GG Turns Six

The eldest Maio daughter, of the Elm Grove Maios, turned six last week. SIX! Time is flying and we were excited to celebrate the little lady's birthday with a party at Helium, a trampoline park. Imagine nine kids bouncing like they were on speed and laughing their little tushies off at jumping on trampolines, in foam pits, and anywhere in between (note: not a recommended Saturday afternoon stop if you're epileptic. The frenzy will send you to a bad place). GG invited a mix of her girlfriends from her old school, her new school, and her preschool.  We are proud that she's had such a smooth transition from one place to another and making friends along the way.

So there was a party, there was pizza, there was cake, but what there wasn't was piles of gifts. This year I wrote a funny little poem asking the parents that if they chose to send a gift, to make it cash - 10 bucks, max. I know, a totally cringe-worthy request, hence (what I hope was) a lighthearted rhyme. GG was to split the cash in half...one part for buying whatever her heart desired and the other part for donating to the charity of her choice. She's old enough to start having a broader perspective on the world and our house is too full of crap to make room for any more headband kits or Calico Critters. Once we added in the house-wide dollar hunt sponsored by Grandma Heidi and Pop Pop, the girl ended up with $120. Cha-ching! So we went from two piles to three: one to give away, one to spend, one to save. The birthday girl got what she wanted, our house isn't overloaded with (additional) junk, and one mom even asked me if she can steal my little request for her own use. All in all it was a great night out celebrating Madame Genevieve!

who doesn't rock climb in a skort?

almost all of the children in this picture were under our charge.please no broken bones. please no broken bones.

let's burn off some energy, shall we??

there were three adults in addition to matt and me. pretty sure we needed all five of us.

the party gang

pushing daddy in was a big hit. daddy's socks were lost almost immediately. gross.

may as well throw my kid in a pit of flu

one giant leap for six-year-old-kind

time to refuel

these little ladies could pound some pizza

good thing this guy was there to help

we are so proud of our big girl!

sunday birthday brunch. cousin logan is in there somewhere...

We've said it before but truly, Genevieve is such a great big sister. When these kids are good they are SO good (PS, the opposite is also true. Less frequent, but still true). She is absolutely buddies with Luke and mommy 2.0 with Kiera. Lately GG has been wanting to help me change Kiera's diapers and get her dressed. She loves holding and carrying her, and showing and teaching the baby about new things.  It's precious and there's no doubt that GG has a small fortune in babysitting money ahead of her.

birthday dinner - time for more cake!

what other big sister would share with her vulture of a little brother?

latest game: crash.i need to go to the chiropractor just looking at this

i just realized she's wearing the same thing here as she did at her party. what can i say, the girl likes pink.

teaching kiera about shapes and colors. so sweet.

everyone, meet lauren. gg bought her with her birthday money along with a fairy tea set and a fairy barbie. for the give away gg will be buying $40 worth of dry goods and giving it to feeding america

super riders. we've been pulled over by police and awarded ice cream coupons for wearing our helmets. elm grove = pleasantville

they love riding their bikes in this big open lot

Genevieve started 5K earlier this month. The night before her first day I was tucking her in and I said, "Mommy and Daddy are going to drive you to daycare tomorrow then you'll get on the bus, and we'll meet you at school." GG's response was to roll her eyes at me and sigh, "Ok but....why?"  So I'd say she's comfortable being a Kindergartener. We went from private school to public this year (our district doesn't have 4K and we did not move to Elm Grove to pay tuition) and it has been a great experience. A lot of families did the same school move so she knows a lot of kids in her class and the other Kindergarten classes which is wonderful. K&K are retir/ed/ing and have volunteered to watch the kids on Thursdays. Which means they're in preschool/daycare just two days a week. Besides being a massive cost savings this is also a huge mommy savings to only shuffle three out the door twice a week (total gong show). Incidentally Genevieve's first day of K5 was also Luke's first day of 3K at preschool and Kiera's first day at daycare. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

so excited

he insisted on having a 'gween motorcytle' on his picture

these two, i swear

time for a new normal at the maio household!

this boy is seriously in love with gg

we surprised gg with a happy meal on her birthday. she literally had tears in her eyes she was so overwhelmed to see us. such a sensitive girl. ps - notice her boyfriend is sitting next to her

k5 picture. let's not update that blue background folks.

