Author: pazmeyer

lunch

I volunteer in Annabelle’s classroom every other week. Sometimes more in the library for the book fair, but at least twice a month in her classroom.
They eat lunch really, really early. I typically volunteer from 9:30 – 10:30 in the literacy center and then they head to lunch right afterwards. Annabelle asks me each and every time to join her for lunch but I just can’t bring myself to eat lunch that early. Most days I just ate my breakfast in the car on the way over! I do join her and her friends in the cafeteria which is a always an adventure…

registration

Gwyneth is registered for kindergarten? What the what??? I hate, hate, hate how quickly time is flying by with this little lady. Having the girls so close together has been such an adventure and there are so many benefits: sharing clothes, sharing toys, sharing friends, becoming little bff’s. BUT being close together means back to back babies, back to back toddlers, back to back kindergarten, back to back tooth fairy, etc etc etc. There is no spreading out the excitement and joy and it all happens too fast and I just want things to slow down. 
Gwyneth could not be more excited to start kindergarten in the fall. She proudly walked in and signed herself up. I’m not typically a crier, but I was choking back tears. I am NOT ready for this. She is already writing, reading, doing advanced algebra (not quite, but she is a little mathematician) so she is definitely ready. I have about 6 months to get my mind around it. I’ll try, but I’m not going to like it. 
look out kindergarten, here she comes!

soup

A friend of mine organized a dry mix exchange party which I absolutely loved. I left with the dry ingredients for 6 bags full of potato soup and came home with 6 different delicious crockpot meals. I’m excited to have these little meals on hand for the nights when the resident chef doesn’t feel like cooking for us. 

drained

I volunteered in Annabelle’s kindergarten class for Science Day. I was there the entire day. I’m fully aware that teachers do this every day and that they are patient, and wonderful and should probably be sainted….but I ain’t no teacher. Especially not to 20-or-so five and six year olds. They wore me out!!! They are inquisitive and energetic and…wait, did I already say energetic? They must all eat skittles for breakfast, because I don’t know where they find that kind of energy! 
It really was fun spending the day with all of them and helping out with the science projects. And I really did fall asleep around 8:30 that night after treating myself, I mean treating the girls to ice cream! 
I know just how you feel Gwyneth Grace…

Don’t let this little princess face and pose fool  you. She’s a lethal force rolled up in a cute little tutu. Beware! 

pumphouse

We reconnected with the Merrill’s at the Pumphouse Brewery in Longmont. Celebrating the holidays means not really seeing friends as much as we’d like, but it’s always nice to get back on track. The Merrill’s have the sweetest little kiddos and my girls ask to see them regularly.

ice cream

Rosie and Emma came over for a playdate and dinner. These girls play so, so well together. And I’m not just saying that, because I don’t think their mom even reads my blog. They truly mesh well together, resolve their differences peacefully, belly laugh and giggle the entire time, share huge hugs when the playdate is over and then beg and plead for more playdates. 
After dinner, Annabelle used her toothfairy funds to treat everyone to ice cream at Abbott’s. She was so proud to pay with her own money and all the girls told her thank you without the slightest prompting. It really was a terrific little celebration! And what do you know, ALL of Gwyneth’s teeth are now wiggly too. (not really, but she is SOOOOO ready for a visit from the tooth fairy. Again, sometimes it stinks being the little sister). 

tooth fairy

For weeks that little tooth has just been hangin’ around on a thread….or a little gum or ligament or tissue or whatever nastiness holds those little baby teeth dangling before a child is brave enough to pull them out. Annabelle has been so excited to lose her first tooth and couldn’t wait for the tooth fairy’s visit. She finally “manned up” and gave that little tooth a spin and out it popped. Woo hoo!!!
“Ann Bell, you look like a pumpin face” – Gwyneth 
Ah, sisterly love. 

This is another one of those proud, exciting, thrilling moments that is celebrated with lots of hugs and hoots and hollers….  And then when she leaves for school I go look at her baby pictures and have a good cry and wonder how she grew up so fast and feel extremely old and begin searching for college applications for her and assisted living homes for me. Ok, ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. slight.

Where you find one happy sister, you will almost always find the other. There is a promise of fairies, money, treats. Gwyneth will not be leaving her sister’s side until she sees how this all pans out.
The little tooth in her little precious tooth fairy box. 

She even set out a candle to light the way for the tooth fairy. She wouldn’t want her to get lost or trip over all those stuffed animals in the room.

The two surrounding teeth (next to the gaping whole) are quite wiggly too, so expect to see more from the tooth fairy soon.

Excitement all around!

However is a girl to fall asleep?

Yes, this looks very, very close to peaceful sleep. Sigh. 
The girls awoke to find this letter and some cash from the tooth fairy. So much excitement!

The letter didn’t leave her sight while getting ready for school, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, packing her lunch. It even went in her backpack to school. This is a prized possession!

humane society

We are always working on overcoming the girls fear of animals. Annabelle requested we go look at cats so we headed to the humane society. We spent about 10 minutes in the cat section, my allergies kicked in, and I couldn’t breathe so got the heck out of there. We checked out the dogs and fell in love with this guy. 
Gwyneth went right in with YaYa and was giving this dog hugs within minutes. Annabelle and I spent quite some time behind the door just getting use to watching them play. 
 Such a happy girl!

 Without being prompted, Annabelle opened the door, walked right out, and met the dog. She was nervous at first but didn’t freak out. These are not baby steps…this is huge!

 Gwyneth did a happy dance. She really loved this dog. 
 Wow!!!!

Now to persuade their daddy that we need a dog. Wonder if that will happen???

cook school

I have a good husband. He finds my sarcasm funny and he plays along when I ask him to do stuff like this…

Today he started “cook school” as it is affectionately referred to by the girls. Annabelle really wanted to know what he cooked, but this first week is all about food safety. B is quite a clean freak, so now he has learned all about the proper techniques for maintaining a clean kitchen and proper food temperatures. At first I thought this was going to be problematic for me, because he already thinks I’m a bit of a slob. In fact this is going to work in my favor. Now that he is a professional, my cleaning and food prep abilities are completely inadequate so I don’t even think I’ll be allowed in the kitchen again. This just keeps getting better and better…