The Barker Family

Tool Time with Erin and Ryan

2012-02-04T19:10:00.001-05:00

It really is adorable watching the kids play with their tools together.

This post is for Jay

2012-01-30T18:29:00.001-05:00

Ryan walked over to his clean clothes and pulled out a new shirt that he insisted on putting on. When I asked him why he said "want daddy's helper on." He sure loves daddy and must have a good memory to remember what this shirt says.

Ryan

2012-01-28T12:16:00.001-05:00

This week Ryan has asked for a belt sander, a jackhammer and a fork lift. Gone our the days of just requesting a simple screwdriver. He now wants tools that Jay doesn't even own.

Cuties!

2012-01-24T18:43:00.002-05:00

Blogger App!

2012-01-16T21:31:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted much on here lately. I've got to upload pics from my DSLR and got an iPhone but just realized I could blog pics from this phone with an app!

Shutterfly Is AWESOME

2011-12-04T23:25:00.000-05:00

Check out our Christmas Cards if you want a sneak peak

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Family Photos

2011-11-12T22:41:00.001-05:00

My friend Pam is starting up a photography business and she took some photos of us a few weeks ago. ENJOY!

Sarah and Brian’s wedding

2011-11-12T21:30:00.001-05:00

Erin was so excited to participate as a flower girl in cousin Sarah’s wedding. Here are some pictures we took.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:40:00.001-04:00

Erin and Ryan went trick or treating with their friends Gabby and Olivia. They had a lot of fun collecting their goodies and seeing all the other kids dressed up.

Happy October

2011-10-27T20:23:00.001-04:00

Ryan chillin’ on his pumpkin, notice the nutdriver in his left hand. He doesn’t leave home without one!

We cleared out some trees and replanted the area with some fruit trees. The kids had a lot of fun playing up there while Jay was working.

Erin and her friend Charlotte. Their birthdays are only one day apart.

The mall Halloween event was a bit too crowded this year, however Ryan certainly enjoyed his sucker and the kids enjoyed wearing their costumes. Sorry I couldn’t get them to pose for me, I think they were too distracted by all the people.

Smart little stinkers

2011-09-26T18:59:00.001-04:00

Ryan now knows that he lives on “Lenox Road” and Erin knows my cell phone number! These guys are growing up way too fast!

Fall Fun

2011-09-25T14:40:00.001-04:00

They love riding together in their play jeep. Erin is the “designated driver".

They both LOVE the garden, especially these giant pumpkins we are growing. We’ve got our carving kits ready to make some funny faces in them before Halloween.

Ryan loves pushing around his toy trucks and tractors.

Erin loves playing on the tire swing and picking flowers around the property.

Erin Dancing

2011-09-17T22:36:00.001-04:00

Erin tap dancing

Little Jay

2011-08-21T10:08:00.001-04:00

This is too adorable to not share. As most of you that follow this blog know, Ryan’s favorite toy are his tools. Well now he is obsessed with going out to the garage too! This morning he was saying “that way, garage” and pointing towards the garage. He then went over to his raincoat (b/c it was raining) and said “coat, ‘side, garage” This little guy makes us smile He is growing up so fast.

Summer Fun

2011-08-06T21:10:00.001-04:00

Pirate Festival at Evangola Beach

Eden Corn Festival

Fun @ the Lake on a windy day

2011-07-29T22:07:00.001-04:00

Dress-up time!

2011-07-28T21:18:00.001-04:00

Fun in the sun

2011-07-28T21:11:00.000-04:00

Cousin Christine, her two children-Elena and Carlos, Uncle Mike and Aunt Robin visited us for the morning. The kids had a blast fishing, swimming and playing in the sand.

Barker Bash

2011-07-24T12:33:00.001-04:00

Erin rides her new bike

2011-06-27T17:48:00.001-04:00

Grandpa and Grandma Pat dropped this bike off for Erin when we were not home. When she spotted it, she immediately thought it was from Santa Claus. I certainly didn’t want to disappoint her by telling her otherwise.

