Project 365 - Day 17

David working on his "bear scoops", otherwise known as beginners free style!

Project 365 - Day 16

Evan just got kissed by a Dog, get some hot water, get some disinfectant, get some iodine...!

I Heart Faces ~ Family Fun

This weeks I Heart Faces challenge is Family Fun! I am submitting this one of my boys. They are 5, 3.5 and 20 months and it's practically impossible to get a picture where all 3 are looking at me. This image came from me trying to get all 3 boys to lay on their bellies next to each other. Evan (the baby!) likes to climb up on top of people when he sees them lay on their bellies. And David & Shaun thought it was hilarious!

Stop by I Heart Faces to see more great examples of Family Fun!

 

Project 365 - Day 15

Evan and Daddy watching the Packers/Giants game this afternoon!

Project 365 - Day 14

It's Patriot's Day! Go Pats!

Project 365 - Day 13

"Sing us a song you're the Piano Man, sing us a song tonight..."



David at his Take 3 Music class learning a new progression on the piano. He loves this class and so we are going to sign him up for the next semester and then move on to private lessons!

Project 365 - Day 12

Today we had a snow day and it we got enough snow for the boys to take their new sleds out for their first run down the hill in our back yard! David wasted no time and before Evan and I even got over to the hill, David had already flew down yelling, "this is AWESOME!"

Project 365 - Day 11

Happy Birthday to you...and MANY more! Tonight we celebrated my sisters last year in her 20's. I made her stuffed shells and my Mom made a cake! I love having a big family and I love that we frequently get together for family dinners during the week. Happy Birthday Robyn!

Project 365 - Day 10

Preforming my civic duty! The boys got stickers as we left the polling place. This is Evan showing me his "I voted" sticker! I wasn't planning to go and vote today, as I am not a republican and their is no race for the Democratic ticket but I needed to register anyway and in NH you can register at the polls so I went. I was tempted to cast my vote for Herman Cain, but figured if I was going to vote, I may as well take it seriously. So I did. My vote wasn't for a candidate I would ever want to see represent me, but more for someone who says what he believes regardless of whether it is popular or what he thinks people want to hear, and while I don't agree, I can at least respect that.

Project 365 - Day 9

Evan loves to be outside, it could be pouring rain or 20 below and he still would want to be outside. Check out those rosy cheeks from playing outside at the end of Family Center today!

I Heart Faces ~ Best Face of 2011

This week over at I Heart Faces they are celebrating their 3rd Anniversary. I am really glad to have found this site this past summer and have been so inspired by all the great images. The theme this week is Best Face Photo from 2011. I am submitting this image of my oldest son on his first day of Kindergarten, this past fall. It was such a proud moment for him and I think it shows! Mom and Dad were proud too!



Please click on the above links and check out all the other amazing "best face" entries at I Heart Faces this week!

Project 365 - Day 8

Taking down Christmas. Today was a sad day in our house, it was the day we took down the ornaments from the tree and placed them in their storage bins. We took down the candles in the windows, the garland around the staircase and the stockings that were hung by the chimney with care. No more outside lighting and no more beautiful glow from the Christmas tree. Until next year.

Project 365 - Day 7

An almost full moon on a crisp (though warm for January), clear-ish night.

Project 365 - Day 6

Big Boy Bed! A few months ago we purchased a big boy bed set for Evan with our Jordan's Furniture voucher money! Since there are no more babies that need to use the crib there was no rush to move him, but the crib is old and with the moves, it has been disassembled and reassembled a few times now, so I thought I would give it a try tonight and see how it went. Worse case, we move him back to the crib.

When I first asked him after his story if he wanted to try his big boy bed he said NO and pointed to his crib. I decided that I would lie him down on the bed anyway and see what his reaction was. If I got the same reaction I got when I tried to sit him on the potty the other day then I would put him in the crib. Turns out he went and laid right down. I grabbed his pillow out, and pillow pet out of his crib and tucked him in. He had a HUGE grin on his face when I asked him if he liked it! When it was time to put the other boys to bed I opened his door to check on him (with my camera of course). I was happy to see my sleeping little boy still tucked in right where I left him! Looks like the crib is on it's way to retirement.



This was taken with the help of my new speedlite, with the flash bouncing up on the ceiling and the other settings were as follows:
Shutter: 1 sec
Aperture: f/1.4
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO: 6400

Project 365 - Day 5

Getting back on track, recommitting to getting even healthier in 2012. The last 6 months haven't been great and I put on some of the weight I lost before the move. One of the things that helped motivate me was doing before and after pictures and taking my measurements, something I haven't done since May. I think I got complacent and started lying to myself that the slow weight gain wasn't a big deal, it's the Holidays, blah, blah, blah! Time to stop making excuses and get back on track. I plan to revisit this image in 12 weeks and hopefully see a difference.

Project 365 - Day 4

One of the cool features of the new house is the beautiful staircase, and according to the previous owners, the house was designed around it. From the upper level, you can see all the way down to the lower level. It's always fun to play around with the rules of composition and point of view has been one of my favorites. I took this picture of Evan, on the lower level stairs, from the upper level looking down. When I called down to him to get his attention, he looked up smiled and said "I see you Momma!"

Oh, and as you can see I still haven't taken down my Christmas decorations yet. Maybe this weekend!

Project 365 - Day 3

Swimming lessons; and Shaun would like the world to know that this is the first time swimming without a swim diaper! He was very excited about that and it was the first thing he told his teacher upon entering the pool!

Project 365 - Day 2

David - the Lego Master. He's super proud of this one because it required very little help from Daddy!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! This year we rang in the new year with our good friends! It's the first time in a long time that we've even celebrated since usually the Doc has had to work. We did a mock new year with the kids outside, complete with sparklers and snaps! Thankfully it wasn't too cold, in fact it was pretty nice considering it was the last day in December!

The boys with their noise makers!


Shaun's sparkler


After our fun outside the kids got the jammies on and had a little down time before being shipped off to bed!


After the kids fell asleep, the grown-ups enjoyed some chocolate fondue and relaxed. At 11:50 we turned on the Dick Clarks countdown and toasted the New Year with champagne! In the morning we heated up some of the homemade cinnamon rolls that I prepared the day before and Brian made a delicious Roasted Tomato & Arugula Strata, though I agree with Brian that next time it would be better with spinach! After the kids all got ready we headed outside to enjoy the unseasonably warm bright sunny day! We walked down to the cul-du-sac and the kids rode bikes and ran around! It was nice that they were able to blow off some steam outside like that!



For dinner I made a Turkey, it was delicious!


And before dessert, we bribed the children to pose for this picture all together! It's fun to see how much they have changed since the first pictures together!


I can only hope that the rest of 2012 is as wonderful as the first day was! Wishing you all happiness & good health in the new year!

Project 365 - Day 1

Today is the first day of 2012 and so for my 2012 New Years resolution, and as a way to work on taking better images, I am taking on Project 365. Not only is this going to help me focus on fine tuning my skills, but I will end up with a whole year of memories captured, day by day!