dragons

Annabelle and I shared a movie adventure with Jen and Ryan today. I was so excited to take her to see How to Train Your Dragon and she was excited to see her aunt and cousin. She was disappointed Reagan wasn’t there, but on the drive down she told me “Go faster, Ryan is waiting for me” and she wasn’t disappointed there. The kiddos were thrilled to see each other and danced around the lobby while we purchased popcorn and slushies. Unfortunately Annabelle was much more excited to see her cousin than to watch the movie. She wanted to play with him and wasn’t really interested in the movie. I also attribute it to she’s a girlie girl and wasn’t all that interested in the dragon theme. (She loves the Princess movies and Chipettes and didn’t take her eyes off the screen for those movies). She was a very good girl, but wanted to go visit the potty a lot and also screamed out several times “Ooooh, scarrrry!”. I always enjoy my one-on-one time with her and it’s wonderful to see the bond she has with her cousins. It’s quite amazing how quickly ths tiny girl of mine can suck down a slushie and bucket of popcorn. Record time!

Scarfing popcorn with her cousin Ryan

(taken with my Blackberry, which explains the horrible quality)

I had to be the mean momma when Ryan asked if we could come over to his house to play after the show. Boooo! I hate seeing those sad little faces when all they want to do is play together. Even Annabelle pulled Jen down to her eye-level and said “I’ll come over to your house and play, ok???” with those sad little eyes. Gwyneth and B were home making dinner for us and after a long weekend we had to get home and start getting settled in for the busy week ahead. Jen promised them that both Annabelle and Gwyneth could come over to play in the next few weeks. That seemed to give them a glimmer of hope and allowed us to finally head to our cars without tears or total melt-down. Ryan and Annabelle hugged it out and Ryan picked her up right off her feet. It was a sweet day.

We arrived home in time to find grilled steaks, twice baked potatoes and sliced tomato and onion salad waiting for us. We are lucky, lucky girls. It’s the beginning of spring here in Colorado which means there’s an inevitable snow fall in our future, but also the grill has been fired up and we get to enjoy many of B’s bbq creations in the months ahead!

sesame street live

I boringly, yet responsibly, put my entire bonus this year into savings. One day shortly after my deposit, Annabelle, B and I needed new shoes. Woah, big splurge. Gwyneth didn’t need new shoes, but I felt bad she didn’t really benefit from my bonus this year (besides a sense of financial stability…oh wait, she probably doesn’t really care about that being 1 1/2 and all….). I received an email offer that same day for Sesame Street Live and given Gwyneth’s current love of all things Elmo, I decided to hook her up with some tickets to the show. Hook her up I did! We were in the 3rd row on the end and the girls were in heaven. They were very into the show and since we were so close the characters walked right up to them and waved, shook hands, and high fived. Gwyneth enjoyed them when she saw them coming. When they crept up behind her, she would hang on to her daddy and her little eyes were as big as saucers. We tried to warn her they were coming to avoid any shrieks or Sesame Street trauma. Annabelle recognized lots of familiar faces including her favorites Ernie, Abby, and Cookie Monster. She also saw another friendly face in the crowd as we ran into a friend from school, Zoie. Small little suburban world we live in….

Gwyneth needed a hand from her daddy holding down the seat. Not quite heavy enough yet. That 2 lbs makes a difference because Annabelle did just fine.

One of Annabelle’s new favorite

Both girls still like Big Bird, but Gwyneth is devoted to Elmo

Oh what lucky girls! Their daddy got them popcorn. I know, I know – you’re not supposed to give kids popcorn until they are 3 or something, but we’re Paz’s. We start inhaling this stuff at birth!

Delicious popcorn goodness – hand it over, sister!

Mesmorized by the show. We see lots of live kiddie shows and this had to be the best so far. They had African dancers, underwater fish adventures, glow in the dark butterflies and caterpillars….

The girls wanted to climb right up on stage. Look out, Broadway….

After a very family friendly day, the girls spent the evening with their grandparents. I was worried they would be disappointed because Reagan wasn’t there since they talked about seeing her the entire drive over, but a few pieces of chocolate from Grandpa and they were feeling right at home. It’s nice to see the progession of honesty from Grandpa Meyer. He doesn’t even wait until we’re out the door before pulling out the sweets jar. I don’t think it would kill him to hide it from us a little more! What can we say though? He’s Grandpa and the girls love him.

