Mother’s Day is my absolute favorite day of the year!! B and the girls lavish me with love and it’s such a wonderful family day. The day really makes me feel grateful for my children and my husband. Added bonus is that B changes all poopy diapers. 😉 He doesn’t let me lift a finger.

B planned a wonderful brunch for me this year at the Wildflowers Tea Room. They had a delicious brunch and the girls were really well behaved. The food was amazing. They made all their pastries in house and we finished off the meal with bread pudding which is my favorite. The girls were a huge hit in their matching dresses and I was showered with compliments from the other patrons about how adorable my little girls are. I know I shouldn’t care what other people think, but you never get tired of hearing people tell you that your kids are cute! They ran out of highchairs but Annabelle did really well in a big girl chair.
B wanted me to have carefree meal so he took care of both girls. Doesn’t he have his hands full?!? He’s such a good dadda and husband. He even managed to eat too. He’s got it together!

After brunch we let Annabelle play in the courtyard for a bit. She ran around and got out some energy!

This is my favorite picture from the day. B really wanted to get a picture of the 3 of us together in the courtyard but there is just no stopping Annabelle. It sums up the day for me – GG is 9 months old and snuggly and Annabelle is 22 months old and on the go, go, go! I love my girls!

After brunch we all took naps, GG got her 9 month pictures taken, and we ended the day at B’s sister’s house. We had dinner with the Meyer family and the girls were able to play with their cousins for a bit. It was a short visit since our girls go to bed so early, but B was able to wish his mom a Happy Mother’s Day in person.

I got up bright and early Saturday morning – it dawned on me the night before that if i didn’t set my alarm and get up and shower before the girls woke up then I may not have an opportunity before B got home! I was all ready to go by 6:30 a.m. and I was just waiting for the girls to get up….I waited, and waited, and waited…at 8:00 I finally went in and got them up! Holy smokes! I could have slept in a bit.

Jamie was in town for her sister’s graduation and was able to join us for breakfast this morning. It was wonderful to see her and catch up. Consuelo did me a huge favor and came over and watched Gwyneth for a few hours so I could take Annabelle to a birthday party. The party was for Annabelle’s daycare buddy, Peyton, and it was at Pump It Up. I could have taken both girls, but it was so much easier to just chase after one. I owe Consuelo big time! We are lucky to have her.

It was a big birthday and Annabelle knew most of the kids from daycare. She had a blast! She jumped, jumped, jumped and wore herself out!

After nap times we played with puzzles, made fajitas for dinner, and waited for B to get home from golfing. He made it home in time for dinner and we were so happy to have him home. Annabelle was definitely going through dadda-withdrawal. She didn’t even want him to hold Gwyneth. She just kept saying ‘my daddy’ and was very clingy. He had a really good time on his trip and had a nice little “golf-tan/sunburn” to prove it.

B left very early this morning for his annual golf trip. This year he headed with friends to Trinidad, Colorado. The group included the usual suspects except Hal who couldn’t join them this year because he recently welcomed twins. If I know these guys, he won’t be out of the mix for long! Luckily we’ll be visiting and meeting those little babies shortly.

The girls were angels this morning! They took it easy on their old mom and we made it out the door in record time. Annabelle’s class hosted the 1st annual “Mommy and Me Muffin Day” which was a wonderful Mother’s day celebration for all the kids and their mom’s. It was so great to be able to watch Annabelle interact with her buds. She’s been in the same class with most of them since they were infants. It’s really amazing to see them all running around now, laughing, talking and creating havoc!! It’s also funny that they can identify each other’s mom because when I walked in I got lots of “hi Annbel’s Mommy!”.

Annabelle and Chandler are buds!TJ – whom Annabelle refers to as “T-Duck”Adam – the kids call him “Taco”.

Not quite sure where that came from?Andrew’s mom was out of town for the celebration so he was joined by his neighbor Diane. Today was Andrew’s last day at daycare. Jess is going to be staying home with him this summer. Annabelle is really going to miss seeing him everyday.

Annabelle is just one of 3 girls in her daycare class. Her teacher told me the 3 of them take turns being in charge, but it’s always one of them. The boys just smile and go with the flow.

Since Brad and B were off golfing, Noelia so kindly invited the girls and me over for dinner. She made burritos and a fruit salsa for dessert, all of which were delicious. YUM! We had so much fun I kept the girls out past their bedtime! (I’m really hoping I don’t pay the price too badly for that tomorrow!)

Annabelle had so much fun playing with Lauren. They were jumping around and laughing their little booty’s off. Lauren is just too sweet with my girls. GG got plenty of lovin’ from Noelia too! As always, they cracked us with stories about the every day happenings of the Clingmans. I don’t know how Noelia keeps up with all of them. They are on the go, go, go!

Annabelle & Lauren playing on the bed. Annabelle nearly gave me a heart-attack jumping around but she sure did have fun.

The girls really got the chair a rockin’. So much fun!

Annabelle played so hard she didn’t even make a peep when her little head hit the pillow tonight.

Noelia always has plenty of lovin’ for little GG!Thanks so much to Noelia for having us over and entertaining us while B was out of town.

We’re so excited to see Dadda tomorrow night!

Annabelle usually helps me push Gwyneth’s stroller out of daycare. As we were leaving today we got close to the car and she just took off running. There were no cars around but I was still freaked out (If there are cars pulling in to the parking lot when we’re leaving – I carry her and push the stroller to avoid this situation.). I was yelling to her to slow down and to wait for me and GG. Right then — she tripped and fell!! Her poor little palms skidded across the asphalt and she bonked her little forehead. She started crying “Owweee, Owwweeeee, Owwwwweeeeeeeeeeee” and cried the entire way home. Poor girl! I remember falling as a kid and scraping my palms or my knees – that burn is the worst. We got home and all she wanted was her Dadda.

