Author: pazmeyer

easter

We had a super busy day. We had 4 stops after leaving the hotel all of which were lots of fun. Here’s our day…try and keep up! 
1st stop: Carlson’s Easter Egg Hunt. 
Jennifer and Keith served up a delicious brunch which included the most delicious grits I’ve ever eaten. Granted I’ve only had grits one time before in California, but these were good ol’ southern grits with lots of cheese and a shrimp, meat, and mushroom sauce. Yeah, that’s just goodness right there.
The kids had a great time searching for eggs and devouring cupcakes and brownies. Gwyneth warmed up to the puppies right away, but Annabelle was very scared. She sat on the couch, sat on B’s lap, was held by B…never left her Daddy’s side. 
Annabelle found a spot on the couch where she was unreachable by the dogs.
Gwyneth found the trampoline.
Egg hunting time.  Notice Annabelle pointing B to wear there are eggs, but refusing to walk on her own. She is seriously afraid of dogs….and they were even in the house at this point.
Gwyneth thrilled with her find. I think she’s getting the hand of this egg hunting thing.

All the kiddos – minus one little guy hiding under the playhouse

Um, I think Gwyneth might be on sugar overload.

Seriously, how cute are these girls? Its going to be a sad, sad day when they don’t pick out princess dresses, sparkly shoes, and flowery headbands. 

Annabelle and her Daddy

Me and The G. Notice her little chocolaty teeth. I think she had a continuous flow of candy all day.

Amy and Avery. Poor Ryan was running a fever so he had to stay home with Andy. They did take him some cookies so hopefully the day wasn’t a total bust for them. 

Our family!
Thanks to the Carlson’s for a wonderful brunch and Easter egg hunt. The girls loved all their treats!
Stop #2: The Browns

It has been far too long since we’ve seen Brandon.  B and Brandon grew up together and I’ve known him and his family for almost 20 years now. The first time I ever met his mom, Shirley, was when Brandon and I got picked up by the cops….well, that’s not an Easter story so I’ll have to save that for another time.  Luckily his parents are forgiving of bad teenage choices and have always been so welcoming to us. 
Brandon’s daughter Hannah is 12 years old now! My goodness! We got to see her as well as Brandon’s sisters, brother-in-laws, and nieces and nephews. It was so great to see them all and catch up. I tell ya, that family is top notch and we are lucky to know them. 
The Brown’s

The boys
The girls
Stop #3: The Hales’

Next stop, was Don’s parent’s house. All these guys grew up down the street from each other so we just made our way around the neighborhood. Don’s mom cracked me up with stories about B and the guys growing up together. She told me that B was always a nice little kid, a bit shy, but was clean and dressed nice. She also told me about the other boys she thought were smelly and rowdy. Ha! 
As we were leaving she told B to use the back gate to leave like when they were kids. I think he’s still a little afraid of her and almost did! 
Stop #4: The Meyer’s
Grandma and Grandpa hosted Easter dinner and a mini egg hunt for the kids. The kids got even more candy and I’m pretty sure Gwyneth is on the verge of O.D’ing on chocolate. We’re going to have to ease her off to avoid full on withdrawal. If you see her and she has the shakes, please give the girl a hershey kiss! 
The cousins
Gwyneth is clearly not pleased to be taking a candy break for pictures.
The boys
The girls
Auntie Chriss,  Gwyneth and their chocolate kisses.
All the cousins
And that was our Easter! Just a tad busy, but we saw a lot of good people and the girls got lots of candy. Success!!

the bunny found us

Don and Lisa invited us to spend the night before Easter with them at the Embassy Suites. What a great time!!  We were so excited for the night away with this crew. We spent the afternoon and early evening in the pool…well, the kids and Don and B spent their time in the pool. The water was freezing so Lisa and I decided to hang out in the hot tub instead. Torture, I know. 
The hotel had a manager’s happy hour which included complimentary drinks and snacks and we decided to just hang out and have pizza at the restaurant for dinner. The girls spent the rest of the evening making crafts with Kaylee and even snuggled in to her bed with her at bedtime. They absolutely adore Kaylee, also known as Kiki to them. It’s not exaggerating to say these girls were in HEAVEN!
Our suite was just two doors down from the Hales so when the kiddos crashed we carried them back to our room to wait for the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Bunny found us!! He left eggs in the Hales’ room, our room, and even a trail of eggs in the hallway.

