Last Saturday we headed out to celebrate Halloween early at Boo at the Zoo. I've mentioned before that the Milwaukee County Zoo membership is about the best deal in familyland, and this was one reason. A short wait to get through the gates and our car was in and parking for free. We loaded up the mom mobile with the three of us, plus Uncle Stevie, Auntie Erin, and Auntie Erin's niece, Samantha. Samantha borrowed G's Tinkerbell costume and off we went.
Princess in the parking lot Whoa lady, you are something
Spooky!
Not surprisingly there are not that many animals to see in the dark. But there were TONS of kids and families roaming around and the buildings with small mammals and fish were a big hit. Also a hit was the carousel.
Seriously, the carousel made me a little motion sick but Little loved it
We chose to avoid the crazy line for the train (especially since Matt and I had just taken GG on the train the weekend before) and instead we walked and walked and wore those little costumed cuties out. Towards the end GG was hanging out in her stroller and we came around to a big area that had music blaring. She said something to me which I couldn't understand so I bent down to ask her what she wanted. It was a pretty simple request, "Mommy, I want to get out to dance!" All righty then.
Go on, princess!
Doing the Monster Mash
This is a bit dark but I do not exaggerate when I say this girl loves to dance. Can't wait to see her moves at the wedding on 11/6!
Yes friends, you read that right. Smoke Fest. Not as in tobacco smoke, but as in smoked meats. For weeks, and I mean weeks, October 9 was reserved for Smoke Fest 2010 by Matt and his buddies at work. Together there were six competitors who gathered at Dan's house (the ringleader) early in the day to do a BBQ Pitmaster-style smoke off. We wives were wrangled into being the judges, along with any children old enough to read (you know, so they could fill out the judging form. Clearly). The judging was based on presentation (25%), appearance (25%, and yes, that is different than 'presentation'), and taste (50%). It was a blind judging so only the guys knew whose ribs were whose. Like everyone else I went through the line and judged each entry individually before moving on to the next contestant. I could easily live my life without ever consuming smoked meats so there wasn't much nuance to my ratings. It was either 'love it' or 'hate it'. 'A' was really good. B and C set my mouth on fire and I didn't even bother with a second bite. D was too sweet. E was also too sweet. F was juuuuuuuuuuuuust right. I actually thought that Matt's entry was F so I was super excited, as apparently my charming husband had been flapping his gums all week to his competition that I would rate his ribs the lowest. Alas, when the numbers were tallied Matt landed in 5th place. His entry was actually C - the fire starters. Looks like we're already signed up for 2011: the year of Rib Revenge.
Do we get to judge too?
The scene: kids, dogs, and smokers as far as the eye could see. Yes, that's a recliner in their yard.
The prize: the coveted pig, complete with genuine sear marks
Matt, probably adding more chili powder
These boys mean business
Doing a little pre-judging dance
Ribs down! Disaster on the horizon, but he pulled it together to win the competition (submission A)
Making Daddy proud
An A for...effort?
The over-under. Notice the freakishly accurate description of Chef Maio
Genevieve turned two yesterday. TWO! Incredible. We celebrated last weekend with a fete that was minimal compared to last year's hoopla, but was still all about the princess and a lot of fun. Guests included Grandma & Grandpa Martin, Uncle Grant, his gf Kristen, Grandma & Grandpa Maio, and Uncle Steve & Auntie Erin.
Family pic
Family 'scared face'
Yo, Uncle Steve
I have the two biggest Uncles on the planet
Thanks for coming to my party, Kristen! You brought a present, right?
We grilled out on Saturday evening with burgers and GG's favorite, brats (I of course didn't know what a brat was until I was in my early 20's but whatever) plus all the fixins. It was a gray afternoon so we mostly hung out inside, but first we had to take advantage of the the daylight and give Geeg her big birthday gift: her very own bike.
Score!
Off to the races
Took her about 25 seconds to figure out the pedals
Pop Pop driving like a maniac
Mush, Uncle Grant!
Oh, what a hit it was. There is just nothing more fun than waiting for *the* moment when they see the item of their desire and realize it's all for them. It's parenting bliss and makes up for the meltdowns over which stuffed animal to take to bed.
