Delaney's VERY Fancy Nancy Birthday Party

WOW!!! What a fancy birthday party for a very special 4 year old! As her guests arrived they colored an assortment of Fancy Nancy sheets, dot to dots, cut out paper dolls, very busy little girls. They of course  had to have a tiara and little clutch purse. The tiaras were foam. The purses were felt that I cut out from a template from the  Martha Stewart website. They had so much fun decorating them as you can imagine in a very fancy way. We played pass the pearls and picked out a treasure from the pink and purple treasure box.  The kids all had so much fun just playing with all the girly toys that are in the house with 4 girls! Everyone was munching on pink popcorn balls, pink rice crispy treats, pink cookies, pink animal crackers, pink marsh mellows and sandwiches with you guessed it, pink cream cheese! They all got there own cupcake to decorate, and had even more sugar. We ended the party by doing the Fancy Nancy pinata. What a fun filled party! Delaney and her girl friends were in heaven! I think even the one little boy had fun too! He was so cute in his shirt and tie and top hat! Delaney was so excited to open her presents which was MORE fancy nancy. She loved it all and went to sleep with the fancy nancy doll clutched in her arms. I can tell you it was the best day of her life! 

Avery was so excited to go to school. She keeps saying her teachers name, "Lisa"! She has carried her back pack and lunch box everywhere. The backpack has to be on her back. She is so proud of herself. She had a great day and even ate lunch at school. There were absolutely no tears, just pure excitement! She will go to be early tonight.

I also had a meeting with Grace and Ella's AGP teachers. It went very well but it was hard to answer some of the questions without comparing the 2 of them. For example, Ella isn't a leader around home, because Grace is usually leading them in playing. But around other kids and at school she is. So there were a lot of questions that I really wasn't for sure on how to answer.  They really made me reflect on the kids and think twice about their individual personalities. I am such a bad judge of personality traits!

I am trying to finish getting Delaney's party ready to go. I finished making a pettiskirt for her last night. You wouldn't even believe how much material it took! I went and finished buying all of the food. I'm sure I am forgetting something! Everything was pink, pink cream cheese, pink lemonade, pink marshmellows, pink candy, they will be on a sugar high! I'll post pictures later.

Luau... or lu WOW after a few margaritas!

Greg and I went to the Luau Saturday night at the club house. It is great to spend time together (we can always use more of that!) and spend time with good friends. We ate some great food, drank margaritas, and listened to the steel band. After the party was over the guys got a poker game together. Greg was so happy. I was sad he didn't win.:-( He had fun playing! BUT, watch out waterchase boys, his nick name isn't king of leisure sports for nothing!!!

Boo Hoo Back to School... for 1 day!

After a very lazy and at the same time productive week-end, Grace and Ella were off to catch the bus at 7:30 am. Grace walked Ella to her classroom which is in the new building. She made sure she was safe and sound and gave her a hug and kiss good bye. I knew they really cared about each other! Ella's best part of her day was art class. They learned how to do an outline and draw their backpack. Ella is so lucky because her teacher lives in our neighborhood and also has a first grade daughter. She is very sweet. Perfect teacher for our little Ella Bella.

Grace had a great time in her new class and loved going to art too! She also learned how to draw her backpack. She met lots of new friends and she said she liked them all because they had a great "personality". She really hit it off with one of my good friend' son, Alex. That makes me so happy! She also loves her teacher. Everyone says that she will give you extra pe time, so Grace automatically gives her an A+!! Grace also loves science and her teacher was an AGP science teacher. Another reason Grace is excited to have her!

Delaney and I came home, and got her already to go. She went right into her class and started her day with no problem at all. She was so excited to see her friends and finger paint. She learned how to paint a kitty and a dog. She played mom, dad and mermaid with Julianna, (Alex's sister) . She just loves her school! I was doing great until I saw some other moms tearing up!

Tomorrow was supposed to be Avery's first day of school. She is going Tuesday and Thursday. She was a little upset when we dropped off Lainey and she didn't get to stay. She also doesn't like the fact that she can't go into dance class too! However, our schools are all cancelled because of the Tropical Storm Fay. I am sure everything will be fine. Our schools are hurricane shelters, so they need them available if it does turn more severe. So all the kids will go back wednesday (fingers crossed!) and Avery will then start Thursday! I have lots to do with Delaney's Birthday Party Sat morning!

They all came home from school and it was a quick change into tights, leos and tutus and we were off to dance. Grace is now up to a 2 hour class. They are all doing ballet and tap. G and E are also doing jazz. They all said that was the best part of their day! Can you believe all 3 go at the same time!?!? How lucky am I!

On another note, my B-I-L Gerry went in for a PET scan Friday. We are all anxiously awaiting the results. He has a meeting with the surgeon at the end of the month. Hopefully, the surgery will be scheduled soon. He was in getting another blood transfusion today. Kayla leaves for TCU on Wed! Good Luck Kayla! I'd better get baking some cookies!

I am off to fold some laundry and watch the Entourage, Greg's new favorite show. Busy day again tomorrow with them all home and stuck inside with the yucky weather! To all my tampa friends, stay safe!

Thank you to all of my dear friends who have past along the lovely e-mails and kind words. Your loving support is truely appreciated. The way we are all going to get through this is by all of your prayers and support... thank you.

Need your prayers...

My brother-in-law Gerry found out that the cancer is back. He had a colonoscopy last week. He has a tumor in his colon. He found this out by basically turning yellow. They went in to the dr. and his blood levels were extremely low. After 5 transfusions, and the dr. saying I can't believe you drove here, he was doing better. They got the lab results back today and the cancer is melanoma. Please keep Gerry, my sister, Karen, and all of his beautiful girls, Kayla, Hannah and Isabel in your thoughts and prayers. They have big things to accomplish while still going through all of this. Kayla is going away for the first time to college and playing tennis for TCU. Hannah is going into her junior year and playing high school tennis. And Isabel is going in to her first year middle school! All big steps for their family. My poor sister is trying to deal with a lot lately. She is continuing to teach private lessons and Gerry is still working way too hard as the general manager at the pavillion in Winston-Salem. SLOW DOWN GERRY!!:-) Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. We all need him to get better and pull through this!

what the???

Surprise!!!!!!!!!!!

Chocolate popsicle's and clothes don't mix!!

D's Bangs are finally growing back! Yeah! 

We had to go out and have some yummy popsicle's because the girls went to the dr. and ALL four them had sinus or ear infections and were put on antibiotic! Four sick kids! Can you imagine?!? So I thought eating popsicles and playing outside would pass some time. Until the Florida afternoon shower came! 

Avery was covered and went straight to the bath!

 Is Grace going on 17! Chatting on the phone with her girlfriend Carly AND on the computer!?!? Oh boy! What we have to look forward to... the teenage years! By the way don't look at the office, that is next week- ends project!

Only 2 more weeks until back to school. Greg took Ella to Adventure Island. It was a great bonding day for them. They rode a million rides and were exhausted when they got home! Ella said she really missed Grace and wished she was there. Ella lost another tooth. She now has 6 teeth missing! 

We had our typical Sunday night. We had a great dinner outside and then went and watched a movie together. We watched Penelope and popped popcorn. That machine popcorn is so good!

 Grace and I made a bunch of flower bows today. We added them to Ella's flip flops, so cute, she loved them. Grace and I put all their school supplies together. So 12 boxes of crayons, 40 gluesticks, 6 packs of markers and a million other things they are ready to go!