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. 

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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!!!