We joined Susan and Burton for dinner at Darcy’s, which is a great little Irish Pub in the Tech Center. We met there often before we had kids, but it had been years and it was a great blast from the past. We were able to spend about 2 1/2 hours catching up and the girls had a great night with their Grandparents. We’re looking forward to getting together with the Stevens’ crew up in Breck sometime this summer for some hiking and attempting the Alpine Slide.

frown turned upside down

Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to be working out quite right? I’m not a martyr, but that was my day.

I should begin by saying I do so enjoy sitting outside on a warm summer afternoon and watching a baseball game. It’s hard to find greater joy than dipping dots, sunshine, and a day at the ballpark with my husband and girls. I can hardly wait to get them to a game this season. That said, I loathe opening day. My morning commute is slow and painful, I have to battle parking, my favorite lunch venues are packed with purple and black and drunks, no one is around at work (ok, maybe thats not terrible), and the game inevitably ends at my quittin’ time so don’t even get me started on the commute home. Well, hallelujah today was the Rockies home opener which also coincided with my monthly bunko get together. The day started rough and got even more frustrating as I had several projects to complete and needed help from folks who were throwing back a few at the game. Then the emails began trickling in that girls needed to bail on Bunko and we didn’t have enough for a game. Grrrrr! I was so looking forward to our monthly gathering. We decided to scrap the get together and were trying to plan a happy hour for the evening. My attitude was bad and it was only getting worse. What to do?

I got a text from B that said “scrap all that noise and come with me and the girls tonight to the Hales’ house”. (the quotations marks are being misused here because B doesn’t really talk like that. It just makes me giggle to picture him saying that). Those may not have been his exact words, but he knew I was frustrated and cranky and he said something really nice about wanting to spend the evening with me so I just couldn’t refuse.

Don & Lisa invited us over and the girls had pizza with their kiddos and we ordered sushi. We couldn’t ask for better friends especially when it comes to our kids. They scoop up the girls and smother them with attention. Everything Annabelle and Gwyneth say and do is ‘adorable’. You never get tired of hearing that.

They also have a small dog which of course terrifies our girls. They started with the puppy outside so the girls could watch her through the window. Then they put up a gate so the puppy was in the hallway. Then they held the puppy and sat next to girls. Finally, wait for it…..Gwyneth reached out and pet her!!! Can you even imagine???? Our jaws are still resting on the floor from shock! Well, once Miss GG pet the puppy Annabelle was not to be outdone and she pet her too. Gwyneth continues to ask for the puppy and Annabelle has since told people that we are getting a dog at our house. Hmmmm…let’s take it one day at a time, girls. Major step though and I couldn’t be more proud of them!

I was so worked up today and B swooped in and saved the day. He knew exactly what would lift my spirits. Dare I say…. he was right? Oh, I hope he’s not reading this. That could go right to his head.

domestic bliss

The girls like to dust our house with the swiffer duster. We need to get two of these so we can cut down on the fighting. If they each have their own we should have a perfectly dust free house! The swiffer resulted in Gwyneth’s first TRUE time out this evening.Annabelle was sitting at her little table playing with stickers and coloring and Gwyneth was dusting the family room. Gwyneth got a little overzealous and started knocking things off the tables (the IPOD station, plants, phones, etc) and waving the swiffer around over her head. Disasater seemed just moments away so I took the swiffer away and put it the closet. Miss Gwyneth was ticked. She gave me a good stare down and then proceeded to walk over and wipe all the stickers, colors, and paper off Annabelle’s table. Annabelle was shocked (and then of course burst in to tears) and Gwyneth strutted away with such pride that if she couldn’t get even with me she was definitely going to make Annabelle pay for it. I was shocked because Miss Gwyneth is my mellow natured child. I had to put her in time out, but she couldn’t have cared less. She sat in time out with a big ol’ smile on her face. Oh my, we are approaching our 2nd round of the two’s……

Gwyneth dusting Annabelle’s dancing feet

Very proud of her belly!

Both girls love brushing my hair. Miss Annabelle is a bit more gentle but Gwyneth checks in to make sure I’m ok.

wits end

The Lemek’s won tickets to Wits End Comedy Club and invited us and the Tyler’s along. I’m fairly certain this is the first time we’ve all been out together without little kids since….well, since the kids have been born! We all got sitters and headed out for a great night of laughs. I love going to comedy shows – one of mine and B’s absolute favorite things to do. The comedians were great. They did a lot to include the audience – one of which was him asking Don where he met Jess. His response was a show stopper as he hung his head and had to admit “she was my intern”. Hilarious!

