family pictures - winter/fall 2011 (b/w is so cool)

family pictures - winter/fall 2011

all to himself

...what Nicolas does when his big brother and big sister are off to school. Aiden and Sky are on the bus on the way to school on cold winters morning. Nicolas celebrates having the house to himself by first turning on the CD in Aiden's room and then jumping and rolling around in Aiden's bed...he's got everything to himself!

holiday party in sky's class

scrap wood to sr76

So with all of the contractor's left over scrap wood, we've (Aiden mostly) been building various things...today we built a SR71...make that SR76 (Aiden's version). Sky was our "perfect piece of wood finder" and "Aiden was the nail finder"...he scored big when he crawled under the new deck and found a pile of unused nails. We laid the pieces out and thought about we we could build given our limited resources. Aiden came up with the idea of the fighter jet. From there, we built the jet together. Aiden wanted it painted black because the SR71 at the museum is black. Sky came up with the idea of putting some stickers on it to make it prettier. She also wanted to paint it gold and black but she was vetoed on that one by Aiden.


Aiden wanted his jet to have proportionate wheels so he asked if we could take the trucks and wheels off of his skateboard but we didn't go for that...he settled for tying the jet to his board using a black bungee cord.


Voila! Scrap wood to SR76!

sweaters for all (by grandma!)

Grandma made new sweaters for each of the kids. The sweaters are amazingly soft and comfy...and perfectly sized...oh and each came with a matching hat and scarf! Go Grandma!

we built benches

Aiden gets his BROWN belt!

First we say the pledge and then we meditate.


Then comes the warm-up and stretching exercise...


...the TEST itself...


...Aiden does an outstanding job in his form. His moves are crisp and his kicks and punches SNAP.


...he speaks clearly and can be heard across the room.... now that's CONFIDENCE.


I don't know who's more proud of him...his parents or his sister.

Look at the BEAUTIFUL BROWN belt...oh so nice!

Aiden has...

Patience to practice
Courage to try
Spirit to fail
Wisdom to guide


It takes hard work and dedication to get here, people. It ain't easy that's for sure.

sky's holiday performance

Here's our Sky right here ^ front and center...next to her best friend Vincienzo.

This picture was take just before the curtains closed.




After the performance, they had a reception in their class.


I am the proudest, luckiest mom in the whole wide world.

Daddy blew off a bunch of meetings to watch his little girls performance.

we've decked the halls a bit

he builds...non-stop

He and I built this ship with the scrap pieces of wood leftover by the deck contractors. Building this ship made his day...I don't think going to an amusement park would have been as much fun for him.

brining home the christmas tree

We go Christmas tree shopping the day after Aiden's birthday party...his party is usually the Saturday after December 2nd, and then Sunday morning after breakfast we hit the road in search of the perfect tree...and here she is.

aiden's six birthday party

thank you

surprise! shark attack!

It's 6:30 am December 2nd, 2011...Aiden wakes up to a shark swimming around the house. What the??

Aiden is SIX years old today! Happy Birthday my SWEET SWEET SWEEEEEEEET boy!


Nicolas is taking care of the other balloons for Aiden.

aiden's birthday...tomorrow.

Okay, so I'm so sad that my first baby boy is growing up so fast that I spent hours just looking at old videos of him today...

Here's his 2nd birthday:



And look at that hair!



And here:



And look at my beach boy!

nicolas dancing to mr. saxo beat

This little boy will dance to anything...but he also knows a good beat when he hears it!