Author: pazmeyer

sweet tooth

Only at YaYa’s house can the girls have donuts with green icing and sprinkles for breakfast. My little Gwyneth Grace has inherited my love of donuts and got right down to business. She was a little green mess, but actually ate most of her donut. Annabelle on the other hand licked the icing off and left the donut – only one little bite. Who does that????
This girl I understand…
You don’t like donuts? You must have got that from your dad!
We had a busy day ahead of us and we had to pack up to head home. The girls had so much fun at their YaYa’s house. Always plenty of toys, babies, and snacks!
One of these girls is not the like the other, one of these girls is not the same….
Taking a quick photo break before heading down to the city for the day.
If you’re wondering why I seem to have more pictures of Gwyneth this trip the answer is really quite simple – she still lets me! I love this picture of her. Her face seems to be telling me to enjoy the picture taking while I can because it’s not going to last much longer.

grease

We were so glad to be in town for Madison’s production of Grease. We got the little girls all dressed up to go and support their cousin. Unfortunately, this was the best I could do for a picture of all 3 of them…

Gwyneth ran away, Annabelle was a little overzealous with the “Cheese”, but I did manage to get Maeva’s finger out of her nose so I’m going to call this one a victory!
The girls were all so excited to see Madison on stage. Annabelle sat very quiet, was spellbound, and bobbed her head to the music. She would occassionally whisper to me, “there’s my LaLa”. Gwyneth and Maeva were far too excited and wanted to join their cousin on stage. B took Gwyneth out to run around in the lobby and another parent actually asked my mom to leave because Maeva kept asking for LaLa. Really? Maybe someone is taking this all a bit too seriously???? Crazy suburban mom! (wait for my post in 10 years that I’ve been thrown out of a play for telling off another lady during one of my kid’s solos – I’m aware of the possible irony here).

the entire crew

Madison clowning around with friends after the show
Madison had a monologue and solo as Rizzo!
She did such a great job and we were all so proud of her.
We grabbed lunch afterwards at Steak -n- Shake. Yum, more delicious food!!
Auntie Becky, YaYa, Madison and Grandma
So proud of Miss Madison!

Auntie Becky had Maeva duty at lunch and she had her work cut out for her since they didn’t have a high chair for her. Maeva had an entire plate of fries in front of her but would only take hand fulls off Becky’s plate. Not sure what Becky thought of this, but it cracked me up!

momma time

B had the opportunity to meet up with Brandon tonight after work. It had been far, far too long. We really love where we live, but one of the cons is that we’re a bit of a drive from a lot of friends and family. It worked out that Brandon was up in our hood tonight so B had to jump at the chance to meet up with him. That meant I got some momma-time with my girls! (you have to say momma-time with a little bit of sass, like the girls and I do. Momma-time!) 
Having the girls just 13 months apart was such a challenge at the beginning. Feedings, diapers, play-time, bedtime, etc – nothing was easy when you were by yourself. B and I did very little apart because we really needed man on man coverage for the girls. Now that the girls are older and more independent, the old challenges are fading and being replaced by new far more interesting ones….

  • “Annabelle, please share the babies with your sister. You don’t need 47 babies, please give Gwyneth 1!”

  • “Gwyneth, please do not sit on your sister!” 
  • “Annabelle, I understand GG is little, but please do not try and fit her in the baby stroller. She doesn’t like that. Your first clue she doesn’t like should be her screaming.”
  • “Gwyneth, please don’t put your mac and cheese in your hair. It’s never ok, but especially not on non-bath night!”. 
  • “Annabelle, please do not try and put on your sister’s shoes. They are too small and no matter how hard you try to stretch them out they are not going to fit. Yes, you can wear her coat inside with your pj’s.”
  • “Gwyneth, please do not kick your sister, especially while you’re wearing her shoes. That’s just adding insult to injury”
  • “Girls!! Please do not try and walk down the stairs wearing daddy’s shoes!!
  • “Momma has an idea – how about Annabelle brushes her own teeth and Gwyneth brushes her own teeth and we all just use our own toothbrushes!!”

When they were babies and I was alone I felt as though I was in survival mode. It’s much more relaxed now! I’ve always enjoyed time with my girls, but lately they’ve really connected and I love watching them play together. (minimal refereeing required!)
We watched Rudolph and sang the song over and over.The girls are also big fans of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. I don’t know if  they really get it, but Annabelle likes to tell GG she ‘better watch out, better not pout’.
Annabelle loves the Christmas tree. She immediately asks for it to be turned on. She proceeds to take off all the lower ornaments and put them in her bucket and then rehang them as she sees fit. Her picture ornaments are always front and center. Huh?
As Annabelle entertains herself wth the tree, Gwyneth finds other ways to keep herself happy…
Yep, she is checking out her baby picture. Where does she get this love of pictures of herself? Oh yeah, nevermind.
Gwyneth has grown tired of the tree, has grabbed her purse, blown kisses and is giving her waves good-bye. She really does love purses – especially Dora ones!
A quiet, sweet moment of my girls rocking together.
Given the history of biting in our house you can understand Gwyneth’s resistant to put her hand too close to Annabelle’s mouth. Luckily Annabelle just wanted to give her baby sister kisses.
I asked if they were ready to go read their stories and brush their teeth and they both made this face. I guess this is the universal sign for ‘time to brush teeth’.

sarah

It was pizza night at the Meyer house and Sarah joined us for dinner! It was great to see her. Sarah was in Kansas with her sister and mom for Thanksgiving and we were on the go, go, go so it was so nice to have a quiet evening to catch up. Well, our evenings are never really quiet with our little maniacs, but we did get some quality time. I’m really glad Sarah and I live in the same city again. She’s such a good friend and she’s so wonderful to our family. She sees us at our best and sees us at our worst (bathtime!!) and never judges. She always has a kind word and is so supportive.  And, let’s be honest, the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and banana bread aren’t too shabby either!

