Auntie Jacqui is here!!!!

Auntie Jacqui is in town for a friend's wedding and Jbird's birthday party! It's SO nice to have her here with me and kids!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So far so good....

So, Jbird and I dropped off his "wawa" at the Goodwill today and I think the lady thought I was smoking something! :) I told Jbird that I needed to check to see if they were accepting "wawa's" today and I told the lady that my son was giving his pacifier to kids who needed it and if he asks for a name of the kid (when we talked about giving it away, he asked what was the kid's name who was getting it), just make one up. It was game time. I went back to the car and told Jbird it was time to give his "wawa" away. He was a little shy but walked in and put the bag of "wawa's" (Amelia wanted to put one in too) on the counter and then asked the lady, "what's his name?" She said Max. What a perfect name for an imaginary kid stealing something so special to him. He was such a big boy, no tears and came home and played like he usually does. Bed time was the same time but it was a lot louder in there than it usually is and took them longer to settle down. He came out to ask for something to drink and when I brought him back the room, he asked for his pacifier with a smile. I reminded him that Max had it and all seems quiet from then on. Fingers crossed....

Giving my "wawa" away!

Bye Bye "wa wa"

We've been telling Jeremy that he is going to give his "wa wa" (pacifier) to kids who need it when he turns 4! Well, that time has come. Whenever we go through the toys and give them to Good Will, I tell him that he is giving them to kids who don't get toys. So....the "wa wa" is going there as well. Tonight is his last night with his pacifier and it breaks my heart to think about taking it away. So, I will let you know how it goes. :(

Potty Present Update #3

When he woke up and came out of his room this morning, we told him it was his birthday and he was 4 now! He went straight to the bathroom and pointed to the potty present and said, "can I open that present now?" We had to remind him that the present was for pooping on the potty, not his birthday. So the lonely present still sits quietly on our bathroom counter waiting for this STUBBORN boy to "go"! Ugh.......

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

I think he had a good day! He opened his presents first thing this morning which included an aircraft carrier, a transformer and a Star Wars space ship thing. He and Amelia ate sprinkled pancakes for breakfast and then he was off to school to share his blue "4" cookies with his classmates. When he came home, he had some down time and then some friends came over to play and eat some cake! Then came Opa with another present from him and Oma! It was the animal that turns into a pillow. We all went dinner at Johnny Rockets (the girls were at home with a sitter) and then ice cream! Wow, I'm tired for him. He couldn't wait to get home and go to bed with his "pet pal".

Just another day....

Spin at the gym, park date and lunch with some friends, Jbird and I made cookies while the girls napped (yes that's flour because we had to roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter), rise and shine Ms. Mabel, soccer for Jbird, dinner time with their favorite meal....RICE. Bath, playing with daddy and then bedtime!

Can't believe Jbird will be 4 tomorrow! Hence the blue "4" cookies for him to bring to school!

Potty Present Update #2

Ryan told Jeremy that if Amelia poops on the potty first, she gets the present! Jeremy's response, "Amelia can't poop on the potty because she sits sideways". Interesting :) And the present sits unopened!

Mom and the circus at the mall

I know I know! What am I thinking? Well, we wanted to get Jbird a new pair of crocs for his bday from grandmommy and I needed to go to Target. So....take everyone for a mall outing. Jeremy LOVES the rides where you sit in the car and it goes back and forth! Grandmommy calls these boring rides :) There is one where you sit in the seat and go on a roller coaster. We then went to a cute toy store so Jbird could pick out his bday present from Auntie Megan and Uncle Jeremy. There are the coolest toys and he picks a plastic tube of trains. We have money left over so I will put that towards something else :) Then came Target with Amelia on my back eating cinnamon pretzel bites (I had to shower when I got home), Jeremy in the cart eating his pretzels and Mabel sitting quietly up against mom! I'm tired, we didn't forget any items on our "to get" list but the Croc kiosk is no longer at that mall :( Oh yeah, it was everyone's first time in a photo booth. Jeremy said, "this is cool momma"! Amelia said, "I don't like this" and Mabel loved her reflection until the end :)

Big Benny vs. Mega Mabel

In one corner, we have Big Benny Rose weighing in at 16 lbs, 40% in height, 97% for head! In the other corner we have Mega Mabel Courtney weighing in at 16 lbs 1 oz, 50% in height and 75% head. Amazing how similar they are!

Amelia's Friends

I have felt guilty that Amelia doesn't have any friends of her own (besides friends through Jbird) so I invited some new mom friends over for a morning playdate. We met through Emerson and played hooky today from class since it was the ONLY day that worked. Here are the kids taking a break from the action. From left to right....triplets Chase, Chloe and Juliet, Amelia and Shayne. Amelia was hugging everyone goodbye and was saying their names while I was changing her before her nap. She loved it and everyone got along great!

Who can drink faster?

Potty Present Update

So Jeremy saw the present about 4 hours later. He was walking in and mid-sentence said, "what's that?" I told him it was for when he goes on the potty and said he didn't want to go on the potty until he's 4! He hasn't touched it! He then said later that he would wait to open the "big present" when he poops on the potty. He has reminded Amelia numerous times what the present is for. I wonder how much dust will collect on it? :)

He also told me he wanted me to call Oma and thank her for the present. I told him he could do it.

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Maybe this will work....

Oma brought over a LARGE gift that will sit on the bathroom counter until Jbird poops in the potty!!!! Dear god, please work. :) I will let you know what he says when he sees it because he is still at school. THANK YOU OMA!

