Author: pazmeyer

happy birthday, zachary

Zachary’s birthday party was at Ang and Chad’s neighborhood pool. My girls were in heaven. They splashed around the pool, ran through the water fountains, and were very excited to see their cousins Ryan and Reagan. Annabelle is such a water baby. She swam the entire time — I could barely get her out of the pool for pizza and cake!

Ang told me that Zach is really into baseball right now. I digitized the Rockies logo and made him this cute little bag. Along with the bat, I’m hoping this gift is a big hit! (no pun intended…well, maybe a little).

just one more night

Jocelyn requested to stay over “just one more night”. Her parent’s said it was fine, so we got one more day with our favorite little 9 year old. We spent the morning at the pool. We got there at 9:00 and all she wanted to do was go down the slides. Oops, they don’t open until 11! We stayed until they opened and she took several trips down both slides. 

That evening we went to Abe and Wendi’s for a surprise party. Abe’s birthday was last week and he was definitely surprised to find us all waiting for him after his round of golf. We had a blast and then the girls I headed to a movie. We saw The Smurfs. So cute! We had a fun and busy weekend with  Jocelyn. She’s already planning her next sleepover. 

jocelyn

Miss Jocelyn spent the night with us Friday night. My girls were thrilled! They adore their cousin. 
Jocelyn stayed in the guest room and informed me it was just like a hotel. She had a comfy bed, her own bathroom, and her own tv. She just needed a mint on her pillow. Silly girl! 

ballerinas

Fall session of dancing school has started. What the heck? Where did the flippin’ summer go? That really didn’t feel like much of a break! Anyway, both girls are in dancing class — the same class. It’s for kiddos ages 3- 5. I was a bit worried because they are now in the same class at school, the same dance class and will be in the same swimming class starting next month. Their only break will be gymnastics class — although they are in different classes they will be in the same gym at the same time. Wonder how well that will work out? 
Back to dance class….given Gwyneth’s propensity for soccer, I wasn’t quite sure dancing school was going to be her forte. I should learn to never, ever underestimate Gwyneth. She loves dancing school and caught on so quickly. She was doing her plies, releves, and twirls right along with the rest of the girls with a big ol’ Gwyneth smile on her face! She’s a natural.
It’s always funny when other parent’s ask me “which daughter is your’s?” at these kind of things. I respond the “little blonde and the little brunette – the ones tied at the hip”. I always have to giggle a little when they respond (and they always do…) with “oh my, are they twins? no, they must be really close in age. wow – you must have your hands full. Well, at least they’re really good friends. I hope that last through their teens years.” And then usually a “They are so different. They don’t look at all alike!” just for good measure.  It’s always some variation of that and it always entertains me!
Here’s to another year of ballet and tap classes and the absolutely adorable recital to come. How sweet are these girls going to be in their dance costumes? I can hardly wait for the tutu’s! 
My girls with Daisy, a fellow ballerina from their class.

aunt megan

Jess’ sister, Megan is visiting for a week from New York. She has quite a ‘to do’ list while she’s here and is spending lots of quality time with Andrew and Hanna. Luckily we persuaded her to take a break from all her hard work and they all came over for a little bbq so we could visit with her too. It was so great to see her and catch up. She is a super, big hit with all the kiddos! 
The last time we saw Megan was at Jess’ funeral. That was almost a year ago. A year ago… How can that be? The only thing that makes it feel at all real is when I watch the kiddos play and see how much they have grown and changed. So much has changed, so much has happened, they kids just keep on growing up. I still think of Jess so often, look at old pictures, miss her so much. It was really nice to get together with Megan, Don and the kids and tell some of our favorite stories about Jess. It’s nice to remember her with laughter and happy memories. Yes, there are still tears. Lots of tears. We all miss her and still can’t understand why she’s gone. But we can remember the good times and there were certainly a lot of those. 

