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.

Bekah's First Boyfriend

Tim & his brother Danny took Bekah & Joey to Piratefest yesterday. They had a great time doing a lot of different things, including batting, catching, going through an obstacle course, and the biggest deal - meeting some of the Pirates. Joey's favorite was Nate McLouth and Bekah's favorite was Ryan Doumit. She was just giddy about getting her picture taken with him. Now we just have to hope that he doesn't fall victim to being traded, as most Pirates do at some point or another.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!!

Yesterday was Ryan's 2nd birthday. We had a party for him on Saturday. He's just such a sweet and fun boy. He felt a little bit shy about all of us singing happy birthday to him (as seen above), but warmed up to the idea once he realized he got cake out of it. If you'd like to see the cake, click on the Cake link on the side.

I'm really looking forward to another fun year with Ryan. I'm sure this year will be full of big changes for him - becoming a big brother, being potty trained (hopefully!), watching Bekah & Joey start preschool - should be an exciting time!

Click here if you'd like to watch the video of Ryan from ages 1-2 that we showed at the party. For some reason the music didn't seem to upload. I'll work on that.

Build-A-Something

This past summer, we told Bekah that when she started using the potty all the time, I'd take her to Build-A-Bear. Joey decided that he'd like his reward to be going to a Pirate game with Daddy. So all this time, Joey has been antsy to get a build-a-bear. We told him when he started staying dry through the night all the time, we'd take him to Build-a-Bear. Rebekah picked an adorable pink bear with white hearts on her, and a Jessie costume (from Toy Story 2). Since that time, Joey has said he'd like a Buzz Lightyear Bear. Sounds good to me.

So over the last little while, Joey has had success at night, and his elephant memory has served him well and he has been very eager to go to Build-a-Bear. Last night was the night. We talked about Buzz Bear for days. He was so excited yesterday. We all went to the mall. Tim, Rebekah & Ryan went to the play area and Joey & I headed for the store.

We walked around and I wasn't seeing any Buzz costumes. Uh-oh. So we went and asked the worker if they had Buzz. Nope. Joey was disappointed - more confused than anything. She started telling him other things he could get: Bob the Builder. No reaction. We could dress one up like a cowboy. Yeah, not happening. On and on. And then... Spiderman. I had no idea Joey liked Spiderman. But there was no talking him out of it, which is fine. I really wanted him to have whatever he wanted. I wasn't going to inject my opinion. Oh, and he HAD to have a cowboy hat. Okay...

Now to pick a "bear". Cute brown bear: no. Penguin: no. And then he saw it: T-Rex. He was in love. So T-Rex got stuffed, we picked up the costume, got the birth certificate & paid. Then we dressed T-Rex. It was... interesting. The lady working there commented that she thought it was WAY cooler than Buzz Lightyear. Right. I commented that I'm guessing that it's not one of their more common combinations.

Upon arriving back to the play area, Tim kind of responded with a wow... what happened to Buzz? Joey ran off to play with Bekah & Ryan. I sat with Tim to discuss Spidey-Rex. Tim had me crying and not really breathing in laughter within minutes. 

I seriously don't think there has ever been an uglier stuffed animal. I guess love really is blind. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce the newest member of our family: Spidey-Rex. 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

We had a very nice Christmas & New Years and hope you did as well!

Ryan's Prayer

Each night Tim prays with the kids right before bed. He asks Bekah & Joey what each of them thought was the best part of the day, then they thank God for that thing/person/whatever. He just started trying to incorporate Ryan into this too. Here was their conversation a few nights ago:

Tim: Bekah, what was your favorite part of the day?
Bekah: Spending time with Aunt Laura.
Tim: Okay, why don't you thank God for such a nice Aunt Laura that you get to be with so frequently.
Bekah: Okay. Dear God, thank you for a nice Aunt Laura and all the nice things we do with her.
Tim: Okay Joey...
(Repeat similar to above)
Tim: Okay, Ryan, Say "God, thank you for a fun day."
Ryan: You're welcome.

Hmm... we might need to work on that.

I'm back!

Apparently whatever problem I was having has resolved itself. But apparently I can only upload one picture per post. I'll take what I can get.

So... an update. Tim's been playing with the kids a lot more recently as he got a new position at work!! Yippie. We've been hoping and praying for about a year for a job change. He stayed with the same company, but switched departments. His new spot doesn't require evenings & weekends & overtime like his old spot did, so we're seeing a lot more of him. Praise God. He heard he got the job 2 days before Thanksgiving and started there on 12/15.

I'm doing well, for the most part... I ended up getting the stomach flu in mid-November, and then again on Thanksgiving. T-day is my most favorite day of the year, so it was quite upsetting to be so sick for it. I didn't even get any turkey :-( Baby remained fine though, so I can handle that! Things are pretty much normal with me for now. I'm in the third trimester now and am getting so excited about meeting #4.

The kids are doing well too. Crafts are the daily excitement around here. Bekah & Joey are always looking for a new craft to do. Ryan spends his days looking for mischief to get himself into, usually with great success.

We're looking forward to Christmas. The kids are very concerned because we keep going to buy gifts for other people, but they haven't seen us buy any for them. I keep assuring them that we buy them when they're not around so it'll be a surprise. It should be a fun morning! They're very excited for Jesus' birthday and want to sing Happy Birthday to Him. I'm glad they at least sort of understand the true meaning of Christmas.

Happy Early Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving - everything about it. I get so excited when it is time to make Thanksgiving themed crafts. Here are the kids turkeys. 

Joey did not want his picture taken with his turkey.  He also didn't want yellow hand-feathers or a gobblet part. I'm not sure if you can see too well in this picture, but he wrote the J and the Y in his name. Too cute.

Ryan was so excited about getting his picture taken that he wouldn't hold his turkey. It was stealing his spotlight. So Bekah was the helper and held it for him. Ryan had a *bit* more help than the other two... as evidenced by the placement of things and the ability to distinguish what the eyes are. He did do some mighty nice coloring by himself though.
Bekah is very excited about her turkey. The eyes are slightly below the beak and those pink circles are cheeks. Turkeys must have cheeks. 
This was a great craft as they are really into anything involving markers or a stapler. The older two did cut out some of the hands by themselves (with assistance) too. I'm so glad that they're into crafts. It's one of my favorite things!

(I'm having problems with blogger - hence my infrequent posts... I can't seem to upload pictures on my home computer. It tells me there's a server problem. No idea what's going on with that!)

Welcome home, Houndy

Wendell has been at my parents' house for the last little while as we worked on our kitchen. He wasn't so fond of the demolition, so instead he vacationed in Fredonia. We were glad to see that it didn't take him long to adjust to life here. At least he didn't forget where his spot on the couch is. He is, however, slightly frighted of the fridge when the ice maker makes noise.

I may need to start a second blog just to catalog Ryan's accidents. Today he split open his eyelid. Fortunately, we avoided stitches this time. It's very tough to be the Ry.

Happy Halloween from Sesame Street

Most of the night was slightly happier than this moment for Ryan... though he wasn't too fond of the hood part of the costume. 1 1/2 year olds will, however, put up with almost anything for the promise of receiving candy. That's their cousin, Joshua, in the penguin suit. He's way too cute.