September 2015

September began with a fun event at Dawson's school...The Grand Event.  It is their celebration of Grandparents Day.  Grandparents (or anyone special in their lives they think is grand) are invited to come see them in their classrooms, eat a special lunch in the cafeteria, and visit a few places in the school.  Then (the best part) we got to take Dawson home early!

Dawson was thrilled to have Grandad, Nana, Pop, Lolly, Me, Carter, and Nora Kate all come for the Grand Event.   

That evening was The Taste of Blount.  It was great weather to be outside sampling lots of different food in the park.  The plates for tasting were placed on Frisbees...and the kids enjoyed running and playing with the Frisbees in the grass!

 

Carter loves to help me in the kitchen AND he loves green beans.  Here he is as my smiling helper breaking the beans.

Dawson had another event at school the following week.  Thankfully this was in the evening so John could come too!  It was iReach night where the kids got to show us all the fun stuff they have learned to do on their iPad and we had a scavenger hunt!  We were happy that it worked out for Carter and Nora Kate to stay with Lolly and Pop so we could enjoy a little one on one time with Dawson.  Above is our iReach night selfie...Dawson thought this was a little cheesy.

 

Unfortunately September was a sick month for us.  Carter, Nora Kate, and I got sick and just could not get over it!  My kids who never lay around, spent a lot of time resting on the couch.

and doing breathing treatments

and getting extra cuddles

It wasn't fun, and I honestly haven't felt that yucky for that many days in a long time and I know the kids felt just as bad! 

 

But thankfully we got better, and were able to have some more fun...

 

John and Grandad took the boys to the Tennessee Valley Fair again this year.  They have been talking about it since last September so to say they were excited was an understatement!

 

They had a great day at the fair, and they have already decided that next year Nora Kate will be big enough to go too!

 

Dawson came home from school one day and was telling me all about his day, and I just kept staring at his mouth...he was missing a front tooth and wasn't saying a single word about it!?  I asked him and he said, "Oh, it fell out in music.  It's in my school bag." As if it was no big deal!  What?! 

Well, it was a big deal to the tooth fairy because she brought him not the usual 1, but TWO gold coins for a front tooth.  That got him excited.  Here you can see his big gap where his tooth used to be, and he's holding his gold coins.

 

The middle of September was Spirit Week for Dawson's school. 

The first day was Career Day...he dressed as a farmer since that's what he wants to be.

 

Then their was Wacky Tacky Day...he was not a fan of wearing mis-matched clothes.  I finally convinced him that "everyone else was going to be doing it" haha!

 

Then their was wild hair day.  I really wanted to spray color in his hair or make it stand up, but this was about as wild as he wanted it...

Carter (in his pajamas still) had to jump in on this picture!

 

Then HAT day!  Dawson was thrilled to get to wear his Bass Pro Hat!

 

Friday was Raccoon Romp, the schools big fundraiser.

Here he is with Lolly and Rocky the Raccoon.

 

The kids could walk or run laps to earn money for the school.  I told Dawson he could run or walk, but that he didn't have to run the whole time.  He WANTED to run the whole time though!  In the 30 minutes he ran 3.25 miles! 

Here's his class after Romp

The next day was a classmate's birthday party.  John kept the little's at home for nap while I took him to Tumble Bears for the party.  He had a blast with his school friends.

Dawson with the birthday girl!

 

After the birthday party, John and I went to the UT game.

Me and Alana.

 

Me and John during the game.

 

Go Vols!

 

I'm not even sure now what this picture was about, but I'm pretty sure Nora Kate was just being silly (and cute) and I had to snap a picture!

We ate lunch with Dawson at his school.  This is a big treat for Dawson, Carter, AND Nora Kate.  Here Dawson picked a classmate to sit with us!

Look how happy Carter was!

These three are still LOVING their playset!

We had a playdate and picnic at the park with Charlie.

Dawson earned an award at school called the Raccoon Track's Honey Pot Award for being a good leader and making good choices.  His reward (along with the other winners) was to get to have lunch with Dr. Dalton the principal.

We were doing a little birthday shopping for John when these two decided they were starving so quick pit stop in the food court!

Ever since the 4th of July Carter has claimed he wanted John to have a Fireworks themed birthday party.  So we did! (sorry, neighbors-at least it was brief!)

That's 31 candles

Happy birthday, John!

 

John went to Atlanta the last weekend of September for the annual guys golf trip.  The kids and I stayed busy at home though...

we went to a friend's birthday party with a fun inflatable!

Nora Kate and the birthday boy!

John sent us these pictures of the guys at the golf tournament!

Also while he was gone, Lolly and Pop and I took the kids to Cades Cove.

The kids always love going in the old churches...

Beautiful views from Cades Cove

Dawson and Pop

We took a little hike (below)

 

We had a picnic dinner...obviously Carter was relaxed haha!

 

Then, the last day of the month I got to go to a baby shower at Aubrey's for a friend from church!

 

September 2015...another fun month in the books!

THE ZORIO FAMILY IS GROWING!!

