Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from the Zorio Family!
We've had a great week enjoying the wonderful weather we've had here in Alabama! It was in the upper 70's and even 80's every day last week, and so we took advantage of this wonderful weather by spending a lot of time outside. Dawson loves to go for walks and ride in his stroller, so we took him on a walk every morning last week. Bentley got to go too, of course. On Thursday, we took a really long walk and Bentley was exhausted so we let her ride in the basket under Dawson stroller and she stuck her head out the side as if she were in a car and rode down there. She's slightly pampered. :) Dawson loves the walks because he looks around and talks the whole time.
On Wednesday we invited some of Dawson's friends over for a playdate and an Easter party. This was the biggest playdate we've had at our house so far; there were 5 kids total counting Dawson. His friends Ethan and Austin (twins 20 months), Caroline (3), and Matthew (10 months) all came over to play, and we had a great time! I made some cupcakes and Dawson even got to have a few icing-free bites of a cupcake, and he, of course, loved it! Matthew and Dawson are only a few weeks apart so they are very much at the same stage; several times while they were playing they would stop and just point to each other's eyes, nose, or mouth. It was really funny to watch them interact!
Friday morning instead of walking in our neighborhood, we went to Creekwood Park which is fairly new and has fun things for kids of all sizes. Dawson had fun swinging, sliding, and climbing with John and I through the small kid play gym. On Friday evening we went over to a friend's (Steven and Kelly's) house to take our Easter pictures with their bunny, Fern! Our friends were so wonderful to take a million pictures for us so we could get the perfect one with everyone's eyes open and Dawson looking in the general direction of the camera (we took the pictures outside so there were a lot of distractions for Dawson). I ended up holding the bunny the whole time, but Dawson was very very interested in the bunny. He loves animals! I was thrilled to get a family Easter picture of all of us with Fern the bunny, and I really appreciate our very patient friends who spent their Friday evening taking pictures of us with their bunny!
Today for Easter Dawson and I were planning to go to church on our own since John works weekends, but John surprised us and was able to get away from work long enough to come to the Easter service! It was so nice to have all of us at church together!
Dawson still has just the two bottom teeth and isn't showing signs of cutting anymore right now (which is fine with us!). He loves being able to eat some form of what we eat. I made him pancakes several days last week, and he enjoyed feeding himself pancake. He still hasn't taken a step not holding on to anything, but he will stand up and let go of everything for a few seconds. This week we really think Dawson said "dog." Thursday afternoon he looked at Bently and said "dog," we're waiting for him to say it again. It was very clear and John and I were both very surprised!
I have posted some pictures below from this past week. Enjoy the pictures and have a Happy Easter!

Happy Easter From the Zorio Family!

Our family with the little Easter bunny.

I think Dawson looks like a little man in his

seersucker Easter suit!

Above: This is what Dawson looked like last

year when we were dying Easter eggs.

Above: Dawson in the grass in his diaper.

Oh, Dawson we said you should wear your

EASTER SUIT not BIRTHDAY SUIT! :)

Above: Attempting to get our family Easter picture with

Fern the Bunny when an airplane flew over and, of course,

Dawson noticed it.

Above: Dawson LOVED the bunny!

Above: Dawson pointing to the bunny's nose.

Above: We were letting Dawson get used to the bunny

before we started pictures.

Above: Dawson and Mommy on the playset at

Creekwood Park where we went Friday morning.

Above: Dawson watching some other kids run by.

Above: Dawson pushing his toy in our backyard.

Above: My best attempt at getting a picture of our playgroup

on Wednesday afternoon. It's hard to get 5 young kids

in one area long enough for a picture.

Above: Our Easter snacks for the Easter Party/Play Date

on Wednesday afternoon.

Above: Our Easter cupcakes.

On the Road Again...

