Toy Story on Ice (overload)

I found someone through a friend on facebook that was selling 5 tickets in the THIRD row center ice. I pounced on them. Last year we were relatively far away so I was really excited.

A friend of mine bought the other two tickets for her daughter's birthday.

Madison, Jackson and I took the train from Salem to North Station which is in the same building as the Boston Garden (where the show was) so it was an easy commute. They absolutely love to take the train.

I had goosebumps walking along the ice to our seats. I was definitely more excited than they were.

This picture was taken from our seats.

$42 worth of light up toys that by the end they said they didn't want. Luckily they let you exchange things so I let them pick out new things on our way out. Jackson got a Buzz gun that was half the price of the light up toy and Maddie got a Woody pendant that was a quarter the cost of her light up toy!

I took all of these pictures with my 50mm lens. I was loving how close we were.

When the characters would sit on the side of the ice while others were performing they would turn around and wave at the kids and even touch the ones in the front row. They were SO excited when Barbie waved at them!

The show was fantastic and Maddie cried when it was over. I must admit I had a tear in my eye too.

New windows and lightning and school pictures

It's time for some construction on our old house. My parents bought us windows for the playroom for Christmas so my dad came over a couple weeks ago to take out the old ones and put in the new ones.

Maddie was serenading Grandpa while he worked on the scaffolding outside.

He got the new window in pretty quick and went home.

Unfortunately after sleeping on it he couldn't continue putting in new windows without replacing the 211 year old sheathing that was rotting underneath the siding.

So the sheathing came off, the new window came out, the new sheathing went on and the new window was put back in. This is where we stand today. The second window still needs to be cut out of the green part and put in.

All this time we've had a whole lot of playroom items in our teeny tiny living room. It's not pretty.

One night a week or so ago we had a mad thunder storm. I took some video out of the window. I was surprised to find some bolts in the frames!

The kids had school picture day a couple of weeks ago. As much as I hate school pictures I was excited about them getting them. I think it's a neat thing to have from year to year. Plus I think the class picture is so much fun to look at when you're a grown up :-)

Within a week the packages were returned to school. I was shocked at the speed and was very pleased with how they came out. I was really worried they would have goofy faces. Although the class picture wasn't as good of them.

Random stuff

Here's the girl kitty basking in the sun during this long cold winter.

My boy's eye lashes

The kids handed out their first valentine's cards at school. Madison signed her name in all of them and Jackson decorated the inside.

Jackson impressed me and tried to copy the names on the labels. I didn't know he could do that! Sarah is his girlfriend. There was a girl named Emily in their gymnastics class who he said he wanted to be his girlfriend instead but he and Sarah seem to be back together now that gymnastics is over.

Madison wrote all of the names on the envelopes. She talks mostly about Chloe and Mai when she talks about school. Although she really doesn't talk that much about it unless I ask.


And here is Jackson writing his name for the first time!

Remember me?

OH my poor children. I'm just so far behind! These pictures are from a month ago. For those of you not from around here we have had an insane winter. I can't remember exactly now but I think there were 5 major storms in 5 consecutive weeks. We generally get one or two major storms in a year! The days the storms fell on we only missed one day of school (they're only in school on Tuesday and Thursday) and one day of dance class though.

So here are some photos from after one of the storms.

Chris was throwing them in the air into the snow. They loved it!!

This is our patio table.

We're really hoping the snow is done for this year!!!

2010 highlights

I made a video documenting all the fun things we did in 2010. It's 10 minutes long so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!