Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We hope you all had a great holiday!   I know we sure did!  We all watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the girls loved it.  Everytime it went to commercial, Camryn would turn around and say "Mama... more! More!"  Lol.  They especially liked seeing all the floats and giant balloons.  After the parade, we went to Rich's parents and then to my Aunt's house.  It was a great day!   Camryn learned how to say "Gobble Gobble!"  just in time for Thanksgiving!

Marissa had a Thanksgiving feast at school and I got to go in and help out.  It was so fun to get to see Marissa at kindergarten!  All the kids had pilgrim bonnets or indian headpieces on.  They had a lunch of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls and dessert.  Then they sang us moms some songs.  Too cute!

Heres Marissa sitting at her table:

We also had Camryn's birthday party a couple weeks ago and she had a wonderful time!  She had a Dora & Friends cake and decorations.  We sang to her twice because after the first time she blew out the candle, she clapped and yelled More!   She did a great job blowing out her candle and opening all her presents by herself.  One of her bigger gifts was a "Fur-Real Friends" cat named Lulu.  It meows, washes its face, rolls over, blinks and purrs.  Camryn LOVES her!  She brushes her, pets her, carries her around and says "hi Lulu!"  Haha.  So sweet!

Here's a couple photos of Camryn on the day of her party:  

Rich posted a new video of the girls playing outside so be sure to check it out.  Marissa's friend Eleyah lives next door, so you can hear her and Cam calling "Hi Eleyah!"  a few times in the video.  Camryn says "Hi E-ya!"  Too funny!  Camryn is saying pretty much EVERYTHING right now.  She's definitely a little talker!

We put up our christmas tree last night and the girls had lots of fun decorating it.  I can't believe it's almost christmas already!

Well, I hope everyone is doing well and we'll post back soon!  Thanks for stopping in to check up on the girls!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we updated the photo gallery with new pics from September & October!  Be sure to check them out! 

We also added a couple new videos of Marissa singing songs and making tissue paper ghosts.  She makes these videos up all by herself!  The paper ghost one cracks me up... it's like she doing her own craft show or info-mercial.  She is too much!

Happy birthday to Camryn today!  Our little sweetie is TWO! I can't believe it!  She is getting so big!   We're planning on having her party this saturday, since we had to cancel it last week because the girls were sick.  She's having a Dora party... her favorite!!

Marissa is going back to school tomorrow after being out for a week.  She's excited to go back.  She loves school and her teacher!   We're so glad she's feeling better!

Well, hope everyone is well and we'll post more soon!

Happy Halloween everyone!   The girls had a great Halloween!  They had lots of opportunities to wear their costumes... we went to two halloween parties, a scavenger hunt at my mom's work, a party at dance class, handing out candy at my moms and of course trick-or-treat at our house.  They got lots of treats and had lots of fun.    Camryn had no problem going up to the houses with her bucket... she got the hang of that right away!  She even said "tank youuuuu!"  afterwards.  Awww! We also had fun carving a pumpkin on halloween day.    Camryn is so funny with all the halloween decorations... if she sees a ghost she yells "Ahhh! Goat!"  in the fake scared voice.  It's hilarious! 

Marissa got to have a halloween parade at her school.  It was really cute!  My dad and I walked down with Camryn and video taped it.  She was the cutest Dorothy I ever saw!!

The girls have been sick for the past couple weeks.  Camryn had a runny nose and cough for the past two weeks and is FINALLY getting a little better.  Marissa came home from school on Monday with a high fever and is being treated for the H1N1 virus.  She started the tamiflu almost immediately and is doing really well now.  She has been out of school all week, but should be able to go back on Monday. We had to postpone Camryn's party due to all the sickness, but hopefully can reschedule it for next week or so. 

The girls are getting a new baby cousin in May!  My sister is expecting again and we're all so excited to add a new member to the family!  I still can't believe Marshall will be a big brother by the time he's 13 months old!  Wow!  Congrats Krissy and Kurt! 