The bunny left quite a stash for the girls
The bunny must not know Mr. Meyer, because as Gwyneth states it “Daddy does NOT like Caillou!!”
So pleased to find an egg with her name on it.
Someone figured out there is candy in those eggs….

My sweet little Easter princesses. Check out G’s gloves. Looking very regal indeed.

We had a delicious complimentary breakfast at the hotel before heading out for our busy day of Easter festivities. The hotel stay was fabulous and a huge, huge hit!
I wanted to get a family portrait and was trying to use the self-timer. This is my favorite of them all. Insert me here, please….

B is half hidden by little girls and hair bows, but I’m glad to have at least a glimpse of a family picture from our wonderful adventure.

pooping chicks

It must be some kind of Easter miracle, because Gus was in town a few days this week. He is always traveling for work and we never get to see him anymore. Boooo! 
Gus and Missi joined us for dinner Friday night and B grilled the best little sliders. Yum, yum, yum! Gus and Missi brought the girls some Easter treats including jelly beans and these little chicks and you wind up and they poop out lay gum eggs. The girls thought it was hilarious, but I found B’s giggles the most entertaining. He really thought those chicks were a crack up. 

egg decorating

It’s been so nice having B’s cousin Beth in town. They moved here from Connecticut and have three great little kiddos. Robbie is 8, Lexi is 5 and Molly is 3. Our girls are thrilled to have more kiddos to play with, but they are struggling to understand how we are all related and what everyone should be called. So I did a little research for them….

  • Beth and B are cousins.
  • Beth’s kids are B’s cousins once removed. 
  • Beth’s kids and B’s kids are 2nd cousins.
  • Beth’s grandchildren will be B’s cousins twice removed. 
  • Beth’s grandchildren will be B’s kids’ ….. well, I can’t find that one but all of our grandchildren will be 3rd cousins.

Moral of the story – I’m avoiding this conversation with the children because it even confused me. So,  hence forth everyone will be called a cousin. Done!
Beth invited us all over for some egg decorating on Good Friday. The kids were out of school and a lot of businesses are closed in Colorado. The girls are really getting the hang of this egg dying thing….

Annabelle and Lexi

Gwyneth had at least 3 eggs going at all times.

happy birthday, ivy

The girls painted some pottery with Miss Ivy to celebrate her 4th birthday. I’m a big fan of the Merrill’s – great people and they have such wonderful kiddos. Little Miss Ivy is the cutest little thing with her red pigtails and she definitely has spunk. I’m so glad we could make it up to their hood to celebrate with her. 
There were several different options for painting including monkeys and cute little jewelry boxes. Our girls picked mugs. 

Sweet Ella. Annabelle absolutely adores her. She is seven and Annabelle follows her around in awe. 
Ivy decided to go for a little brown paint. Ooops – she can thank the Meyer girls for that mess. Annabelle chose brown and red for her mug. Very avant-garde.

Somehow Braxton managed to fall fast asleep during all the commotion!

The party gang!

Seth made the Lightning McQueen toppers. Quite impressive, right? I do believe he has moved up to the coolest in Gwyneth’s book. 
Mesmerized by those candles

Ivy received an “O.G. Pony”, which I had never heard of before….sounds a little gangsta. Annabelle is now hooked and has been requesting her very own O.G. Pony for her birthday.
Opening gifts. 

skater girl

After nearly 2 1/2 weeks, it was time for YaYa to head back to Chicago. She was so much help and we’re going to miss her terribly. Luckily with this family the visits are never too far in between. 
Annabelle was quite clever this morning when she went to school. She requested that only YaYa pick her up at the end of the day. This ensured that YaYa would not leave before she got out of school. Clever girl!
Of course YaYa couldn’t leave without a few Easter gifts for the girls. They each received a movie and brand new roller skates. Annabelle was a scaredy cat about trying on the skates, but Gwyneth got right down to business. She loved the skates and after a few little tumbles scooted her way down the street.

