Here Little Fishy Fishy Fishy!

When I asked Gloria a while back what kind of birthday party she wanted, she said "A fishing party! And a mermaid party!" Haha I loved the idea of a fishing birthday party and thought we could cover that pretty well. We checked in with uncle Frank about using the camp for the party and we got the green light! The mermaid did make the cut but I ended up just making a mermaid cake for her actual birthday.

Gloria had been looking forward to her party for weeks! She couldn't wait to spend the day with her friends and family! We had a fun day planned for the kiddos. There was fishing (of course!) and digging for night crawlers, playtime by the river and lots of eating and cake! I think everyone was wiped by the end of the day.

My favorite part of the day was when Gloria arrived at the party. I had gone to the camp early to set up with my friends Amanda, Sara and Lauren so when G showed up, everything was set up and ready! She ran up to me, gave me a great big hug and said "Thank you mommy for my party!" She was so sweet! Her reaction was so great!



I have lots of pictures in Gloria's 4th Birthday album from the party. Thank you Amanda for being the appointed photographer! You did a great job! :) And big thanks to Lauren for the awesome cake!! It looked so good and Gloria was over the moon excited! I couldn't have pulled the party off without Lauren, Amanda, and Sara's help! They were a big part of setting up and making G's party special. An even bigger thanks to Frank for letting us use the camp!! Gloria loves it at the camp so it was the perfect spot for her to spend the day with her friends! :)

Our 4-year-old!

For weeks Gloria kept telling people she was 4 years old. When I would say to her "almost four" she would reply, "I know mommy, I'm just pretending I'm 4!" She is too cute! :)

Today was Gloria's 4th birthday. She was over the moon excited to tell everyone about it! When she came into our room in the morning, Tom and I said "Happy Birthday Gloria!!" She smiled sweetly and asked us where all the decorations were. haha Little did she know, the living room was all decked out for the birthday girl! :)

Her day started off with M&M pancakes and birthday presents. She was so funny! After opening each present, she kept saying "This is my favorite...!!" Later on we had a special birthday lunch together then it was cake and ice cream time with the rest of the family— grandparents, uncles and Great Grandpa. Gloria loves her family and was very excited to share her special day with them!

After rest time, we were off to the Butterfly Museum. Gloria couldn't believe her eyes when we got into the conservatory! She loved it! The butterflies loved her too! Especially the bright pink hat she was wearing! They kept landing on her.

It was a beautiful day spent together. We love our little girl, she is such a blessing! She lights up our life! Happy 4th Birthday to our baby girl who is growing up so fast!

Before I go, I wanted to share just a few things we love about our G. All of these things help describe our little girl and her personality over this past year.

We love...

1. Gloria's loving nature. She is so loving and sweet and she expresses it often.
2. Her imagination! She is incredibly creative and loves to make up stories and pretend. 
3. Her love of dancing. This girl would dance every minute of every day if she could. 
4. That she is adventurous! She loves an adventure and gets excited about new things. We just wish she got as excited about new foods! ;)
5. The girlie girl in her. She is all about being a little girl! She loves jewelry, painting her finger nails, etc. If it has sparkles and is pink or purple, it is for her!
6. Her fashion sense. Gloria has been dressing herself since she was almost 2! She picks out her own outfits and she is very proud to do so.
7. That she is little miss independence! She loves doing things on her own, she has always been that way. 
8. Her determination. Once she sets her mind to something, she will conquer! The other day she refused to let us help her button some shorts that were a challenge for her. She was determined she could do it and she did!
9. That she is so joyful! Gloria is a very happy girl and she spreads that joy to those around her.
10. Her friendly nature (and gift of gab!)! She will talk to just about anyone or wave to people as we go by. She is always so friendly and sweet to people she meets. beautiful, sweet, adventurous, imaginative, silly,

Thank you to everyone who helped make Gloria's birthday extra special this year. We have pictures and stories coming soon from her party on Sunday. :)

Mover and Shaker

No doubt Gloria loves to dance! Our little girl dances every day at home. When it comes time to perform, she is no stranger to putting on a show! :) She loves it!

Gloria had her dance recital Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The show was called "Thoroughly Modern Millie." It was very cute and the cast did an amazing job! We loved watching all the dancers, young and old. Gloria was mesmerized by the older kids, she thought they were so cool!

Gloria did such a great job dancing! We were so proud of her!!! She had a lot of fun up there on stage and I think it shows. :) Here is a video of her shaking her tushie (as she says)! She is the one right in the middle. I will post more pics soon but thought the video would be fun to share.

