just needs to get over the fear of putting her face in the water.

Who are your best friends?

Evie and Jordyn

These are two friends from school. We’ve even had some playdates with Jordyn and it is so fun to watch them together. They truly are the best of friends. Jordyn’s mom even told me that Jordyn tried to trick her aunt (who picks her up from school) and said she was supposed to go home with Zoe one day…they were scheming for an extra playdate. Zoe also has a lot of sweet friends at church. She looks forward to Sunday when she can see her friends at church. Recently a group of the little girls have started playing babies in the nursery after church and it is fun to watch them try to fit in the baby things like the bumbo. She is especially happy on the Sundays when we host community group at our house and she gets extra time with some friends. Zoe is still very much an extrovert and loves being with people. She gets energized when she’s with people. 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

An imagineer and a dancer

We’ve talked to Zoe so much about how she’s a little engineer. One day recently, DJ was telling her she should become an Imagineer for Disney and design/build all the awesome things at Disney. She absolutely loved that idea. I hope she sticks with that ambition! She also loves dance and says she wants to be a prima ballerina one day. She has really loved her ballet class this year. I wasn’t sure how much she would like it since it is slower than hip hop but she absolutely loves it. And her lines are beautiful when she dances! 

What do you hope to accomplish as a 6 year old?

Gymnastics and learn how to swim

She had the goal of learning how to swim last year and we didn’t quite meet that goal. I missed out on swim lessons and she wouldn't put her face in the water with us to learn. This year, I am hoping we can get lessons and build her confidence in the water. Zoe has wanted to do gymnastics for a while. She already knows how to do a cartwheel. The girl is super flexible and super strong and we think she’d be really good at gymnastics. We just haven’t had the flexibility in our schedule to add something else. This summer she is taking an acro dance class, which is basically floor gymnastics with a little more dance to it. I think it will be a good way to ease into gymnastics and see if it is something she really wants to pursue.

Zoe still has such a big personality! She is still goofy and loves to make people laugh. You can see some of her goofy personality in these pictures. She kept doing silly things and when I’d make a face at her, she would laugh and give the best smiles. Her huge smile still lights up a room...I know I say this all the time but when she smiles her whole face lights up! She definitely has a tude and can be super sassy (always keeping it real)! But she is still a cuddle bug and still wants to be carried (I am thankful she’s still petite but can’t carry her as much as I used to be able to). She is such a sweet girl who always says she loves us to the sun and back and the whole entire earth.

We are so honored to be this beautiful girl’s parents. As I always say, it truly is a privilege to watch her grow up, a privilege we do not take lightly. As we watch her grow, we know there is someone so special that is missing out on these moments. Zoe’s birth mama is such a special part of our family and we know that our joy comes from her loss. Zoe brings light to a very sad day in our lives but it also reminds us of another person’s grief. We love her birth mama so much and are so thankful to have her and Zoe in our lives.

I still do not know how in the world our baby is 6 years old. We cannot wait to see what all God has in store for her this next year! Happy 6th Birthday, Zoe girl! Mama, Daddy and Ava love you to the sun and back and the whole entire earth!!!