Working hard

Having some one on one time with mom while Jbird is at school and Mabel naps! I think Amelia loves Wednesdays!

Auntie Jess' Sea World post from her blog...

Weekend With The Meinhardts!!

Yippie!!! My buddies Jeremy, Amelia and Mabel were here this weekend for a visit (and Auntie Sky and Uncle Ryan kept mommy and daddy company as well). It was so much fun hanging out with them. We headed to Sea World together on Saturday to play, eat snacks, and check out all the different animals....Here was one of the highlights of the day... the flamenco's were out for a "walk". All of a sudden we heard all these squawks and turned to see a bunch of flamenco's walking towards us. We asked the Sea World trainer and she said they take them out of their enclosed area every day for their "daily walk". How funny is that?!?! All kids were fascinated by this sight.
Bye, bye flamenco's

Another fun spot was the seals. Anutie Sky went and bought four VERY stinky fish for us to feed them. One got taken by a bird but dada helped feed the rest of the fish to one lucky seal.

All weekend long I kept getting hugs from my Amelia Bedelia. She is sooo sweet and LOVES me very much. She always wanted to hug me.

Here is Auntie Sky and the latest Meinhardt addition, Mabel Courtney Meinhardt (4 months old)

After a fun day at Sea World we all got to go into the BIG bath. Amelia once again was taking good care of me and decided to wash all of my back and behind.

This was one of the best baths.....it was like a play date in a tub!!

This is sweet Mabel during bath time....

The next morning we all sat around and played in our pj's. Once again I was getting more hugs from love bug Amelia. Obviously she did not know that I had not had my coffee yet!

Three sweet ladies!

Amelia loves her baby sister very much (Mabel is so used to being grabbed and kissed that this does not phase her at all). She is the most mellow baby I have ever seen!

We love you Meinhardts and wish every weekend could be like this. See you in a few weeks up in your neck of the woods!! Thanks for the visit! XOXOXO

I like to do what mommy does....

It cracks me up to watch Amelia act like me. She tries to carry as many things as possible and burp a baby at the same time. It's pretty funny. When I got home from the grocery store today, the kids came running out because they love to help carry the bags in. Jeremy and I were already inside and I watched Amelia try a few times to carry a grocery bag like a a purse and as she says, she "got it".

Sea World

Ryan and I took the kiddos to Sea World for the day! We met Jess, Jon and Piper there and it was a blast. We spent the night at their house and headed home today. Despite losing Amelia's favorite "wawa"(we were trying to see if she would nap in the backpack but when she saw ice cream, she must have tossed it), one jammed toe in the door (Amelia) and a forehead into the dining room table (amelia again), we had a great time. I'm starting to think she's accident prone. We took a break from animals and shows to play in the Bay of Play. Jbird had a BLAST in the water! Jess took some cute pics of the kids at the house that I will post later!

Can you feel the love?

A family that watches tv together, stays together!

Well, if you let your kids watch tv! And we do. But if it makes you feel any better, we recorded the Life series on Discovery and they LOVED the one about the ocean.

I'm 4 months old

Wow, 4 months old already! Time is flying since the arrival of Ms. Mabel. She is the happiest, easiest baby and we couldn't be happier. She is "talking" all the time, loves baths, LOVES her brother and sister, enjoys the exersaucer (because her siblings make sure all the toys on it make as much noise as possible) and doesn't know it but has lots of friends and cousins waiting to play with her. She started eating solids today and is REALLY good at it. She doesn't spit out too much and likes the oatmeal/applesauce combo I've started with. We shall see how the rest goes. She weighed in at the dr and she is a whopping 16lbs 1 oz (95%), 24 1/2 inches (50%) and her sweet head is 75%. So, she is one short, fat, SMART girl. Anyway, that's it from the Meinhardt house.

Planting watermelons in the sun

Jeremy has been learning about spring time, planting flowers, birds, bees (not THAT birds and bees) so we planted the watermelon plant he brought home from school. We shall see how that goes since his mommy has the worst green thumb EVER. Here are the kids watering the dirt to soften it for planting....we had to move somewhere else because we couldn't get it soft enough to dig :) It was such a beautiful day!

ps...the best part about it was Jeremy's comment to Amelia as they were eating dinner. "Amelia, you wanna know what's better than cupcakes after dinner? Planting a watermelon plant!" Classic.

Day with our cousins

Courtney and the kids came to our house today and we had a busy day. We also watched my brother's daughter Kira so it was a VERY full house.

Courtney took Cece to Target and Jeremy was at school so I only had to make lunch for 4. Nothing like a color coordinated lunch.

Two beautiful girls!

Georgia and Kira loved holding Mabel while I went to pick up Jbird with Cece! Jeremy was surprised to see her and show her his school and introduce his teachers! It was super cute!

Down time with their blankies after Jbird got home from school

All ready for the beach! I decided to leave my camera at home so the rest of the pictures are from my iphone. Thank goodness I did...I looked like a sherpa as it was.

The girls in the waves!

Amelia and Teddy stayed away from the water (thank goodness because the girls and J were getting a little too daring in the waves). So we brought the water to them.

Mabel was relaxing and talking away in her car seat for the first bit but then wanted to get some rest so I put her in the bjorn.

Jbird playing in the water. He never ventured into the water on his own but he must have been inspired by his cousins because he was ALL ABOUT the water today. He came up to me and said, "mom, this is the first time I've been in the water by myself".