It's been a while

I haven't updated in a long time. I'm working on uploading some pictures from this past 4th of July weekend but it will be a day or two before I get a post done. In the meantime, here are some cute pictures from last week at the park.

Racetrack

We had a very busy weekend. We started it off by going to the Twins game on Thursday. We had seats in the overlook in right field. Great spot - a home run landed just five seats down from me (but it was for the other team). It certainly is a whole different experience going to a game in an outdoor stadium. It was nice. The weather was kind of rainy so I didn't bring my camera to take pictures. On Friday, we met up with Greg's parents and went to Nickelodeon Universe so Meredith could go on some rides and had dinner at Famous Daves. On Saturday, we went to my baby cousins' graduation party (congrats Jeremy and MJ). That night we had tickets for a suite from RBC where Greg works. It was great - we got free parking, free food, free beer, and had great seats to watch the game. They even bring around a dessert cart in the middle of the game. I brought my camera but of course the battery was dead so once again, I have no pictures of the ball park. On Sunday, we went out the Canterbury Park to watch some horse races. Meredith to to go on pony rides, pet animals, and get her face painted.

It was a fun and busy weekend. If you don't count the fact that Meredith has been acting like the spawn of Satan lately. Where did my sweet child go? Who replaced her with this girl I have now? If you see my daugter, please send her my way.


Meredith getting her face painted (she picked out a purple fishy):

Oh, how happy she was when she looked in the mirror. You can't tell by this photo, but she squealed.

Here is a good shot of it.

Soooooo happy!

She got to pet animals!
She impatiently waited for a pony ride.
She got to ride on the biggest one!

Cute sayings

I have no new pictures to post this week but I thought I would share some of the funny/cute things Meredith has been saying lately. She's now at the stage where she says full sentences and some of the things she says are just so random!

Last night, she had to go potty before she went to bed. She went into the bathroom and accidentally turned on the fan. When it came on, she said "that one if for Uncle Chris". Bwaaaaaahahahahahahahaha!

This past weekend we made plans to go to the Mall of America and go on a few rides since it was raining. She was playing with her Lego Duplo zoo set and had the alligator in her hand as we had this conversation:

Mer: I want to to to the mall and ride on the alligator.
Me: You want to go on the alligator ride? I'm not sure if there is an alligator ride, honey.
Mer: Yes, I want to go on the alligator ride and go up and down.
Me: (thinking long and hard this time) I'm not sure which one is the alligator ride.
Mer: I want to push the buttons.
Me: (light goes on in my head) Oh, you want to ride on the elevator? Yes, sweetie, we can ride on the elevator.
Mer: Yes, I want to ride on the alligator and go up and down and push buttons.

Now, she can say elevator properly. I think she was too distracted by the alligator in her hands.

Memorial weekend

We had a wonderful 5-day weekend as a family although Meredith is getting really testy with us and sassy and we are struggling with trying to deal with that. Everything causes a meltdown with her and she never listens. Her favorite word is "no" and I swear she does it just to be a pain in the rear. Bedtime is a 1.5 hour ordeal. Last night it ended with Greg laying in bed with her for over a half hour. Then I heard him yelling and a door slam. I went upstairs and saw him holding on to the door handle so she couldn't get out of her room. At that point I marched into her room and in my most authoritative voice possible, I told her to "get into bed right now". I think she knew she had pushed the limits with me because she immediately stopped crying, got up and went into her bed without even saying a word. I feel like we go through this too many times in a day.

Yesterday on the car ride home, we took her to McDonalds for dinner. We got her the McNuggets Happy Meal and she ate all but one of the McNuggets. I asked her four times if she wanted it and she said no. So Daddy ate it. Well then, she decided she wanted it. So the rest of the car ride home we had to listen to (imagine the whiniest voice you have ever heard) "I want my chicken nugget. I'm still hungry".

Anyway, on Friday we took Meredith to the zoo in the morning. Then we spent the afternoon out at the pool (which she loves).

She was so excited (this is pre-meltdown).

She wanted to see the dolphins first this time. So excited here.
See the dolphin in the background?
I know I post pictures that look exactly like this EVERY year but she just loves those darn goats.

On the way home. Notice how daddy is carrying her? Meltdown.
On Monday, we headed down to Iowa to visit some of Greg's relatives and we got to see Mer's Grandma and Grandpa Carlson that live in Florida.

This picture below is Greg's aunt Shirley. We got to pick a bucket full of juicy ripe straberries from her garden!
And of course, Grandma and Grandpa Carlson.
This picture is SO cute or Mer and Grandma.
Look at this cute face! It's hard to believe she doesn't seem to ever behave herself.
She rode on a vintage tricycle (or tried to at least).

Big girl room - finished!

Since we didn't go to Paris on Friday like we were supposed, Greg and I worked on getting Meredith's big girl finished while she was at daycare. We surprised her with it when she got home. She did wonderful considering she moved right from her crib to the twin bed. She was so excited for it. She giggled and squealed and tried to jump on the bed. And she picked the colors and bedding out all on her own so we embraced that to it's full extent I think.

Here is the new bed:

The nightstand and curtains:

Close-up of the wall decal:

The bedding:

The bookcase:

The dresser (we're still undecided about what to do with this corner).

