Party Time!!!

After all the kids did great during the wedding, it was time to party! As soon as we walked in and the band started playing, Abbey and Juliette ran out to the dance floor, which is where they stayed for most of the night, just coming back to the table every now and then for a bite to eat! I loved watching them dance - it was so cute and they were having so much fun!

They really enjoyed dancing with their cousins and second cousins too!

She was pretty non-stop with the dancing...

Abbey enjoyed dancing with Daddy, who could whirl her around!

So cute - I am keeping this picture for her wedding!

Still busting a move...

Now she pulls Uncle Brandon into a dance twirl too...

Abbey spent a lot of the night dancing with her new best bud Kailey and here they are dancing with Uncle Kyle, their pool buddy from the first day (and Kailey's grandfather).

Abbey dancing with Cousin Arden...she was sure to hold on to her dress while dancing, just like a princess!

Juliette has a soft spot for Cousin Arden...I wasn't sure if she would remember Arden from last year, but she seemed to go to her immediately again - she just loves Arden!

Juliette also liked playing with the flowers with Arden.

Ben did not grace the dance floor, despite my attempts to get him to dance with me!  He spent most of his time getting snow balls (aka snow cones), which pretty much was his dinner that night!  But after a while, they brought out fun New Orleans style glasses for everyone, and then my party man came out!

Rock star mom - ha!

Party animal!

Love this picture of Ben and Caroline!

I wonder where Ben gets his party instincts from...

Juju finally conked out.  She was almost asleep when they brought cake out.  She took one bite of cake, ran out to the dance floor for one last dance, and then pretty much collapsed in my arms!  This was around 10:15 probably, so she partied pretty hard!

Aunt Domi, Abbey and Hunter waiting for the bus back to the hotel.

This was actually taken before the reception - great shot of the cousins!

Really cute shot of Caroline...

Love this one - these two were also all partied out!  I try not to look at this picture and imagine them in high school!!

I was pretty nervous about the weekend given the fact that the wedding was late (6:30) and my kids normally go to bed around 7:30.  I was anticipating moodiness and leaving the reception very quickly.  I could not have been happier with the way things went.  Everyone did well during the wedding mass and everyone had a blast at the reception.  I was so happy to see the girls dancing  up a storm and see Ben having fun with the band and glasses.  And the snow balls were a huge hit.  Abbey and Juliette each had a moment of almost melting down, but quickly bounced back after a snow ball!  It just went perfectly in my opinion.  Everything was beautiful and very well planned.  Abbey was so thrilled to be part of it all.  As she was falling asleep once we got back to the hotel, she asked me to please sign her up to be a flower girl again (as if it were like ballet class or something)!  And Juliette was also enthralled with Abbey being a flower girl.  They practiced together leading up to the wedding and they both have been playing wedding with their dolls ever since we got back.  It was everything Abbey could have possibly hoped for.  They both want to do it again, so if you know of anyone getting married and looking for cute flower girls, let me know so I can "sign them up" - ha!  Seriously though, it was great.  Thank you Samantha for including Abbey in your big day!

We just had so much fun.  It was a fabulous weekend!  It is a long journey for us to get there, but each time we go, we have a fantastic time and it definitely makes the trip worth it!  Thank you to the Battaglia's (and all the Dwyer's we saw) for a fabulous weekend and Congratulations to Samantha and George!