Sweet Niece crowned "Little Miss Riverfest"

My niece Rose lives in a little town at the very top of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The town has a River Festival each year. Rose was crowned Little Miss Riverfest this year. [I think] It was her third year competing in the contest. Be sure to watch the entire video... the end will make you cry.

Rose is the sweetest and brightest girl EVER! A wonderful daughter and a helpful niece/cousin to my two girls. My girls LOVE her so much! A couple weeks ago, we took Rose school clothes shopping at the King of Prussia Mall. It was so much fun for me! While shopping, she picked out the dress that she wore for the Riverfest contest. She tried on around 20 dresses in Nordstroms. She had such a hard time making up her mind that she tried on her top 5 AGAIN for Sydney & Sophia which cracked me up! (that's how sweet she... she involved her 2 & 3 year old cousins in her final decision!!). The dress she chose was perfectly girly, fun, colorful and a great choice for the Riverfest contest.

This past Saturday, we drove down to Maryland to see her in the parade. We had a wonderful day with my sister's family and some of their close friends. Rose was the star of the day.

Below is the video that Rose's father [my brother-in-law, Nathan] took the night of the competition. I edited the video and added a few photos at the end of Rose in the parade.



On the audio at the end of the video, you will hear Lacie, Rose's best friend, saying "I told you she was going to cry". Lacie is also seen hugging Rose at the end of the video :). Sooo cute!

We love you Rose!
xo

July 4th - Better Late Than Never...

I didn't want to miss doing a post about our July 4th [only a month late right?]. It was such a great day for our entire family. My Mom & Dad invited us over for a picnic. The girls has so much fun with their cousins... there was lots of swimming, eating, swinging in the hammock, horseback riding and throwing rocks in the pond. For me it was a relaxing and FILLING day. My parents went overboard with TONS of food. It was good to see a two of my five sisters and a bunch of my [many!!] nieces & nephews. To avoid posting a million pics and an extremely long post, I'm adding a few collages. BUT first a few favorites moments...

My sister Mary Beth and her daughter Morgan--
(They always take the best pictures when they are together.)

Mary Beth's husband, David, holding Sydney.... she is amused with his facial hair.

Sophia waiting her turn to ride the horse...

Morgan & David (my niece & nephew) giving Sophia their undivided attention while she reads--

Mom has the perfect picnic table for our two little ladies---

Rose & Corban, my niece & nephew

Mom & Sydney... Sydney riding Sebastian

Sophia [take note of horse snorting Sophia's entire head..HA!]--

More pics of the cousins...

Nicholas [Mary Beth's son]---
Morgan & Rose watching Sophia jump off the diving board---
Chase & Chad [my oldest brothers boys]---

50th Anniversary Celebration!

It's been a while since I last blogged... the month of July has been so busy with lots of fun family time. I thought that I'd have more time to blog as a SAHM, but I'm having a hard time finding the time. I'm still settling into my new routine... at the same time, I'm trying to catch up on projects around the house and making time to share special moments and planned activities with my girls. All things that I didn't have time to do when I worked full-time. My idea for the blog was to record our time together as a family so I have some catching up to do!

Last Saturday evening, we celebrated my parents 50th Anniversary! They've been married since 1959! The entire week was crazy with getting the house in order, food and cake ordered, food prep, decorations, etc ready... it was a world-wind week. In the end, we were happy with how it went.... the weather was perfect, the food was delicious, the 50's music was fun and everyone seemed to have a great time. [My Bob loves entertaining in our home and our girls had a blast with all of their cousins!] I forgot to do a couple things that we planned for my parents because the night flew-by and absent-minded me forgot to put out some food for the party [which is something that happens almost every time I entertain or have a party.... Not that it mattered because there was tons of food and tons leftover at the end of the night]. My only complaint is that the night went by way to quick! Seven of my parents eight children with their significant others and sixteen of their twenty-three grandchildren were there to celebrate with my parents.
1959:

my Mom and her Maid of Honor

my Mom and my Grandpop Brett

Exchanging rings

the new Mr & Mrs!

Honeymoon send-off...

Honeymoon in Florida....
Mom

Dad...

2009:

My Parents 50th! :)

I put together a memory board of their wedding for the party (behind the cake)... and had framed photos of them on some of the buffet tables.

Fifteen of their twenty-three Grandchildren in the picture below!

