Winter so far

So far this winter we have had lots of snow. I am no longer going to complain about it because quite frankly it does no good. So I am just taking it as it comes and using it as a learning experience with my camera. We got lucky last week and had a January thaw that melted a lot of the snow. Monday we had a snowstorm that brought it all back. According to the news we are on track for a record breaking season of snow. Oh well. Just want to share some of my favorite pictures of the season so far!


January thaw!
Sledding with Annie. My own children ignored me but Annie was a willing subject!

Kenzie pretending not to see me while Boomer tries to steal Beccas mitten in the background.

Out in the woods, near the river behind the house.

The Mad River behind the house right after a snowfall.

One of the many turkeys that visit Mom and Dads house.

Indiana Jones meet legos

I love the Indiana Jones movies and I happen to love legos so when I saw this I thought it was so cool. If you are a fan of either or both (like me!) click on the link and then click on the link for the Indiana Jones trailer.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/legoindianajones/media.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=tabs;videos

For those of you who don't want to check out the link it is a new video game coming out this summer based on the Indiana Jones movies, only it is all done with legos. I am also happy to report that there are Indiana Jones lego sets also available.
There is also a Star Wars version too.

(And, yes, I do enjoy playing with my kids legos as if I didn't already make that abundantly clear.)

Mamarazzi strikes again.

As you all know I got a really nice camera several months ago and, having mostly used a simple point and shoot, I have a lot to learn. I've gotten many shots that I am happy with but they are mostly done in auto mode letting the camera take care of all the technical stuff. Now that the holidays are over I am determined to really learn the camera and hopefully improve my photography. This of course means taking lots of pictures. My favorite subjects are my beautiful children, but the more often I pull out the camera, the less often they actually want their picture taken.

Here are some typical shots, not good by any stretch of the imagination, but amusing none the less.

"Oh no, mom's got the camera again!"

"I said no pictures!"

"Don't make eye contact. Maybe she'll go away."

"Hide behind something. I learned this from Auntie Ellen."

But when they cooperate it sure is nice!

Special visitor

This weekend we got a chance to visit with Jen. Her husband Micah was covering the debate in Manchester and while he was busy working Jen got a chance to come for a quick visit. The girls were so excited to see her and even more excited to have her spend the night on Friday.

Mom and Dad picked her up in Manchester and brought her to our house where they stayed to visit for a little while. The girls showed off their Christmas gifts and showed cousin Jen all their favorite video games. After dinner she got a chance to come to Becca's dance class and check out her new Irish dance steps. Saturday was pretty low key. We did take a hike out into the woods which was pretty fun. After warming up and drying off a little it was time to bring Jen back to Manchester so she could have a chance to see her friend Katie. It was really nice to get a chance to see her. I think we may have even convinced Kenzie to get on a plane and make the short trip to Baltimore to visit Jen and see her new house!

Happy New Year!

I wanted just one shot of the girls for New Years Eve. I asked them to just stand in front of the Christmas tree, together, with thier cute party hats and blowers. Quick and painless, right??
Not exactly. For your amusement I have included the play by play:

Me:"Okay girls, go stand in front of the tree. I just want one picture."

Me:"Uhh....That was ONE picture, TWO children. Where's Becca?"
Kenzie:"I don't know."

Now I've got both girls standing 4 feet apart on either side of the tree. No

picture here because of course they are not even close enough to be in the frame.

Me: Big sigh. "Can you stand next to each other?" The ever helpful dad shows up on the scene, with a bowl on his head, to usher the children together. They are still not IN FRONT OF THE TREE. Nice. Am I speaking english here people??

Okay, just the girls this time.

Me:"Pretend you like each other. Pretend you're sisters and you love each other. (I am desperate by this point.)"You can have ice cream after the picture."
Bingo!

Me:"That's great! Now just one more."

Kenzie:"Moooom, you said just ONE Picture."

Me:"Yeah, just one more, Please?"

Kenzie:"No you said we could have ice cream after ONE picture!"

Me:"Just one more."

Kenzie:" No, I'm outta here. I want ice cream!"

And that was the end of that.