More Sesame Place

2011-06-25T20:52:00.001-04:00

The majority of the park was water rides, so unfortunately I don’t have pictures of all of them (since I didn’t want my camera to get wet!) Here are a few that I took on day two though.

And trust me, no one had any trouble falling asleep after such a busy day in the sun and water.

Can you tell me how to get,

2011-06-23T21:39:00.001-04:00

how to get to SESAME PLACE?

We are spending a couple of days @ Sesame Place. What a fun place, definitely geared for younger kids. I wish this was closer to Buffalo, we’d definitely be coming here many more times if it were.

Our cuties lovin’ life

2011-06-12T17:26:00.001-04:00

I think it is safe to say that Ryan is obsessed with doing ANYTHING that dada does. Here he is wearing his earmuffs and helping to drag out some branches that fell during a recent storm. His favorite hat is a JD cap from Aunt Sheila and Uncle Tom.

Ryan trying to figure out how to get into dada’s tools.

Erin is quite the eclectic mix of girly girl and nature lover. She insists on wearing skirts or dresses, yet she loves to get her hands muddy and play outside. Here she is trying to make her own bird nest.

Isn’t she a beauty?

The kids are really enjoying the ride on vehicles from Grandpa Pat.

Their friends are enjoying them too.

Nothing is sweeter and juicier than a homegrown strawberry. Here Erin is picking our first red ones.

Ryan loves playing on the playground and doesn’t go anywhere w/o his tools (and his rain boots).

Erin loves to swim in the pond and will be taking her first swimming lessons this summer.

They could be twins!

2011-06-07T11:23:00.001-04:00

Ryan – 19 months , Erin – 3.5 years

Miscellaneous Cute Pics

2011-05-17T17:42:00.001-04:00

Playing with Chalk on the driveway on a nice warm Spring day.

Playing ball with Grandma.

Erin loves to make fruit salad using her safe knife.

The stinker, Ryan, after we finished finger painting.

Erin and Mommy before attending the Mother’s Day tea at her school.

Relaxing on the steps and having a yogurt pop.

Mother’s Day race in Buffalo

Erin and Rushford

Erin modeling her new pirate costume for a playdate that is later this week.

Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs

2011-04-23T18:21:00.001-04:00

Erin Flying!

2011-04-21T14:58:00.001-04:00

Aunt Christine and I spent time visiting Erin, Ryan, Nicole and Jay. Erin & Jay were really excited to show us how Erin can fly. So she ran and found her cape (BTW I wore a cape until I was 8); and illustrated her athletic prowess.

Erin doing some warm up laps.

Ryan also preparing himself for the action.

Part of Erin's arduous training is curling Ryan, Jay spots the action.

Erin & Jay’s face in this one is great. She is having so much fun!

This is my favorite. She gets some really great height off those steps.

Uncle Mike

Warm at last!

2011-04-13T14:34:00.001-04:00

The kids are enjoying the warmer weather and I’m enjoying taking pictures of our cuties!

New Camera

2011-04-11T12:14:00.001-04:00

Jay and the kids got me an awesome new camera for my birthday. Here are some of my first pics. I have a lot to learn, but I can clearly tell this is a superior camera to my point and shoot.

Half Marathon Pics

2011-03-05T17:36:00.001-05:00

Here is the link for the pics from my race. Not sure which ones I am going to buy yet.

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=75441&BIB=687

Florida Family Vacation

2011-03-04T23:40:00.001-05:00

We took the kids on their first plane ride for a trip to Disney and then a stay at Grandma Odrobina’s house in New Smyrna Beach. It was a lot of fun and although there were tiring days, we both look forward to many more adventures with our family.

Erin and Ryan look out at the plane getting ready to take us to Florida. They were really fascinated with looking out the airport windows.

Our resort had this awesome water wheel. All of us enjoyed looking at it.

Erin was very excited to see the castle for the first time.

