Pie-Crust Promises (aka, "New-Year Resolutions")

"That's a pie-crust promise. Easily made, easily broken." says Mary Poppins to Michael and Jane when they ask if she will stay if they promise to "be good." That's kind of how I feel about new-year resolutions. We start out strong on January 1st, and, by about the 15th, we've lost momentum. By February, those resolutions often seem like a silly idea to have toyed with in the beginning.

I stopped setting these types resolutions years ago. However, earlier in 2012, I read an article online about moms being "in the picture" with their kids--literally. Too many of us moms stay behind the lens of the camera, capturing every moment of history in our children's lives. And, yet, we're hardly ever in the pictures ourselves. So my only big resolution for 2013 is to "be in the picture" with the rest of the family. (Click HERE if you would like to read the aforementioned article yourself)

This morning, I put together a quiche for our new-year's day gathering at Ian's parents' house. Devin wanted to "help" with the pie crust dough, so I took a few shots before I realized, "Wait... I need to put myself in there, too." I have a timer on the camera, so we set up a shot. I still think the ones of Devin are cuter (which is why they are first), but be prepared to see more of me* on the blog in the coming year.

Happy New Year and best of luck with your own resolutions!







For Grandpa Wrz...




*Please note, I make no promises about whether such pictures will be PhotoShopped prior to posting. In fact, you can almost guarantee that all of them will be!

Christmas 2012

With a house under construction, the holiday season has been a bit subdued for us this year. We don't have room for a Christmas tree, but, just as in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," Christmas came "...somehow or other... it came just the same."

We started our celebrating on Christmas Eve with a trip to G&G Zafft's house. We had a lovely dinner and then exchanged gifts. While Ian's parents would love to spoil our kids with mountains of gifts, they continue to indulge us and show restraint in the gift giving. But even if we hadn't spoiled their fun, the kids would have been happy with one particular gift anyway--Angry Bird "flingers"!





Malcolm was excited about a gift bag that made lots of rustling sounds.






On Christmas morning, we woke to find Santa had made a stop at our house. We found more Angry Birds paraphernalia inside stockings, Mario Brothers pajamas, a rolling ball ramp set, and candy!





And Gramma Wrz sent an awesome table fort for the boys.




But, the BIG gift this year, was a trampoline!






For all our Christmas excitement, you can see the rest of the pictures here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/105841636035335018790/Christmas2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLHUp9Lg5-SwEw&feat=directlink

Duh-link-went

Yep. I've done another short-term disappearing act from the world of blogging. I blame the pregnancy, end-of-semester grading, taking on extra work, and general busy-ness of life. So, my apologies for being delinquent (hence, the title) in posting, but here is an update from April (yes, I know it's May--hush up!).

This Easter (yes, I still mean Easter of 2012) we engaged in traditional egg dyeing and egg hunting.

Aiden working his magic.


Devin's own magic (aka, "mess making").


Pride in a job well done!


The first Easter egg hunt was held in our neighbor's yard and our yard the day before Easter. The older kids got to hunt in the neighbor's yard and the littler kids "hunted" in ours.

Feeling the urgency!


A little less enthusiasm...


The Easter Bunny responded with a willing "YES!" when we wrote and asked him to come on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning. So the kids got their Easter baskets a day early.

That sneaky bunny brought some good candy and some great Angry Birds paraphernalia!






On Sunday, we enjoyed church followed by dinner and another Easter egg hunt at G&G Zafft's house.

Devin was a bit more into this egg hunt...


But still stopped after each egg to inspect the contents.


Aiden was very dedicated to the hunt!


Everyone was dedicated to the spoils!


For more pictures, feel free to check out the others uploaded to my Picasa album. I hope to be more diligent in the future!

Let's go LEGO!

Several weeks ago, Ian rescued a HUGE bin of LEGOs from his parents' house, carefully washed them, and sorted through to pull out non-LEGO toys. I think we have inherited several hundreds of dollars worth of LEGOs and the boys couldn't be more thrilled (Ian's pretty into it, too).

Today is the first day of "February Vacation Week" in Massachusetts (we get another vacation in April), and we were all home together. So by the time it was a bit too chilly to play outside and the Wii had been exhausted, the LEGOs joined the fun!

The rescued LEGOS


Aiden carefully adding to the castle






Devin trying to get in on the fun (though his building skills leave a little to be desired)


Another view of the castle creation


A little mugging for the camera


One of Devin's favorite pieces--a LEGO boat! (If you look closely, you'll see that he's putting a Swedish Fish into the boat behind the dragon)


Thank you to G&G Zafft for your investment in the LEGO company. I hope you thought to purchase some stock...

Christmas 2011

I've been neglecting the blog a bit, but that's mainly been due to lack of information to post. Most of November and December consisted of living in survival mode at our house. Between my "morning sickness" (which really lasted all day) and end-of-semester stress, we were lucky to have clean clothes to wear each day (for which the credit goes to Ian for keeping up with the laundry). But we're back on track and trying to stay productive during the winter break.

Like much of the Western world, we celebrated Christmas last week. Ian's parents have always focused on Christmas Eve and my family has always focused more on Christmas Day. So it's a nice blend to have.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Ian's family at his parents' house with a lovely dinner followed by an exchange of gifts.

Here's Devin checking out the nativity scene (Aiden told me they were all "girls" because they all have long hair, a.k.a. as head coverings).


Opening gifts is still a new concept to Devin, so Ian had to help him out a bit. He was excited eventually, but doesn't really look like it in the picture below.


And the result of opening presents... New baby dinosaurs!


Aiden was in dire need of a new backpack for school as the one we got him at the beginning of the school year tore down the front in November. G&G Zafft got him this cool one from LLB which should last forever.


Devin also got a new backpack from G&G Zafft and Aiden got a stomp rocket! They also got Ian a special gift: a new Nerf gun! It's hard to tell who's more excited about it, though, Ian or Aiden.


Christmas morning was spent at home. Aiden graciously waited until 6:30 to get up but we made him wait a little longer before opening any presents.


Waiting for presents is NOT an easy task...




But their patience was rewarded.


Santa was good to everyone and we feel very blessed to have family members who care about us. And because this post has gone on a little long, I've included a little slideshow of the rest of our Christmas pictures.



We wish you the best of the holiday season, that your Christmas was joyous, and that you greet 2012 positively and with a sense of excitement!

Trick-or-Treating (delayed)

Due to the lovely weather that graced our area two evenings before Halloween, trick-or-treating activities were postponed in many local communities. We always go to G&G Zafft's house to trick-or-treat because they have a safer and nicer street for candy-begging activities. However, Westwood was one of the towns that delayed these festivities so we ended up trick-or-treating last night!

Gearing up for our candy fest!






Aiden wasn't really that excited about wearing his mask but we convinced him to wear it around his neck so people could at least see it.


The crew making the rounds (Devin had a pumpkin costume but wouldn't wear it last night. Oh well! If you want to see pics, scroll down the the previous post.)




And an attempt at a family shot. Not looking our best, but not our worst by far!


Happy Halloween!