In which we gain a cousin.

After waiting a long, long time for Squishy's arrival...well, really Squishy was 4 days early, it just felt like a long time....WE HAVE A COUSIN!

The same weekend of Gillian's recital, the selling of our house, and the buying of our new house, Aunt Cedes and Uncle D welcomed the arrival of their first SON! We have a baby boy cousin! Thomas Christopher made his appearance bright and early on a Sunday morning and BOY is he cute! I was able to get away to see him in the hospital the evening after he was born. And claimed my rights as his only Aunt to cuddle and snuggle and kiss his little noggin.



After Tommy, Aunt Cedes, and Uncle D were settled at home for a few days, we took dinner over and introduced the cousins to each other! Oh, and Uncle Michael got to meet his nephew too!

Colin took this picture of Tommy:


And Gillian took this one:





Diesel enjoyed the wrapping paper we brought:


Colin and Mr. Tommy! I know Colin looks skeptical, but he ASKED to hold the baby!


The Three Musketeers!


Miss G and her little cousin! And immediately after this Gillian discovered that Tommy had leaked all over her....so, a good introduction!


We are SO happy that Tommy is here! We are looking forward to watching him grow and having tons of fun with him!

Recital time!

After four days up north with Grammy and GraGra for some Beechwoods Bible School, Colin and Gillian returned home just in time for Gillian's dance recital. The recital she has been anticipating for about eight months.

After quiet time, I got Gillian all ready to go. We did a ballet bun, a smidgen of mascara (holy cats), and some blush. G was on cloud nine.


At the high school we were met by Grammy, Papa Frank, Dickiedoo and Noonie. And GraGra and Papa had driven over from our house with us. So we were a CROWD! I took G backstage while everyone else took their seats.

TA DA! (The lipgloss was another highlight for G.)



And one quick picture with the Mama before I left her with the backstage Mom and took my seat!


No pictures or videos allowed inside the auditorium. Sorry. But Gillian was fantastic! She did most of the steps, looked at the audience, and even smiled at the end when she was supposed to. Papa Frank said she looked like an angel! She was wonderful.

At the first intermission after G's dance, we all left. Sorry to all the other dancers. But Colin was NOT going to sit through any more recital. He just wasn't. I collected Gillian, who immediately insisted on getting out of her costume because it was ITCHY. And she NEEDED to collect her flowers from her grandparents that she was SURE she was getting.

Oh look, she was right.


Colin wanted to know where HIS flowers were. Gillian was gracious enough to share.




That is one HAPPY girl.


We had a nice (if not long) dinner at Eat n' Park with ALL the family, even Uncle D and Aunt Cedes came! All in all I think it was a great first recital experience for our bitty ballerina!

Father's Day 2013

Honestly, I cannot remember what we did on Father's Day. It was a very low key day, as requested by Daddy. I know we grilled some steaks and had homemade pesto pasta. And took some pictures.




I remember Daddy telling me that he had a good Father's Day and had all he asked for. So, let's just call it a win.

The Funnest Place. Ever.

(Sorry I went missing. In the last two weeks we have listed our house, sold our house, bought a house, had a dance recital, welcomed a new nephew into our family, and, you know, all the other normal stuff!)

A few weeks ago Daddy's company had their summer picnic at Kennywood Park. Daddy and I have always enjoyed going to Kennywood as they have about five roller coasters to enjoy (three nice wooden ones!). BUT, Colin and Gillian have never been there! It's so close! But we've chosen, in the past two years, to drive over to Idlewild for our amusement park fun. This year we thought we'd check out Kennywood. Besides, the advertising was working on Colin and he NEEDED to see the Black Widow ride.

First up, we took the kids on the ONLY roller coaster they were tall enough to ride on. It was their first roller coaster ever.....and it might be their last for a while.



Colin did look a little skeptical there, huh? Well, they both reported that the roller coaster was "too fast, too hilly, and too curvy." BUMMER. Mommy and Daddy like roller coasters!

So, off to Kiddy Land. Yay.




THIS is the ride they ended up liking best. The mini-roller coaster. They rode it about fifteen times.






More fun!










Daddy was actually along too! He just took all the other pictures!


Goofy.


So, we had a great day! Colin declared Kennywood the "Funnest place EVER!" and he insisted that we needed to return the next day.

Up-do!

Gillian has been growing her hair for months! She wanted a "real ballerina bun." And, here we are, two weeks before her recital and TA DA! We made it! Miss Mary Ellen, our hair lady, was kind enough to do this today! Let's hope Mommy can do a repeat performance!

Oh, Momo.

Our bestest, furry friend.

Slippy Fun!

A few weeks ago, the kids and I picked up a $5.99 slip n slide at Aldis. GREAT fun. As long as this thing holds up, I think we will entertained by it quite a bit this summer!





This is G's "G.I. Jane" army crawl.