Erin enjoyed meeting a lot characters, Mary Poppins was her first. She collected their autographs in her autograph book too.

Ryan’s favorite ride was definitely the “It’s a Small World” boat ride in Magic Kingdom.

Chef Mickey’s for our character breakfast. Fun, but expensive!

Erin and Ryan ran the 100 meter dash on Saturday. We didn’t get any pics of them during the race b/c we were running next to them. Erin is quite the runner and was very fast, near the front of the pack.

On the boat ride from our resort to Downtown Disney.

(I will post my race pics on here once they are available)

Creek

2011-02-18T18:08:00.001-05:00

Pics in a snap

2011-01-11T21:08:00.001-05:00

You know, I really should carry my camera everywhere I go. Anyway, here are some cute pics I snapped recently on my phone (not the greatest resolution, sorry). Thanks Jeff for helping me to figure out how to get them on the computer.

The kids having fun in the car shopping cart at Wegmans. They loved it! Ryan actually cried when I had to take him out.

Ryan loved this kid sized sled at Colley’s. He had so much fun on it while mommy was picking up some spark plugs for Daddy’s big boy sled.

Erin Spend The Night! With Uncle Mike & Aunt Christine

2011-01-08T11:56:00.001-05:00

Christine and I had joy of watching Erin for the night, as expected Uncle Mike & Aunt Christine ROCKED the House.

We took Erin to Bounce Magic

Here is Erin climbing the slide, we took her last year she – and this time NO FEAR!

Great image of her erupting from the slide!

Aunt Christine getting some air.

She was hungry and as expected Aunt Christine cam prepared with oranges (a healthy snack alternative) in her bag.

Queen of the castle.

This one is for Jay. Erin holding a rifle : )

At night she got a hold of Christine's yarn and we made a mess and had fun.

She really enjoyed cuddling with Rushford and watching Sponge bob.

Uncle Mike

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T22:30:00.001-05:00

May the 2011 bring you and your family much happiness, health and prosperity. Love the Barker Family.

More Christmas Pictures

2010-12-31T22:25:00.001-05:00

(courtesy of Christine and her awesome camera, thank you)

Some Christmas Pics

2010-12-26T12:04:00.001-05:00

Here are just some of the pictures for this Christmas season. More to come later.

Pictures from our Christmas Card photo session. I can’t get enough of that picture of Ryan with the tie on.

Erin and Jay went to get our Christmas tree at the Zoar Tree farm. Here is Erin next to our tree.

We made our first Gingerbread house this year. Erin loved decorating it (and eating all the candy).

Erin during her Christmas party at nursery school.

Christmas Eve at Christine and Mike’s.

A photo collage that we made for Grandma Odrobina of all her great grandchildren (10 (6 boys and 4 girls))

More Christmas Eve fun at Aunt Pat’s house.

Christmas Day at Home with our family!

We had a great time and look forward to more holiday fun at Aunt Carol’s soon.

Erin and Santa

2010-12-12T09:31:00.001-05:00

(Ryan is very scared of him and cries if he touches even his hand)

Let it snow

2010-12-02T09:08:00.001-05:00

We didn’t get as much snow as some other places, but still enough for the kids to get outside in their snowsuits and sled. Here are some cute pics.

Loving their cars!

2010-11-16T23:08:00.001-05:00

Fall Pics

2010-11-09T10:18:00.001-05:00

In case you can’t tell, Erin is examining a spider that she found.

Halloween

2010-11-08T21:44:00.001-05:00

Erin had a Halloween party at school and then spent Halloween night trick-or-treating at Grandma and Grandpa Pats’ house in Lancaster. Ryan and momma walked around the McKinley mall so that Ryan could dress up and see the other kiddos in their costumes. It will be a lot of fun to celebrate Halloween in a few years when both kids are old enough to really enjoy all the treats! Grandpa Keith and Grandma Diane got the kids really nice baskets with some yummy (and healthy) treats. Thanks!

