Three Men and a Little Chica

Holy give away

2012-01-22T20:13:00.001-05:00

You can't win if you don't play....this is one of my new mottos over the last year.

So here is a chance to win one of the two nicest cameras out there from MCP Actions!

Camera giveaway!

Sky-phonagraphy

2012-01-21T09:28:00.001-05:00

In 2011 I became somewhat addicted to iphonagraphy. What is more convenient than having your phone also take pictures which can be quickly uploaded to the internet? Once I stumbled across Instagram, it was really over. With a couple quick clicks you can take a cool picture, crop, add a filter and share. Although the resolution of the photos from my phone aren't that great, the pictures look great in the smaller size.

Another thing I've become somewhat obsessed with....mostly since the June 1st tornado....are crazy skies and cloud formations. Scary clouds, beautiful clouds, sunrises, sunsets....I always seem to be in tune these days with what is going on in the weather and in the sky. This is a sad realization...and just one of the ways the craziness of 2011 has impacted me personally. And I sure can see a whole lot more sky than I used to.

So here are some of my favorite sky-phonography pics....

May 5th - as the boys were warming up before an early evening baseball game.

June 25th - Chasing a double rainbow behind the mall.

July 7th - newly traumatized by weather, this sky scared the be-jesus out of me.

August 8th - a happy cloud....a heart straight ahead on our way to Cape Cod

August 12th - the most gorgeous sky from 2011...cloudless Chatham Lighthouse Beach

August 24th - Gorgeous night of summer baseball

August 31st - Soccer game at dusk

September 8th - just creepy

September 8th - pretty sunset

September 10th - the swimmer cloud - identified by Ben

October 2nd - storm clouds approaching the Circle

November 28th - most beautifully colorful sunrise ever, even behind the unattractive backdrop

November 28th - the most beautiful pink clouds covering almost the entire sky

December 9th - neat cloud formation seen from the Pike

January 6th, 2012 - Gorgeous sunset coming out of doctor's office

These were just some of my favorite sky-phonagraphy pics from the last year!

Summer Excursions

2012-01-20T11:07:00.002-05:00

There were a couple of little excursions I took with the kids over the summer that were never documented. The other day one of the kids asked if we could go to Magic Wings again. That's when I looked back on the blog and realized I'd never posted about our strawberry picking or our trip to see the beautiful butterflies.

A friend and neighbor had mentioned going strawberry picking locally. So after one of Jack's ortho appointments I took the kids strawberry picking for the first time. We had had a very wet winter and spring and it was towards the end of the picking season, but we still were able to find enough strawberries to make it worth the trip.

We were the only ones in the field until we were just about ready to leave and another family came along. Jack was pretty comedic about the whole experience, particularly after he realized the strawberry stems are a little sharp. Ben wasn't super interested for very long and the only picture I got of him was extremely blurry (sorry Ben!)

We never did finish all the strawberries we picked, but they were sure good!

Another summer day when the weather wasn't so great we ventured a little north to the butterfly museum. I was personally very excited about this trip! We brought the boys about 9 years ago when Jack was about 3 and Ben was about 1.5. I was very pregnant for Luke and remember when a butterfly landed on my big belly. Ben DID NOT like being around all the butterflies, but I was hoping that was just a toddler thing.

The beautiful butterflies were swarming everywhere! I brought my 50 mm lens so I could have a wide aperature for natural light, but unfortunately many of my photos had a little too much blur. I did manage a few good ones.

We sat on the benches and played the waiting game for some butterflies to land on us. Jack played it calm and cool and wouldn't you know a beautiful butterfly landed on his bright blue shirt?

Chica was also calm and patient and had a few visitors come along.

Luke cracked me up. He was both anxious to have the butterflies land on him, and a big freaked out. This is probably one of my most favorite photos from 2011. I just love how I was able to capture his sqeamishness.

Eventually, he calmed down and had many more visitors.

Now Ben....unfortunately his toddler fears did not subside completely. He was the least interested in having butterflies land on him and did not enjoy them flying around his head. Eventually, he did have some visitors and was able to endure both his fears and the big tickle from his beautiful friend....barely. (Again interesting that the bright green butterfly landed near his bright green shirt)

I could have stayed all day long but the kids were anxious to move on to Yankee Candle.

So off we went to Yankee Candle where the kids and I had fun exploring and they all made wax hands.

These were some of the excurions that made our summer happy!

Fall Sports Wrap

2012-01-14T19:42:00.000-05:00

I've learned that I'd rather be busy juggling sports activities for four kids than at home with four kids and no activities! I don't know what I'd do if my kids didn't enjoy sports. Sports keep the kids active and teach so many good life lessons. The only problem for me is that there is no way to see every game for all of my kids. There are always conflicts. But I strive my best to keep my attendance even.

Ben's team played U-11 A-Division in a local league. They ended up in third place out of twelve teams with a record of 10-4. This was the boys' first time on the big field playing 11 vs. 11 players. The boys adjusted well and had an overall great season. Ben played consistently well and played all the positions...both sides of the field. He plays with a great group of kids! The boys made it to the playoffs but lost, playing that chilly morning before the snow began during the crazy October snow storm.

My favorite thing about the way Ben plays is how when he gets possession of the ball he takes it up the field as far as he can, always looking for the best thing to do with the ball.

This was Luke's first season in the local 'traveling' soccer league. He played U-9 with a bunch of other boys in 2nd grade. The team was over their heads a little in the B Division. I think they won just one game...but that was enough to keep their little spirits alive. They were coached by a man who doesn't have any kids on the team...a man who's youngest son plays for our town high school team in his senior year but was out with an ACL injury. Coach Frank was just amazing...teaching the kids good skills and always maintaining incredible patience and a great attitude. He was highly regarded by all of the parents and the kids. Luke seemed to really enjoy the team and enjoyed playing all of the positions. He played goalie a handful of times and early in the season saved a penalty kick. My favorite thing about watching Luke play is how excited he got when his teammates scored. He always seemed to be there with a congratulations hug.

Our only non-soccer player in the fall months was Jack. Jack played Fall Ball again for the same Springfield Titans team he played for last fall. This team offers a different mix of personalities that Jack really enjoys and we were thankful that he was able to play with them again. He played against a couple of his buddies/classmates from town and that made the fall ball games even more interesting and fun. They were the same kids he played against in the summer wooden bat league. Jack hit like crazy in fall ball. He was so consistent that his fall ball coach told us he would tease his regular season coach about how Jack was hitting "lights out" for him. Let's hope he can do that again this spring!!!

And that is what my three men did this fall!! I am hoping that next fall the fields are a little drier then they were this past fall!!!

Cuteness Overload

2012-01-14T09:14:00.001-05:00

Chica's second season of soccer seemed to fly by. The kids were still on the younger side of U-6 it seemed, but there were a couple games that were actually competitive. I wasn't able to go to the very first game which they tell me the kids won, but I was there at the late season Friday evening game when Chica scored her very first goal. I have nothing to document that special moment since it was nearly dark and she was on the opposite side of the field from where I was sitting. There was a little scuffle in front of the goal and Chica got in there and took care of business. When she scored she stopped and looked right back at me with a big grin.... almost like she had surprised herself. Stinkin' cute.

Chica played goalie quite a bit. She was definitely not afraid to play that position and made some pretty great saves. I loved watching her when she would get the ball and quickly run out and look for a teammate to throw to. Playing out in the field she stayed focused and when she got the ball she dribbled right along. Her challenge is getting the confidence to stand up to the bigger, faster and more aggressive opponents. But that will come with time!

She loved her team and her coaches and had an overall great time playing. Unfortunately her season got cut short by the freak October snowstorm. But she is ready for spring to come so she can get back out there!

The Big Send-off

2012-01-13T17:48:00.008-05:00

There have been a lot of big events in 2011. And another biggie was added to that list when it was time for school to start. Not only was my oldest heading off on the early bus to the Middle School, but my youngest was getting on the bus for the first time to start Kindergarten. Surprisingly, the jump to Middle School had more of an emotional impact on me than my baby heading off for full-day school. I had to casually sneak a picture of my biggest boy when he was standing out waiting for the bus. No more posing for that first day of school picture. :(

Chica wasn't starting the same day as her big brothers. And she decided not to come out to and say goodbye to the boys and take a picture that day. Thankfully the boys agreed to give me an individual pose. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get hair cuts in before the first day.

Coincidentally, Chica had school orientation that same day. She and I went to school together, took a ride on the big bus, spent some time in the classroom and then went home. She was very excited about the whole thing!

Then....finally....the big day!! No fancy first day of school outfit for my big girl. Our special friend Li came over to do Chica's hair. Li brought some pretty clips and gave her a 'princess' doo. This girl was r-e-a-d-y to go to school. Her only concern had been about riding the bus that didn't have seatbelts....but I think those concerns ended when we took our practice bus ride on orientation day.

Some last hugs for Buddy.....

And off they went.....

The day went by quickly. I can't exactly remember what I did on my first day home alone....except make sure that Chris was out of the house....because I really needed to be alone. That sounds incredibly selfish, but I needed time to regroup and organize.

Jack was off the bus just after 2 and we waited for Chica's bus. I was excited to see how the first day went! Jack came out to greet her and give her a big hug....and then a little big brother teasing.

And clearly the clips did not hold the princess doo in place. But doesn't this look like a girl who had a great first day of school??

Partridge Lake 2011

2012-01-13T12:51:00.000-05:00

Ahhhh.....my favorite place to take photographs! Every year I feel like some of my best photos come out of our trip to New Hampshire. I was all excited this year to bring the new lens I treated myself to with my winnings from The Pioneer Woman contest. Although it only covered a small portion of the new 24-70 lens, I decided it was finally time to invest in some near gear!

What a beautiful few days we had in New Hampshire! Originally the forecast was only looking good for one day, but we were blessed with five beautiful days which allowed for much tubing, playing, canoeing, exploring, relaxing....and photo taking.

Tubing was the big hit this year. My kids have always been a little nervous of the rough tubing rides and getting thrown off the tube. That ended pretty quickly when they observed our friend's oldest son thoroughly enjoying himself getting wrecked on a tubing ride. After that.....the (bigger) kids were asking for faster and rougher! I have never seen more laughter and bigger grins than watching the kids get pulled around on the tube. All the kids took turns pairing up with others. Here are just a few of many tubing photos!

In order to get good air the boat was driven in circles and would hit its own wake waves before the tubers would. Taking photographs was beyond difficult and I had to take breaks here and there when my stomach would get queasy. But I loved photographing as much as the kids loved tubing! What I unfortunately have no photos of are the two Dads who decided to try double tubing one evening just before dusk. The moms, dogs and all the kids piled in the boat to watch Chris and Todd and all of their buffoonery as they tried to knock each other off the tube. We all laughed until our stomachs hurt.

I got a little crazy one day and brought my camera and zoom lens with me in the kayak. I have never done anything like that before but there was a momma and daddy loon with 2 babies that I wanted to try and photograph. I paddled slowly and cautiously and followed the loons in a big loop. Anyone who knows loons know that they dive and swim underwater, so when they wanted to get away from me they would disappear for a while and then resurface. They are amazing and beautiful creatures and I'm so glad I made that excursion.

From the kayak I also captured some photos of the kids jumping from the neighbor's trampoline. The boys had such a blast chasing each other around the trampoline (a little wrestling ensued) and then humored with me with some shots of them all jumping together.

And there were many more photos documenting this wonderful trip. It was so nice to escape the mess from the storms at home and we surely were blessed with beautiful weather in New Hampshire to forget it all!

Celebrating Five!

2012-01-13T11:34:00.000-05:00

I've got some catching up to do on backposts!! After this crazy year the blog fell low on the priority list. Thankfully I did still capture the important events like my baby girl's birthday! We opted for the local spray park again since it is a good spot for all.....and a much prettier spot than our own yard.

The kids ran around, played and got wet. I didn't capture as many candids of this activity as usual since there were so many nice friends to talk to.

The party had no real theme. Chica picked out a Princess and the Frog cake, Paul Frank (the monkey) paper goods and the goody bags were playdough. But she was happy with her choices....and that's what counts!

Thankfully I remembered to bring her special princess birthday hat that Auntie Pat got her. We've managed a picture of her wearing her hat every year now. I hope that tradition continues! I just love these next couple of photos....her precious little five year old face.

Present opening is always fun with my girl since she mostly gets things that her brothers never did!! Lots of girly crafts and other pink and purple items. I'm remembering a few of her favorite items being her new lady bug Happy Napper and her Charlie the Ranch Dog book by Pioneer Woman.

All in all it was a great afternoon celebrating number 5 with a bunch of great kids!!

The Next Chapter

2011-11-27T09:55:00.001-05:00

A crazy winter with mulitple feet of snow and 8 snow days....an EF3 tornado whirls though my neighborhood on 6/1...a microburst hits town on 7/27....a hurricane passes by in August with over 5 inches of rain....two weeks later more than 5 inches of rain comes down again. Since June we have had some significant, freak weather event on just about a monthly basis. Our little town has suffered so much damage, we are all starting to think we are being punished. Just when we think we are safe and clear of freak weather...the next event hits. Here I describe in detail for my family and I...to remember the next chapter of this horrid year.

A new month....October. Two days before Halloween on the 29th a snowstorm is predicted. A Nor'easter even. What's the big deal, right? Certainly we can handle snow....although we are all curious to see how the weakened trees hold up to snow and ice.

Ben's soccer team has a playoff game Saturday morning the 29th. His team finishes the game and unfortunately loses. The air is cold...and the sky is dark. You could feel the impending storm. The forecasters are predicting lots of snow. The amounts have ranged all over the place, but seem to be indicating 8-12 inches.

The snow started in the early afternoon. The kids have some of their buddies over to play. The kids all decided to go out and play in the snow and before I knew it I was suiting up 6 kids in pants, boots, gloves, hats. I see the first snowball fight of the season. I'm happy the kids are excited to play outside but dreading the wet clothes and boots that are going to come back in the house. The snow is very wet and heavy.

I had made a batch of chili for dinner and we invited our friends over to join their kids in having dinner with us. The power went out about 5 - 5:30 pm. At that point, I just assumed a tree had downed some wires nearby and maybe we'd be out for a few hours. Out came our familiar friends...candles and lanterns. We made the best of the time with our friends, enjoying some chili and wine by candlelight.

Our friends leave and we all head to bed in the darkness once again. Before bed Chris is outside for some reason and claims to be hearing the nonstop cracking of trees. I didn't think much of it.

