Peel Me A Grape

GG and I have been spending lots-o-quality time together the last week or so, with my usual days at home and daddy out for a boy's weekend in the Twin Cities checking out the new Target Field. Fortunately the weather has been totally favorable for our little swimming enthusiast. My expectations for the plastic pool I bought in desperation at Walgreen's last year were not high, but by some miracle it seems to have survived the winter. So I huffed and I puffed and I blew it up to the delight of one little squish.

Immediately after filling with freezing hose water. Little hands could not resist.


She also decided to put her face in to blow bubbles, and of course got soaked. "Mama, cold!" Yeah, you don't say

After her nap the pool was bathwater warm, and fortunately for us, our friends Jessica and Madeline came over for a quick visit. They temporarily live in VA but were back in WI for a visit and made time to swing by. The girls had great fun cooling off, while Jess and I enjoyed a little mommyade (spiked lemonade in Waterford, of course).

Practicing for the 4th of July boat parade at the cottage


One of several failed attempts to get everyone to look at the camera at once


Is this kid cute or what?!?


Helping daddy out later that night

Matt was MN-bound on Friday after work. I chose to stay back with GG as the idea of 9-10 hours in the car for just a 24-hour visit made me a little ill. So instead the tot and I were out and about all weekend, starting with another new haircut. I have given her several good cuts, but last time I tried she zigged when I thought she was going to zag and, well, the outcome was not good. It definitely required professional help. The last time G was in a stylist's chair (well, in my lap in the chair) she SCREAMED like the scissors were piercing her skin. But this time she told me she wanted to sit by herself and was a perfect angel for the whole thing. What a difference five months makes! It's very 1960's Mia Farrow now, and best of all, doesn't look like it was styled by Edward Scissorhands.

After our successful styling, we went out for breakfast at City Market then headed to Lowe's to stock up on all of the necessities for a great summer yard. I haven't really done the annuals for the last two years (what, like I had a kid or something?) so I was excited to finally spruce up the yard again. Naturally I had a little help.

Just put a little in here, and a little over there...


What is with this junk on my hands? "Yucky!"

After a weekend of hard yard work, it was time to jump back into the pool for a relaxing splash.

After the swim I peeled off her suit and swim diaper and in the time it took me to set her wet suit over a chair she climbed up on the lounger to sun herself.

Oh hello admirers. You may adore me from afar.


Garcon! A lemonade and fruit plate!


I've been waiting for at least 30 seconds. WHERE IS MY BEVERAGE?


See if I ever come back to this place.

Um, Whose Idea Was This?

The week leading up to Mother's Day was gloriously warm and sunny (wretched, bone-chilling near-sleet for the actual day, but whatever). So we bought our cards for the grandmas and decided that instead of coloring them like usual we would bust out the finger paints that the Easter Bunny brought.

Let me back up and say that when the Easter Bunny was in Target collecting goodies for the basket, he/she took a moment and thought, 'hmmmm, maybe it's too early for finger paints. Oh look, it's washable!' Yes, EB, the paint is washable but it becomes exponentially more challenging to clean it up when it's EVERYWHERE.

Fortunately mommy had the sense to conduct this little artistic experiment outside.

I am an artiste, mother. I was born to create.


I create on paper...


on skin...


on carts, and anywhere else I can.


All clean, little Picasso

Biker Babe

There are a lot of perks to working for a privately-owned small company which happens to be in the business of selling motorcycles. One, I wear jeans to work every day. Two, the more I use the f-word, the more credible I become. Three, my boss (the owner) is cool about handing out thank yous often. Such was the case yesterday for our annual spring cook out. Every employee and their entire family is invited to feast on bacon-wrapped fillets, chicken with sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese, and amazing sides as far as the eye can see. Genevieve has been totally taken with motorcycles lately so I was really talking it up to her. Matt brought her by the store after work and she was pretty impressed. Before last night she pronounced it "motor"...pause..."cycle!" but by the end of the night the word was rolling off her tongue like a true biker babe. She totally turned on the charm for everyone and was really well behaved. A nice change of pace from the 'tude she's been sporting the last couple of weeks. She also had a taste for the $600 jackets. I told her the same thing I told Matt when he started to drool over the bikes, "No no, don't touch".

Would daddy look good in this one?


Oh no, this one is better. It's "or-nange"!


This is just my size, momma!


And it comes with a cute little girl in the mirror


She was too scared to sit alone so we perched together on a trike.

Matt and I are headed to Harley-Davidson's annual Black & Blue Ball, supporting MDA, tomorrow night. The last time we attended a ball he was in a tux and I was in an Oscar-worthy gown. Tomorrow we'll be sporting our most fashionable denim and our hottest Harley shirts. Seems like the times have changed, but I'm sure to find most of the same crowd at this event as I did in my previous life. Time to slap on the work smile and enjoy the open bar!

Whew! We have had a crazy week-o-busy here in Squish-land. Last week started as the average week, but then Grandma Heidi came to visit for a few days. I was able to switch my work schedule so we had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to hang out. We ran errands, played outside, and bought piles of summer gear for the princess. We spent a few hours at the Zoo on Thursday morning. It turned out to be one of those early summer teaser days with sun and temps in the low 80's, so we busted out the sunscreen and sandals and were on our merry way.

Checking out the baby gorilla statue. In looking at this picture today, she kept pointing out her sandals. Like the rest of her footwear, she's quite taken with them.


Taking a spin on zee-ba


Miss Cool takes a breather. Notice the first official summertime casualties on her knees. The tears, they flowed.

