Dancing girl

Charlotte has just started to take dance class. Here she is wearing one of Aunty EE's old costumes. Nana and Charlotte spent a wonderful afternoon dancing to many Disney songs. I got a kick out of these shots. She knows how to shake it!

Catch Up

Since I haven't posted anything since April.....I thought that I would play catch up and post photos from, First Penance, Mother's Day, Louis's 6th birthday, Camille's First Holy Communion, Charlotte's 3rd birthday, Fourth of July on the Cape, many, many beach days....our wonderful 40th Anniversary celebration and my.....60th birthday. The Cape photos include each family's vacation week....of course it includes a photo of Camille at Ghelfi's! I also included our trip to Ireland and my birthday in Chicago atop the Sears Tower. There are a few random shots that might make you smile. Hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Big Nana is 90!

Big Nana Is Ninety!!

April 9th was a day to celebrate. Big Nana turned 90 years old. A wonderful party was held for her at Briarwood. She enjoyed all the well wishes that the staff gave to her and also loved having her wonderful nieces, Sandy and Nina, and of course her nephew Tony join me to celebrate this occasion with her.
Later that day Elise, Nolan and Paul, on the way home from work, came to give her birthday kisses. The next day Andrea and her gang came in to continue the fun.
Of course on Easter, at Lauren and Paul's home, we celebrated again with all her grand and great grandchildren around her as well as her favorite, her son in law, Paul!
She looks wonderful for her age and we continue to wish her good health and a lot of happiness in life.
The Fay, Ward and Joyce Babies were very happy to sing to their wonderful Big Nana!

Basketball Star!

Camille played on a youth basketball team all spring. She loved the game and proved to be great at it. During one very close game she scored the winning points with only seconds to go in the game. I guess she not only is a fabulous dancer but great at sports too.
High Five to Camille and all her team mates.

Love the one with the tongue out! It was a long game that was played hard and she was exhausted!

Dora the Explorer

Dora the Explorer!!


These photos might look like they are staring little Christmas Elves but actually the children were visiting Dora the Explorer the Saturday before Easter! After a nice lunch with Camille and Louis, Nolan met Charlotte at the Natick Collection to have some fun with Dora the Explorer. Both of the children loved Dora and were not afraid. Dora was just wonderful to the kids. We would have loved to win tickets to see the live show but that didn't happen.

Both Charlotte and Nolan had a blast as their Mommies chased them through the FAO Swartz section of Macy's. Can't wait for the next live appearance of one of the children's heros!

Mangia!!

Mangia

Nana Lue Lue is teaching Nolan to speak Italian. He is into "Mangia, Mangia" when he is eating his Pastina or as he calls it, Star Soup!

We are going to try to change the menu because "Star Soup" is getting a bit OLD! lol

Nolan

Over the weekend, Elise, Nolan and I went to the Cape for a little R and R while Papa painted at home. I couldn't resist snapping a few photos of Nolan in the tubby, playing with his toys and while having fun when we were out to eat.

Christmas 2008

Christmas was once again just WONDERFUL! There is nothing like the magic of Christmas through a child's eyes and we are blessed to have four sets of beautiful eyes that have made our holiday more wonderful than ever. We celebrated Christmas with Lauren, Paul and Charlotte a few days early because the Smiths were lucky to have them spend Christmas Day with them in PA. Our early celebration was great and it just made the festivities of the holiday stretch out a little more by starting a few days early. Charlotte was thrilled with all the fun things that she got for her kitchen. She can now cook for us with her new stainless steel pans and serve us our dinner with her lovely dinnerware set! She loved her Cinderella DVD and her ballerina outfit as well as all of her other fun toys.
Christmas Eve started out as usual, 4 p.m. Mass at St. Joseph's Church in Needham. We lucked out because Fr. McGann wasn't as long winded as usual and Mass was just a bit over an hour long. That still is a long time for four little excited kids to sit still so we all made trips to the "cry room", the "ramp", and chatted with anyone that would chat with the kids!
Then it was back to Nana LueLue and Papa Tiger's house for fish and homemade pizza. We all ate way too much but that is part of the holiday. Nolan couldn't believe all the Thomas the Train toys that he got! He was one happy little guy. He sang Jingle Bells for everyone and really seemed to get the idea of what was going on. Camille was thrilled with all of her Calico Critters Families and furnishings. Lou was happy that his sister got them too because they both enjoy playing with them. Louis was just great and he loved everything! He got books, and Lincoln logs and a pop up fire station among many other fun things.
The next day we were at Andrea and David's for a wonderful Christmas Day. As always Andrea's house looked so beautiful and Christmasie. The tree was gorgeous. The kids were so excited. A Calico Critters Doll House arrived via Santa so Camille was so, so happy. Louis was all about Star Wars! Big Nana got to see the new house for the first time and she loved being with all of us for such a wonderful day. She did just great and seems to be adjusting more and more to her new surroundings.
Papa and Nana loved having all our children and grandchildren around us for such a happy, holy holiday. We have to remember what this holiday is about, not Santa and the toys but about having family with us and celebrating the birth of our Savior.
We hope that all our friends and family enjoyed their holidays as much as we did.

