Pool Party - June 24, 2011

Gracie 

 Jacob

 Gracie Girl

My Little Man Jake

The kids had lots of fun at Hampden Township Pool where the Daisy Troop(s) had their end of the year party which included siblings.  Jacob jumped at the opportunity....my kids love to go swimming. Gracie pretty much kept to herself and practiced her handstands and flips and Jacob opted to be in the deeper end of the pool where the big slide was. The party was from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. and they were all tuckered out when it came time to go home.

Dance Recital - June 11, 2011

2.5 hours....yes....2.5 hours of "recital fun" - How I managed to sit in one spot that long is beyond me, but I did it and it was so worth it. The week of the recital was a busy one - lots of rehersal and I pretty much saw the recital 3 times before the actual performance on Saturday (June 11th) - long evenings....very long evenings - all the time and energy was worth it though - my princess shined! Gracie and her entire dance class did a spectacular job and all their time and hard work paid off and surely showed.  I was the proud mommy sitting in the crowd literally do her dance routine with her from my seat...I was so nervous for her but there was NO reason to be nervous - Gracie had her two dance routines DOWN!! She knew exactly what she was doing. I took lots of pics and it will take me some time to get them posted. Attached are some pics of me and the kids after the performance.

Daisy to Brownie - Bridging Ceremony - June 4, 2011

My Little Daisy is now a........................

BROWNIE!

Princess Grace

 My little redhead, freckled Irish girl!

My Little Slugger - JACOB IS THE MAN!!

MY LITTLE SLUGGER!

I was so proud of Jacob. Cardinals first playoff game, bottom of the 6th inning (there are only six innings in minors) and game is tied 7 to 7 and Jake is up to bat....need I say more??? My baby got a great hit and brought in the winning run!! The team had a great game - I was so proud of everyone (especially my little slugger)!

Bridging Ceremony - Daisy to Brownie

Gracie's Birthday Bowling Party with Family and Friends

We opted for a party outside the house this year (way too much cleanup recommened for house parties) and we had it at the local bowling alley. It was alot of fun and very entertaining to say the least. Friends and neighbors joined us (Tracy, Ethan, Bianca, Jordan and Griffin) and made the day extra special for Gracie. I chose cupcakes this year rather than a birthday cake - just easier if you ask me!  I am all about "easy" the older I get. We have Big George's birthday at the end of June and Jake's 10th birthday on July 24th - he will become a double-digit midget and he requested to have a "cookout" at the house uggg......I can't win:)

Daddy & Gracie

Mommy & Gracie

Big Bro Georgie

Jacob, Ethan, Griffin, Bianca and Jordan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACIE GIRL!

Opening presents!

Gracie' Turns 7

My baby girl is 7....can you believe it? Her birthday fell on a Wednesday the year and it was on the last day of school AND Jacob had a baseball playoff game which led to very little time to celebrate Gracie's special day. So...we are having a birthday party for her this Saturday at the bowling alley with some friends. 

After the baseball game I took the kids to for ice cream at Meadows and then home so Gracie could open some presents.  Below are some pics....enjoy!

Celebrating Jacob & Gracie's Birthday at School

Me and Little George managed to bring cupcakes to school to celebrate Jacob and Gracie's birthday with their classes - uggg is all I have to say:) Gracie's birthday is June 2nd and Jake's birthday is not until July 24th but the school likes to recognize summer birthdays at the end of the school year (which I thought was nice). Below are some pics of my babies.

Birthday celebrations!

Jacob and his teacher Mrs. Shellenberger!

Jacob the birthday boy!

Gracie and her teacher Mrs. Hart (aka Miss Fosbenner).

Birthday girls of Mrs. Hart's class!

Gracie the birthday girl!

Build-A-Bear with Daisy Troop June 1, 2011

Gracie & her Daisy Troop at Build-a-Bear

I must admit, "encouraging" Gracie to stick with Daisys has been hard task but I think it's one of the best things she has been involved with.  The troop leaders (Miss Ruth and Miss Lori) are not only two remarkable women, but they are outstanding role-models.  I was just amazed at their poise, patience and commitment when it came to troop. 

Daisy Troop 571

Open House - West Creek Hills Elementary

Jacob - Open House - Jake and all the fourth graders sang a few songs with "Fire Flies" being my favorite.

I took a video of it....I just need to upload it (don't hold your breathe).

Jake and Gracie had "Open House" at their school (West Creek Elementary) the last week in May.  I got to see Jacob and the rest of the 4th graders put on a wonderful chorus performance and I visited the kids classrooms to pickup year end projects/assignments that needed to go home.  Gosh...there was so much stuff and God forbid we part with any of it! It was a busy night! This was Jacob's last year at West Creek. Next year he moves over to East Pennsboro Middle School - can't believe he's going into 5th grade and my Gracie girl will be going into 2nd grade - where has all the time gone?

Kids New Spongebob Bathroom

Yeah...I suprised the kids and switched up the bathroom and went with Spongebob - the kids loved it.

Easter 2011

Easter Baskets for my three babies!

A little note and some carrots for the Easter Bunny!

Easter morning!

One of Gracie's Easter dinner place settings.

"Hmmm....wonder if there's anything in here I will like"

This darn plastic covering...."the Easter Bunny makes things harder then they need to be mom"

It was great to have Lil' Geoge home for Easter. He had to head back to college on Easter day so we had an early holiday dinner. I only posted one pic of Gracie's place settings for dinner (made me laugh) but she did that for all five of us - she's so darn cute! Mommy made sure to put out some carrots and a letter for the Easter bunny and in turn the Easter bunny left baskets of goodies for the kidos!

Coloring Easter Eggs

Sadly I missed my babies coloring Easter eggs. I spent the entire day at the ER due to my kidney stones - only to come to find out a few days later that the pain I was having had nothing to do with my kidney stones.  Go figure! Fortunately, Lil' G was home from college and took charge and even managed to take a few pics to share with me while I was at the ER (ahhh...for 5 hours). So...I thought I would share these wonderful pics with family and friends. Enjoy!

A Little Something From Bootcamp

Attached is a picture of a clown that was given to me by a shipmate (Kimberly Hornsby) when I was in bootcamp. I recall her only having so many to handout and I was one of the lucky ones to get one and I managed to hang on to this since 1989 - it literally followed me everywhere I moved and I could never part with it!

Pics of Gracie's Recital Costumes - Just Beautiful