It has been a while!!

I have been having a lot of trouble with my camera so taking many less pictures than normal. That will all change this weekend when my gorgeous goddaughter makes her First Holy Communion and I get my girls in dresses for a day!

We got a special treat a few weekends ago when Katie came over for a visit and ended up getting to sleep over.There is nothing my girls love more than a cousins sleepover. In fact, when the girls got their bunk beds we originally thought one of them might use the trundle bed but they quickly informed us that it was katie's bed. So each of the bedroom's occupied by our children has an extra bed in it for each of Pat and Karla's three kids - kind of cool!

popcorn and melted M&M's for snack!

My beautiful niece, Katie. We love having her at our house anytime that she will come the only problem is that the three little girls fight over her and hug her way too much!

Molly went to the eye doctor a few weeks ago and it turns out that she needs glasses all the time now. I know that they are working because she never takes them off except when she is dancing!

My gorgeous girl in her new glasses. She took Auntie Meg with her to pick them out and ended up with glasses very much like Auntie Meg's -coincidence? I think not!

Brian went to Geece with his high school classes and brought back these adorable and authentic shirts for the kids - they were so excited!

Brian got Ellie a white one with blue stripes and she insisted on wearing it to bed that night!

The three girls were all cuddling on the couch one night and I couldn't resist 1 or 10 or 20 pictures!

I truly am the luckiest mom in theworld - those smiles melt my heart!

My favorite one because they were giggling like crazy! Oh - Yeah and that night Auntie karla had brought over bags of Katie's clothes that no longer fit her and my girls instantly put them on because they wanted to smell like Katie! Not sure if that is adorable or creepy!

Annie and Lizzie are looking less and less alike as they get older!

Each and every day - at least once a day - I look at my kids and wonder what I did to get so lucky. How did I end up with the bright, beautiful and loving kids?

I could stare at these pictures all day!

Funny faces!

My dancing star - she was so excited that Molly let her put some pre-wrap in her hair and I could not believe how gorgeous she looked!

I love that little freckle face! I can't believe she is going to be a 1st grader next year - where did my baby go?

I just thought this was hysterical. Our grille bit the dust so I got Bob one for his birthday - it came fully assembled and we were thrilled but getting it home was a challenge. Bob got the boys to each take a side and they walked it home fromWalmart since it didn't fit in the van.

My pear blossom tree is blooming - Spring is now officially here!

Lila and meg spent the afternoon with us in the backyard last wekend and Lila could not get enough of Molly - girl. I love how dirty Lila's face got -that girl can play hard!

Annie loving on Daddy - Annie said she loves Spring because she can wear dresses and get dirty and play outside all the day long! Love that kids philosophy on life!

Bob took this picture because it has to be a record of some sort - Molly and I were leaving the house at 6am for a feis in Stamford,CT - it took us 2 hours to get there and we were exhausted by the timewe got home! Molly got a third in her Hornpipe - her hardest dance so we were very excited and proud of her!

The kids got to pay $5 and wear their only clothes to school today so they were very excited!

My sweet girls!

This is my absolute favor - Annie loves being the big sister!

GNM - ILY!

April Vacation

The kids were off from school a few weeks ago so we decided to take a little mini vacation. I got to pick the destination and I had always wanted to take the kids to Plymouth Rock so that's where we headed after work on Monday.

When we got to Plymouth at 8:30 all the kids wanted to know was whether the pool was still open. The front desk told us that it closed at nine but if we went to our room and got dressed quickly they would keep it open for a while for us. They ended up letting the kids swim until 10pm - they were very sweet because the hotel was not as crowded as usual.

The big kids loved the slide but Lizzie kept going to the top and deciding not to come down.

Peter loved the waterfall.

My five babies loving the pool!

We thought the kids would sleep late because of the late night swim but they were up at 7am and ready for breakfast and our day exploring Plymouth Rock.

The girls - always waiting for big brother to get ready!

The five kids could not get to the Rock - little did they know that it is literally a rock!

The littles in their "Best Sister" shirts!

Annie was not so sure about the plans for the day!

Molly loved the breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes!

There was something on my lense and the kids could not stand still for long to take a picture because it was freezing in Plymouth and Mom had planned for more spring like weather so all we brought was sweatshirts!

Underwhelmed by Plymouth Rock!

Skipping stones in the water!

Daddy and his boy

Annie making a wish. She later confided that her wish was to become a mermaid - I love her imagination!

Molly's wish - for us to let her wear make-up out of the house!

We are ready to explore Plymouth Plantation - we had so much fun before we even left the play area!

Annie dressed in colony clothes.

Ellie loved the dress up clothes!

Lizzie loved making turkey stew!

Pioneer women doing the laundry.

Molly Girl having fun in the puppet theater.

We headed out to the Native American camp site - the kids loved the pontoons made from large trees.

Annie thought it was like sailing in Papa's PTMAKKEE

Molly Girl loved the boats - she paddled for a long time but didn't get anywhere!

Twin Hugs!

The warmest place we visited all day - the Indian camp - there were dead animal skins everywhere - not my favorite place but it was warm at least!

Peter thought our Indian guide was awesome!

The six loves of my life!

Watching the woodworkers make a bed.

And then we headed to an English colony from the 1700's!

Outside a colonist house.

Our girls love the farm animals!

The kids thought Papa would love these wood piles!

Pete missed his Papa -must have sent him10 pictures a day!

Our little Lady Bug!

People kept asking if Lizzie and Annie were twins and Lizzie kept correcting them that Ellie was her twin - Annie just nodded her head yes to confuse everyone!

My beautiful girls!

Mama's Boy!

Lizzie made me take a picture of her with this puzzle so grammy could see - she did it all by herself.

making more stew!

After four hours at the plantation the kids were more than ready for a relaxing swim - for four hours!

And then we headed back to the room for a pizza and sleep - they were exhausted!

The last picture of the trip is Peter with the remote control to the video games - he wanted a picture of it since we would not let him play it during our family vacation! We had a great time in Plymouth - the kids loved the plantation and Bob and I loved getting some time with the kids away from homeand all the chaos!We are so lucky to be able to take these little vacations and show the kids some of New England but they all missed Grammy and papa and could not wait to get home and tell them about our trip. If our kids had their way they would take every trip with Grammy and papa!

GNM - ILY!