After lunch and her p.m. snooze, we were back outside for the rest of the day. We created glorious sidewalk art and brought stick after stick to the doggies. Genevieve was totally enamored with Greta and spent a lot of time squealing her name. Ralphie was glad to have a visitor too.

Buh?

Poodie Pals: Petite Greta and big boy Ralphie.

Playing "I'm gonna get you"

Apprehended!

Can't escape the tickles

Grandma was generous enough to hang out through the weekend and watch Ralphie while we headed down to Chicago for the wedding of Matt's cousin Doug to his fiancee Karen. The weather was crisp and sunny and perfect - what a day to get married. The church was in Chicago proper, close to Wrigleyville I think, and we arrived early enough to grab both a parking spot and some lunch. Score. GG had on car clothes for the drive down, so we had to do the ol outfit switcheroo in the parking lot. Taking off shirts without revealing yourself, switching pants while in the car, dressing for a wedding in the parking lot...these are really just basic survival skills for all women, don't you think?

Don't forget the accessories!

Sweater? Check. Bow? Check. Purse? Check.

Hi family

The ceremony was a little brutal for Miss Cool. Not only was she stuck in the pew but it was right at 1 o'clock which is her normal nap time. She had zero intention of snoozing though, and I had to take her out at least two or three times. At the reception later that evening, several people told us they thought she was so good in church. I'm fairly certain they had us confused with some other family.

After the ceremony we navigated our way west to the hotel and reception. The normally 30-minute drive took us at least an hour, of which G slept just 30 minutes. Predictors were not favorable for us making it through the reception. By the time we finally got to the hotel she was wired again so, since we had a few hours to kill, we headed to the pool.

C'mon dad!

At first GG was none too thrilled with being in the slightly chilly water.

Ummmmmmmmmmmm, get me outta here

But slowly her swimming lessons came back to her and she started to have more fun. Fortunately there were a few other kids in the area who were having a blast and running around like crazy people, so I think she was inspired to give this swimming thing another shot. Then Daddy turned on the power and the real fun started.

Zoooooooooooom!

Flyin' high. Just LOVE her expression in this one

Helllllllllo, ladies. Matt shows the underage set what's up

Grandpa didn't swim but he's sure good at bundling

Finally it was time to head to the reception. It was a great party and fortunately had a lot of open spaces so you-know-who could run around like a wild thing during the cocktail hour. The dinner started around 7 and didn't wrap up until about 9. This did not a happy toddler make. So we took turns with other various Maios watching her tear up the dance floor (to the sounds of the string quartet) and run laps around the reception tables.

Let me show you what I got!

We took her back to the room around 9. I was a little worried because we were so far beyond sleepy...you know what I mean. But thankfully she conked right out and Grandma Kathy volunteered to stay with her so we could hit the dance floor for a few hours. One woman came up to us and said, "wow, you two really let loose without the baby!". No kidding lady, these chances are few and far between!

No baby + open bar + dance floor = good times

We were glad to spend some extra time with Steve and Erin during the wedding too, and at one point I turned to Kathy and said, "They're next!". It is a completely red-letter year that not one but two Maio men are getting married. Seriously, has never happened in the history of the world. Can't wait for November 6!!

The Hunt Is On

Easter this year was a lot different than Easter '09 for the Maios. Last year our little bouncing baby was still nursing and happy as a clam to lay in mama's arms during church. This year...well, she behaved as well as we could hope for a busy toddler. Although that included identifying the middle-aged woman in front of us as "grandma!", which I don't think went over too well with said woman, demanding "cereals" during a quiet moment, practicing her balance beam skills on the kneeler, and loudly declaring a statue of Jesus to be "Santa!".

She did love her dress, tights, and shiny shoes though.

Hope you like this look, as she'll be sporting it again at a wedding we're attending next weekend.


Her cheeky response to me asking to "show mama your dress".

After we got home we switched into more typical Sunday-wear and headed over to grandma and grandpa Maio's for brunch. The spread was delish and the Easter Bunny managed to hit both our house and the grandparent's house. Weird how that happens. Little Miss cleaned up with tons of crayons, a new coloring book, water socks for the cottage, some new blocks and a truck, sidewalk chalk, a bouncy-ball, and finger paint (which the Bunny is planning to confiscate until we can strip down to a diaper this summer). Plus of course some chocolate bunnies. We left midday to get her home in time for her nap, and after she woke up we headed outside to hunt for eggs. The weather was warm and it took about one egg for her to figure out how this hunt thing worked. The best part was her announcing the color of each egg at the top of her lungs.

Pink!


Gween!


Showing us her loot


Wowie is on the scent


Shaking it and preparing for the feast

Each egg had a few M&Ms in it and once she figured that out it was game-on for stuffing them in her mouth ASAP. The unforeseen kicker is that the candies made her mouth water uncontrollably, so there were waterfalls of pastel colored drool just cascading out of her mouth, over her chin, and on to her clothes. I do have a photo of this, but her eyes are shut and she looks like maybe she has rabies. So I will choose not to post it, but instead keep it in my arsenal of blackmail goodies.

It's been a week since the hunt and she's still loving playing with the plastic eggs. We take one in the car, we take a few in the tub, and we have a grand old time matching the colors of the tops and bottoms. Who knew $0.99 plastic would have such longevity?

So this week we're going to have a visit from grandma Martin and then head to Chicago for a wedding on Saturday. Lots more to come for our busy bunny!