We awake to a winter wonderland. The sun is beaming through the graveyard of trees in the backyard. I look out front and see that my two knew baby trees have broken limbs. I look around the neighborhood and see all of the remaining shrubs are practically flattened to the ground from the weight of the snow.

We get the generator fired up and a fire in the fireplace. I decided to make the best use of the time without internet and television and scour all the fronts of my kitchen cabinets all morning. I hear that there are lots of tree branches down and that many streets are blocked. Later in the afternoon I walk with the kids down the street. That's when I realized the extent of damage that the storm had left. Trees down, branches down, electrical lines down, electrical poles snapped. Depression instantly set in. I knew we were in for at least a few days with no power. I knew every neighborhood in town was going to look as bad as ours. What I didn't know was that we would be without power for 8 long days.

We were back to the dreaded life without power. The generator kept our fridges cold and gave us lights and power to play movies on the PS3 (and coffee in the morning!). We made lots of fires in the fireplace...although that only warmed up the living room a bit. The house stayed in the 50's all week until about Thursday when our friends the G's asked their electrician friend to come over and get our generator hooked up to our house. After that time we had finally had heat and hot water. But it was a long, long week. Although we were to bed early and slept comfortably in the cold, my body ached from the mental and emotional stress of more damage to our neighborhood and to our town. We ate out for dinner a bunch of times because I was too tired to think about cooking and having to clean dishes in cold water. There was a craze for finding available gas in the area, and an equally big craze for finding generators. One afternoon on the way to a friend's house I got the fingertips on my right hand squeezed in between two garage panels when I was closing it by hand. This was one of the most painful things in my life other than childbirth....but luckily the only result was numbing and bruising under the nails. My kids missed 5 days of school and it wasn't even winter. And the kids were completely crushed that Halloween was cancelled. The streets were just too unsafe with the downed wires and branches. I don't ever remember a time with no Halloween. The whole storm just added to the depressing freakishness of 2011.

The effects of the prior storms have left Buddy a nervous wreck. Every time the generator would kick on and the television and PS3 would beep from power he would start shaking uncontrollably and jump at me or on the couch with the kids seeking comfort. He obviously associates the beeps from power shutting on and off with that dreaded tornado. And our 'no dogs on the couch' rule went out the window. Buddy need comfort and warmth.

For whatever reason, our neighborhood was the last in town to get power...on Sunday at about 6 pm. Thankfully I had been able to do laundry at friends' houses during the week. The kids went back to school on Monday like nothing ever happened. It was a week of completely lost time. If there weren't piles of tree branches lining every street in town I'd swear there was a time warp. But the ugly piles are evidence that the Nor'easter had indeed come.

Thankfully some great moms stepped up to the task of salvaging Halloween for the little ones. A Halloween event was organized and held at our high school and all the kids were invited to come trick-or-treat one evening. The kids and families followed a path through the hallways and collected donated candy at various classroom doorways. The event didn't allow for running for house to house in the darkness with friends....but the little ones came home with the most important result: candy!!!

I finally feel up to writing about the storm three+ weeks later. The debris is still being picked up around town. Although I want to be hopeful that this is the end of the crazy weather for a while, I'm worried inside about what is yet to come. For the near future, praying that our holidays are happy and uneventful!!!

To the Peak of Peaked

2011-10-27T21:52:00.000-04:00

The other day a friend and I packed up our cameras and took a hike up Peaked Mountain which is in a neighboring town. It was a glorious day and we were both excited to be outside, get a little exercise and take some pictures. We were careful to wear orange vests just in case any hunters were nearby. The trails were fairly easy and well-marked and the sun shone gloriously on our way up the mountain.

We made it to our first stopping point...thinking it might be the top....and admired the views. The clouds wreaked some havoc with our picture taking, covering big areas in shade. But the view was spectacular.

Onward and upward we continued...finding another beautiful spot with a lake. The cloud cover grew and light was not good for photographs.

We came to the highest spot and stayed for a while, taking pictures with our cameras and iphones and just enjoying the peaceful quiet and the view. We even had cell service up there at the peak. At this spot, the view was panaoramic and beautiful.....miles of hills to the left and right.

One last shot of the trail down. There were many beautiful yellows, reds and oranges along the path. I'm so glad I went since it is the first time I've been able to appreciate the beauty of fall this year. Thanks Becky!!

Texture Tuesday

2011-10-25T14:14:00.000-04:00

While watching my son's soccer game last weekend I was pleasantly surprised when several horses appeared out of the woods and rode along the backdrop of trees next to the field. It must have been some sort of riding club and I understand there are some great trails back in those woods. I took this photo with another purpose in mind, but decided to add some textures for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday. I used my two favorite textures....Stained Linen and Warn Vignette.

Big Sky

2011-10-12T20:13:00.000-04:00

Ever since the tornado the sky has been large....grand....endless. I'm mesmorized with cloud formations, the color of clouds, the blueness of the sky, the sunrises and sunsets, the moon that is so visible now....and just the amount of sky I can now see. It's hard not to focus on the weather. The last year we have seen so much bad weather.....from multiple feet of snow to damaging funnel clouds to 10 inches of rain within a few weeks time.

I have a friend that grew up here but now lives in California. He visited his parents back this past summer and the first thing he said after viewing our new landscape was, "Big Sky." And I thought, YES!!

The neighborhood up the hill now has a clear view of the whole mountain range on the other side of town. What I wouldn't give for that view! But I've seen some pretty skies right outside our back windows recently. This view took my breath away and I ran for my camera. I'm glad I did because the vibrant orange and dark pink was gone within minutes.

Big skies....are definitely the new normal around these parts.

Happy

2011-10-05T21:41:00.000-04:00

I've really come to realize that it's the small things in life that make you happy. Today was the first day in several that I awoke to what I knew was going to be a sunny day. When I went to wake up Chica for school I noticed the beautiful view from her bedroom window. Well, even though the view in the back of the house is toppled trees and the ongoing reminder of the tornado, the sun coming through the trees and the beautiful sky and clouds made up for it. I needed sunshine!!

The day got even better when I finally made a call to a local central vacuum company about the lack of suction on our second floor. A friendly man told me to plug the hose in and then cover the other end with my hand until the pressure stopped. I did this a few times and then let the hose run while I ran down stairs for a second. Then suddenly I heard a strange loud banging noise followed by the sound of a strong suction from the hose upstairs. I knew whatever was clogging the line had dislodged and ran to the basement to see what ended up in the canister. It was a Bob the Builder toothbrush that had caused my vacuuming issues!

So happy for the little things today!

The Brits

2011-10-03T22:01:00.001-04:00

When I signed Luke up for British Soccer this past summer I came across the box on the application where you check off if you want to host one of the coaches. Our friends had done this in the past and really enjoyed it. The outside of our house was certainly in no shape for visitors back in August (ala tornado), but the inside was fine and I knew I could comfortably host a coach. So I checked off "Maybe". If they were desperate, I thought, I could rise to the occasion and host a coach. I knew it would be an experience we would never forget.

Well then the microburst hit on July 27th, just days before the British Soccer Camp was supposed to start. We lost power for a couple more days and the town was wrecked again from tree damage. I had an unfamiliar call on my cell phone which turned out to be the British Soccer Camp coordinator looking for a host family for a coach. I had been the only one to express any interest in hosting. I told the coordinator what we had been through with the tornado and the microburst and said we could probably host one coach, and possibly two if they were desperate (and the coaches were the same gender).

A few days later I learned that I was indeed going to host two male coaches. I received their bios and before long I was driving to meet our new friends....Joe and Scott.

We met up with the coaches on the Sunday night before camp was to start. The coaches were going to stay in Luke and Ben's room. Ben was away on the Cape with his buddy Sam and Luke would sleep in our room. I didn't quite know what to expect. Did I need to have dinner for them for Sunday night? Would the coaches be scared when they saw our treeless street and wrecked yard?

We were happy to meet our new British friends. Joe, 22, was outgoing and friendly with a good sense of humor. Scott, 21, was tall, quieter and intriguing with some funky ear piercings. Both were easy going, great guests and definitely passionate about soccer!

The coaches left for camp early in the morning and returned for dinner. As host, I packed them lunches, drinks and snacks every day and also provided breakfast and dinner. I certainly had to be on my game with planning meals and I found myself at the grocery store every day! The coaches were pretty tired when they got home at night. They would shower, come down for dinner, have a little play time with the kids and then retire to bed. The kids bugged Scott to play some video games with them...one of his favorite past times back at home. The kids also dragged the coaches for a swim in the pool a couple times.

At the end of the week at camp the kids all had the "World Cup" finals. The kids were broken into teams and played little games during the week. The parents were invited to come and watch so I took that opportunity to snap some photos of our new friends.

Coach Joe

Coach Demi - she was so sweet and ended up staying with our friends.

Coach Scott

Luke had an absolute blast at camp and loved having the coaches stay at the house.

This was Scott's attempt at imitating Prince Charles.

The kids all came up to receive their evaluations and high fives from the coaches.

The whole crew posed together

The morning after camp ended the coaches all took off for Boston for the day before they went onto their next adventures. We had to wake the kids up early to say goodbye to the coaches and get a picture.

Amy is going to miss her buddy, Scott, but hopefully we will keep in touch with the coaches and meet up again some day!

It was some work hosting the coaches....feeding them their meals and keeping up with their laundry. But it was WELL worth it because it is an experience the kids and I will never forget!!

Chatham, Part Deux

2011-09-29T15:18:00.090-04:00

Back in August I took the kids to Cape Cod for a few days. I asked my Aunt to go with us since Chris wasn't able to go. She is so good with the kids and they have a blast with her. Plus, she loves the beach so I was hoping it would be a special time for her. The weather forecast originally wasn't looking so great for our time away so we got on the road a little earlier than we had planned. Thankfully the weather patterns shifted and we ended up with three gorgeous days at the beach....days where we didn't want to leave (but had to eventually since the dogs were waiting for us back at the house!). I wasn't planning on taking my good camera to the beach but I couldn't resist since it was so beautiful at the beach. And we met up with some special friends from town and I wanted to try and capture some photos with them.

Nauset Beach was beautiful and low tide allowed the kids to play in the waves, ride the waves and skim board for hours. The surf was a little rough at times and the older boys got a taste of its strength. I was happy when they took it upon themselves to come out together when they became unsure and a little nervous. Chica was amazing in the waves and quickly learned how to time her rides in just right. I was amazed watching her 40 pound little self battle the waves as she walked out to catch bigger ones. She got tossed around a few times...but that never stopped her. It was Luke's first time playing in the big waves too. He loved it!

Our few days in Chatham left many memories that I hope the kids will always remember: time spent with Auntie Moe and her wonderful back and foot massages, endless hours playing at Nauset Beach, spending time with the Hills, Dowdings, Diefs and Garveys, dinner at The Squire (the beginning of Ben's Cape Cod fish-n-chips tradition), Candy Manor, our trip to see the seals on Lighthouse Point....

Cafe Racers

2011-09-19T10:24:00.003-04:00

Recently a good friend ask me a favor which turned into a fun, different and learning adventure. He had purchased an older motorcycle and overhauled it as a Cafe Racer. On asking him to help me explain what a Cafe Racer is, he provided me with this explanation:

"A cafe racer, originally pronounced "caff" (as in Kaff) racer, is a type of motorcycle as well as a type of motorcyclist. Both meanings have their roots in the 1960s British counterculture group the Rockers or the Ton Up Club, although they were also common in Italy, Germany, and other European countries.

Rockers were a young and rebellious Rock'n'Roll counterculture that wanted a fast, personalized and distinctive bike to travel between transport cafés along the newly built arterial motorways in and around British towns and cities. The goal of many was to be able to reach 100 miles per hour (called simply "the ton") along such a route where the rider would leave from a cafe, race to a predetermined point and back to the cafe before a single song could play on the jukebox, called record-racing. They are remembered as being especially fond of Rockabilly music and their image is now embedded in today's rockabilly culture.

A classic example of this was to race from the Ace Cafe on The North Circular road in NW London to the Hanger Lane junction as it then was - it is now the more famous Hanger Lane Gyratory System - and back again. The aim was to get back to the Ace Cafe before the record you'd put onto the jukebox had finished. Given that some of the Eddie Cochran tunes that were in vogue at this time were less than 2 minutes long, the racers would have had to traverse the three miles round trip at extremely high speed."

This friend is one of many who are rebuilding motorcycles as Cafe Racers. The same friend has also created a group and page on Facebook and wanted some photos of his bike to include on the site. He was looking for photos in a gritty, urban landscape to fit the Cafe Racer style. We headed to one particular area of our neighboring city which had been recommended and had a very successful photoshoot. Here are some of the photos I took for him from that spot and a couple other spots we identified on our travels:

I really enjoyed this adventure and being put up to challenge to photograph something totally different from my norm!!

Independence Day Fun!

2011-09-16T13:53:00.007-04:00

We once again struck gold with an invitation to visit some of our most favorite people over July 4th. How neat for my best friend from Kindergarten and I to have remained best friends (many miles in between) and to get together with our families....and to serve as Godparents for each others' children??!! I'm truly blessed.

We packed up and headed to Cape Cod for some Independence Day fun! The annual parade in Chatham is our first stop. The chairs and towels were set down in advance early in the morning before the kids awoke. We packed up the wagon with our day-at-the-beach gear, put on our red, white and blue and began our walk to the parade.

I love the walk through the quaint streets of Chatham, admiring the abundance of hydrangea and other beautiful flowering bushes and soaking in the spirit of the holiday!

I tried to get a shot of the kids before the parade came through. Some were more cooperative than others.

The parade did not disappoint. It is pure Americana......

My handsome godson marched in parade thanks to his role as bat boy for the Chatham Anglers!

After the parade the kids gathered up their goodies and we walked down Main Street to our post-parade destination....Oyster Pond. While the kids are at the ages now where they would rather be playing in the waves at Nauset Beach, they don't seem to mind an occasional trip to Oyster Pond for some critter catching, swims to the dock and games of Marco Polo.

The kids waited patiently all day long for the ice cream truck to come so we could take our annual picture. A wide-angle lens would have made it a little easier to capture everyone. Everyone in this picture with dark skin is NOT my child. :)

And one last shot of three of the nicest kids we know!

Round 2

2011-09-04T08:29:00.003-04:00

As if it wasn't enough having an F3 tornado roll through the neighborhood in June, almost two months later another nasty storm came through and further damaged our small town. I had no idea we were even going to get bad weather until I heard a weather alert while sitting in the dentist's office with Jack during his teeth extraction. I was having a chat with the dentist when I heard the beeping on the radio above my head and tried to focus in on what words followed the beep. "Severe weather alert with heavy rain and damaging wind". Those nine words are now my nightmare. As I looked out the window at the cloudless blue skies, I thought it must be either a test or a joke.