Some of Camryns newest words are : Kiki (Aunt Krissy), ghost, bat, happy-meal (LOL!!!), got it!, I did it!, puppy, doggy, and hiss (for snake).  She is pretty much saying EVERYTHING at this point.  She will repeat everything and is talking in sentences.  What a big girl!!

Well, we'll post more soon and add some photos in!  Hope everyone is well and thanks for checking in with us!

Kelly, Rich, Marissa & Camryn

Hi again! 

Marissa being in the homecoming parade got cancelled due to the weather which was rainy and cold.  They said they'd keep their names for next year though, and let them go on the float next year.  Marissa didn't really mind missing out on the parade.  Jamil came over and played with her and Camryn instead and we all had lots of fun!

Today we're going to my friend Laura's halloween party.  Marissa is excited to finally wear her Dorothy costume!  And Camryn will be so cute in her Bee  costume.  We'll be sure to post pics!

Camryn's new word is cheese.  She says it when I take her picture and she also likes to put parmesan cheese on her noodles and to dip her nachos in the queso dip at the mexican resturant in town.  She loves to "dit", which is her word for dip. 

Marissa might be joining the girl scouts! The first meeting is in a couple weeks, we're going to go and see what it's all about and if she would like to do it.  She would be a Daisy.

Well, that's about for now!  We'll post more soon!

Hello again!  Hope everyone is doing well!  The girls are having a great Fall and getting big!  Camryn is talking like CRAZY right now, and saying new things everyday.   Some of the words she says right now are:

mama, mommy, dada, daddy, Ya-Ya (Marissa), Doh-Doh (Dylan), Emma, Ella, Moe-Moe (Jamil), Amy, Me-Ma, Meem, Pe-Pa, Ry-Ry, Papa, Nana, baby, cup, bowl, coat, hat, shoes, purple, blue, green, oatmeal, soup,  cracker, cookie, cupcake,  Elmo, Dora, Oobi, Kayko, Uma (last three from the show "Oobi" on TV), hi, there, goodbye, bye, hot, cold, num-nums, noodles, baba, Ernie, mine, me, right there, no, my, uh oh!, donut , more, bib,  apple, grapes  , dip, cake, water, beep-beep, duck, quack-quack, meow, moo, doggy, pop, lollipop , hop-hop, "mmm... yum yum!", "ooh yeah", shhh, moon, tea, "ta-da!', poop, pee-pee, on, up, bee, bear, pooh bear, right there, go?, shh,  happy.  She is talking in 2-3 word sentences like "No, Ya-ya, mine!"  or "mama, my coat".  She is getting too big!

Camryn's favorite things right now are watching Oobi, Dora, & Diego on TV, playing with her kitchen/play food and playing Little People.  She loves music and dancing.  She is our little sweetie!

Marissa is doing great as well!  She is still loving school and dance class.  She has lots of friends at school.  We've gone to a couple football games and she sees kids she knows from school and sits by them.  So cute!

Marissa got selected to be on a homecoming float in our homecoming parade this friday!  She's excited to ride on the float and go to the  football game afterwards.  We'll be sure to post pictures of her in the parade!  

Marissa also went bowling  for the first time a couple weeks ago and got three spares... and this was WITHOUT bumpers on the gutters!  She did so good!

Marissa's favorite things right now are playing on the computer, playing her Nintendo DS, Spongebob, doing crafts & art, and playing board games and card games.  Me and her play lots of  card games now, which is fun since she's old enough to play and understand the games.  We play Crazy Eights, Old Maid, Go Fish, and a few Tinkerbell card games that she got for a gift. She also likes to play bingo and checkers.  

Marissa is doing great in school and loves to print words, letters and make up her own little books & stories. She loves to make her videos on the computer too.  She's too smart!     

I went down to part-time in mid September to be home with Camryn & Maris more and to be able to help out at Marissa's school.  It's been wonderful!

