New York, New York

Our annual trip to New York this year was 10 days long. We went earlier than usual, making the trip in June to celebrate my Grandmother's 75th Birthday! Jeff and my dad stayed the first five, my brother was up for 4 nights and my mom finished out the long haul with me and the boys so that I had a travel buddy on the return trip. It was a fabulous time!

On our way!
Ryan's first plane flight, 9 1/2 months

Checking out the view with Grandpa

Arrival!
We are always welcomed by such a great group!
Meeting Precious
Greeted by Aunt Colleen
Meeting Aunt Mary, Uncle Jimmy and Caitlin
for the first time!
Ryan and his new taxi toy!
(And no, we did not travel with our own exercauser. My awesome Aunt Maureen gathered all things baby from friends that have kids, including carseat, playpen, stroller, booster seats, and a complete Thomas the Train playset! SUCH a help!!)

Ali reading to Ryan

Logan was given his first set of golf clubs by Aunt Mary and Uncle Jimmy... a very slightly used set that used to be James'! So fun!

Trying them out!

Ryan adored Larry, the whole trip! He was so good with him!

Meeting the Twins!

My aunt had twins in April and this was our first time to meet them. Logan ADORES babies, so he was really looking forward to this!
James
Emma
Ryan checks out the other baby that mommy is holding
A great shot...
for the camera that most of us were looking at!

Jeff with James

I love this shot... like he's a pro at this whole baby thing!

My Aunt Maureen stopped in to meet them too!

Logan with Emma

Beach Day #1

I was so excited for this day. Nothing beats a day at the beach in NY in the summer! Lovely, just lovely!
Ready to test the water
Run up to it...
And when the wave comes, run back screaming!
Zooming in on that excitement!
Hotsling comes in handy
when you are carrying 25lbs around on sand!
Introducing Ryan to the sand
Some group shots!
And when you've had enough of the sand and ocean,
just make your way to the pool!

Logan LOVED diving this year, but because he can't swim all the way to the steps by himself, someone has to tread water and "catch" him and then help him swim... yeah, I left that job to the men!
A night out...
minus Jeff and me who were home with the boys
and exhausted from the day at the beach!

Larry, Jimmy, Mike and Dad

Col and Mom with Mike

Meeting his Great-Great-Aunt Lillian
Haircuts!
My Aunt cuts hair for a living, so we like to take advantage whenever we can! Both boys got a little trim before the big party Saturday night!

During...
After...
Awww....
I gave my Grandma her birthday gift before the party because I needed to explain what the "best" part of the gift was...
A new address book, but the "best" part was that while we were visiting, I copied her old (falling apart, in terrible shape) one into the pages for her! Lots of work but it was very nice when it was all done!


Great Grandma's 75th Birthday Bash!
We had a great night planned with family and friends at her favorite restaurant. The food was delicious, the company was wonderful and the boys were very well taken care of by family... I had a GREAT time without having to worry about them one bit! My Aunt Maureen did a lot of work to make this a very special evening!

These are the only pictures I have of my mother all night, and Logan is acting goofy in them! Go figure!
There was a scrapbook of her years and a page of each family member. Here James and Uncle Jimmy are checking it out. Great idea... every guest wrote something special about my Grandma!
Cousin Brian meeting Ryan
She is not making this face because of his weight...
she was very touched about him reaching out to her!
(though I'm sure his weight was shocking!)
My Great Aunt MaryAll the Grandchildren
With the great-grandkids too!
Needing some icing tasters
Don't forget about this one...The after-party
Maureen, Grandma and Caitlin looking through the book

Mets Game at Citi Field

Ummm... excited doesn't describe it well enough!
Waiting with Grandpa to be picked up
At the game with Uncle Mike and Grandpa
(Daddy, Uncle Jimmy, James, Larry and Alison went too!)

From what I was told, this kid ate A LOT that day!

Looking for...

This...

A commemorative brick that my brother had ordered in honor of my Grandpa when Citi Field was being built. We each have one in our home and they were able to find it at the entrance of the park!

In this shot, it's right below Logan's right foot!

A Mexican Restaurant?
Yes, a short stop in for happy hour!
Margarita not nearly as tasty as they make them in Texas!
Ryan's first lime!
Ryan's first bite of NY pizza

(Big surprise... he liked it!)

Family Barbeque
Get together with my Dad's side of the family... Julie and her boys (we missed Uncle Marc!), Johnny and Christine with their two kids and Matt and Marci with the twins! It was a very pleasant afternoon as the boys met us there after the Mets Game.

