Zoe's Actual Birthday!

Zoe's birthday fell on a Monday this year so Alex had to work. But I didn't want Zoe's birthday to be an ordinary day. So I asked Zoe what she wanted to do for her birthday. Being a daughter after her mothers  heart she said she wanted to go to the mall! I had to laugh. But I ended up taking her to Chuck E Cheese! I knew Alex wouldn't mind because he told me he rather die then go into a place packed full of kids whining, screaming, and being spoiled rotten. So I thought it was a perfect time to bring Zoe because most kids were at school. So there wouldn't be much kids. And I was right! But before we went there we met up for lunch with Alex. And it was a surprise to Zoe! I didn't tell her daddy was coming. She was soooooo excited to see him at Wendy's. It was so cute! After  we went out to lunch we went to Chuck E Cheese just to play games. Zoe had a blast! Of coarse she liked all the rides. But the rides don't give tickets. But she didn't care. But one of the workers went around to check and make sure all the games were working and he would leave all the tickets he won so I would grab those tickets and Zoe did some games too!

Zoe Excited and ready to celebrate her birthday!

 Now she is getting really excited!

Zoe riding a tow truck

Zoe had to ride the horse. She loves horses! 

Next was riding the too-too train with Barney 

 I don't know what is with this game but Zoe loved it!

 Zoe riding the police motorcycle

 This truck moved all over. And it scared Zoe and she wanted out. But I made her stay in and I told her she was okay and that mommy wouldn't let her fall out. 

 Zoe holding on for dear life 

Zoe playing one of games and I didn't realize it until after I took the picture the number three at the top. But I thought it was fitting since it was her 3rd birthday!

 We got our picture taken at Chuck E Cheese too! I think it is a cute one of her!

Zoe wouldn't go near Chuck E Cheese. But when we went up to cash our tickets in for her prize the nice guy gave her a bunch of prizes because it was her birthday. I forgot to take a picture of her and her prizes but she got a balloon, 2 lip gloss bracelets, and a purple ball. I loved seeing her big smiles. After Chuck E Cheese we did go to the mall and pick out some new hair pretties and she loves looking at the water fountain and throwing money in. And then it was time to head home. She was out cold within 5 minutes in the car. Which was good because we had a hour drive home so she had her nap still. But that was our day. And all her smiles were worth it!

Zoe's 3 year old birthday party!

For Zoe's birthday party we just invited her Mimi and Papa Lewis (My parents) and Bubba  and Gummy Brinkerhoff (Alex's parents). So it was a very small party. But I asked her what kind of party did she want and I gave her a few choices of things I notice she was into lately like fishes, Rapunzel, or Owl's. And she picked owls. Then she added that she wanted purple owls. So I went to Pinterest and started planning and this is what I did....

I made 3 of these owls out of paper lanterns and it took me over 3 hours to make just the 3. Good thing I love her so much because I wouldn't have done this for anyone.

 Zoe was very excited about her cupcakes.

 They are vegan except for the beak and the dot for the eyes.

 I was really happy how they turned out! I think they are cute!

Here is the dinner table. Zoe loves straws so I found the paper straws that are purple and white to go with the color she wanted. And she was soooooooo excited about them. The food turned out great! We had pork roast, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. I forgot to pick some rolls....oops! 

After dinner Zoe was ready to open her presents! 

 The bags were almost as big as she was! 

 Zoe opening her card from Bubba and Gummy.

 Zoe got spoiled. I tried to get pictures of her with every present she got but she was so excited that she was moving all over the place so the pictures were really blurry so I am only sharing the good pictures I got of her..... She got this really cute Peter Rabbit tea set!

 She also got some outfits from both grandparents

She loves this ballerina pajamas

 Zoe forgot to open her card from Mimi and Papa Lewis

 She got a owl plate and cup. Now she will ask me to use them for all her meals

 Uncle Nate sent up his gift with Bubba and Gummy. She loves her Anna doll and was so excited that Olaf came with the doll too!

