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!

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!

365 ~ 2013: Day 40

That is a LOT of snow!  The blizzard of 2013 dumped 18" of snow in our yard with drifts up to 2ft in some spots!  The bank at the end of our drive way that David sits on measured almost 3ft!

365 ~ 2013: Day 39

This picture of was taken this morning, at 8am, we can still see grass on the ground.  Snow has been light but steady all day.  At around 4:30 the snow really started to pick up.  We are now all under one roof, safe and warm and ready to see what this "storm of the century" has in store for us!

365 ~ 2013: Day 38

Evan loves tracing his letters on the tablet with his finger, tonight he tried it with a dry erase marker.  That is "E" for EVAN!  And incidentally, today we got his application for preschool!  I think he is more than ready...the real question is...are they ready for him. Ha!

365 ~ 2013: Day 37

Watching the big fluffy snow flakes falling before getting ready for school this morning.

365 ~ 2013: Day 36

Practicing seeing catch lights!

365 ~ 2013: Day 35

Someone was "very naughty"...

365 ~ 2013: Day 34

Ready to go tubing!

365 ~ 2013: Day 33

A little down time before bed! Sleepovers are the best!

365 ~ 2013: Day 32

Evan's cold is getting the better of him...he's been sporting the "chapped face look" for over a week now. Gotta love winter!