Fun With the Girls.

After swim lessons, B-bo and I headed out to Monroe to pick up Allie :)  She grabbed her backpack, hugged her family, and then we were on our way.  We stopped at home to have a snack, and change into our swimsuits.  We made it to the pool around 2, had a late lunch there around 3, and stayed until 5.  Frank stopped in twice to say hi before and after his golf game.  Bella gave him a big wet hug each time, and Pap Pap enjoyed every second of it.

After the pool, we cleaned up a bit, and then I took the girls on a Target run.  They each picked out a new swimsuit, and a fun make-up case with, of course, some new make-up.  We picked up Chick-fil-a for dinner, and watched Lilo & Stitch while we ate.  One of my personal faves <3  Post dinner the girls played a lovely round of dress up, and took the opportunity to try out their new make-up.  Oh to be five again...

Now they are playing a little pony village before bedtime.  3 hours of swimming has caught up to them, and tones have been a bit snippy during imaginative play.  Bedtime is just around the corner.

Now for a glass of wine.

xoxox

Feeling Helpless.

I just got off the phone with my Mom.  She was in tears when she called.  She has reached her limit, her stress is off the charts, and she is feeling like it would just be easier if she wasn't here anymore.

I am dying a little inside because I don't know what to do to help her out.  I am so worried about her right now, and so at a loss as to what to do.

She leaves for Hattiesburg, MS in the morning and will be there through July 10th.  I really feel that Papa is just waiting for her to get back in town and for my brother and Sarah to get home from their honeymoon, and then he will pass.  If he doesn't, and he lingers for another 6 months or so, I really don't know what we will do or how much more my Mom can take.

She apologized profusely for laying all of this on me, but I am glad she feels comfortable to talk to me even though there doesn't seem to be much I can do to make her feel better.

It's times like these that I really wish my Dad was still here...

A Day Behind.

I can't seem to get on track with my blog postings... I always seem to be a day or two behind.  Better late than never I suppose.

So yesterday, I cleaned the house like nobody's business.  It's not like I've been gone for most of the month of June or anything ;)  Considering that, things weren't too bad, but it did still take me most of the day.  The sleepover ended up getting pushed back a day.  The reason being that La was going to be bringing Allie over after they visited Karl's grandparents.  Well, Dominick began throwing up in the morning, and I could have gone to pick A up but I was on such a roll with cleaning up, and La was too that we decided just to hold off until today.  Bella took the news way better than I expected.  Around 3ish, we went to the grocery store for some much needed food for the house.  When Vince got home from work, we headed over to his parent's house for noodle night.  Diane even made my absolute favorite dessert, homemade creamy peach pie!!  She said she missed me :)  I had 2 big slices and finished Bella's piece. no.shame.

As for today, we have swim lessons in a couple of hours, and then we will pick up Allie and head to Pine Lake for some lunch and swimming, swimming, swimming.  Should be a fun day with the girls <3

No place like home.

Let me just start by saying that I am very happy to be home.  Traveling all around has taken its toll and it feels good to have no obligations for a few days :)

On Monday, Bella and I made a trip to Ikea for a few things including some more butterfly wall stickers to continue the pattern we started on her wall.  Looks like we just need two more packs to complete the masterpiece <3  That was pretty much all we did on Monday.  I would have unpacked and started laundry, but all our luggage was still in Vince's car that he took to work so looks like it will have to wait.

Tuesday began with swim lessons.  Bella is loving her swim lessons, and she even experienced the rope swing for the first time.  I was so proud of her because I could tell she was pretty nervous and unsure about trying it.  She watched a couple of kiddos go first and then gave it a shot.  It took them a couple of times to pry her toes of the side of the pool so she would swing out, but once she did she was in Heaven!  She came over to me with the biggest smile on her face chattering about how she can't wait to do it again :)  After lunch, we got our swimsuits on and ran a couple of errands before heading to the pool.  We had to go to Hobby Lobby for some material because Bella and I designed a 4th of July fairy costume that is mostly being made from a vintage sheet, but we needed some lining and ribbon to complete the look.  It should be quite fabulous when I'm done and she is super stoked about wearing it to Atlanta Lily's party on Saturday!  We know 4 Lily's and they all have a tag in front of their names, I promise she is an adorable kiddo not a street walker :)  We also stopped at the post office to mail Andrew and Sarah's wedding present.  While I was at Papa's house, I found 3 black and white photos that Papa had taken in Africa that I knew Andrew loved.  I mounted them on fabric and paper before framing them, and they really turned out beautiful.  Hope they love them <3  Now back to the pool.  We arrived around 4 and had a major swimming breakthrough.  Bella has been having trouble getting down under the water because she only weighs 36 lbs.  I explained that she needs to blow bubbles while she is trying to go down to touch the bottom, and something clicked because she began diving down to the bottom and grabbing dive sticks like nobody's business.  At one point she stopped, and through the biggest smile ever told me it was like she was swimming like a big kid.  Confidence was oozing out of every pore, and she couldn't wait to tell her Daddy <3  The pool was unusually empty, and we stayed for about 2 hours before a storm blew in and kicked us out.  After dinner and bedtime, I cut out her latest fairy costume while Vince did some web work.  All in all, it was a great day.

