meet jonathon

the daddy found this little guy while mowing the front yard. most of us screamed upon hearing the word "snake". so the daddy gently picked him up with a stick and flung him far far away from all the nervous on lookers. he (we are basing our assumption that it was indeed a "he" on riley's observation that it had no visible eyelashes or a bow) ended up in the middle of the street. which brought sighs of relief. until some of us realized that put him in the immediate path of unknowing cars. (actually, trucks. we're in texas, here.) hearing the pleas of his children, the daddy begrudgingly stopped the mower, again, and pushed the slithery serpent to the sidewalk, where he was named (jonathon) and loved and adored for approximately 2 1/2 minutes, until he simultaneously wiggled and stuck out his tongue, causing, yet again, screams of terror.

9 is fine

(photo courtesy of riley grace. age 4.)

since this was an odd birthday for miss zoe lane, she got to choose one friend (rylie b.) to do something too fun for just anyone. so off to build-a-bear we went. (she even let her little sis tag along.) and then a "just the girls" lunch. then home for a sleep over where very little sleeping occurred. but a late night game of 4 square proved to be fun for all. so, are you ready for 9 things about zoe? here you go:

1. zoe is all about saving the earth. when i forgot to bring our reusable bags to old navy, she insisted we carry that little bundle of clearance out to our suv (that "uses way too much gas") in our bare arms. i love her for that.
2. she loves to help. when she wants to help.
3. she doesn't like to watch reruns. if she's seen it, it doesn't need to be seen again.
4. she's basically a genius. and i'm not being one of those overly proud mothers. she gets straight a's (and a pluses are relatively common.) when she saw her report card, she was bummed. "i thought i was smart at math." "yeah, that's a 96%. that is smart." "well, it's not as smart as my other grades." well, honey, we can't all be super nerds. (don't tell her i said that.)
5. she's a shoe lover.
6. that girl will talk your ear off. she has a lot to say. she doesn't always care if you respond or not. which is nice when i'm tired.
7. she used to want only 2 kids. twins. 1 boy. 1 girl. then a couple of months ago, decided she only wanted 1, "and it better be a girl". then a few weeks ago she confessed she didn't really want any kids. "it'll make more room in my giant house for cats."
8. she instinctively holds hands with whoever she is walking next to.
9. she laughs loud. like me.

happy birthday, zoe!! my favorite 9 year old in the whole wide world.