Easter!

 Happy Easter to all! After a long Lent, the season of Easter is finally upon us. Since I was feeling homesick I made the trek out to Ithaca, on Tuesday, with the boys sans Jay (he was picked up later in the week by his Dad and Dean, what a life saver!).  We finally met Gianna Rose!! The boys first cousin. She is a perfect baby and absolutely gorgeous!

 We saw Uncle Chad briefly before he headed to New Orleans and Mississippi, for a bachelor party and wedding.  He was a great uncle and played ball outside with the boys for hours.

 The weather for the most part wasn't great. This is a picture from the one afternoon where it was almost 70!  Jacob is enjoying a book on the porch with Grandma K.  Oh and as usual I have minimal pictures and I do not have any with Poppy and Grandma A. I promise I don't do this on purpose...oh sigh!

 Jay finally meets Gianna! We are also excited to be her godparents. 

She is so easy going!

Soon we'll have another baby joining our family. The boys were very good with Gianna.

Doing crafts with Aunt Rebecca, or should I say placing stickers on our nose!

  The eggs that we (me) dyed.

 Serious book reading with Aunt Becca.

 I'm a big cousin!

 Me too, me too!

 Easter Sunday!

 Family picture! 
Easter Sunday mass was quite special.  We sat with Grandma and Poppa K., Poppy and Grandma A., Aunt Laura and Gianna, Uncle Jim and Aunt Rebecca.  The boys wore their new shirts and vests.  After church there was an Easter egg hunt, but unfortunately, by the time the boys were out of the church all of the eggs had been snatched.  Maybe next year they will wait for ALL the kids to exit church before starting the hunt, oh well the boys certainly were not deprived of Easter treats!  I only wish I was able to get a family picture with everyone. The boys were just too ready to let loose and of course it was raining outside so everyone rushed to their cars.

 Spring has been slow to appear in WNY.  Here's a picture of our gorgeous forsythia bush. It is radiant.  I love looking at it when I'm sitting on the couch enjoying my afternoon cup of coffee!

Signs of color.  I think these are forget-me-nots?  I love this color purple.

  Mini daffodils came up this year next to the grape hyacinth. I also planted a bunch of tulip bulbs that are about to pop.  This fall I want to plant some more daffodils and hyacinth

It has been a rough month for Jay. His schedule has been horrendous and there have been many nights when I've been home alone.  Jay brought these gorgeous roses home to me after a day when I finally saw him at 11:00 p.m.  I love you Jay!

Little Raph

 This little guy will be TWO in less then two months! Time is flying!

He is quite the little ham! He has already started having the normal two year old tantrums and he certainly asserts his independence! He is constantly on the move or talking.  He is very daring and copies everything that Jacob does.  He is interested in the potty and has gone on it numerous times, yeah!  He loves animals, balls (he has quite the throw) and books. Oh and eating his is favorite pastime.  He wakes up in the morning and says "eat" and "where's Daddy?"   He is so much fun and always makes us smile. 

Our faith

A week off

 Jay enjoyed his second week off this past week.  We enjoyed a visit from Grandma and Poppy over the weekend.  We checked out the Buffalo Science Museum, which the boys love.  Of course my camera was acting up, so the pictures are sparse and not the greatest.

 Raphael loves wearing baseball hats.  Poppy left his hat at our house and he walks around wearing it and saying "Poppy's hat." 

 One of Raphael's favorite things to do at the museum, play with the ball.

 Wrestling!

 On Tuesday we loaded up the car and drove the over 6 hours to Philadelphia to visit Aunt Rebecca, Uncle Jim and Coco, the dog.  We left a day early so that we could avoid the impending snow storm.  The boys did not sleep much in the car but did relatively well!

 We checked out the Please Touch Childrens' Museum, which took us a while to get to, due to traffic issues, but it was well worth it.  The exhibits were perfect for the kids and they had a cool Alice in Wonderland exhibit.  When we came back home, we watched the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland and Jacob was fascinated with looking at the illustrations in my childhood "Alice in Wonderland" book.

Future postman Raphael (just kidding Poppa).

