Our Wild Irish Rose

Today was the big day! Molly's Irish Step Dancing Recital. Okay, so the outfit looks less Irish and more ....foo foo but my girl was a star none the less! My favorite thing about having Molly take Irish Step Dancing is that wherever we are she now skips, hops and does her steps in place - and I mean ALL the time! She loves to dance - is happy dancing - loves the music and her teachers and the comradarie of her school. It is so gratifying as a mother who carts 5 kids to ISD classes some weeks and leaves work early every week to know how happy dancing makes Molly. And the smile on her face when ever she is dancing - watching her beam with happiness. There is nothing better!
Molly girl in her beautiful yellow costume - our perfect ray of sunshine!

Look at that gorgeous face!

Molly and Abby's fan club waiting for the show to start.

Auntie Beth took charge of Lizzie for us so Bob and I could concentrate on Molly!

Abaigeal is ready for some ice cream now that the show is over!

Big brother was very happy to pose for a picture with one of the stars of the show!

Mrs. Nelson - she takes a Sunday away from her husband and boys to come and see Molly and we could not be happier. We love Mrs. Nelson and can't wait until school is over so we can meet down at the beach house and really get to hang out!

My little beauty after the show!

Sister Ancie and Grandma Betty thought Molly did a great job!

Auntie Beth came all the way from California to see Molly in her recital!

Molly and her godparents - what a lucky girl to have so many people come to show her how much they love her!

Cousins - Julia came and sat through the whole show just to see her two cousins dance - now that's love!

My funny faced goddaughter refused to give me a nice smile so this is what we got to commemorate the day!

Silly girls!

Our beautiful girls posing after the recital! Abby did a fabulous job of dancing despite this being her very first recital ever! Abby knew all of the steps and even gave us a smile while she was on stage - and she looked beautiful in her costume!

Auntie Karla gave Molly flowers after the recital. Auntie Ann brought her a beautiful ISD ornament and Mrs. Nelson brought her a book and Molly's favorite part was the inscription inside because it said to "My sweet Molly" and also said "You Rock". What a lucky girl Molly is that so many people support and love her in anythings she does!

Abaigeal Victoria and her flowers!

Auntie Vicki, Nana and Gabrielle came to cheer Abby on. It was kind of cute when we got home and Molly stated how nice it was for Auntie Vicki to come see her in her recital. My kids love Vicki and are always happy to see her - I didn't break the news to Molly!

Auntie Ann, Sister Ancie and Grandma with Molly - girl!

And then with Molly and Abby!

Grammy and Papa with their 2 stars! They were so proud of the girls!

Check out Annie trying to get in on the picture! Too cute!

It was a long and fun day. KK went early and saved oodles of seats (Thank you is not enough!) for us and then we all went to Friendlies for ice cream after the recital. We managed to get the back room at Friendlies and so we could be as loud as we wanted to be! We played a game where everyone gave one thing about each girl's performance that they liked best! Are we blessed in this family or what?

Tomorrow Molly is carrying the banner for her Daisy Troop in the Memorial Day parade and then we are all headed to the beach house for fun with Grammy and Papa! Tomorrow I will post some pictures of Bob's birthday cookout - yes, he turned 41 and he still got a party!

“May the strength of God pilot us, may the wisdom of God instruct us, may the hand of God protect us,

may the word of God direct us."
~Saint Patrick

GNM - ILY!

Just a quick update

I don't have much time tonight to update but wanted to ask for some prayers for Ellie tomorrow. I don't want to go into detail but after a well baby visit with the pediatrician today we have to take Ellie to a specialist tomorrow for a potentially serious issue. I am trying to leave everything in God's hands but for a neurotic mom like me that is no easy task.

In other news Ellie weighed in at 15 pounds 5 ounces - she is gaining weight like crazy and now weighs an enitre pound more than Elizabeth. She is 25 inches long and in the 100% for height and weight - she seems like such a peanut to me! Turns out she is going to be very tall - just like the rest of the kids! She got three shots and her oral polio vaccination. It is absolutely amazing to me the things that they can vaccinate kids for - what a miracle!

