Long Island

The girls and I headed off to Long Island early Saturday morning for a visit with Uncle Dave and Auntie Jill.  We drove to New London and then took the ferry on over to Orient Point.  It's always easier for me to take the ferry over when I have the girls, espcially if I am by myself with them.  It gives them a break from the car ride and allows me to spend some quality time with them too.  They were excellent on the ride down and we got to Auntie Jill's around noon time.  We went to Hannah's favorite restaurant for lunch, Friendlys and by the end of lunch both girls were covered from head to toe in ice-cream and frozen yogurt.  We then headed over to a Sesame Street puppet show that was simply adorable!  The actual place was beyond adorable; decorated in a million different colors with anything you could think of hanging from the ceiling.  From butterflies to fancy chandeliers, it truly was magnificent.  Even Hannah thoroughly enjoyed herself.  I thought it was great to have some good old fashioned fun with the girls in the age of television and dvd's.  I am going to ask Billy to build a puppet theater for Hannah for her birthday.  Wouldn't that be fantastic?  I'll paint it all bright colors and it will be something all three children can enjoy playing with.  "The Murphy Family Puppet Theater"  Things like this truly excite me.

Saturday night we took the girls bowling.  Layla was literally all over the place.  She was beyond excited and containing her proved to be a difficult task.  She was falling down in the lane and running in front of our neighbor's lanes.  Yet, it was quite comical all the same.  She just got the biggest kick out of the whole ordeal.  Hannah loved bowling and really did exceptionally well for only her second time.  She most certainly has a competative nature about her and kept asking who was in the lead!  One game proved to be enough for all of us since we were starving by that point.  We ordered some take out and headed back to Uncle Dave's and Auntie Jill's to watch the much anticipated "Kid's Choice Awards".  Hannah has been speaking of these for at least a month now and she was literally glued to the television the entire time.  Poor Uncle Dave had to endure the frantic screams and yells over who her favorites were!

Sunday morning we took it easy while Hannah and Auntie Jill went to the bagel shop per Hannah's request.  (Insert my "She is her father's daughter" line here).  We then went to noontime Mass for Palm Sunday.  Unfortunately, Miss Layla woke up with a nasty cold and was quite unruly in Church.  The Church was extrememly crowded and there were no seats when we arrived.  I had to take several trips outside with her and even had to try and calm her by taking her to the car for a bit, but to no avail.  The poor bug just didnt feel well and there was nothing I could do.  I always feel so terrible when this happens because I feel like I have totally missed the whole purpose of Mass when I am unable to pay attention.  I know it happens and I know that I can only do the best that I can do.  I just always feel a bit guilty as if I didnt even attend Mass.  Thankfully, Hannah behaved herself and once Church was over we said our goodbyes to Auntie and Uncle and headed towards the Throgs for a quick visit with Ant Denise, Uncle Chris and the kids. 

As Murphy's Law would have it, we hit quite a bit of traffic and our commute to New Rochelle turned out to be a bit longer than expected.  The girls fared well however and actually behaved quite well despite the extended time we spent in the car.  We were thrilled to finally make it to Ant Denise's and Uncle Chris's house.  The girls were so happy to see the kids and play.  They always play so wonderful together and truly enjoy each other's company.  (Sigh)  If only we lived closer.  I can't believe how quickly the time flies by and how big Skylar, Finnley and Camden are getting.  Camden is about to be 2 in a few weeks!  Wait, wasn't he just born?  It was wonderful to sip on a cup of coffee and have the opportunity to talk with Denise.  I could have stayed on that couch for hours just chit chatting and catching up!  Our times together are so few and far between yet I am so fortunate and blessed to have her in my life. 

As always, she had been saving up some clothes for the ravioli.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate this!  Layla always ends up looking like the most adorable little bean and 9 times out of 10, the clothes are hand me downs!  Adorable ones to say the least.  We truly get so excited to look through the bags of clothes and see all the adorable girly girl clothes!  The shoes, the sneakers, the coats, the dresses!  They are so very much appreciated and I am so grateful.  She is actually wearing one of the dresses today and of course, I havent been able to pry the Twinkle Toe sneakers off of her feet!  I can't thank Denise enough for thinking of us and letting us have all these wonderful items. 

Today, Miss Layla is still not feeling herself.  She only has a low grade fever, so I am sure it is just a cold and nothing more.  How I wish those gummy vitamins would help the poor child out and keep her healthy for more than a few days at a time!  She is napping at the moment which is good since our plan is to go see the big guy with the floppy ears after picking Hannah up from school.  Layla is so excited to go see him and inform him that she would like some chocolate for Easter.  Auntie Mimi has found chocolate bars that dont have any dairy, nut or soy in them and to say that Layla has been enjoying them would be an understatement.  "Mommy, when is a the bunny gonna bring a me some chocolate?"  Can you blame the child?  So the bunny better be hopping on over to the health food store to put some in her basket!

I am going to try and figure out how to upload some video of our weekend to the blog tomorrow so stay tuned!