"The sweetest place of earth!"

...the infamous afternoon playing at Hershey Park. Yeah:) What fun!! Well this year, due to MY job and the weather, we didn't get to go to Hershey park until school had already started. @#$!Big mistake. Note to self: taking children to an amusement park after a full day of school is NOT the best idea. It's great...the girls earn their tickets every summer through a reading program. Since we went later in the season, we had perfect weather. Kimberly and Natalie even got to meet "Hershey" himself:) hahaha. Courtney was brave and went on every ride with her sisters this year! And Daddy found out his body isn't liking spinning as much... Thanks for the wonderful day together, girls. What a memorable time!

2009 First day of school!

Courtney, Kimberly and Natalie were ready bright and early this morning for their first day of school. Courtney (grade K) is attending Schaeffer Elementary School with Kimberly (4th grade) this year. Natalie is in 2nd grade, still at Nitrauer Elementary in the Spanish Immersion program. They love walking to the bus stops every morning with Daddy! It is a wonderful bonding time for everyone.

"Rain, rain...come and play."

Today the pool was closed sooo we decided to get wet outside in our swimming suits anyway:) It was rainning really hard and made this puddle fast. So the girls enjoyed running knee deep through it. They had the best time. Who needs a lifeguard when you have Mother Nature?

Sewing day.

When mommy was sick, Gaummie came with her pre-sewn material to finish sewing dress-up scarves (for all 9 granddaughters). She taught Kimberly and Natalie how to push out the corners and then turn them right-side out. They learned the proper way to stitch the end closed too. Finally, Kimberly ironed them to make the scarves look professionally finished! The dress-up scarves turned out beautifully. Thanks mom:)

Time to dress up!

Can you say "beauty queen" three times... Well, today Natalie, Courtney and Kimberly decided to dance first. Then they thought it would be fun to dress up "on top" of it:) Of course, then they had to come down to model for me and have a "photo op"! WOW...it is sooo wonderful when everyone plays NICE together.

New York visitors

Meredith is having fun at the wishing well with her cousins. While Aunt Amy, Genevieve and Elliott stay in the van to catch-up on their quiet time/ sleepers.

Inside the Hershey World Plant, we see numberable workers boxing and "shaking" their Hershey Kisses for snacking later! Ms. Katia, William and Isabella (Kimberly's pen pal) came with our cousin Meredith to take the chocolate tour and then try the sample at the end:) It was a fun, exhausting morning had by all! Please come again...

"Once upon a Lily Pad"

At the end of the school year, we got to enjoy a fun play by the Nitrauer Knight's First Graders. They did English and Spanish through out play. It was fun to see our little actress having a wonderful time with her classmates! She really worked hard.

Natalie got the lead part as Freddie the Frog. She borrowed her cousin's bath towel as part of her costume. Natalie did a great job memorizing her lines and singing:)

Kimberly's birthday dress.

Gaummie surprised Kimberly with this beautiful spring dress for her birthday. It even came with her favorite kind of sleeves! How pretty.

Teaching the ART of babysitting.

Natalie enjoys helping out with Chris (4 1/2 months old) when she gets home from school. It's been such a joy to see how grown-up MY girls have become while helping out with other children:) This job has given me the chance to teach MY children the "how-to's" of babysitting first hand...and they get paid. WOW!! What a great deal for everyone! Courtney has really taken a liking to "babysitting" too. She takes it very serious. Courtney is reading her coloring book to Gabe (almost 4 yrs.) and Kaylie (almost 2 yrs.) after their nap time.

"You Make Me Feel Like a Star."

Kimberly and Natalie had such a great experience this spring learning to dance. They couldn't wait to get a copy of their song to bring home and practice!

Natalie and Kimberly pose on picture night prior to their first Jazz Recital. You can't tell they are thoroughly eating up all the attention:)

They had the best time dancing together these last few months!

"I Love The Circus".

Here are the Elephants. And these are the beautiful white ponies.

There were dogs, horses and tigers too. Even a porcupine had an act! It was sooo cool to watch. During the pre-show, Natalie even got to jump rope with the Clowns. She was tickled that she was chosen:)

What a fun night! Ayumi, Stephen, Gaummie and Bunic all got to join us at "The Greatest Show on Earth". This was the second time we've all been together to see the circus. It was a lot of fun. The girls were even treated to GIANT lollipops. (They didn't part with them until they went to bed!)

(MAKE SURE TO TURN DOWN THE VOLUME ON YOUR COMPUTER FOR THE END)

Day at the "Beauty Salon"

Natalie has wanted her hair cut short for a while now. So, when I was trimming the girls hair, Natalie was VERY persistant at making it known she wanted her's cut short. Well, I decided that if she didn't like it...her hair could always grow out again:) To say the least, she loved her new haircut which came only 2 days after her buying a new headband!

First to graduate!!

...Preschool that is. The evening was one to remember--Jerry and I both got off work at 5:30 to have him then rush Kimberly and Natalie to Jazz class. Meanwhile, Courtney and I got ready for her program. An hour later, the rest of the family met us at her preschool for the service. She was sooo excited to be with her class and sing at Graduation. Kimberly and Natalie tried desperately to get Courtney's attention before she received her diploma. When Courtney finally saw her sisters waving, that made her night! After the emotions of this night...I really don't think I'm ready for a High School Graduation JUST yet! Let's keep them young a little longer:)

Mother's Day with my girls.

My 3 lovely daughters gave me this button, as my gift. Here's what the card read: "You can borrow this today if you want, MOM, but we'd really like to have it back tomorrow."

Happy Mother's Day

Ya gotta lov' em:) Well, to say the least, they did make the day be all about "ME"!

"PICNICING"

"PICNICING"-to ventur outside on the lawn with beach towel and take a book or journal to relax and enjoy the weather and cloud pictures. It was sooo fun. The first time out--we watched a storm pass over and played "guess the cloud shape". The weather was really nice as we lay on our backs to read and talk as a family. Of course, there was laughter and tickling involved! No one wanted to go inside for bedtime because it was truly enjoyable. This picture was Mother's day evening. We had to wear long sleeve shirts and pants along with our JACKETS and BLANKETS. Since the air was so much colder, everyone huddled together for shared body heat. No one ran around barefoot this time! BBrrr. We could ONLY image what the neighbors thought:) HAHA. What a wonderful family memory!

Finally Started

Well, here it is! As you can see, the girls are excited to start our family blog.