Preston turned THREE in January!!! 

My sweet little baby boy, is such a big boy now!!!

He loooooves trains! He's so into trains right now! He likes Hot Wheels racing cars (he sleeps with a red one every night), big dump trucks, sharks, dinosaurs, wrestling with his sisters (especially Baylee (the Honey Badger)) & he likes everything that is creepy & crawly! But, he also looooves Sea Turtles, and sweet things like baby animals & monkeys - you know... All boy, with a heart of gold! :)

We got him a train table this year, which has been a smashing hit with all three of the kids! Hours of entertainment (I love it!), he also was spoiled by Mimi & Papa who got him all sorts of Thomas the Train books, PJ's & toys. Aunt Annie sent him a huge care package with all his favorite goodies & Aunt Natalie & Uncle Eric sent him a Sea Turtle night light & Handcuffs - so he can harass his two sisters even more!

We had donuts for breakfast & made personal homemade pizzas for dinner - followed by a yummy Thomas the Train cake & then we watched "The Land before time" while eating homemade carmel popcorn & other movie treats. 

All in all, a great day for my special little man!

Here are just a few pictures of my guy with a few of his gifts...

And, with the train table... 

And, since then we shaved off all his hair, so he looks so different to me now!! :(

Since I'm on some sort of roll here, these are some pictures from Nemo, the winter storm that gave us about 14, or 15 inches of snow... I think in February(?), sometime...

The day after the storm was really beautiful - the sky was so clear & blue 

(how it usually always looks after a big storm) 

 So, it only took us 41 minutes to get all the kids snow gear on & for us to get out the house... A big improvement since the beginning of the season! ;)

 We headed to Aubree's school, to meet some neighbors & go sledding on one of the hills there.

Yes, Aubree's school is IN a forest!! :)

 Aubree with her friend, Sammy!

 Wipe-out!!!

 Our snow man... I forget what we named him(?)....

We got a good 4 to 6 inches of snow early last week... and I thought, "oh, for sure this will be the last snow of the cold season in 2013" :-)

It's not - but, that's ok, tomorrow will be "Spring Snow".  Anyway, the snow started right around 5:30pm, Garrick started a nice fire for us & of course, we had a little play time outside, before the snow really started to accumulate. 

Baylee snuck out the door, before I could get on her snow boots - notice the girl's outfit.... She picks out her own clothes these days! ;-) And, I let her wear what she wants.... She just pulls stuff out of her drawers & even though she may have 5 layers on... hey! That's all on her, you know?! Hahahaha! :-)

BTW - before I get the "worst parent of the year award" for these pictures... I ran out without shoes on too! And, I already had my camera - we only stood in the snow shoe-less for like, less than 30-seconds... 

 Trying to be like Big "Teh-ter" (sister) & "Bow" (brother)....

 Baylee saying "snow" - this girl talks sooooo much now!!!!

 Gathering the firewood... Nothing better than a warm fire, on a cold night....

 Aubs catching snow flakes on her tongue! ;-)

 Wanna-be Mountain man...

 Good Little helpers...

What do you do when you're going into your 7th month of cold, dead weather?!?! I swear, it's been cold since October, with no warmth in sight!!! I'm not trying to be negative.... Just stating facts! :-)

Well - you play inside almost ALL day!!!! And, you can only play so many games & paint/color so many things & Michael's Art Store must do exceptionally well (by the way!) this time of year, because us (and 1/2 of New Jersey) is constantly there trying to get art things to do, make & color...

So, this is just ONE of our many, many projects we've worked on in the past few months.... Just a nice afternoon of painting some little wooden boxes. 

Sorry I have not kept up with this blog, you'd think I could make more blog entries since I'm just sitting at home all day... But, I just haven't been taking too many pictures + my 18 month old has been especially needy & whenever I whip out my nice, new shiny laptop she starts to act up... and tries to get in between me & this computer - so that's out; while she's around. Plus, I guess I'll just attribute it to just not being overly motivated by the weather... good excuse, huh? ;-)

(BTW - yes, Preston lives in his PJ's - I do clean them every day he wears them - but these are 1 of his 3 favorites - clearly it's just a coincidence that he's pictured in them in all of these posts(?!?!) :-)  )

 So many color choices... ;-)

 I even did a little "Baylee" sign...