This cracks me. Miss G really pondering her new Muppets movie….or Puppets movie as she calls it.

Loving the new movie HOP. These girls have quite the DVD/Blue Ray collection.

Tearing in to their gifts

Trying to get the hang of these new skates

My goodness, does it get any cute than that???
 This girl has no fear!

easter decorations

I’m not much of a decorator. I don’t like clutter and I don’t like to store anything so holiday decorations are minimal at our house. Naturally with YaYa visiting, this was just not going to do. We picked up some decorations and made our house festive. I’m quite pleased and I suppose I better go get a storage bucket for these things. My goodness, the things I do for the children! 
I spruced up this bunny sign to add our name. I am a sucker for anything personalized.

Easter banner from Poppy and Melissa and some eggs from the girls.
And this is Miss Annabelle doing some Yoga for your viewing pleasure. I would like to note this is the same face I make while doing Yoga which might explain why I was asked not to come back because I wasn’t taking the class seriously….

21 jump street

With the girls at school and me returning to the land of the living I got to take my mom to the movies to thank her for all her help after my surgery. She stayed on top of my pain medication, gave baths, made meals, took the girls to shows and to play, brought me Icees and most importantly made sure I had plenty of time to lay on the couch and rest. She also made sure I had  hours of bad tv on DVR…you know, the Kardashians and Real Housewives. What the heck else could I ask for?
We went to see 21 Jump Street. Oh my goodness, funny! I have to admit I don’t think I ever watched the show back in the day, but the movie was silly and entertaining. We went to Cinebarre so I was able to enjoy a frozen margarita — I’m hooked on slushy, fruity, frozen drinks since my surgery. So good for the sore throat. A little tequila is just good for the soul! Wink, wink! 
For dinner we tortured B and went to IHOP ,where kids eat free and it’s breakfast for dinner all the time. Torture for B! Pure torture! These are his exact words….”I need three days notice to get my head around breakfast for dinner!”. That’ no joke. He’s a real renaissance man. Living on the edge. 
To make matters worse for B, Gwyneth LOVES breakfast for dinner. LOVES it. Better give the man three days notice….

new preschool for gwyneth

Gwyneth started her new preschool today. She spent a month home with me and although we had our fun, she was ready to go to school. She wants to do everything that Annabelle does and was not happy that Annabelle started a month earlier than her. I don’t think she’s going to be very happy when Annabelle goes to kindergarten in the fall. 
I was so nervous and anxious when I took her to school. Of course, she was thrilled to be there, gave me a hug, and ran off to play and make new friends. I stood outside the door and watched her through the window and she waved but I swear she was annoyed to see me hovering. I wonder how I am going to be when she starts kindergarten next year….oh lordy! I can’t even think about it. 
I had serious flashbacks from my childhood when the girls picked out their clothes for school today. They picked out matching outfits. I HATED, yes – I’m using the word HATE here…I HATED matching my sisters. I’m pretty sure this is payback for the fits I threw with my poor mother about the matching clothes when I was a kid. There sure do look cute thought.

At the girls new school they have to bring their own lunches. I thought I would hate it, but I have found that I really enjoy packing their lunches every day. I’m trying to be more creative than just PB and J’s everyday, but this is the extent of my culinary skills. That’s right ham and cheese Easter Bunnies – KAPOW!

I had my follow up appointment with the surgeon today and he said all is healing well on the tonsil front. I got a new prescription for pain killers and was told to suck it up and start eating solid foods again. Ok, maybe he didn’t use those exact words but that was my interpretation. I’m going to miss my Ramen and Icees. We had a good run. 

easter crafts

It’s beginning to look a lot like Easter around our house. We designed some foam Easter eggs. The girls wrote their names in glitter and decorated with foam cut outs and sequins. In hindsight this was a probably a craft that could have been done outside or at the kitchen table rather in the family room on the carpet. No biggie though. The girls had fun and the room could have used a good vacuuming. 
I will definitely be saving these eggs and pulling them out each year as Easter decorations. Won’t it be fun years from now to look back at their cute little crafts?