365 ~ 2013: Day 59

Spending some of our vacation doing more home improvements.  The boys patiently wait for a chance to help paint the wall.

365 ~ 2013: Day 58

His drawing skills continue to amaze me! At 33, I could not draw a better helicopter.

Once upon a time there was a zombie who had to dig underground to get to the castle to get away from the volcano.  The helicopter flies by to take the castle away so the zombie cannot get in.  The zombie was left with nothing.  The helicopter took everything he had.  All that was left was the exploding volcano, that made the zombie die. 

*As told to me by David

365 ~ 2013: Day 57

Our friends came for an impromptu sleepover/visit yesterday and headed home today, but not before I was able to get a quick snapshot of all of them together!

365 ~ 2013: Day 56

Heavy wet snow = BEST Snowman making snow!

365 ~ 2013: Day 55

Ready, Set, FLIP!  Today we headed south to celebrate my friends daughters birthday!  It was at a gymnastics studio and the boys got to jump on the trampoline, try out some balancing and hanging from one of the bars.  This is Evan on the strapped into the trampoline giving it a go.  He did great until the flip, then he decided he was all done!

365 ~ 2013: Day 54

Today I spent the day at the SOPHA, learning all about portraiture.  The first part of the day was lecture along with some image review and then spent the second part of the class in the studio working on creating some of the basic lighting styles we had discussed in the first half.  We broke into small groups and each took turns being the model.  I had someone shoot this with my camera because, why not!  Nice background, lights already set up, instant head shot!  What I did not take into account was that this is a crazy bunch of folks and I pretty much spent the entire day laughing!  I had a hard time keeping a "straight" face!  But that is why I like this one, I will remember all the fun I had today every time I look at this shot!

365 ~ 2013: Day 53

Mommy, I see you!!

365 ~ 2013: Day 52

Shaun said he was on a date tonight.  That makes this the second "official" date.  These two are trouble!

365 ~ 2013: Day 51

A few weeks ago I took a class on how to use my flash off-camera.  To do this at home, it required purchasing a few items (a light stand, transmitter and receiver and an umbrella) which you can see in the picture below.  Today I was able to get it all set up and give it a try.  I still need to play around with it more but it was fun to take a few comparison shots to see the difference!

David's portrait using the off-camera flash

The equipment all set up!

Here is the before and after, you can see a small difference in the eyes, and face has a more even tone

365 ~ 2013: Day 50

David working hard on his back stroke, his skills have improved so much over the last few months!

365 ~ 2013: Day 49

A little screen time before dinner tonight!

365 ~ 2013: Day 48

What can I say?  I just love these faces!

365 ~ 2013: Day 47

Ready to celebrate in our jammies at the Revere Recreation Valentine's Day Brunch!

365 ~ 2013: Day 46

The boys at the PTA sponsored movie night at the school.  All the kids come in their jammies, bring blankets and eat popcorn while watching a movie with their friends!

365 ~ 2013: Day 45

My funny Valentines!

365 ~ 2013: Day 44

Tomorrow is a busy day for us, so we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day tonight. A friend of mine started a tradition of getting dressed up and having a nice dinner with her family that I decided to start the same tradition. The boys and I got dressed up (not super dressy but they put on their Valentine's pink) and I made an Italian feast that we enjoyed in our dinning room instead of the kitchen where we usually eat!

Me and the boys waiting for Daddy to get home from work so we could enjoy our "fancy" dinner!


*Photo taken by my MIL

365 ~ 2013: Day 43

Evan enjoying the Family Center Friendship party and exchanging Valentine's with his friends today!

The Blizzard of 2013 ~ Part 3

This has been such a fun weekend.  We knew Sunday was going to be a much nicer day (less windy and warmer!) so we decided to sign the boys up for a half day ski school.  We picked a busy day to ski!  The lodge was packed, we were lucky to find a place to sit!  Evan was great while he waited for his brothers.  He played games and puzzles and then we headed over to the learning center to watch the boys for a bit.  David and Shaun did great and they both said they couldn't wait to go again!

Evan checking out the map, seeing where his brothers are skiing

Shaun did great for his first time!

David trying to remember  how to ski

Shaun is a pro at the magic carpet

Getting the hang of stopping

After we got back from skiing, the boys took a short nap and then we headed back outside one last time to play in the snow before the weekend was over.

Daddy throwing snow at the boys

Snow up to his knees!

Trying to go down the hill in the sled

Me and Evan

Such a fun day!

These two forgot it was winter for a minute!

The snow is deep enough for Daddy to toss David!

365 ~ 2013: Day 42

The beautiful sunrise before the clouds roll in for another storm today.  This one unfortunately will be bringing some sleet and rain.  I will cross my fingers that we miss the change over line and maybe we'll just get more snow!

365 ~ 2013: Day 41

Ready for more fun in the snow!  It was tough to sled in, the snow was so deep the boys had a hard time walking up after, especially Evan since it was up to his waist!  Still, though, the sun was shining it wasn't freezing cold and windy so we had a much better time today playing!

The Blizzard of 2013 ~ Part 2

This morning we woke up to a blanket of snow and it was still steadily coming down.  It snowed at a good clip until about 11am and was officially done around 1pm.  I was able to get some measurements and we averaged 18" with drifts up to 2ft in some places.

We headed out around 10:30, it was windy but we had to get the driveway cleared and the boys were excited to get outside.  Though once we were out there the cold wind gusts were too much for Evan and he spent most of the time standing just inside the garage.  Overall it was pretty impressive storm, that happened just as the meteorologists predicted.

The snow drive on this part of our deck - from my dining room window

18 inches of snow!

It's going to take a LOT more than that tiny shovel to clear all this snow away!

But it doesn't hurt to try!

Showing me just how much snow was at the end of our driveway from the plows.

Wind gusts blowing snow EVERYWHERE!

Just hanging out for a minute

Getting our money's worth on that purchase this winter!

David watching the plow go by!

Now that the plow has passed, time to sled down the mound of snow they left behind!

Days like this where it's nice to live on a dead end street!

So much snow!

Definitely the most snow that has fallen at once in my lifetime!

After we cleared the driveway and had some fun we came in for some lunch and to get ready to take David to his classmates birthday party!  We had emailed back and forth and she had said that she was still planning on having the party and so we headed out.  Since it was at a bowling alley we decided to all go and let David have fun at the party while we let Shaun and Evan bowl.  It was nice to get out of the house for a bit.

Evan's version of a thumbs up!

On our way home we grabbed some Chinese take out and planned to get back outside for some more fun after dinner.  The sun had come out and the sky was a gorgeous pink and blue. It was still very cold and windy so again, it was a short time outside but still fun and we got the deck cleared!

Snow drift against the door in my dinning room

Pretty sunset!

Ready for some fun!

Turns out the snow is too deep to get any good sledding...we'll need to pack it down tomorrow.

Evan was happy to keep on the paths!

Yup...that would be our snow blower on the deck...
"Shovel the deck?  Ain't nobody got time for that!"