Maddie's 5!

A big milestone, Maddie is 5!  To celebrate turning 5 and starting school in the Fall, she wanted to get her ears pierced, so that was her big gift. I went to the mall on the Saturday before her birthday to check out the place to get ears pierced and asked when they would have two people to do it.  They told me there would be two people there all day and not again during the week, so I came home and told Maddie that if she wanted to get them pierced, she could do it that day.  I then realized that I never told her it was going to hurt.  So I had to explain that it would feel like a shot and be over quickly and then she started to have second thoughts.  So I told her that she didn't have to do it and could wait until she's older and she said she'd wait.  I told her I would ask her again when Emmie woke up from her nap.  When Emersyn woke up, I asked her if she wanted to go and she looked at me and said, "I think I'll wait.  No (then paused)....let's go, let's do it, let's go right now!"  It was as if she wanted to go real quickly before she changed her mind.  She did great, closed her eyes, squeezed my hands and did not cry.  She got pretty butterfly earrings and loves them.  We had our families over on the weekend before and then had a little ice cream party with a few friends during the week and went to the waterpark on her actual birthday.  Then Grandma had a little party for her at their house the day after.  Once again, Maddie had a week-long celebration for her "day"! 

Our favorite party guest, baby Andie!

Doctor Moskal in her personalized lab coat from Aunt Kim!

Ice cream party with the girls

Dress up, of course.  What is Maddie?!  A sleeping beauty reindeer?  Hmmm..



Emersyn One Year and Madeline 5 Year Pictures

Baby Andie Marie has arrived!

We are so excited to have a niece and baby cousin in the family!!!  Andie Marie arrived safe and sound on July 17th early in the morning.  On the 16th, Chris and I went with Geordie and Mary to DC to see Rock of Ages at the National Theater and went out to dinner.  Mary was 13 days away from her due date and looked amazing and did not seem a bit like labor was about to start.  We almost got their car locked in the parking garage, not realizing it had closed at 6 pm (oops).  By the grace of God, the parking attendant answered the phone number that was posted and came and let us get the car out.  Lucky for all of us, we were able to get home by 9:30, but especially lucky for Mary and Geordie since Mary's water broke around 1 a.m.  After an uneventful labor and delivery, she came out perfectly!  We can't wait to watch her grow up, being so close to our girls.  We love you Andie!

  Have you ever seen a more glowing, beautiful post-delivery mother and baby?

The proud Papa

So alert, day 1!

Our visit, the day they came home.  Maddie loves her baby cousin!

Andie at one month

As you can see, she's a real high maintenance baby.  She is very content and so sweet!

California Trip

We had a great family trip to California in July.  Chris's cousin Michaela got married and the wedding wat at his Aunt Liz's house in Fallbrook, CA.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  It felt like we were in Tuscany, their house and property are amazing.  It was a non-stop trip with the rehearsal dinner, a winery, Legoland, San Diego, Carlsbad Beach, Disneyland, Huntington Beach, and Hollywood!  Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it!  It was a 9 day long adventure with the girls which included some creative solutions such as Emmie sleeping in her pack-n-play in the hotel bathroom (it was very spacious!) so that she slept longer/better.  They both did great and it was wonderful to see all of the Cronins (Chris's mom's side of the family) and spend lots of time with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Samie.  The highlight of Maddie's trip was spending time with Cece and Justina, Chris's cousins.  They hit it off right away and Maddie was so sad to say goodbye to them.  We spent one day at Disneyland with them which was surely one of our best days!

Look out Charlie's Angels!

Rehearsal dinner at a beautiful restaurant on the water at sunset

Chris's Uncle Terry and his wife Marisa (Cece and Justina's parents)

Love this picture of Chris's Aunt Maureen, mother of the bride.  She looked beautiful and had such an adoring look on her face when her daughter walked down the aisle.

Emmie played in this car for about 30 minutes at the reception.  One of the perks of a backyard wedding for those of us with kids there :)

We spent a day in San Diego at Balboa Park, drove around to see amazing views of the coast, and ended up at Carlsbad Beach

Pictures on the beach near our hotel

Check out this guy paddle boarding with 3 dogs on his board!!!

First night in Anaheim at the Rainforest Cafe (we were trying on silly hats)

Our first day at the parks we had a Princess breakfast at Ariel's Grotto with the Cronins

Coolin' off

We tested everyone's endurance by staying ALL day until fireworks...and they were still smiling :)

Our second day at the park started with another character breakfast.  We saw so many it was great, although this time Emmie was not so crazy about the big fluffy ones.  She's never acted scared of anything before, it was sort of funny to see.

Pixie Hollow to see the Fairies

Fawn

Vidya and Tink

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Chinese theater in Hollywood

Big sister, Little sister love

Our last night before flying home. 

p.s. Emersyn did not sleep at all on the plane to CA and slept for 30 minutes on the way home.  Made for a long flight, but no real crying thank goodness!