Smooshfest 2011

All Charlie ~ All the time!
We had Charlie's Mickey Mouse birthday on Saturday the 23rd down in Winter Haven Florida ~ home of Jeremy's parents. It was a perfect day and a perfect place to have her first birthday.
Jeremy's parents, Chris and Richard are wonderful hosts and it was so good to be back in Florida. So good to see so much family and especially good to see my little Smoosh!
We had hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, beautiful salad fixins, tons of fresh fruit (my favorite) and Julz and I brought fresh cinnamon raisin bread with brie spread on it. Everybody loved it.

In attendance were 3 grandmothers, 3 grandfathers and 3 great grandmothers along with various aunts, uncles, great aunts and great uncles.

We all got into the spirit of Mickey ~ some of us more than others. Julianne and I got Mickey mani/pedi's for the occasion.

And although this wasn't on purpose even Grampy had a little Mickey going on..

She had 2 birthday cakes. The big one made the trip with us from Wegman's grocery store in Virginia.

The little one was made by Chris just for her. I love the Mickey shaped cupcakes.

I think she had more fun feeding cake to mommy and daddy then she did eating it herself.

There were more presents than you can imagine... and she did really well being patient as each one was opened and then moved away for the next one.

I'm telling you, this little girl is set for clothes for a while. I'm just as guilty of this as the rest of them but I just can't resist the cute little girl clothes I see in the stores. Julianne and I also made her a scrapbook filled with pics of her first year. Of course, I didn't get any pics of that!


All in all she did really well being the center of attention. She already has so much personality. I hated having to share her with everyone but it was so good to see so much of my family that I have been missing.

Great Uncle Matt, his adorable girlfriend Karina, Charlie and Jen and Grampy in the background.

I apologize for this not being the clearest pic but I love the way she and her great grandmother (Patty) are looking at each other.

Here's me with my "little" brother/godson. Seems like just yesterday he was small enough for me to pick him up. Guess those days are over.

And speaking of growing, Patty was astonished to see that her grandson is now taller than she is.

All in all it was a wonderful day although at this point the day was only half over... but you'll have wait and see what the rest of the weekend brought!

Playing Hookie

So today while I should have been straightening up the house, or doing laundry, or getting some sewing done, I played hookie and went to the movies. Just me ~ all by myself. I've never gone to the movies by myself but I have to say, it was kinda nice. I didn't have to argue with kids about which candy to buy (didn't get any), didn't have to take someone to the bathroom in the middle of the movie.. It's been many years since I could do that... so, the kids were in school, Richard was at work and I went to see "Water For Elephants."

It was a pretty good movie. The book, of course was much better but all in all they did a decent job of it. They cut out a lot of the violence which I guess is good but almost necessary to the story. Also I think Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon did a fabulous job EXCEPT ~ there was not a lot of chemistry between them.  The relationship between Jacob and Marlena was pretty intense in the book. With movies so much is skimmed over, the relationship didn't have much time to develop.  Although come to think of it, he really doesn't have much chemistry with Kristen Stewart in the Twilight saga and he's actually married to her.    Don't get me wrong I LOVE the Twilight series ~ both books and movies..... but let's face it, there really isn't a lot of sizzle (at least so far) between Edward and Bella.  I'm hoping that will change with the next two movies.. Anyway... Water For Elephants... good movie ~ worth seeing.  I give it an 8 out of 10!

Speaking of movies... Julz and I went to see a local high school production of Godspell.  They did a surprisingly good job of it but it made me want to see the movie again.  Richard was sweet enough to order it for me off Netflix.     Having modern technology I was able to look up the actors/actresses in the movie to see what they are doing now.  More than a few are no longer alive including Lynne Thigpen who I really liked ~ and she was the Chief in "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"

The biggest surprise though was the actor that played Jesus......anyone recognize him? Maybe you'll recognize a more recent pic...