Jack had his four teeth removed without a hitch and we headed home. I confirmed that we were indeed having some impending weather. I checked the radar and did see a nasty band, but thought it might blow northeast of us. The weather report indicated we were in the path and the blue skies quickly began to darken. I spoke with a good friend whose dad called to say there was a chance for a tornado. I grew depressed.....worrying about having to break it to my kids that a bad storm was coming, seeing their worried faces and having to answer their questions. We had already convinced them that we would never have another tornado in their lifetimes. Thankfully, though, I wasn't worried for our safety. There aren't any more trees to hurt us.

And before I knew it the storm began, the winds blew, the rain came sideways and the power went out. We watched from the basement as the wind blew the trees deep in the back woods sideways. Water seeped down the walls of the basement where I'd never seen it seep before....driven by the sheer force of the wind.

After the storm passed we went outside to see what the storm had left. Very flooded streets and one of the few remaining trees left on the circle had fallen and taken down the power lines...again. Everything from the pool deck, including the rod iron chaise lounge, blew in the pool. I was happy when it was over so the kids knew that they were safe. We met neighbors outside in our driveway and on the street as they helped clean the blocked storm drain. We were all in disbelief...but happy to be safe.

As it turns out, a microburst had hit our town. I'm not sure if we would have had more damage if we had some remaining trees. The worst damage from the microburst was less than a mile away....right near the center of town. The neighborhood of some of our good friends was badly damaged....and there were trees down all over town. Thankfully, we had our generator. We were without power for another 2 and a half days.

After the tornado Chris bought a beautiful new lantern and also a battery powered radio. That night of the microburst Chica had the lantern in her room quietly getting ready for bed time. I walked by her room and saw the potential for a great silhouette photo so I grabbed my camera. I was pretty happy with the results...almost made the power loss worth it!

Hoping it will be a long while before we have the severe weather warning again!!

Cherished Memories

2011-08-28T21:11:00.004-04:00

Spring and summer are hard enough times to blog without unanticipated weather issues! I'm backlogged with blog posts of events too important to exclude and I want to try and keep things in order...so the stories are a bit outdated.

Chica finished up her last year of pre-school in June. In May her school had my favorite annual event...the Mother's Day celebration! Her two teachers (themselves mothers!) do an awesome job pulling together a special event for Mother's Day. This year the moms came in for a little show followed by a special luncheon made by the children. The show involved the kids singing some songs for us moms and then escorting us to our lunch tables. Chica was very confident and comfortable performing the songs.

The kids gave the moms special corsages and then seated us at a table where we had a special place mat made from drawings of the moms by the kids. Chica did a great job putting me together...and gave me a big smile and very long fingers!

The menu was decorated on the outside by the kids and the inside showed the handmade goodies. The meals are always tied together by a theme...this years was a "Beary Menu'.

The kids were the waiters and waitresses and brought the moms our food and drink. Is this not the cutest plate of food ever? The bear cut out of bologna covered by blanket of bread. I hadn't had bologna in years. It tasted pretty darned good!

The dessert was super yummy!!

Like every other year, the moms were treated like royalty by the kids! After nine straight years, this is the annual event I will miss the most. No question!!

About a month after that it came time for Chica's graduation...the last preschool graduation for my children...and the last graduation for the loving preschool that they all attended. The school will not reopen in the fall.

Just a week prior to the graduation we had been hit by the tornado. That same evening as the graduation a thunderstorm swept through the area and we lost power again. The kids and we were on edge...not sure whether we were going to be having the graduation...whether the school we were having it at had power. We decided to head over to the school just in case. Luckily the school had power and the graduation ceremony was on.

The preschool I have been taking my kids to the past nine years is owned and run by a remarkable woman who has an incredible talent for teaching and molding preschool children.

She introduced each of the kids and they came out, waved and then introduced themselves to the crowd. There didn't appear to be any discomfort with the crowd by Chica...

After the kids all introduce themselves they sing a series of songs with handmade props. The whole show is so adorable.

After the performances and before the actual graduation ceremony, our special teacher invites her old alum....brothers and sisters of the soon-to-be graduates....to come up on stage and say hello. Up went my first three to say a final hello up on stage.

Then my baby girl proudly received her preschool diploma. It was the end of a long, special era.

Hugs and pictures with her brothers and off we went to have snacks and drinks and say some goodbyes.

As sad as it was to be the last graduation, there were very few tears shed. It was a wonderful last graduation show...a wonderful way to end it.

Pictures and Words

2011-08-26T09:10:00.002-04:00

I took a quick minute to join in on Kim Klassen's prompt on the Shutter Sister's site this morning. I took this photo of Jack and Chica on our walk out to see the seals off of Chatham Lighthouse Beach a couple of weeks ago. I know that this will probably be one of my favorite pictures through the years. These two have such a bond and mutual love and affection for each other....my oldest son and my baby daughter....almost 7 years between them.

I poked around for a quote and eventually came back to one of the very first ones I saw.

Thanks for your inspiration, Kim!

The Luck of Catherine

2011-08-15T20:28:00.003-04:00

Not sure if anyone who reads this blog remembers this face...but this is Catherine and she is a neighbor's Boston Terrier I photographed for a photo scavenger hunt contest back in February. (The results of which still have not been determined 6 months later!!!). Well, Pioneer Woman's most recent Photo Assignment was Black and White photos. I looked back in the archives to find pictures which I thought would work for the contest. I converted this photo of Catherine to B&W and submitted one day. I was so excited to see PW chose the picture as a daily finalist! The Assignment finalists will be chosen and posted soon. I can't imagine making the finals, as the submissions were amazing! But I was happy for the recognition!! Thanks Catherine!!!

Let's hope Catherine brings me some luck with the Boston.com contest!!!

Beans and Willis

2011-08-07T18:23:00.005-04:00

This past Easter Sunday we arrived at Nini's house for dinner to find she and her husband and boys watching the birth of two Nigerian Dwarf goats over the internet. Nini had been wanting a goat to keep her lame horse company in the barn and had found a local breeder who had an upcoming litter. Two goats were born on that holy day and Nini found out soon thereafter the babies were both males and available for purchase. Beans (short for 'Jelly Beans') and Willis (from the 'ole show Different Strokes) came home just 5 days later...and we were there when they arrived.

These baby goats rank up there as some of the cutest babies I'd ever seen. They came right in the house and met their new family....dogs and all.

A couple days later I brought the zoom lens over on a beautiful sunny day to capture these cuties running around and jumping in the air.

We were so excited to meet the babies and have a chance to feed them bottles and hold them. They have come to love human companionship.

And Beans and Willis fit right in with all of the dogs!

The kids just love visiting and having the goats climb up in their laps and chew on their clothing.

Two little playmates for Chica!

They certainly have been fun additions to the family!

The Best of Spring

2011-07-26T07:09:00.004-04:00

Spring 2011 was a spring like no other this year thanks to mother nature. Although our surroundings changed significantly, our sports schedules sure didn't! Adding Chica into the mix of games and practices definitely added complications and conflicts. But from my perspective...it was all good. Watching my kids play sports was, as always, a welcomed happiness. And this year's crazy schedule of games oddly was a savior to my sanity.

Jack and Ben's team moved up to the U-13 Division this year. Their coaches opted to play in 'A' as a first year U-13 team. From my perspective, this was a great decision. We played against some amazing teams of kids who in several cases were almost three years older than Ben and probably weighed 50+ pounds more than Jack. But the boys and their teammates held their own. The team ended up in 6th place out of 13 teams, with a record of 13-10...the best of any first year team in the division. Toward the end of the season they had a huge win against the 3rd place team and then almost beat them again in the first round of playoffs to advance to States.

Jack had a great season. He continued to show his consistency and versatility, predominantly playing short stop and catcher but also spending some time in outfield and at second and third. I'm so proud of his maturity and composure. He always keeps a great attitude and never displays negative emotions when things don't go his way.

A favorite moment for me this year with Jack was at a game we drove back from Vermont to play....after laying Grandma T to rest. Grandma T's is the first person close that the kids have lost and her services were the first that Jack had attended. The game was tied in the seventh(last) inning. Bases were loaded and there were 2 outs...and Jack was up. He battled at the plate and got to a full count. The next pitch he hit a beautiful ball to an outfield gap, scoring two runs which lead to the eventual win. The nervous excitement on his face at first was unforgettable and as the other team was warming up a new pitcher he walked to second base and hugged his teammate in joy and relief (see bottom left picture below). Later he told me that he had prayed for Grandma T's help with that at bat. Comforting to know that she heard him and came through! Ben had a great season as well, continuing to earn his nickname "Pedi" (Dustin Pedroia) with his small stature yet big swing....and solid skills at 2nd base. For most of the season his bat was hot and he was the lead off batter. Late in May he had a couple of great games...one in particular when he went 3 for 4 with some amazing hits and solid defense. His coach nominated a teammate and him for player of the week at a local ESPN radio station and both players were awarded that honor. Ben was beyond excited with this honor, especially knowing he just turned 10 and was playing in tough A Division.

Ben is a man of few words and I've learned over the years likes to do his best all the time. He always gives 100%+ effort and is not afraid to get dirty on the ball field. He can get a little down on himself when he doesn't feel like he's performing well.He's taken to chewing on the side of his cheek....a sure sign for me that he's got something on his mind. I just love watching this kid in action.

Luke finally graduated from T-ball onto bigger and better things on the ball field. He played on the Bluejays, a town 1st/2nd grade team. Dad helped coach as much as he could. The boys hit from a pitching machine for about 2/3 of the season and then the kids were given the opportunity to pitch. Luke rotated to all the positions in the field but was eager to try out catching and played there a bunch of times. He was given the opportunity to pitch and did quite well! He hit well consistently and I just love the mechanics of his natural swing.

Luke made some great defensive plays as well. One while catching that I was not lucky enough to witness, and one great snag of a pop up that I did see and was able to document his ecstatic face afterwards. (see lower middle pic below) This picture I will cherish to the end of time.

Luke's other claim-to-fame this spring was taking the 1st grade Home Run derby title in town! I was so proud of my little man this spring in every way!

And last but certainly not least was my Chica's debut playing an organized team sport. She and a few of her friends signed up for a U-6 soccer team in a local church league. Her team was very young and didn't win but their first game....but they definitely got the cuteness award!! Chica was quite excited to have her own team...her own practices and games....her own shin guards, water bottle, uniform, cleats...and her own time to be the player and not the spectator.

She had a great attitude about playing and tried to get in the mix when she could. Toward the end of the season she became more intimidated by the bigger, more aggressive kids and backed down from them. She was always eager to play goalie and so proud of herself when she made saves. She loved her coaches and teammates and had an all around great season! It was a great start to sports and she's signed up again for the fall! Can't wait!!

I feel relieved to have caught up with spring sports and now I can move on to blogging about other summer activities!

Storyboards downloaded from Coffeeshop Blog. Lots of cool free stuff there!!

Picture Color

2011-07-22T16:26:00.005-04:00

A couple of months ago I signed up for a class called Picture Color which involved photographic prompts each day for the month of June. I had taken a Picture the Holidays class last winter and had a fun time meeting the daily prompt challenges, 'meeting' the other class participants and giving and receiving feedback on photos. I was very excited for the class and had convinced a couple of my friends to join me. As an added bonus, I won the class free from a blog giveaway!!

The class began on June first with a prompt of Blissed Out on Color. I had taken some photos of baby robins under our pool deck and edited the photo to enhance my color of bliss - yellow. For me both babies and animals are also blissful, so I was very happy about Day 1.

Then the tornado hit. The tornado left my neighborhood looking like a war zone, my yard void of trees and me with very little energy or inspiration to take photos for my Picture Color class. After we got back power and internet I did end up posting photos for a total of 11/30 prompts. I'm finally getting around to sharing those photos.

Ionic Color - this was my only cell phone photo submitted, but I thought it met the prompt perfectly. My Chica enjoyed this Icee on one of our pizza lunches grocery shopping.

Changing of the Guard - Boy was I happy to see that my hydrangea bush had lots of blossoms this spring. There have been years where I haven't had one. Another bonus is that the bush wasn't damaged or destroyed by the tornado.

The Color of Comfort - I opted to photograph the beautiful hanging plant that I treated myself to this year. I love the shades of pink and the white.

Color Me Yummy - Cupcakes made for Chica's birthday celebration at school...

Punctuation Mark - This prompt called for color that you can't miss. Amidst the mess of the tornado where there was nothing pretty to look at in my yard, I found this peony blossom from a plant I had transplanted last year.

The Texture of Color - Chica's new box of chalk inspired me for this prompt.

Seeing Spots - I would have loved nothing more than to photograph a cute polka dot dress or hat, but I opted to photograph the dots of clover that were covering the baseball field at my boys' game.

Playful Pause - I knew this prompt was meant to be when I went to turn on the pool filter and saw this guy floating on one of the kids' toys in the pool. I thought it had great color!

Nothing But Blue Skies - This might have been my favorite picture. I was going for Chica's blue eyes with her fuzzy new fleece jacket. She entertained me with a photoshoot on the driveway and I just love her expression, dimple and wispy hair peeking out of the hood.

Heavy Metal - I took the kids strawberry picking for the first time one afternoon. The prompt feel into place soon thereafter.

That's all I came up with for Picture Color. As the tornado clean-up continues, I'm hoping to get more inspiration back!

Forever Changed

2011-06-14T08:20:00.004-04:00

Just two weeks ago tomorrow, life as we know it in our neighborhood forever changed. Our town here in New England may be a little swampy with lots of mosquitos, but I always felt we were safe from all of the natural disasters that occur in other areas of the world....hurricanes, earthquakes, forest fires......tornadoes. Wednesday, June 1st I was proved wrong, and the unthinkable happened.

The weather was stormy and I had heard that there was a tornado watch. Like everyone else around here, though, I didn't give it any real thought or concern. The whole family except Jack was on the other side of town enjoying Ben's guitar recital at a local nursing home. Jack was having a band practice, rehearsing for his own upcoming concert.

As Ben and the other guitar students were strumming away, the skies grew dark and there was thunder and lightning and hail. The power at the nursing home went out, but the generator kicked on. All was calm and the kids kept playing. Some of the guitar students' parents were whispering and checking their smart phones and I learned that a tornado was in our neighboring city. I tried to access the local news website and did confirm that a tornado had touched down. Still, I was in disbelief that it would come our way. Little did I know it actually had.

