Hannah's Birthday Extravaganza 2008

Here are all of the pictures taken during Hannah's party and on her birthday. As you can see, it was truly an extravaganza enjoyed by all, especially the sweet birthday girl herself!

Turning 8 sure was GREAT!

Yesterday, was a very special day.  Hannah's  8th birthday!!  I still cannot believe that our angel, darling, and beautiful girls is 8!  

Our birthday girl sure had fun...from early in the morning until the setting sun.  So much to do, so little time, our day was filled with laughter, and LOTS 'O FUN in the sunshine. 

We enjoyed breakfast at The Breakfast Club, did some shopping at Fashion Square with a stop for a smoothie at our NEW favorite place -- PB Loco!  Where EVERYONE goes LOCO for PEANUT BUTTER, THE BIG KAHUNA AT THE PLACE!!!! Back to you, momma!!!!  Thank you Hannah for that advertisement.  Now, back to our program already in progress...

We capped off our awesome day with a Girl Scout Miniature Golf Tournament at Golfland that part of our Brownie troop had chosen to participate in to help out another troop.  Our team consisted of Hannah, one of her bestest friends and Brownie sisiter, McKaylan, Hannah's Daddy, Gary, and they were joined by Sarah, a Girl Scout Cadet and they were off to a great start.  There were even a few delightful holes in one!  Everyone had a great time and because it was Hannah's birthday, she had quite the entourage of grandparents in tow too. Grandma Jeanne, Mama' and Papa' were even able to join in on the fun.  What an awesome ending to a beautiful and memorable day!  

Hannah's 2008 Birthday Olympics

Fall break is off to an AWESOME start! The first activity on our schedule was Hannah's Birthday Olympics! The excitement was building as we were driving to USA Youth Fitness Center -- the locale of choice for Hannah's Birthday Olympics. She chose this gym as it was befitting of our "Olympic" theme. We arrived early to set up for the festivities and to greet our guests. Aimee and Lisa were the first of the party girls to arrive and were such a big help in keeping our excited birthday girl company while we were waiting. The gym was painfully off limits until everyone else arrived. As you will see, it was certainly worth the wait!

Gary, the 40-something-kid-at-heart that he is, was the first to jump into the foam pit. He really knows how to get the fun started. The girls were all warming up with their coach, Carrie, but they laughed when they saw him jump in. He was followed a couple of other adults -- Shanna Weissman and Hannah's Aunt Carmen! Well, Aunt Carmen didn't exactly jump in on her own... Of course, jumping in was the easy part...climbing out was another story.

Now the girls were really anxious to get jumping. Here's one of Hannah's closest friends, McKaylan, jumping off to a good start.

Here's one of Hannah's bestest friends, Aimee, showing some mad skills on the uneven bars. Go Aimee!!!

Here's Hannah swinging into the pit... As you can see, all of Hannah's sweet friends were having tons of fun jumping, bouncing and swinging...

Before heading upstairs for cake and presents, Hannah had a little medal ceremony for her friends where she presented each of them with their own gold medal. No Olympic party would be complete without a medal ceremony. The girls lined up and waited for their medal of friendship. Before going upstairs though, Grandma Jeanne surprised Hannah with a victory medal for the birthday girl.

Now, it's finally CAKE TIME! Thanks to Aunt Carmen for the dee-licous cake! She has brought every birthday cake for Hannah since her first birthday. What a 'sweet' and thoughful tradition!

Hannah then had fun opening all of the unique and thoughtful gifts

presented to her by her awesome friends.

We are so grateful and so blessed to have so many kind, caring and sweet friendships in our lives. Each heart that we have grown to know and

love is the true gift that we cherish. Thank you all for sharing this special occasion with our family. We love you all bunches!!

Girl Scout Brownie Troop 389 ends their year in style!

Girl Scout Brownie Troop 389 ends their year in style!  Miss Katie had so much fun packed into the girls'  last meeting last week.  It certainly was fun and totally memorable!!  The girls enjoyed a pizza party followed by ice cream sundaes!  Miss Katie had brought in two stylists from the Glitter Box to give the girls "rock star," "princess" or "fairy" hair styles.  The girls really enjoyed being pampered and looking so glamorous.  Before our meeting, Miss Katie had arranged for each of the girls to get a manicure too.  They looked fabulous!  We all watched the DVD of memories that Miss Katie made.  The girls were laughing and hugging each other while the moms were getting all choked up from the sweet and tender moments captured and shared.  It was Hannah's turn to pick a few flowers to bring home from the garden that they planted as a troop.  Miss Katie also added the photos, kind thoughts and finishing touches on the little scrapbooks that the girls put together at one of their first meetings this year.  It was such an enjoyable afternoon for all the girls and their moms.

See y'all in September my Brownie sisters!!

Thank you Katie for everything you have so lovingly done for our Troop!  I don't know how you do it all!  You are an amazing leader and role model.  We are so blessed to have you as our guide on this wonderful journey with our girls.  Your kindness and thoughtfulness shine through with everything that you do.  May God bless you always!  

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Love, 

Yvette

Miss Katie,

Thank you for everything.  Your eyes sparkle like the stars.  I love you bunches.

XOXO,

Hannah

Happy Mother's Day!

Gary and I were so incredibly blessed to have both of our Moms with us on Mother's Day! It was a beautiful day that we began with worship at St. Tim's. Angels rejoiced in Heaven as the Children's Choir was also leading us in songs of praise on this very lovely day. We were also blessed to have lots of family and friends joining us for Mass today -- Mom, Dad, Mom T. (aka Grandma Jeanne), Aunt Sharon, Uncle Bill, my Aunt Carmen, Uncle Joel, cousin Lauren, my Godparents, Richard and Carmen, my cousin Richie, his sweet children, Megan, Jonathan and Justin (we missed Debbie as she was in Chicago spending the weekend with her mom), and our dearest friends, The LaRocca's--Karyn, Pat and Vinny, of course! We raised our hearts and arms in worship of our Lord Jesus Christ and definitely felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and the love of our family surrounding us. We were also celebrating the feast of Pentecost, which also marks the birthday of the Catholic Church. Happy Birthday! (P.S. That is also why we're all wearing red too.)

After Mass, we all went out for a lovely and delicious Mother's Day brunch at the San Marcos Resort in downtown Chandler. Like I said the food was delicious. The brunch was held in the grand pavilion, which was beautifully decorated. There was even a gorgeous ice sculpture in the middle of the room. If you looked closely though, you would have seen the ice dripping and melting faster than...you guessed it -- a snowman in Phoenix. Apparently, the air conditioning went out in the grand pavilion the night before and they were not able to get it up and running until an hour before welcoming their guests for brunch. It was warm, to say the least! We did not find out about the A/C mishap until we arrived, of course. What choice did we have? I mean, there were 13 of us, after all. Where else could we go without having to endure an incredibly long wait?? We decided to make the best of it. We were grateful to have the time together as a family and to enjoy each other's company. I certainly couldn't complain. We were all grateful for the yummy food and the warm company of family.

Before I go to bed tonight, I want to thank you, God, for the woman that I am blessed and honored to call my Mom. And thank you God for further blessing me with my precious and beloved daughter Hannah, and for always showing me what matters most.