The Wedding

Gwen's godmother got married last weekend, we drove up to Virginia Beach with Mom to the wedding.  We had a really nice time.  I was asked to do a reading, so we had to drive up on Thursday to be there for the rehearsal.  I was fairly nervous about the reading, but I've been told it went well, I am pretty sure they didn't have a videographer, so we'll never have any proof.  Kiki did a great job with the wedding, she was beautiful and since she and her husband met at a dance studio, there was lots of fun dancing!  Of course, by then I was not too into doing anything but sitting in my seat and watching.  The kids danced and danced and danced.  The kids were obsessed with Kiki and kept running up to her and giving her hugs.  We let the kids stay up way past their bedtime and everyone crashed in the hotel. 
We had a great mini-vacation.  The hotel was right on the beach. So the kids played on the beach, the water was cold!  I miss the gulf coast!  The kids didn't care though and played in the waves.  We even saw some dolphins.  We had adjoining rooms with Mom, so we had space, and could sleep in.  It was great! 

Kiki's wedding - free slideshows

More FL pictures

I have more pictures from Florida that I have yet to post. I think we finally have a working computer, so if we weren't visiting the in-laws who don't have internet. But anywhoo here are some pictures mostly from Mom's actually birthday, we went to Lake's Park and Chuck E Cheese. Mom really knows how to party. Or really knows how to show her grandkids a good time.

More party pictures

I tried to do this last night, but I had technical difficulties. So in this slide show I have pictures of the pre-party, which included some pictures that Uncle Ken took; pictures of family, Mom's Ant and cousins (well, I guess my Ant and cousins too!) who came down for the party. That day wasn't the best for the kids. Nate was off schedule and didn't go down for a nap until 3ish, so exhausted, Gwen was tired too, but I couldn't get her to lay down for long enough to fall asleep. My Mom tried, but when I checked on her, I found her putting all the stuff in the room on Nate's head. That girl! Nate woke up shortly before the party and spent the beginning of the party with me holding him, refusing to let me put him down. I took all those "entrance" pictures one handed! Gwen also stuck to me like glue. Nate eventually warmed up and was wandering around dancing and making new friends!
From the adult aspect I think everyone had a good time, at least that is what I have heard. I didn't really get a chance to talk to people, just mostly say a brief hello, and then chase after Nate, again!

Welcome to the White House

So we had this party for my Mom, well I use the word "we" rather liberally, I was just there with the kids to distract Mom from the fact she was turning 60!!! The party was a theme party the '60s. We asked people to bring pictures of themselves from the '60s and dress appropriately. Unbeknownst to Mom she was expected to stand at the door and greet everyone and do a shot of Tang (& vodka). I happened to be standing at the door so I got pictures of almost everybody, Uncle Ken supplied the pictures I didn't get. There seemed to be some confusion about what was going on at the door and why my Mom was dressed as she was so she started to say "Welcome to the White House" so people would understand who she was dressed as.

Enjoy! More later...

Florida trip part I

I am beginning to think I am not a good blogger anymore. I can't believe how bad I have become about posting. UGH! This not working computer situation is really giving my blogging the beat down! As you may have guessed we made it to and from Florida for Mom's big birthday with little to no problems. It wasn't completely smooth sailing, but we all lived to talk about it. Mom's party was a success and I think she might have even had a good time. I will post those pictures later. If anyone reading this has any pictures from then, please send them to me, I would appreciate it, THNAKS!
I was quite nervous about this trip since I would be traveling alone with the kids and although I had secured a direct flight to FL I still had to wrangle kids/car seats and all into the airport by myself and not to mention keep them entertained. (Eric had a lab meeting and couldn't help me into the airport). But the flight down was a breeze, the flight wasn't full so Nate didn't have to sit in my lap, he got his own seat...I think that was what I was most nervous about. We made it to FL no problems and even got to meet Grandpa for lunch at Chic-fil-a, win-win! The only slight problem was Gwen, I had realized the day before the trip, well the night/morning before the trip that I hadn't really reviewed with the kids "what-if" situations, like what to do if we became separated in the airport, what to do if you were lost or who to talk to in those situations. Fortunately we didn't need any of those situations, we all managed to stay together despite the fact I didn't bring a stroller (which all the flight attendents apparently thought I should have, they all asked me, maybe my kids weren't as good as I thought?) On the way to the airport Eric and I were reviewing with Gwen that if anyone asked her what her name was she needed to tell them her real name, and not "Briar Rose". We also tried to review with her what my real name is. Apparently the lesson didn't sink in, because when we got to security lo and behold when asked what her name was she said "Briar Rose". I was so angry, I got down to her level and I said, remember we reviewed this when asked what your name is, what Mommy and Daddy called you what is your name? Well the kid froze up and we stood there for 5 minutes while I tried to coax her into saying "Gwen". She wouldn't or at least wouldn't loud enough for us to hear. GRR! I was so frustrated. But really that was the only glitch, and not really an un-expected one, I guess I should have known to put "Gwen, Briar Rose" on her ticket.
Before the party we had a couple days with Aunt Ellen, Uncle Bill and Uncle Ken and the boys. Here are some pictures from the days leading up to the party...

Vacation!

