Thomas graduates

Thomas is an old guy now...heading off to the gigantic University of Buffalo where fellow kin Mot and Jimmy spent many a year with some very fond memories...we are very proud of Thomas and wish him much success in Chem E....rock on Smoochie. Enjoy the Mighty Taco gift card...try not to use it up in the first month.  Send me the pin number on the back and I'll buy you a supermighty with the works every month. It's part the Uncle Alumni package.

Mot regails us with a story from yesteryear

The cousins seem to keep growing despite the "no feeding" policy.

I love it when the sudden random game of chinese slap kung fu freeze fight starts up during the cupcake tasting.

I am so excited to be with the kin....must be the meds?

Grace ponders the future

you so funny round eye

Debonaire Pop with effervecent Catherine.

Thanks for the party Pratos...it was grand fine day all together.

Grace Note...again

Here's a wonderful cut of Grace at her vocal recital. No matter the cast or double compound fracture the show must go on! Grace seems so at home up there it's scary. She does the melancoly look pretty good. This number is from WICKED (I guess). Well you did a wicked good job Grace.

Carolyn or Reese?

OK...seriously. I can't tell the difference...other than our version is a little prettier.

I think Carolyn should be happy to know that she'll be adorable in the rain when she is 40?
Although I think scarfs are OK but Reese is wearing like a...um bed spread?

Come to the CABARET ol chum...!!!!

I finally got to see Gracie do one of her Cabarets! (We in this case) During her last Cabaret in the fall we were all gathered at Club Strong Med listenening to me rant instead of Grace...the poor dear made it through that Cabaret with no one from the family there...I still cringe about this.

But this time were joined by Pop and Cathy on the Myers side and Grace's Mom and her pal Maya (who will be dancing with Grace at SOTA next year) for a splendid performance. A true LOUD FAMILY EXPERIENCE!

Grace obviously did great and I can't help but get all weepy when she sings. She has a wonderfully low alto range with great mid alto power. I have to get her to see Norah Jones when she comes to town in June. She sang Adele's Rolling in the night before at the SJNS Talent Show and rocked it. The Principal told me she cried...me too. I had card and camera failure so I am not sure that song will ever get posted but if I find it I'll put that up too.

Grace Rolls in the Deep

Her last St John Neumann Talent Show...7 of them...Chicken Fry, Music Box Dancer, Tapping to Singin in the Rain...et al. I told her leave it all on the stage this year, go big or go home...do an Adele song and blow the room away-

yep...she did

my card failed in the s8100 camera so all  I got of this incredible performance was the really shaky second camera...so I pulled a few jpgs off the video and reloaded sound track.

TURN IT UP!!

Easter in Owego

Eric and I headed to Owego to join the family this past weekend. We ( I ) were looking forward to throwing an Easter Egg hunt for the nieces and nephews. Jimmy and Grace could not join us this year - so we saved some eggs for them. :O)

Kristin put on a grand easter dinner and Marks sister and her sons joined us as well.

Julie in motion

Here' she is ...in video format...she sleeps 16 hours a day...and when she is awake she is full throttle but then she takes a little break to cuddle. Right now she is dictating the schedule around here...I have some more videos of her I'll post shortly.

Right now she is sleeping at my feet in her little fleece bed. This is her pre nap before bed time snooze I think.

welcome Julie!!!

Yes a new member to the LOUD Family...indeed ... we finally got Gracie her dog....she got an agreement at Christmas that I would get her a dog if she did the work...well we all know what this means...so WELCOME TO JULIE ANDREWS MYERS...may you be healthy and happy and not tooo hyper.

She is beautiful to be certain....she has been with us a week and we are getting pretty good training from Julie...she has allowed us to sleep through the night in exchange for regular feedings. By switching to iams she doesn't whine too much when we leave. We are working on our chewing agreeements...right now she is insisting on everything...we are trying to narrow that down a bit to not include me, Grace, the furniture , my kitchen , our shoes, and our clothes. She has not shown much flexibility here but does remind us she is in a crate a lot...

