Project 365 - Day 31

Normally Shaun doesn't want to wear the goggles at swimming, but today he did! I think he is trying to be more like his big brother! He's asking to try more things on his own, including putting his whole face in the water while swimming!

Project 365 - Day 30

The bonds of brotherhood! This is the boys playing early this afternoon. They really get along so well and genuinely love to play together and they always have! They'll even include Evan whenever Evan is in the mood to sit still long enough to play whatever they are working on! I am looking forward to watching their relationships with each other grow!

Project 365 - Day 29

David had his first birthday today for one of his classmates.  I really hate spending $4 bucks on a card and David loves to draw so I had him make his friend a card. The party theme was Star Wars so he drew his friend Yoda, Darth Vader & General Grievous. He told me he liked General Grievous the best because he has FOUR light sabers!

Project 365 - Day 28

Today we decided not to wake Evan up from his nap for David's basketball practice. He has a hard time staying out of trouble and I end up spending most of the time chasing him around the gym. So when he woke up I wanted to make sure he got to do something fun too. It was rather warm for January, so we got our coats on and headed out for a walk around the cul-de-sac. Love those rosy cheeks!

Project 365 - Day 27

Waiting to pick up the older two boys at school this morning, sitting in my car while it rained. In front of me was a red brink building and I got the idea to shoot the raindrops on my windshield. A little bit of tweaking in Lightroom 3 (mostly adjusting the curves and adding a thick black circle to draw the eye in) and I'm pretty impressed with the final product! Hard to believe that is just my windshield with some accumulated raindrops looking out at a brick wall.

Project 365 - Day 26

I am feeling a little guilty because Shaun hasn't been represented much in this project! As if being the middle child wasn't bad enough! I made sure to bring my camera to Family Center today so that I could get some pictures of Shaun. He's not easy to photograph since he hardly ever looks at the camera but he was proud of his animal chain and asked if I would take a picture of him!

Project 365 - Day 25

David loves his Legos, unfortunately with Evan still being at the age of sticking things in his mouth, we have to limit his Lego time. Today he during quiet time he was awake so I told him he could come down stairs to play and he immediately went for the Legos! I was in the Kitchen prepping some of my ingredients for dinner but hear him playing and grabbed my camera to sneak this picture! I love how he sets up little scenarios and makes all his little Lego men play out his story.

Project 365 - Day 24

This has been such a strange winter. It's been mostly above average in temperature and every time we get some snow, it's closely followed by a warm front and rain storm. The golf course is right by where we live and we are at the top of a hill so it lends itself to some really beautiful views. On the way to driving the boys to school it was completely covered in fog, but about an hour later the sun started trying to poke through the clouds to burn off some of the fog. I pulled off the side of the road to get this image of the sun shinning through the fog. We never did get the sun to fully come out today like others south of us, but it eventually did warm up enough to melt the rest of the snow that was on our driveway and melt the ice that had formed on the pine tree needles! Next winter mess is scheduled for Friday morning, I just wish it would snow and stay snow!! My boys want to build a snowman!

I Heart Faces / By the Book (and Project 365 - Day 23)

Today I am combining my 365 image with this weeks I Heart Faces, By the Book challenge. My original plan was to try and capture my oldest son reading to the the baby. I asked Evan if he wanted to read a book and he promptly went to the bookshelf grabbed his favorite words book walked over to the couch and sat down on the floor. He opened the book up and started "reading" the words. He's saying Apple, as I snapped this picture! Guess he didn't need big brother after all!




Don't forget to stop over at I Heart Faces to see all the amazing "by the book" images!

Project 365 - Day 22

AFC Championship game day!! We're ready! LET'S GO PATS!

Project 365 - Day 21

Daddy's Little Helper!

Project 365 - Day 20

Evan is getting top billing in this project, but I'm with him the most and he's the most cooperative when it comes to me photographing him. He hasn't gotten sick of me yet like the other two! This is Evan at his swimming class. Today he was the only one there so the teacher worked with him and I was able to hop out of the pool to snap a picture of him jumping in the pool! It's his favorite thing to do and he yells "JUMP, JUMP!" as soon as we get in the pool! I am so glad that we signed up, it's fun to have an activity just for us!

Getting Involved!

One of the things that was always important to me when we moved was to make sure that we got the boys involved in the community. It was a huge part of our lives in Revere (and I still visit our old Rec whenever I can!) and I want it to be a part of our lives here. All three boys have been taking swimming lessons since the summer, David has done Soccer in the fall and now he's doing basketball as well as a music class. And Shaun and Evan are a part of the schools Family Center, a free playgroup where parents can come and make a craft and play games with their preschooler. There is also time for playing outside (Evan's favorite part!) when the weather permits!

I am also doing my part at getting involved by becoming a member of the PTA. This is a great community and I am so happy to be a part of it! I am looking forward to checking out more and more activities as the year goes on!  Below are some pictures from some of the boys latest activities!

Evan playing at Family Center

Shaun singing a song about Penguins!

Shaun FINALLY puts his face under water to swim!

Building a tall tower on the first snow day of the year!

Evan not sure what to think about the snow

He shoots, he scores! 

The next Ray Allen?!  Maybe if he were taller!

Project 365 - Day 19

Tonight I took the boys to Literacy Night at the school and the theme was Alphabet Soup! There was lots of alphabet themed crafts, puzzles, an alphabet story, obstacle course and they even got to make their own Alphabet Soup. It was so much fun. This is Evan making his alphabet soup craft! He loves using glue sticks!

Project 365 - Day 18

Our winter has been very mild this year. We haven't had much snow but yesterday was particularly interesting. We got about 3 inches of snow in the morning and then the sun came out and melted a lot of the pretty snow that was hanging on the trees and even the snow on the driveway, mostly disappeared. As we got later into the day it started to rain, not just a light mist, but rain, heavy rain. It was about 38 degrees so thankfully it wasn't freezing, but it just goes to show you that the saying is true - if you don't like the weather in New England, wait five minutes! Because then this morning it was freezing and windy!

This is a picture of the puddle that froze overnight on my walkway. I thought it looked really cool!

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!