After the recital was over I got the kids in the car and nervously began the journey home. Chris drove ahead of me in his own car and called me to say that traffic was crazy and to take a different route. A friend texted me asking me if our house was okay and that she heard the tornado went through our neighborhood. I began to panic. Another friend then called me, yelling that our neighborhood was completely trashed from the tornado. He lives about a quarter mile away and had driven over to see what happened. I can't remember his words exactly, but I knew it was bad. Immediately I was concerned for my house and my dogs. I asked whether my house was okay and he said it was but the yard was a total mess.

We made it to the neighborhood but had to park a street over since the roads were all blocked from trees. Fire trucks were already on site from other towns. Chris had made it home and confirmed the house and dogs were okay but the damage to the neighborhood was unreal. The kids and I were just about on our street when some neighbors came running by and said they heard another tornado was coming and to seek shelter. The kids and I turned back and went into a neighbor's basement. More rain, wind, thunder and lightning, but no tornado.

Just about 7 pm I felt comfortable that the tornado warning had passed and the kids and I walked over to our street to see the fate of our neighborhood. This is the first picture I took....Chica walking with Grandma and Luke through our neighbor's driveway. I knew things were bad when the first thing I saw in the distance was my house. This wasn't even close to possible just two hours prior.

The tornado uprooted and snapped every tree around us. Trees downed all power lines, landed on houses and across the street. My beautifully wooded neighborhood looked like a war zone. We walked in awe, looking at the damage. The kids and I were so happy to see the dogs...who were equally thrilled to have us home. We quickly surveyed the inside of the house. The dining room window had been broken by a fallen oak tree. Two second floor windows were broken. Since it was dusk and the power was out, we grabbed every candle we could find to prepare for the darkness. We had more rain and some thunder and lightening but somehow all managed to get to sleep eventually.

We awoke the next morning to gorgeous blue skies and cool, dry air. We made our way outside to get a good look at the mess the tornado had left. We all were pretty numb as we looked around at our new treeless landscape.

Four gigantic pine trees as well as an oak and a couple of maple trees were down in the front. Miraculously, the pines fell parallel to the house avoiding significant damage. The oak tree fell toward the house, damaging our gutters and siding and puncturing our dining room window with its tallest branches.

Both doorways in the front were practically covered in trees.

The rootballs from some of the trees left enormous craters in our yard and our neighbors yards.

My beautiful new driveway was damaged.

Half of the back yard was covered in multiple smaller oaks and maples which fell in our yard from our neighbor's yard and our back woods. Mother nature thankfully spared our pool.

The back woods which had been dense with trees looked a wreck, with snapped tree trunks everywhere.

The whole scene was almost too much to take. In one blink our wooded neighborhood had forever changed. It was overwhelming to even think of where to begin.

But somehow neighbors and friends began to show up and over the course of three days, all of the trees in the front yard were cut and moved to piles at the end of the yard. There were men with chainsaws everywhere....and other bodies moving branches.

All around the neighborhood people were helping people. Neighbors down the street who were unaffected by the tornado showed up to either cut or move branches. Friends dropped by coolers of water, beer, food, popsicles. The community response was amazing and heartwarming.

Miraculously, by midday Saturday we had our power restored. Since all the poles came down and the street was littered with tree trunks, we thought it would take over a week to get power back. The electric company's response was heroic.

On Sunday a crew of men we hired came and got to work on the back yard.

Men, chainsaws, a chipper and tractor......all day long.

By the end of day Sunday (day 4), our front and back yards were cleared of trees and brush.

Crews had been working all around town and we got the call Sunday night that the kids would be able to go school on Monday. And on Monday, trucks came and picked up our big pile of trees. We must have had 4 to 5 truck loads of our trees removed that day. We had a truck dedicated to our house almost the entire day.

I can still hardly believe this has happened. The numbness has finally started to wear away and the reality has set in. There are other areas of neighborhing cities where houses were reduced to piles of rubble. We are very thankful that our damage was minor in comparison and that our family and pets are safe. Although the massive change to our landscape and the long list of to-do's is completely overwhelming and admittedly depressing. It'll take time...but we'll get there.

I had snapped some photos a couple of years ago of our house from a few different angles. And I've taken updated photos after the tornado to show the change. The pictures still amaze me.

I never knew how much I appreciated our afternoon shade.

Safe. Thankful. Blessed.

Garden Party

2011-05-31T16:20:00.003-04:00

I thought I'd join in on one of Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesdays this week. I've been wanting to do this but just haven't had time to play with pictures and textures lately! Kid activities, house work and yard work have been consuming me!!

The weekly theme is Garden Party....so I thought this picture was appropriate. I sure do miss the sweet smelling hyacinth! I used three of Kim's textures: Stained linen, Life is Good and Warm Vignette.

Kim is giving away some great stuff with this week's texture challenge. Give it a try!!

Big News

2011-05-18T10:59:00.003-04:00

Over a month ago I had something beyond exciting happen to me that I never thought would. I'm almost still shaking with nervous excitement as I finally get around to writing about it.

My complete and total idol, Pioneer Woman, announced her latest photography 'assignment' early in April. She previously had an assignment with the theme of 'Sisters' and said that she would do a 'Brothers' assignment down the road. During the 2010 baseball season I had taken a bunch of pictures of my boys playing baseball. There were some really neat shots of the two of them together (blogged about them here). I knew that these were the photos that I was going to submit. I had them loaded to Flickr and ready to go for time she announced the Brothers assigment.

With PW's assigments you can submit up to one picture per day. I submitted my favorite photo first. The photo was of my son, Ben, running into the arms of his big brother after he hit his first home run. The was a particularly special event in our lives, as Ben is younger than most of his team and has been playing 'up' with his brother and teammates since he was 7 years old. He is the lead-off batter for the team and just hit a bomb to the outfield that rolled into oblivion. My older son, Jack's, expression is priceless. He was so happy for Ben.

So I submitted this photo on PW's Flickr group and later that evening had received a handful of email comments from my Flickr account. Cool, I thought and went to check them out and see how many views the photo received. When I looked it was at over 3,000 views - the most I have ever had by far! I immediately looked at PW's site and she had not posted the finalists for Day One yet. But everytime I refreshed Flickr the views were rolling in by the hundreds...even thousands.

I was very confused about the attention the photo was getting so I posted a comment to the picture asking what was going on. One of the viewers quickly replied that PW had tweeted a link and comment about the picture! I quickly joined Twitter to get a look and sure enough, she posted a sweet comment about the picture with the Flickr link.

I could barely fall asleep that night thinking about the attention this picture was getting. It was a nervous excitedment, one I can't really explain. I'm just the type of person who doesn't like to be the center of attention.

So sure enough the Day 1 finalists were posted and mine was selected and appeared on the front page of PW's site. The number of views went berserk and there were so many great comments from PW's readers supporting the photo. I felt like I was living in a dream.

After 5 days of daily finalists she picked the assignment finalists and I made the cut. Still numb and queesy with excitement. I couldn't wait up that night for the winner to be announced. I wanted to win so badly but knew I might not. The quality of all the photos submitted to that assignment and every other are so good......

In the morning while I was getting the kids breakfast my friend, Deb, called me with the news that I WON!!!! I couldn't believe. I was in total shock....and still am. This is like a dream come true. It's one of the most exciting things that has happened to me since getting married and having my babies!!!

A couple weeks later I received my loot:

I still haven't decided what I'm going to use it for - a new lens or new camera body or ???!!!! The possibilities are endless and exciting.

I have been entering every one of PW's giveaways and assignments for the last few years. I never thought I would achieve a win. This just goes to show that you can't win if you don't play...and you don't have to be a 'pro' to win.

Woo hoo!!!!!! My next mission - to get to PW's ranch to meet her in person!!!

Year One is Done!

2011-05-17T10:43:00.004-04:00

It's that time of year again when the activities are crazy and the blog posts are spotty. We've kicked into baseball mode and it seems like all other activities have ramped up - birthday parties, school open houses, concerts, etc. I've definitely been taking pictures, but not finding lots of time to edit and post to the blog!

One thing I'm very excited to share is a recent accomplishment of mine. A few years back I started this blog. The biggest reason for keeping the blog was that I knew I could download and print the blog with the software from a website called Blurb.com. I always wanted to keep a journal of memories (that I knew I'd forget!) but never got anywhere with that. Keeping and printing a blog was the perfect answer for me.

So I finally got around to downloading the first year of my blog into the Blurb software. Unfortunately, what I quickly learned from lots of yellow triangle resolution warnings was that the process of uploading to the web left me with pictures that are not at high enough resolution to have them much bigger than a wallet size. Since the blog book was my version of a scrapbook/photo album keepsake, I decided to retrieve all of the original picture files so I could print them nice and big. Since the blog book is mostly in chronological order, it wasn't as much of a heartache as I thought it would be. What WAS a little big of heartache was formatting all of the pages for the words and the pictures. I wasn't able to use any of the Blurb templates...and the Blurb software dumped all of the blog posts into the same exact template...and put each picture on a separate page. The first year blog originally dowloaded into multiple hundred pages. My final printed book was 180 pages in 12X12 size.

But I was determined to get this done and knew the end result would be worth it. I wish I had logged the amount of time it took but I chipped away at it a little at a time and didn't keep track. I kept the book simple, with all page backgrounds in black and font in white. By the end I was happy to have it done and went embarrassingly boring on the cover. But it is done and printed and here is my Chica showing it off!

The book is made really well and the binding is great quality.

And I'm overall very pleased with the quality of the pictures. The kids had fun flipping through the book and revisiting old memories.

I'm very excited about the book, especially since I hadn't printed and filed any pictures into albums in years. And that first year of my blog I also did some Way Back Wednesday posts which brought in some old pictures of Chris and me. There is a great mix of photo and written memories.

I'm ready to move onto Year 2...and see about trying some different colors and formats. Blurb is an excellent software for allowing you to do anything you want with a photobook!

Side note: The printed book was about $115 total. For me this was well worth the price given the hundreds of pictures included and bound in hardcover book!

It Was Fun While It Lasted

2011-04-26T21:55:00.006-04:00

A few weeks back Chica and her friends finished their Fairy Tale Ballet dance classes and were set to put on a little performance for the parents, grandparents and/or friends. Overall, Chica enjoyed the time with her friends during ballet. But it became apparent toward the end of the classes that she was losing interest. The week before the last class she flat out refused to partake in class. Instead, she happily sat out in the waiting room with the moms and enjoyed a snack.

I told her that she needed to finish the last class with her teacher and friends. There wasn't really an option. And she was okay with that. During the last class the attendees and I waited patiently to be invited into the room to watch the 'show'.

The girls lined up and waited to be called over to perform. Chica told me later that she was scared. My girl has the same performance anxiety as her mom. She definitely doesn't like to be up in front of a crowd.

When the girls began to dance Chica put on the silliest faces, clearly showing her nervousness.

But then she settled in and did a great job demonstrating what she had learned.

At one point the girls got to do whatever dance they wanted. The danced around holding hands, laughing and smiling. The faces I captured clearly prove that the dance was not a waste of time and money.

The finale of the show involves the girls (princesses) leaving one of their ballet slippers and the teacher (the prince) chooses one of the slippers. The girls wait anxiously to see if their slipper is selected.

The show is over and the dancers bow to the audience.

So proud of my baby girl for trying something different and finishing it with a good attitude. I'm not really sure if and when she will want to dance again. But that's okay.....I've captured the memories. She can't say I never signed her up for dance!

Now on to some soccer!!!

Joining the Ranks

2011-04-21T20:59:00.007-04:00

This past February Chica and her Daddy went to their first Father/Daughter dance. This was all thanks to our special friend (Aunty Karen) who reminded us of the dance, acquired the tickets and corsage on our behalf and also handed down the beautiful dress for Chica to wear.

This dance is a big event in town. I think just about every father and daughter in town (under the age of 12) attends. Chica was super excited about her date with Daddy.

Here she is showing off her pretty corsage.

And here is the sweet couple. I could write a whole blog about these two and their relationship. It's pretty special.

So as they tell me, each father and daughter had their picture taken together and the daughters decorated the picture holders. Chica chose to draw a picture of her family.

And then the dancing began!!

I guess Chica showed off her skills learned in the Just Dance Wii game and cut some rug to Cotton Eyed Joe.

There was lots of dancing and some snacks. And definitely a lot of friends to dance with! Chica's two best buds were there with their Dads and they had lots of fun together.

Las Tres Amigas!

The dancers came home happy and tired....and ready to go again next year!

Editing with Textures!

2011-04-05T08:25:00.003-04:00

Over the last couple of months I've learned lots of new tricks in Photoshop Elements. I took Kim Klassen's Essentials E-Course and expanded my knowledge of Elements quite a bit. Playing with textures is so fun and can result in such a different look to your photos. The challenge for me is that there are SO many textures out there and it takes a lot of time to figure out which textures work for your photos. The possibilities are endless!!!

I've also enjoyed submitting photos to Pioneer Woman's assignments and to a website that Becky turned me on to, Mortal Muses. At Mortal Muses there are weekly themes and the nine women muses from the site share a photo of theirs and pick a companion photo from the Flickr group submissions.

Recently the Mortal Muses' theme was Doors and Windows. I remembered back to a photo I had taken of Chica sitting atop our couch looking out the window. I believe I originally took this photo for another photo challenge for Boston.com, but I can't remember which one! Regardless, one of the muses selected my photo and it was featured on the site one day. I was very surprised and excited! (See post here).

I just wanted to share my original photo and the how I edited it in Elements using textures.

Original - unedited

Edited.

Another recent theme at Mortal Muses was transportation. I submitted a photo taken at our friends' lake house in NH of the boys on a kayak adventure by my favorite red boat house. Here are the original and edited versions.

Pioneer Woman recently had a photo assignment of Horses. I probably had no right entering that contest because the pictures were out of this world. But I did enter a couple photos for fun after playing with textures. I was pleased with the the way they came out.

This is an unedited photo of my sister-in-law's horse, Shaboobie.

Edited with textures.

I photographed another special horse in our house for the contest. His name is Horsey and he belongs to my oldest son. He was given to Jack by our friend's parents when he was born. This bright red Mary Meyer horse was the softest and most plush little guy when we put him in Jack's crib when he was born. Jack attached himself to Horsey from the beginning and they are still sleeping buddies to this day. After 11 years, Horsey is kept together by threads in some areas. You can see the stuffing in his body where the material has worn away. So very loved!