She's goood dogggie, yes she is..

second....Second Time Around"

Wow...New and Improved!

This time - photos! And more video flavor than ever before!

So here is the video I shot from the second row at friday's show (my second time around). I stitched in some of the other parts including the finale. Listen closely...I don't think the kids are really singing so you can hear Grace over all of them plus over the adults...she's got the power.

Also a few photos

Here Grace's teacher, Mrs. Clark who was joined by many of the

SJNS teachers....(also Mrs. Clark is Grace's BBall coach.

She is obviously very patient.

Of course Grace, Jackie and CeCE wanted to go to the party...well alright

but just for a few minutes. Maria Isabel also joined me. Fun. Fun. I talked to the director as well and he had very lovely things to say about Grace. He said he was looking forward to seeing Grace under the bright lights of broadway...Yikes.

Bravo once again Gracie...onward and upward...where to next? Blackfriars, JCC, Geva Mainstage??

G-MEN!!!!

We just needed one more good luck charm to get us up and over the Patriot

hump...yes fingernails with N Y G I A N T S on them that's it!

Thanks to Grace's cosmetic ingenuity the Giants have won another superbowl.

Thanks Gracie. What a wild season.

The Next Stage

Well the last post had Grace doing a little dancing...now it's the next stage...literally here is Grace with her first performance on the Next Stage/GEVA Theatre. This is THE theatre (actually the Next Stage Theateer is a smaller second theatre next to the main stage) to be at in Rochester. Grace BELTs out a nice little solo about living in Rochester. This is part of a musical variety show entitled "Second Time Around". It is a reprise of select portions from a theatre company formed in the 70's with many of the original cast members...plus a few students from St John Neumann School. Fun for Grace as her 2 best buddies, Jackie and CC, joined her on stage.

Grace makes a video!

We hooked up with a play/Video called Let's Move throuht the RCT and Grace made it through the auditons and ....here she is...lots of face time...she is the Hoola Hoop Girl...she wears a green top and a pink top.

Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAIOx5nnywE

This will be played for all the RCSD students along with a play based on Hansel and Gretel. (then Hollywood??)

Greta job Gracie!!

Thankful for much

The family joined Eric and I in Syracuse this year for the annual turkey burn. I used the opportunity to test run an fondue recipe for the upcoming Holiday party at our house.

While dinner was cooking, Many of the gang watched the Thanksgiving sporting event on the television. I think it was the "Brown ball " sport.

......

I also was initiated into the celebration rite for when one obtains a turkey at no cost due to shopping receipts. It is entitled "FreeBird!" And there was much rejoicing.

A Fabulous 50th

.
A beautiful weekend here in upstate New York as we celebrated my sister Cathy's 50th birthday. The day's adventure started with a tour of some fun wineries on the east side of Seneca lake as we headed towards Geneva for the evening. The various wineries and settings proved much fodder for our goofy ways AND we actually tasted some wines as well.















































After the tour and some hotel checking in, we arrived at Belhurst castle. First time I had actually been there. A fantastic ( and haunted! ) mansion located at the top of Seneca lake. Dinner was quite Yum Yum and then there was cake!!










A friend remarked on Facebook that Mom must be smiling and I am sure she is.

Next stop....STATES!!

OFA XC-- 2011 Division Champions

James was the top runner for his team and in this race finished 9th of all those runners! Can you spot him? He was able to qualify during sectionals and will be running NYS XC championships this weekend. I am so amazed and proud of our boy! BRING ON THE COWBELL!!

Aunt Catherine's 88th and Lucy's debut

Cousin Danielle and Pete organized a trip back east for everyone to meet our newest cousin Lucy Clare this past weekend. We made an double occasion out of the visit and all met in Scranton to help celebrate Aunt Catherine's 88th birthday at Marywood.

Lucy Clare made the rounds with all the cousins and there was much cake to be had.

Saturday night we all went out for Irish food and afterwards Kristin hosted a mini celebration for my sister Cathy's 50th birthday. The family will be getting together later for the big party, but we sampled some truffles in the hotel lobby as a warm up for the party in 2 weeks.





A great weekend!