 After gifts we sang " Happy Birthday to Zoe"

 Then it was time to eat the cupcakes of coarse! She was enjoying them so much that mommy couldn't get a great picture of her. She just wanted to be left alone with her cupcake....lol

Zoe had a great day! She was exhausted by the end of the night. She had so much fun and she had so many hugs and kisses from everyone that was there! 

Random pictures in March

Zoe and our dog Riley play so well together. We really couldn't ask for a better family dog. I was a little nervous when we found out we were pregnant with Zoe that our rat terrier Riley would get jealous or wouldn't have patience with her. But he is such a good laid back dog. He is awesome with her and always has been. He will let her do anything to him. Zoe plays with him all the time. Now that Zoe is older and he can understand what she wants him to do he listens to her very well. She will tell him to lay down and he will and she will lay blankets on him and he will just lay there. One time he laid  there  for over 10 minutes just letting her put the blankets on and off of him and then she was play veterinarian with him. It was so cute. Here is a picture of her wrapping a blanket around him because he is "cold"

 Obviously you can see Riley isn't far from Zoe. He loves to follow her a round. So when Zoe fell a sleep on the couch while eating her lunch Riley had be close and sleep on top of the sofa.

 She is so cute all the time but I love seeing her sleep

 Isn't she cute???

 Zoe had a bath and I finally decided to try to do a french braid in her hair for the first time. It's not perfect but she was very proud that I could put a braid in her hair

 I can't believe her hair is finally long enough for a french braid!! I have been waiting for this moment once I found out I was having a girl. So I was excited too

 We went over my friend Sarah's  house to play and  Zoe was trying to put Madalyn's braid  in the back pocket of Madalyn's jeans. It was funny to watch.

Baby Brinkerhoff #2

I planned my gender ultrasound on the 28th of March. Which turned out great! Alex had off that Friday and I wanted my parents to come in for a visit so we can celebrate Zoe 3rd birthday. So my appointment was at 10:30 a.m and we arrived a little early because I had to do some paper work. In the waiting room I had to take a letter for my turn because it was busy and I got the letter "B" which I thought was funny because I started thinking in my head things that started with "B" like......baby.....baby Brinkerhoff.....or was it for Baby boy Brinkerhoff???? I guess stupid things like that go through my head when I am board..lol. My guess was girl and my hubby was guessing boy. If you asked Zoe if she was going to have a brother or sister she would say brother but if you asked her if the baby was a girl or boy she would say girl. We have tried to explain it to her but she doesn't get it...lol.  Zoe is very excited about being a big sister and I know she will be a great big sister. She loves babies. She points them out when we are at the store or at church. And she tries to say "hi" to them and she gets disappointed when they don't say "hi" back. 

So this is my paper work for the ultrasound and the the letter "B" I had for registration.

Papa and Mimi bought her a balloon and she loved it!

We are waiting for my name to be called. 

Well I will tell you right now that the baby wouldn't cooperate and tell us if the it was a boy or a girl. It was being a little stinker. I left the ultrasound crying (I know I am pregnant so my emotions were high) but the tech was not very nice. She said I had a 45 minute slot but I don't think we were there that long. I could be wrong I wasn't timing it but she wouldn't tilt the screen and let me see the baby the whole time until the end I got to see the baby maybe for a minute. I don't even think it was that long. And the tech didn't let me hear the heartbeat. She measured it and said it was 141 but she didn't let me hear it. So that's why I left the ultrasound crying. Yes I was disappointed that we didn't find out the gender but I was soooooooooooooooooooo looking forward to seeing my baby and hearing that beautiful sound of the baby's heartbeat. But what I have to keep telling myself as long as the baby is healthy that is what matters most. We really don't care if the baby is a girl or boy as long as the baby is healthy that is what matters the most. I have a doctors appointment next week to talk to my doctor about the ultrasound and I am hoping she reschedules a new one but if she doesn't we have an appointment for a elective ultrasound on April 19th. I will be drinking a lot of orange juice before my ultra sound to make sure that baby is moving and not sleeping next time. But here is a picture of our beautiful baby! It stayed in this position the whole time. It's hand did move a little but that is it. I can't wait to hold this baby and give it lots and lots of kisses.