Picture of me with 3 of my 7 siblings...

My parents danced together at the end of the night.... what a way to end a great celebration of their 50 blissful years of marriage!

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom & Dad!!
We Love You!

My Mom made the comment that it felt like a long weekend not 50 years (sure Mom!).

Sydney has not stopped talking about the party. She loves her Grandmom... She said that Grandmom was her favorite person at the party and that swimming in the pool with all her cousins was the best part of the entire night.

PS-Check out the Beautiful Life link party at the Inspired Room! The post on my parents seems so appropriate for this week!

1st Dance Recital

Sydney started taking dance class in February. It is a tap and ballet class at Rising Star Dance Academy. Her 1st dance recital was on June 20th. It was a tap number to the Mickey Mouse March. All of the girls were so adorable!!! Lots of family came to see her 2 minute routine :)! She had 16 guest. Wow! Some family members drove a couple hours to see her and then came back to our house for a rained-out cookout. We hung-out in the kitchen for most of the afternoon. It was a fun day. Thank you!

We are so proud of Sydney.... at the young age of 3 she is well composed and sweet as can be.

We weren't allowed to take pictures or video during the actual recital. Once I have a copy of the professional DVD that the dance company produces, I will post a video of her performance.

Rehearsal pics:

Sisters :)

waiting for the practice round....

working on the "Circle of Life" finale-

Sydney's General I dance class @ the dress rehearsal

 

It's show time!!!

An extremely proud Daddy-

Lots of flowers and gifts from everyone!
My girlfriend Carey helped with her makeup... it looked great!

Daddy, Sydney, Sophia & Mommy-

Grandmom & Sydney-
Aunt Linda & Uncle John-

Aunt Mary Beth & Cousin Morgan-

Miss Maureen already posted lots of dance recital pics to the Rising Star Dance Academy web-site. A couple of them are below.

Did I mention she was the youngest dancer... and the last time she'll be the youngest :(.

Older Cousins Rock!

During winter break, my three nieces, who live in Maryland, came over for a few days to hang out with their little cousins (and favorite Aunt & Uncle >>grin<< ). It was great to have guest in our house who JUMP at the chance to change Sophia's diapers. I didn't change a diaper for a full 2+ days!

Velia came over for one night to babysit the girls so Bob and I could go out to dinner & the movies! [We saw Slumdog Millionaire which was an awesome movie... best one that I've seen in a long time]. Velia came up another night from Maryland with her boyfriend to visit Grandmom and then came by for dinner. After dinner at Our Place Restaurant & Bar, we came back to the house and listened to them sing karaoke. Craig played his guitar and sang which was cool.

[I plan to post a video of the karaoke when I'm back from Florida next week. I haven't had time to download and edit video.]

Morgan (my sister Mary Beth's daughter) and Rose (my sister Esther's daughter) singing Karaoke. Rose is singing while holding Sydney! (I can barely hold Sydney anymore!)

Sophia the constructor...

school-time in PJ's

teachers - Rose & Morgan, students - Sydney & Sophia

Rose and Sydney

Out to dinner with my niece Velia (my sister Linda's daughter) and her boyfriend, Craig

Part 2 of 7: Deck 9

We hit the pool deck almost every day. Even the day we were at port is Nassau we decided to stay on the boat so they girls could have more time in the pool. Sydney was not potty trained last year so this was her first time in the Mickey Pool and she LOVED IT! The Mickey Pool is meant for 3-5 year olds. The Sprinkle-pad is for the little ones like Sophia who are still wearing swim diapers. Bob was more than happy to sit on the sprinkle pad with Sophia, as long as he had a Corona in hand. (Bob said the water was much warmer there >>grin<<).

Sydney next to the Mickey shaped pool and water slide...

Banished to the sprinkle-pad... Sophia was not too happy at first...Sprinkle-pad fun with Dad...

Click on ">' below to play video of Sophia on the sprinkle-pad...

GMa giving Sophia a high-five....

Virgin drink of the day with Grandmom.... poolside lunch - GMa and Grandmom looking good...

The Mickey ear gang - Bob's cousin Andy with wife Jen and their 2 boys, Beck & Dutch!

Bob and his Mom chilling out in the sun while the girls are napping

Mommy & Daddy together poolside while the girls are back in the stateroom napping with Grandmom! Yeh! I read a whole 5 pages of my book!