Well, that's about all for us!  We'll post more soon!

Love,
Kelly, Rich, Marissa & Camryn

Hello again! 

We're almost a month into kindergarten and so far Marissa absolutely LOVES school!  She has made a million friends and has a few young admirers ... oh my!  She told me she kissed a boy (on his shoulder, lol) and that another little boy tells her everyday that he wants to marry her!   She loves her teacher and has been doing great in school!

My sweet Marissa, ready to go to school! :

Marissa started dance class again, and loves it still.  All the other moms say how their girls complain about going to dance, but Marissa never does.  She aks me every day "Is tonight dance?"  She really loves it. 

Camryn is getting really big!  She has been peeing and pooping on the potty a little, usually once a day she will go on the big potty.  She gets really excited when she goes!  She is also talking like crazy and says new words every day.  Some of her newest words are : cupcake, moon, tea, blue, ta-da!,  and me.  She talks in little sentences too.  What a big girl!

Sweet little Camryn, going potty! :

We've been doing lots of fun things in the end of summer here... my sister and I took the kids to the Columbiana street fair a few weeks back and they all had a blast.  Camryn really loves to go on rides now too!  She calls all the rides "beep-beeps" and points to which one she wants to go on and says Me! Me!  We also went to Kennywood for a second time and had lots of fun.  Marissa got to ride in a paddle boat for the first time!  She really liked it. 

We'll post more soon! 

Kelly Rich Marissa & Cam

Hello again!  Sorry it's been so long since we updated but we've been having a happy busy summer!  It went by much too quickly!  I am actually looking forward to fall however, it's my favorite time of year! 

This summer the girls have done a lot of fun things!  We went to Sandcastle and both girls had a blast!  Marissa rode down some "BIG" waterslides with me and she loved every second of them!  Both girls played in the kiddy areas and went down the kid slides... even Camryn!  Marissa loved the wave pool too.  We had lots of fun in the sun!

We also went to Kennywood with Kurt, Krissy, Dylan and Marshall. The girls loved that too!  They both rode lots of rides in kiddyland and Marissa even went on the big log ride with me and Dylan!  She loved it!  We had lots of fun at Kennywood!

Our big vacation this year was to Fort Myers, Florida.  We stayed at the best hotel for kids, I swear.  They had crafts to do each day poolside.  Marissa made a treasure chest, painted a  starfish and a sand dollar, and got to make a bouncy ball.  She also did a "paint wars" one day on the beach with a bunch of kids.  They also had a "make your own sundae" everyday.  They had a big pool with a waterfall and octopus that the girls loved.  The pool went from 5 feet all the way down to zero depth, so even Camryn could walk in the pool.  They had another kiddy pool too that had sprayers and waterfalls.  The girls loved it too!  The hotel had a  movie night too, where you sat poolside and watched a movie outside on a big screen.  Lots of fun!  The whole trip was wonderful.  The girls loved Florida!  We found lots of amazing seashells, crabs, a clam, starfish and sanddollars.  Wow!  We took Marissa to see a Peter Pan play on vacation and she absolutely LOVED IT!  Marissa is crazy for Peter Pan and tinkerbell right now!

Here's just a few of our MANY photos from Florida:

Some updates on the girls:

Camryn is now 21 months and is doing great!  She has all of her  teeth except for the two year molars.  She talks ALOT!  Some things she says now are : mama, dada, nana, papa, Meem, Mi-Mi, Peep, ya-ya (Marissa), Doh-Doh (Dylan), Moe-Moe (Jamil), Amy, Emma, Ella, baby, duck, quack, meow, hi, hi there, bye, baby, bottle, cup, up, in, out, help, cracker, cookie, elmo, ernie, barney, beep beep, no, yes, uh-huh, poop, pee-pee, bowl, bib, purple, yellow, blue, num-nums, water, pool, cool, "Oooh yeah!", bear, shoe, uh-oh, book, Oobi, mu-mu (music)... just to name a few!  She has gotten over her shyness and is really outgoing and friendly now!  She is just an absolute little sweetie! 

