Family Vacation 2010

A few weeks back we took our annual family vacation with my parents and my sister's family. Each year we spend a week together and it is always such a great time. It is a family tradition that my parents started years ago before my sister and I had our own husbands and kids and we it is one of the most special things that they have done for all of us. I think that my sister's passing has made the time we spend with her children even more memorable and all of the memories of vacations in the past so special. It is so much fun to see how each of them personifies her in a different way. They are such sweet children. We went to Williamsburg where we swam, ate, swam some more and spent time together! One of our favorite things was the trip to Busch Gardens. We even had lunch with Elmo! Mr. B was in heaven! One of the funniest things was how strong Mr. B is compared to his cousins. My niece and nephew are four and they were scared of him because he would hug them and bowl them right over! Miss O and my oldest niece are BFFs! They are inseparable when they are together which makes parting even harder! Mr. Wonderful is always the "favorite uncle" and entertains the kids with games, movies, dance parties courtesy of his IPod, and lots of fun. It was a great time making memories together!

Beautiful cousins

Strong Guys!

Mimi and Pepere with the crew - we are so blessed!

Catching up...sort of!

So I guess I am not in full blogger mode yet since it has been over a month since I last blogged! Terrible! We have been enjoying the spring weather. It was so nice this weekend that the kids had on their bathing suits and used the slip and slide! It was pushing it a bit, but they loved it. Soccer has started and Mr. Wonderful is coaching once again. Mr. B is hard to contain at the games to say the least! This week was April vacation and the kids enjoyed two days with Dad, one with Mom and one day each with their grandmothers.

Mr. B and Daddy have started mowing the lawn again on "Leo"...yes we named our tractor. Well actually he came with the name already on the back! Sadly, he had a little mishap this weekend when Mr. Wonderful...ahem...neglected to check the oil so his engine seized. Aaarrgh. So Leo is headed to the shop for some MAJOR work very soon!

Matching outfits! Hee hee

Practicing for soccer in the yard

Watermelon!!!

Miss O ready for the slip and slide yesterday. She had her hair straightened at the salon and I think she looks so beautiful but so much older! Yikes!! :)

Can't wait for warm weather every day and the summer to be here!

Overdue Easter post

Our Easter was so much fun. I just love my kids' ages. They were so interested in everything this year. We did our usual egg coloring, egg hunt, easter baskets, and mass and breakfast with the in-laws, then had a great dinner with my family at an awesome restaurant so no one had to cook! It was a great day.

Mr. Wonderful and Miss O getting into the eggs...


Nice job!


Even Mr. B got his own Sesame Street egg kit!


Ready for the bunny to come!


In Easter jammies!


Ready to go!


Mr. B in his Easter outfit. I LOVE the hat with his baby curls. :)


The beautiful Miss O


Mr. B rides my Easter decoration on the porch!



Daddy the kids and the bunny!!!


The kids and Mommy


Mimi and Mr. B


Pepere trying to clean up Mr. B after dinner


It was a beautiful day!

Happy Birthday Pepere!

This week was my Dad's 63rd birthday. We had a great night out at a local seafood restaurant. The food is so great there. Mr. B and Miss O came along and it was a hoot! We had a great meal but may or may not have offended some of the other patrons with flying spaghetti and yelling. Our waitress was so nice and even made us a bottle for Mr. B with warm water! Pepere was just happy to have them there so that's what matters, right?! I am so proud to have the parents that I do. They are a pillar of strength for our family and are true examples of faith and integrity. I thank God for each year I have with them because I know it isn't a given, but a blessing.

My beautiful (inside and out!) parents


Miss O and Mr. B at the table


Eating some delicious lemon???


It's always a party when the napkin's on your head!


It was a great night!

Where have we been?

I have been so busy the past few weeks that I have been neglecting my blog! The past week we have been DRENCHED with rain and it is a mess here in MA! Our basement flooded once again and the past few nights have been spent getting up every couple of hours to check on it and make sure the pumps are on if water is coming in. Luckily we don't have much down there after getting two feet...yes feet of water in there a couple of weeks back, but we do have our burner which cost of over $1000 to fix last time and my new Crate and Barrel teak patio furniture from last year! Uggh. But, when I drive around neighboring towns and see houses with water halfway up them I feel thankful that it is just my basement! We had a great weekend with the family last weekend and celebrated one of Mr. Wonderful's favorite holidays...St. Patrick's Day! I cooked the usual boiled dinner and we celebrated my grandmother and dad's birthdays with the extended family. I will post later tonight or tomorrow with some pics of water, the weekend and more! Hope everyone is having a great day. We are so thankful that we can stop building he arc now that the sun has come out!

Daddy's girl

Tonight Miss O and Mr. Wonderful had the annual father/daughter dance at her school. I treated her to having her hair done in an up do for the occasion and she even got her nails painted with hearts! My mom and dad came over to see them off and hang out with Mr. B and I and have pizza while they were gone! Miss O got a special - GIANT bear (one of the ones I will never buy for her at the store!!!) from her Daddy and was thrilled. It was adorable! I am still "waiting up" for them!

Daddy even had a bow tie that matched Miss O's dress!

Ready to go!!

The whole family - including Mr. Bear! Don't mind the lack of makeup!!!

Mr. B wanted in on the action with the bear! This could be a problem...

What a special night for a special girl! I hope that when she gets big she can look back and see how much her Daddy loves her and remember sharing this time with him!

Let peace begin with me...

Last week Miss O had an open house at her school. The classes all showed off their projects and it was so cute! The first grade theme was peace. During the week they did things like write a letter to the president expressing their wishes for peace and did a number of projects in the same theme. She was so proud of her work!

One of the projects asked how you could make peace at home. Her answer was "getting ready in the morning and stop fighting with my brother". I had to laugh because "fighting" with Mr. B is pretty much one sided at this point, and getting ready and to school on time is a daily struggle so she hit that right on the head!

I am always amazed at how much they are learning at her school both academically and socially. I was so proud of my big first grader!

In other news...tonight I made "The Mushroom Soup" from the Tasty Kitchen. It was to die for! I highly recommend it!! The "blizzard" we were supposed to get today turned out to be a dud. Call me crazy but I was a little disappointed as I was looking forward to the snow...and maybe a snow day tomorrow! Somehow the snow makes everything more fun...at least for a native New Englander like me!