Happy Birthday, Great-grandpa Nichin!!

On Sunday, the Nichin side of our family got together to celebrate my Grandfather's 80th birthday. It was a beautiful day and everyone had a lovely time.

Faye plays patty cake on Uncle Richie's head.










Then dances to the Hungarian music with my cousin Karen.









Lenny wishes his Great-grandpa a very happy birthday.









Then, tuckered out, he snuggles up with his daddy.

Easter - Part 2

On the Sunday after Easter, my mother's side of the family got together for Easter dinner. It was very nice not to have to split the time up and we had it at our house, so there was no travel time which was very nice. Everyone had a great time.

Here's Nana Boyle with her grand-daughters.







Annika had a great time playing in our massive, hand-me-down toy pile.










Annika and Daddy snuggle up on the couch.









Next year: we hunt for EGGS!!!!!!!!!!

Come on Cubbies!!!

As you all know, our children have inherited our (mostly Ed's) love of the Chicago Cubs. It wasn't hard, as both our families are filled with die-hard Cub fans. But as anyone who's been listening to or watching the games the past couple of days has been sorry to hear that we're in a three game losing streak (can you really call that a streak?), the worst of which was loosing the home opener yesterday. In order to give some moral support to our friends at the Friendly Confines, the kids dressed up in their Cubbie blues (and pinks) today (courtesy of Suzie). It didn't help the Cubs win, unfortunately, but it lent itself to some cute photos, so without further ado . . .

Lenny proudly wears his Cubs gear










Faye tries to play "Take Me Out To The Ballgame," but her xylophone won't let her.









Faye lounges around while listening to the game.









Lenny joins Faye in a relaxing afternoon of baseball.









Did I say relaxing? "Come on, Cubbies!" Faye says, "You're tanking and it's only the first inning! We need some hats, so we can get our rally-caps on!"



"Can you believe this, Lenny?"







"Listen, Faye! It's the bottom of the ninth, but they've finally scored some runs!"





"Oh, well, there's always the next game. See you here tomorrow at 1:20, Lenny!"

Happy Easter - part 1

Happy Easter, everyone! Lenny and Faye had a wonderful first Easter. They enjoyed it so much we'll be doing it again this Sunday with my mother's family! So, here are the pictures from part 1:
Faye and Grandpa Nichin enjoy some time together.









Lenny and Grandma Nichin smile for the camera.









Joey (Lenny and Faye's cousin who's about three weeks older than them) shows off his walking skills while joining the big kids for the Easter egg hunt at Colleen's. Such a big boy!!!







Bannon cousins hit Aunt Colleen's lawn searching for eggs.














Lenny plays with his big cousin Alan who's home for the weekend but soon back on the road with his band, 1997. Their music is fantastic! So here's my shameless plug: check out their CD at www.victoryrecords.com/1997.



Faye thinks her pink bunny is just the funniest thing! Thanks, Grandma Bannon!

Triplets?????

April Fools!!! No of course we don't have triplets, but when our niece, Annika, spent the night with us this weekend, we got to try out what it would have been like. Fortunately for us, all three kids are so wonderful (and self-sufficent) that it was no trouble at all and everyone had a wonderful evening. So, without further ado, the pictures . . .

Lenny gets his hands on a couple of candy filled eggs at the Holy Family Easter Party.









Faye also grabs one of the colorful plastic eggs.










Annika and Grandpa Nichin hang out as Annika shows off her awesome Easter basket!








Heather finds out what staying home with triplets would really have been like: Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!



We desperately tried to get a good photo of all three kids together, but Lenny couldn't keep his hands off Annika's hair and Faye was just fed up with the whole scenario.


Here's a better shot of them playing, even if you can't really see all of their faces.





Isn't Annika a beauty? And she's such a happy baby.







Faye enjoyed having her cousin over for the night, but had to guard some of her favorite toys a little more closely.








Lenny, on the prowl, after Annika and those gorgeous curls!









Annika prefers the gentle minstrations of Uncle Ed. Hey, Aunt Heather, why are you taking my picture when I'm in the middle of getting dressed?!?!?







We took all three kids out for a walk this morning after breakfast. Our kids are pretty early risers, so Annika was a bit tuckered out as you can see.




Annika and Lenny play with Iggy while Faye gets some rest upstairs.

