Thanksgiving to Now

My sister posted about our Thanksgiving on her blog, so here are just a few of my pictures.

Erika spent most of her first T-day asleep on her Daddy. He's got the special touch. He's holding up 3 fingers in this picture because this is the 3rd time that day she had fallen asleep on him. Cute.

Tim and his mom took the kids to a Candy Land party at the library. They had a great time... except for a slight fear of Lord Licorice.

I celebrated my 29th birthday on December 9. My very sweet husband sent me these very beautiful flowers.

Sometimes Daddy's are too comfortable for even themselves to resist a little happy nappy.

Thanksgiving Cookies

Ryan and I made the dough while the twins were at pre-school. Then after lunch we rolled out the dough and cut the shapes. I should have taken a picture then. They were completely covered in powdered sugar!

Erika really wasn't much help with the cookies, but she was quite excited about the frosting I let her lick off of the spoon!

1st Day of Pre-School

Things went well! They had a great time, and Tim and I weren't complete basket cases, so all things considered, it was a success.

It hasn't take Ryan long to adjust to being king of the castle at home while they're in school. His biggest concern is that I'm going to make him go to school too, which does not interest him in the least.

Erika is always eager for their return home.

The beginning of a new era...

I've always prided myself in being a mom who didn't want to hold her kids back, who let them grow up in the timing that they ought... I've changed my mind. They must stop now. Tonight, as a matter of fact.

Bekah & Joey start preschool tomorrow. I have no idea how this happened. I swear - this was them just yesterday.

But alas, all good things must come to an end, so it is with a heavy heart that I send my kids into the real world... Sure, it's just preschool, but to me, it seems like the rest of their lives are out of my hands. It certainly is good to know that they're held in God's hands (which I do realize that they've never been in my hands, but it feels even less so now).

They, of course, couldn't be more thrilled, or any less sensitive. Bekah just told me today, "Mom, I know you're sad that we're going to school because you'll hardly see us anymore." Yeah. Thanks. Just what I needed.

It seems hard to believe that these memories even ever happened.

I'm not sure who came up with the phrase that for those with little kids the days are slow, but the years are fast, but I'm finding that so very poignant right now.

Seriously, I must just be the most blessed mom in the entire world.

Update - Vacation

We spent some time at my aunt's shore house in Ocean City, NJ. While the weather wasn't fantastic, we still had a great time.

Update - September

It's been a while. We've been busy!

Tim turned 30 on September 12. We had a very fun party to celebrate.

I'd like to introduce you to Lord Stanley of Cake.

I based the sausage choices on some of my favorite characteristics of Tim: hot & sweet. hehe

Here is Tim showing off some of his cornhole skills.

I went away in September for a ladies retreat with my church. Tim took the oldest 3 mini-golfing. Cute.

Glasses

These glasses are from the doctor's kit we have. It's actually Bekah's, but Ryan is obsessed with the glasses. He wears them for hours at a time. Tim and I put them on Erika a few nights ago. She didn't mind, and probably enjoyed watching Tim & me laugh about it.

Summer has been going quickly. Here's a nice family picture from the last game we attended. It was give-away day - kids got a Ryan Doumit jersey. They were "adult small" size, so I got to wear Erika's.

Those Pirate games sure are exhausting. Even Tim fell asleep on the walk back to the car.

Haircut

I just got back from a major chop & highlight. The husband likes it, so I guess it's all good. :-) In the background you can see the cherry pie that I baked this afternoon. I should have also taken a picture of my very stained fingernails (I don't own a cherry pitter, so my fingers & a paring knife pitted 4 cups). I hope it tastes good.

A weekend of fun

Last weekend we attended a wedding of a family friend in New Jersey. This allowed us to have the chance to stay at Andrea's house. The cousins always have such a fantastic time together. When I was a kid, we always took pictures at my Uncle Gary's house with all of my cousins on the steps, so I always like to try to get pictures of all of my kids & their cousins on the steps too. Surprisingly enough, we got a couple with all of the kids looking & smiling! We also got a few that looked like this...

Erika just wouldn't cooperate and make a silly face. :-P

Erika also got to spend some really enjoyable time with her Grammy.

Erika will be 4 months this week. Where has the time gone? She is a wonderfully pleasant and easy-going baby. She's generally very happy & smiley. And in case you were wondering if her eyes would stay blue, we're gonna go with a definite "yes"!

New Erika pictures

for those who have been asking...

Who is happy?!

And getting a little pudgy?!

All that smiling really can wear a girl out! Good thing Wendell is sympathetic to her being tired.

2 Months

Time certainly is flying by these days. Erika is now over 2 months old. She's doing very well - growing quickly. Here she is enjoying a snooze with her Daddy (with 1.5 series worth of "playoff beard". Lets Go Pens!). She's very cute and pink. :-)
The kids and I (and Grandma) went to the Zoo this past week. Here we are sitting on the metal tortoise... not that you can see much of the tortoise! We had a very fun time and look forward to many more trips to the zoo this summer.

Happy 4th Birthday, Bekah and Joey!

How on earth did this happen?! 

here's a picture of them each year on their birthday (0-3)... they seem so grown up all of a sudden.
here are some pictures from Easter, the party and the little girl.

We had a beautiful day, so we had the party in our yard. It was so nice. And in case you were wondering, we never instruct them to hug like that for pictures... they just do it. Sometimes they sit like that to watch a movie - so sweet.

One of the best things in life...

One of my favorite memories from each of my kids' births has been introducing the kids to Tim's grandparents. Grandpap was in the hospital with some lung problems around when Erika was born, so the intro had to wait a little while. Here's a picture of them with her. I feel so fortunate to have married into a family that treats me like one of their own; and I feel especially fortunate to have fantastic grandparents. What a special relationship for my kids to have - great grandparents.

Cousins

My sister came to visit last week. With her came her friend Sara (Ryan's new best friend) and her 4 kids, Hannah (8.5), Jay (7), Daniel (5) and Julia (3). When I'd tell people she was coming with 4 kids, people thought we were crazy... but it actually was easier for me than just having my 4 kids as mine are so entertained by their cousins. 

Andi & Sara were so very helpful and spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing things in my house that I just can't get to right now. We also went to the zoo and the Children's museum. They were here from Sunday night to Friday morning, which was great - though I don't think I could ever say they stayed "long enough". I love having them around!

All dressed up

We all went to church on Sunday - our first outing with Erika. Quite the cute group! 

Erika Lynn Priano

Here's our newest sweetie. There are a lot more pictures here.

Erika Lynn Priano

March 3, 2009

9:25 am

7 lb, 12 oz

20 1/2 in

Holy Cow

There are 2 things in this world that Ryan really loves: Veggie Tales & cows. Every time we go to Mops, Ryan is soothed into staying in his room by the cow toys available for him to play with. One of the workers in his room, who has an especially soft spot in her heart for Ryan, brought this cow in for him today as a gift. It's ginormous. He's really funny with it. He's got quite the collection of cows now, but this is by far the biggest. 

***

I have just one more week until #4 is born. I'll be posting here sometime after his/her birth with more information. So exciting!!!

Here We Go, Steelers!

Here's a picture of us in our black & gold. We had a nice time watching the Super Bowl. The kids stayed awake for most of it, but fell asleep half way through the 4th quarter... so right about the time it got REALLY exciting.