As for today, I need to do some laundry/picking up before making a grocery store run because we have no food in the house.  Allie will be here this afternoon to spend the night, so Bella is busy cleaning up herself to make sure the sleepover happens :)  This is what summertime is all about!

Andrew & Sarah Get Married

Our journey began Wednesday night when Vince got home from work.  I gave him a haircut, while Bella took a bath, and then we took turns taking showers before loading up the car and heading to Keri's house in Durham to spend the night.  We made it to Keri's by 10:30, put a sleeping mooga bear to bed on an air mattress in the study, and then stayed up to chat for a bit.  I made it an hour before calling it a night, I mean we did have to be up at 4:15 a.m.  Keri dropped us off at the airport to catch our 6:15 a.m. flight and that brings us to Thursday...

We landed in Houston around 11:30 a.m. and my Mom met us in baggage claim.  Andrew circled the airport until we got our luggage and were waiting outside.  My Mom was given a free upgrade when she rented a car, and of course the logical upgrade to a Ford Explorer is a brand new Cadillac Escalade!  The thing had air conditioned seats, bad.ass.  So, from the airport, Andrew took us to lunch at a cute little place called Just Mac.  It was all Mac & Cheese with different fixings, read absolutely.delicious.  My Mom had a slight breakdown during lunch, and I was prepared because this day, June 23rd, would have been her 40th Wedding Anniversary.  She composed herself quickly, and I gotta say, that was her only meltdown.  She was happy, and I mean happy the rest of the weekend :)  After lunch, Andrew dropped us off at our hotel, and the Ammirato family proceeded to take a 3 hour nap.  It was very much needed.  For dinner, my Mom met up with some missionary kids she knew while growing up in Africa.  I actually played with this couple's daughter on my first trip over.  I remember them because they had a pet monkey, and I was fascinated by it, but also terrified it would throw poop at me at the same time.  Anyway, we went to dinner with Andrew and Sarah at a yummy Mexican place with real Mexican food, not what they try to pass off as Mexican here in North Carolina.  Bella sat between Andrew and Sarah and was nothing but giggles and rainbows all through dinner.  When we got back to the hotel, Bella spent the night with BB, and Vince and I had a couple of drinks with the bride and groom to be at the hotel bar.  While there, the entire cast of Chicago showed up to wind down from their show that night.  Our hotel was right next to the theatre district.  My brother actually recognized Roz, from Amen, walking through the lobby.  Around 11, we all called it a night.

Friday.  After breakfast with BB, we got ready to go to the aquarium.  Well, Bella and I went with BB to the aquarium, and we had a blast.  My brother has done nothing but make fun of this aquarium because it is owned and operated by Landry's, a seafood restaurant.  I gotta say, it was pretty cool.  They had a huge assortment of fish and sea creatures including a red octopus, huge spotted stingrays, creepy electric eels, piranas, and so much more.  There was an area for petting tiny rays, baby bamboo sharks, and horseshoe crabs.  They also had white tigers that you could walk right up too.  4 live there, only 1 is displayed at a time, and they were gorgeous.  You can even spend the night with them too.  We stayed for tiger enrichment where they told us all about the tigers, and Bella soaked up all the facts like a sponge.  We rode the shark train, which was an open air train with a glass ceiling that took a tour through the old waterworks building that has been transformed into a huge arched aquarium full of 30 sharks swimming all around you.  It.was.awesome.  My favorite was the enormous saw fish.  It looked like something straight out of a cartoon.  We also rode a giant ferris wheel and the merry-go-round before heading back inside to have lunch.  Lunch was cool too.  There was a huge cylindrical aquarium in the middle of the restaurant full of huge fish that you could watch swim while you ate.  I had a salad.  Something just didn't seem right about eating seafood in front of a bunch of fish.  After a quick trip to the gift shop, it was time to head home for a little nap before the rehearsal dinner at 6:30.  Dinner was at Collina's, a cute little Italian restaurant where Andrew and Sarah had their first date <3  There were 14 of us total including my Aunt and Uncle, Sarah's Mom, 3 sisters, a nephew, and a boyfriend + us 3, and my Mom.  Dinner was great, and we all had a nice time laughing and celebrating Andrew and Sarah <3

