Author: pazmeyer

change of plans

We were so excited to head up to Breckenridge with the Carlson Crew. It had been on the calendar for quite a long time and it appeared we had two healthy families.  We packed for the snow conditions, loaded the car, picked up the girls, and B bravely drove through the worsening weather. We had planned to meet in Idaho Springs for dinner, but we could already tell the snow was going to make us late. As we were preparing to jump on the highway, I pulled out my phone to let the Carlson’s know we were going to be late only to find a text from Jennifer that poor Jack had thrown up in the car. He was not feeling well so we pulled over to give them a call. The whole car was covered in vomit and they were turning around to head home. Poor, poor little Jack…and his parents too!! We decided the snow was coming down pretty heavy and although getting snowed-in at the condo sounded lovely, we turned around too and headed home. No Breck this weekend. Very sad about all the fun we surely missed out on with the Carlson’s.

As we were driving home we quickly realized we had two hungry girls and no food in the house. We drove by Ruby Tuesday’s and the harrassment started. I have no idea where this joke started but for years now whenever I ask B if he wants to go out for dinner he says “sure, Ruby Tuesdays?”. We’ve never been and I have no idea why but I think that joke is H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S every time! It cracks me up and Ruby Tuesday’s has become the punchline of many inside jokes….”you know who has a really burger?”, “you know what sounds good tonight?”, “you know B’s favorite restaurant?”, “where should we go for B’s birthday?”…the answer is always the same and I always laugh…Ruby Tuesday’s! Yeah, I know it’s not funny but after 15 years we seem to have our own idea of funny that works for us. Imagine my surprise when we actually pulled into the Ruby Tuesday’s parking lot for dinner tonight!! The food was ok, my company was wonderful and the girls received lots of attention, but my concern is that the joke is now dead. Now that we’ve been is it really all that funny? Was it really ever funny? I guess that’s between me and B…

I let Annabelle stay up past her bedtime to watch “Annie” with me. “Annie” was my favorite movie when I was growing up. To say I loved it would be a complete understatement. My parents let me pick my younger sister’s middle name which is Ann and Annabelle’s name is a variation as well because I couldn’t convince B to name her Annie. I couldn’t have been happier when Annabelle started singing and dancing along to the music. She learned the words to “Tomorrow” and was screaming for Miss Hannagan to be nice to Sandy! Oh, I’ve never been so proud!!! I am keeping my finger crossed that Annabelle receives her very own copy of the movie from Santa.

welcome hanna

Our friends, Jess and Don welcomed a little baby girl to their family this afternoon. Andrew is going to be a great big brother to little Miss Hanna Maureen Lemek! We can’t wait to meet her and B is so excited to share the boxes and boxes of girls clothes we have stashed in our basement. Look out Lemek’s – he’ll be showing up next week with a moving truck! Better make room!
I shared the news with the girls that Andrew has a little sister. They both practiced saying Hanna and Annabelle said “Andooo has a baby sister? Like my GG?”. Adorable! But oh my, she is in for quite a surprise when she sees how tiny Andrew’s sister is compared to her GG. One year is a quite a difference in baby years!

happy birthday, wyatt

Calling all super heroes! For Wyatt’s 4th birthday he had a super hero theme and I had to find something for my girls to wear. I missed the boat for the Halloween costumes so I decided to make capes for the girls. I didn’t want them to tie around their neck in case they tripped or someone pulled on them, so I used Velcro to adhere them to their tshirts. They didn’t lay exactly as I had hoped, but turned out cute enough.

“Amazing Annabelle” and “Super GG“Having so much fun!
Little GG was loving the playgym!

Wyatt even had a bouncy house which the girls loved!!

The birthday boy, Wyatt, showing off his new tattooCade enjoying his cake

Annabelle cracked me up with her cake. She didn’t eat one single bite of cake, but managed to eat every drop of icing!

Happy 4th Birthday, Wyatt!

The Lansings threw a great birthday party. They didn’t miss a single super hero detail. Everyone had a wonderful time. Great food, great cake, great people and lots of fun! Our girls didn’t want to leave. Thanks Mr. Lansing and Ms. Sheila for a great party and a very happy birthday to Mr. Wyatt!

soccer game

B started feeling bad last night – he had a fever and was achy. He was quarantined to the bedroom with strict orders to feel better and to stay away from the girls. I went into single mom mode, which I should stress I’m not very good at – B and I are such a good team. Days like today I realize how much I truly truly appreciate everything he does for me and the girls. We had a really busy day planned and I intended on getting all those errands run!

We started at Cool Cuts 4 Kids to get GG’s hair trimmed. She was not happy about it, but she had her first lollipop and sat very still. Annabelle was really good – she played with the train and kept a close eye on her sister. We then ran to REI to get Annabelle a new pair of shoes and to Gymboree for new outfits for our Christmas pictures next weekend. We then headed down to Highlands Ranch for Ryan’s soccer game. The girls had a blast watching their cousin play soccer and playing with their cousin Reagan.
Score!Ryan in action. (he’s in the white shirt)

the girls have so much fun playing togetherMiss Gwyneth impressed us all with her kicking. She did great. She’s a natural. She’s our little Pele Meyer! I think Santa may need to bring this little one her very own soccer ball.