Original photo.

Edited.

So much to learn....so little time. But textures can be really fun to play with!

Back to Camp Jewell!!

2011-03-23T18:51:00.006-04:00

During February break the kids and I and a bunch of our friends headed back to Camp Jewell for Winter Family Camp. This year we rallied even more families to go and ended up in two different cabins. I was weary that it could never be as good as last year. But this year proved just as good....if not better!!

Obviously with this crazy winter of snow, we had no concerns that we wouldn't be partaking in snow activities. Last year I never made it on one of the early morning snowshoe hikes so this year on the first morning I mustered enough energy (after a bad night's sleep..ugh) to head out with a small group of energetic boys. The snow was crunchy and not that great for snowshoeing, but we climbed up to the summit on that beautiful morning. Admittedly, I was partially motivated to take the trip for the photos.

Stanley the pig was still there and eating all of our meal leftovers....

We took our turns at target sports. Chica was insistent on loading and shooting the bb-gun all by herself. Yikes! I had to casually direct the barrel to her target......

A couple of cute snapshots of the kids...

Broomball was a popular activity for our large group of (competitive) boys. We had many little games and then entered 3 teams in a Broomball tournament one afternoon. The moms put together a team and there were two teams of our boys and one other family not part of our crowd. It might as well have been an NCAA final four game. Ben scored for his team to win it with about 2 seconds left.

The Champions!

And the mom's team took a bronze. It was so fun!!

Tubing conditions were great and the kids took turns sailing over this big bump and catching some air!

A break for hot chocolate!

The littler ones were such troopers climbing back up the hill with the tubes. Sometimes they needed to stop for a rest....

One afternoon a small group of us tried our hands at ice fishing while another group went on the hay ride. I knew from last year that it was a nice time to relax and it was a glorious day. Our group hooked the worms and dropped the lines in hopes to catch something. I would've bet large sums of money we would come up with nothing.

The crew from the hayride met us later at our fishing holes. Jack sat down and fiddled around with the line of one of the poles. Then he announced that he think he caught something. I really didn't believe him, but as he began pulling out the line it looked very taut. He pulled and pulled and before we knew it, a large fish erupted from the hole. We all squealed in excitement and disbelief! It was no small fish!!

Our last rainy morning the kids all took turns again at the Flying Squirrel.

There were also lots of candles and crafts made and a lot of fun just hanging out with friends at the cabin. Another great time at Camp Jewell!

A Myth.....Busted

2011-03-22T08:48:00.005-04:00

This was the scene yesterday....on the first day of Spring 2011. I had recently found the cutest little gnome and mushroom statues at Target and placed them in front of the sprouting daffodils. This past weekend Chris raked the whole front yard and the kids (begrudgingly) picked up all the piles of sticks, pine cones and dead grass. The yard looked great and I was really feeling spring!!!

I didn't put away the snow boots, hats, mittens, coats and snow pants, though. I thought that would be a big jinx. But I guess the placement of the gnome statues outside might've ticked off Mother Nature.

Remember Punxsutawney Phil failed to see his shadow on Groundhog Day last month, predicting an early spring? That myth is officially BUSTED!!! And more snow is predicted for tomorrow!

A Season for Skiing

2011-03-20T18:42:00.005-04:00

I was determined to get this skiing post done before every bit of snow has melted from our yard. It's really starting to feel like spring out there, thankfully! After a winter of several feet of snow, it's a nice change to put away the snow shovels and buckets of salt.

Despite the nuisance of snow days, shoveling and leaking ice dams for many around these parts, it was a great year for skiing at our local mountain. I don't think the mountain had to make any snow this winter, so that must have helped with costs.

I first ventured up with the kids by myself one day in late December. The kids were on break from school and we were hanging around doing nothing. I dragged everyone up to the mountain for a couple hours of skiing. It was a little stressful getting everyone and everything up there, but once we were there and heading up the lift I was glad we did it. This was the first full season we would be skiing as a family. And the first season that I could take the kids solo.

Chica wasn't that willing to pose with me on our ride up.

What a glorious day!

Our shadow heading up the lift.

We didn't ski too long and I did end up with a nice big headache for the ride home, but I was still glad that I made it up by myself !

The snow started dumping in January and the skiing really picked up. There was one afternoon where I came up but just didn't want to rent skis again for a couple of hours, so I took photos instead. Chica came a long way this winter. She absolutely loves to be outside and never said 'no' to skiing. And she was usually the last one out on the slopes.

It was a mixed winter for Luke. He mostly skied, but did snowboard a couple of times. He had the least interest of all the kids in heading up to the mountain. But I noticed that he did enjoy the days he got to hang-out more with Ben. Those two have been having a lot of fun together being goofy and laughing.

Chica skied in her first two races ever! The Slush Puppy race was late January while Dad was out west skiing. There was no question in Chica's mind about doing this race. She and Regan were ready to give racing a try.

I was taking video of the race and not taking photographs. But Chica came down that hill at a good pace and in complete control, making it around each and every gate. She was one happy girl after it was over. And so proud of herself!

We waited patiently in the lodge to wait for the results of the race.

We missed the announcement because the lady was speaking so softly, but found out later that Chica was the youngest racer at the mountain and won herself a trophy. And she received her Slush Puppy too! She was giving me the hardest time about having her picture taken with her trophy. This was the best I could get.

There are no photographs of Jack and Ben skiing except for this candid of them having a snack and a rest with some friends. They skied quite a bit with their buddies and had a great time overall.

What a great winter of skiing for the family. It was such a nice break in between fall and spring sports for some outdoor fun and family time. And this winter I purchased my first ever set of skis (and also a new ski jacket and pants!!).

Yesterday our ski mountain closed for the season....and tomorrow is the first day of spring. After a great winter, I'm ready to move on to the beauty of spring and lots of baseball!

Pinewood Derby!

2011-03-10T21:59:00.004-05:00

A few months back Luke excitedly joined the Cub Scouts. His Dad was a boy scout and has been telling them about all of the cool things that the scouts get to do. So Luke signed up and he and dad have been bonding at all of the scout activities. He has already earned his first badge and had a sleepover at the Boston Science Museum!

This past weekend was their first Pinewood Derby. Luke designed a car on paper and he and dad used wood shop tools to cut out the car to match the plan design. From then Luke sanded the car and painted it all by himself. He was ready to go race last Saturday morning!

I've never seen a Pinewood Derby so I had no idea what to expect. The track was cool and even had an electronic system for identifying the heat winners.

Luke's car is the blue one with the smiley face and bubble eyes!

Luke was pretty excited for the race. They had to wait for all of the racers to arrive. He spent that time inspecting the track...

and intrigued by the table where they weigh the cars and are able to apply more weight if allowed.

He was happy to have me there snapping pictures and happy his Grandma came to watch, too!

Chica was excited to watch and hung out with her little buddy from school whose brother was also a racing scout.

More waiting...

And we really had no idea how his car was going to do. After a demo, the races began.

And the results:

Heat one: second place!

Heat two: third place!

Heat three: first place!

For his age group, Luke ended up in 2nd place was thrilled to get a little trophy.

It was a successful Pinewood Derby for Luke and his troop!

Fairy Tale Ballet

2011-03-09T12:39:00.007-05:00

A few weeks ago Chica started her very first dance class. A good friend was able to put together a class at a local dance studio called 'Fairy Tale Ballet'. When I told Chica about it she initially said she didn't want to do the class. I was able to convince her to try it.

We showed up at the class with a hand-me-down jazz leotard and borrowed ballet shoes. And Chica was wearing a masculine blue Carhartt sweatshirt handed down from her brothers. The ballerina wearing Carhartt....

Before she even started the class Chica decided she was going to take the class so that I could pay for the entire thing instead of just a one-time fee. I was excited that she was ready to commit!!

The class began and the moms all huddled around the doors trying to peak through the blinds and grab some pictures.

The girls learned some new ballet moves and then got to put on some princess dress-up for the last part of the class. Beyond cute...

Before we even left the building after class ended, Chica told me she didn't want to do the rest of the classes. Perfect, I thought, after having paid $90. But before we got to our next destination she said that she would take the classes "if I wanted her to". I thought this was an interesting response. Did I guilt her into it? Or did I do a good job convincing her it would get more interesting? I wasn't sure, but happy I didn't have to ask for the refund.

Before the next week's class I bought her a ballet outfit and tights. She didn't give me any trouble about going and seemed to have a good time.

The jury's still out on whether she truly likes it and wants to keep going with it. I think it'll be an easier and more clear-cut decision when she puts her cleats on for the first this spring!

Our luck just may be changing.....

2011-03-05T18:12:00.005-05:00

I'm playing a little catch up with this post. Back in January we took Jack and Ben to see the Cake Boss. Back in November we scored 4 tickets to see Buddy and gave them to the big boys for Christmas. Jack in particular is a huge Cake Boss fan, so I knew he would be excited. The bonus was that Ben was equally excited. We were going to make a fun evening of it!

We went out to dinner and then headed to the show. Our seats were on the floor, maybe 15 or so rows from the stage. And on the aisle.....that was key. We had some friends that were sitting in the first row and even in the 4th row on the aisle. And these friends 'know people', if you know what I mean. There were lots of people hoping to get on stage with Buddy.

As Buddy entered the room he came down the aisle where we were sitting. Ben said he got to touch his arm!

The show began and Buddy spoke about his life and how the Cake Boss came to be. He is an incredibly motivating speaker and his story is so interesting. He would take breaks during his talk and pick people come to the stage to compete in a cupcake decorating contest. Jack popped right out of his seat at the chance to get on stage. First he chose men, then women and then finally....kids.

When he was choosing the kids, Jack ran down the aisle and flailed his arms in front of the stage. He was not going down without a fight.

And the next thing I know, he is walking on the stage. He had been chosen by Buddy!

Buddy did a demonstration of the cupcake the kids were to copy. It involved 3 different pastry bags with different tips. Jack was right next to Buddy as he did his demo. He was also the first kid to decorate the cupcake. I watched in amazement as he stepped in an decorated that cupcake with confidence. He did a great job and even impressed Buddy. In fact, Buddy even asked him if wanted a weekend job!!

All the kids who participated received a Carlos Bakery t-shirt and also got to take their cupcakes. Jack came back to his seat glowing and immediately began eating his cupcake.

He saved a little for Ben so he could have a taste.

The show was great and on the way to the car the kids spotted Buddy's truck and stopped for a picture.

What an exciting night!! And how lucky for Jack to meet one of his idols!!

I had some luck of my own recently. A long-time, die-hard fan of The Pioneer Woman, I have been submitting photos to her photo assignments on-line in hopes I would catch her eye (and her prize money rocks!). There are thousands of amazing photographers submitting photos to her assignments and I never expect to be chosen.

In February she announced an assigment theme of LOVE. I remembered a picture I had taken during my Picture the Holidays class of Buddy gazing at a dog treat that was shaped like a heart. I submitted the photo and the next morning while scrolling through the her Day 1 Finalists, I about died when I saw Buddy's face. Finally!!!

On the whole, we aren't a lucky bunch in my house. But with the Cake Boss opportunity and Pioneer Woman's acknowledgement, I'm thinking our luck just may be changin!

February's Hunt

2011-03-01T08:47:00.004-05:00

I stumbled across a new amateur photography section (called RAW) on Boston.com's site a couple of years ago....August 2008 to be exact. I was drawn toward a photo contest the site was having. The prize wasn't big but I thought it was a fun idea. So I entered....and didn't win. I've done almost all of the monthly contests since RAW started. I've made it to the top 50 a few times and one time to the top 10....but never won. I really enjoy the contests and trying to find a photo to fit the themes. And I really enjoy seeing all of the picture submissions.

For this past February's contest RAW announced something new and exciting.....a photo scavenger hunt. The contest involved finding 28 different items to photograph. The items focused around all things Febuary, Boston, Valentines, etc. This was going to be no small task, but I decided to go for it. The prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place were $300, $200 and $100 gift certificates at Hunt's Photography. Any of those prizes could mean some new gear!!

So I trudged along all month in search of all the items on the list. I was so happy to have finished and uploaded all my pics by the deadline....February 28th. I can't imagine how they are going to judge this month's contest and I don't expect to hear for a while, but here are my submissions.

1. Analog clock showing the time as 8:08....the month and year that RAW started.

This was probably my most boring photo. But I was playing with different effects in Photoshop Elements and applied this cool Plastic Wrap effect. I thought it was kind of cool!

2. Barber pole

Thankfully there is a cute little barber shop in the center of town so I didn't have to search too hard for this one.

3. Beetles LP album

I had to call upon my next door neighbors for this one. I wasn't surprised to find that they had a few different Beetles LP's. I found this item hard to photograph creatively.

4. Birds (more than one) at a bird feeder

I had to sneak outside and catch the birds by surprise with my zoom lens in order to grab a picture of them at the feeder. I played with some actions and applied a vintage frame from The Coffeeshop Blog.

5. Boston Terrier

I know where a Boston Terrier lives not to far from my house. On the way home from taking Chica to school I drove by and saw the owner outside. I pulled right over and asked if I could take his dog's picture. Her name is Catherine. This was the first item I photographed for the contest.

6. Bubbles in a glass of liquid

I had Becky's post in mind when I thought about this item. I realized quickly that I didn't have the gear to come close to her result, but I was happy with the result I got for the contest.

7. Calendar showing the month of February

It didn't have to be a paper calendar and I love my hot pink I-phone cover. 'Nuf said.

8. Champagne glasses

Those champagne flutes my mom bought me for my wedding came in handy for this item. I was pleasantly surprised at the result of this photo. The strawberries added something and I used a couple of Kim Klassen's textures.

9. Child's doll

Thanks to my Chica, there is no shortage of dolls in the house. As you'll see, I used my little girl in a few of the photos.

10. Dog-eared paperback

I learned that dog-eared can mean shabby and worn (versus a corner folded over). This was the shabbiest paperback I could find. The boys all love the Book of Lists. I used a new fabric texture I found on the Coffeeshop Blog.

11. Fire Hydrant

I didn't have to go too far to find a hydrant. There is a shiny newer one right across the street from my house.

12. Red SUV

This was my last photo. Thanks to Becky for obliging to let me follow her and for hitting some puddles along the way!

13. House with the street number 28.

I stumbled across a pretty house not too far away with a cool tree in the front. I decided to use some of my new Elements tricks and leave color only on the pretty wreath on the front door.

