Ten on Tuesday!

1. I'm completely in awe by how much this kid loves the snow. He truly is a winter baby. He told me he likes playing with his trucks in the snow way better than playing with them in the sandbox!

2. Which means I'm going to have lots of pictures like this for the next few months around here!

3. It's not just trucks that he loves playing with, he was pretty excited to make some snowballs to throw at me while I was taking his picture.

4. Speaking of pictures, Hayden has turned the corner and is no longer anti-camera. In fact, he sometimes asks me to take his picture! He's still not quite as into it as I'd like, but it's a huge improvement from the last few years.

5. Which is good, because this little stinker is now completely 100% over my camera. He won't look at me when I have it in my hands, despite all my best tricks. I happened to be speedy and catch a split-second eye contact from him the other day. It was the first time (and only time since) that I've gotten it.

6. Hayden is so interested in the camera, that he even tells me what to take pictures of! When I was photographing him in the snow, we saw this formation of geese flying towards us and Hayden instructed me to take a picture of them!

7. Speaking of that little stinker that won't look at the camera now, his vocabulary is just exploding! He still does a fair amount of grunting and whimpering, but it seems like every day he's saying new words. A few of my favorites: "chooch" (for choo-choo/train), "Hay-en" (for Hayden), "peees" (for please).

8. Since I didn't do a Thanksgiving specific post, but feel it must be documented, here's the wonderful feast we had last Thursday:

It was just a quiet Thanksgiving with the 4 of us, and it was a lot of effort to prepare the traditional meal (especially since most of Ben's ended up on the floor--like his other meals--and Hayden is not a fan of vegetables), but it was worth it!

9. I now have a "Fine Art" gallery on my photography website where you can order prints or canvases of some of my nature and outdoor images. I recently sold a 20x60 canvas of one of my Yellowstone images and I was thrilled--I need to go over and get a photo of it up on the wall because it looks amazing! If you're interested in browsing, check out the available images here.

10. Speaking of business, I'm having a fun contest for my clients this year and one of them will win a 16x20 gallery-wrapped canvas. I gave those that were interested the chance to pick their favorite image from our session and they'll all be up on the Amy Shertzer Photography blog starting Wednesday morning. Blog visitors will have a chance to vote for their favorite, and by this weekend, the image with the most votes will be turned into a 16x20 canvas! Be sure to hop on over and vote starting tomorrow!

Ski Season has arrived!

The first storm of winter pounded us last week with lots of snow and very cold temperatures. Friday, the sun finally came out and it was a comfortable 22 degrees. . .

. . . which means that ski season has officially arrived! We headed out to one of our favorite local spots with 4 pairs of skis! Hayden is now in his 3rd season on the snow.

And Benjamin is starting out his first (technically, his 2nd winter, but he was too little to actually play in the snow, let alone ski, last year!).

We upgraded Hayden to "real" cross-country skis and boots this year and he loves them!

This means that Ben gets the hand-me-down strap-on skis, which he was delighted to try out. If Big Brother is doing it, then he has to do it!

He did a little shushing with Mom and then he was ready to get into the Chariot. Five minutes of happiness on skis was a great first experience for the littlest Shertzer!

Hayden lasted about 20 minutes before wiping out!

"Don't take my picture, Mommy!"

The best part? We have 5 more months of skiing ahead of us!

Thankful for Boys and Bubblewrap

I had a large canvas delivered to the house a few weeks ago and it came wrapped in about 12 feet of bubble wrap. Which just about perfectly lined up in our front hallway. Laughter, running, and popping ensued. . .

It was the best half hour of entertainment we've had around here in a while!

Storytime for Maggie

Hayden came home from school with a book and he was sure it would be a favorite for Maggie. It's called How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Cats? and when he found her relaxing on her bed, he sat down and started to "read" it to her. At first, she was more interested in the food in Benjamin's hand. . .

And once I shooed him away, it was much easier for her to enjoy the story. . .

The whole scenario filled Hayden's cuteness quotient for the entire week! (That's a good thing, because if he didn't bank up the cuteness, I might just send him packing when he's in one of his royal stinker moods.)

After the snow. . .

. . . comes the hot cocoa! I suspect the real reason that Hayden loves to go outside and play in the snow is that he gets to warm up with a mug of hot cocoa when he comes inside.

This tradition started last winter, when I suggested we make a warm treat after an afternoon of playing in the snowy backyard. And once you do something with Hayden, it turns into a tradition. So now, every time he opens the door after playing outside he announces, "I'm ready to come inside and have hot chocolate!" And it doesn't stop there. He insists on helping make it.

Now Benjamin is getting in on the act, too.

I actually almost suspect it's more about the marshmallows than the hot cocoa. He insists on having "1 big one and 2 small ones" every single time.

We'll be going through a lot of marshmallows over the next few months!