The girls and I joined the Loddens, Grandma, and Grandpa Meyer for lunch at Red Robin after the game. It was late! We didn’t get seated until about 1:30 and with such a large party we didn’t get our food until about 2:00. My girls were so good! They were well past their normal lunch time and well into their normal nap time. They shared a pizza with Reagan and were just loving the time with their family. The girls were during so well after lunch we even hit Costco and did our weekly grocery shopping. Phew! What a full, full day. Neither got a good nap today, they both just slept in the car as we were puttering around. I was so proud of them for being so flexible and keeping up with all our crazy plans for the day.
B’s fever broke that afternoon and he was feeling much better. He bounced back fast and the girls were so happy to see him. They are such dadda’s girls. A weekend day without their dadda is just no good for them.

urgent care

When we left the aquarium, Gwyneth started crying….actually she started screaming. Now, my sweet baby girl doesn’t cry often. I thought I knew that scream pretty well by now. I thought for sure it was an ear infection. I had even told my friend, Jennifer earlier that day that Gwyneth was congested and I had a feeling/was dreading a pending ear infection. We got home and she calmed down briefly and even went to bed with no tears. She woke up screaming about 10:00 pm and off we headed to Urgent Care. If it was an ear infection I wasn’t wasting any time getting her relief. Children’s Hospital was very quiet and they saw her very quickly. To my surprise Gwyneth didn’t have an ear infecton – she had hand, foot and mouth disease. It’s a viral infection and there is absolutely nothing they can do to help her excpet a little Motrin to ease the pain. Another doozey is that by the time it’s diagnosed, she’s no longer contagious. She had been contagious for the past 4 days and I had no idea. I can’t wait to share that bomb with daycare on Monday – although I’m certain that’s where she picked it up. I still feel terrible for taking her in when she was contagious and exposing the other kids. I suppose it’s just another right of passage for a daycare girl!

She charmed the pants off her doctors and nurses at the hospital. After the pain reliever, she calmed down and we were all in bed by midnight! What a night!

eating with fish

Friday is Family Fun Night at the Denver Aquarium. This was our first opportunity to go and what a great time. We started our evening with dinner at the restaurant. B and I shared a delicious sea bass and the girls each got their own pasta dish. Since it’s family night, kids eat for $1.99 and we received an additional discount since we’re members. We really enjoyed our meal and the girls loved watching the fish swim while we ate. After dinner we quickly made our way through the aquarium. It was empty! We had our run of the place. We made it through in 20 minutes! The aquarium is mostly lit with natural light so it was pretty dark, but all the tanks were lit up and the girls loved it. Annabelle was a little hesitant peeking around dark corners but not Gwyneth. She’s fearless! She’s my daredevil – afraid of nothing. (Ok, except dogs!!). I’m always so proud to watch my girls explore in their own ways.
Under the sea First photo of me post haircut – I got 8 inches chopped off. My hair is now the same length as GG’s! The girls thought I was crazy to stand over the sharks. I would highly recommend visiting the aquarium for Family Night. It’s a fabulous adventure and it’s like a private visit just for your family. We’ll be doing it again soon enough!

phones

The girls each have their own cell phone. Of course, they don’t have service and they are our old phones but they love them. Annabelle claimed the pink one and Gwyneth has B’s old black one. They call each other and chat, but they mostly call their cousin Madison. My favorite phrase is when Annabelle says ‘Oh, hi Becky. I talk to Madison, pease!”. Uh oh, where’s G’s phone?There it is!

When I was a tween, I loved, loved, loved talking on the phone. Day and night I was gabbing on the phone. It drove my parents nuts. My sister and I fought over the phone constantly. At one point we had three lines in our house – one for my parents, one for Stacy, one for me. Once I started high school, I completely switched gears and have hated talking on the phone ever since. I’m a texter and an emailer and I avoid talking on the phone as much as possible. Kind of ironic I work for a phone company, huh?

It seems my girls have started early with the phone addiction. They take their phones with them everywhere – in the car, to bed, and Annabelle even keeps hers in her coat pocket when she’s at school. I’m not looking forward to those phone bills when they’re teenagers….

reality

Every moment of my girls’ lives seem to be captured on film. I don’t take many videos of them, but surely each precious moment of their lives has been captured adequately in photos. Am I creating little reality stars where every second of their lives, no matter how mundane, are captured and displayed for the world to see? (ok, a little presumptuous, because I don’t think the entire world reads my blog). Yes, I find this cute, but is a family teeth brushing session really photo worthy?

Perhaps yes, but probably no. It’s not going to stop me though. I love taking pictures of these girls. Hopefully I’m not creating two attention junkies who will crave the thrill of being chased by the paparazzi to get their picture taken. Oh please, oh please don’t let me have a Lohan, Spears, Hilton, or Kardashian!

vroom

Gwyneth has the need, the need for speed! She loves riding around on her little car and loves going fast. She can really get going around the living room and her big ol‘ cheesy smile lets us know she is having a blast. She goes forward and backwards and slams right into furniture and walls. She doesn’t seem to mind though – she just gets off, picks up her car, turns it around, and she’s off again! Well, until she slams into something or someone else. Turn GG, Turn! I guess that will come with time…
“Beep Beep”. This is what she says when you stand in her way

I asked Gwyneth if she wanted me to take her picture and she hopped off the car and ran and stood in front of the door. Since I had them pose in front of the door with their Halloween costumes, she now believes this is the official picture taking spot. Annabelle is a bit of a grump in the mornings, as you can see from the picture below, but she really wanted her picture with “her GG“, so she begrudgingly joined her by the door.

Look how long their hair is getting!