January 19, 2011...H2O

The kids love the pool at the hotel we're staying at!!  So much so that I am able to use swimming as a reward that the kids can earn each day with good behavior.  Today the kids had a fantastic day so we got to enjoy some pool time!  They were thrilled!  And so was I!  They sleep so well after getting to swim their wiggles out!

January 18, 2011..."Home" Schooling

Brielle was practicing her name during our "hotel-schooling" session today.  It gave me a whole new respect for teachers and home schoolers alike.  I don't know how they do it.  It takes a lot of patience, creativity, and tolerance to keep kids focused, engaged, and excited about learning.  

January 17, 2011...Happy Birthday, Tiff!

To celebrate Tiffany's birthday, we headed downtown by train to see the sights and do some shopping.  We made it back to Long Island just in time to make reservations at The Melting Pot - only the most fabulous fondue restaurant ever!  What a great day!  Happy Birthday, Tiff!

January 16, 2011...Family Ties

Our crew on the first day of our trip to NYC.  The boys were troopers on our 10 hour drive through bad weather and worse traffic.  They did very well on the drive down and after a quick swim, they crashed.   Today was spent hanging out, exploring the hotel, and relaxing.  It was a perfect lazy Sunday!

January 15, 2011...On The Road

We hit the road today for New York City!  We're traveling down to see Tiff and Brie and spend the week with some of our favorite people!

January 14, 2011...Haircuts and one tired boy

 Today I'm posting two photos because neither one of them is of great quality (cell phone photos) but both tell a story of our day with few words needed.

  We all (Nate, Alex & I) got our hair cut today...the boys were getting pretty shaggy and mine was well overdue for some shape and style.  I can only pass the ponytail off as an "updo" for so long!  So my boys are looking cleaned up and quite handsome, and I'm feeling a little more human with my cute new do.

Once we got home, it was practically bedtime so we ate quick, took baths, and got ready for bed.  Alex was apparently so tired that he brought his blankie in the bath with him.  He may have fallen asleep right there but for that whole drowning thing. 

January 13, 2011...(My) Honey

Alex enjoyed the honey I gave him to dip his chicken nuggets in SO much tonight that he thought he'd suck the container clean...he was a sticky mess just waiting to be dumped in the bath when dinner was over!  Alex sure loves honey and I sure do love MY honey bear!

January 12, 2011...Grumpy

Nate was not happy with whatever it was I told him he couldn't do.  So he was pouting.  And since I had my camera out to take photos of the fun they had been having, I captured this slice of real life, too.

January 11, 2011...Concentration

We were finally able to celebrate the holidays with the Ayers clan. During our gift exchange amongst the kids, I snapped photos, as usual.  I love this shot of Pam, trying diligently to figure out the toy we got for Brianna.  IWN, Pam!

January 10, 2011...10 on 10

Today is the tenth of the month so I'm participating in the Ten on Ten photo challenge wherein I take one photo every hour for ten hours on the 10th of the month.  This month I chose the theme travel in honor of the upcoming adventure the boys and I are taking down to NYC.  Seven hours in a car alone with two children ages 2 and 4 sounds like fun, no?  It'll actually be our second trip down there and before they were 18 months and 3 so it's got to be better than that and that went quite smoothly!  Regardless, the only photos I took today were for 10 on 10 which you can see here.  But I offer the 365 Project an outcast photo that didn't make the "cut" (I took too many actually and since it's not called 11 on 10, I'll share the extra one here...).

January 9, 2011...Love You Berry Much

Nate and Alex decided to eat their raspberries at lunch by placing one on each finger as is customary for olive eating around these parts.  I love watching their little brains work, explore, and live.

January 8, 2011...Club House

Alex found a little club house of his very own today.  He spent quite a bit of time hanging out in there...reading books, bringing toys in, playing around with glow bracelets in there, even resting with his pillow pet and blankies for quiet time.  He tried to invite me in but that wasn't happening.  He had such fun in that empty cabinet.  Who knew. 

January 7, 2011...Happy Birthday!