More Of The Same!

Happy to be on Santa's lap!!

The babies are not too sure about this guy!

IBEW 103 Christmas Party

Hope you enjoy the photos from this year's IBEW Christmas Party. We all got ready in Falmouth and then took the trip to Dorchester to visit with Santa. Some of us were happier than others to sit on Santa's lap and tell him if we had been naughty or nice.

This wonderful party has been a tradition for a few years with our grandchildren but many years ago it was a regular holiday event for our children. It is so much fun to now see their children enjoy the party as much as they did when they were small.
The union does a great job every year and we hope to go to many, many more in future years.

Falmouth Christmas Stroll and Tree Lighting

Don't make me look at Santa!!!

Our light up butterflies!!

Camille and Uncle Paul

Nolan and Louis with their light sabers.

A few too many Santas!

A Christmas Pole!!

Charlotte with her butterfly.

A doggie and the kids.

The whole gang!
MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!!

Another wondeful weekend in Falmouth during December. The family got together to celebrate the Christmas Tree lighting of 2008 and the Falmouth Main Street Stroll.
The kids had a blast and the weather on Saturday night was perfect.
We saw the beautiful "pole" lit up, listened to the Christmas Carolers, checked out all of the displays and of course topped it off with an ice cream from Ghelfi's!
The stroll down Main Street was Christmas Card perfect. All the stores were so beautifully decorated.
Camille and Charlotte were very happy with their light up butterflies, and Louis and Nolan loved their light sabers. Louis was happy to watch Nolan receive his first one and add number 5 to his collection of sabers.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday to Camille

Nolan in a great hat that Charlotte made at day care.

Charlotte, Camille and Louis, Thanksgiving 2008

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration at Lauren and Paul's beautiful home.

Will and Hudie did a great job doing most of the cooking. The turkey was purchased at a local farm nearby Lauren and Paul's home. It was cooked to perfection as were all the great desserts and birthday cake.
Charlotte enjoyed eating her cousin Camille's cake. We all couldn't believe that Camille was eight years old! She is growing up so fast.
Big Nana joined us and was just wonderful. She enjoyed the food, the children and the warm welcome from her family and Lauren's parents.

Happy Birthday Papa

Louis and Nana baked a wonderful train cake for Papa for his birthday.  Louis did most of the work, he even cracked the eggs himself!  Papa was so surprised to see that it was a train because we fooled him and told him that it was a dinosaur cake to trick him.  We didn't put much frosting on the chocolate cake but we had plenty of butter cream to add if you wanted.  Also, vanilla and mint chocolate chip ice cream.  

Of course this delicious dessert was after a nice family dinner together at Nana and Papa's house.

I wish I got a photo of Louis's beautiful face, like I did of the other kids, but he was so busy singing to his Papa that I only got the back of his head!

Elmo and his friend Nolan

OK....so, maybe a visit to Elmo wasn't the best idea that I have had.

Halloween

A few photos of Halloween.  Camille was a High School Cheerleader.  Charlotte was a princess and Nolan was Superman.  I don't have a photo of Louis but he was the best Storm Trooper ever!