Author: pazmeyer

combo class

We are starting to get this school/life/activities/work schedule figured out. The girls are back in dancing school and are back in their combo gymnastics and swimming class. I love this class at the rec center! They do gymnastics for 30 minutes and then the class walks down the hall to the pool, change to swim suits, and do swim lessons for 30 minutes. 
This is the perfect class for Wednesday afternoons because it’s early release day from school. That means we have even more time to kill each afternoon (an extra 1 1/2 hours) before B gets off work and we can reclaim the house. After swim lessons the pool is open and I typically let them swim until it’s time to go home and make dinner. That should make for some very worn out girls each evening! This week was an exception because I had to stop by the library and pick up my book that is on hold (yes, I am obsessed!!). 

This is the entire class! The classes over the summer are so big and the gym is so crowded. There’s only other little girl in their class and two little ones in the other class. Five tiny kiddos with two teachers and an entire gym to themselves.

The five kiddos move on down to the pool and they get two more instructors for swimming. The pool is empty except for the old-folks water aerobics class. We’ve hit the jackpot this session. Have I mentioned before that I don’t care for crowds….

We headed out for dinner tonight. I make up our weekly dinner menu and do the grocery shopping while B makes dinners most evenings (he enjoys to cook/hates to grocery shop – this works for us). Every time I have “Grilled Brauts” on the calendar we end up going out. Every. Time. I think I’ll cross that off the menu list. Anybody want some brauts? I have a Costco case for you.

no nook

I left my Nook in St Louis. I downloaded the app to my iPad and figured I would be fine until the next time I saw my dad and Melissa. We’re a traveling family and it’s typically only a month between visits. 
WRONG!! I hate reading on my iPad. I’m using the word hate here. Don’t like the backlighting, don’t like the hold/feel, don’t like the layout. Just don’t like it. Not one little bit. I figured I would just wait a month and not read and get a lot of things done around the house. WRONG again!!! I need to be reading something at all times. I need to know that a book is there waiting for me to finish. I need to have my pure bliss of reading time while the girls are at dancing school and gymnastics and swimming. I need to stay awake until 2 am because I have just a few more pages of this darn book to finish….. oh wait, that last one isn’t good. Not good at all. 
I decided to kick it old school and head to the library (yeah, I just said that…). I had to get some books to get me through. I haven’t been to the library in ages and I missed it. I missed picking out the books I want on the computer, searching for them through the shelves and shelves, and as much as I adore my Nook I miss holding an actual book.
The girls had a blast in the children’s library and picked out quite a stash of new books too. I read to them every night so I have to say the new books are a pleasant change for them AND me!
Books, actual books. They still make these Who knew?

Annabelle’s favorite find — this is the follow up to Fanny which Annabelle received from her YaYa. The original is a book about Fanny’s doll Annabelle, which she makes. The sequel is all about Annabelle the doll’s adventures. Cute little book, but puts me in quite a predicament….I can’t find a book about a Gwyneth. Could someone work on that/write one for us?

This book is all about a poor little girls desperate desire — NEED — for earrings. Not the stick on ones, not the clip on ones, but REAL HOLES IN YOUR HEAD earrings. Her horribly, mean, tortuous parents just won’t allow it. It should have been titled “Why you can’t have earrings – by Robert Meyer”.

labor day lazy

We had grand plans for the weekend – go to the Taste of Colorado, get the house organized, sort through outgrown clothes and toys, etc. What I got done was…absolutely nothing! We watched  movies, rested our lazy bums on the couch, went out for a few meals and then it was Monday evening and time to finish homework and get ready for a new week. I’m not exactly sure where this weekend went, but I’m not sure I really care. I know there was plenty of snuggling on the couch just the four of us and that’s good enough for me. 
The girls wanted nails painted so I gave it a try. This is not my specialty. With bright pink nail polish and a glitter top coat there were no complaints. You can’t really tell it from this picture but the ceiling fan is going and after their nails were painted they climbed up on the ottoman and held their fingers up to the fan to dry. Silly girls!

broken leg

Our poor little neighbor, Mylie broke her leg. She climbed on top of her play kitchen, jumped off and landed  just right wrong, and snapped her little leg. Poor thing! She is on bedrest and will be in a cast for weeks. 
The girls were very upset when they heard the news and wanted to go visit her. We put together a little care package for Mylie — what’s a five year old going to do on the couch all day???? Poor Mylie…..and her poor mother, who has four other children! 

