Mother's Day

I had a very relaxing, low key Mother's Day with my boys this year. Since we were all happily exhausted from Dylan's birthday party the day before, we spent the day at home just hanging out (oh, and I got to sleep in late and take a nap:).

Last year for Mother's Day, Tim bought me a pink flowering Dogwood tree. We said we'd take a picture of me with our child(ren) in front of the tree every year on Mother's Day. There are two unfortunate things about this idea. Number one is that usually by Mother's Day all of the flowers have fallen off the Dogwoods. No big deal - I'm sure we'll get lots of pictures of the tree flowering in early spring.

Number two is that, on this particular Mother's Day, Dylan did not feel like standing in front of the Dogwood tree and smiling with Mommy. I'm sure it won't be the last time someone is unwilling to stand still and smile for the camera! Still, I love that tree and so does Dylan. So, we'll try again next year for a happy photo with both of us (and a 10 month old baby girl!) smiling at the camera.

Dylan's 2nd Birthday!!!!! (Part I)

On May 12th Dylan turned TWO years old!! Can you believe it?! The weekend before his actual birthday we had my side of the family over for a barbeque to celebrate (we had plans to see Tim's side of the family in Lake Placid the following weekend). We had so much fun - and every one of Dylan's six Frisone cousins came to play!

Our backyard was still a little muddy and swamplike from all the snow and rain we had this winter/spring. At first the girls weren't sure how to handle all the mud...
...but they soon got comfortable with it.

Post-mudfight hug

Cute pic of Papa with Scarlett

They look like they are arguing but let's pretend they are all playing harmoniously with Dylan's new sink (Dylan was happy as long as he got to control the pump).

Uncle Dave supervising Tim while he assembles Dylan's new tricycle

Cake time! (Yes, Dylan had a train cake for his first birthday, too).

Smile if you like cake!

And frosting!

"Girls, you do realize that the more cake you get on your face, the less you get to eat..." Happy birthday to our happy boy!

Happy Birthday, Baby Brian!

My one and only nephew (and Dylan's one and only boy cousin) turned one on 4/24! We celebrated with the whole family the first weekend in May and had a great weekend on Long Island. Saturday was Brian's birthday party - what a handsome big boy! (And how much does he look like his big sister, Grace!?). We spent that night at my parents' house then headed to my brother's on Sunday afternoon for a BBQ, celebrating Papa and Uncle Dave running the LI half-marathon (and Mimi running the 10K). We had tons of fun with my family that weekend but were horrible about takibng pictures. We'll do better next time!

Bittersweet in Syracuse

At the end of April we took a quick trip up to Skaneateles and Syracuse for Tim's great uncle Bob's memorial service. Sadly, he passed away at the end of March and the Quaker service was held in his home a few weeks later. We got to spend some time with Tim's dad's side of the family, which was nice, even under such unfortunate circumstances. And we got to stay with Ben, Emily, and Sophia, which we all really enjoyed. Here's a pic of the two cuties playing together:

Cousins' Night Out!

The Friday after Easter a few of my cousins and their spouses met up in Manhattan for dinner and debauchery. Well, debauchery for everyone except the pregnant one - notice my absence in the picture below of everyone doing a group shot. Johnny Utah's, with its mechanical bull, proved to be a fun place to meet despite the "rougher" crowd that infiltrated as the night wore on. Unfortunately, my camera's battery died as soon as my brother got his turn in the bull ring. I also missed getting pictures of Laura and Julie, who were also brave enough to saddle up. Good thing this bunch does not require mechanical livestock to make us look silly.

Jeff, Dave, and Lian
Me and Julie

The girls

The boys

The boys (again)