This morning when I dropped Annabelle and Gwyneth off at school, Bella came up to them and said “I want to go to your house again”. Mr. Andrew heard this and was not at all happy. He told Annabelle “We are not best friends anymore!”. She was crushed and turned on her heels and walked into the girls’ bathroom. I told Andrew not to worry that he was coming over to our house tonight. He leaned into the bathroom and screamed “Annabelle we’re best friends again!!”. These kids….where do they come up with this stuff???

bella

Each day the girls invite a friend home from school with them. Unfortunately they don’t ask me and they don’t ask their friend’s mom. So, sadly each day as their friend stands there with big sad eyes I have to tell them no they can’t come home with us until I ask their mom. This is EVERY SINGLE DAY that I pick them up from school. 
To avoid more sad faces I finally emailed Bella’s mom and she said it was ok for Bella to come home with us this afternoon and spend the evening at the pool. The girls were so excited! Annabelle woke up this morning and said “It’s Bella Moore Day!”.  We ordered pizza and the girls had a wonderful time splashing around the pool! 
Annabelle is getting lots of use out of her new kickboard.

Gwyneth and Bella

happy birthday, jack

We headed down to Highlands Ranch to celebrate Jack’s 4th birthday. The celebration was at Pump It Up and the girls had a great time on the slides and hopping away in the bouncy houses. It was fun to see the Silverman kiddos at the party too. They were really keeping their dad busy. B and Andy got in some good exercise chasing around the kiddos. 
Happy Birthday, Jack! 
sporting the dino shirt I made for him. 

Ryan behind the wheel

This was before B’s finger injury. He managed to pop his finger out of the joint going down this slide. Ouch!

my little maniacs
Carlson gang
Silverman crew
cake time
Mr Ben
Jack is way into dinosaurs and firefighters right now. I bought a bunch of dino fabric, but wasn’t feeling inspired. This is what I finally made for Jack and I think it came together great. Jennifer said it’s a huge hit, which always makes my day. 

sunshine

I have been sick. Really sick. 104 degree temperatures, doctors appointments, blood tests, much self-pity sick. I was sent to bed for the weekend — doctor’s orders (yeah, right! I have two kids!), but I only made it to Friday night before needing to get out of the house. There are only a few weeks left of pool season so why make the girls sit inside? I picked a nice secluded table at the pool and kept to myself to avoid passing on my germs to anyone. Besides, I really think the warm sunshine and fresh air did me a lot of good! 
My water baby! This girl loves the pool.

Um, Gwyneth Grace you have a little something on your face. I think someone found the chips….

girls night

It seems like Noelia and I have been trying to get the girls together all summer……we finally got our opportunity! Noelia’s boys are giving her a little break. Austin now has his driver’s license (yowsers!! really????) and Colton is done with baseball. Noelia can breathe for a minute…just a minute though. Baseball is back on in just a few weeks for the fall. 
B went to meet his sister’s for dinner so I leaped at the opportunity to invite Noelia and Lauren for a girls night at the pool. My girls adore Lauren. That might be an understatement. Thankfully she is a very sweet girl and is very patient with my little girls following her around. 
The three girls swam and splashed around, we ate pizza and salads, and Noelia and I had some time to catch up. Now we need to squeeze in at least one more outing before Miss Lauren has to go back to school! 
my sassy girl

pizza time

how cute are these girls? seriously, stinkin’ cute. 

finally got a great action shot of Annabelle’s favorite move — she loves putting her face in the water! (and look at Gwyneth’s face of shock.)

Lauren shows my girls how it’s done!

mcsuelo

Consuelo joined us for the evening and while the adults were finishing up dinner the girls found a brand new box of band-aids. Now what trouble could two little girls possibly get into with a box of band-aids? 

Looks like I’ll be adding band-aids to the grocery list….again! 
We had a wonderful night. Consuelo is a family-favorite! We had a nice game of, well, I don’t know exactly what you would call it…..it involved the large decorative wicker balls from the table, rolling them across the room and making Consuelo dive to catch them. We don’t have a name for that game yet, but I can assurre you the girls will be requesting to play again on her next visit. She had them belly laughing!
Both of my girls really struggle with Consuelo’s name. They just can’t seem to say it. There have been many variations over the years, but my favorite came out tonight….McSuelo! Love it. I hope she does too, because it has definitely stuck around here. 

McSuelo is always good for a book or two, or three, or four before bedtime. The girls snuggle up with her on the couch and she’s so sweet to them. Gwyneth gets a very sad face when she has to go to bed and always invites Consuelo for a sleep over. Love it!