Party on the Block

I wish our neighborhood had block parties. The one time they tried, I was on vacation and Tom pretended not to be home. My aunt's block throws a huge one with a DJ, games for kids, tons of food, drinks and fun for all. It was great to see all of my family again the day after the wedding to keep the celebration going. I can't even explain how nice it was for my relatives to meet Madeline at such a young age and to see how much Ella has grown. Being so far away really is hard...especially once kids are involved. On our way to the airport (even at 3am) Ella said "Mama I made new friends!" I had to explain to her that her new "friends" were her cousins! She was excited nonetheless and that makes me happy. We will be back to NY next summer for my cousin Sabrina's wedding and it can't come fast enough. I miss everyone tons:(

Da Bunny with Madeline

Sisters Caroline & Rory
Don Don

Uncle Bud w/ his sweet niece

Aunt Lorraine showing off her great niece;)

Ella in her Lily dress...thank you Aunt Kim!

She's showing them off again! She's super babysitter too...watched my kids one night along with the triplets! WOW.

Awwww cousins

Playing with Reece (the bride's new dog)

Ella and her new bff Keira

Ella adores her Grandpa

Aunt Kim (I wonder if Madeline gave her baby fever...she does have 4 of her own...)

These two were so cute together

Aunt Jeanne holding her great niece

Sabrina the bride-to-be!

Caught these two gambling.

Uncle Mike, Uncle Timmy, Uncle Kevin and Sabrina's fiance Nick (Tom's new bff)

Don't get any ideas Sabrina;)

Uncle Glenn, Uncle Mike and Uncle Joe handing out tons of freebies for the guests

Exhausted Ella still hanging on at almost midnight (probably because her dinner was ice cream and slushies and cotton candy)

Love her.

Ummm no.

Madeline + hair extensions = FAIL.

Madeline "walkin it out"

Apparently we like to torture our children. But it's all in good fun. Hope you get a giggle out of this one!

A New York kind of wedding

And it was an amazing wedding to say the least! We all had a great time. It was wonderful being with my family and celebrating the marriage of my gorgeous cousin Kristina to her handsome groom Michael. I loved that they incorporated our Irish heritage with Irish step dancers performing and the NYPD Bag pipers. I loved the mini chocolate lava molten cakes served WITH the wedding cake and the mashed potato bar at cocktail hour was quite delicious. The Irish Pub they created to be an after party was a hit with my family-cigar bar, Long Ireland Brewery for a taste test, funnel cake sticks, soft serve ice cream..oh my! And did I mention I had a margarita named after me too? A Melissarita... Yeah I'd say this wedding was pretty darn fab-u-lous. A huge thank you to Aunt Sabrina and Uncle Tommy for watching the girls that night until 2:30 am! We love you and can't thank you enough! SO happy the girls behaved;)

Congrats Krissy and Mike. Wishing you many, many years of happiness...and a little league team full of mini Mongans!

I heard this sweet Irish toast in Sabrina's speech and thought I'd conclude my post with it:

May the roof over your heads be as well thatched

As those inside are well matched

My cousins Sabrina and Kristina

My beautiful Aunt Jeanne

The hubby and his wife
Tom and my uncle Mike (the party thrower!)

NYPD Bag Pipers (lots of NYPD is our family!)

Uncle Glenn and Aunt Jeanne

My handsome godson Glenn

My family-Tom, me, my dad, mom and younger brother Randy and Aunt Jeanne (wish my older brother Bryan could have been there too!)

How Sweet!

Love this pic of me and my dad

The Fuchs family and Celeste! isn't she gorgeous?

Apparently we were all concentrating very hard for the NY NY kickline dance

Love these two

Uncle Mike and Aunt Bunny (parents of the bride)

At the Mongan Pub cigars in hand:)To view even more photos click here

Mama and Madeline

I told you I take a lot of self portraits. Apparently I want Madeline to know I DID hold her when she was a baby;) Here are a few of the little gal from my Iphone. Sometimes I send them to Tom during the day and he always claims it puts a smile on his face!

She sleeps a lot, huh?

Sunny day in NY!

The weather was gorgeous the whole time we were there (minus Earl trying to ruin my cousin's wedding, but it held out for us!) Ella loved swimming in my aunt's pool and outlasted Sammie, me and Tom in the pool. We were all tired and she kept on going! I swear she's part fish and could sleep in water.

It was so nice to have extra hands to help out with the girls. Such a relief for me! Sammie gave Ella a manicure/pedicure while Michelle held Maddie and put her to sleep:) I love my sweet cousins!

Prepping for sunscreen

Anxious to get in the pool!

Swimming with Sammie

Boogey boarding!

Future surfer chick?

Her favorite? Jumping off the edges!

Manicure by Sammie...she was so spoiled!

Michelle holding Madeline

Madeline's 1st plane trip!

Here she is traveling at only six weeks old to visit family in NY for my cousin Kristina's wedding. She was an awesome little traveler and we never heard a peep from her for all four flights! She even learned to take a pacifier on the plane ride there:) It was definitely a bit more stressful traveling with two children, but at least Tom was with us to help. We always pick the earliest flights and even though we wake Ella up at 230 am to travel, she wakes up with a smile and is always excited to go to the airport! We flew by the Statue of Liberty and Ella couldn't believe it. She was ecstatic to see it (she has a small obsession with it bc it's on her states puzzle)! But when we landed in NY she asked if we were in China...silly girl;)

Somewhat smiling!

Love these

A huge thank you to our friend Miss Jenna for these adorable shirts for our girls. How perfect! Ella loves her big sister shirt!