Today was Daddy's birthday - he was supposed to be working but wasn't feeling hot so we got to spend the night with him which is a little silver lining to his dark cloud.  Since we weren't expecting him home to celebrate, we had already done his present earlier in the day and had no cake for candles or celebrating.  We just couldn't have that though, so after dinner I whipped up a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies just so we'd have SOMETHING to stick a candle in.  Nate helped by picking the candles and putting them in the cookies for me.  He insisted that Daddy have two candles and even got to help him blow them out.

**(Every day since Nate's been asking to give Daddy more candles to blow out but he only gets one chance just like everybody else!)

January 6, 2011...Snow Much Fun

The boys got out to play in the snow today and had so much fun!  I played around with my new zoom lens that I got for Christmas and got some great photos of the boys.  Fun was had all around!

January 5, 2011...End of the Holidays

The holidays are over.

The tree is down.

The lights and ornaments are packed away.

This year we live in an area where you can have a fire pit so my husband decided to burn our Christmas tree this year.  It didn't work well, but it gives him something to do in the cold!

January 4, 2011...Renewal

After a week or so of warm (40 degrees!) weather and melted snow, we finally started getting more snow the past couple days.  It's so nice when the old snow melts away and the new snow falls to freshen everything up.  I can't wait to get the kids out to play in the new snow!

January 3, 2011...24/7 Firefighter

Nate is all firefighter all the time.  When he's not playing firefighter, talking firefighting, or watching fire related shows, he's reading about it.  Every Friday he goes to the library in school and brings home a different fire fighter book.  He knows more about fighting fires than some actual firefighters! 

January 2, 2011...Four-Year-Old Brilliance

This photo will seem rather random, but there's a story behind it that makes me smile.  My four-year-old was playing nicely in his room today when he called me in to see what he had been up to.  I noticed he had taken his deer figurines and placed one on each of his cowboy horses, Little People animals, etc.  When I asked him what he was doing, he said "The cowboys have been out hunting and are bringing their deer home on their horses".  Sheer brilliance, if you ask me.  So clever!  It reminds me of the day I found deer antlers on the floor and grumbled about Avery chewing them off Nate's deer.  Nathaniel quickly corrected me and said "Avery didn't chew them, I pulled them off".  Confused, I asked, "Why would you rip the antlers off all your deer and moose?" and his response kills me:  "Because they're decorations!"  Judging by the deer antlers his father and grandfather have displayed, he's quite right.  

January 1, 2011...Brotherly Love

Nate and Alex decided they wanted to do a "sleepover" tonight (which means one sleeps with the other in their bedroom).  I obliged as a "last day of vacation" gesture (secretly knowing it helps BOTH of them go to sleep faster/easier if they sleep together!).   With minimal intervention, I was concerned when I heard silence after a very short period of time.  So, I went in to check on them and found this:

A true moment of peaceful slumber and brotherly love.  It makes my heart melt!  I tried to get all artsy in Photoshop with this photo but met more frustration than actual productivity so I gave up for tonight.  I figure it will give me some place to go up from here...practice makes perfect!  :)  

Launch of Project 365 for 2011

**Alternately titled - Remember me!?!?**

I had big plans for this blog last year but with a series of computer issues and data storage complications, it just became too much to keep up on and then I had fallen so far behind I was overwhelmed and, well, was just never quite able to get back in the saddle.

So with that pathetic story told, I am here today to announce that I'm taking another (slightly modified, tweaked, and collaborative) stab at this photo-a-day thing in the new year.  My fabulous friend, Heidi, my fellow photographer-in-crime, blogger extraordinaire and all things inspiration and motivation for me, dangled the idea of taking part in Project 365 this year.  She had read about it on one of her blogs and thought it would be a great way for us to focus some attentions on that which we love most - taking photos.  Usually of those that we love most - our friends and families.

I'm still learning the premise behind the concept and have not fully committed to executing it exactly as it was intended, but I like the framework and will use this as a spring board to get my photo-a-day journal back up and running.

What would a new year be without new starts and fresh beginnings?!?  So join me as I attempt to post my year's "story" one photo at a time.