***Disclaimer:  This was written when I was 14 weeks (I'm actually 19 weeks today), but I was having problems uploading and couldn't get it posted a few weeks ago!  Problem solved!***
John, Dawson, Carter, Nora Kate, and I are excited to share that THE ZORIO FAMILY IS GROWING!!  Baby Number 4 is due March 16!  I am currently 14 weeks along, and this pregnancy is flying by!
John and I found out the exciting news on Wednesday, July 8th.  Then I had the first ultrasound on July 31.  At that doctor's appointment they told me the due date would be March 17th-St. Patrick's Day, although I highly doubt the baby will come on his/her due date a St. Patty's Day due date is still pretty fun! 
It was hard, but we kept it a secret from the kids and everyone else until Sunday, August 23rd.  At this point I was 10 weeks along.  John was beyond ready to share our exciting news.  I think he would have told people earlier had I not wanted to wait just a tad bit longer! haha!  After church on the 23rd, we came home and sat the kids down in the sunroom.  John told them the news, and then I showed them the ultrasound picture!  They were really excited.  Dawson (always the planner) said, "I know! We can turn the extra bedroom into the baby's room!"  Carter was very excited.  He loves babies.  We were referring to it as "the new baby," but Carter started from the beginning calling this the "extra baby" haha!  This cracks me up every time he rolls it out!  Nora Kate, of course, doesn't really realize what's going on.  However over the past several weeks she has started pointed to her belly button and saying, "There's a baby in there!"  I will say, "Where?" and she responds, "In my button" (she calls her belly button just button) haha! She's so funny!
After we told the kids we went to Lolly and Pops to tell them.  When we got there I told them I wanted to take a quick picture of them with the kids.  Instead of having it turned to "picture" I was actually taking a video (but they didn't know!). I said, "On the count of three say, WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!"  The kids, of course, already knew, but this way we got to capture the reactions of Lolly and Pop on camera!  So fun!
Then we had Nana and Grandad over for dinner Sunday night.  Our plan was to tell them the same way-on camera.  Well, that didn't work!  Dawson was so excited that he told Grandad immediately.  Nana and I were inside finishing up dinner, so I didn't even realize Dawson had told.  Then we sat down to eat and at the very end of the prayer Carter chimed in and said, "...and thank you for our extra baby."  Truthfully this was the perfect way to tell.  We couldn't have planned it like that!  It was sweet to me that Carter and Dawson were so excited they had to tell. 
Over the next week we slowly told friends.  Then Sunday, August 30 we told friends at church and shared the news on facebook. 
Tuesday, September 1 I had a check up at Dr. Brabsons office.  I was 11 weeks.  They did another ultrasound too.  At this point they moved my due date up by one day from March 17 to March 16.  Everything looked great on the ultrasound and at the check up.  Now I don't go back until September 29 for another doctor's appointment.  And, although it seems CRAZY soon we will find out the gender of precious Baby Number 4 on Thursday, October 1.  John and I will find out the gender at the ultrasound, but we will keep it a complete secret to everyone else for TWO WEEKS until our gender reveal party on October 17!
Every pregnancy has gone by more quickly than the previous one.  I always tell people that my pregnancy with Nora Kate flew by, but this time I cannot believe it's going by even faster!  I am really trying to write everything down and remember every detail of this pregnancy especially since it's passing so quickly!  I wish it would slow down! :)
To answer some of the questions I get asked on a regular basis...
-How are you feeling?  I'm feeling great! I never have really had morning sickness with any of my pregnancies, and this one is the same!   I have really felt fine.  The first few weeks I was more tired than normal, but I can handle that!
-What do you think the baby is-BOY OR GIRL?  I really have no clue, but John and I guess with each pregnancy...the funny thing is we have always guessed the opposites before (I thought Dawson was a girl and he thought boy (one point John) then I thought Carter was a boy and John thought girl (one point me) and then I thought Nora Kate was a girl and he thought boy (another point me)), but with this baby, we are both guessing BOY.  Dawson and Carter both say it is going to be a boy because as Dawson says, "That way we can always have more boys than girls in our family and the boys will win!"  I can actually see us with either...a girl would be nice because then Nora Kate would have a sister which I just think would be fun!  BUT a boy would also be nice because he would have two older brothers and Nora Kate could remain the only girl!  Really either way I'm completely happy.  Boy is just our guess! 
-Names?  John and I always try to make one part of our kids' names a family name.  Dawson's middle name is Andrew (after John's middle name), Carter's middle name is Wade (after my maiden name), and Nora Kate gets Nora from my grandmother and Katherine from John's.  We will definitely be using a family name for the middle name with Baby Number 4.  We are 95% (if not 100%)certain on the first names we have picked out for Baby if it's a boy or a girl! 
-Are you showing?  YES!  This time around it took no time before I was showing.  I'm not in my normal clothes at all, but fully in my maternity clothes now.  They say with each pregnancy you show earlier and earlier, and this is definitely true!  I'm actually showing to the point that just this week I've had three strangers acknowledge that I'm pregnant. 

Our family is very excited to be growing again.  Here are some fun pictures!

Here is our first ultrasound picture, and yes, John and I kept look at this saying that it looked like there were TWO babies in this picture. The doctor and ultrasound tech assured us there was only one though!  Carter said it looked like a monster in the picture, and Dawson said a tootsie roll! Haha!

This was the picture we posted on facebook to share the exciting news!

When I went back to the doctor at 11 weeks, I had a second ultrasound.  The above and below pictures are from the 2nd ultrasound.  It's amazing how much more you can see. 

Look at baby's sweet little leg and foot!

...and little profile!

 

I will do a separate post with the Baby Bump Pictures!