For the past week and a half we have had a great time visiting with family and friends! Last Thursday Dawson's Grandad (John's Dad) came down to visit, and we had a lot of fun. We grilled out for lunch and spent some time outside since the weather was in the 70s! Dawson had a great time playing with his Grandad during the visit. We also had dinner at a tasty German restaurant here in Huntsville, Ol Heidleburg, and watched some basketball.
On Friday Dawson, Bentley, and I rode back to Maryville with John's Dad to stay the weekend while John was working. (Not to sound like I had all the fun while John worked though...he did manage to sneak in 18 holes of golf with his friend Steven!)
Since Dawson and I were in Maryville for the weekend we got to visit my parents and brother (Dawson's Lolly, Pop, and Uncle Logan), and he got to see his Nana (John's mom), Cousin Drew, and Great Mamaw (my grandmother). Also, while I was there I found Dawson Easter suit which I am SO excited about; his seersucker suit proves that there are cute boy clothes out there! :) I also picked out Dawson's first birthday party invitations while I was in town. Dawson, of course, had fun with all the attention he was getting during his visit.
Monday morning John came to Tennessee to get us and we got back in the car and headed Northeast to visit our friends in Asheville, North Carolina. We stayed with Josh and Cassandra for four nights and had a great time. Cassandra is expecting a baby in July and so we talked baby and played with Dawson the whole week. We also went to a really cool park, went shopping for a few baby items for Baby White, watched a movie, and ate at a couple of cool restaurants! The guys had fun going over to Harrah's Casino (just 40 minutes away) one evening, with no winnings to report...although they did get a free t-shirt. :) The guys also played Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii. Overall, we had a great visit with our friends and can't wait to see them again...and we're excited for their baby's arrival!
Friday morning we loaded the car again and began our long day of driving back to Huntsville with a short stop in Maryville to pick up Bentley who was staying with her Lolly and Pop! The drive was long, but Dawson did really well until the last hour; overall, he's a great traveler! Now we're glad to be back home, but we had a great time seeing family and friends over the past week, and we got some great pictures too!
In other Dawson news...We have been giving Dawson a lot more big kid/adult food (aka not baby food) and he LOVES it. At the White's, Cassandra made big waffles for breakfast one morning, and Dawson ate half of a waffle and loved it! He's also enjoying foods he can feed himself. Both bottom middle teeth are all the way through his gums now and can usually be seen when he smiles! So far, I don't see anymore teeth trying to cut through the gums. Dawson loves to walk behind push toys and cruise the furniture and now he can do it while only holding on with one hand. He even stands still now and lets go for a few seconds, but he hasn't taken that first official step not holding on to anything, although from the way he loves to move we're certain that it's not too far away! This coming week we are planning a little Easter Party/Play Date for Dawson's friends at our house on Thursday afternoon. Wednesday we will have owned our house for 2 years...it's gone by fast! Then Friday is Bentley's 3rd Birthday, and I plan to bake her this doggie birthday cake from a recipe I found recently. Also, sometime this week we will color our Easter eggs and take Dawson to have his picture made with our friends bunny! Otherwise, we plan to relax and enjoy being home after being gone for 7 days.
The pictures below are slightly out of order, but enjoy!

Our family at the park in Asheville, North Carolina.
Dawson's first time on a tire swing.

Dawson eating his sweet potatoes

at the Mediterranean Restaurant.

Dawson and I visiting his Great Mamaw in Tennessee.

Dawson and Grandad.

Dawson pulling up on Cousin Drew.

Dawson in the rocking chair reading a book.

This was a rocking chair my Mamaw got for

me when I was little, and I loved to sit in it.

Looks like Dawson's enjoying it too!

Crawling around at Lolly and Pops!

At the park in Asheville.

Dawson and Mommy at the swings.

This park was awesome. It even had the kids swings

small enough for Dawson to use, and he LOVED it!

The park also had this cool playhouse that Dawson

and I climbed in.

This was Dawson's favorite thing to do at the White's house!

He loved pushing his truck up and down their hallway.

Another picture of Dawson pushing his truck.

Dawson chewing his fingers. He does this all the time now!

You can see the playhouse at the park behind him.

Cassandra and Me (and Baby White).

Our family at the park.

Dawson and Mommy on the curvy slide.

The Littlest Leprechaun

Last week Dawson got to start brushing his teeth for the first time since he finally has teeth to brush. So far, he likes having his teeth brushed every time we've done it. He has a blue Winnie the Pooh tooth brush and Tootie Frutie flavored Thomas the Tank Engine toothpaste. I have posted a couple of pictures below of his first time having his teeth brushed.
Also, yesterday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day and a friends birthday with 6 of our friends. We had a St. Patrick's Day bib, shirt, and hat for Dawson, and our friend, Melanie, brought green glitter hats for everyone! We had dinner at Bandito Burrito in historic, downtown Madison and then came back to our house for some Wii games and a delicious birthday cake that our friend Kelly made. We had a great time celebrating Dawson's first St. Patrick's Day with great friends! We are also looking forward to seeing family and our friends in North Carolina in the coming week, so look for more pictures soon!
We hope all of you had a great St. Patrick's Day as well!

Above: Dawson's first tooth brushing! :)
Above: I couldn't get this picture to rotate. This is Dawson's
first toothbrush and toothpaste.

Above: Dawson and I before going out to dinner for St.

Patrick's Day. He had just woken up from his nap so he looks

kind of dazed! :)

Above: Dawson and John before we left for

dinner at Bandito Burrito.

Above: Our little leprechaun eating puffs wishing he had

some lucky charms to eat! :)

Above: Serious leprechaun.

Above: A good shot of the bib Dawson's Aunt

Emily gave him for St. Patrick's Day.

Above: "Where are me lucky charms?"

Above: Dawson wouldn't quit eating for

a picture.

