Author: pazmeyer

chicago bound

The girls and I (and Shmooze and Monkey, of course) headed out to Chicago for Auntie Becky’s wedding. B flew in later that evening because he had to work during the day. The girls were wonderful on the flight. We are getting pretty darn good at this traveling thing. 
Shmooze and Monkey enjoying the view from the airplane

Frequent flier #1

Frequent Flier #2

butterflies with the carlson’s

After swim lessons we met Jennifer, Jack, and Ben at the Butterfly Pavilion. Annabelle and Jack were very brave today. They marched right in and held Rosie, the tarantula. This was Annabelle’s first time and I’m so proud of her. Poor Gwyneth really wanted to hold Rosie also, but she needs to be 3. Looks like we’ll be making a special trip over next month. 
After checking out the butterflies, we had a picnic lunch outside. The girls loved spending the time with their friends and really enjoyed all the treats from Jennifer. 
Looking forward to our next outing!

By the way, I’m doing my very best to keep Gwyneth off that ankle. I have been trying to carry her. Attempting to keep her still. Oh boy, that is really not easy! She is still limping a bit but she’s running everywhere. How in the world do I get this girl to slow down???

jumping to the emergency room

The girls were so excited to meet Cade and Laney at the Bouncy House. They were running around, jumping, and having a great time. There were some bigger kids there and they were a bit out of control. At one point they were scaling the bouncy house walls and Melissa had to reel them in before they toppled it over. 
Gwyneth, Cade, and Annabelle were in one of the big bouncy houses and were going down the slides together. One of the big crazy kids landed on Gwyneth’s leg (not Annabelle or Cade)! She didn’t really fuss, but I noticed she was limping. Then her leg gave out underneath her. She couldn’t put any weight on it. The only time she cried was when I told her we had to leave. She didn’t care that her leg was hurt or that we were going to the ER. She was just upset she had to leave Cade, Laney and Annabelle. 
The doctors were afraid she had a hairline fracture in her leg, so after a painkiller she had a few xrays. She never cried or fussed. So brave! She was a bit loopy when we left though! Luckily no breaks, just a bad ankle sprain. She needs to ice it and rest for 3 days…..oh, yeah that will be super easy with a 2 year old! 

At the ER

pouty

Most of the time my girls look like this….

But lately Gwyneth has been doing a whole lot of this….
She is going through a bit of a pouty phase. Very sensitive! Don’t even think about scolding her or even looking at her funny. The pout will definitely come out. She was a super easy two year old and if this is how she throws fits into her threes, then I’m not complaining. 

strolling

B took Annabelle to gymnastics and I took Gwyneth for a walk. She wanted to cruise in the stroller. Um…..maybe she’s just a little too big. We walked 45 minutes and then decided it was probably best to get the wagon. I pulled her for another 45 minutes in the wagon quickly realizing how many hills there are in our neighborhood. I think this may be our new Monday night ritual! 

happy birthday, jackson

Jamie brought her crew out to Colorado to celebrate Jackson’s 1st birthday. They invited us to the family birthday party. The girls were very shy…..hmmmm, not sure what that was about. They stayed right by my side. Well, until the candy came out. There was a pinata and the kiddos all took turns taking a swing. Once the candy started flowing they came out of their shell. Gwyneth even did her happy candy dance. (Yes, she seems to have a special dance for every occassion).

Gwyneth waited oh so patiently for Jackson to dig into his smash cake. He wasn’t very interested….although Gwyneth never would have noticed. She never took her eyes off the big cake. After a few attempts to get him to smash the cake, his Grandma said “Ok, who wants cake?” and Gwyneth was the first to respond “Me, Me…Chocolate please!”.

B had to miss the festivities for work (I guess someone in this family needs to work on a Wednesday afternoon!). When we got home Annabelle informed him at the party they got to hit a guy in the head with a stick and candy fell out. The truly odd part is that he didn’t really seem that shocked….

sharks

There is a new shark exhibit at the Wildlife Experience and we took advantage of our membership and met the Carlson’s for lunch and a playday. The girls were pretty beat from their swimming lesson and poor Jack just wanted Annabelle to talk to him. She had a few maniac outbursts and her notorious laugh, but she was playing it shy. Gwyneth was a little more emotional that usual, a few tantrums, a few minor meltdowns, but for being tired I would say she did really good. We watched a movie about dancing animals, which was stinkin’ cute, and had a great afternoon with great friends! 
So, I am already getting spoiled. I love, love, love having the museums all to ourselves during the week. I’m not sure I can go back to weekend visits. 2 days in and I do believe I’m getting the hang of this! 

backyard fun

Tomorrow is the girls’ first swim lesson and I really wanted to take them to the pool to get use to the water. Unfortunately they took late naps and the weather didn’t really agree with us. There were random sprinkles, but when the sun shown briefly we took some time to play in the pool in the backyard. 
Gwyneth hates the water in the backyard….HATES IT! Swimming lessons could be a disaster. 

science musuem

Here’s the scoop: B is still working from home, I am working from home, the girls are home with me for the month of June. That makes for one very loud house and two very restless girls. It’s only one month and although I know they are going to miss seeing their school friends everyday I am going to make the most of every single minute I have with them this month. I couldn’t be more excited. 
Our first field trip was to the Science Museum. It was actually pretty crowded because of the Pirate exhibit that is on display right now. Didn’t stop us – we spent most of our day in the Discovery Zone. The girls danced, colored, dug for dinosaur bones, played the piano, and watched experiments about the lack of air in space (this involved balloons and marshmallows and really had them intrigued). 

This attraction is in the health and life space. They analyze your walk. Gwyneth skipped across while Annabelle strutted. The picture actually seems like it would the opposite with Annabelle walking first, but nope – Gwyneth went first. 

slip n slide

YaYa set up the pool, slip ‘n slide, and water table for the girls. Who better to demonstrate how to work the slip ‘n slide?
I’m not sure B is going to be very happy with me for posting this one.

Too cool for school!
Although I think this swim suit is still a bit too big.

Annabelle loved the slip ‘n slide and went over and over and over. 

so happy!

Um….not so happy! Gwyneth was not at all thrilled with getting wet. Her words: “I’m soaking wet! I need a new swimming suit this one is all wet”. I think it might be a long summer for this girl. 

She bounces back!

We had a great visit with YaYa, as usual. She was so great to us and the girls. We are looking forward to seeing her again at Auntie Becky’s wedding and then again for Annabelle’s birthday. 3 visits in 1 month = spoiled!