Yep ~ Victor Garber! Who knew!

Guess who is 1!

Can you believe it has been a year already since my little Charlie was born? Seems like just yesterday she was this little baby and now she is a big girl ~ no more formula, eating all kinds of food, and walking any second now.
1 Month

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

7 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

It's fun to see her growing through the months. Jen actually does pictures weekly and while I know she will end that at week 52, I'm hoping she'll at least do them monthly.

Well, we are off to Florida to celebrate with the birthday girl.. Here is a sneak peek of her in her Mickey Birthday dress I made.

More birthday pics when we return...


For all you non grandparents out there... it's the best thing EVER!!! I can't tell you how much I love this little girl and how much I've missed her since we've moved. I did get some great time with her when they came up for a visit in March but I'm really looking forward to them moving up this way in August. Then she'll only be 2 1/2 hrs away. Grammies need their Smooshies.

Donny Osmond Exposed (well almost!)

So yes, I've been gone forever and the longer I was gone the more intimidating it was to start again. So much has happened and so much time has passed. Where do I start? Well I'm gonna just jump right back in because this story is too good not to share.

I've talked about my cousin Linda here and how she a huge Osmond fan, specifically Donny. Well she recently got two tickets to see Donny & Marie at the QVC headquarters in West Chester, PA and asked me if I'd like to meet her there. Well just so happens the kids were on spring break and I was hoping to get up to Philly to see Alex that week anyway...so... Julz and Nate spent the day with Alex and they boys in Philly and I was off to QVC headquarters to meet my cousin and see Donny & Marie Osmond.

After catching up with her in the lobby ~ and getting introduced to quite a few of her friends/Donny fans, we were seated 2nd row center for the event. We were warmed up with lots of trivia by a very entertaining QVC employee and then it was time for Donny & Marie to come out. They look better in person then they do on TV, and so funny.

They chatted for a minute or two and sang part of a clip from their new CD when I realized something was amiss...I honestly was not looking at the man's crotch but somehow I am always the one to notice that OMG, Donny's zipper was open! I whispered to my cousin to see if she could verify and about that time he moved into a different position. Of course at this point I AM staring at his crotch and yep...my suspicion was confirmed. Not sure what to do, I motioned for the woman who had warmed up the audience and happened to be standing not too far away to come over and told her that she might want to let someone know that Donny was about to expose himself ~ Did I mention that this was being aired LIVE???
She immediately went over and whispered in the ear of D&M's people, who I guess let Donny know through an ear piece he was wearing.... I thought maybe he'd quietly slip off for a moment but no ~ He turned a bit red and then stood up in front of everyone and zipped up! QVC managed NOT to show that moment but the jokes that ensued afterwards were heard by all and there was no doubt as to what happened. The audience was cracking up and believe it or not I turned red. Sure glad they didn't tell him it was me who noticed!

You can see the video from the event (I'm the dorky redhead in the beige shirt with purple flowers who showed up on air waay more than I'm comfortable with) and order the CD here. It really sounds like it's going to be a good CD and we were given the CD insert signed by both Donny & Marie. Their voices live are amazing and the songs are very catchy. I'm anxious to get mine when it comes out.

After the taping was over Donny came into the audience and when he saw my cousin, he immediately asked how she was feeling (she has been in the hospital recently and even received a call from Jay Osmond). She introduced him to me and he shook my hand. Such a nice guy. I managed to get this pic of them together. One of many she has of the two of them. They were soon ushered out and Linda and I went to lunch with some of her friends (they are the couple in the QVC video)who had just come back (with pics) from a recent Osmond wedding and told us about the upcoming wedding of their daughter at the beautiful LDS temple just outside of Washington DC. I've passed this temple many times on I95 and even got off the freeway for a closer look and a pic or two.

All in all a fun and funny day made even better by getting to share it with my wonderful cousin.

Update: Donny posted this unedited version of his "exposure" here! What a guy.