14. Icicle

There were SO many icicles this winter. I didn't take any pictures until they were pretty much all gone! But I looked out the bathroom window on our second floor and saw some pretty ones. I was determined to catch a melting drip in the picture so it took me a little while. I was thankful for the sun and beautiful blue sky that day.

15. Sledding

I was determined to get my sledding picture during our winter break last week at Camp Jewell (blog post to come). I love this one of Luke and Parker that shows the smiling faces and the air!

16. Monopoly silver shoe piece sitting on Vermont Avenue

Again....the neighbors hooked me up with the original Monopoly. My Disney and Spongebob versions weren't going to cut it. RAW agreed to allow gold shoes...which were part of the anniversary edition.

17. Museum sign

I stayed local. I was surprised at how much I liked the contrast of the sign with the barren trees.

18. Old stone wall

In the beginning of the month most of the stone walls were covered in snow. Thankfully some warm days helped showcase the many beautiful stone walls around town. This particular stone wall is at my sis-in-laws.

19. Paintbrush

At the end of the day in the crafts room at Camp Jewell I was trying to help clean up a little and when I brought some dirty paint supplies to the sink I saw this cool sight. So beautifully unplanned.

20. Piece of candy shaped like a heart

A picture somewhere inspired me here. I bought some red velvet cupcakes for the kids but used them as a prop beforehand.

21. Rocking chair

Admittedly, this is one of my favs. A little brown-noseish with the Boston Globe in there....but I showed up to play! Chica was such a trooper posing as I asked her. Love her leopard print jammies.

22. Roll of film

So thankful to find a roll of film in my old camera that has been living in the basement.

23. Snowpile larger than an adult with an adult in the picture for perspective

My friend Lisa's husband snowplows a huge pile of snow for the kids every year in their backyard. I visited Lisa one morning and couldn't believe the size of the pile. She was awesome and agreed to help me with this shot. We coaxed Buddy to the top of the pile with some pieces of ham.

24. Steaming pot of soup

I tried twice for this shot. The second time around worked much better when I utilized my black cooktop as a background.

25. Traffic light after dark, red light facing you, green light facing left or right

We only have a handful of street lights in our town. This particular intersection worked well. Had to play with manual mode to get the right shot!

26. Uniformed police officer

I called upon a long-time friend who I haven't seen in way too long. He was such a 'trooper' . He was home with strep throat and trying to pack to leave on a family vacation to FL that night. He suited up and posed for me. I think he looks so handsome!

27. Vanity license plate

I couldn't resist capturing this shot as we were leaving our local ski mountain. I loved the way you can see the ski trails in the background. I actually took the photo with my Iphone but doctored it up with Pioneer Woman actions.

28. White steepled church

After clarification that the entire church had to be white and not just the steeple, I found this cute church in the next town. I drove by to check it out after being at the post office down the road. The sun was at a perfect position for a sunburst. It's not a neat and pretty sunburst, but it worked well enough for me!

So those were the entries. I don't supposed we'll hear for a few weeks on the results. It was a big effort, so anyone who doesn't win will be bumbed. But as always, it was a learning experience.

Crossing my fingers!

A Winter to Remember

2011-02-13T16:25:00.003-05:00

Winter 2011 has been one for the record books. It has been a winter that I think my kids will remember throughout their lives as one s.n.o.w.y winter! We still have half of February and all of March to go, but the kids have had SEVEN snow days. Seven completely valid snow days. Of course three of them happened while Chris was traveling to Wyoming (pleasure) and California (business), so I have learned to become one with the snow blower.

The snow has been crazy....which has been both good and bad. Good because the kids have been able to play in the snow, ski, sled and, of course, stay home from school. Bad because there has been so much snow that there have been ice damns causing leaks in houses, roofs collapsing, school closings due to structural concerns, etc. Roof rakes are the hot commodity. And lastly, the kids now are going to have school during April vacation so they won't be in school through the last week of June.

Luckily, we haven't had any house issues to date. The biggest issue in our house for a while was cabin fever! The pictures have been plentiful and I was going to do one big 'winter' post but became too overwhelmed. So stay tuned for an upcoming posts on all things skiing!

A few pictures of all the snow!

Enjoying the snow....

One cold, sunny day I took the kids to one of the hot sledding spots in town. (Luke was having his own fun with Dad at a Science Museum sleepover!)

And I've really learned how much this Chica loves to be outside. She is usually the first one out and the last one in. She will just sit in the snow and play by herself until she is ready to come in.

Legos It Is!

2011-01-18T18:41:00.006-05:00

My third little guy turned 7 this past October. I had his physical a couple of weeks ago and verified why it seemed he had grown so much. In less than a year he had grown 2.5 inches and put on over 5 pounds. Looking at him you might have thought 5 inches and 2.5 pounds. He has become quite lanky and doesn't have a lot of heft to his frame.

But alas - the Big 7! Luke decided he wanted to have a home birthday party with a lego theme. I was dreading (big time) a home party but decided to go for it. I searched around the internet for some ideas on how to proceed with the party. Rather than purchase legos in bulk which the kids could build and then take home I opted to scatter our own legos out for the kids to build with. What also helped me with this decision was an unexpected connection at the Lego Corp that brought me tons of cool lego sets at a substantial discount to give as party favors.

So when the kids arrived I had the legos laying on our dining room table and they weren't shy about building away.

What I didn't get any pictures of were all of the neat creations made by the kids. A friend suggested little cards to display the names of the creations and the kids got really into that. They were proud of their creations and came up with some interesting names.

There weren't a whole lot of activities planned. I was hoping the kids would sit and build legos nonstop for 1.5 hours. But that wasn't going to happen. I sent the kids on a treasure hunt around the house. That proved to be a big hit for them and for me. I had typed up clues leading them to different spots around the house and they were challenged to work together as a group to read the clues and figure out where to go next. Their little feet kept running up and down the stairs and they were so excited to find the next clues. The treasure was colorful candy canes that were in the washing machine.

The kids took a break to have pizza and then we moved onto another game that I found on the internet. I knew the kids (boys especially) would love it. The kids broke into two teams and had a fixed amount of time to build a lego creation. When they were done they two teams were going to take turns trying to smash their opponents creations with balls. The kids worked well together in their groups....but the creations weren't very large.

As suspected, the kids had fun trying to destroy the lego creations (in the basement!). No one got hurt...and there were no tears....bonus.

We had cake and ice cream, did presents and then it was pretty much time to go! I made it through a home party and Luke had a great time with his buddies.

The only negative to the party was it happened to coincide with the older boy's first indoor soccer game so I had to beg one of my friends to stay and help. I didn't take a lot of pictures and none of my photographer mom/friends (ahem, Deb) wanted to stick around. But all in all......it was a fun party for my lego lover.

Mount Monadnock

2011-01-18T18:37:00.007-05:00

To say this post is a little late is an understatement. I'm not even sure exactly when this trip occurred (I think in the beginning of August?), but I DO know that it needs to be documented! Plus, it's nice to think of warm-weather activities in the middle of this crazy winter.

Last year (2009) Chris took Jack on a hike and overnight camping trip to Mount Monadnock. They had an amazing time and really bonded together. This year (2010) Chris took all three of the boys. The three of them hiked to the top of the mountain. I would never question Jack or Ben being able to do this. But Luke was only 6 at the time and I wasn't sure he'd have the stamina to complete the long hike to the top and back down.

Boy was I wrong! He did an amazing job keeping up with the boys. I gave the boys (I think Jack was in charge) my pocket sized camera to document the trip and here are some of their pictures:

And they made it to the top! What a gorgeous day and what a view! Last year it was foggy at the top and you couldn't see anything.

Ben....the King of the World!!

The campers' snack at the summit...

Some silly tent shots....

So I wonder if the ladies will be ready to take the trip on this coming summer?

And so this was Christmas.....

2011-01-11T17:32:00.003-05:00

Per usual, I did not take one picture this past Christmas Day. It's always so hectic and the pics don't come out good at all. But there were some classic pre-Christmas activities that I did not leave undocumented (not to mention all the the pictures I took in my Picture the Holidays class!!).

One very cold day we headed back to Connecticut to our favorite Christmas Tree farm. Nobody noticed when Chica left the car without a jacket so she and Chris went back to get her bundled up and then caught back up with us.

The farm had cleared out substantially all of the trees in the area we had found our last two trees, but we headed there anyway to see what we could find. We came up empty and headed back to a new spot.

A little fun...

It took forever for us to find a tree. We tend to be picky and have a hard time agreeing as a group. (Dad admitted he would switch to a fake tree but I say NO WAY - this is one of my favorite traditions). The kids were happy to pose despite the chilly temps....

Except Luke. He wanted to leave before we even got there. Too cold for him! But we finally found the tree - a big fat Balsam.

Chica really wanted a picture of herself by a little tree and Jack kept sneaking in the picture and ticking her off. I finally got her to stop pouting and pose....and he jumped backed in the picture. I thought she was going to pummel him to the ground.

And here is the picture she was going for...

I wish there had been snow for a prettier experience, but I still captured the beautiful, sprawling red barn.

We brought the tree home and decorated it that night. In the morning before school it came crashing down. That was probably the worst part of the holiday season for me. I salvaged some favorite ornaments and we lost a few. But that was the worst of it, so I cannot complain.

Then we had the annual preschool gingerbread houses! I went in to help Chica and her classmates. The last gingerbread house making.....sniff sniff.

She worked diligently to finish her creation....and couldn't wait to get it home so she could eat it!!

A week later was Chica's Christmas show, The Littlest Tree. What a difference from last year! The kids all sang loudly and were really into it.

I was so proud of my little girl.

The rest of the holiday went smoothly. The gifts that were a hit for the kids were: Ipod Touch for Jack, Guardians of Ga'hoole DS game and books for Ben, Nerf Gun and DS games for Luke and Furreal Pet for Chica. It was the best Christmas yet for me as a mom. Everyone was healthy and happy.

Gather Your Thoughts (12/31 prompt)

2011-01-02T21:25:00.003-05:00

So this is my last post related to my Picture the Holidays class. I am happy to report that I completed 27 of the 31 prompts. But in some cases I submitted more than one picture...so maybe that gets me from a B+ to an A-.

So related to this prompt, I have gathered some thoughts on the holiday season, my class and my hopes for 2011. The picture I selected is one from a chair lift with my Chica. Rides on the lift are so peaceful...and they give you time to either reflect or to chat with your chair-mate. Here is our shadow....looking forward to the top of the mountain....looking forward to 2011.

It was probably the best Christmas for me so far since I've had kids. I organized and shopped on-line early to avoid last minute scrambles to stores. I had substantially all the gifts wrapped ahead of time thanks to a bonus day when Chris took the kids skiing for the day. I baked the cookies I wanted to bake. I hosted Christmas Eve for 40 people and that went great. And nobody was sick in our house - a true blessing. All the kids were happy with their gifts. Nothing had to be returned. It was just a great Christmas, and I am so thankful.

And during the hectic month of December, thanks to my Picture the Holidays class, I had my camera out and was looking at things differently than I ever would have. I played with manual mode, went off one night to photograph outside Christmas lights, achieved lots of cool Christmas light bokeh, and learned about textures and applied them to some of my photographs. I enjoyed 'getting to know' some of the other class participants and giving and receiving comments on photos. All and all, a great time.

For this year, I plan on further enhancing my photography skills. I am taking an online photoshop class beginning later this month. And from there I will apply what I learn and hopefully continue to achieve my own style.

So let's here it for 2011!

No Looking Back (12/30 prompt)

2011-01-02T21:24:00.004-05:00

December 30th found me a little daring. Rather than watch my kids play video games, watch tv and be couch potatoes (and claim they were bored), I decided to brave a trip to our local ski mountain with all of them.....by myself. Chris has been taking all them skiing for several seasons now. Chica learned last winter, but is still obviously a beginner. The biggest challenges of going alone.....all the gear and the two person chairlift for the 5 of us.

But we made it up there and after I got my season pass and rented skis, off we went to ski. Luckily, we ran into friends so that we found another chairlift partner. So Chica and I went up the lift together. I was a little nervous on the way up because getting off with Chica means picking her up and carrying her down the ramp while balancing yourself...and your poles. But we did it and I was inspired!

It was a gorgeous day! We had a handful of runs before Chica was tired and ready to go. And I was too....my head was throbbing. It wasn't easy and it wasn't necessarily pretty. But I did it. I took my brood skiing by myself. And there's no looking back....

Through the Looking Glass (12/28 prompt)

2011-01-02T21:23:00.005-05:00

On this beautiful day the kids and I went for a visit to our friends' house for some play time and skating. I was happy my camera was in tow, as their festively decorated window seemed perfect for this prompt. The back window looks out at the ice rink in their back yard and beyond the tree line is farm land. It is a beautiful view. And the bokeh was an unanticipated bonus!

And here is my oldest son, who would skate 24/7.

Wishing our yard was flat enough for a homemade rink. It would certainly get a lot of use!

A Breath of Fresh Air (12/27 prompt)

2010-12-29T08:55:00.004-05:00

I was so happy to go out and get some fresh air! So this prompt had me very thankful. I parked out near the bird feeder to see if I could capture some pretty birds. Unfortunately the cardinals weren't around. But this little guy was pretty cute....and I love the look with the snow coming down.

Chewie, our cockapoo and resident ball fanatic, was happy to accompany me on my photoshoot. He looks for any opportunity to play fetch. It's hard to deny this face.

The Day After

2010-12-29T08:54:00.007-05:00

We didn't have a white Christmas this year which was sort of a bummer. But just a day later a blizzard came up the coast to make up for it. Unfortunately Christmas plans with Chris' side were cancelled from the blizzard. We stayed local and gathered with friends for some ice skating, play time and NFL football watchin'. A crazy bunch of kids decided two-hand touch football would be fun. So out they went in the early stages of the blizzard. Better them than me!! But the fresh air was good for them.

My kids love to skate and were so excited to do so on our friend's rink. A nice fire for the adults to hover over and just about everyone was as happy as can be.

Life is Sweet

2010-12-29T08:54:00.005-05:00

December 23rd's prompt was to capture a picture of something sweet. That was a crazy busy day as far as baking and preparation for Christmas Eve festivities. With Ben's help I made a nice batch of peanut butter balls. These are always a big crowd pleaser!

Got Gifts?

2010-12-29T08:53:00.001-05:00

A post I struggled a bit with way back was one where you were to find a picture that you could print and make gift tags out of. I didn't really read the prompt entirely so when I saw "Got gifts?" I assumed we were supposed to take pictures of gifts.