Buffalo Zoo

Zittel’s Fall Field Trip with Erin’s nursery school

Erin’s Halloween Party at nursery school

Ryan “trick or treating” at McKinley mall

Ryan is 1 Year Old!

2010-11-08T21:24:00.001-05:00

Where did the time go? Seriously, this past year just flew by. Ryan is such an amazing little guy now and we are so blessed to have him in our family. We are 99.9% sure we are done having kids now, so I we are so grateful to have the opportunity to raise a daughter and a son. Ryan is toddling about so well now and is starting to “slim” out a little. He is 32 inches long and 26lbs. Here are some recent pics from his b-day celebrations.

Video: Playing in the Leaves with Friends

2010-10-19T20:55:00.000-04:00

Having fun w/ friends

2010-10-19T18:00:00.001-04:00

Erin’s Lepidopteran Dance

2010-10-12T21:30:00.001-04:00

Erin at the erie county fair dancing…

uncle mike

Uncle Mike is the BEST!

2010-10-12T16:24:00.001-04:00

Photos that have been stagnant on my camera and now I am sharing them with you.

Erin & Some of Ryan at the Erie County fair 2010.

Uncle Mike

Ryan Walking

2010-09-28T16:18:00.002-04:00

Ryan

2010-09-19T23:01:00.001-04:00

Here is what Ryan plays with when he is hanging out with dada in the garage.

“can’t wait until I can go cruising on here with you dada”

Now here is what he plays with when he is hanging out with mama in the kitchen.

“I wonder how loud I can be banging these bread pans together?”

“This isn’t the glass casserole dish I was playing with yesterday.”

Erin’s Home-made Car

2010-09-10T14:18:00.001-04:00

Even though she is only 2.5 yo, Erin seems to be already taking on some of her dada’s traits. Last night she told me she needed scissors, glue, hearts and a plate. I asked her why and she said she wanted to make a car out of the box in the living room. I have no idea where she got this idea, but Jay said it seems just like something he would have done when he was a kid! Anyway, she decorated the car and used the plate to make a steering wheel. Jay rigged up a rope to pull her around in it. She had a blast!

First day of School

2010-09-10T14:09:00.001-04:00

WOW…she is growing up so fast! Erin started nursery school on 9/9/10. She is going to the Eden Co-op nursery school on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 2.5 hours. It is a multi-age (3&4yo), Montessori based program. It is the first year of it being like this, so Erin’s group is kind of the test group for this program. However, we really have her in this mostly for the socialization. She is such a big girl wearing her backpack and playing with all the older kids (she is the youngest in the class). Here are a few pictures (she was really excited and didn’t want to smile for the camera).

We love you Erin!! I hope you love school as much as we did!

A Day in the Life of a Country Boy

2010-09-02T12:49:00.001-04:00

Going “shopping” to find some veggies in the garden.

Helping dada fix his truck

“Ok, I think I got it running now dada!”

“Nope, well I’ll try again.”

“Now it is going good.”

Helping dada stack some logs…much more fun than blocks.

Relaxing in the bed of dada’s beater truck….

“Wow this is fun!!” “driving” in dada’s fast/loud car

playing with the old fashioned radio controls

Playing with the steering wheel is lots of fun.

Kicking back in a rocking chair after a long day’s work.

Beach Babies

2010-08-06T09:53:00.001-04:00

Ryan having fun splashing in the pond on a hot summer’s day.

Erin having fun in the sand at Allegany State Park. She is trying to tow this bucket with Derek’s tow truck.

Playing the Piano

2010-08-01T21:58:00.001-04:00

Now that Ryan can pull himself up to stand, he loves to stand at the piano and press the keys. Here is an adorable shot of Dada and Ryan playing together.

Ryan is 9 months old

2010-07-30T22:06:00.001-04:00

Wow…these last 9 months have certainly went by faster than the 9 months I was pg with Ryan. He is growing up so fast. In the last month he has started really babbling, crawling fast w/ his belly off the ground, pulling up to stand and walking along the furniture. He and Erin have really started to play together, which is so adorable. We are so blessed to have 2 wonderful children.