My girls love Sarah and have started fighting over her – “My Sawah”, “No My Sawah”.  Luckily Sarah has enough love for them to go around.

deck the halls

Our calendar is pretty full until the end of the year so we decided to get a jump-start on the holiday season and decorate for Christmas. I haven’t been in the holiday spirit in quite some time – in fact, I’ve been a real bah hum bug! This year it’s all different. I’m feeling festive – downright giddy about the approaching holiday season! I can hardly wait for Christmas morning with my girls.
Our stockings are my favorite holiday decoration.
Amazingly, the girls don’t mess with the tree or the gifts underneath…
As I was pulling out Christmas decorations I found an old favorite toy of Annabelle’s and it quickly became a new favorite of Gwyneth’s. The horse is a big hit!
Of course, Annabelle hasn’t played with the horse in months, but once she saw GG on it she wanted to ride again too!

Posing with the Christmas tree – this smile does not look sincere?!?!?

diner

The girls came home from a long day at the office and they were ready to play. We were gone all weekend and they were happy to be ruinited with their toys. Miss Gwyneth is a huge fan of the diner…
Annabelle comes home from daycare with some c.r.a.z.y. hair!
I love watching the girls play pretend. This evening I was enterained with Gwyneth pouring cups of mustard. Who needs coffee when a girl has mustard?
Her big sister was willing to play along and requested cup after cup of mustard.
We finally got our blue ray set up and are now linked to netflix. Imagine Annabelle’s surprise when she found out we have “Annie” now on demand! She was in heaven and sang “Tomorrow, Tomorrow” over and over. I can honestly say her favorite movie is “Annie” and I couldn’t be more proud.
My girl can dance….

mountain madness

We spent the long weekend in Breckenridge and took a day trip to Vail. It was the girls first trip and they loved the snow and skiers. Annabelle really wanted to go on the chairlift –  makes a momma proud. She has one year to go. This time next year she’ll be in ski lessons and in no time she’ll be flying past me down the mountain. We had lunch at Sweet Basil which at first glance did not appear kid-friendly but the staff was wonderful with my girls and they had a great little kids menu. The food was delicious and we all enjoyed it! 
We had a great trip with my family and enjoyed the relaxing mountain weekend. It’s always a bit of madness with a 2 year old and a 1 year old, but that’s our world and I love every minute of it.
Melissa snapped this shot of GG and everyone agrees  – she’s my mini-me.
Poor Annabelle was playing with the booster chair and busted her lip. I thought she’d be in more pain from it, but she was back to eating applesauce in no time.
Enjoying our quiet afternoon in Vail with Poppy and Melissa
What a great afternoon
Can you tell this girl loves babies?
She really wanted to hold her cousin, Eliana and was thrilled when she was allowed!

11 years

We celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary this weekend. Wow! My dad and Melissa offered to watch the girls so we could go out to dinner. The girls were in very good hands and Melissa informed us that Becky kept them very entertained. B and I got the girls settled in for dinner and then escaped to enjoy our adults-only meal at Briar Rose Chophouse. My dad even surprised us with a bottle of Silver Oaks wine. We had a great meal and a wonderful time. It’s been such a great 11 years and I’m very lucky to be married to the absolute best person I know. Here’s to many, many more….

thanksgiving

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving in Breckenridge with Poppy, Melissa, Stacy, Carl, Becky, Madison, Maeva, and Eliana. Melissa made a delicious meal and the girls had a wonderful time playing in the snow with their cousins.
I have so much to be thankful for….
Poppy & Melissa have a little table that Gwyneth has claimed as her own personal stool.  She was also a very good sport for Melissa who snapped pictures of her all weekend. Such a sweet girl.
My little sheep dog waiting her turn to go sledding

Annabelle loved, loved, loved the snow. She really wanted to sled and have a snowball fight, but Miss Gwyneth is still not a fan of the snow. I guess falling face first the first time around stays with a little girl….

naughty list

It was finally our turn to see Santa and my girls were not having it. They were big fans while we waited in line and they were definitely interested in the ‘asking the big guy for presents bit’, but there was no way they were sitting on his lap. Their momma didn’t raise no fools! (Secrets out! If they don’t sit on his lap he’ll still bring them gifts – he did last year. Shhhhh!) After our ridiculously long wait, I wasn’t leaving without a picture so I sat down right next to Santa grabbed GG and tossed Annabelle over to her cousin, Madison and said “c’mon – let’s do this”.  I made sure I let Santa know what was on my wish list – he understood that it started with “mar” and ended with “tini” and assured me there would be plenty waiting for me on Christmas!