Later on, I was trying for a cool Bokeh picture for PW's contest and took a picture of this snow globe. I was going for the bokeh outside and inside of the snowglobe. I added some Kim Klassen textures to come up with this.....

I would like to try and remember to use handmade photo gift tags next year because I think it's a great idea!!

Picture the Holidays - Catch Up

2010-12-22T14:59:00.003-05:00

I'm finding it harder and harder to keep up with my Picture the Holidays class as Christmas approaches. My creativity doesn't feel so hot and I've been having issues with my computer screen showing blue lines over the darkest areas of photos. It makes editing really hard....because you don't get a true view of your photo.

But here are a few of my photos from prompts over the past week:

Wrapped with Love - the teachers' gifts I bought nice and early this year....

Recharge - I finally feel recharged now that I found time to make my favorite holiday cookies. They are the Italian Anisette cookies. Probably prettier in color...but I decided to go with black and white for this one.

You are Getting Sleepy - I got right on today's prompt! Chica was still sleeping so I snuck upstairs to photograph her sleeping peacefully. She's been staying up way too late....but making up for it in the morning. I enjoy the extra time to have coffee and catch up on-line!

Warm Glow

2010-12-17T20:21:00.002-05:00

Today's prompt was to capture the warm glow of a candle. I took these shots in the late afternoon but they look like it was in the dark of night. They are pretty close to Straight Out of Camera.

The Season of Lights

2010-12-16T21:10:00.002-05:00

Today the challenge was to capture some holiday lights....in bokeh. I played around with my 50 mm lens and I'm not really sure what the trick is, but I was able to capture some cool light blur. Our tree is too big and fat to capture the whole thing. But I capture a piece of it with the reflecting bokeh from the window.

And this one is just plain lights....

I wish it weren't so cold and late or I would try to capture some outdoor lights!

Sincerely Yours

2010-12-15T16:12:00.002-05:00

Yesterday's prompt had us capture handwritten sentiments. I hadn't received a lot of cards yet and I can't even remember the last time I hand wrote a note. Luckily, I have Luke's list for Santa....signed, sealed with a stamp...yet not quite delivered (yet!).

I'm happy to report that I learned how to apply textures to my photos in Elements in my Kim Klassen Skinny-Mini class and this photo has two cool textures applied. I'm so excited about how it looks!

Picture the Holidays - Catching Up

2010-12-13T22:40:00.003-05:00

The busy weekend set me back in photographs and posting for my Picture the Holidays class. Here's what I missed:

Shaping Up - when I pulled out the wrapping paper this morning to get some wrapping done I realized I could photograph pretty shapes....and document that I'm IN better shape with my progress this year....thank goodness.

A Whole Lot of Happy - I got lucky when two of my favorite people decided to snuggle up in front of the fireplace close by. Watching these two together brings me to a happy place that I can't even describe.

Simply Divine - another tough theme for me. Then I spotted the angel my mom had painted way back in her 'ceramics days' and decided to tackle photographing that. The shiny paint picked up every light reflection around. If only I thought of it during the day! Not the best photography skills, but I absolutely love this angel and what it stands for.....and who painted it.

Twinkle Twinkle

2010-12-10T22:16:00.003-05:00

Today we were prompted to take pictures of whimsical light. I had no time to play until late tonight when I stopped to take pictures of a holiday peace sign in town. I accidentally got a fairly cool effect.

I didn't think it was going to be worthy of posting so when I got home I played around on manual mode until I got a picture of the candle light in our dining room window. It is simple and boring, but it was a good exercise in adjusting shutter speed, aperture and ISO. So in that respect, I'm happy.

It's a Sign

2010-12-09T22:09:00.002-05:00

For today our assignment was to find a word or words that are a sign to us. The first photo describes something I'm not terribly good at.....relaxing.

The second photo I submitted is of our stocking holders spelling out PEACE. I was pleasantly surprised to have captured some reflecting bokeh from the Christmas tree. The only thing I did to the photo was apply Pioneer Woman's Colorized Action. (It's my favorite!).

Reflecting on the Season

2010-12-08T21:58:00.004-05:00

Today's prompt might have been really cool if I had had more time to look around! My morning and early afternoon were spent running in and out of stores looking for an ugly Christmas sweater for Chris and I for our first ever "Tacky Christmas Sweater" party this coming weekend. I finally had success at the Salvation Army Store. In the midst of all that I took the dogs to the salon for some pre-holiday pampering.

My first reflection photo has Buddy looking handsome in his new bandana. When he is done outside he gives a bark at the door. His trips outside have been short ones this week because it is SO COLD here in New England!!

Later in the early evening I took my other three little men to the salon. While waiting I captured Ben's and my reflection on a Christmas ornament.

Certainly these are no prize winning photos, but I was able to take a couple of pictures that fit the theme. I'll hope for some more time to play tomorrow.

While at the salon, Jack was playing around and captured his own 'reflection'. Nicely done, JD!

Express Yourself

2010-12-07T20:10:00.002-05:00

I opened up today's prompt with a tad of dread. The dreaded self-portrait. Well, a self-portrait was not required but was one example of how to express ourselves.

I had a really hard time trying to think of what to do for this theme. I've never been a fan of getting my picture taken. I decided to try to capture part of my face in a photo. It was hard to capture what I was going for while trying to kiss a squirmy dog. While one of my fingers was holding down the focus button, another accidentally moved the exposure setting down. The photo was very dark...but I boosted the lighting and then applied a couple of Pioneer Woman's actions to get this result.

Honestly, I was feeling ashamed at this photo and not expecting many comments. But wouldn't you know it's the first one that the teacher has commented on....calling it 'precious'. A great end to the day!

Every Little Thing

2010-12-06T20:20:00.004-05:00

Today we were inspired to find delight in some small, unsuspecting item around us. This morning had a very rough start. After our family trip yesterday to get our Christmas tree and a fun evening of sorting through, reminiscing about and hanging our ornaments, the tree toppled over this morning. The most delicate ornaments shattered to pieces and some other favorites lost some heads, arms, legs and various pieces.

We got the tree back up and I just couldn't stomach piecing together the ornaments and taking inventory of what was lost. I had a busy and productive day of shopping.

I was encouraged that one of the ornaments I was able to salvage was the one Luke announced as his all-time favorite. A little super glue and the feet went right back on. I chose this ornament as the subject of today's prompt. I delighted in the strength of the glue. And I got my first holiday bokeh! Now to work on getting rid of that yellowish hue!

I also started another class today called Kim Klassen's Skinny-Mini E-course. Becky told me about it and it involves learning some things in Photoshop Elements. Bonus! Free course on Elements! It's like a Christmas present. The little lesson she gave today was cropping your photo and adding text. I already knew how to do both of those things, but I learned a few pointers with the text and downloaded a free font that I really like.

A vase of flowers left over from Thanksgiving has been staring at me for the week or so and I took a few snapshots and then applied what I learned from the class. I took the photo at night with the light from my new dining room chandelier. I was happy with the outcome though!!

Looking forward to learning more!!

The View From Here

2010-12-05T22:06:00.002-05:00

I had a plan for today's prompt as soon as I woke up and learned that our goal was to capture a photo of the outdoors, either from inside or outside the house. We had plans to get our Christmas tree where I love the view of the sprawling lines of trees and a huge red barn. The weather was extremely cold and it wasn't as fun a trip as it might have been. But I was able to capture the landscape I had in mind.

And my other photo choice for today was a picture of Chris and Chica walking out to the field to meet us. Somehow Chica forgot her coat and nobody noticed until she announced she was cold. Back they went to the car and the boys and I trudged along to find a tree.

Today's prompt was particularly interesting to see what the weather is like at different parts of the country through everyone's photos!

You Hold the Key

2010-12-04T16:33:00.002-05:00

Today's prompt asked for the key to cure one's soul during these hectic holiday times. I wished the answer for me was something pleasant like yoga, chocolate, running or reading. I had to be honest with myself that my soul is happy when my life (and my house) is in good order. I'm the type of person who thrives on accomplishing tasks, crossing off items on the to-do list and having a clean and orderly house. Boring, but true. It takes some effort to find that key sometimes....but it's worth it for me.

All You Need Is Love

2010-12-03T17:15:00.004-05:00

Today's prompt had us focus on LOVE. This is an overwhelming topic.....there are so many ways to document love. And in the short daylight hours while most of my loved ones were not home, I found myself looking for heart shapes. Chica and I stopped to look at Christmas decorations at a local garden shop and gathered up some fallen winter berries on our way out. I thought the green/red was Christmasy.

I was trying to capture Buddy giving Chica a big, fat, slobbery kiss but I had no luck there. When I pulled out the bribery treats, I noticed they were shaped like hearts....resulting in picture number 2. Buddy is a true LOVE of mine, that's for sure.

Some other captures were Chica loving Buddy...

Winter berries on mulch...

And a heart-shaped spot on one of the trees outside our library. I love those trees!!

Still no Christmas decorations out. Big plans for the weekend!

Reframing the Season

2010-12-02T17:31:00.006-05:00

This morning's prompt for Picture the Holidays was entitled Reframing the Season. The idea behind the theme is to look at the holidays differently (hence, 'reframe') in order to truly enjoy them. Boy, do I need some reframing for the holiday season. And by signing up for this class I think I took a step in the right direction.

Chica has a little class at our local YMCA with a few of her friends. After class she asked if her friend, Rose, could come over and play. Rose and Chica have known each other since they were born. Both were 4 this past June and both are the fourth (and final) kids in their families. I was happy to have Rose come over because I had nothing planned and hoped Chica and she would play and keep each other company so I could get a few things done around the house.

When I first read the reframing prompt I took it somewhat literally and remembered that I had an open-backed frame in the basement from a print I had reframed. I pulled out the frame and took the girls outside after lunch for a little photo shoot. I didn't think I captured something I would like until I downloaded the pictures and saw their little faces.

I couldn't help but be excited about this photo. I love their little faces and the color of their clothes. I love the way the photo captures their friendship....in the frame. And when Rose's mom came to pick up her up I knew she was so sincerely thankful for the little play date which gave Rose a chance for her own playtime and gave her some quality time to accomplish things at home without distraction or guilt. She made a point to come back in the house to give me a hug and reiterate her thanks. The whole experience made me thankful to be able to give her the small gift of time today. Hopefully her accomplishments today will afford her a few extra zz's tonight, as we all need rest and health over these crazy holidays.

So let's hear it for Friendship over the holidays!

Here are some other outtakes from the photo shoot. The girls were such troopers.

Something New

2010-12-01T18:50:00.005-05:00

My friend, Becky, inspired me to try something new. This morning I signed myself up for an online photography class called Picture the Holidays. The class involves receiving a daily prompt from the instructor every day during December and taking a picture/pictures that fit the prompt. You share your photo with the other people taking the class and hopefully receive some feedback. Or, as the website states, "Picture the Holidays is a photo centric daily guide to creativity and mindfully celebrating the season".

This class poses several challenges for me. First, I have never done anything like this before.....forcing myself to take a photo every day and sharing it with others. Second, this time of year is typically insane and almost uncomfortably busy. The past couple of years I really didn't feel like I enjoyed the holidays at all because I was rushing to get things done until the very end. Yuck! I'm hoping that instead of adding further stress, this class will force me to prepare for the holidays better, faster, smarter! Third, this time of year is when my camera usually stays in the bag for an extended period. The lighting isn't good...the weather isn't good....it's a real challenge to take pictures with natural light inside the house.

But I dove into the class anyway figuring 'what the heck'? I have a jump on my Christmas shopping and I'm feeling like I want to do this for myself.

So, the first prompt asked to photograph something that you are grateful for. Well, this first day of class is as gray, dark and rainy as can be. The light inside was horrible. I left the house this morning on my way to do Christmas errands. I left with my camera bag, just in case I saw something to photograph. As I was driving down the street I passed a house on my left that I always look at. There are window boxes in the front and the owner of the house has a couple of cats that take turns sleeping in the window boxes. I have been wanting to photograph this for probably about a year. I drove past the house and then stopped. What better time to take a photo then Day 1 of my class?? I put the car in reverse and backed up in front of the house.

With my zoom lens I was able to capture the cat sleeping there. I eventually called out to the cat and it lifted its sleepy head at me.

I wasn't sure if my classmates would understand why I would chose this photo for gratitude. What it comes down to is that I am so grateful that I took my camera with me, that the cat was sleeping in the window box and that I stopped to take a photo. I'm grateful for my love of animals and for what this sleeping kitty represents - rest, peace and quiet.....all things I'm striving for this holiday season.

Halloween

2010-11-26T21:51:00.004-05:00

Better late than never, I suppose. Here it is the day after Thanksgiving and I'm catching up on all things Halloween.

It was a good year for pumpkins this year! Last year was the worse year for pumpkin crops that I can remember. But this year they were big, beautiful and priced right. We had so many pumpkins and I could only push off the requests to carve them so many times. One afternoon Chica was pretty relentless so I caved in. We brought all the carving tools outside and I let her carve away.

This process kept her busy for some time. But eventually the hands were getting a little messy and she grew bored and decided it was time to move on to the next activity.

But not before I tried to get her to pose for me.

I was also trying to take a picture for a monthly contest themed "purple". I considered this photo but didn't end up using it.

Chica and her classmates celebrated Halloween by arriving to school in their costumes, posing for a picture and then having a fun day of Halloween activities.

My last preschool Halloween picture. Pretty cute way to end that nine-year tradition. Chica picked out her flying horse costume at Target and was very happy with her choice.

Moving on to the big night of Halloween, I dragged the kids outside to pose for some pictures in their costumes. Jack originally wasn't going to trick-or-treat because he figured there was no chance of eating most of the candy with his new braces. But he figured out pretty quickly how to eat almost type of candy without any problem.

Jack decided on a Michael Jackson costume this year, but was a tad disappointed at how curly the wig was.

Ben was very excited about his Red Crayon costume. Mr. Easy-to-Please

Luke selected a Ninja costume, a very fitting choice for him.

And the flying horse again.

All in all, the costume choice was not as painful as prior years. Everyone was happy.

The Great Performance

2010-11-05T20:16:00.004-04:00

Ben has been taking acoustic guitar lessons for about eight months. He came to me after school one day with a flyer from the town rec department that had a Beginner Acoustic Guitar class. I actually have an acoustic guitar that Chris purchased for me one Christmas (or birthday?). And the price of the class was very reasonable so I went and signed him up. The instructor was a women from town who both Ben and I liked instantly. The class was a great intro to acoustic guitar and Ben really enjoyed it. He wanted to continue with his teacher privately afterwards, which is what we did.

