Author: pazmeyer

wiz o mania

We were able to see Madison perform in the show Wiz-O-Mania which was a compiliation of Wizard of Oz and Wicked scenes and songs. The kids did a great job including Madison who starred as Galinda. She even had a solo!
The girls were so excited to see their daddy! He spent the week downtown while they spent most of the week in the burbs.
Bravo! Madison did a great job in the show and we went for a celebratory ice cream afterwards.
We had such a great visit!!! Thanks to Auntie Becky and Yaya for all you did for us. We miss you so much already!

transformers 3

Michigan Avenue was shut down for the filming of Transformers 3. It caused havoc on traffic and made people a bit cranky, but I thought it was fun (probably b/c I didn’t have any where to be and I wasn’t driving!).
Stay tuned for these scenes in a theatre near you….
I should note that I actually did have somewhere to be. I was taking the train to my sister’s, grabbed a new book and dove right in. I was so engrossed in my book, I missed my stop! Oops! I felt terrible. My mom had to drive 30 minutes out of her way to pick me up. I apologized over and over to my mom and sister, but I was punished enough by the conductor who made me feel like a total idiot when I asked if my stop was approaching. “What are you doing? You missed that stop! Pay attention!” (his exact words – ouch!).

sprinkler park

Did I mention it was hot in Chicago? Well, it certainly was! Auntie Becky found a sprinkler park by her house and we took the girls to cool off. They had a blast splashing around in the water. Auntie Becky also taught them how to fill up buckets with water and dump them over my head. If you ask Annabelle she’ll tell you that was her favorite part!
Gwyneth had her face right over the sprinkler trying to find the water when it….ERUPTED! Got her right in the face. As you can see she is not pleased, but bounced back quickly. I know it’s cruel, but Auntie Becky and I couldn’t stop laughing. It got her good!

yaya’s house

We spent the afternoon at YaYa’s house. The girls did a thorough job of exploring her house and looking at all her pictures. YaYa’s house is covered with pictures of the grandaughters! She’s done a lot of renovations on her home and it looks amazing.
What started as an innocent trip outside to water the flowers ended like this….
The girls were soaked and Miss Gwyneth loved it!!
We headed over to Madison’s swim meet and got to watch her in two races. It was REALLY hot (over 100 degrees with the humidity). We hung out a while, had a picnic dinner, and the girls played on the playground. We made it about 2 1/2 hours in the heat, but the meet ended up being over 4 hours long! Phew!

choo choo cafe

We enjoyed lunch at the Choo Choo Cafe. It’s a great little restaurant by Becky’s house that offers our Chicago favorite – hot dogs. The girls enjoyed their food, train cupcakes, but mostly importantly the train that circles the restaurant and delivers the food. What a hit!
Such a great Auntie!
All aboard at the Choo Choo cafe

monster bash

With Annabelle’s birthday just two weeks ago and Gwyneth’s approaching in two weeks, we hosted a combined Monsters Inc. birthday party for the girls. It worked out so well since they still have so many of the same friends.  We rented a park and pavilion near our house, ordered a bouncy house, and ate pizza and cupcakes — our girls were in heaven. There were 32 kids there to celebrate with them and luckily the park was large enough to accomodate them all. I highly recommend the park celebration as it kept the mess out of my backyard!

Thanks to all our friends and family who came out to celebrate with us. The girls had a fabulous time. They are lucky, lucky little girls to have so many people to love on them.

the party pavilion

Annabelle and her buddy, Drew
The Carlson Crew
Baby Ben, who you can see is not a baby anymore, but will probably always be referred to with affection at our house.
“My Jackie” as Annabelle still likes to call Jack
Little Miss Avery
Ryan – the Silverman twins LOVE to swing.
Caroline
mmmmm….cupcakes!
Happy Birthday, Annabelle and Gwyneth!
Madison helped the girls make a wish and blow out their candles.
The Webb kiddos – Mia, Madilyn, and Draper
Caroline, Zoe, and Izzy
It’s amazing how quiet a park can get when the cupcakes get served…
The Merrill girls – how sweet is Miss Ella?
Not to be outdown, Ivy flashes her best smile too!
Miss Chandler is going to be a big sister in just a few weeks!
Sweet moment with Aunt Jen
Now, that’s how you celebrate a birthday! Good girl!
Annabelle is in awe of Cade’s approach to swinging (she loves to swing on her belly too, but can’t always reach!).
Gwyneth received silly bands from Madison and wants to wear them all at once. She looks like a little 80’s girl and I love it!

choo choo

After Annabelle’s dance lesson we met Poppy and Melissa at the Orchards for lunch. The girls couldn’t resist a quick train ride and some play time on the apples. We ate lunch at Rock Bottom and then headed home to open a few gifts. Gwyneth liked her new Elmo robe so much she decided to wear it even for her nap!
Miss Gwyneth reminds me of a little Hugh Hefner in her robe – she would love to wear it all times of the day. I think we should get her a pipe and that should be her Halloween Costume. A bit inappropriate for a 2 year old I guess….

dance class

Annabelle was so excited for her first dance class today. Let’s be honest, it’s the tap shoes!  She put on her leotard, new tights, hair in a bun, dressed up her baby, got to class and….FROZE. She didn’t want to go in without me. After walking her in and easing her into the class she took off and loved it! The studio has closed circuit televisions so you can watch from the lobby. She really got the hang of it and couldn’t get enough of the tap portion of the class. She’s in heaven. I see many more dance classes in this girls future.

madison and morton’s

My sweet niece Madison flew out from Chicago all by herself to visit us! I’m so proud of her. My girls were thrilled to see her. Once she arrived they wanted nothing to do with me. They requested Madison help get them dressed, get their meals, get them in their car seats, help with the potty breaks…luckily she is a fabulous big cousin and helped the girls at every request. They were quite spoiled this weekend with Madison’s visit.

Poppy, Melissa, Bob, Carole, Ryan and Reagan joined us for a combined birthday celebration for the girls at Morton’s. It was a long meal – 3 hours, but with the private room, lots of crayons andcoloring books, a DVD player, and many fun cousins to entertain themselves all the kids did great. The meal was delicious and there was an added treat of personalized menus that said “Happy Birthday Annabelle and GG”. Needless to say, the girls don’t know how good they have it!

After dinner the girls went to bed peacefully and Madison I stayed up and finished decorations for the girls birthday party. Madison was such a big help and was only a bit distracted as we watched “New Moon” — she’s a Twilight series junkie! I can definitely get use to having her around. She’s such a big help and so sweet.

On the 16 Street Bus
Taking over the private room with their oversized coloring books
Watching a movie and munching on some popcorn.

rockies vs cardinals

For my birthday I received Rockies/Cardinals tickets from Poppy and Melissa. I was very worried that the weather wouldn’t cooperate, but after a little sprinkle it turned out to be a lovely night. The girls hung in there until about 8:45 which is very good for a school night. The Rockies went on to win the game and swept the Cardinals in the series.

The highlight of the evening was watching the girls walk up to the stadium. They were extremely excited and knew just where we were headed without us even telling them. “Go Rockies, Go Rockies” they chanted all the way! Made their dadda very proud.

Miss Gwyneth is our little parrot and repeats everything she hears. As the crowd cheered, Gwyneth was quick to repeat and screamed out “Charge!”, “Go Rockies!”, “Boooo!”, “No Pitcher, Cmon!”….luckily the fans around us kept it pretty clean. We could have been in for some trouble with our little parrot.