I don't have time for the haters

The Patriots have gone 16-0. They broke all kinds of records last night. First the Red Sox and now the Patriots. What a great time to be a New England sports fan, right?!

Except all I hear is how much everyone hates the Patriots, their a bunch of cheaters..blah, blah, blah. Not that I condone what they did, but they are not the only team in history to cheat. And seriously are they cheating when Brady throws a touchdown pass to Moss over and over and over again?? The team in freakin' awesome!

Nuff said.

ChrisMess!

We had a great Christmas and hope that you all did too. The girls were spoiled as usual and everything was a big hit. Nonna and Nonno arrived Christmas eve and spent the night so that they could wake up with the grandchildren on Christmas morning. Nonna cooked a big seafood feast for dinner, then we kicked her out of the kitchen for Christmas day. I wanted something different to change things up for our Christmas feast so Dom and I decided on cornish game hens which came out pretty tasty! We also enjoyed sausage and apple stuffing, green beans and rolls. For dessert I made pumpkin mousse parfait, cause as donkey from Shrek says "everybody loves parfait!"

Boston Pops Concert

So I am finally getting around to posting about last weekend. We had lots of fun in Manchester.

We got there early and braved to crowds at the mall to bring the girls to Build a Bear as a special treat. Becca made a polar bear that she dressed in a cute skating outfit. Kenzie made a Bunny that she dressed in a cute Christmas outfit similar to her own christmas dress. I had to get in on the fun too and I made a bear that I dressed in a Bruins outfit. The girls brought their new furry friends to the Pops concert which was great. The orchestra was joined by special guest Cantus which is an all male singing group. They did a reading of The Grinch backed up by the Pops and they did a singing version of Twas the Night Before Christmas as well as several other songs. The girls really enjoyed it and we are planning to attend again next year.

We spent the night in manchester but despite getting up early the ground was already covered with about four inches of snow and it was coming down like crazy! Needless to say it was a slow ride home but we made it safe and sound. Now it is snowing again and has been snowing all day!

I don't have as many pictures as I had hoped. I forgot the camera for build a bear, nor did I have it at the Pops concert.(It was so dark there I don't think they would have come out anyway). I do have some pictures of the girls in their dresses and of course our furry friends.

More snow headed our way

Not a lot going on here, just the normal getting ready for Christmas type things. I got all my packages sent and Christmas cards too are all on there way. It has been a pretty unsettled week around here and man has it been cold. You know its been cold when 35 degrees feels warm! We got about a couple inches of snow on Monday morning and yesterday afternoon we got about 7 or 8 more. Poor Dom left work as soon as it started to snow down there and it took him four hours to get home! More snow is expected on Sunday so we will definitely be having a white Christmas.

The four of us are headed to Manchester tomorrow to see the Boston Pops perform at the Verizon Arena. We are all excited to get dressed up and go out. We have decided to spend the night right in Manchester and then hopefully get home before it starts to snow on Sunday.

I should have lots of pictures to share when we get back.

Tunes!

I am so proud of myself for figuring out how to add music to my blog. I did it all by myself without any help from my husband. This is extremely rare as I am not very computer savy, but I did it! Now I can annoy you all with my music. I know you will all be so excited. I will start by driving you crazy with Christmas music, some of my faves. Actually there is a pretty wide range so I bet you can find at least one you like, yes I even included Gene Autry and Roger Miller for mom and dad. And well if you don't like the tunes then turn them off! A little hint the music is way at the bottom of the page and you can click on whichever song you want to hear...or none at all..if your the Grinch or something.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We had our first big snowstorm of the season today, actual it is still snowing. We probably have close to ten inches. There was of course no school so we spent the day playing in the snow, watching Christmas movies, drinking hot cocoa and eating chocolate chip cookies. What better way to spend a snow day?? We did some snowshoeing too.