His 9 month stats are quite something, as is definitely growing much faster than Erin did at this age. He is 25 lbs, 30.75 inches tall with a 18.75 inch head circumference.

Here are some pictures from his 9 month “birthday".

Homegrown Carrots …

2010-07-30T21:58:00.001-04:00

Both the kids have really enjoyed this yummy homegrown carrots! I’m quite surprised how well they’ve grown, since I’ve basically ignored my garden the last several weeks.

Barker Bash

2010-07-25T19:49:00.001-04:00

Here is a list of what everyone plans on bringing….if you change your mind, please let me know ASAP and I’ll update this list.

Snacks

Aunt Linda

Neil/Jen

Uncle Johnny

Appetizers

Uncle Danny/Aunt Diane-Fruit

Carol/Don-Fruit

Molly-Chicken wing dip

Bailey

Bobby/Sarah

Barb/Chris

Sides

Aunt Robin/Uncle Mke-Potato Salad

Sheila/Tom-Potato Salad

Mom/Ray-cucumbers/tomatos salad

Marilyn/Larry-Lettuce Salad

Uncle Fran/Aunt Sue-Salt Potatoes

Christine/Mike-Pasta Salad

Mom/Pat-corn on the cob

Bev/Rob-Baked Beans

Jay/Lauren-Baked Beans

Desserts

Keith/Diane-Cake or Cupcakes

Karissa/Adam-cupcakes

Doug/Kelly

Maghan/George

Rich/Kids

Just as a reminder, you may want to bring a change of clothes or extra shoes. We have a lot of fun activities for you to enjoy. Also, if you plan on drinking or don’t want to drive home late, we are happy to have you spend the night. Bring a tent/sleeping bag so you are comfortable. For those with young children, I will have a super play yard set up near the cabana bar with an exersaucer, activity table, toys and a high chair. I also have just about any baby/toddler gadget imaginable, so you can borrow whatever you’d like.

We’ve added some fun surprises for this year’s bash, so we are looking forward to a fun day with great friends and family!

Erin Draws Dada

2010-07-09T20:38:00.001-04:00

I know I’m her mom, but I certainly think this is a pretty impressive drawing for a child her age. Maybe a future Lady Picasso?!

Summer Fun

2010-07-08T12:31:00.001-04:00

Sorry it it has been some time since we’ve updated. My Kodak camera stopped working. We were hoping to fix it, but it seems like it may be kind of expensive to do so. Instead, we just got a new Panasonic Lumix FH20 camera and so far it is AWESOME. Looking forward to capturing lots of memories with this camera.

Well July is a busy month for the Barker family. So far we had a 4th of July party in Lancaster at Grandma and Grandpa Pat’s house and another family get-together at Uncle Mike and Aunt Robin’s house. Here are some of our favorite pictures…

The Winnicki and Barker kiddos meet-up at the Lancaster carnival.

Grandpa Pat having fun driving Ryan around in his own motorized race car.

Erin enjoying the 4th of July parade in Lancaster.

Ryan goes swimming for the first time in Aunt Robin and Uncle Mike’s warm in-ground pool.

Second cousins Elena and Erin spend some “girl time” together in the grass.

Ryan relaxing in his ladybug floatie.

No July party is complete w/o fireworks. Here the group watches in awe as they see some daytime sparks in the sky.

Future Miss Americas!

Great-grandma Odrobina enjoys some time with her great-granddaughters.

Great-grandma with 4 of her 10 great-grandchildren.

Elena, Erin and Carlos enjoy some time walking in the grass…

and running.

Grandpa Ray hold Ryan and realizes it isn’t as scary as he thought!

