Spring Showers.....

Okay, so April was a bust for me as far as blog entries......

the quick update is we dressed up for Easter

(to make everyone think we actually made it to church!!)

Ava had her first haircut....

And in between the rainy, cold days we made the best of it with backyard adventures..

and of course a trip to the cape over April vacation,

which was colder than the trip we took in March!!

As the saying goes, April Showers bring May flowers....

and my niece Grace Harper Strazzulla, born on May 1st, was our first flower of spring

 Uncle Chris and Auntie Erin were proud to welcome this little princess

to their growing family....

And a few days later we made cupcakes for Auntie Erin's Birthday...

but she never got to try one because how do you tell toddlers

"good job decorating honey, but that's not for you"

yeah right.......

And one of my favorite memories so far this month will have to be fishing with

Grandpy at the Webster marina.....one of the stupidest places we have ever decided

to take these two fishing

The fishing was good....almost too good, because everytime they put their pole

in the water they pulled up a fish.....which meant grandpy was doing a lot of work....

and that dingy dock was really swaying!!

But once I convinced the kids to "sit and fish"....I was able to relax....and these pictures tell the story!

I'm not sure who was smiling more, me.....the kids....or my Dad!!
HAPPY MAY EVERYONE!!!

Stop and Smell the Roses

 "And

 I

 think

 to

 myself

 what

 a

wonderful

world"



Ava's turns Two.....Candy for everyone!!

A long overdue entry......but better late than never.

We celebrated Ava's 2nd birthday

March 2, 2012 with a Candyland theme.  Last year she was an innocent

ballerina with no idea what was going on....

fast forward to this year and she has already perfected the

I-just-did-something-I-wasn't-suppose-to-but-its-okay-because-it's-my-birthday look!!

Again....we like to consume entire weeks with birthday celebrations and this milestone would be no different.  We danced on the rock and celebrated spring coming early....

got dirty and looked to big brother Tyler for a helping hand.

And what celebration would be complete in New England without a

forecast change to snow the day before the party.  Enter Grandpy to the rescue

for a little pre-party sleding.

And as Tyler was distracted outside and Ava was taking a nap

Mommy had a chance to think about how things changed from this....

to this....

from this....

to this.....

and then I decided I had better pull myself together before guests started to arrive.

The big day was a success....starting with chocolate chip pancakes....

 a wardrobe change to a cute little dress that Meme bought her

(eventhough Mommy had a cute little birthday girl shirt ready for her.....

this was the outfit she had to have!)

 We even ordered a "simple" cake from a local bakery....candyland themed and totally chocolate...

it would have been awesome if my loving husband had just put it on the floor

when driving it home instead of tilted...on the front seat....just begging for disaster!!

Luckily it tasted fantastic and for a 2 year old who loves chocolate that's all that mattered...

 She opened gifts... 

 laughed with cousins....

and enjoyed every minute of her special day. 

Happy Birthday Ava!!

Superbowl Time!!

So I get a call from my Mom a few weeks ago that went something like this:

Mom: " So I just bought this groupon for a catered superbowl

party from some place in westborough, MA."

Me: "okay......."

Mom: "So who's going to have a party??"

And just like that, we were hosting this years Superbowl festivities.....

Ava was so excited she tried on many different outfits.

but after a visit from her cousin, who set her straight,

she decided on this little number...

and I am especially proud of her accent pieces (i.e. the giant slim jim and D-fence head piece)

The only problem was that her jersey was actually one of Tyler's

which left me running around at every store I could think of

to try to find him a Patriots jersey......the day of the superbowl.....

I would have settled for Patriots ANYTHING but everyone was sold out!!

So I found this outfit, tucked behind piles of toddler clothing....

after convincing my 3-year-old son that Diego was a much better quarterback than Tom Brady....

it was a big hit!!

And so we had the usual suspects over....ate way too much....and drank until it looked like the Patriots were actually playing well!!!

We also had some new visitors this year....

9 month old twin boys Ian and Connor Tobey, who fit right in!!

and after my kids polished off two chocolate cupcakes....and the sugar set in....

these two weren't the only ones looking for a way out !!

And because the game started at 6:30pm....most of our guests left before the game even began!!

Leaving Me, Joe and my parents to enjoy Madonna's half-time show....

and may I say that my mother's comments during her performance

made hosting the party totally worth it!!

Maybe next year Patriots.....maybe next year!!