April 30, 2012

Project 365 - Day 121

2 years ago at this time we were checking in at L&D getting ready to meet our final baby boy! I was still holding out hope that it would happen quickly and I would still get a diamond birthstone for any future mother's ring, but alas, in true Evan fashion, he did things HIS way and arrived ONE hour too late, at 1 o'clock in the morning of May 1st.

Like everyone always says when their little ones birthday approaches - I can't believe my baby is going to be TWO tomorrow. Here is my almost 2 year old celebrating with his Family Center friends today!

April 29, 2012

Project 365 - Day 120

The boys standing on the big oak tree before my Dad came today to cut it into chunks!

Project 365 - Day 119

Happy Moving Day for my very good friends! Welcome to life in the burbs!

April 26, 2012

Project 365 - Day 117

Charlie and I continued our yard clean up while Evan found himself a tractor wheel hole to play in!

April 25, 2012

Project 365 - Day 116

A friend needed a photo for an art project and asked me if I would mind taking one. Instead of taking just one photo, I decided to turn it into a mini-session so that I could get some more practice!  Check out these handsome brothers!

April 24, 2012

Project 365 - Day 115

Who needs a swing set?! Just load the area where said swing set should be with debris and cut down trees and voila...instant jungle gym! Well at least until we get around to clearing it all!

April 22, 2012

Project 365 - Day 113

Winding down from a great weekend in Maine. We came up so that we could sell our baby stuff at the local baby fair and we did pretty well, we sold a good amount of our baby clothes and made about $140! A big thanks to Maddie, Owen, Cole & Avery's Nonnie and Papa for watching our boys too yesterday, it was much appreciated! They certainly had their hands full, but from what we were told it was a lot of fun and Evan only ran off once!

Here is all the kids this morning after a big pancake breakfast. I just love how even though they don't see each other very often, they all pick up right where they left off.

April 21, 2012

Project 365 - Day 112

Happy 6th Birthday to Maddie today!



 Edit: May 10, 2012 

Decided to submit this picture of my friends beautiful daughter on her 6th birthday in the I Heart Faces ~ Hey Girl challenge! We were lucky we got to celebrate with them as they live a little over 3 hours away in Maine! Click on the link below to see all the other amazing entries!

 Photo Challenge Submission

April 20, 2012

Project 365 - Day 111

This would have been cooler with a Macro Lens, but I don't know how often I would want to use a Macro lens to justify the cost!

April 19, 2012

Project 365 - Day 110

This tree guy is an artist! It was so fun to watch him clear the trees from our yard, at one point he took 4 down at once. The boys loved watching the big tractor pulling the trees out of the back and Evan had fun yelling "TIMBER!" as each tree fell. He'll be back tomorrow to finish the side of the house and take down the large oak tree then we start the clean up.

April 18, 2012

Project 365 - Day 109

David getting a lesson on how to hold his bat correctly at his first T-ball practice tonight!

April 17, 2012

April 16, 2012

Project 365 - Day 107

I found this kite while spring cleaning the garage yesterday morning. The boys were having fun playing with it and because it was windy yesterday they even got it up in the air a few times. Today, not so much! But that didn't stop Shaun from running around the driveway to give it a try!

April 13, 2012

Project 365 - Day 104

Flat Stanley joined the boys for music class. They are in a circle singing Charlie Over the Ocean. The teacher starts singing the lyrics walking around the circle and the kids repeat, when you get to can't catch me, you tag the person in front of you like in duck, duck, goose. Then that person starts the song over.

Charlie over the ocean
(Charlie over the ocean)
Charlie over the sea
(Charlie over the sea)
Charlie caught a big fish
(Charlie caught a big fish)
Can't catch me!
(Can't catch me!)

April 12, 2012

Project 365 - Day 103

Flat Stanley sings the Family Center goodbye song, Shaun helps him make his Alligator!

See you later Alligator
In a while Crocodile
Goodbye, for now!

April 11, 2012

Project 365 - Day 102

Tonight was David's first T-ball practice, unfortunately it started to rain steadily right as we were pulling into the field so the coach cancelled the practice and just handed out the hats and t-shirts and answered any questions we had. But you know me, since I couldn't get a picture of him at his first practice, I couldn't resist putting him in his uniform as soon as we got home to snap a few pictures!

April 9, 2012

Project 365 - Day 100

Flat Stanley has been having a great time with us so far, he's been to Kindergarten and got to sit with the Easter Bunny on Saturday and enjoyed some Easter Dinner with our family yesterday! Today we he came along to Family Center with us and here he is making soap with Evan! The soap (made with Ivory flakes, food coloring and water) has a special bath toy surprise inside!