We had such a great time and it was so fun to get out with good friends.

bounty hunter

As the kiddos were heading off to bed, I snuck out to meet Noelia for a movie. We haven’t been in quite some time. We met up at Cinnebarre, which has $5 Tuesdays, and shared some fried pickles. Does it really get any better than fried pickles and a cheap movie? We saw The Bounty Hunter which was ok – I’m becoming less and less of a fan of Jennifer Aniston, but I do like Gerard Butler. (I really wish she would stop making cheesy romantic comedies and just find a good comedy series on tv again). Noelia pointed out that the last movie we saw had Gerard Butler in it too so perhaps we’re developing a theme here. Fine by me. I like him! Very good time and I’m certain we’ll be seeing the Clingman’s more often in the next few months as soccer and baseball season are approaching.

gifts from yaya

The girls were so lucky to receive a package from YaYa full of Easter goodies. They received movies, playdoh, eggs that light up and spin, bunny bath towels and their very favorites – pjs! They each got two pair and Annabelle went right for the pretty princess night gown with matching headband and slippers while Gwyneth requested her fairy (“faiwy” in GG words) jams.

Giving YaYa a call to say Thanks. Unfortunately this phone is just a play phone…

Such a mean momma, I made them eat dinner before opening their present. I’ve never seen Annabelle inhale her dinner so quickly.

Sweet Little Gwyneth took her time. She’s a very slooooow eater.

Such a sweet girl

Present time!

If you push the button on these eggs they light up and spin. Oh my, way too much fun!

“Woah, let me see that!”

easter galore

The girls got dolled up in their pretty Easter dresses and looked so darn cute. They both really liked their dresses and Miss Gwyneth spent most of the afternoon spinning to see her skirt float up. Oh my! I really need to get these girls in dancing school (they’ll be starting this summer). We had a very quiet day and then headed off for dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Meyer’s house.

As we were packing up the car the girls were very quietly playing in Annabelle’s room. Far too quiet. As you know in a house with two toddlers too quiet is never a good thing. I peaked in Annabelle’s room to find the girls surrounded by jelly beans and chocolate egg wrappers. Annabelle was being such a sweet sister – as she unwrapped two eggs for herself, she unwrapped one for Gwyneth too. As I loudly asked “What are you girls doing?” they jumped sky-high and Annabelle proceeded to wipe her chocolate covered hands all down the front of her white dress. All I could do was laugh – I had to admire the mischief. I could relate and it definitely felt like a story right out of my childhood. Although I think I only unwrapped 1 for Becky as I unwrapped 4 candies for myself, so I have to feel good that my children are a little less ornery than me.

We had a very nice time over at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and the girls had so much fun playing with their cousins. They all received water guns in their baskets and it should have been innocent enough but I got a hold of Gwyneth’s, filled it and shot Jen in the face. Oops! I wasn’t really aiming for her face, but it certainly was funny. The kids loved it and spent the rest of the evening running around the backyard having a water fight.

I couldn’t narrow down the pictures so I’ve posted a lot. Sorry for the Easter overload. The girls just looked so darn cute!

such a little lady in her dress

Busted – candy stealers!!

dying eggs

We arrived home mid-day and we were all a bit sad that our lovely family vacation came to an end. We had such a great trip and it was so great to have so much quality time together. We did A LOT and saw so much of Colorado. The girls experienced lots of new things this past week and now back to the real world. Boo!

While Gwyneth napped Annabelle helped her daddy get the eggs ready for dying. She patiently waited for Gwyneth to wake up from her nap and they got busy coloring eggs.

Admiring her canvas

Gwyneth went right for the blue. Not much mystery how her tongue ended up blue – she didn’t drink the dye, she licked the eggs!

Annabelle created a few color combinations I’ve never seen before. All different ranges of the brown spectrum.

Gwyneth licking the orange eggs

Getting into it….

a little help from her daddy…

oh my!

blue tongue and green fingers!

my three favorites (eggs and peeps!)

mountain top children’s museum

We were the first ones to arrive at the Children’s Museum in Breck. It gets pretty crowded on the weekends and we weren’t sure what to expect during the week. It was a reasonable crowd and the girls went right for the helicopter. Honestly, all they really need is this helicopter. They love it. They boss B and I around too – they make us ride in back and tell us they will roll down our windows and when we can get out. Jeez!! I guess it’s good to be the boss on occasion….

I’ll keep my jokes about the current state of health care to myself…

Goin’ fishin’!