Very happy to visit their neighbor and bring some good cheer. Unfortunately when they got there and saw her little leg in the big ol’ cast they were both very worried and sad for her. Maybe this will keep them from jumping off our furniture and wrestling….but probably not!!

school rockies game

Annabelle’s school sang the National Anthem at the Rockies game. She was so excited to see her friends and teachers at the game. 
She was also pretty excited to show off her little sister. I could see the look on some of the teacher’s faces when she told them Gwyneth would be in kindergarten next year. We get this look a lot – the “your kids are only a year apart, you’re insane” look and her music teacher actually said “oh my. God Bless you!”. We’re use to it now and we get the last laugh because they have Meyer girls in their classes two years in a row. And let me tell you, they are spirited little girls. 
Of course, a trip to the baseball game is just another excuse for me to make the girls some shirts. I don’t really need an excuse, but I’m still glad they like to wear what I make for them. 

Crazy Miss Gwyneth
“Mom, you’re embarrassing me!!”

ooooh, Gwyneth is not going to be happy when she sees this picture. Those are her dippin’ dots!
Our happy little family posing….
and how we really are….

fab friday with friends

Abe and Wendi invited us and Gus and Missi over for a fabulous dinner and evening of games. Abe made steaks and there were lots of sides and wine and good friends. The girls always enjoy playing with Hannah and we brought a new game to play “Gassy Gus”. You basically feed the guy until he toots. The person who makes him toots loses. I like to think this game is true to life and we’re teaching the girls valuable lessons!

gymnastics time

We took a little break from gymnastics as Annabelle started kindergarten. We didn’t know difficult the week nights would be with the new schedule. We are falling into a routine and it seems we have some energy to get back in to some other activities. 
The girls’ favorite part of gymnastics is the pit. Since they haven’t been in a while, they just decided to create their own pit in our living room using the couch cushions. Um, yeah….they start back to gymnastics next week. 

worst movie ever…i think

I try to use our time in the afternoons well. Museums, swimming, dancing….but sometimes I have to let go and let them be kids and pick their activities and just have fun. As B has pointed out to me on many occassions “not everything has to be a learning experience! just go and have fun!”. I sure do hate when he is right.

I let the girls pick what we did today and they really wanted to go to a movie. There was only one kid movie out and it was the Oogieloves. I had absolutely no idea what that was, but the reviews seemed fine and it seemed safe for the girls.

Oh….MY….HEAVENS….worst flippin’ movie ever. I can’t even really tell you what it was about. There was singing, dancing, balloons, a lot of weirdness. There were several parts where the girls were encouraged to stand up and dance. They liked it. I don’t know, it was weird.

beautiful ballerina

We took a break from dance classes this past spring, which sadly meant no dance recital. I missed seeing the girls in their show. Their old studio was such a hike and they were not very excited to go each week. A brand new studio opened up across the street from our house and I couldn’t wait to check it out. It is WONDERFUL!!! The teachers are so sweet and make dance class fun, which at this age is the absolute most important thing. 
The classes are brand new and they are trying to figure out the schedules. We joined a class on Tuesday’s and Gwyneth was the only student! She got her own private little lesson. The teacher invited her back for the Friday class which was already full but she made room for Miss Gwyneth. I asked Gwyneth which class she liked better and she said “I like the class with all the other girls” and then quickly followed up with “but I do like when I have the mirror all to myself “. OH BOY! Her teacher thought she was a crack up and told me to bring her back for both classes and she would only charge me for one until they filled up both classes. How nice is that????? I’m really liking this studio. I think we have found our fit. 

So sweet, so, so, so, sweet
Watching her get so excited about dance and show her stuff almost makes me cry, I’m so happy. I live for this.

bouncing and breakfast

I had one punch left on my Jumpin’ Jordy’s punch card so we met up with Bella and Brayden for an afternoon of jumping. They had a blast playing with their friends and I loved having the chance to catch up with Amy. 
Sadly, I think the girls have grown tired of Jumpin’ Jordy’s so we won’t be renewing that pass. They were more interested in slushies than the bouncy houses. Perhaps we’ll try again in a few months. Amy recommended a  new place called Big Time Trampoline Fun, which I think with all the trampolines and foam pits it is right up the girls’ alley. I can’t wait to try it out. 
And people wonder why we need happy hour….

What a great gang!
After spending four hours trying to find new tap and ballet shoes (I won’t bore you with that drama), we met Missi at IHOP. Breakfast for dinner. Oh yeah!!