A field hand @ a princess party

Zander Bob made his first trip to the "big" garden in Central PA last weekend. Daddy, Baby, Blake & I made a quick trip to pick strawberries before heading over to Sarah's birthday party.

Zaney wasn't too good at picking the strawberries, but he pulled a few pounds of leaves & stems for daddy.

It was great to have Blake with us in Carlisle. He's spending some time visiting his mama in TN & traveling the country before he starts working in New Orleans in July.

Saturday afternoon was another great birthday party @ Jenn's house. All the girls dressed up like princesses & Ethan was the only prince. He loved it! Blake said it was great birth control!

Lindsey & Mike made their first trip back to Carlisle as a cute married couple, too bad they didn't make it into this picture! Connie, Johnny & Jake also came in from J-town & Shannon and her family drove through to say farewell before the Coast Guard floated them off to Seattle.

And, of course, there was cake.... how does Jenn do it? All i know is that I haven't eaten that much cake in a long time. So yum. Mmmmm.

Chillin' with gramps. Boy those were some nice clouds!

A whole lot of celebrating going on!

Surprise, Babushka Anna!


Since Anna decided to spend her 60th Birthday with us in Wheeling, D & I thought it only logical to throw her a surprise party. And boy was she surprised!



Her best friend flew in from Brooklyn for the day to surprise her;

And Stretch, minus the ol' Crafted Chain, came in from Oklahoma;


And my parents, Jenn & her family and our Wheeling friends all helped us celebrate with Anna!

And a few short hours after we closed down Anna's party, everyone was dressed in their Sunday best for Baby Alexander's Mother's Day Christening.

But the best dressed of us all was definately Alexander in our family Christening Gown. My mama & Jenn stitched the gown years ago for Ethan's Baptism & each of the children have worn it for their special day eversince.

And if wearing the gown wasnt special enough on it's own, Alexander also wore a special cross that Denis' aunt sent us from Moldova after having her Russian Orthodox Priest bless it for little Zaney. AND Anna's co-worker, who is an African Priest sent us a very appropriate bib & bootie set to wear... of course, Alexander's gorilla feet barely fit!

The baptism was so special! All of Alexander's little friends were there, including Owen, James, Julie & Colleen. I felt so loved when i looked back & saw our neighbors at church, along with the 2 other young families who dont normally attend that service. It was wonderful! I cried a little, but what else is new?

after church, we headed home for another great meal with great friends. Thank goodness we had leftovers from Anna's party! I think we fed another 16 people on Sunday. My mom said we should have had the men in there cooking, since it was mother's day, but I guess we all know that isnt how it works!

Oh, and did I mention Jenn's cake? One word, Yum!

And then there was a wedding...

Lindsey & Mike Tolino

And what better way to end a great month, than with some breakdancing?

Twwet, Tweet Lil' Birdie

DD is just the sweetest Papa! On weekends he has a hard time putting the little cuteso down at naptime, just cause he likes cuddling so much. Alexander is the luckiest son!

DD was also pretty lucky this week. I knew it would be hard to best my Mother's Day present, a box of generic Mac & Cheese and a yummy bottle of Shiraz-Cab wine, so I started shopping early. And, you all know, the hard part isn't finding a present, it is containing yourself once you've gotten it, and not giving it right away. Im not so good at that...

So last Thursday, D took his first flying lesson! Although I couldn't afford the whole kit & caboodle, D got an introduction, where he got to taxi, take off & land the plane. He said they even flew over our house! He wont actually fly again for a while, but he has all the books, papers, etc. to start taking the classes. And after each section, as we can afford it, he will take the flight labs. He's super-excite.

Fwd: Nature Boy Boris

Zander Bob's Five months old! Can you believe it?


Zaney's rockin' & rollin' and eatin' with a spoon! He's even starting to get the hang of his lil' sippy cup!

Our dear BR/Wheeling friend's (Jenny & Wade) had their little girl a month ago & today Alexander had his first playdate with beautiful little Rose @ Oglebay Park. We went on a Nature walk and Alexander identified all kinds of delicious smelling flowers, and we even saw a deer!

Mama Jenny found us this super-cute Bjorn carrier; im so excited, & Zaney loved it!

Then, after a little arm twisting, Jenny convinced Alexander & I to join her for lunch- at a RESTAURANT! No problem. Alexander fell asleep in the car & we ate in peace. It was wonderful!

Alexander, didn't have such a tranquil volunteering experience last week, however. Our church was holding its biannual rummage sale, so we figured we'd walk over & help set things up... Alexander didn't last long at all. I don't think we were there more than 30 minutes... hoy vey. He is definitely much more social/happy in the mornings!

This is my first time posting via gmail, so i hope it works, and if all goes well, maybe this will help me keep this "blog" updated. (didn't go well...)