Another busy weekend

Well, we all survived the trip to Chuck-e-cheese, I'm the most surprised that I made it out alive... although everyone I was with kept telling me it wasn't "that" bad.

500 screaming kids- at least one of which vomited right near our table (thankfully none of ours) and that's not bad??? I'd hate to see what bad really looked like.

Oh well, the girls had a ton of fun and as it turned out we had a really nice impromptu birthday party for Natasha thanks to all of her Aunts and Cousins. Not only was my best friend Tracy there with her 9 year old son, Kurt, but my sister in law Donna, niece Angelina, sister in law Christine, nephews Anthony and Joey and my other sister in law Donna with my nieces Jenna and Ariana all came. My girls are very very lucky to have a family that loves them so very, very much, and me- I'm just plain lucky. Best moments in the day were watching Vica help Angelina get up into the habitrail like climbing thingy they have there, Kurt helping the girls learn to play all of the different games, PLUS giving them all of the tickets he won throughout the day and Anthony and Joey cashing in their tickets specifically for hair accessories for their cousins. Jenna and Ariana are like little mother hens to the girls- when they are around, I don't need to worry for a second where my kiddos are, or what they are doing, they are usually being carried around like little princesses by their older cousins.

After we got home, my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin all stopped by with some birthday gifts for Natasha- they got gorgeous party dresses that they immediately fell in love with. I'm really surprised that Vica didn't ask to wear hers to school. We have a big family party coming up at the end of March, so the girls will have a chance to wear them pretty soon. They also got toys, jewelry, etc.. etc... What was great was that after only meeting my Aunt once, when Vica saw her getting out of the car and coming up our front walk, she started jumping up and down saying "Cho-cha, Cho-cha!!!" (that's Aunt in Ukrainian) I was really happy that she recognized her and her relationship to her.

Yesterday the girls attended their first birthday party. Our little pal Drew also turned 4 this past week and the girls had a blast. They held the party at one of these kiddie places that organizes everything for you. They had all kinds of stuff to jump on and into, plus organized games. At one point they had the kids sit in a circle and sing a little rhyme that ended with each child saying their name. My two actually figured this out and participated right along. They had so much fun, they were both crying when they had to go home. I wish they had a place like this out here by us- I'm going to have to look for one. They also did a craft project and of course, at pizza-their absolute new favorite food. Then later in the afternoon, my Aunt Jeanne and cousin Teresa came by to meet the girls. We have asked Teresa to be Natasha's Godmother and it was so nice because Natasha was really huggy and kissy with her. My Aunt Jeanne is also MY Godmother, so that makes it all the more special!! :)

Now we're all off this week, the girls will have their first trip to the dentist later in the week and Natasha has to go back to the pediatrician for her MMR vaccine so she can go to preschool and we'll probably take them on a few day trips, one of which I hope is ice skating here on our lake!