 Jacob loved driving this giant dump truck.  They had an entire mini town complete with a grocery store, McDonald's, doctor's office and construction site! Too fun!

Raphael sweeping the porch of a house that was just his size. Too cute...

Jacob and Aunt Rebecca.

 Our very own statue of Liberty.

 Outside the museum, the building used to be one of the main sites for the Philadelphia Centennial.

 Sorry Uncle Jim, this is the only picture I got of you! You were great playing with the kids on the swings and reading many books to Jacob!

We also played the wii with the boys!  In the evenings we had a heated game of Scrabble and watched American Idol together.  Thanks for being such great hostesses, Rebecca and Jim.  We enjoyed good food, playing with Coco and going to the museum! Jacob can't wait to come and visit again (he was convinced that their apartment was Philadelphia.  When we went to the museum, he said he wanted to get back to Philadelphia).
p.s. Does my belly look huge for almost 29 weeks? Opinions?

We are VERY lucky!

This year I have really been enjoying celebrating all of the holidays with the boys.  Jacob has been learning what the different holidays celebrate and he was very excited for St. Patrick's Day. Even though their last name is Albanese I think the boys might have more Irish in them then Italian (sorry to all the Albaneses reading this post).  When talking on the phone with Omi and Opa the other week Jacob asked if you receive gifts for St. Patrick's Day (even though I had already told him that you do not).  Omi and Opa said to Jacob of course you do and a week later the boys received a very fun St. Patrick's day package complete with hats, candy, socks, pencils and a card. It was very thoughtful!  I was the room mom in Jacob's classroom yesterday and had a great time! The kids all wore green (Jacob also wore his hat from Omi and Opa), enjoyed a visit with Lucky the leprechaun, watched some live Irish dancers and enjoyed some Irish soda bread that I brought in. 

 This morning the boys were greeted with a note from Lucky the leprechaun.  They also had green milk and yogurt, which thrilled them beyond belief!  Jacob was hoping that everything in our home would be green!

 Jacob, wearing his leprechaun mask that he made in school.

 Here's the note from Lucky, in the background is a special Irish rabbit dish that I received from my Great Aunt Kathleen years ago, I take it out every year around this time.

 Our St. Patrick's Day shamrocks that we made once again out of melted green crayons.

 This is why we are so very lucky. I love these fun little boys!

Tonight we're enjoying beef brisket (uncorned beef), Irish soda bread, potatoes and apples and of course carrots and cabbage.  I'm proud of the Irish heritage that is on both sides of our family.  I know our ancestors sacrificed and toiled to make a better life for the next generation.  For this I feel very blest.

"May the rains sweep gentle across your fields,

May the sun warm the land,

May every good seed you have planted bear fruit,

And late summer find you standing in fields of plenty.

-traditional Irish blessing

The February Happenings

February, like January seemed to fly by! Although we are all itching to get outside more (I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt), we've managed to stay busy.  We have a museum pass so we've been enjoying the playroom at the Buffalo Science museum, library story times and much more.

This is the boys at WNED KidFest. We had a blast.

Raphael allowed someone to paint Elmo ("elm") on his face! He did a great job sitting still.

They were ecstatic to see Elmo! We thought Raphael might be scared but he ran right up to him and gave him a hug.

Curious George, another favorite! Jacob's only concern was that none of the characters spoke.

We went up to Ithaca for Aunt Laura's shower. Cheese!

Here's Laura and moi (23 weeks) at her shower. She had her baby girl, Gianna Rose, two days later! Doesn't she look great!

Watching Poppa shovel.

My parents also came up to Buffalo for a snowy weekend. We went to the mall (after I took a 25 minute detour to get there), ate Thai food, shoveled oh and did I mention shoveled?

This little boy is getting too big!

First carousel ride!

Jacob on his white horse.

We're ready for another month. Jacob is already talking about St. Patrick's Day and we have a trip to Philadelphia planned. Oh and of course we're going to see baby Gianna one of these weekends.

Aunt Laura and Gianna Rose. We're all excited to have a little girl join the family.