Mackie's 5th Birthday

On Monday, July 27th we celebrated Mackie's 5th birthday. We started the morning by looking through her albums from birth. I still can't believe she is FIVE! Not quite sure why this still surprises me because I am sure you can all atest, that her attitude and behaviors mimics that of a 14 year old.

We had her Fished Themed pool party at Baba and Pop-Pops's.

All 7 of them

The kids started off swimming while I put out all of the food. Once everyone arrived, they dried off to eat dinner. We are very blessed with a wonderful family- Baba and Pop-Pop, Aunt Nicki, Uncle Steve and their 4...Jessica, Ryan, Josh and Danny, Aunt Laurn and Uncle Scott, Mr. and Mrs. Shipley, Uncle Bill & Aunt Nicole and their 2...Emma and Madeline, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Danielle with their 2...Cambelle and Chloe.

Maddie- loves that hand!


Matt and Scott - I think Matt is mid-bite...

Cambelle

For all of you that know Danielle...just picture her saying in her lovely Brittish accent - "Oh, Hellooo!"

HI Nicole!

Matt and his Mom

After dinner it was time for the cake-shaped pinata. Mackie was up first, then it went from smallest to tallest.

Aunt Lauren and Maddie watching the festivities

Mackie taking the first hit.

Matt's assisting those not quite tall enough...

Go Emma!

Danny was full-speed ahead all on his own!

Gia's crush sent candy flying everywhere!

Mackie sporting the top of the pinata. Which I must say, made a lovely cake hat.

Then we headed inside for cake. Check out the cute fish...I made it all by myself. Oh yeah, Betty Croker- move over!

After cake, Mackie wanted to go back swimming. So off they went!

This is what I did to entertain myself while people swam. I was determined to get a picture of Doggy, the huge fish, with his mouth open. I wasn't quite successful but you can still see how hugggeee he is!

At the top, center picture is the strangest looking fishy that swims sideways...literally! He is always "belly up".

Jeff and Matt had to leave for a softball game. Well, not just any game, it is the final round of the play-offs. Unfortunately they lost, but after the game, Jeff and Danielle brought the girls back for swimming.

Chloe - snacking on some pretzels

Baba had made hot chocolate for the kids when they got out of the pool. This mixed with the candy from the pinata, sure kept them going....

and going...

and going...

Mackie was the last kiddie out of the pool! This was about 9:45 pm!

As the party came to an end, kiddies started passing out left and right. The first to go out was Joshie, followed by Gia and Kaylee.

Josh and Gia

Gia


Shocker! Mackie is still up ready to party!

We finally left Baba's at about 11 pm, not bad for a 5 year olds birthday party!!

Sunday July 26

On Sunday, we enjoyed the afternoon swimming at Baba's, eating Pop-Pop-Pop's delicious grilled steak, and devouring ice cream cones.

Mackie

Gia hanging onto Mr. Dino

Oopps..forgot to rotate...Nicki and Josh

Kaylee a.k.a. my little mermaid

Part of the Gang...

The other half...

Gia and Pop-Pop

For some reason, after this photo, everyone wanted to show me an open-mouth smile. I think Gia totally wins...with me a close second! You be the judge...

Ryan and Kaylee

Daniel

It seems af though Casey wanted to join in on the fun, but then chose to lick instead!

Our Weekend

So on Friday, after a stressful morning spent at court (too depressing to get into details on here, but in a nut shell- my ex is nuts!), we decided to have a "Movie Day" at Baba's house. We gathered our favorite blankies and hopped into our comfy clothes and off we went to enjoy a showing of "Bedtime Stories".

Ryan, Baba and Joshie

Saturday we spent the morning running errands, which included Target and the Petco. Kaylee's fish had become a floater last week, and it was time to replace him. The girls enjoyed an afternoon with Matt outside, cleaning the garage, blowing bubbles and playing with a neighbor. In the evening, we geared up to head to Jeff and Danielle's for game night - for the adults and movie night in Danielle's bed- for the girlies. So once again, they gathered up their favorite blankies and comfy clothes and off we went.

Look Who's Turning 5...

I can't believe my baby is going to be FIVE years old on Monday, July 27th! I really should be cleaning the house, but instead I was going through all my pictures and thought to adding a set showing my little baby through the years would be way more fun!

Mackenzie Elizabeth - July 27, 2004

Do you believe this is Joshie and Mackie? Exactly 3 months apart to the day...

Sisterly LOVE

Two things I love about this pic....the dress Mackie has on was once worn by me, and can you guess the baby?

4th Birthday

Too Cute!

Mackie's "Snugglebuddy"

Joshie and Mackie

More Sisterly LOVE

Loving every minute of SUMMER TIME!

I REALLY have no excuse now if I don't keep up with my blog. We just got a brand new computer! My last computer gave me a good run, but being that it was fresh when I graduated college, many moons ago, it was time to put it to rest! Now, my new machine even has a slot for my camera card....so fingers crossed....I will maintain with updating my blog. Only time will tell....

The girls and I have been enjoying each and every minute of summer! The mere fact we all sleep till about 9:30-10:00 most mornings is fantastic. We spend as much time outdoors as possible. (Which is quite evident-just look at the girls skin coloring!) The funniest trip to the beach was when we went with my sister Nicki, her kiddies, and Baba (my mom). It was ungodly windy, to say the least. The kids try to make the best of it, while we sat bundled and tried to protect ourselves from the constant gusts of sand!

Baba, freezing on the beach.

Joshie- burried by Mackie.

Checkout their hair....

Aside from the beach, we basically live at Baba's pool. The girls are amazing swimmers. Even Mackie swims now without swimmies!

Jess and Gia enjoying the pool

We spent a day down Ocean City with Mr. and Mrs. Shipley. The girls had a blast on the boardwalk, especially on the rides that they treated them to...

Don't think Kaylee liked her position in this picture!

Spring 2009

Hello to all and...yes...I am actually updating my blog. Ok, and I am not gonna lie, quite frustrated to say the least. I now have a very good excuse for not upkeeping with my blog page- my computer STINKS! I literally sat down at 3:30 to simply get rid of the Christmas page and music and add a couple of updated pictures. Well, it's now 5:56pm, and I haven't accomplished much! I was going to make a promise to seriously keep up with Danielle and Nicole, but who am I kidding? My computer is as slow as dirt and until Matt gets me a new one, which is hopefully soon, I will have to suffer with this one. I mean come on, my hard drive is from 1999. I think it's time for an upgrade, wouldn't you agree?

The girls and I have been off since April 9th and I have enjoyed each and every minute spent with the girls! I LOVE being home and find myself much calmer and more patient. I guess sleeping till 8:30am compared to 4:45am could have something to do with it! I can't believe how quickly time flies....Monday is around the corner and I am NOT ready. But I guess I should look at the bright side, the sooner I go back, the faster June will get here.

This weekend is actually our Easter. We are Russian Orthodox (Eastern Orthodox on your average calendar) and Easter for us is April 19th. It's a very holy time, to say the least! We spend quite a few hours in church: Friday night- Good Friday Service, Saturday morning- Service and food Blessed, Saturday night-the Resurrection Service followed by Easter Sunday service (then we stay for a Feast and usually venture home at about 3am, and for those of you that don't know, St. Nicholas is in North Philadelphia.) We will spend Sunday at my mom's for dinner. If I wasn't working, there are services Monday morning as well. So hopefully it won't be another 4 months before I post pictures from this weekend. I do have some pics from last night at church (Good Friday).

Jessie is make such a lovely face because she said Danny stomped on her foot. He is the littlest in the center.