Happy 5th Birthday, Bekah and Joey!

Here's our annual picture of the twins on our front porch on their birthday. Weren't they tiny yesterday? I'm so proud of how them. We have two very nice five year olds. It used to seem that school was a lifetime away, now it's lurking behind the corner.

Here are some more pictures from their party.

The first lost tooth

Bekah lost her first tooth tonight! The tooth wasn't *quite* ready yet, but it decided to pop out anyway when colliding with Ryan's head. Bekah is all excited to go to school tomorrow to show her friends her new look. I wonder what the tooth fairy will be leaving for her.

I just loved losing teeth as a kid. I'm excited (maybe even more excited than they are) about entering this new phase.

Happy Birthday, Erika!!

It's hard to believe Erika is already one. Where has the time gone? She's such a happy, easy going girl. I'm so thankful that God brought her into our lives.

That's a big yawn for being just born!

I remember this moment so clearly, piling all the kids on the bed and thinking "wow... there's a LOT of us."

She's always liked to stick out her tongue a lot. So cute.

Erika's first trip to the zoo was at just 1 week old (and to the science center at 10 days - we were a little tired of being in the house). Here she is at a visit this summer. She likes the zoo - both the one she lives in and the ones with animals. This is one of my favorite pictures, all of us sitting on the metal tortise.

Erika is the youngest of 8 cousins on my side of the family.

Such a precious face...

Erika is happy *most* of the time. However, for the first 6 months or so, she REALLY hated bath time. She's since started liking it, but only if she's in the big tub with several siblings.

Have I mentioned that's she's extremely happy?

Erika attended her first Penguin game in October. She was a peach through the whole thing and didn't fall asleep until the third period. We managed to snag a visit with Iceburgh. Is it just me, or do they have very similar smiles?

As most babies, Erika sleeps a lot, and she has a real gift for falling asleep anywhere, and in some rather odd positions. This is her on Thanksgiving Day. Tim is holding up 3 fingers as that was the third time that day she had fallen asleep on him. He's got a gift.

We all thought she'd be an early walker when she picked this up around 8 1/2 months, but she's still taking just 2-3 steps occasionally and speed cruising everywhere else.

A star in the making...

Erika hasn't yet discovered, as her siblings have, that DADDY is the best thing on earth. She loves her Daddy, but for now, I'm quite content having her be Mommy's little angel.

Erika LOVES to empty the cupboards. Here she is "guilty as charged".

Here she is saying she's one. She is also saying, "chewing on my finger really makes my sore gums feel better." Sweetie girl only has 2 teeth that have poked through and is in great need for more to follow suit.

We love you, Erika.

Joey's Hockey Game

When the hockey schedule came out, Tim let Bekah and Joey each pick a game (with an afternoon start time) that they wanted to go to. Joey's game was yesterday (Bekah's is next month) against the Predators. Joey has been counting down for about two months... literally asking every day how many days left until the game.

There are many advantages to having your dad as the team organist...

Like being in the bowels of the arena before the game and seeing the game nets.

And getting to go right down by the glass for warm-ups.

And getting an awesome view of the game, albeit a bit scary for mom.

And spending the time during intermission playing the (unplugged) organ.

And going down on the ice after the game.

But maybe the best part of the whole thing is spending the whole afternoon - just Daddy & you...

The Snowstorm of 2010

We've had quite the weather lately! Tim measured 19" of snow in our backyard on Saturday... and on Friday afternoon we had 0". Here's some pictures from Saturday. We're supposed to get more today. Yikes! This first picture is of our van. We parked it on the street knowing that our long driveway would be very difficult to shovel. It took Tim about an hour to shovel the van out of the street.

Ryan had so much fun outside that he fell asleep on top of Tim's back after coming in.

Erika didn't go out in the snow, so I'm not sure she really needed to wear the snowsuit, but it sure was cute.

Sometimes I miss living in western New York, but a storm likes this reminds me that I'm really glad that I moved "south" and only have to deal with these storms once a decade or so.

Pirate Fest

We went to the "Pirate Party" at the end of January. This was my first time going. Tim said they had a lot more to do last year, but they still had fun with what was there. Grant went with us too.

Erika got to meet Pirate Parrot. She was way more excited about it before realizing what was holding her.

Much to the dismay of real baseball fans, the highlight of the night was Mike the Balloon Guy. We waited in line for 45 minutes, and it was totally worth it.

(And yes, that is me in a We Are Fam-A-Lee shirt behind Grant.)

Ryan's 3rd Birthday

Ryan loves all things cow related. However, about 2 weeks before his birthday he started talking about wanting a Batman or Toy Story cake. I wasn't about to give up on having a cow cake though, so we compromised. Introducing the Batman cow cake. Tim said it was the best Batman cow cake he'd ever seen.

Ryan was given lot of "Toy Stories" for his birthday (meaning Toy Story toys). And some super hero things. And what's a birthday without some cow presents?

And of course, no post about Ryan would be complete without a picture of the "Ryan face". What a cutie.

Ryan is such a sweet boy and makes us laugh every day. He's such a joy to have around and I'm so thankful for such a terrific not-so-little-anymore boy.

Erika Dancing

She loves that Fridge Phonics!

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!