Author: pazmeyer

letters to juliet

Noelia has become my movie buddy and it seems the only time I get out to see movies these days is with her. No complaints here, she’s super laid-back and will go see just about anything with me (and let me tell you I’ve picked some doozies for us!).

Tonight we went to see “Letters To Juliet” and it was a really sweet romantic comedy. I’m typically more of an action/thriller/comedy kind of girl, but I was in the mood for a cheesy romatic movie and this one delivered. It was cute and I’m a fan of Amanda Seyfriend – I really like her character on Big Love.  Thumbs up on the cheesy, lovey-dovey scale.

boys and butterflies

We put our family pass to good use and headed over to the Butterfly Pavilion. I used the promise of butterflies as a reward throughout most of the weekend. “If we all brush our teeth, we’ll go the Butterfly Pavilion”, “If we all put on our shoes, we’ll go to the Butterfly Pavilion”, “If we all keep our hands to ourselves, we’ll go to the Butterfly Pavilion”….you get the drill. It worked like a charm. The kiddos were all on their very best behaviors this weekend and were so excited when we finally arrived to see the butterflies!
I ask you….does it get any cuter than this crew? (I’m impressed by B’s ability to get them lined up for this photo op – bravo, Mr. Meyer!)
“Nemo” is always a hit on our visits.
Gwyneth gets the eye in the sky view. Wyatt and Annabelle loved the butterflies, but Rhys wasn’t so sure. He liked them from a far, but if one got too close…..he took off! He wasn’t messing around with no stinkin’ butterflies.
The star of the day
A new play area recently opened up at the Pavilions and the kids really enjoyed climbing around on the honeycomb. It’s much better than the maze that used to be in this room – B and I were always terrfied of losing a kid in there. I think I would have had a heart attack trying to keep up with all 4 of us them in that maze today. So glad about the remodel!
Wyatt held Rosie! Poor Rhys and Annabelle have to wait until they turn 3 this summer to take a turn. Um, I’m not sure it’s the age limit holding my Annabelle back. (I’m over 3 and there is NO WAY I’m holding that thing!!)
B took one for the team and held Rosie too.
We had a really fun visit with the Tyler boys and look forward to seeing them again soon!

good morning, tyler’s

The kids slept so well and woke up in great moods! I gave them a “candy” breakfast – which consisted of donuts and cereal. I limited the mini-donuts to two each to save ourselves from a sugar crash. They were up bright and early so to burn off some energy we headed to the park. I swear the rest of the neighborhood was still sleeping when we arrived!
Good morning, Wyatt!
Annabelle and Rhys enjoying some powdered donuts and have the evidence on their faces to prove it.
Off to the park.
My little monkey on the monkey-bars!
Annabelle swinging – she loves, loves, loves it!
Wyatt’s turn on the slide.
Mr. Rhys’ turn!

tyler sleepover

Lance and Sheila had an adult-only wedding to attend Saturday evening, so we got the pleasure of having the Tyler boys sleepover at our house! We had such a fun night planned for them. Our big plan was to head over to Thorntonfest with the Lodden’s. We were going to let the kids run around and play, eat, and wear themselves out. We headed over after naps, around 4:30 to find out the festival ended at 5:00. What kind of summer festival ends at 5:00? LAME!!! The bouncy houses were already deflating and the food carts were closing up as we arrived, but we did manage to see a few animals at the petting zoo.
Wyatt and Rhys meeting the big ol’ turtle
We headed back to our house for a quick dinner and then headed to our neighborhood park. The kids were happy to hang out there all evening. Wyatt and Ryan ran the bases on the baseball field, Rhys and Reagan explored the jungle gym and slides, and my girls spent most of their time on the swings (of course!). We lured them back to our house with the promise of lollipops….with 6 kids under the age of 5 sometimes you just have to resort to candy to keep order!
The whole crew
It may look like Wyatt is not having a good time, but I can assure you that is not the case. He was annoyed because he was trying to watch “Alvin and Theodore” (as little Rhys calls The Chipmunks movie) and was not entertained by my picture-taking. You’d think he’d be use to me by now????
Look my little ham, Gwyneth. She had to make sure she was in the picture – that’s my girl!
Sadly, the Loddens headed home for the night, even though my girls and the Tyler boys really wanted them to join the sleepover …..can you even imagine the challenge of getting all six of them to sleep at a reasonable hour???? Miss Gwyneth was worn out from the busy day and went right to sleep. The older 3 setteld down quickly. The enjoyed some popcorn and then all slept through the night on the living room floor! Annabelle loved the sleepover and can’t wait for her friends to join her again!

