Cookies!

This morning we made chocolate chip cookies. Some of my most fond memories of times with my mom include making cookies, and more specifically, how she would allow me to eat the dough. This morning, that was how it went at my house. I think about half of the dough ended up in the tummies and half ended up as cookies. I know it's not a good thing for them to have, but I hope when they grow up they remember that their mom let them eat cookie dough. I hope they remember these memories and treasure them as much as I do.

And I hope they learn to appreciate the cookie as much as the dough.

Mr. Ry's New Do

This morning my boys both got haircuts (by me). Ryan isn't especially fond of the process, so I let it get rather long before torturing him.

At first, he wasn't so sure he liked the results...
But it seems to have grown on him...

And fear not: it hasn't hindered his drool production at all...
That boy sure can slobber.

Happy Mothers' Day to me!!

I've sort of been out of commission for a while with the blog because my camera hasn't been working very well. I've had to rely on stealing other people's pictures of my children since Ryan's birthday party. Well, today that all changed. Tim bought me a camera for Mothers' Day!! I'm so very excited. So just in case you have forgotten what our kids look like, here's some pictures taken with my new camera.

Happy Birthday, Bekah & Joey

I started taking pictures of the kids outside in front of our house when they turned one. Here's the progression over the years. It's hard to believe that they're three. Seems like just yesterday that we took that picture in the hospital. But also, it feels like they've always been with us. Both of them are such nice children.

Rebekah is such a girly girl. She loves shoes and hats especially. She loves to help out and is always excited to help with laundry, dishes, cooking & anything with Ryan. She's an excellent singer and speaks very eloquently. She's very precise and methodical. She's a beautiful girl and her smile just lights up a room.

Joey is hilarious. He makes me laugh so often. He loves doing anything that Daddy does - hockey, baseball, yardwork. He is very intelligent. He loves practicing letters and putting together puzzles. He's warm-hearted and cuddly, well, when he'll sit still that is. He's charming and easy going.

God has blessed me with great children.



(Joey left, Rebekah right)

Happy Easter!

Dress

Recently I was asked to make 2 flower girl dresses. The wedding was last Saturday. Here's one of the girls in one. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out and had a lot of fun making them.

Snowman

We recently had a really big snowfall. The kids really loved playing in the snow. We built a huge snowman - the snow was perfect for packing.

Now that the snow is gone, we're really ready for spring!

Ryan's Party

Last Saturday we had a birthday party for Ryan. He kind of just had this puzzled look on his face the whole time. He was very pleasant and really enjoyed his cake :-)

Ryan

Tomorrow my sweet Ryan turns one. It's hard to believe. I just keep thinking about all of the anxiety and anticipation I was feeling a year ago at this time. He's grown into such a fantastic child. Of course, I'm a bit biased, but honestly, you'd be hard-pressed to find a sweeter child. Ryan has recently started walking... he waves, claps and is just a joy to be around.

Ashamed...

It's been a month since I've posted. I have no "real" excuse, but my pseudo-excuse is that it's been taking a long time to upload pictures here, and as you all probably know, I don't have a lot of excess time.

So, here are pictures from the last month:
This wasn't our Christmas card. I was going to use it, but couldn't get the resolution good enough to print.
The weekend before Christmas, the kids and I went to visit my parents in Fredonia. My sister & her family were also there. Here are 6 of the 7 cousins... not sure where Ryan is.

Christmas was a big hit this year. We were so excited to give the kids their presents. Ryan really appreciated his new keyboard.
And here are Bekah & Joey trying out their new sleds. Unfortunately, we haven't had the chance to try them out in the snow yet, so they're still just living room rides for now.


Here is our annual Al Priano Family Christmas Picture. Let's inventory this picture: Jonny, Danny, Laura, Mandie, Ryan, Tim, Uncle Jeff, Al, Bekah, Cheryl, Joey... WAIT... UNCLE JEFF? how did that happen?? Never a dull moment when Uncle Jeff is around ;-)

The weekend before New Years we all went back to Fredonia (on the road again...). Here's a picture of Tim & the kids enjoying some great Western New York weather.

Tim and I were able to go to the Ice Bowl game on New Years. What a blast. It was definitely one of the coolest (literally & figuratively) things we've gotten to do.