Doesn't it look like Julie is holding a doll here? :-)
Mom with Emma
Me with James
James and my dad, returning from the game
Edmund, Ryan, Sarah and Aunt ChristineMike with EmmaMike and Sarah
Great pictureMike with his little buddy
Playing baseball with the boys
My brother holding an infant carrier...
Not an image we see every day!
Beach Day #2
This time, we were practically the only people at the club. It was wonderfully peaceful and enjoyed by all!
What do you do with a hole dug at the beach?
Why, be buried in it of course!

Special Day with Grandpa
Every year, my dad likes to take Logan to Nathan's for lunch. This year, since he now has an obsession with trains, the day with Grandpa included a visit to Trainland in Lynbrook.

See Logan by the door?
Up a little closer...
And of course, they carried ALL things Thomas, and since they were having a sale, Logan came home with 2 new engines! Lucky kid!

And on to Nathan's for lunch- He's gotta wear the hat!
(I think we take this picture every time and I look forward to looking over all of them at once and watching him grow!)
I think I rode this exact same ride when I was his age!

Happy REAL Birthday Great Grandma!

On the actual day of her birthday, my Aunt Maureen hosted a wonderful dinner at her home for just the girls.... and my babies of course! It was a great evening!

Aunt Col and me on the patio

Group pic
Aunt Maureen, Great Grandma, me and the boys!
Ryan eating a bell pepper... LOVED it!
My mom with Ali, Maureen and Ryan

Ali and Ryan (aka: Mr.Serious!)

Blowing out the birthday candle
Cannolis and a Raspberry filled Crumb Cake= SO delicious!Boy Fun
Since my aunt has 3 boys of her own, her home is always a fun place to be. Her boys were all so good with both kids and Ryan really took to Zachary!

Trying on the football gear

Practicing his boxing

Playing the drums

Eating some ice pops!
(You may not be able to tell, but Zach is feeding Ryan ice cream here. No wonder he took to Zach so well! lol)

Happy Birthday Uncle Jimmy!
My Grandma took the whole family out for an awesome dinner to celebrate my Uncle's birthday!
More ice cream for the baby!
Tired baby at the end of the night
Lunch visit at the Derkatch's new deli

Yum, yum!

Aunt Julie and Ryan

The last night there we had some fun with the camera!
Logan took this!
So sweet!
Logan took this too!
Kisses...
and hugs!!!
This series of pics melts my heart!
Sharing a special lolli!

The last morning
Getting in some playtime before heading home

Leaving on a Jet Plane
Ryan did so well on both trips and was a very pleasant flyer!
Kisses
Nap time
(check out the position of my arm,
and I was actually sleeping!)


The trip was awesome! We ate too much and slept too little, but that's what I call a successful New York visit! Now it's back to "normal" and it's an adjustment for all of us! Thanks to everyone in NY that made our trip so wonderful and for all the love and generosity you all give to taking care of us while we are there!
We love you!

Friday Funnies

This one's old, but about a month ago, we had a night of really bad thunder storms. Logan had already gone to bed and the thunder really started booming. I went in there two times to him screaming for me and on the third time, this is what I heard...

L: Mommy! Mommy! Come in here! It's not working! It's not working!
M: Logan sweetie... it's just thunder. What's not working?
L: I was praying and Jesus isn't stopping the thunder!


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Driving home from the Y today Logan proudly made an announcement.

L: Hey mom! I finished my crackers and then I tooted!

Oh, how I love my little boy!
Eating, tooting and pooping...
makes up a lot of our conversations these days!

The Summer's First Trip

The first trip of the summer was a long weekend drive to Amarillo. You know that you can actually reach Pensacola, Florida from our house in a shorter amount of time than it takes to drive to Amarillo? Crazy, huh?!?!

Well, Jeff's best friend Dave was getting married and we for sure weren't going to miss it!

We left on Thursday night to stop in Graham and drop off Dylan* and then continued the drive that Friday morning to reach Amarillo in time for the rehearsal dinner.

The Happy Couple, Megan and Dave

We loved the meal at the rehearsal dinner
and I got to try sushi for the first time. Yummy!

Saturday was a relaxing day because the wedding wasn't until 7:00pm and Jeff played golf with the wedding party! I was very productive after sleeping in **(see below!). I had a great time getting to know Megan's family that morning and throughout the weekend!

Megan and her dad

I loved getting to see Dave's facial expressions
as she made her way down the aisle... cute emotional!

The Mr. and Mrs.

The guys

Jeff and me

I LOVE these two people... so fun!

So, this weekend was a great one. We had a nice getaway together and fun time with friends new and old!



*Thank you SO MUCH to Tommy and Debra for watching Dylan for us! We dropped him off that Thursday night and didn't get him back until after Jeff returned from NY two weeks later! Such a help and we are so blessed that they were willing to help us!


