Rosemary's 1st 7th Birthday Party

Here's some slides of our little party we had for Rosie last night.  I didn't get any pics of the cake but I did get evidence of Joey opening one of Rosie's gifts.  Rosemary was very gracious about it.

Happy Birthday Rosie!

Rosemary is 7 years old today!

First thing is a birthday party at school and then presents when she gets home!

(and Grammy called at 6:55am to sing to her!)

Peter Pics

These are already on my Facebook page, but I'll post them here, as well.  Some pictures of Peter (and some of his siblings, too.)

Two Of a Kind

Here's Rosemary and Carmellina going to school together for the first time.  (Carmellina only had orientation yesterday.)  Rosemary is in her gym uniform.  Carmellina is very excited about her jumper and her new sneakers.

First Day of First Grade

Here's Rosemary in a slightly over-sized jumper on her first day of elementary school!

Kiddie Vids

Here's a little something to make the grandma's happy:






A typical night around the diner table.

Happy Birthday Rosemary!

Rosemary is 6 years old today!
Happy birthday Rosie!

Six years ago today I looked at her and thought, "Now what?"

Six years later I'm still asking myself the same question.

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a little while since I weighed in with a post. The school year has started again so the entries will be a little sporatic until I figure out which periods I can use to accomplish school work and which ones I can use to goof off.

The big news, of course, is that Rosemary started kindergarten this week!

(Next thing you know she'll be finishing grad school.)

Just for the record...the white sneakers are not part of her uniform. It was a gym day.

...and still counting...

Today (April 23rd) Rosemary is 67 months old! (5 years 7 months)

There and Back Again

This weekend I was left to watch Rosemary and Carmellina by myself while Jess went out to a surprise birthday party and then to a wedding shower.

After exhausting every possible excuse and attempt to escape this duty, in the end I was left alone with them. So I did the only thing a father could do...I got help from my sister.

The girls and I made a trip down to Virginia to see Jeanna for the day. After nearly 4 hours, one bathroom break, and one very small potty accident, we got to her apartment in Arlington for some PBJ sandwiches. After that we headed for the National Zoo in DC. We walked, and walked, and walked, oh and then we walked. Somewhere in between we took the Metro too, then we walked some. Eventually we got to the zoo and it was a nice time.

We saw some panda bears

Rosemary and Jeanna had a nice time hanging out


Carmellina, on the other hand, had a different opinion of the zoo.

Unfortunately it wasn't long before everyone was very tired and we walked, and walked, and walked back to the metro and walked back to her apartment, before we walked to get some Wendy's and had to head for home.

If you get the chance, you should ask me about an episode that I can only call "Carmellina and the Terrible Escalators." I wish I had taken some photos but I was too busy running away from an out-of-control stroller while trying to scoop up a petrified 4-year-old before the grates at the bottom got her.

All in all it was a nice time, of course. The girls want to go back with just my parents and spend the night. That's fine with me. I don't think my legs could take another trip there for a little while.

P.S. It's a good thing we didn't bring Alice. Apparently schnoodles are not allowed at the zoo.

Viol-initiation

The Bible says that "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

On a similar note (ha)...Rosemary got her first violin today.













We took her to a little shop in Bryn Mawr (almost an hour from South Philly) run by a very helpful and very serious little Asian woman named Kot.

She plays a 1/16 violin. Apparently they come in sizes that get bigger with the child, who knew?

So now we get to listen to her practice 20 minutes a day from now until she gets to Carnegie Hall.

It's In Her Blood

Jess and I have decided not to push the kids into the arts simply because we're interested in them. Nevertheless, they seem to be innately prone to them. In fact, today, as I was working on a portrait commission, Rosemary stood next to me and said, "Dad, when I grow up, I'm going to be an artist just like you."
Poor thing...does she know she's going to be broke all the time, too?