A sunny day

What a lovely day it was Monday in Chicago! It was sunny and warm and the kids and I were invited to go on a picnic in the park with our friends Paula and Annita and their kids. As you can see from the photos below, the kids really enjoyed their time outside (and of course I enjoyed the company of adults!). Some funny things I wish I had been able to get on film, but wasn't able to because my hands were busy with the kids: Faye, ripping up all the grass she could get her hands on and then stuffing it into her mouth and both Lenny and Faye walking (with assistance) barefoot on the grass.

Lenny says, "Tell me more about this 'walking', Auntie Paula."









Faye takes a good look around . . .










. . . and then decides she does like the outside!









Lenny enjoys the feeling of bare feet again after the long winter.









Lenny and Faye clap for the camera

Ten months have come and gone

So of course, photos first.

Here are Lenny and Faye hamming it up today as soon as they saw the camera.












Faye, solo, pre (or post)-smile.








Lenny came racing at me once he saw the camera and got right up into the shots.













They're almost 11 months old! Can you believe it? I certainly can't and I've lived it! It's true, though, the kiddies turned 10 months earlier this month and they're really becoming more toddler-esque. They commando crawl all over the house (which has been much more thoroghly baby proofed) and they're getting so big!

We finally bought Lenny a big-boy car seat yesterday. He should be pretty happy about that as we'll no longer be jamming him into the bucket one that hasn't really fit for about a month. Petite little Faye still has some time in the bucket version left still, thankfully, as I'm not sure how I would ever take them out on my own if neither came equipped with a handle! Fortunately, as Lenny is already trying (with relative levels of success) to walk, I'm hoping he might walk before I have to move Faye up to the new car seat.

Well, I'm sure that's of interest only to me, really, so here are some more exciting factoids about the kids:

1) They're really into table food now as everyone who attended my cousin Timmy's birthday can attest. The up shot is they're so much easier to feed and we can pretty much travel with sippy cups and goldfish crakers. In fact, Faye likes table food so much that she screeches at the top of her voice if I'm eating something she particularly wants (like the goldfish crackers). It's VERY charming.

The down side? Well, did I mention the shrieking? And of course there's the fact that if I'm not feeding them I don't control what they're eating. Lenny and Faye are happy to convince whoever's holding them that what they really NEED to eat is cake, or cookies or chips or cake. They came home on such a sugar high yesterday, I honestly thought their eyes would be spinning in their sockets. But overall, they behaved pretty well post-dietary escapade and I loved not having to feed them. I mean come on, Ed and I feed them everyday, so if the price of uninterupted meal time for us is that the kids get some junk food, I say, "Let them eat cake!"

2) While he can't walk unassisted, Lenny will walk if you hold his hands and help him balance. This equals one very sore back for his proud mama, but you should see his face when he does it (I'll try and get a picture). He just lights up, he's so proud of himself!

3) Faye can now commando crawl almost as fast as Lenny and the two of them can easily make it from one end of the house to the other in less than three minutes. Why is this of interst you might ask? Because in less time than it takes me to grab a cup of coffee they can completely disappear! Hense the renewed focus on baby proofing. And my sudden interest in getting the babies locator devices (just kidding).

Well, bottom line, the kids are happy and healthy as we head towards the finish line of the first year. What comes next? Well, I've heard tell that it includes tantrums and the ability to say, "NO!" at the top of their lungs, but it also comes with the ability to crawl into our laps for kisses and snuggles, so we're still looking forward to it.

Auntie Sheryl comes to visit... Part 2

The pictures from east coast Auntie Sheryl came the other day and as you can see she was able to capture the fact that Faye does smile (something she doesn't do often for the camera). Here she is, freshly bathed, being her most charming for her Auntie Sheryl.




Lenny loves bath time as you can tell. He has so much hair now that I can play with it in the tub, which of course I do! It's hard to tell here, but it's actually curly, too, just like Ed's.












Here we are on the Sunday of Sheryl's visit, all dressed up to go to my grandparents' 75th birthday party. My mom's parents were born on the same day, cute hunh? So of course, Lenny and Faye must be dressed for the occasion. Can you believe I actually have a tie on Lenny??? He loves it! Seriously, he's worn it several times and always seems quiet pleased with his dapper appearance.

Here we are, one happy little family!








Lenny votes for lobster for dinner. Unfortunately that wasn't on the menu, but he did eat plenty from his father's plate.