busy weekend part 2

Before I talk about part 2 of our busy weekend, I have to tell a funny story. Last night Meredith was eating freeze dried peas with her dinner. She started acting funny and was pointing to her nose and in a joking way I said "what's wrong? Did you get a pea stuck up your nose?" She continued to act funny so I went over ot examine her nose and sure enough, there was a pea WAY up there. I couldn't squeeze it out so I asked Greg for some assistance. He held her arm while I tried several different objects in an effort to get the pea out. I finally got it out with a metal fingernail file. I bet you're thinking I deserve the Parent of the Year award, right? We proceeded to take away all her peas but she must have had one hiding in her lap because I saw her in action this time shoving one up her other nostril this time. So we had to do the how pea removal procedure again. Never fear, all is well now and we did not have to make a trip to the ER to have it removed.

On to other things now...we spent last Sunday at the cabin (my mom and dad's). That is our only cabin now that Rich and Mary sold theirs. The weather wasn't great but Meredith did want to go swimming anyway. She loves swimming so much that we can't take her over to our community playground anymore because the pool is right next to it. A meltdown will ensue if she sees the pool and doesn't get to go in.

She loved the lake. She started off taking a stroll with uncle Chris.


Then she got really brave and floated out on a raft.

Then she splashed a little.

And went underneath the dock.

She even fell into the lake and then she was done. But she didn't cry because she is a big girl!

Did I mention that my child is not shy?

busy weekend part 1

We had a very busy weekend this past weekend. We hardly had more than two hours at home to ourselves besides when we were sleeping. On Saturday, we made the trek up to North Central Wisconsin for a memorial get together. Greg's uncle David lost his wife Elaine this past April and it was her wish to be cremated and have her ashes spread in this lake near Hayward, Wisconsin.
This lake is the home of Elaine's sister, Audrey. I am really glad we got to see Elaine one last time when we were down in Florida over Christmas. I will miss her a lot when we go back this coming December.

After making the three hour drive to Hayward, we stopped downtown for a bite to eat.

After getting my fill in the candy shop where they made delicious turtles, fudge, and peanut brittle right in front of you, we made our way back to the cabin that Mary and Rich were sharing with a few other people.

Meredith had lots of fun playing by the lakeshore. She was throwing sticks in the lake for some random dog (it was the neighbors in the cabin down the shore from Mary and Rich), she saw a snake, and she got up close and personal with a couple frogs!

She made best friends with Shirley (married to Greg's uncle Don)!

She also hung out on the lap of Grandpa Carlson.

She goofed off with Daddy (this is a horrible picture but cute nonetheless).

At the end of the day, she made friends with Elaine's grandaughter, Vicky.

more zoo!

Well folks, we went to the zoo again! Meredith loves it so much and it's so close. She just can't get enough of these goats.




Aren't these the cutest little piggy tails you've ever seen?

She was looking and giggling at the giraffes here.

Here we are about ready to go into the butterfly tent which she loved!
We had to keep telling her that she couldn't touch the butterflies.

Here are some of the butterflies.

zoo

This last weekend was a great weekend! I was fortunate to be able to meet up with some more of my Internet friends. Yes, I have a bunch of Internet mommy friends and we had a blast. Being a part of a mom's forum has been such a pleasure and learning experience. I don't know what I'd do without chatting daily with my Internet friends. Many of them I will never meet because they are scattered all across the country but I have been fortunate to meet a few local moms from my fourm. In the picture below, you see Meredith and her friends Madeleine, and Bryson. Not pictured is Bryson's brother, Brecken.





We checked out the Africa display. Giraffes are really beautiful animals and of course Meredith loved seeing them along with the zebras.





I have been the the farm animals part of the zoo many times but I leared that the goat yard is open from 12-3 each day for kids to run around with them. Meredith had a blast - this is her favorite part of the zoo.

The picture below is one of my favorites. I love it when she gets that timid grin and runs over to me for safety but still is overjoyed at the same time.

almost two years in the making...

And we finally have pigtails. Real pigtails on the back of her head.

mommy abuse

My apologies for not updating the blog for such a long time.

I sure there are other mommies out there in this very same situation - I'll just keep it short and sweet. My child is abusing me. There, I said it. She's abusing me.

She has been known to hit the cat before and once in a while mom and dad are on the receiving end of a nice, old fashioned slap. Last week she bit me as I was rocking her in the chair before bedtime. I was wearing a sweatshirt and it still broke the skin and left a nice bruise (the marks are still there as I write this). Now, on to the best part. Yesterday, Greg and I were in her room reading her books before bedtime. Greg was in the chair, I was laying on the floor. We were reading 'Big Red Barn' which is about animals that live and play all day in a barn together. When the animals make noise in the book, she runs up to get her stuffed animals. She threw one of the stufed animals at me and I told her that throwing things isn't allowed. When it came time for the cow, she ran to her toyshelf and got her plastic cow flashlight that moos. She ran over to me and threw it at me and it hit right in the ribs. So as I was laying there on the floor all curled up in a ball from the sting of it, she picked up the cow and threw it at me again - this time hitting me right on the bride of my nose between my eyes. Holy moly, talk about painful.

I'm not a happy camper about this situation. I'm still in pain from it. My head hasn't quit hurting and my nose is so sore, I can feel it constantly. My whole head hurts. I just can't take this mommy abuse anymore.

It's a darn good thing she's cute.

Check out the wild hair. She's going to be rockin' some pigtails pretty soon!