Author: pazmeyer

children’s garden

We were so lucky to have Auntie Becky and Lily meet us in St. Louis. Lily is such a sweet, happy baby. She never cries. The only time you hear a peep out of her is if she is hungry and she’s easily fed and happy again. She is all smiles and giggles and I could just pack her up and bring her home. This is a recurring theme for me , so my sister really should be cautious when I’m packing my carry on bag. 
Toasted raviolis, cheese garlic bread, and pizza at Rigazzi’s. I dream about this lunch. Yes, dream about it….it’s that good. 
We spent the afternoon at the children’s garden. The girls and Auntie Becky tried on some of the masks and had me cracking up. 
The gardens were very festive. Not only for fall, but for the cardinals game too. 
Let’s be honest, these are the only kind of animals Annabelle really likes…
Sweet Lily
my little family

love, love, love

hannah and ashton

Hannah and Ashton spent the past few days with us after school. They are great kids and have impeccable manners. We did homework, organized notebooks, ate dinner and Hannah wanted to know how my sewing machine worked. We made her and Ashton some new bags for school. Apparently they tossed their old ones as soon as they got home. I always  love to hear that. 

happy birthday, morgan

Annabelle was invited to her friend Morgan’s birthday party from school. The party was at Chuck E Cheese and Annabelle was so excited to see so many of her kindergarten peeps there. 
Gwyneth spent the afternoon with YaYa eating pizza, playing games, and earning tickets. She really wanted to be with the big kids and luckily Annabelle’s friend, Sophia was very sweet about including her. It’s not always easy being the little sister. 
Sophia and Annabelle
Her BFF from kindergarten. These gals are inseparable and so very, very sweet together. 
My little goofball.
YaYa time
Sophia, Annabelle, and Emma. 
We have enjoyed meeting so many of Annabelle’s classmates. 
We couldn’t be more pleased with her school and the other families. 
Skeeball! Annabelle rocks it! She’s got this game down. 

happy birthday, grace

Gwyneth attended a birthday party for her friend Grace at the rec center. It was an adorable Strawberry Shortcake theme with treats, games and face painting. After cake, the kids headed to the gym for an hour of tumbling. Basically this was an hour of pit time without the stretching, rules, limitations of gymnastics class. Gwyneth was thrilled. 

The face painter asked “what would you like?” and Gwneth replied “well, what can you do?”. It wasn’t rude, just very matter of fact. She couldn’t understand why everyone was laughing.

Gwyneth and Grace
Trampoline time!

Gwyneth was fearless! She was getting some serious air into the pit and rocked the zip line.

I wish I could blow these pictures up to poster size and wallpaper my house with them. Such joy!!

cheer camp

Annabelle had her first cheerleading camp at the local high school. It was quite the turn out and my girl was a bit nervous about going in to the crowded gym all by herself. She gave me a hug, held her head up, and walked right in with conviction. Even though I knew she was scared inside, she carried herself so well. Kindergarten is building her confidence. 
To her surprise, Francesca, our next door neighbor was in her class also! That erased all her fears and just fun times ahead. 
I arrived to pick her up and watch their final rehearsal. They learned a cheer, some jumps, and a dance. They will performing at half time for the varsity football time in just a few weeks. So exciting!

booed

We took the girls to see Hotel Tranyslvania and when we returned home we found we had been Booed!! The girls were so excited to find their goody bag of treats on the front porch. Thank you to whoever booed us. You made two very happy girls this evening!

broken airplanes = busted plans

Tonight was our big day of travel. Tickets were purchased, plans made, flights organized, and children cared for….

And then the plane broke.

My mom was flying out from Chicago to watch the girls for the weekend while we went to Gus and Missi’s wedding. We gave ourselves, what we thought, was plenty of time to pick her up from the airport, drop her and the girls off at home and then head to the airport for our red-eye flight. It was a fabulously, perfect plan…

And then the plane broke.

Her flight was very, very, very delayed. We waited and waited and waited and realized this was not going to happen. YaYa’s plane was broken and her quick flight out turned in to a 11 hour day of travel for her. B had to leave for the airport without me since he is the best man. He couldn’t miss the plane. I hung out with the girls at home until YaYa arrived. Poor YaYa, she finally made it to our house at 4 am!

I went to bed at 4 am and then spent the day trying to reschedule my ticket, without much luck. I guess I’m crashing YaYa’s girls weekend and will have to just see pictures of the wedding like everyone else.

Stupid broken airplane.

botanic gardens

Gwyneth and I played hooky this morning and took advantage of the free day at the Botanic Gardens. It rained on our way down, but cleared up just in time for us to explore the Children’s gardens. 
It is really nice to have some one of one time with Miss Gwyneth. She is quite a character and had me cracking up as she explored the grounds, smelled the flowers, and was the boss for the morning. 
checking out the view
 goofball!

 stopping to smell the flowers…
 this one said “touch me” and she said “it feels like a Christmas tree!”.  
 very intrigued by the little animal prints. She thought they were very neat, but had one eye looking over her shoulder at all times to make sure the animals were not going to make a surprise attack. 
 Pretend camping 
 Such a fun day! 

happy birthday, kylie

We joined the Bickford’s and lots of Kylie’s friends to celebrate her 6th birthday at the bowling alley. My girls love to bowl and what could be better than getting to see their cousin Reagan twice in one weekend? That’s just happiness. The girls bowled, ate pizza, had birthday cake and danced! Good stuff. 
Kylie, the birthday girl, has quite the bowling skills!
Gwyneth was quite pleased with herself! This girl is such a character!
Annabelle, as usual, is too cool for school….
Miss Reagan rocked it!
Andrew and Hanna were there to celebrate too!
Reagan ended the party with pizza all over her face and cake in her hair. The girl knows how to party!
Wow! I do believe these girls beat my high score…
Gwyneth giving Aunt Jen some pizza-face kisses. 

blessing sophie

This morning the Johnson’s invited us to celebrate Sophie’s blessing at their church. The service was over an hour, but all of the girls were so wonderfully behaved. I’m so glad we could be part of Sophie’s special day. 
After the blessing, we went back to the Johnson’s house for a lunch with their families. The girls can’t get enough of Emma and Rosie and of course, little Miss Sophie is such a sweet new addition to their family. 
Rosie and Gwyneth
A picnic lunch for the kiddos. 
Look at that dark brown hair on Sophie!