My helper

Zoe has grown up in the past couple months. She is constantly asking me "I help you?". Most of the time I want to do it all by myself because so I can do it  right the first time or faster if she is not in my way. I have to stop myself before I say no. And think about why am I in such a hurry?, Why can't she help me?, or what am i teaching her? I went to Walmart to do my grocery shopping today and it wasn't busy at all and she said she wanted to show me something so I took her out of the cart and she showed me crackers she wanted. So I quickly looked at the ingredients to make sure she could have them and sure enough she could. So i asked her if she would like to put them in the cart? Oh was she ever so excited! After she put them in the cart she kept saying over and over " I help you" and ran to the front of the cart and started pushing it down the aisle. I of coarse was going to say no you need to sit in the cart. because it's easier and I don't have to constantly tell her not to touch things or she might get in peoples way. But thankfully I stopped myself and told her as long as she is good girl and obeys she can help mommy. So through Walmart I would help Zoe push the cart down the aisles and then I would tell her we need to stop to put an item in the cart and she would take the item out of my hand and put it in the cart and the run back to the front of the cart. And every time she would get soooooooo excited. Yes we were in Walmart for a longer time then I wanted to be but Zoe was learning and we had so much fun grocery shopping together. Zoe is going to be 3 at the end of the month . (What happened to my little baby????)  I have to remind myself NOW is the time to teach her. Time is slipping away and she wont be little forever. If God has given her the gift to be a helper then I need to show her how to use it! I hope she will always want to help me.

Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip pancakes with Peanut Syrup

First off most of you know we are expecting baby number 2!!! So that is the reason and excuse I am using for not blogging lately. Morning sickness was really bad in the 1st trimester but I am 16 weeks and 2 days today!!! Yay!!! So since I am feeling better I want to get back to blogging. :-)

Now onto the pancakes........ I have been really wanting to try make pancakes for Zoe because all the ones in the store frozen or in the box has eggs in it or milk. So I bought all the ingredients I thought I would need and made them tonight! Zoe absolutely loved them! She kept telling me "yummmmmmmmmmmmy mommy!" and I got many hugs and her telling "thank you for my pancakes". So all I think now is why haven't I made these sooner?????? Here is what i did.......

Ingredients

• 2 cups Bisquick Original
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup non-dairy milk (I used Zoe's vanilla almond milk)
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed 
• 1/3 cup of chocolate chips

Peanut butter Syrup

• ½ cup pancake syrup
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• about 1 tbsp non-dairy milk

  

Zoe helped me make the pancakes too. She was so excited!

 The pancakes turned out so fluffy

I made enough for Alex, Zoe, and I. And I still had leftovers to freeze for breakfast.

My hubby put peanut butter on his pancakes anyways so I made this and syrup and everyone  loved it! 

The pancakes and syrup together....It was so yummy!

 I can't get over how much she enjoyed them. Zoe loved them! So they are kid approved ;-)

Our Family Pictures

We finally got our family pictures done. I have been wanting to do this for a while now. But I had to convince my hubby ;-). They turned out pretty good with Zoe being up almost all night. But she slept almost the whole way down so I was thankful for that. When we got there she was sleeping and we had to wake her up. We were early and I brought Zoe to the bathroom to go potty and change her clothes into her outfit for the pictures. And when we were walking out of the bathroom I had the door open and telling Zoe to come out and she tripped and hit her head on the door. Yup! That is how it goes. Right before you get pictures done you get a mark on your forehead  that will show up in the pictures...lol...In the beginning Zoe would NOT smile at all. In our family pictures you will see me making weird faces and I am trying to tickle Zoe to make her smile. We finally got 2 family pictures that i like and 2 pictures of Zoe that she was smiling in. On our way home Zoe was out like a light again before we left the city (which is a little over an hour away). When we got home my hubby said that Zoe felt warm. So I felt her head and got the thermometer and I took her temp and her temp was 101.9. Now I feel like I won the worst mommy award of the day. Poor girly wasn't feeling good and I dragged her down to the city for pictures while she wasn't feeling good. So that is our family picture story....Here are the pictures. Click on the "Our Family Pictures" link below to view them. P-9, P-14, P-21, and P-23 are my favorites. Enjoy!

Our Family Pictures