Bowling Party

Today was Marissa's birthday party with her friends. She chose to have a bowling party which is funny since she's never even been bowling but has always wanted to.

She's ready to roll!
My neice Nikki.....(not posting pics of all the kids but I did take everyone's pic with the ball)Marissa & Nikki were up first--they were on opposing teams.Gianna got to bowl too. We had a seperate lane for the 3 younger kids that were there. They were funny to watch!My nephew Tyler--this was the best pic I could get! The kid is a riot!Gianna loved this thingy that helped them bowl--she kept dragging it around playing train or something.Group shot--see there really were more than just 4 kids there! LOL!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Marissa....

Everyone at the party....they were so wound up by the end--you'd swear I was serving sugar instead of pizza but it just shows they had a good time. Marissa was excited when she got a bowling pin signed by her friends to keep.

The funniest part was when we were leaving & the kids were changing out of the bowling shoes....Marissa says "These shoes are so nice & comfy!" Never heard of anyone liking the shoes at a bowling alley but there's always a first!

365: Week of May 24

Sun. May 24 #144

Today we went to the garden center & picked up flats of flowers & flower baskets for the yard. I keep planters by the front & garage doors & then hang some colorful baskets around the patio. This is my favorite--the colors are all so pretty mixed together!

Mon. May 25 #145

Our town has a Memorial Day parade & we go to watch Marissa march with her Brownie troop. The kids pass out candy & feel important. Marissa's towards the middle with white pants. It was nice & warm but not hot--perfect parade weather!

Tues. May 26 #146

Awhile back I found that I had a lot of those acrylic box frames. Not my style anymore but I thought they'd be ok for the laundry room since I'm the only person that really goes in there. At some point I had the idea to glue them all together in a collage of sorts and now they are the 1st thing you see when you walk in the room---good to distract your eyes from the mountain of laundry!

Wed. May 27 #147

Today at Gianna's pre-school her 2 friends (they're twins) had a birthday party & all the kids got a fun balloon sculpture to bring home. She loves her rainbow!

Thurs. May 28 #148

Word of the day--"DE-CLUTTER". I felt like every room had some sort of clutter in it & I had enough! I tore apart the mess in my laundry room & all this stuff now has a new home other than my laundry room!!

Fri. May 29 #149

My neat & tidy space in my recently de-cluttered laundry room! Still a few things that need to be put away but NOTHING like the craziness it was! I'm happy now!

Sat. May 30 #150

This year Marissa chose to have her birthday party at a bowling alley. Slightly strange considering she's never been bowling before, but that's what she wanted & it seemed like a good idea to me too. The kids all had so much fun! Some of the kids weren't bad at it either! At the end Marissa got a bowling pin signed by all her friends which she treasures!

Memorial Day

We spent the morning watching the Memorial Day parade in town. Marissa marches with her Brownie troop & we cheer her on.

Joe was trying to keep Gianna warm since she felt cold. But it was really a perfect day for a parade, not cold but not hot.

My American girl.....Here they come....
Marissa's sort of in the middle with white pants

Here she comes to bring her sister a special piece of candy....

Happy Memorial Day!!!

New Moon

I have no words......just eye candy.....

365: Week of May 18

Sun. May 17 #137
Today at church was "May Crowning". They invited all the kids that received their 1st Communion this year to come & participate. I think the girls enjoyed it more than the boys--they got to dress up in their beautiful gowns again!

Mon. May 18 #138

Marissa's officially 8 yrs old today! She's been on party high all day! Love her to pieces! Tues. May 19 #139
Got some scrapping goodies today....LOVE the happy colors of ZING!

Wed. May 20 #140

Target run! Love that place! Always finding a reason to go there at least once a week!
Thurs. May 21 #141

The girls had their dentist check ups today. I am happy to say that they both had no cavities -- shocking from all the sweets they eat!! I have never met anyone happy about going to the dentist but both of them love it! Guess the goodies bags at the end have something to do with it....

Fri. May 22 #142

I had sent Joe out to buy envelopes for Marissa's thank you cards from her Communion & also for her b-day party invites. I needed a size that would fit a 4x6 pic. He came home with 3 different sized envelopes but nothing that I could use! Need to bring these back to Staples! Oh & the envelopes?? I went out myself & found the perfect size at Michael's! LOL!

Sat. May 23 #143

Today Marissa informed us that we couldn't go into the den because she was working on a surprise for us. So Joe, Gianna & I watched a movie in the family room while we waited. Hours later we each got handwritten invitations to see her surprise. She had built her Webkinz their own "house". She detailed just like one of the rooms she has online. And it's now home to "JJ" & "Tweety"!