She was totally spoiled with attention and presents. Books, toys, games, dress up, you name it.
Sporting her Tinkerbell wings and her new llama, Lucy
Can't forget Tinkerbell's skirt.
Everything was easy and fun, aside from a small incident with the cake. GG chose yellow cake with white frosting and as I was pulling the two rounds from the oven, one slipped out of my hand and right out of the pan and landed on the inside of the oven door. I tried to save it but dropped it *again*...brilliant. It was tasty but beyond saving. Obviously we could not have a single layer of cake. Three layers and three containers of frosting later (the layers needed a lot of mortar) the leaning tower of birthday was complete.
The 'funfetti' was the clincher
One of these is her 'surprised' face as we were singing, and the other is her blowing out the candle.
Take that, three layer cake
GG had her two year appointment this morning and weighed in at 28 lbs (70th percentile) and was 36" tall (95th percentile - a 4" change since her 18 month appointment!). This was her first visit to the pediatrician since her 18 month appointment, and to that I say hallelujah for tubes as the memory of last year's weekly visits is still fresh in my mind. There were some shots and some tears, but all's well.
In other two year old news, Genevieve's sentence structure has really started to bloom in the last month or so. Her vocabulary is broad and the more I meet other kids the more I'm surprised at how precise her enunciation is. Matt and I are pretty strict on 'please' and 'thank you' but lately if you just give her a second she'll say it without prompting. We are working on potty training, which is to say, she is training us. We were on a roll in August but in the last couple weeks she's taken the high speed train to meltdown-city when I try to get her to go during the day. However, after lights out and just before I put her into bed, she turns up to me and says, "Mommy, I need to go pee pee". So we go to the bathroom and boom, she goes every time. In other words, the girl knows exactly how to go pee and exactly when to do it, but she is hustling me. And I know she's hustling me. I played her mind games for a while but then took the potty away. Then we suggested that it was in fact daddy's potty, and let me tell you, the 'MINE' instinct kicked in and we are now back to our regularly scheduled potty-going. So much so that today she even pooped. First of all, I'm embarrassed to say that I am over the moon for this normal bodily function, but it's a mommy's dream come true. Second of all, as soon as she saw what she did, she freaked out at what she saw and started crying. Hilarious! One chocolate later (brown for brown, get it?) she was happy as a clam. I even sent Matt a text picture of it. Gross, right? I know, but seriously I couldn't help it.
Anyway besides learning how to manipulate mom and dad, Genevieve is into all things toddler. She goes absolutely insane for trips to the park, and loves climbing up those inverted ladders and running around like a crazy person. She's especially fond of the fact that it's gotten cooler and long pants allow one to fly down the slide at a rate much improved over the sticky-skin-on-plastic days of this summer. And she loves to get giant underdogs on the swing. She's still reserved around other kids but is improving a bit with age. She is in a new room at daycare, where she is now on the young end. And the big kids get to nap on cots instead of in cribs. I am in no way looking forward to moving her to a big girl bed at home so hopefully the cots at school keep her entertained for a while.
Genevieve has had all of her body parts, the alphabet, and numbers down for quite a while, and loves to impress strangers when we're out and about. She is a very particular about her appearance, preferring to have a say in what she's wearing, which shoes she'll wear, and how her hair is done, then checking everything out in the mirror before we leave. I've caught her playing with my make up more than once, including scraping eyeliner across her face the other day. Looked like she had been in the boxing ring or something. She is a huge reader and loves to be read to, or will happily sit in her Elmo chair in her room and read to herself. She's memorized a lot of songs, poems, and books, and of that she'll recite what she's memorized of each page. To that end, we have officially been overtaken by the characters...Mickey, Dora, Thomas...which I try to use to my advantage (did you know that Dora goes potty too? Trust me, she does.). Overall Matt and I are quite taken with this little creation and find our daughter totally fascinating.
And in the tradition of birthday photos, here are a few shots from our time at the park the other day. The half-smile is her saying, "cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze".
Pointing out all the letters on the sign
This dang ladder has taken at least five years off my life due to mini-strokes
And from our little family celebration last night:
Both candles out, all by herself. Followed immediately by "we're eating ice cream together!". Darn right, little girl.