We had a wonderful weekend all together. We spent today celebrating the moms in our lives. I made breakfast for my mom and dad, spent the day with my kiddos, visited great Grandma, did some shopping for myself then we had dinner with Tom's parents. Busy day but nice. We love our moms and I love being a mom! There is nothing more important to me than that!

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to you mamas out there! :)

Pink-e-Fied!

Our GEM loves all things Pink!! It was only appropriate that we go see the Musical Pinkalicious! My good friend Liz and I had a girl's day with Gloria Saturday. We went and saw Pinkalicious at Yankee Candle. It was a smaller musical put on by Ja'Duke Performing Arts Center (the same school Gloria goes to). What a great show! We all had a great time and Gloria was thrilled to get a pink cupcake at the end. :) Gloria had been talking about going for weeks! Then after the show, she was excited to tell everyone about it. She was too cute.



The three of us were ready in our pink outfits!! :) We had so much fun! There are a few more pics in our April album if you'd like to see them.

The rest of the weekend was a busy but fun one. I got to enjoy some adult girl time with some good friends, Gloria had a birthday party at the Y which was fun! Gloria said, as we were leaving the party, "That was a really great party mom!" haha She had a great time with her friends. Thank you Sara and Sean for having us!! :)

Tom and Gloria spent a special day together today. They went up to the camp to go fishing. That has been their thing lately. Gloria loves it!! Tom caught a few fish too. Gloria thought she wanted to take one home to eat it but I think she got sad about the idea of the poor thing dying so she told daddy to put it back in the river! We are happy to report that the fish was alive and well. :) Tom and G have such a great time fishing together, love it!

Leo and I took a road trip today to Vermont with my friend/business partner Lauren. We went to Apple Hill Inn, a gorgeous B&B in Woodstock, Vermont. We had a meeting with owner for business purposes and got a tour of the grounds. Gorgeous! It was a really inspiring trip which wasn't what I expected. This woman is amazing! She told us all sorts of stories about her and her business and how she built it from the ground up. Quite impressive! We will hopefully get to work with her on some weddings at the Inn.

It was a busy weekend that topped a busy week. Tom and I have been looking at houses left and right. As some of you know, we sold our house. It happened really fast...3 weeks! We are thrilled that it happened quickly but are busy trying to find our new home. We have faith that the right one will come at the right time. :)

Have a great week!

Big G Time!

Gloria's first time riding a train. :)

Last Friday, Tom and I spent a very special day with just Gloria. Ever since Leo was born we have tried to spend quality time with Gloria individually. I have my days with her and Tom has his. We just hadn't been able to spend a day with both of us and just her. Tom and I took Friday off to do just that. It was a day all about Gloria!

We decided to go to The Boston Children's Museum. It would be Gloria's first time in Boston! Boy was she excited! I've learned to tell her about these things only a day in advance. Otherwise, she'll ask constantly..."Are we going to the museum now?" :) She was thrilled about the idea of spending the day with both Tom and I. She did seem a little confused that Leo wasn't coming with us. Next time!

My favorite part was when we got to the T-Station. She was so bright-eyed and excited to ride the train. She was a little disappointed about riding underground though. She wanted to see outside. We were above ground for a few moments but not very long. She did enjoy the ride!

We had a super fun day at the museum. There is so much to do and, since it was a Friday during the day, there weren't that many people there. It was perfect! All three of us had a great time being silly together. What a fun day! It was so perfect.

We were all exhausted by the end of the day. It was time to go home. At one point, in the car, Gloria said "I want to lay on my bed mommy!" haha She was one tired cookie! She was a superstar the whole day.

If you want to see pictures, we took just a few. Visit our March album.

Our Fashionista

This weekend, while I was working at a Bridal Expo, Tom sent me a picture to my phone of Gloria. When I opened the file, I started cracking up!! Below is the picture I saw. What a riot she is! This girl is one stylish little diva. She loves to pick out her own outfits and we don't discourage it one bit. There are a few rules. For example, they need to be weather appropriate.

I love seeing the combinations she puts together. It is so great! Not only does she have the fashion going, she has the pose to go with it! A friend of mine asked where she learned to pose like this and, to be quite honest, I have NO idea! haha She didn't learn it from me, that is for sure! She just makes us smile. :)

Do the Penguin

Our little super star had her very first dance performance this past weekend. It was a big weekend for G and she was ready for it! She has been practicing and having a blast in dance class and now it was time to show her stuff. We knew she would be all about the dance but we weren't quite sure how she was going to do in front of the crowd. To our surprise, she was fine with it! She did a wonderful job, we are so proud of her!