Summer Lovin’

2010-06-02T18:51:00.001-04:00

Loving the Sunshine

2010-05-31T22:50:00.001-04:00

Sorry I’ve been so lax with updating this past month. We have just been spending a ton of time outside and I’ve ran out of time to get on here to post. Here is a collection of some of our favorite Spring pictures. Thank you to all who have helped take them (namely Christine and Aunt Sheila)

Singing in the rain with her cute rain coat from Aunt Bev and her umbrella from Grandpa and Grandma Pat.

Ryan loves to play on his exersaucer while Erin is running around the yard or playing on her play ground.

Erin still likes the exersaucer too, even though she is definitely too big for these toys!

Had to include this picture since Erin took it. She is getting pretty good with the camera.

Ryan was certainly fascinated with picking the long grass out of the yard.

Erin LOVES to swim in the pond with her learn-to-swim life jacket. She is doing so well. It probably won’t be more than a year of two before she can swim unassisted. Thank you to dada and Uncle Mike for spending so much time swimming with her in the pond on Memorial Day.

Ryan and Mommy on Mother’s Day.

Erin had a blast with Uncle Mike at the Botanical Gardens. I wonder who is winning this game of checkers:)

We had a very tough time getting a picture of the two of them. Erin hates to smile for the camera these days and Ryan, well he just wants to put EVERYTHING in his mouth (his first tooth started popping through just a few weeks after this picture was taken, so definitely teething in this picture)!

Everyone loves Christine’s wonderful culinary skills, especially Erin. She says from time to time that she wants some cake from Aunt ‘tine or that she needs to call Aunt ‘tine for a recipe! So cute!

Baby Eastern Phoebes

2010-05-31T22:19:00.001-04:00

Ok, I know they are not really a part of the Barker Family, but we really have grown quite fond of these little guys. We first saw the mother bird make the nest on our front porch and didn’t think it looked like a great spot (on top of our outdoor thermometer). However, she obviously knew better than us. Her nest of 5 eggs successfully raised 4 beautiful baby birds. We even got to watch them fly off. It was really something….maybe someday we will use this as a lesson to teach the kids about “the birds and the bees” (LOL).

(see the dates in lower right hand corner) pictures taken over the course of 11 days

Princess in the castle of hoops

2010-05-07T15:29:00.001-04:00

my favorite photo or Erin. Trapped in the hoopdom

uncle mike

Erin feeding Ryan some sweet potatoes

2010-04-25T17:00:00.001-04:00

Well I decided to make Ryan’s baby food. I bought this baby food mill when Erin was about 9 months old. I didn’t use it much with her though, since she didn’t really need pureed foods at that age. Well it is so easy and fun to make your own baby food. Plus Jay loves that it is cheap! For the price you’d pay for one jar you can make enough for 5 servings. I’ve only made sweet potatoes so far, but here are some pictures of Erin feeding them to Ryan.

Windows Live Writer

2010-04-25T15:48:00.001-04:00

Our new look is thanks to this amazing program that Christine and Mike recommended. It is so much easier and quicker to post now. You’ll be seeing many more updates now thanks to this user friendly program.

Strong Museum of Play

2010-04-25T15:46:00.001-04:00

We had a great day in Rochester with Trish, Zack and Anna. This is one amazing children’s museum. We will certainly be taking the 1hr45min trip there again.

Erin is playing with this instrument made of PVC pipes.

Erin and Zack pretend to fix a car motor. It doesn’t surprise me that Erin was drawn to this, since she is so interested in everything that dada does in the garage.

Erin goes grocery shopping at the children’s Wegman’s. I wish I had more pictures of this, it was a real “pretend” grocery store. They even got to ring up the food on a cash register. Very cool.

Erin was really drawn to this airplane. She kept running back into every time we walked by.

Zack and Erin were having fun in Papa Bear’s workshop.

Erin cutting some foam wood pieces with Papa Bear’s miter saw.

Here Erin checks out Papa Bear’s drill press.

Ryan was such a good boy all day. He didn’t cry or even fuss once. He loved watching all the big kids running around and playing. It was very busy, as school was out for Spring recess all throughout western NY.

Erin, Zack and Anna brush some really big teeth.