Marissa is 5 1/2 and just started kindergarten two days ago!  She loves school!  We are so proud of her! She is all excited about her "twinkle toes" shoes from sketchers that she got for school.  Oh man!  She'll be starting dance class again this year in September. Marissa is growing up too fast!! I can't believe she's almost 6!  She loves Tinkerbell right now and playing barbies.  She is already thinking about what she wants to be for halloween!  (and right now its Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz!)  Marissa has been swimming with just arm floaties on this year in my mom's pool and jumping in too!  What a big girl!

First day of school photos:

Well, that should be about it for us!  I'll try to post more soon!

Love,
Kelly, Rich, Marissa and Camryn  

Hello again! 

A lot has been going on with us lately!  Everyone but me has been sick in our house, but finally feeling better!  First it was Camryn, with a high fever and fussiness.  Then Rich got sick. (High fever, sore throat) Then it was Marissa.  Sheesh!  Marissa just started feeling better today.  She had a high fever and sore throat. She was really sick there for a while with a temperature of 102.8 at the highest.  Ugh!  Poor baby had a bunch of tests... she got swabbed for strep and had to have blood work.  Thankfully everything came back okay and she's finally gotten over the worst of it. So hopefully we're all done with being sick for a while!!

We took Marissa and Dylan to the  drive-in a few weeks ago to see "Night At The Museum 2."  They loved it!!  They were both complete angels and their favorite thing was that at the snack bar you can butter your own popcorn, lol.

Camryn has been saying new words almost every day!  Right now she says : Mama, Dada, Me-Me, Peep, Pa-Pa, Na-Na, Ry-Ry, Ya-Ya (Marissa), Doh-Doh (Dylan), dog, bear, meow, quack-quack, duck, moo, baba, wa-wa, baby, up, more, on, bowl, cracker, hi, hi there, right there, Dora, Arney (barney), & Elmo.  I'm sure there's more but I can't think of anything else right at the moment. 

Marissa had her dance recital on June 7th.  She did wonderful and we were so proud of her!  This year they did two dances, one for tap and one for ballet.  The tap number was to "Animal Crackers" and the ballet was to the song "Reflection" from the movie Mulan.  Marissa got a trophy again this year for perfect attendance.  After the recital we all went out to lunch.

Here's some of the recital photos:

Dress Rehearsal Day:  

Some of her dance class:

Day of the recital, Tap outfit:

Ballet outfit:

Some of her dance friends:

Not too much else has been going on with us.  Marissa is going to be a flower girl in our friends Justin & Christina's wedding and that is coming up next weekend!  Marissa is very excited to be a flower girl!  I'll post pictures of her in her dress after the wedding.   Marissa loves weddings!   Last year we went to two of my cousins' weddings and she never left the dance floor all night, lol.

We are also very happy that summer in finally here!  We have already been swimming at my parent's house.  Marissa also finally let me put "floaties" on her arms and swim that way.  Usually she goes in by herself with her little innertube.  But she also likes her floaties now.  What a big girl!

Here's a couple photos of the girls swimming.  The pool was a little cold so Camryn played in her baby pool!

I took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese a week or so ago and they had lots of fun.  Afterwards we went to visit Rich at work and then all went out to lunch.  Rich's school was having a carnival for the kids and Marissa went down the huge inflatable slide a couple of times. 

Photos of the girls at Chuck-E-Cheese & Out to lunch: 

Well, that's about all for now! We'll post more soon!  Tonight we're going to dinner for my dad's birthday.  Both the girls' grandpas birthdays are June 10th!  Happy birthday Pe-Pa and Pa-Pa!! 