We have close to 14 acres of land behind our house and way down in the back is a river. The land was logged long before we ever bought it and many of the downed trees are still in the way making walking kinda rough. Because of this we haven't done much exploring back there. This fall Dom took on the huge task of creating a trail to the river which he just finished a week ago. Yesterday we took a walk out to the river before the snow and today we did it again in the snow. It was fun. We all used our snowshoes though the girls abandoned theirs about half way through the walk and alternately walked and rode in the sled. It was pretty fun though Boomer was an absolute pain in the butt!! Boomers favorite winter activities are "steal the mitten", "Knock the kids in the snow" and " sled tug 'o war". All of them are kinda funny the first time. By the fifteenth time it's not funny.

It is still hunting season so that is the reason for the very fashionable bright orange.

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas

I hope that everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We did, though not a lot of pictures to share. except for this one of the turkey.....

I meant of course Dom AND the turkey.

The day after Thanksgiving we put up our tree. It has been a tradition that Dom's family join us and this year was no different except that Uncle Chuck had to fly back to Colorado and couldn't join us. We missed him!

Anyway, we are lucky enough to have a tree farm only about five mins away and though there was no snow on the ground it was very cold and windy. This year we chose a scotch pine instead of a spruce tree just to change things up a little. The tree we chose was very full and very fat. Decorating the tree only came only after the traditional swearing at the tree as we tried to get it to stand upright in the brand new tree stand that looked really cool on the package but actually sucks. It still appears to have a little list to the right...

After the traditional swearing at the tree, comes the swearing at the lights which of course never work...(we didn't actually swear at the tree with the children present.) Next came the decorations. One thing that I learned about Scotch pines is that they are very prickly, like cactus prickly. Like no one really wanted to decorate the tree prickly after being pricked 5 or 6 times, especially the kids. So this is probably the first and last year of the Scotch pine in this house...But despite all the trouble we really did have a fun time putting up the tree. Honest.

My husband told me I had to include this picture of my mother-in-law with her mouth open cause it was funny.

I had nothing to do with it.

Honest.

Except take the picture and post the picture.

First Snow

We got our first snow of the season yesterday. Not a lot, maybe an inch, but enough that Becca couldn't wait to get outside in it once I picked her up from school. Kenzie was excited to see the snow and wanted to know how many days until Christmas. She had no desire to go out and play in it though.

Purina Diet

I didn't write this but found it hilariously funny and thought I would share here.

Purina Diet

I was in Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Purina for my dog and was in line to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog........ Duh! I was feeling a bit crabby so on impulse I told her no, I was starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care unit with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV's in both arms. Her eyes about bugged out of her head. I went on and on with the bogus diet story and she was totally buying it. I told her that it was an easy,inexpensive diet and that the way it works is to load your pockets or purse with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The package said the food is nu tritionally complete so I was going to try it again. I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy behind her. Horrified, she asked if something in the dog food had poisoned me and was that why I ended up in the hospital. I said no.....I'd been sitting in the street licking my butt when a car hit me. I thought the tall guy was going to have to be carried out the door. Your smile for the day. Think about this the next time you're standing in line at Wal-Mart.

Party Time!

Kenzie's party was on Sunday. We waited so that Uncle Chuck and Auntie Lisa would be able to join us for the fun. The birthday girl was very happy with all the goodies she recieved from everyone. We ate cake and ice cream and hung out while the girls played with all the new toys.

It felt like an early Thanksgiving being surrounded by family(or Christmas with all the gifts!)

We look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving in Gloucester with Dom's family this year. And we wish everyone else a Happy Thanksgiving too!!

Mackenzie is 5!

Yesterday was Mackenzie's fifth birthday! It was a good day. Both she and Becca were up extra early with anticipation. By 6:00am she had opened all her presents. Daddy was still home so why make her wait all day?? The only down side was that I gave her aqua dots and then heard about the recall and had to take them away from her an hour later. (I'll rant about that later!)

All in all she was very happy. Becca only had a 1/2 day of school so they got to play together all afternoon. We made puppy cupcakes that came out really cute and were super easy. We'll be having a party on the 18th while Auntie Lisa and Uncle Chuck are visiting for Thanksgiving.

The ears and nose of the puppies are tootsie rolls and the eyes are M&Ms. The pawprints are

a junior mint and M&Ms!

Today there is no school due to teacher conferences. Becca is doing great, she is above average in everything especially reading. There is a small group of kids in her class on the same level and they will soon be reading Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.