**I mentioned above that I was productive that weekend...

Between all the time in the hotel room and all the time in the car, I managed to organize ALL of my pictures that have been taken since Ryan was born last August! The first few weeks of his life had been put into albums (thanks to my mom) and then I had gotten really lazy and just had envelopes everywhere. Getting them developed isn't a problem, thanks only to my mother, but getting them put into something, album or box, has been a challenge for me. Count it, one FULL photo box organized with dividers and FOUR albums! Yeah, we take a lot of pictures in this family... maybe too many! :-) I am very happy to have this "to-do" item checked off my list. Now I just need to keep it up! Time to buy another box I think!

Thank you also to my parents for keeping the boys that whole weekend and having them home, bathed and ready for bed by the time we arrived home Sunday night. These trips wouldn't be possible without the grandparents in our life, whether they're helping with the kids or the dog, they are irreplaceable!!

10 Months!

Pictures from our last 3 weeks of fun are coming... but for now, I need to acknowledge that today, Ryan is 10 months old! I cannot believe it! This age is SO active and I am loving it. He is turning into such a little boy with quite a personality; often a serious personality, but when he laughs and smiles, oh boy!

Things about Ryan at 10 months

-weighs in over 25 lbs!
-has 4 teeth, (2 top/2 bottom)
-crawling like a maniac... everywhere
-pulling to a stand and cruising along the furniture
-enjoying juice
and we enjoy the face he makes after tasting orange juice!

-drinking from a sippy cup
(though still usually too lazy to hold it!)

-eating EVERYTHING
(this will be the child that eats us out of house and home!)
Foods he's enjoyed:
grilled cheese, any kind of bread, yogurt, avocado, meatballs, cheese ravioli, bell peppers, pizza, pasta, eggs, waffles, cake, cannolis, italian ices, lemons and limes, ice cream, cucumbers, carrot juice, sliced cheese, cold cuts, applesauce, etc...
**this kid will eat anything you put in front of him!

-still takes 3 naps a day if he has his way,
and sleeps 11+hours at night

-has had his first haircut
(my aunt did it while we were in NY)

before

during

after

-says a few sounds that we are thinking of as words
*mama... when he is tired and sitting alone
*dada... not really directed at Jeff,
but a very common sound out of his mouth!
*du du... when he sees dylan coming and gets excited!
(I'm thinking "dog" will actually be his first "word" but we'll see!)

-is a Daddy's Boy! He lights up when Jeff enters a room!

This child is truly a delight! Now that we've taken him to NY and exposed him to more people and places, I am convinced that he is just an easy going little man. He didn't sleep fabulously in NY, but he cut a tooth the day before we left and cut another while we were there, so that doesn't worry me! He was happy every other moment of the trip and did outings, beach visits and restaurants without any problems! He will go to anyone, putting his arms out to anybody that looks interested in holding him. It is just so pleasant to be around him and the smile just melts my heart!

And, like I've said every month, my boys just adore each other!
Ryan is really starting to follow Logan around, copy his actions, "listen" to him in play, and giggle at the things he says and does. It's just precious! Here are some pictures to prove the whole "copy" point...


My, how God has blessed us!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, been a while since I've posted. Since then...

-Jeff and I left the kids for Memorial Day weekend and went to Amarillo for Dave and Megan's wedding. It was a great trip, and a ten hour car ride was pretty pleasant without kids! Post and picture to come soon.

-After returning home from Amarillo, we were home for 2 days before leaving for TEN days in New York visiting all of my family! It was a FABULOUS time and we are so grateful for the love that was shared and the great experiences our boys got to have (mostly Logan of course!). The post on that will come this week as well, and it will be a BIG one for sure! I am in the process of editing pictures right now.

-We returned home Friday the 11th and hit the ground running... life, as usual! My friend Rachel came Monday and left today, spending a few days loving on the boys and helping take care of them while I got my house back together! She's such a blessing to us!

I just wanted to update so you all know what we've been up to and add another great memory to the blog...

Reading with Logan is quite fun! He loves to learn and his favorite books are non-fiction ones that give you facts about the world we live in. The other night we were reading "Monkeys Are A Lot Like Us" and there was a page where it said...
Monkeys live in family groups and most often one monkey is the leader of the family pack.

So, just in curiosity, I asked,
"Logan, who is the leader of our home?"

He replied, "It starts with a G. gu-gu-gu- God!"

I went to bed that night one happy momma! With all the busyness around us on a daily basis, it made me smile to be reminded that he's learning about the provision and love of God!

And to make sure we get Ryan in here...
I just LOVE these chunky thighs!!!