Once Upon A Dream

Gram went home on Wednesday...
She was almost 90. We can still feel her love.

Gabby has been wanting her hair short for a long time. Melinda cut it for her the other day. She loves it, and we have to say, it is pretty cute!

We will be gone for the next week....
To Disney and then to celebrate Gabby's 5th birthday!
See you soon!

After surprising the girls at the airport with news that we were flying (for their first time) down to Florida to go to the Magic Kingdom, we had a wonderful vacation full of fun, laughter, and lots of good memories....Here are many of the pictures from the trip....(caution/video is @ 7 minutes long)

The girls had the opportunity to be in the family fun parade on Main Street and Woody's round up parade in Frontier Land!

Today is Gabriella's 5th birthday! What was life like before she was born? We can't remember. She is just a bundle of joy and energy. We celebrated with our family last friday night when we got home from our trip. On Saturday morning, we took a small group...some friends...mostly family (a girl party plus Daddy) into Manhattan to the American Girl Cafe. We had a birthday brunch and the girls had their pictures taken with their dolls. It was really a cute and unique experience. Aunt Mandy snapped some portrait pictures before the party, and we are including the photo's that some (Gabby, Gillian, and Kailey) of the girls took at the cafe.

So Gabby is in bed now...sleeping, and our whirlwind of a 5th birthday is over. We arrived back in New York after our vacation and had a family party for Gabby at Amanda and Steve's house. She wanted to have a Charlie and Lola theme party. Charlie and Lola is a cartoon on the Disney channel...it is very cute- if you have never seen it. Lola is a precocious little sister with a british accent...which Gabby can mimick pretty well. The birthday video includes many of the pictures from Friday night's party and the trip to the American Girl Cafe that we had the next morning. Today, we had a special birthday dinner and Gabby helped to design and make her own cake. If you can't see it...there are gummy worms around the outside of the cake...! Oh- to be five!

Here is the photo from our annual visit to the mall Bunny!

We finished our first 250 books of the 1000 book project. I was really impressed. There was a ton of great books. Gabby really looks forward to reading the books everyday....Gillian, too. It is great for me because I don't have to spend a ton of time trying to find the books myself at the Library. When we were in Staten Island, it was so convenient to use the Library right down the street...there were tons of programs for Gabby starting at a young age, and we started going to the library regularly when she was still a baby. I have to admit that we went to the library, here, once...but this book club is so great that we haven't had a need to go. Gabby met with the Librarian, Mrs. Sogoian, today at the school where she will go to elementary school, and she was awarded a ribbon.

So....we were told that it was going to snow. That didn't happen, but we did get some very pleasant weather today. It was nice enough to haul out the bikes... and go for a wagon ride around the neighborhood.

We celebrated an Irish Easter this weekend. Dave's family came to visit, and we had to fit so many activities into the 24 hour period....because this was our celebration for St. Patrick's Day and Easter....so this update has many parts. It was one extremely fun activity after another. The girls were wiped....

When everyone first arrived, we exchanged some gifts and dove right into coloring eggs. Earlier in the day, Gabby helped to make some really cute and delicious Bunny cupcakes.

Grammy made her special secret Irish Soda Bread recipe that everyone loves. Aunt Lena brought Irish hot chocolate....It was green!

The girls painted ceramic eggs with egg cups. They also played with window gels and made foamy crosses

While all the crafts were happening, the dads were outside hiding eggs for a big egg hunt. Some of the eggs were not so hidden!

To end the party weekend, we had a massive silly string fight in the driveway!
It was so sad to say, "Goodbye".

We were away in West Pennsylvania...as Gabby states... Celebrating Easter with the St. Marys, Kersey, Johnsonburg etc...bunch! Meme really packed in the activities... The first bunch of pictures are of the girls playing with Aunt Nic, Connor, Meme....doing foamy crafts (crosses and hat/visors) and coloring eggs! Gabby was also showing Melinda what she has been learning at drum lessons.

One day...we flew some kites...(with help from Papa and uncle Tim). Both girls fell completely in the mud. It was fun!

Easter Bunny came....after Gabby left a trail of marshmallows for him to follow? Since when were marshmallows a food associated with bunnies? We don't know...but Gabby was sure that was what Easter Bunny wanted. Either way...Gillian would eat the marshmallows for him. I'm not sure if you can see her stuffed mouth in the picture.

We went to Meme and Papa's church on Sunday morning...and then out to Aunt Becky and Uncle Louie's house for Easter dinner and fun....more egg hunting, cousin hugging, egg tossing, and dessert eating!

Glenn, Anita, and Gianna stopped by our house for a visit yesterday! The girls were so happy to see each other!

Gabby spent some time at her school this morning participating in Pre-School Story Hour. She will be starting Kindergarten in the fall, but the school prepares the incoming students by helping to aclimate them to the environment. She stayed in the Library with the other students and librarian for some stories about bugs....while the parents went into another room to talk to the reading specialist about enhancing story time at home. It was fun for the children and interesting for the parents. Then the children came into the room with us, and we made spider hats.

When we got home from the school, we had a surprise package waiting for us. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Cathy sent Easter treats. Thanks so much...they loved everything, but the duck and rabbit soap was the big hit!

Walking in a winter wonderland......