Silly Spider Cake

In the past I have enjoyed making cakes just for fun and spoiled Dom's co-workers with cakes at least once a month. I haven't made one in awhile and finally sent one in for halloween. I think it came out pretty cute. Kenzie was my official color consultant and frosting taster. It was a spice cake with a cream cheese filling.

The spider on top is not all frosting it is actually a three inch cake. This helped me get back into the cake groove with Kenzie's birthday coming up soon. Also Uncle Chuck will be visiting soon and we know how much Uncle Chuck loves cake!

Trick or Treat

For the last few years we have gone to Strwberry Banke to Trick or Treat, but this year it was cold and rainy and we decided not to go. We did go to the trick or treat parade downtown to the local businesses. They do it early for the younger kids which is nice. The girls were excited to go and the excitment grew when daddy got home early to join us. The girls were happy with their loot. When we got home the girls and I decorated some halloween cookies and made "mummy pizzas" for dinner while Dom went to pick up the boat from being shrink-wrapped for the season. We ended the night with a viewing of 'It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown'.

Have you ever seen such a cute pink leopard or Hippie Chick????

Mummy Pizza!

Frustration!

I am trying really hard to get our Halloween pics posted unfortunately blogger refuses to cooperate. I'll keep trying and hope to have them up by the end of the day!

Room update

Back in the spring I posted about finishing a room on our lower level and realized I had never really posted an official update. The room is done except for a little finish work like the window casings and the mouldings. We hoped to finish these now that the weather is cooler. So here are the (mostly) finished results. The room is primarily the girls play area and most days looks like Toys r us exploded but when it is cleaned up It is a nice cozy space and the girls love it. I love having my own craft corner. The couch folds out into a bed so this will double as a place for guests to sleep. And there is a half bath too, so no one has to trudge up the stairs to use the bathroom. It stills needs a little work and some pictures on the walls but it has been great to have the extra space!

Red Sox Prayer

A RED SOX PRAYER

Our Father, who art at Fenway...Baseball be thy game.
They Kingdom come,Playoffs need to be won,On Earth, then on to the Cask 'n' Flagon.
Give us this day, a perfect Papi, And forgive us our losses,As we forgive those,Like Bill Buckner.
And lead us not, into desperation, But deliver us from any losses.
For thine is the Power, And the Glory, To beat the Indians, Forever and ever....the Yankees suck

A-men

Fall Festivities

So we've been busy enjoying some fall fun, even though the weather wasn't always all that fall-like. I took the girls pumpkin picking at Butternut Farm late last week and it was about 80. Butternut Farm is a great place for pics but the girls weren't interested at all.

Over the weekend we made a trip to Gloucester. While the girls were spoiled by Nonna, Dom and I snuck away for a few hours to take pictures at Halibut State Park in Rockport, MA. It was another beautiful but unusually warm day and it was great for pics. It also made me really want a macro lens as well as a telephoto. I enjoy taking nature shots and "artsy fartsy shots" as Dom calls them. I took over 100 shots and got some neat ones. Here are a few faves. I may have to start a seperate blog just for pics! Now I have to learn how to use some photo editing software.

The second part of the weekend was spent at our friends the Beikmans who were hosting an Oktoberfest at their home. It was lots of fun with everyone bringing a favorite fall dish. There was lots of yummy food! One of the highlights for me was learning how to make homemade donuts from Audrey's mom. I got to be event photographer and Audrey and I are planning to put together a recipe book from everyone's recipes. I made pumpkin whoopie pies and they were gone in seconds.
The kids had a blast playing, carving pumpkins and decorating a big teepee that was set up in the back yard.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

R Rated Gardening

While playing with my new camera and attempting to take some pic of the few flowers left in my garden before they die, I was a little startled to discover this umm...phallic fungus had "popped up" from the ground. I had a little chuckle and had to take a picture of course. After a little search on the internet I found that it is called Phallus Revenelii or more commonly: Stinkhorn and yes it does stink. In case you need more info about this fascinationg fungus check out:

http://hosts.cce.cornell.edu/mushroom_blog/?p=129

What was even more amusing was finding this one in need of a little Viagara!