Wanna Play Catch-Up??

Today, as promised, I made a point of finishing up the 8 posts or so that I've been procrastinating about posting. I'm now down to 2 left that need to be posted but hey Rome wasn't built in a day!

So if you're really interested in my life here's what I've posted so far....

Marissa's Birthday

Birthday Girl

May Crowning

Spirit of NY

Gianna's Dance Recital

365 Week of May 4

365 Week of April 27

365 Week of April 20

I Repeat!

Yes I know I've said it before ~~I'm a bad blogger~~. I know it! I've been off track with everything lately! Cleaning, laundry, blogging, scrapping...well cleaning I've always been off track on but you know what I mean! LOL!

I really have been getting better....baby steps....today I worked on some older posts that I need to post & I also have caught up with printing out my 365 pics....pretty much anyway! I was missing so many pics....then I took some "filler" shots thinking I took too many...then I thought I didn't have enough....but I did. Still with me?? LOL!

Just realized how that sentence just kept going! English teachers all over must be getting the chills!

With that said, I'm going to bed!

Sincerely,
Bad Blogger

Eight is GREAT!!

My firstborn baby...the girl that made me a mother, turned 8 today!

Makes me think about things like....in 2 years she'll be 10...10 years from now she'll be driving....in 10 years she'll be going off to college---OMG!! These years will just fly by like these 8 years have! I know I'm putting the cart before the horse as Joe would say.....or you might be thinking....Wow! That chick knows how to add! LOL!!!

Here she is all 8 years of her. We have a tradition that you get to pick where you want to go out to eat on your birthday & she chose Friendly's. I offered to make her a cake (again) but she opted for Joe bringing one home from the bakery. See that smile on her face? I caught her going through her gift bags!! LOL!! Sneaky sneaky!!

Marissa made out pretty good this year in Webkinz...she informed me that she's got 23 all together....she has no idea how lucky she is....but then again so are we to have her as our daughter! Love her!

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY MARISSA!!!

I LOVE YOU!!

Birthday Girl

Today has been very hectic! Got up & baked cake. Went to May Crowning at Church, then came home to frost the cake. It took about 2 1/2 hrs to frost the cake & it would've been faster if my hand didn't cramp up early on!

We had family over to celebrate Marissa's 8th birthday today. He actual birthday is tomorrow so we just had everyone over for cake & coffee today. She'll have a real party with her friends soon which she's really looking forward to since she chose to have it at a bowling alley. That should be fun!!

I let Marissa choose her cake & this year she's been all "Tween-like", so it was no surprise that she chose "Hannah Montana" for her cake.
Marissa's never been big on having "Happy Birthday" sung to her. When she was younger she'd freak out when everyone sang to her but she's getting better.After cake she got to the good stuff...PRESENTS!!! She got some CUTE clothes, which I wish I could find in my size! LOL!She even got some clothes for her Webkinz--see the happy smile??The smile gets bigger! She knew by the size what this one was---DS games!!
Best of all (in my opinion) were the gift cards she gets to go shopping with!Marissa with my neice Nikki. They're just about the same age & BFF!! Love them both!

Marissa's super excited for her birthday tomorrow!! She requested that I bake brownies for her class instead of cupcakes since as she says "Mom you make the BEST brownies!"....well honey actually Betty Crocker makes the best brownies Mommy just bakes them for you! LOL!

May Crowning

Oh yeah I haven't been lying that it's once thing after another around here. Today at church, they had all the kids who received Communion come back dressed in their finery to participate in the "May Crowning". It was nice seeing the kids all together dressed up (although not all the kids showed up--apparently is wasn't mandatory)

Here they are walking into the church. Sorta looks like multiple wedding couples...

After the Mass, the kids went outside with the priest to crown Mary, & lay flowers on the statue after a short prayer. It wasn't as nice outside as it was the day of her communion, it was actually windy & pretty cold but it was sunny & thankfully didn't rain. There's Marissa's veil flying up. And no I did not do her hair all done up again....she fought me on it but there just wasn't any time. I think it looks nice down as a contrast to her dress.

Here's the group of them with Father Pat. Don't they all look sweet??This is Marissa's friend from her 2nd grade class. They weren't in CCD together or receive communion together so they were happy to be with each other today....& compare dresses. Her friend was the one who actually crowned Mary (they drew names from a hat).Afterwards we went home, got changed & got ready for round 2...Marissa's birthday party!