I asked GG about some of her favorites the other day. I'll try to remember to do the same with Lukie and Kieks as they get older.  Here's the list
Favorites
color: rainbow
food: pancakes
drink: cake milk (we had one cup at the State Fair eight weeks ago)
ice cream flavor: caramel collision
activity: going to the playground
TV show: Mickey Mouse
movie: Frozen
game: Memory
Daddy game: tickle monster
thing to do outside: ride my two-wheeler
thing to do inside: play with Kiera
song: Let it Go
book: The BFG
subject in school: writer's workshop
animal: cats and horses (both of which I'm severely allergic to, so sorry 'bout that kiddo)
place to go: the cottage and the Elm Grove pool

Other random notes for me to one day forget: GG has lost six teeth and has been able to tie her shoes for the better part of a year. The bike sans training wheels happened this summer, and she just love to climb trees. Genevieve has gained a lot of confidence in the past year and I actually credit Luke for a lot of that. I think his completely gregarious personality has rubbed off on her. Oh, and the day she turned six she sat down and read a whole Fancy Nancy book to me. So I guess that's happening now too. And her favorite subject in school is writing? Be still my beating heart.

Love you, Genevieve G! Happy birthday.

photo courtesy of luke

monkey see monkey do

Monthly Posts Are Better Than None

Kieks is three months old, I'm back to work, and life is a new, crazy normal.  A recap of our end of summer fun:

First, our annual friends weekend at the cottage.  When seven short years ago our group was 8 adults.  We drank. We swam. We kept on drinking.  But for three days this August the population of Wautoma was 20 larger.  Beverage of choice: milk.  I don't know about the dads but I feel secure in suggesting all four mommies were braced for a chaotic weekend.  In the end though the weather was in our favor - that new raft got the workout of a lifetime - and it occurred to me that the 4-and-above crowd was pretty good at keeping themselves busy.  Sure there were plenty of tot-sized-meltdowns but with a parent in every corner of the place there was no escaping a watchful eye.

new this year: the de-sand then wash your hands line

the yung'uns were fed early and often.  not our first rodeo.

what the...?

dirt and sand? check. big trucks? check. all's well

fishies making laps around the raft

e-man sums it up for us

the pontoon doubled as a playpen

kieks hanging with mom

best game of the weekend: push the daddy!

hiLARious

the bansemar men

love those gummy baby grins

most common phrase of the weekend: "i see one, where's the other?"

cute ladies

love a good daddy chair

mrs. kroening has an adorable activity to keep everyone busy.  annnnnnnnnd there's our star student.

inflatable kayaks keep these six year olds busy

and this five year old, too

this turkey still wouldn't jump off the dock.  for being such a wild man he's not crazy about the water yet

this is more like it

lovelies

this is kiera's kind of swim

post-bath snuggles (like the mohawk? it's how all the cool babies wear it)

look at this bunch! (5, 2.5 months, 2, 4, 6, 1, 4, 6, 1, 2, 2, 4). we are all so lucky.

We also threw in our annual trip to State Fair where I continued my Nursing Throughout SE WI Tour 2014 (standing up...next to a livestock barn...not an exhibit, thanks), and a trip to lovely LaFarge, WI over Labor Day for cousin Cally's wedding.  Did I get photos at either? No. Booooo. I also started back at work the week of Labor Day so Matt took a couple days off and spent some quality time with little Kiera. They are now BFFs.

So then Kiera turned three months and life was back in gear! She has grown so much over the last few weeks and it's fun to see her hit some of those big developmental milestones.  She's smiling a ton and will eek out her version of a giggle every now and then along with lots of cooing and if she's mad, plenty of raspberries. She's really reaching for objects now too and starting to shove stuff right in her mouth. She loves her a pooey (Luke's name for the burp rags that he used to chew on and now is his little bedtime security blanket). She continues to be a sleeping machine.  She doesn't sleep through every night but if she gets up it's only once and she will go right back down after a meal. I've been very paranoid that she hasn't spent enough time on her tummy - or better put, off her head. It's hard to get on the floor with her for any extended stretch with the two others around.  So Kiera's spent a lot of time in her Bjorn, which seems to be doing her just fine since she's now strong enough to spend a few happy stretches in her Bumbo.  I don't remember the others being happy in the Bumbo this early but I also don't remember what I ate this morning. Bottom line she's getting stronger and I just want to eat her up.

she does smile in here, i swear

Oh, in other random news we have had some visitors this whole spring and summer. A perk of living in a semi-wooded area is the guests. This mama and her four babies parade through the yard a couple times a day chowing down and destroying my flowering plants. The kids have appropriately named her Mama Gobble.

right outside our kitchen window and heading straight for my pots. jerks.

someone else is interested too. luke and gg yell at ralph 'don't go out there! mama gobble will peck you!"

huzzah! a singular shot from cally's wedding. or rather, from the place we stayed for the wedding. the hills were alive

luke likes holding her for about 12 seconds

gg asked me the other week if she could carry kiera. i agreed and she just thinks she's the cat's meow

kiera is less convinced

And now three month shots of our precious chunky monkey. God, this baby! Just love her.

the chin groweth

cracking herself up

squeezable thighs

about to tell me something pretty important

lukie 'helping'

and, still helping

sacre bleu! what is this?

i shall eat it

ha! don't know how i caught this but glad i did

more telling of important baby facts

the jury's still out on what color her eyes will be, but she has worked on growing some lashes this month