Dawson's Social Life :)

This week was not as busy with fun stuff as last week since John and I took on a project we've been putting off for sometime now. This week during all of Dawson's nap times everyday we took everything out of our attic, re-organized it, put plywood down in the attic so our boxes and crates would not have to balance on beams and we would have more space, and then put everything back in the attic. It turned out to be the perfect week for the project because it wasn't too hot or too cold in the attic, but it still wasn't a fun job. We're pleased to have this projected completed though! :)
So that's probably about the most boring thing I've ever posted on our blog, so thank goodness for Dawson's social life to bring some fun into our work-filled week! :) This was the third week Dawson and I have hosted a little playdate at our house, and it's so much fun! This week Dawson's friends Matthew (9 months), Jude (14 months), and Caroline (3 years) and their mom's, Stephanie and Blakeley, came over on Thursday afternoon when John had to go into work for a while. Each week we have playgroup, Dawson interacts more and more with the other kids! This week Dawson successfully stole two of his friends sippy cups and tried to pull up on his friend Matthew's hair (to Dawson's defense :) he doesn't know much about hair on a baby since he doesn't have too much of it), but everyone had a good time. His friend Jude showed him how to bravely go down the slide, Caroline showed him how to swing like a big kid, and Dawson watched Matthew clap (something Dawson now only does when he feels like it since he's decided waving bye-bye is more fun). I love having the other moms over as it provides some adult interaction in my day, and I like to let Dawson have time to play with his friends too.
In other Dawson news...
Dawson's first tooth is all the way through the gums, but now he's cutting the one right next to it. This one doesn't seem to be bothering him as bad though.
Dawson loves to walk holding on to everything and anything, even just balancing himself against the wall with one hand. This week he has started standing and letting go for just a few seconds before he looses his balance or grabs on to the nearest object to regain balance. He's getting braver and braver with standing and walking!
Next week's blog update should be more interesting as John and I don't have a boring project to tackle next week, and we're looking forward to a visit from some family!
Enjoy this week's pictures below...

Above: Dawson crawled over to check out what Matthew was

doing with the blocks.
Above: I couldn't get a good angle on this picture where
you could see both boys' faces, but Dawson is giving
his friend a huge smile (you can kind of tell from the side).


Above: Dawson dressed in his Vols t-shirt before
watching the basketball game on tv Thursday night.
This is in our front yard, and I tried to get him to look.
There were too many distractions outside though.

A Busy Week for the Zorio Family

Last week was a busy week for us with a lot of little things going on, but we had fun and got to see a lot of friends we hadn't seen in quiet a while! On Monday Dawson's friend Jude (14 months) came over for a playdate. Dawson had a great time playing with his friend, and I enjoyed visiting with Jude's mom, Blakeley, while the two played.
On Tuesday evening John's friend, Brad, from when he interned came in town for business. Brad currently lives in Minneapolis and it actually snowed here the day he was in town. John had a good time getting together with his friend to catch up on Tuesday evening.
Wednesday Dawson got an early birthday gift from his Nana and Grandad. It is called a Swing Along Castle by Little Tikes. It's all plastic and has a little swing and slide that are just his size. We wanted him to go ahead and start playing with it, but it was still too cold for outside...so, we now have a Swing Along Castle in our house! We put it in the playroom, and Dawson loves it. He likes to swing but still looks a little cautious as he swings, and he likes to slide when John holds him the whole way down controlling this speed. He always crawls straight to it in his playroom though. He loves his first birthday gift! It's hard to believe that his birthday is just 2 and a half months away, but we are starting to plan his party for the day after his birthday Saturday, May 15.
Then on Thursday our friend, Lance, came to visit us from Knoxville. We had not seen Lance in a long time, and he had never met Dawson so we were excited to see him! Thursday evening John and Lance had fun going down to Birmingham for a UT College of Business Alumni Fundraiser at the Summit Center. Thursday afternoon Dawson and I went by the company where I used to work to say hi, and it was great to see everyone there. Dawson showed off his speed crawling by taking off down the long hallway.
Then on Saturday morning Dawson and I packed up and drove up to Nashville to Abbey and Jon's house where my other friend, Lauren, was spending the weekend in from Atlanta. We had a great time relaxing and visiting while Dawson crawled around their house trying to see what trouble he could find. This morning Dawson and I drove back home to Huntsville, and he was very happy to be back in his playroom. Now we're ready to take a couple of days to relax after our busy week, but I'm not sure that Dawson knows we want to relax! :)
In Dawson news...
YES! He was/is actually cutting a tooth. His lower left middle tooth is almost all the way through his gums, so he will actually (I was beginning to wonder) have at least one tooth by his first birthday to eat cake with! :)

Above: Dawson and his friend Jude. Dawson is giving me the

look that says, "Mooom, don't take another picture!"
Above: John and Dawson LOVE to
play blocks!

Above: More blocks.

Above: Dawson would not stop looking at Lance for me to

get a picture. :)

Above: But we finally got one!

Above: The weather was nice on Friday afternoon

so we all went for a walk...all of us meaning John,

Bentley, Dawson, Tigger, Pooh, and me!

Above: At the top of the swing along castle!

Above: About to slide!

Above: Action picture...coming down the slide!

Above: Enjoying swinging but still looking slightly

serious about it!

Above: Dawson wiggling off Lauren's lap. Abbey

took more pictures this weekend, but I have to

get them from her!

Above: Dawson was SO happy to come home

to his playroom today!