Author: pazmeyer

paint a story

We arrived a bit early to paint pottery and the store wasn’t open yet. There was a donut shop across the street. What to do? What to do? I like how you girls think….

B found this gem and I am so happy. It’s a bit of a drive to go paint pottery, but I am so, so glad that we don’t have to go to the Color Me Mine by our house anymore. (It’s close to our house but it’s pricey and the owner has never been kind. never. And we use to go there a lot. Use to.)

Crackpots offers a fabulous summer program called Paint A Story. Today the story was Dragons Love Tacos which is a favorite at our house. They read they story and then painted, you guessed it, dragons. And then after our pottery we were really hungry and all we could think about was tacos. So tacos, tacos, tacos for lunch…..with no hot sauce (that is flippin’ hilarious if you have read the book).

glow stick

This was my first fail of the bucket list….it was bound to happen, but #15 feels a bit early right?
 
The girls go to bed before it gets dark outside and the only room in our house that has no windows is the basement bathroom. So, swimsuits + the basement shower + glow sticks = fail? I don’t know, they didn’t really seem to care. In fact they had a lot of fun. I’m going to call it a partial fail and continue on with the bucket list….we are having a pretty summer and we’re only on #15!
 

beads

My friend Senneca told me about this great site called Chunky Bead Buy that sells necklace kits. I was looking for a place to take the girls to make necklaces, but even better this place delivers right to us. We started with rainbow kits and now the girls are hooked. They offer Sofia the 1st and Hello Kitty kits and wait, what? Yes, Frozen kits!!
 
Stay tuned for more necklaces. I have created little bead jewelry monsters.
 

science

 B has an insanely busy week of catering – he has an event every single night this week so we are trying to stay busy and out of his way. We do beg for tastes of his creations though.
 
We joined our friends Lori, Kaelyn, and Emily for a day at the Science Museum. We did a lot of exploring! We even tested breakfast cereals for sugars and we all gagged a little when we tested the Fruity Pebbles….except Annabelle who a little sugar never hurt. That girls loves sugar and thought it was hilarious. Oye!
 
They redid the Discovery Zone section and it is absolutely fantastic. They added a water section which the girls adore. It’s a great improvement.
 

The view from the museum. It doesn’t get much better.

silverman

It’s been a while since we’ve gathered with this gang, but we finally all got together at Amy and Andy’s new house. And when I say new, I mean new to us because they’ve been there almost a year! Yikes, we need to be better. It was so nice to see everyone and catch up. And oh my how the kids have grown.
 

happy birtday: collin

Sweet little Collin turned two and we helped celebrate his birthday. Natalie is my friend from mom’s club and the dads have hit it off with a mutual love of  sports and dislike of drama. They spent most of the party watching the horse race going for the triple crown. Annabelle and Gwyneth jumped in the pool with their clothes on and Natalie, although pregnant, made Jell-O shots for the adults. Now that is a pretty great two year old birthday party.
 

horses

Happy birthday to sweet, little Paige.
 
I get such a kick out of this girl. She is in Gwyneth’s girl scout troop. She is in Gwyneth’s ballet and tap class. She is in Gwyneth’s and Annabelle’s hip hop class. She is a funny and kind little gal and invited both my girls to her pony birthday party.
 
They walked ponies, they decorated horse shoes, they had stick horse races, they painted a horse….yes, they hand painted a horse, they enjoyed cookies, and they rode horses. Pretty great party, huh?
 
 

Before:

After:

Paige and her mom, Karen. Both are pretty fabulous!
These girls started dance together at their current studio:

farewell

We hosted the going away party for the Johnsons this evening. Our former neighbors and dear friends who are moving to California. I can’t write about how much they mean to us or how much I will miss them. Not just yet. We celebrated our friendship tonight with about 20 other families, but we still have a bit more time until they leave and I’m not ready yet to say goodbye.
 
This friendship is unique and sacred and I cherish it. I will write about it someday. But not today. I am not ready to shed all those tears. Tonight we celebrate.
 
The endearing story of how we met is that they moved in next door to us and Emma, their oldest daughter, came across some bubble wrap while they were unpacking. Just a small piece. Enough for 6 little toddler feet. Kristen brought her and baby Rosie over and asked our girls if they wanted to pop the bubble wrap with them. And the three girls – Annabelle, Gwyneth, and Emma popped bubble wrap while Rosie crawled after them and Kristen and I got to know each other. I can’t explain how easy our friendship formed, but it was simple and sweet and makes my heart happy.
 
My going away present to Kristen:

It’s lucky to find a fabulous friend and then miraculous when the husbands and children really enjoy each other too. That’s unique. That’s special. And I have never, ever taken that for granted.

The girls made pen pal boxes for Emma and Rosie as a going away gift. They can’t wait to start exchanging mail with them.

Of course there were cupcakes:

And plenty of fun for the kids:

And plenty of delicious food courtesy of B:

And then I failed to take any pictures of the party. Doh! Just caught up in the fun of the night. It was a great crowd and so many people came over to wish the Johnson’s well.

Kristen gave me a beautiful note and this book and made me cry.

 
I read the book over and over and this is my absolute favorite page.
 

park

I met a very sweet friend through Kristen, named Jamie and she organizes a weekly park date. There are so many families and so many kids. She so kindly included us in the routine this summer and we look forward to exploring different parks around the city. The girls love running around with old friends and quickly making new friends. I love sitting and chatting with some wonderful moms, many of whom I only get to see at book club.

trampolines

Spent the afternoon at Jump City letting the girls bounce out some energy. It was pretty empty and then two camps arrived and it got a bit nuts. The girls stuck together though and had a good time. They wore themselves out, which let’s be honest….that’s the point, right?
 

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. Annabelle just bouncing away and Gwyneth upside down. She just tipped over and laughed and laughed.

Popcorn!
This is a game that always seems like a really, really good idea and then goes terribly wrong.
Pure joy followed by earth shattering screams and alligator tears.
Trampoline Popcorn is truly symbolic of life with two fabulous but slightly dramatic little girls.
Tutu’s and rock star jump moves should be required at the door!

Now, here’s where the story gets interesting…
Gwyneth found herself in the dodge ball section with five boys. And they were all ganging up on her. She was laughing and they were laughing and she was a really good sport. And then they hit her in the face.

Gwyneth got hit in the eye and it started to water … she did not cry! she swears it …. and then went right back to laughing. Annabelle may have blacked out and internally started screaming “don’t mess with my sister”. I just saw rage in her eyes and started gathering our belongings because I was pretty sure after this war we were not only going to get kicked out but probably banned.

They are a power house team together. Don’t mess with the sisters Meyer! Annabelle would bounce the boys just right so that they fell down, toss Gwyneth a ball, and Gwyneth would peg them while they were down. It was genius….evil, genius.

The boys kept on laughing and everyone had a good time, but I think they learned a valuable lesson today. Don’t mess with little sisters and never underestimate a determined girl in a tutu!