Grandma's memorial

Saturday, May 12th, 2012

Avon Lake Country Club, Avon Lake, OH

After naps for everyone :-) (yes, all 6 of us managed to fall asleep in one hotel room for a nap (?!) we started the process of getting ready for the memorial service. Fairy painless as there was plenty of entertainment around, i.e. Mimi, Pap, Uncle Donnie & all the cousins! 

Mimi told me earlier that the Grandma Rita & Grandpa Bo were members of this country club long ago AND this is where Mom & Dad's wedding reception was!  I thought that was a neat touch. Overall it was a gorgeous reception ... visiting with family we never get to see, beautiful place, beautiful weather, more people than mom & aunt Jill had anticipated, great appetizers that were adult & kid friendly, and free drink for everyone. The only thing that could have made it better was if Grandma would have been with us.

Pictured here are the gorgeous flowers that my co-workers/friends from work sent! Absolutely stunning...

Enjoying the food...

The biggest & smallest ;)  Lauren 7 and LeaAnn 14-months

walking!!!

and adorable outfit from Godmother, Kris for her birthday :)

and finally we meet special cousin, June!  My 1st cousin, Kate's daughter. Girls had a great time playing with her :)

Lydia 2-1/2 & June just turned 2! Took Lydia a little bit to warm up... imagine that!

Elle having fun with this little girls too :)

look who's a walking fool?!?

This was so much fun to take picture of! They totally looked like Marilyn Monroe :D  So many face expressions I did not capture (when they first stepped on the vent and realized what was happening ;) They were priceless.

Mom, Aunt Jill & Uncle Jim did an amazing job describing Grandma & paying tribute to her life. Learned that she stopped dancing in her chorus line because of WWII... not b/c of Grandpa as I had always assumed!  Made me realize I should have asked more questions...

All the kids did great during the dedication, could not have asked for more. After they were done, LeaAnn led me to this impromptu photo shoot! I was fairly pleased ;)

How big is LeaAnn?!

So big!

LOVE

ADORE... such a LeaAnn face.

and here is LeaAnn's turn standing on the vent...

She was so enthrawled with it :) so cute...

big, big blue eyes... Jim just asked me last night after seeing my newly colored hair that is super dark, "what would you have liked to be born as?" And I responded by pointing to LeaAnn :D However, I am proud of my brown eyes... both of my Grandma's had brown eyes so I'll take 'em ;)

oh she has the most kissable cheeks!!

and who can resist this face!?!  Miss LeaAnn Claire at her best :D

EVERYONE loved the pictures... and the girls loved that they were pictured on the boards too w/Grandma.

And those dance pictures that the girls were amazed with... I remember being just as amazed (and still am) as they were... one of the reasons (I think) that I continued to dance all the way through high school.

Lydia hiding with Carson :)

and we tried family pictures... with success I think!

Mimi & Pap's whole gang...

Pap and a few of his girls :) I couldn't remember which one Mimi liked best, so I included all 3 ;)

The six grand-kids... not too bad... LeaAnn just ran out of steam ;)

My cousin Kate, her husband Mike & June at 2... and baby-to-be in October! Doesn't Kate look gorgeous?!  Completely adore her necklace...

I love it when I get to capture these moments... just wish I had a crystal clear picture to go with it.

and moments like this... the 'in-laws' laughing together... which they do quite often :D

Miniature Donnie ...

The Koontz Family

Carson 5-4mo & Lauren 7

After the memorial at Great Aunt Jill & Uncle Brian's house...

and then swimming again once back at the hotel! Pap was such a great sport and got in the water with all of them :D  At the moment... here is Pap's #1 fan!

the dances 2012

Forgot to add in the 'professional' photos.. thought they turned out really cute :)

And here are the recital dances! :D

Lindsay ballet

Lauren jazz

Lauren ballet

Lindsay tap

Lauren tap

Dance Recital 2012

Friday, 5/4/12

New this year, there was a 'real' recital complete with a rehearsal & costumes! :D  Girls were excited & so was I.  Here we are at the rehearsal w/friends Frankie & Keeley

Here is Lindsay dancing at the rehearsal... she was so cute dancing!  Smiled and everything :)

well not smiling here :)

 but here she is!

I think she looks so tall!

Only 1 picture of Lauren.. I was tyring to video-tape too, b/c I didn't know we'd be able to video the real thing on Saturday.

Saturday, 5/5/12 - spent a good 2-hours getting ready, doing hair (which I was pleased with) and make-up. And we had just enough time for posing-pictures on the porch. Girls were super excited to do this which made it fun. Here is Lauren in w/her ballet costume on.

Lindsay ballet

Lauren tap

Lindsay tap

together tap... I love this picture :)

and adore this picture, though wish Lauren had a bigger smile :) shows off their hair though! ;)

Lauren jazz

friends again before the recital in their waiting room...

After the recital was over, another treat.. going out to dinner! Made even more special by the fact we were able to just dote on the big girls... made possible by Grammy :) (thank you Grammy!)
After dinner we came home and turned on the video... here they are, dancing to it! They were happy that I taped the high school girls dancing (I remember requesting my mom to do that very same thing ;)

It was really cute... and they said they were sad dance was over.

I'm happy that we have costumes for Smallsey to wear ;) Can't wait to get pictures of that!