Fast forward to last week when his instructor organized a 'recital' at a local nursing home/rehab center where she is a physical therapist. Ben and his teacher's five other students had each prepared for a solo performance as well as a few songs they all played together.

Ben's solo was the song Puff the Magic Dragon. And much to my surprise, Jack had agreed to sing the song for Ben as he played. They were second to perform.

Ben played smoothly and aside from one glitch in the beginning when Jack lost his place reading the lyrics, the two performed great. I was one proud momma. Proud of Ben for how quickly he learned, how great he sounded and how confidently he played. And proud of Jack for standing up like a super-trooper for his brother and doing something I hate doing.....performing in front of others!

The residents and patients seemed to really enjoy hearing the kids play. They all read along to some of the group songs which included Brown-eyed Girl.

The six students had never played together as a group before but they sounded great! Ben was not only the only boy, but also the youngest and the least experienced student. But you would never have known!!

There is nothing this kid can't do!

One of the First "Lasts"

2010-10-28T08:13:00.006-04:00

It wasn't until I started thinking about blogging about our trip to Elm Knoll this year that I realized it was the last time I would go there with my kids' preschool. All four of the kids have gone to the same preschool and it's been a run of 9 consecutive years (if I've counted correctly!)...starting with Jack in 2002. There were even years when Jack and Ben were both attending and I was driving there every day.

The annual pumpkin picking field trip has been at Elm Knoll every year....with the exception of last year when they had closed for the year. I think there may have been another year when we never made it on any trip because of bad weather. And this year, Elm Knoll had changed physical locations. But it still felt and looked the same.

It was a cool but gorgeous day for a field trip. Chica was bundled up in a double layer of fleece.

The trips always begin with the morning song.

We were the only group there so we got the first hay ride to the field! Chica left me in the dust in line and chose a seat in the back next to her friend.

I was happy that the cows made the trip to the new location. A herd of them come running when they see the tractor pulling the kids. The kids are given ears of corn to hand feed them. The cows were sure hungry that morning! Chica was a little timid at first and it was a bit of a tease to the salivating cow!

Those that have been on prior trips know that there tends to be an explosion of dogs. It got to be a little out of control in our last couple years at the old location...the dogs were everywhere, including on our picnic tables. But the owner only brought over one sweet dog to the new location....Rosie. Big shocker that Chica was all over her. Rosie came on our hay ride with us.

The pumpkin selection was great, although it takes my girl some time to pick the perfect pumpkin. She ended up with one that was both green and orange.

A view of a pumpkin patch from our hayride.

There were donkeys and goats to feed!

And a great big hay pile with a great slide that the kids enjoyed.

And there were opportunities for silly pictures...

And there were munchkins and juice and a big huge box or corn...

And one thing I will always remember about the Elm Knoll trips is that you get to know the other parents and build relationships. This year we had moms, dads and grandmas and it was such a nice mix of people.

It was the perfect way to end the run of field trips to Elm Knoll. I'm surprisingly more sad than I thought I would be. I am the type of person who always is excited about the next steps for my kids. But admittedly, I am starting to feel the end of an era....and end of innocence....and the end of many memorable preschool years. It's going to take me all year to prepare for that graduation!!

What I've Been Missing

2010-10-14T08:29:00.007-04:00

Yesterday was one of the most glorious fall days on record. Not too cold, not too hot, beautiful blue skies, gorgeous colors everywhere.

I've lived in this town on and off for approximately 32 years and I'm embarrassed to say that I don't recall ever taking a hike in one of the few spots around town that people hike with their families and pets. A friend (who did not grow up here!) posted some pictures on her blog from a hike through a local preserve and I sort of invited myself on her next hike.

I decided to bring Buddy with me on the hike. This proved to be both a good and a bad idea. Buddy loved the exercise and oooooh...the smells!! But he desperately wanted to keep up with his new friend, Stella, who was off leash. I was too afraid that if I let Buddy off leash he would put his nose down and be gone forever. So, he pulled me up and down the trail and I am just thankful that I didn't trip over a tree root or twist an ankle.

My friend and I stopped a several times to enjoy the sites and grab a picture or two. The photo opportunities were endless, especially with a macro lens. I wasn't overly impressed with the foliage. But the colors haven't been as bright this year and the leaves seem to have turned and fallen early than normal.

But I did manage to get a few shots to document the wonderful hike.

Some bittersweet...

Stella in a clearing with some nice foliage in the background...

Bittersweet encroaching on the apple trees...

There is an apple orchard along the way and the apples looked so much better than the ones my son brought home from a local commerical orchard.

Photographing nature doesn't come super easy to me and was even more difficult with Buddy in tow. But I was happy to come home with this photo of Stella. This was a lucky shot, but definitely in my comfort zone.

Thanks, Becky!! Let me know when you want to go again! Although I would also really like to join you for chocolates and white wine!!

No Stopping Her

2010-09-28T21:57:00.005-04:00

One sunny day a couple of weeks ago I was watching Chica ride her bicycle in front of the house. I knew she could ride without the the training wheels off. She has really good balance.....and really strong determination. I asked her whether she wanted to try riding on two wheels. She looked at me with a nervous smile and said yes.

I took off the training wheels and ran back and forth in front of the house a couple dozen times. She had it pretty much right from the start but she was nervously excited. A few more times jogging behind her bike, holding lightly onto the back of her seat.....and she was off.

She was so proud of herself...and so happy to show off for our neighbors, for her brothers when they got off the bus, and for her Daddy when he got home from work.

My four-year old bike rider.

She did take one little fall, but didn't cry until I pointed out to her that she had a little boo-boo.

And ever since that day....

THIS..

IS..

ALL..

SHE..

WANTS..

TO..

DO..

This is a very exciting accomplishment for my baby girl.

And I'd probably cry about how fast her little self is growing.....but instead she makes me smile and laugh.

Some Firsts...and Things that Define Her

2010-09-21T08:30:00.010-04:00

Over the last 6-8 months there sure hasn't been that much blogging by me. I have taken SO many pictures, but have been struggling to fit in the time to edit, upload, post and write. (Not to mention how annoying it is that you can't move photos around within a blog post on Blogger. Arghhhh!).

Over the last eight months my Chica has had some important things happen in her life....some 'firsts' that were never documented. And in the last year I have learned a lot about who she is and who she may become.

Becoming a Hostess

About 8 months ago she had her first play date at the house with her friend, Rose. Both were only three at the time and both are the youngest in a family of four kids. So both know what they want and what they don't want. And although Rose is all about dressing up and princesses and Chica might rather play with some of her brothers' boy stuff, they always agree on snack time and arts and crafts. Here, Chica is showing Rose her ABC book.

Fearless Water Lover

I know she gets this from me. I loved water as a child from a very early age. And Chica clearly has loved water since birth. I signed her up for some semi-private lessons with her buddies Rose and Norah and the three of them completely blossomed in the water together. They went from from a little nervous to get their faces wet to jumping in and swimming across the little warm pool without any swimmies. It was amazing.

So I knew this was going to be a big summer for Chica in the pool. She took her first jumps off of Li's diving board in June. From that point on she was all about jumping in. And at home in our pool, she would beg for me to let her take her vest off to swim to "Jackie". I would allow this if I was out there watching or in the pool myself.

Arts and Crafts with Accompanying Messes

I've learned this is very much a girl thing. Girls can sit, color, paint and draw for hours. Chica has a little box which holds her painting stuff. She helps herself to taking it out and setting up right in the middle of the kitchen floor, with her body lying in the living room. Her artsy-fartsy time is helpful to me in getting things done around the house...and it's not TV or computer....so I embrace it (and its mess). Now clean up, that's another story. She moans that "she can't do it all by herself!". But we are working on that....

Miss Sporty

The odds of this girl not being interested in sports is slim. Sports is big around our house. And I, as her roll model, also love sports. She wants to be included in the excitement and achievements. She will ask, "Will you hit to me?". This brings me back to the countless hours Jack would have me pitch balls to him in the basement as a toddler.

She seems to have pretty good hand-eye coordination. Chris was pitching balls to her in the front and I had my camera out. Here is her proud smirk after she has hit a wiffle ball and I've made a big deal of it. So proud. So determined. She has incredible confidence....something I didn't have a lot of as a child. Must be Daddy's genes.

Dog Freak and Potential Future Handler

This girl loves dogs. I am completely guilty of passing along this passion. I will go out of my way to meet a dog. This probably explains why when she sees one of our neighborhood dogs being walked by the house, she will yell their name, burst open the door and run to the end of the driveway to say hello.....barefoot and in pajamas.

Chica LOVES to have a dog on leash. She has figured out how to work the leashes and also how to get the dogs' electric fence collars off. She loves to pull Chewie around the yard but he can't stand it and runs the other way when he sees her coming. Buddy is the ultimate trooper. She will bribe him into a walk around the house. Around and around they go until either Chica gets bored Buddy plops himself down and refuses to get back up. I think she may have a future at Westminster.

Bubbles

I don't know if it's just that I don't recall when the boys passed certain milestones but I feel like Chica is doing things quicker than her boys. Of course I'm sure that being the fourth child has a big part in all of this. She started snapping her fingers around two. I thought that was pretty early. And this summer she learned how to blow bubbles with gum. Luke's and our friend, Aidan, taught her right after he learned himself. One day when I had my camera out she insisted I snap some pictures of her showing off her bubbles.

There is another exciting milestone that she passed which deserves a whole post of its own. But for now at least I feel like I have caught up on documenting who my baby girl has become the last several months. Because I know I'll forget these things in a couple of years!

Keeping Traditions Alive

2010-09-16T21:22:00.007-04:00

By some grace of God, we were able to sneak away from baseball this past July and head to the Cape for a couple of days and nights to see some of our favorite people in the whole world. God also blessed us with amazing weather for our quick trip so that we were able maximize our fun!

Our first day we headed for Nauset Beach where we could find waves to ride and swim in all day. Unfortunately, high tide hit right smack at high noon. Also, the surf was super strong and had even prevented people from swimming the day before. The big kids didn't waste any time heading in to ride the waves. Only minutes later Jack got completely pummeled when he jumped with his back facing a big wave. The wave sent him spiraling chest forward onto a bed of little rocks. He had abrasions across his chest even though he was wearing a swim shirt.

That almost put a quick end to our first beach day. But somehow we managed to stick it out and even Jack went back in at the end of the day to ride some waves when the tide had gone out. Little did we know until the next day's news that that day was one of the first days that sharks were spotted off of Cape Cod. Kind of scary when I think of that gigantic seal swimming along shore that came within a few feet of some swimmers. Wonder if the sharks were near by?!?

I learned my lesson not to bring my nice camera to the beach last year. Here are only a couple of shots at Nauset Beach taken with my pocket camera.

Our second day we headed to our favorite spot where the kids search for critters all day. This is the famous spot for our annual picture with our friends.

Here, we were still dealing with swimmy diapers and naps. Jack and Ben both chose the Hulk pop this year.

Ah, welcome Luke to the madness a couple years later. We are really starting to get outnumbered in the parent-to-child ratio. Jack and Ben choose the two-ball screwball and Luke gets that push-up ice cream thing.

The group pic snuck in at the play scape in Chatham center. Welcome Chica! "Poor" Ben got tagged out in pickle.

We're back to Schoolhouse Pond and ice cream! I'm guessing nobody is having problems distinguishing my Irish/Welsh/Scottish/hint of Italian kids?

And the 2010 picture... we got a teenager, some pre-teens, some other cuties and a whole bunch of snow cones! I feel so old! Look at how they've grown!!

Schoolhouse Pond is so relaxing. The kids are busy filling buckets with fish, snails, crabs and anything else they can find. The adults can actually sit and chat. There are headcounts, as always, but the worry factor has gone way down.

Chica busily working the shovel....

Jack showing off his wounds from the pummeling on Nauset Beach....

Luke showing off his catch....

Ben, always happy to pose for me....

And here is one of the critters that I think Chris spotted and caught for the kids.

I guess I can see why this is called a Blue Crab...

And here are Jack and my godson, Tom. Most of us have to do a double-take with these two. With their similar builds and crew cuts you could easily mistake one for the other at a quick glance!

Here is a candid from a game of Marco Polo. (Hello, did anyone see that big crab??)

Chewie came along again this year. He enjoyed the Cape air and his friend, Ellie. And Ben was thrilled to have his pal with him.

And as usual we made our way down to see the Chatham A's play. We loaded up the wagon and walked on down to the center for some baseball!

A rare pic with my two youngest....

And here are the kids humoring me with a quick pic before we left.

We refer to this crew as "Team Dunkoni".

We had a great time! I tried fresh sea bass for the first time. And the one beautiful teenager in the group babysat for the crew so that the adults could go out together alone for dinner one night. Times they are a changin'.....

The only thing that might have been better is if Harry Connick Jr. invited us all to stay at his place overlooking Schoolhouse Pond.

Surely I jest. It doesn't matter where we are as long as we are with our friends!

All in the Family

2010-09-06T09:43:00.005-04:00

I can't believe it is September and I never blogged anything about baseball. I guess the problem is that baseball...and my children...took up so much time and energy that I couldn't make time to fiddle with pictures and blog about it.

Jack and Ben played their third season together as part of the Falcons. They played in a very competitive U-11 A Division. The season started out with an awesome pre-season tournament championship. For the regular season the boys finished first in their Division with a record of 16-4. They then went on to be the runner-up for the State title. And then they played in a local tournament, went undefeated until the finals, but then lost to a tough team.

All in all, I couldn't be more proud of my boys. They are not perfect. They make errors, miss catches, strike out looking on occasion. But they are team players, have good attitudes, are respectful, try their hardest and support each other as brothers and teammates.

I eventually went through a season of pictures to see what I had. I was so pleased to see that I have this series of photos of my boys....as teammates. My favorite picture (and likely my favorite moment of the season) is the first below.

Ben had a great hitting year. Early in the season he hit a bomb to the outfield. He ran around the bases for his first ever home run.....to his brother, best friend and remaining teammates there to congratulate him. It was a proud moment in so many ways. Seeing Jack's expression afterwards in the photos just warmed my heart. This photo will go down as one of my all-time favorites.

Here are the other photos:

I believe this one was just luck. But the same knee up, same positioning of the glove.....

No doubt Jack watching a runner on second and contemplating the pick-off with Ben getting ready to move to the base.

Chatting on the bench.

Bench profiles.

Playing infield together.

Posing with their first place trophies.

Even Luke and Chica showed their support during our final tournament by wearing the prior year jerseys and hats.

Seeing these photos puts me in my happy place.