And, that's Preston's box with the Bumble Bee above right ^

And, Ummmm..... Spring!!!!!!! Where are you????? 

We're supposed to get 5 inches of snow tomorrow! Where are the high 50's & 60's?!?! 

...Any day now!!! :-)

So, we had a lot of rain a couple of weeks ago & I'm sure I've mentioned this before on here, but Aubree loves - like, LOVES Earthworms! 

Well, I was taking her to school & because it was so rainy, I drove her and when I pulled into the driveway I saw a couple of worms... But then I noticed more & more... and even more! Like hundreds of worms all over the driveway & street & thought "ohhhhhh!!!! I always remembered seeing worms after a rain! How strange!". Anyway, Garrick was home for lunch, so I went in to get Pres & told him I had a surprise. So, in the rain... we stood for a good 30 min. looking at all those worms! I'm a researcher at heart, so when nap-time came, I looked it all up & yeah... sure enough those little creepy crawlers just loooove the rain & come out when it's moist, to mate! (Interesting fact too!!! Earthworms are Hermaphrodites, so they all have babies!!) So, I figured I might as well gather up my crew & get those earthworms picked up & put in my garden! I'm glad I had Aubree & Preston to do the work! Because, I don't really like touching them! Hahaha! :)

And they do....

I let the kids keep them for the night; and at that point all 86 of them had names... They were pretty much family, you know? But I was thinking of the sole happiness of our beloved pets & told the children that they simply must be released, you know?! ;)

Well... This was a bit more difficult then I had anticipated. There were tears... Yes, actual TEARS from Aubree! She simply did not want to release these worms. It took a bit of convincing & some threatening from Preston (HE would release them himself!!)

And, then it was finalized, Aubree would do the releasing....
Goodbye Maddie! (pictured above - she was an especially tough release!)

Goodbye Trish! (Preston's favorite worm)

Goodbye Andrea!

Goodbye Drew!

Goodbye Joe!

Goodbye Victoria!

Goodbye Laurie!

Goodbye Charlie!

Goodbye Eli!

Goodbye John!

Goodbye LuLu!

Goodbye all you worms... (Name, after name!)

And, Baylee had no idea what the heck was going on! 

She was just a bit mad that she couldn't get into the garden area...

(Everyone always does her dirty!)

 Some of our pets for 16, or so hours...

Hopefully they help my soil!!!! :)

My little sister said to me today, "Hey! What the heck, you haven't updated your blog in a loong time!" & I feel bad about that... Unfortunately, it is not just my blog that is behind, but also ALL pictures & everything! Actually, everything has been put on hold (more or less), while I have been concentrating on designing my website!!! I have decided to take the next step forward & turn my current hobby into a business - and so, I am going into business as Dana Javidi Photography. My new website is danajavidi.com - I will also be doing a blog of my work... which I actually like better then this one because the pictures look better (more clear) - then this blogger one. So, I am at crossroads... Not sure which to keep up with, or to keep up them all(?), I suppose as time goes on & I start to get going, I'll find some sort of happy median.

So, this year in NJ - we have had a REAL winter, compared to the one last year, which everyone said was just bizarre. Snow falls almost weekly, still scattered here & there on the ground now as I write... It generally is, just really cold & sometimes beyond cold... while taking Aubree to school, sometimes I don't know if I can survive long enough to make it up the path... Ok, that's totally dramatic! :) But, the wind chill - brrrrr!!! It just feels/smells icy & I start to freeze up. 

I know we're adapting to this weather, because when I look at the weather reports (daily), I'll see 39 as the high & whoo-hoo!!! Warm weather!!! :) We just had a nice semi-sunny 39 degree afternoon yesterday & so, I got the kids bundled up & we did our 1/4 mile walk to pick up Aubree at school & man! It felt goooooood! :) I told the kids, "Wow! This is awesome, you guys wanna play outside after we get home?" And, they all say "YEAH!!!" And, so we got out all the bikes and driveway toys & had some outdoor fun... It's been awhile since we have played outside & also awhile since I snapped some pics of the kids. These days Aubree is too quick & crazy for me & Preston is too whiny (because he refuses any sort of naps), so I got some pics of my little 16-month old Jersey girl who NEVER complains about the weather... or life! :)

 (she still hasn't figured out how to use her power wheels)
 These two... up to no good!!! ;)
She is so funny!! :)