The stuffed animal holder that doesn't hang straight:

And finally, the big girl in her big girl bed!

The foot - a week later

We officially cancelled the trip to Paris :-( We didn't think it was going to work with my foot.

Here are some pictures of it one week later.

I think my cankle is going away a bit finally! I see a glimpse of my ankle in this one.

Broken

Yesterday I was enjoying the beautiful weather with Meredith outside. We ventured out to our neighborhood playground which just happens to be right next to the pool. I was focusing on the pool because it appeared that it was filled and ready to be used for the season. As I was walking I happened to step in a hole and the next thing I knew I was in the ground and in lots of pain.

I tried to keep my cool so Meredith wouldn't think something was wrong. I managed to make it up to the playground and back home.

With this trip to Europe coming up in just five days, I decided to go get it looked at to see if I fractured it. Low and behold, there is a broken bone in my foot. So now I sit here wondering what to do with this trip. We're supposed to leave on Friday and I have a broken foot bone. I have to wear a walking boot for six weeks which is not easy to get around in. Without the boot I am limping.

And now the ash cloud from that volcano is supposed to be spreading towards France later this week.

I just don't know if this trip was meant to be. We're seriously contemplating canceling. I just don't know how we're going to make this work :-(

Here's a picture in case you wanted a visual. I realize it looks like a dead body.

Sneak peek of the big girl room

Meredith can not get out of her crib. It is so low that she has just never tried so we have never thought about converting it to a toddler bed. After she potty trained a couple months ago, she has become such a big girl and we decided it's time for her to move to a big girl room. We gave her the option of staying in her current room or moving to the guest room and surprisingly she picked the guest room. So, that began the whole process of getting her new room ready.

We ordered her a twin bed, and bought a book shelf, a dresser, and a night table. I had big plans to paint it pastel yellow and have some pretty gingham bedding but she really wanted nothing to do with that. She wanted monkeys and pink walls.

Per that request, here is what we have done so far. We hope to have this project finished by the end of Memorial Day weekend (assuming the bed arrives when it's supposed to).

Birthday Weekend

On Saturday I celebrated my 34th birthday. I am officially closer to 50 than I am to being a senior in high school. **sigh** When I think about it like that, it makes me realize how time can fly. It only feels like a few years ago when I packed my stuff up and headed off to college. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Meredith gave me a card on my birthday. She's such a smart girl - can you see what she wrote on the envelope in the upper right corner???? Greg told her what letters to write but she drew them all on her own.

April is a busy birthday month. On April 10, we all got together at Rudy's Redeye Grill in Lakeville to celebrate Chris's birthday. Meredith insisted on ordering soup and salad. She had to have the beer cheese soup (not the chicken noodle). I have mentioned this before but she loves salad so here is some proof of that.

But here is her reaction to the beer cheese soup. Grandpa had to finish it for her.

Then, on April 18, we headed down to the farm again to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. Mer helped him open up his gifts.

And since you never see me and Greg, here is a random snapshot from when we got together on Chris's birthday.

Me and Mer

Here is the whole Schwake family (minus Judy). You don't get pictures with all of us too often.

You'd have to see it to believe it

Yesterday I had the day off of work so my mom (Juana Talkie) and my sister (Auntie) went up to the Mall of America to take Mer on a few rides at Nickelodeon Universe. She had a blast. We stopped at Auntie's house on the way home and saw a birdie, fishies, and her cat Lucky.

You could tell Mer was losing some steam on the way home because she was dragging her feet and moving really slow which is to be expected since she had a big day with no nap.

After we got home, she was sitting at the table doing some of those paint with water pictures while I was on the couch reading a book. I heard her say something about going potty but she never asked me for help (she can pretty much do it on her own) so I didn't get up. A couple minutes later it got really quiet and I could hear heavy breathing. I assumed she had fallen asleep on the floor but as I rounded the corner, I had the pleasure of witnessing this!

I did all I could to not burst into laughter right then and there. And of course my camera was in the basement. I proceeded to tiptoe past her and ran down to get my camera and was able to snap these two pictures before she opened her eyes.

And boy or boy was she a beast that night. After I took those two pictures, I picked her up and pulled her pants up and let her lay with me on the couch until Greg got home. I couldn't even get her up for dinner so we took her upstairs to change her into her jammies and all she would do is cry. Right as we were about to leave the room, she said to me "I want dinner. I want talad (salad), Mommy".

We took her downstairs and she had her salad. Have I mentioned before that she loves salad? That's worthy of a separate blog entry someday. Juana has some great salad pictures...I'll have to try to get those from her to share.

Cutest kid at the zoo today

I am convinced that **hands down** I had the cutest kid at the zoo today and I'm not wearing mommy goggles. Really, does it get much cuter than this? Both were taken today but we had to change outfits after she got chalk all over everything.

Oh, and one more funny thing. On Friday, she was walking up the stairs to get changed into her PJs. She farted and said "I blow bubbles with my butt, Daddy!". That made me snort out loud. Apparently she has learned a thing or two in the bathtub.

LOL, my kid is the best. Seriously. And she gives the best long, unsolicited hugs right now. I love her :-)