This is a super long post, sorry about that, but I had to do it this way, for my sanity!
So our week last week when we were on vacation was hectic! We arrived into FL unscathed, as I previously reported. We went from the airport to my Grandfathers place. This picture cracks me up. To me it looks like they are both talking to each other out of the size of their mouths.

Then we checked into our hotel, which had the best kid's pool, Gwen loved it and I snapped tons of pictures, so I put them in a slideshow. Oh, we had the foresight to put her in a swim diaper, but not to find her a bathing suit! And, she went down that slide that was super FAST and if you look closely you can see where it scrapped her back. OOPS! She didn't go down it again, but she so wanted to!

The next day was the big wedding, after more playing at the pool.Here's a picture of Nate at the pool! Poor kid, he did take a nap and then woke up. Apparently someone snapped some shots before he started screaming...Thanks Mom!

Gwen and Grandpa really bonded as you can see by the following set of pictures. Grandpa would offer Gwen his finger and she would take it and walk around. Grandpa would try to teach her phrases like "old grandma" and "granny". Gwen still asks when she is going to visit "Grandpa Dziadzia"(Polish for Grandpa, sounds like ja-ja).

Then we went to the reception and finally the dancing of the children began, you know when all the kids start dancing to the music 'cause the music moves them and they don't care who sees them! Gwen wanted to be involved, she stood on the periphery until Kayla took her by the hand, we don't have any pictures of that but we do have her dancing with kids we don't know!

The next evening was Great Ant & Uncle's 60th anniversary wedding dinner. By this point Gwen was exhausted and kept talking about her baby that she wanted to hug. As seen in the following picture. Kayla wanted to hold Nate so badly, so finally right before we left, he was full and happy, so I let her hold him. (I held onto his hand, 'cause I am a little leery of his ability to sit still and not take Kayla by surprise!)
Interesting side note, we drove back to Mom's house that night after her bedtime and she talked NON-STOP. Mom said that is what I used to do!

Finally we arrived in FMY! (it should be duly noted that my Mother left on time! No coaxing we are all proud! Hi Mom!) The next day Dave and Suzie came for a visit.

The next day Laura and Kaelyn came to visit. Kaelyn wasn't quite sure what to do with that strange girl in Kathy's house, but she kind of warmed up to Gwen, at this point Gwen was still sleep deprived and would talk to anyone. Who knew, that sleep deprivation actually makes her talkative and not so shy!
The next Cecile came over to visit. Eric, Gwen and I were in the pool. Gwen showed off her counting skills she would count Eric to 5 and then he would slide down the slide and squeal! After Cecile left we asked Gwen what she would like for dinner she said 1,2,3,4,5 cookies and counted them on her fingers all while being super charming...we didn't know she could count on her fingers but she certainly knows how to turn on the charm for a treat!
I don't know what we were laughing about, but something was funny...I am pretty sure it was Eric, but I can't remember why. Mom prefers to hold children in her lap like that, so we had to have a picture of her and Nate, why Eric thought I should be in the picture also, I don't know!
Another weird photo from the same night!
Another picture of Gwen and Maddie from our last evening in FL.

No pictures from the plane ride home. We flew during nap time and for some reason, although we were sitting in the same row, we were not next to each other...and none of the airline staff cared. It ended up not being a huge problem, but like I suspected Gwen wanted to sit next to me and then Eric and then me and then stand in the aisle and jump! We were all tired by the end of that trip and Eric announced no more flying during nap times! I think that is a fabulous idea, but life doesn't always work out that way!

So, finally done with all the pictures from the vacation. I still have a LOT of catching up to do and Terry arrives on Friday, plus I have a new addiction Facebook! Why did I sign on to that and I seriously don't have time for blogging facebook and the stuff I need to accomplish by the end of the week! UGH! I have some cute photos I need to post from this weekend, so I will try to get to that and Nate will be 3 months on TH!!!! Well, Gwen is really irritated now, nap time is over but I had to finish this!

We're back

I have a lot of pictures to go through before I can post them. Some are good, some are bad, I will most likely post the good pictures, we'll see. I should say we had a good time and no one was to thrilled with leaving, although with baby Nate who can tell what he wants. Gwen was super excited to ride on the plane and then go on a bus. She was only sad not to ride in another train, like she got to do when we flew into Tampa. More to tell, but frankly, I don't have that kind of time, I must get to bed early! Here are a couple of teaser pictures, the blue-eyes meeting each other.

My cousin's wedding

Our little family.
My cousin's youngest with my youngest! (Apparently Maddie's shirt hurt her so she wouldn't put it back on.) Maddie wanted to hold Nate but he was rather tired, so it was a quick "visit" with Nate.

Last of the FL pictures

I have finally had a chance to post the last of the Florida pictures, you can see in this picture Gwen is pleading with me to rescue her from her Grandma, if I don't help her she will run out the door!

Ok, so that is totally not what is going on in that picture, but it does kind of look like that, doesn't it?
We went to Parrot Key on the last day, an outdoor restaurant, Gwen seemed to enjoy it.
Gwen really warmed up to Grandma on the last day.

Tomorrow, Eric starts to back to school, our fun is over, until August. :(

The pool

Here are some slide shows from yesterday, we took Gwen into the pool she LOVED it! I took so many pictures I could not post them all, so enjoy these slide shows!

I will upload all the videos later.