April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

Another successful Holiday for the memory books! We started our celebrations yesterday with our annual Easter Party at the old Rec center. It's nice to still be included and have the chance to catch up with some of our old friends. I can't get over how big all the kids are getting!



After our Rec party we high tailed it back home for our neighborhood Easter egg hunt! Our neighbor has been hosting this event for the last 8 years and even though her son is older now, it was a tradition he wanted to continue! It's just another reason why I am so happy we moved in to this neighborhood!


After the egg hunt was over it was time to head home and get ready to decorate eggs. This year I found a really cut pirate kit at Target and decided to forgo the coloring. I think they had more fun coloring the eggs than dunking them in cups and waiting! They came out really good!



Ahoy Matey!


Then it was time for bed. The Easter Bunny can't come if we're awake!


Easter Morning the boys found their baskets waiting for them on the kitchen table! Candy, bubbles and DVD copies of Hop, The Muppets and Chipwrecked! Oh and of course, no basket is complete without chocolate bunnies!




Uh-oh, someone got into more chocolate!


After we got the boys cleaned up from the breakfast chocolate, we got them dressed in their Sunday best for our annual Easter family portrait! It is always a challenge to get the boys to look at the camera when they are supposed to, but it's especially challenging when there is no one in front of the camera getting their attention!


Once we finished doing our portraits we decided to put the boys down for a little quiet time in their rooms so that they wouldn't be cranky for company! I had already put the big giant ham in the oven earlier, so now it was time to prep my leg of lamb! I have never made one before so I was a little nervous, in any case the house smelled amazing. Garlic and rosemary and apple and maple! YUM! While the food was cooking and the kids all arrived we got ready for our first egg hunt! We sent the kids down to the cul-du-sac, behind our house, with some of the grown-ups while the rest of the grown-ups stayed behind to hide all the eggs! Once the eggs were hidden, we called them back sat them down and explained the rules.



And they are off!


There was one special egg that had a $5 bill inside and Carter was the lucky one! David was got lucky too, finding the second best egg with a $1 bill! It was a lot of fun even if it started to sleet a little!

After all the eggs were found it was time to eat the Easter feast! I thought I might have over cooked my lamb, but it ended up being just right. I had never really eaten lamb before but since I made it I was going to try it! It was DELICIOUS!




It was a wonderful day spent with both our families and I am so glad to be able to have the space to host holidays! Nothing makes me happier than cooking for my family! And of course I had to take advantage of us all being in our Sunday best to get an updated photo of my siblings and parents!

Project 365 - Day 99

Today we hosted our first annual Easter dinner. I am thankful to have a space that is big enough to fit both our families so we no longer need to figure out how to split our time! We were happy that GG could make the trip from New York to spend the day with us. GG turned 80 a couple months ago but since we didn't see her then we decided to do a little celebration today! I made a carrot cake and with the boys help we decorated it with some pre-made candy decorations. Then after dinner we all gathered around the table to sing Happy Birthday! Here is a picture of the boys with their GG.

April 7, 2012

April 4, 2012

Project 365 - Day 95

Yesterday we welcomed Flat Stanely Of Stratham to our home for a week, for the next few days I will chronicle some of his adventures during his stay with us! Here is Flat Stanely enjoying lunch at the Burlington Mall Food Court! Mmmmmm...Maki of Japan's chicken and rice!

I Heart Faces ~ Happiness

Nothing says happiness and pure joy like flying through the air on the playground zip-line!! Shaun (age 3 almost 4!) was super proud he hung on by "his own self" for the whole ride!


Click on the button below for more images of happiness for this months I Heart Faces photo challenge!

Photo Challenge Submission

April 2, 2012

A Family of Photogs!

While we were doing work out in the yard on Saturday I had my camera so I could photograph our progress. Once we started burning the brush pile, I didn't want my camera nearby, so I gave it to David to hold. He asked me if he could take some pictures so I said sure. When I loaded the memory card I noticed he had taken over 300 pictures! He was a good big brother and shared a little with Shaun but most were taken by himself. Here are a few of the winners that I touched up a bit in Lightroom.

Photo by David
Photo by Shaun
Photo by David
Photo by David

Photo by David
Photo by David

Looks like we're going to be a family of photogs! I have been wanting to get some backdrops for a while, but after the last couple family portraits in front of our fireplace I went ahead and ordered three colored backdrops. I have a brown, white and black and after testing them out on the boys I am thrilled! The lighting in that room is awesome but the same foggy glass fireplace, not so much! Can't wait to try them out this weekend when we do our Spring family portraits!