Here are two videos, one from each night. I wish I had captured the full song but you get the gist. Gloria is too funny, she keeps asking when she is going to do the dance performance again. She is bummed that it is over! Ha! We might have a little showgirl on our hands. :) If you have any trouble with viewing the videos here, you can visit our Video Album to see them there.


The clip is from the first night. She is standing next to her BFF who seems to be having a very silly time up there! haha Gloria was also very focused on staying on her mark, too cute!


This is from the second night. You can tell Gloria is a tad tired for this performance. She had a very busy weekend!

Take Note

I was outside yesterday with Gloria raking leaves, well...trying to rake leaves. We ended up having a leaf fight with lots of giggles, tickles and running around. Gloria says to me after we got inside the house, "Mommy, that was so much fun!" I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. I want to bottle this all up and hold onto it forever! How am I ever going to be able to remember all these wonderful moments? This is what I think to myself. It is nuts how often these thoughts enter my mind. No wonder I'm a freak with a camera! I somehow think I can capture every amazing moment on film. I can't though. Mostly because my most favorite moments happen when there isn't a camera around. :)

I think the same thing with Leo as I listen to him squeal and make all his baby noises. I watch him and his focus on things as he learns. Right now he is working his leg muscles, using his legs to push his butt up into the air. Already a strong boy! Where did the first 3 months go? They went by in the blink of an eye. I think the best thing I can do is to truly be in the moment and present in it, enjoying every beautiful minute!

I keep a journal for both kids. I try to write in it as often as I can. I write about silly, nonsense things. I write about milestones or things said to make us laugh or cry. I write as though Leo and Gloria are reading the journal entries many years from now. I write 'to' them instead of about them. Letters to my kids I suppose. Sound cheesy perhaps but I hope they'll be important to my kids some day. Hopefully I can keep up on them. It is the only way I know how to even slightly capture the wonderful world of being their parents!

Leo was 3-months-old November 8th. He has changed so much! What a beautiful, amazing little man he is!

Dance in the Rain

"Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain, cherish the moment, ignore the pain, live, laugh, love, forgive and forget, life's too short to be living with regrets."

Not sure who said the above quote but I liked it so I thought I'd share.

We have two pretty amazing kids! Their joy makes us smile every day. Here are two videos of our happy kiddos. Please excuse the orientation of the one I took of Leo. Not sure how I managed that one, oh well. :) If you have any trouble viewing the videos here, visit our Video Album to check them out.

Leo is truly one happy guy! This is just a short clip of how smiley and joyful this kid is. He spends most of his day giving us these wonderful smiles and giggles and chattering away! He really gets going towards the end of this clip.



As you know, Gloria loves to dance! We went to The Festival of the Hills earlier this month (in the rain) and enjoyed the fun things it had to offer. This is a video of Gloria and her cousins, Olivia and Ella, cutting it loose while listening to the band. They had a blast dancing and getting soaked in the rain! :)

Our Little Gymnast

Gloria started gymnastics a few weeks back and boy is she loving it! I got her on video doing one of the circuits they have been working on. It took Gem no time at all to catch on to the routines and get right into it.

I love the part in the beginning where she shows the teacher her nails! haha We had painted them with glitter nail polish a few days earlier. She is such a girl!

Check out the video here or visit our Video 2011 album.

More updates to come! :)

Rockin' it on the Midway

Here is a video of Gloria rocking out to some music while we were waiting for a ride. She was busting a move but then got a little camera shy once I was trying to catch her on video. She did loosen up a little bit though. :) You can view it here or visit our Videos 2011 album to see it.

Dancing Queen!

Yesterday Gloria had her very first dance class! She's definitely no stranger to dancing though. She actually had dance time with her class every Tuesday last year. She loved it! We thought (and Gloria agreed!) it was time for her to branch out and take a class outside of preschool. It was so much fun to watch her in class yesterday. She is definitely not shy about dancing whatsoever! She loves to put on a show! We can't wait to see what the year brings for her and the new things she'll learn.


This photo was taken while Gloria was trying on a leotard at the store. As soon as she put it on, she burst out into a dance! haha Needless to say, we bought the leotard. :)

Our Toddler

I'm not very good about uploading videos but we do take them:) Here is a recent one of Gloria just being herself. She does a few signs and says some of her words. One being "No!" A very popular word these days:)

She is changing so fast!



If the video doesn't play here, you can go to our Video Album to view it.