Budding TV star

Peyton made her TV debut last week on the local news - and I say debut because I know this is the first of many public appearances for my precious spawn.

Peyton and a few of her friends were asked (they are already in high demand) to help promote a local restaurant's summer challenge to kids to eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies each day.

The group did a great job making their kid friendly dishes (Peyton and Gabriella were in charge of the veggie tray with ranch and hummus), and as you can see, Peyton's favorite part was tearing into the food as soon as the cameras stopped rolling.

Special thanks to Jami for asking these cuties to be the "talent" for the day! I've now begun interviewing agents...

Peytonisms

"Mommy, please put your hand back on the steering wheel. It's dangerous without it."

"Why does a bunny deliver eggs anyway? That's so weird."

While watching Snow White: "Why does a doctor (dwarf Doc) have to work at a diamond mine? Isn't he a doctor?"

At Disneyland: "I can do one more ride and then let's go to the hotowel because I'm getting tired."

"Am I supposed to have five fingers? Because I have five fingers."

"Miss (name hidden to protect privacy) has a baby in her belly?!?! No way, Mommy, she is so straight!"

Me: "Peyton there is a bad guy breaking into people's cars outside of your school"
Peyton: "Oh, I know! Maybe Daddy can come and find him and then he can shoot him. Or he can wrestle him and take him to jail."

Daddy may rule, but Mommy is so cool

The hubs left his two leading ladies for a week to tend to pressing business in Alaska. (Yes, that does sound like an oxymoron to me as well). While he was gallivanting with bears and dodging avalanches, I did my best to win Peyton's affections through bribery and food.

Minus the one day (more like one hour) flu setback, Peyton and I had a great girls week filled with lots of dress up, painting our nails and shopping. On Tuesday night, I confirmed my suspicions that cooking for the two of us was highly overrated, quickly ditched our dinner plans, and asked PK where she'd like to dine. I suggested Nick's Italian, Spinato's Pizza, and PF Changs. Her response, verbatim:

"Okay, Mommy, I have an idea. Why don't we go eat at Nordstrom's Cafe?"

I quickly grabbed they keys, and we headed to the mall for a little shopping (she got a new Zarina tee shirt at the Disney store) and a delicious meal (she devoured her grilled cheese and tomato soup combo).

We also enjoyed a dinner out with our great friends at Benihana, which never seems to get old in our house. I could see I was quickly winning the best parent game.

And then Martin came home with a suitcase full of presents for PK...including a pair of green moose socks and a slingshot. I will try to regain my short lived reign as best parent ever during his next business trip.

Daddy Rules

Martin made it home from a long work trip just in time to celebrate Father's Day with us. We enjoyed a nice family brunch at Casa Hellmer, complete with Martin's favorite creme brulee french toast, mimosas and breakfast burritos.

Following brunch, Peyton and I gifted Martin with the very thrilling combo of two shirts and two ties, and a new iPhone, and then spent the afternoon frolicking in our neighbor's pool eating their food, and drinking their beer.

In all, Martin couldn't have scripted it any better.

Can't keep her down...for long

Peyton never gets sick. I mean, like, never ever. So it was bound to happen at some point.

7:15am: Peyton wakes up, groggy, grumpy. Nothing out of the ordinary
7:24am: Getting ready for school, Peyton says she doesn't want to eat
7:28am: Peyton says her juice tastes funny and her tummy hurts
7:45am: We head to the car to go to school
7:46am: Peyton pukes all over herself, me, and the garage floor

8:00am: Peyton is on the couch, watching TV, looking as pathetic as ever.
8:25am: Peyton seems to have some color back, sits up to play on the ipad, and tells me she is hungry

9:00am: It's a miracle! She is cured! Peyton decides being home sick with a mommy who works is boring, and decides to use her barf bucket as a hat.

9:05am: Peyton makes silly faces at me while I'm juggling conference calls, work emails, and wondering if I can still take her school (I didn't).

Please let this be the official record for fastest recovery time from the flu ever. And, as an added bonus, Petyon was so thoughtful and generous that she passed her bug on to me! I however, did not recover as quickly.

Missing our friend

It's been five months since Peyton saw her bestie Amber, and even though I don't think she fully gasps the concept of time yet, she is missing her friend more and more every day. She knows it's been awhile since she got to run amok with her very first playmate.

I hear on an almost daily basis, "I miss Amber. When can we go on an airplane to see her?"

And, the other night, when we were picking a movie to watch, Peyton skipped right over her favorites of Frozen, Snow White, Tangled, and Wizard of Oz, opting to watch the "Peyton and Amber Movie" (a compilation of pictures of the girls set to songs about friendship that I made for Amy before we moved. It was intended to make her cry, and it worked).

Watching the Peyton and Amber movie. Never gets old.

I'm so glad that these two have remained in each others minds and hearts given the physical distance between them. Major props to Amy and me for being such awesome parents and insisting that we visit twice a year. In all seriousness, we moved from Virginia when Peyton was 18 months old. She's lived in Arizona longer now than she did Virginia. But she still considers Amber her best bud...she remembers mundane things they did as babies like eating spaghetting on the sidewalk and running through the water at the splashpad. She loves to tell the story of how they got locked in Amber's room and Mr. Jason had to pick the lock on the door to free them. Many of these memories are brought to life through pictures, but I truly believe Peyton remembers Amber and all the crazy things they did. There is a strange, special bond between these two girls, and I hope that never changes.