Saturday.  The big day!  My Mom and I met Andrew at the venue at 9 a.m. to help him get everything set up.  Both the wedding and reception took place at an old Fire Station in the Heights of Houston.  The ceremony took place upstairs, and the reception with yummy sit down dinner was downstairs.  My Mom and I took care of putting on all the tablecloths, setting out all the flowers/table decorations, and putting together the candy buffet (and yes, I separated the Skittles by color).  All was ready to go by 12:30, and ProSound was on it's way to install sound and lighting so everything was running along smoothly.  We arrived at the Fire Station at 5:30 to hang with Sarah while she got dressed.  Bella loved this part, and took a few moments to practice as well :)  Sarah was a drop dead gorgeous bride in her light and lacy cream Vera Wang, and blue Badgley Mischka heels.  The ceremony began promptly at 7 p.m. and we were all in place, including Vince who was using his iPhone to Skype with Papa so he could be at the ceremony too.  Papa even wore a suit for the occasion :)   When my brother walked out, he took out his phone and took some pictures of the crowd, and waved at a few folks in true Andrew fashion.  Bella performed her role perfectly, and Sarah looked like a dream as she walked down the aisle escorted by her Mom to my brother.  Hands were held, vows were said, and a beautiful kiss sealed the deal.  Before crossing the threshold, my brother crushed a glass that a friend had slipped into the aisle for him.  My Aunt leaned over and asked when he had converted to Judaism.  My brother, always the funny one :)  A few family photos were taken, and then it was time to have some fun!  After being introduced as Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Beard, they did their first dance <3  We then all ate dinner, enjoyed a fun video montage of pictures of the happy couple from childhood until now, and laughed at all the surprise toasts.  See, Andrew didn't tell anyone about having to toast, he just made a list and put us all on the spot including me... Bella's was cute though, she got on the mic and talked about how she loved Uncle Andrew because he taught her how to play golf when she was 2.  After cutting the cake, a lot more dancing and photo booth fun ensued.  Yep, they had a photo booth at the wedding, and space in their guest book for you to add one of the 2 strips you got from the booth.  too.cool.  We sent them off with heart shaped sparklers glinting in the night.  It was a beautiful evening.

Sunday.  We made it back to Mint Hill, NC around 11 p.m. after a long day of travel, and I gotta say that we were all happy to be home.  There is just something about sleeping in your own bed.

Oops.

Quick note about that thunderstorm last night... My A/C in my car works sporadically at best these days so most of the time I leave the windows down once I am home.  Well, they were all the way down all night long during the torrential downpour.  I guess that's one way to clean the interior of my car :)

Good Day.

Yesterday was a really good day.  After a quick trip to the bank, and Hobby Lobby for a zipper, we headed to Bella's first swim lesson of the summer.  She was so excited about swim lessons, and spent the rest of the day telling me just how much she loved them.  I may have a little fish on my hands, we will just have to wait and see <3  After her lesson was over, we met Vince for lunch at Panera Bread.  His office is a mile away from the pool where Bella takes lessons so this worked out nicely.  When we got home, I did a little cleaning up and Bella began the process of cleaning her room.  Around 2, she laid down for a snooze, and I visited with Jen Hamilton for a bit.  She caught me up on all the summer theater drama while we had a glass of wine.  Bella ended up sleeping for 3.5 hours so we didn't make it swimming that afternoon.  Instead, when Vince got home, she finished cleaning her room while we worked on cutting up and dragging away more of the downed trees in the side yard.  After an hour, we called it a night on tree work, and headed inside to get cleaned up.  Bath time for Bella and shower time for me.  Once I was clean again, I finished up B-bo's flower girl dress and it fits her perfectly.  She looks absolutely adorable in it, and I'm pretty proud of myself if you can't tell ;)  Vince made a late dinner of brinner for us and we sat down to the kitchen table at 9:45 to eat.  By 10:30, Bella was happily snoozing in her bed, Vince and I were both stretched out on the sofa watching tv, and a massive thunderstorm was raging outside.  When we finally did stumble to bed, I fell asleep staring at the stars on our ceiling and listening to the rain on the roof.  I.slept.soundly.

Now, I'm up and I need to make a second cup of coffee before Bella and I launch into action for the day.  When Vince gets home from work tonight, we will be loading up the car and heading to spend the night with Keri before catching our flight to Houston in the morning.

Time to coax a 5 year old to get dressed...