red hot

Annabelle has learned to turn the volume up on the IPOD. She knows how to turn it down too, but really, does that every happen? Nope, the girl like to rock and she likes her music loud. She is also a huge Chili Peppers fan, always has been. She will dance to anything, but if she gets a Red Hot Chili Pepper’s song on, she’ll truly rock the house. She turns it up so loud the house feels like it’s shaking and then she shakes her booty! Lucky for her, B and I love our music loud too so she rarely hears any objections from us….our neighbors may be a different story.
Let the dancing begin….
She danced so hard she feel down, but that didn’t stop her…
She takes her dancing very seriously
Annabelle was playing with her cousin Ryan and they were calling each other names….nothing mean, just silly little names trying to make each other laugh. They were going back and forth and back forth just cracking up. I can’t remember what they were actually saying, but it was stuff like “You’re a Silly Head”, “No, you’re a donut head”, “No you’re a Chicken Nugget Head”…and then Annabelle busted out “No, you’re a IPOD head”. This left Ryan a bit confused, but sent B and Annabelle into hysterical fits of laughter. Oh, that Meyer sense of humor!

baby clothes

Our friends, Melissa and Rob are expecting a baby girl in August and it was time for me to start passing on some of the Meyer-girl baby clothes. I have crates and crates….and even more crates of baby girl clothes. I started going through the newborn clothes and just couldn’t do it – I couldn’t hold it together. Now, I don’t mind sharing….in fact, I love it! I really enjoy seeing our friend’s little ones running around in my favorite Meyer-girl outfits. Every 6 months I pack up a little box of clothes and send them to my friend, Amy for her little girl Avery. We’re even lucky enough to share the “A” clothes from Annabelle with her. I love checking out her blog and always get excited to see a favorite outfit that has been outgrown at our house re-appear on little Miss Avery. Let’s face it – the girls get good gifts and have lots of quality clothes so it’s fun to share!
Sorting through the baby clothes was different though. It tugged at my heart seeing the little onesies, pj’s, shoes, etc. They were so tiny and it was a sad realization that we’ll never have anyone that tiny in our house again. I adore my girls and feel my family is complete, but I will miss having a newborn. I had to get it together so I just loaded up all 4 crates of newborn clothes, tossed them in the car, and reminded myself of the late night feedings, reflux, and baby vomit we also wouldn’t have in our house again and started feeling better. I left the sorting to Melissa so I’ll have to laugh if I see her little one in an “Annabelle” or “Gwyneth” onesie!

We met for dinner at Red Robin, the mecca of childfriendly restaurants, and then let the kids play on the apples at The Orchards. Cade even stripped down to his shorts and ran through the fountains. They had a blast and we had to drag them home – they could have stayed there all night!

Cade
The girls look adventurous, but they learned their lesson about the fountain on our last visit and stay cautiously out of reach.

maniacs

The girls woke up in crazy moods Friday morning. They were all smiles and hugs….which then turned in to wrestling and tears. It’s all fun and games, until someone gets hurt…. No one actually got hurt, but the girls are very girlie and wrestling always ends in tears! It’s nothing like the wrestling at the Carlson house. Check it out If my girls are smart they’ll avoid wresting with the Carlson boys – they don’t stand a chance.
Cheesy GG
Silly Annabelle
Let the fun begin….
And just like that, no more fun. Bring on the water works….

gymnast

Miss Gwyneth just wants to tumble! As I was getting Annabelle ready for gymnastics, Little GG just stood there, staring with sad eyes begging to go too. She runs to the closet to get her coat and says “I Nastics”. I let her dress up in a leotard which I don’t know if it did more harm than good. She was really excited to wear “nastic” clothes, but I felt like I was just teasing her since she can’t go yet.

I gotta call the rec center and see if I can get her in a little early. She is so very ready!

rough start

When Miss Gwyneth is upset, mad, or cries I take her seriously. She’s not one to fake, throw fits, or exaggerate (ok, maybe a little bit when she’s wrestling with her sister!). She woke up Monday morning and she was mad! She cried and cried and cried…. not the “I’m almost two and must get my way” cries, but the sad little cries of a sweet girl who didn’t feel well. We took her temperature and it was over 100. She slept, we snuggled, and I took her temp again…103. No messing around now, we headed to the doctor and my poor girl had caught something viral, had big sores in the back of her mouth/throat, and puss in her eye from the infection. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do for her except give her Tylenol, eye drops, and popsicles and we just had to wait it out.

This sweet little sick face breaks my heart.
And she’s out….she took 3 good naps today and slept 10 hours at night.
Finally drinking a little juice. She ate nothing all day and I was so worried she was going to be dehydrated.
Miss Gwyneth sat on the couch and watched an entire episode of Sesame Street. GG loves to read, color, and do puzzles…she is not one to sit and watch tv. We knew our girl was sick!
I spent Monday and Tuesday home with her and she mostly slept while I worked. By Tuesday evening her fever had broke and she was getting antsy. B took Annabelle to Little Monkey Bizness and I took Gwyneth to run a few errands. She was so smiley, waiving hi and bye to everyone, singing and dancing. She bounced back very quickly! We are so glad she is on the mend.

ryan’s graduation

Our nephew Ryan is a preschool graduate!
Ryan graduated from Joy Lutheran preschool, where my sister-in-law Chriss is the director. I’m pretty sure this little guy got some extra-special treatment from his Auntie while he was there. It’s hard to believe he’ll be heading off to kindergarten in the fall. We’re very proud of him!