Auntie Meg got Annie to push Lizzie in her "flamingo".

My girl has simple tastes! She stayed in the box for several hours playing and watching Dora!

I'm going to need Auntie Meg to explain this one but I suspect it has to do with the "great escape"of her goddaughter!

Everyone once in a while we need free babysitting so Annie fills in - she's actually pretty good at it! She gave each baby a blanket and then sang to them.

Later Annie sat on them, used the babies for pillows and kissed them to the point of suffocation! So she still requires SOME supervision!

Auntie Beth is FINALLY home! She stopped in at Noah Webster and picked up the kids - yes, I let her take the kids out of school early! They thought it was the greatest thing - especially having Auntie Beth come into school and pick them up! Auntie Beth spoiled them with Friendlies and lots of quality time - just what the big kids were in need of. Later on the big kids went up to Auntie Kake's to hang out with all of the aunts and uncles and be further spoiled - what a life! Tomorrow Bob turns 41 - what an old man! We are just having something small because last year's party should last him at least until 50!

GNM - ILY!

Wow, am I getting bad at this! I may resort to just posting pictures to keep everyone up to date - even our weekends get away from me these days! this is such an amazing time in our little family. Annie is talking like crazy and, as everyone knows, when your baby starts talking everything that comes out of their mouth is adorable! Annie is no exception - there were a few days when every sentence ended with "all day", then she entered the "um" phase of imitating Molly by putting um before most words, now we sing everything and, I have to say, this may be my favorite. Of course, now that she is talking, Annie wants to talk on the phone so all of my poor relatives are getting phone calls with a loud Hi and then baby babble for a few minutes followed by a very sweet "bye bye" and the apology from Mommy for making them listen (or not listen)! So that's Annie and the babies are equally as adorable - Lizzie is sitting up and playing all the time while smiling at anyone who makes eye contact and Ellie is almost sitting up and blows rasbperries all the time. Peter is amazingly mature these days - he has long conversations with us about important things and is really interested in hearing what we have to say. Peter is in to Biographies and Autobiographies and he can spend hours telling us about the people he reads about. His teacher is SO cool - she is teaching them about Lou Gehrig and in the process taching the kids about what it would be like to be alive at that time - including all about the cars of the time and all sorts of other stuff. I love hearing Peter's enthusiasm. And Molly did the BEST thing this week - she totally GOT money! Money is terrible to teach kids - my least favorite thing if you ask me - it always seems obvious and easy to me but it takes FOREVER for them to learn it! But my girl has it down cold! Can you say Brilliant? I'm thrilled to be done with trying to act patient!

Ellie had so much fun in the exersaucer that she just got pooped out!How cute is our girl?This is the hat that Annie got in the hospital when she was born - the kids put it on Ellie and it actually looked adorable!Sweet baby girl!She's a thumb sucker - no doubt about it!Molly had a cousins sleepover on Friday night and they all had a blast. Bob went to a movie with Colin so it was just me and the 8 kids - very few pictures!She loves books already!Katie came to visit but didn't get to sleep over - not yet!Molly loving on Katie!Abby and Julia ended up sleeping on the same mattress - Julia was trying to get closer and closer to Abby but Abs kept moving further over - it was very cute! Check out Abby's drool!And then there's the princess all sprawled out! My beautiful goddaughter sleeping!Is there anything better than a toddler with an ice cream cone?Annie wasn't too anxious to leave for the beach with Papa - right?kisses for Mommy and Daddy!Annie and her favorite pal - Papa!Lizzie is sitting up and having a blast!She even looked through the flahscards - brilliant!

What a face - I love the personality on that sweet baby girl! We have a busy weekend - Molly's dance recital, the Memorial Day Parade, memorial Day at the beach house - hint hint, Mom and Dad!

GNM - ILY!