After the trauma of her fall, Annabelle and Gwyneth spent the rest of the night organizing their DVD’s. Annabelle separated the Elmo Videos, Baby Videos, Veggie Tale Videos and Puppy videos and made sure they were all neatly stacked and in the right order. I wonder where she gets that from????

GG on the other hand threw the movies all around and tried to eat them. That’s my girl!

Annabelle learned two new phrases this week – “Go Away” and “Let Go”. I’m not sure I like either one! She says please at the end so they don’t sound horribly rude, but definitely not the sweetest words I’ve heard come out of her mouth. (Probably not the worst to come either….)

Annabelle played with sidewalk chalk at school today and came home covered in blue chalk. Her hair was even a bit chalky! I promise that when I send her off to school for the day that her clothes match, her hair is combed, and teeth are brushed. She comes home looking like a wild child!
GG is still on the go and was showing us some new moves. She gets up on her hands and feet and sticks her bottom way up in the air. The girls had a fun night together until Annabelle decided to leap frog over GG. Annabelle thought it was hilarious – GG not so much!
We had some quiet time after dinner when the girls sat in their rocking chairs and read books. I think GG’s book is bigger than her!!

Annabelle feasting on crackers and GG showing us that she has found her tongue (she sticks it out quite often these days!).

We joined Draper and Maya for their 3rd birthday celebration at Chuck E Cheese. I have to admit I was dreading the first Chuck E Cheese outing and I was pleasantly surprised. It was not very crowded and surprisingly clean. Annabelle loved the pizza and birthday cake (she got a lot of sweets this weekend – time for a little detox!). Gwyneth really enjoyed the music. She danced and clapped through the ‘concert’. All the kiddos had a great time and it was fun to see them all together.

Happy 3rd birthday, Maya and Draper!Annabelle saved a little chocolate icing on her cheek for an afternoon snack. GG had front row seats for the Chuck E Cheese concert and she rocked it!

When Gwyneth went down for a nap Annabelle and B decided to lay on the couch and watch “Back to the Future”. I guess that movie is timeless because Annabelle loved it – she loved the music and when she wasn’t being a couch potato with her dadda, she got up and danced!

The finished hats turned out really cute! The boys had brown hats and the girls had pink. “How much money do we have riding on this, GG?”

B prepared his world-famous Italian beefs. Yes, I said it, World-Famous! Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but they are delicious!! We had Chicago-style Italian beefs, fruit salad, potato salad, and pasta salad for dinner. Annabelle and her buddies had corn dogs (the italian beefs were a bit too spicy) and I was excited to see them plow through my fruit salad.

That’s a lot of candles!!

The boys throwing back a few after cake.

It was another really fun night with the Tylers and Fesslers. Thanks again, Melissa for the pineapple margaritas. Those are certainly a guilty pleasure!!!!

We met up with Jennifer & Jack for some play time at Monkey Bizness this morning (Keith & Ben couldn’t join us because they were under the weather). Annabelle and Jack had so much fun playing in the houses and going down the slides. Annabelle loved playing house while Jack really enjoyed going in the bouncy house. He is quite the climber! Annabelle is a bit more timid and likes to do the mothering. As they ran towards each other, or past each other in some cases, they’d scream “Hi Jack! Hi Annbelle”! It was hilarious to see them recognize each other and really enjoy playing together. Jack doesn’t call her Bobo anymore – she is now ‘Annbell’. Most kids leave out that second A and it just sounds too cute.

There was a special crawler area just for GG. She rolled around and climbed all over the soft squishy toys. Annabelle and Jack both made it under the age of 2 rule so they were able to join her for a little play time too. GG had a lot of fun rolling around and will have even more fun when Ben is down on the ground rolling with her. Our girls are so lucky to have the Carlson boys so close in age! They are great pals!

This morning I had to get a early start because of a project that I’m trying to finish up at work. B is so good with the girls and eagerly agreed to get them dressed, fed, and off to daycare (eager may be a bit of a stretch!). His only concern was their hair. He hasn’t quite mastered the ponytail, pigtails, etc. He decided to just wing it and send the girls off to daycare with crazy hair hoping the teachers would take pity on him and clean them up a bit.

I received a call from daycare that GG had developed a really bad diaper rash and she was just not happy. She seemed like she needed some extra TLC from her momma so I wrapped up what I could at work and decided to spend the afternoon with her. As I walked in to daycare I saw the huge sign that said “TODAY IS PICTURE DAY”. Oh no, very very bad day to skip out on the girls’ hair duty. The pictures were taken before I got there. With those cute little faces some crazy hair can’t matter too much. We’ll see for sure in a few weeks.

When I got home I decided that having just one little kid at home was far too easy so I better make myself busy. GG and I drug out some toys that we had put away from Christmas. They receive so much it’s nice to spread it out so they don’t get overloaded in December. We put together her jungle play set and pulled out her mini drums and cookie jar. The girls loved all the new toys!! It’s so nice to be able to rotate things in and out so they don’t get bored. Of course, whatever GG went for Annabelle soon followed. The girls are now climbing over each other and rolling around together every night. Their interaction is hilarious and they are really becoming best buds.

GG’s turn with the stacking stars

Annabelle’s turn…I wonder if GG gave up the stars willingly?
Playing together with GG’s new jungle set

GG’s rash is clearing up and she’s doing much much better.