Love,
Kelly, Rich, Marissa & Camryn

Hi again!  Well, Marissa is officially done with preschool!  Her last day was yesterday (Wednesday, May 20th).  They had a  beach party for their last day.  She had lots of fun!  They wore their swimming suits and coverups and ate their lunch while sitting on beach towels at the "beach"!    I am sad to see preschool over.  It seems like just yesterday I took her to sign up and now the year is over.  My baby is going to kindergarten in the fall... and full day kindergarten at that!  She is ready for it... but I'm not! 

Today Jamil and I took the girls to the Carnegie Science Center.  They had a blast!  It was a little crowded in the morning, since there was a lot of school groups there, but after lunch things thinned out ALOT.  Their favorite things were on the top floor which is just for little kids.  Marissa liked the ball area, where you wind balls up through pipes and they shoot out of the ends and also shower down onto you in the one part.  It's kind of hard to explain without seeing it, but it was a lot of fun!  They also had a big water play area with little fountains and plastic boats , balls and funnels that Camryn loved.  They had an area with huge foam blocks that both girls had fun building things with and knocking them over.  After the Science Center we stopped to see my brother Ryan's office, which was right down the road.  The girls love their Uncle Ry-Ry!

Camryn has been saying some new words.  She calls Marissa "Ya-ya" (not sure where she got that, but it's so cute!!)  and she has also been saying "On", "pour" (while pouring water, etc) and today she was saying "splash". 

Tomorrow we're taking Marissa and Dylan to see  Night At The Museum 2 at the Drive-In.  Marissa hasn't ever been to a drive-in movie  and I haven't been to one since I was little and we went to see ET!!  So we're all excited about that. 

We'll post more soon!  Hope everyone has a Happy Memorial Day!

Love,
Kelly, Rich, Marissa and Camryn

Hello again! 

 Well, last night was Marissa's Preschool Graduation & Spring Program.  It was wonderful!  I helped backstage getting the kids into their costumes, which worked out really well because you got a front row seat while the kids were performing!  The program was great.  They did a "Through The Year" segment, so they sang songs from all the different holidays.  They did a thanksgiving turkey song,  a christmas "Up On The Housetop" song,  "Many Little Snowmen"  song, a valentine  poem, "The Bunny Hokey Pokey" and then had their graduation.  For the finale they did a  USA theme and sang "We Love Our Flag" and waved their little flags around.  Marissa did wonderful and was singing the loudest!  I got tears in my eyes when she walked out to Pomp & Circumstance with her little graduation cap on... oh my!  Talk about sentimental!   After the graduation we went to eat at Applebees.  It was a great night!

Marissa has two more days of preschool next week and then she is done!  She goes Monday for regular class and then wednesday, on their last day, they are having a beach party!   Marissa is so excited for the beach party!  I can't believe the preschool year is over.  It seems like I just signed her up, and now it's done.  I can't believe my baby is going to kindergarten in the fall!!!! 

Dance class is also almost over. She got her professional dance pictures taken last week and the final recital is on June 7th.  The first week of June we have a lot of practices and dress rehearsal.    Marissa got perfect attendance for dance class again this year, so she'll get a trophy also.

Marissa is going to be a flower girl in our friends Justin & Christina's wedding next month.  I just got her flower girl's dress a couple days ago and it's adorable.  She's going to be the cutest flower girl ever!

Not too much else is new with us.  Miss Camryn is doing great and getting so big and smart!  Here's a cute photo of Cam with her sunglasses on. She's such a little blondie!!!  

Camryn loves Elmo and Barney, being outside and playing!  She loves to go on her swing, feed our bunny leaves and go down the slide all by herself.  She loves her little car that we push her around the neighborhood in.  She loves cars/trucks/ etc and yells "Beep beep!"  when she sees them.  Too funny! She's getting so big! 

We'll be updating the  photo gallery later today.  Be sure to check back in for the photos from April and Easter.  There's also a couple new video clips of Marissa singing her "Mother's Day" songs.  Thanks for checking in with us and we'll post more soon!

Love,

Kelly, Rich, Marissa and Camryn