A birthday to remember

We celebrated Olivia Maria's 4th birthday this week and it was wonderful. We had some preschool friends over in the morning for a small party with a surprise visit from Nonna Lisa, followed by lunch out just the girls, Olivia's pick for her birthday dinner and then Nonna Maria, Nonno Mario and family over for a special birthday cake the birthday girl picked out on her own...a month ago.

Sort of a Thomas the Tank theme since our little girl loves him so much.

A special Happy Birthday from her preschool buddies.

Olivia and her Nonna Lisa. She was so surprised that morning when she heard Nonna walk in the house. A perfect birthday gift!

Nonna and her girls.

Olivia is so cute. We opened presents after our friends had gone and we had returned from lunch. She was so excited about each and every gift. Even the cards got huge smiles and "Wows!" from her.

Chase and Mason got her a very teeny My Little Pony and I think this picture just shows how much she loves it. Love that dimple of hers!

After our family dinner, we had Nonna Maria, Nonno Mario, Uncle Danny, Zia Paola and cousins Simon and Giuliana over for cake. And what a special cake it was too. About a month ago we were at our favorite bakery, Weinrich's, picking out a cake for a friend of ours and she spotted this Cinderella cake and was so excited about it. She was jumping up and down and asking if she could have it for her birthday. After making cupcakes for her preschool class celebration and then more cupcakes for our little home party with preschool friends, I was totally up for not making any more sweets and letting a bakery handle it for me.

It was delicious! I will admit that there was more icing than there was cake though, not that my girls mind that at all.

Cugini. Anthony's holding up Giuliana so she could be included in with the bigger kids too.

Someone's 4!

4 years ago today we welcomed Olivia Maria into our hearts. This little girl has given us so many happy moments in the 4 years from her silliness, fashion sense and singing and dancing. Olivia loves to sing and dance! She is loving school and ballet and can't wait to play soccer like big sister Sofia. She's going through a tough picky-eating time so that's been interesting. But we love so much her anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-too attitude.

She is the best gift we could have given Sofia. Even in their not so great moments, these two love each other so much and within seconds of one saying they want to be by themselves, the other starts whining about it and then it's back to playing together. The best way to get them to get along in the tough moments is to split them up for a few minutes!

Pictures of her day to come!!!

Happy Mother's Day to me!

This year we weren't able to see my family at all on Mother's Day so we did the next best thing. Whatever I wanted. And it was perfect. The day started with Anthony getting the girls up and having them assist with breakfast in bed, mass with Anthony's family and then the four of us were off on for an adventure. Our "adventure" took us to Hank's in Chadd's Ford which was amazing. Small diner stop that does not take reservations and it's a cash only place and seats probably about 30. It was delicious, the girls loved it and were on their best behavior and we were so excited to finally get there as a family.

Next we were off to do some antiquing. Up and down Route 1 are just loads of antique shops ranging from small and pricey to massive and great deals. The girls love it. We did this for my birthday last year and we all had a great time and it was definitely a repeat of an afternoon. It's always fun to look and of course come across a great gotta-have find!

Girls loved seeing this chair again and even asked (again!) if we could buy it and bring it home. Could you imagine?!

Superb Mother's Day with my little family of 4. These girls make every day so special to me and so glad I got to spend each minute with them on my day.

My little fashionista is almost 4!

When did this happen??? My baby is going to be 4 in just less than a week. And we're almost at the end of her first year of preschool and first year of ballet. She loves them both a lot and works so hard at both.

And man can she walk in heels already! Better than her mama that's for sure. And really? How adorable is she in a hat?

Love my little/big girl Olivia Maria so much! 

Picnic time

From start to finish, our past weekend was perfect. So much fun was had by all in the family and we truly came away with just a happy feeling. There were friends, dinners, a soccer game and birthday party, a carnival and of course, just some good ol'time outside playing. And having a picnic.

How cute are these two really???