PK will have to be a little patient...no plans to visit the Circle yet. At least that is what I keep telling her. Wink, wink.

Slowing (and cooling!) down in Show Low

One of the perks of having parents that live nearby is being able to shamelessly mooch off of their awesome things. For us, numero uno on that list is crashing at my parents' cabin in Show Low. Cabin life is slow, casual, and cool, and with the temperature busting through to the 111 mark, it was needed.

We hit the road on Friday evening and immediately felt relaxed (the bottle of wine that I opened within ten seconds of walking in the door helped in that process). We spent the weekend at a low-key Show Low festival of sorts with games for kids and food tents. We grilled filets and ate cheese and crackers. We zoned out in the hot tub. We napped. We wore t-shirts and jeans (some of us may or may not have worn our pajamas all weekend). We watched movies. It was perfection.

While Mommy's Away

While I was slaving away earning a living, providing for my family, and sacraficing a Sunday evening in the comfort of my home for a business trip, Martin and Uncle Jim (a bad combo, if you ask me) decided to let the kids run amok.

They crafted a 5 foot tower of death by stacking pool lounge chairs and toy tubs on top of each other, allowing my precious angel to plummet into the pool. All the while screaming, "Daddy weekend!!"

 

Following pool time, Daddy allowed Peyton to wear her fleece footed jammies to dinner. Outside. In Arizona. In the middle of summer. It was at least 103 degrees. (In his defense, he was covering up her skin so the bug wouldn't bite her. Probably could have used a long sleeve cotton tee and some leggings, but his heart was in the right place).

Good thing my trip was only 24 hours, and order was quickly restored in the house.

Happy Birthday, Gabriella!

One of Peyton's nearest and dearest celebrated her 5th birthday this past week (May babies are the best), and Peyton and I felt so lucky and grateful to be able to join in on the festivities. Gabriella invited her pals to a Frozen (of course) party at Make Meaning, where the kids got glitter tattoos (duh), painted jewelry boxes and made soap. The evening was topped off with pizza, cake, and singing.

This is Peyton photo bombing Miss Jenny and Gabriella. She thought it was hilarious.

Here are our top 10 favorite things about the original G:

1) Just like PK, she loves all things Frozen.

2) Up until a few weeks ago, she lived by the motto "Tink is the new black." Now, she wholeheartedly believes that Zarina, the Pirate Fairy, is the new Tink.

3) She loves jewelry. I have never seen her out without a necklace, bracelet and at least two rings.

4) If it has Hello Kitty on it, Gabriella owns it.

5) The "roar" game at the top of the grassy hill at the splash pad is where she truly bonded with Peyton - scaring the other kids away with their intimidating shouts.

6) She has the baddest twin brothers in town.

7) Her mom is Miss Jenny, which instantly raises her cool factor.

8) She always shares her purse full of lip gloss, and even lets Peyton keep some overnight for a trade.

9) She has already mastered the art of taking a selfie on her toy phone.

10) Unlike any other 4/5 year old I know, she willingly gave up the last pink frosted cupcake to her friend Peyton (who I might add, was throwing a fit about the pink cupcake).

Disneyland Day 4

Am I really still writing about Disneyland? Were we there forever?!?! Sure seems like it.

Our fourth and final day was courtesy of my dear friend Ilona who has special Disney perks. She was generous enough to give us free passed to the park so we could stay one extra day and see the fireworks show on a Friday night. My friends never cease to amaze me with how kind they are.

We entered the park with one thing on our minds: FIND TIANA. She was the only one we hadn't met yet, and Peyton had one empty page in her autograph book. We immediately talked to as many cast members as possible to track her down.

Martin and I spent most of the morning splitting duties - he took her on rides while I tried to find the elusive Tiana. Long story short, our plan failed and we never ended up finding her. Peyton did run into Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Martin suggested she have him sign her book, but she politely declined, saying Jake is for boys and she like Princesses.

Luckily Peyton wasn't too heartbroken - she decided it was a great idea if the three of us signed the last page in her book. But she did make us promise to go back to find her on our next visit.

Since this day was basically icing on the cake for us, we took our time, did whatever Peyton wanted, and enjoyed a more laid back approach to Disney. We rode Ariel's ride in California Adventure 6 times in a row, and then at least 4 more times later in the day. We rode the teacups. We rode Peter Pan. We watched the parade. Twice.

One of my favorite pictures from the whole weekend is this one: Peyton riding the carousel on the right, Martin, aka her security detail, close behind with eyes on the subject.

The week finished off with the awesome fireworks show (Peyton squealed when Dumbo flew over the castle), and one last swing through all of Peyton's favorite rides including the Rocket Ships, and of course, Ariel.

We got back to our hotel around midnight, exhausted, hot, and broke. Peyton was on a complete adrenaline rush, and bounced around the hotel for a few minutes before passing out cold, clutching her two flip and switch dolls.

In all, a successful family vacation with some lessons learned. We drove home the next day with Peyton saying she missed her friends the Princesses at Disneyland. Martin and I began discussing who would apply for a second job so we could go back...