A fun weekend away with my sisters and mom...there's something about visiting the coastal areas of New England in the off season that I love. The weekend was full of shopping trips..

and lots of quality time making jokes and laughing with the ladies I wish I could see everyday. While there was also lots of fun, there was also some debauchery to be had as well. Who would've thought we'd be on the other side of the law at a traffic stop with my Mom in the front seat :)

And who knew Peeps are 1) already out and 2) now come in Chocolate Mousse Bunnies... 

I got all my sisters and me

We are family...I got all my sisters and me...c'mon you know the song..and it's fitting to sing along as I share pictures from a recent photoshoot with none other than my sisters and the fabulous photographer Mandy Mayberry (http://www.mandymayberry.com/). We had these photos taken as a gift for my mom and gave them to her on  Mother's Day!

I'm so excited that I finally get to share some of these. They were under top secret super duper hiding this past month while we waited for Mother's Day to do the big reveal!

We loved how they came out and..even better...I loved how much my mom loved them! I'm sure she's showing off her album to all her work peeps this week and she had Mr. Allan promptly hang the framed photo we gave her as soon as we got back to her house after brunch!

so....here we are! Thanks again Mandy!

This was deemed the framer....

This was Heidi's favorite..she's in the purple..because she has her super model chin down head tilt pose down to the T in this photo.

The Big sister...Heather..although she's a whopping 5'3 on a good day..so she doesn't live up to the title :)

the middle sister, Heidi...let's just say...classic middle child

Me...aka Mrs. Allan

One of my favorites...just because it's different!

Messing around on the beach....yes I'm an amazon compared to my two sisters!

some more sisterly love...

smiling pretty for Mom

I'm a fan of the candids where we're doing silly things!

Another favorite!

 flexing the muscles a little and getting a mini workout in

 some more solo shots of the 3H club as we call ourselves...

 and...the finale and final shot of our album ..which was very fitting!

All photos were taken by Mandy Mayberry. You can check out her work (and her blog!) at www.mandymayberry.com. Father's Day is just around the corner...and who doesn't love a nice photo!!!

A Very Happy Mother's Day

I had such a great time celebrating Mother's day with my sisters, Mr. Allan, and, of course, my fabulous Mom! having such a great Sunday makes Monday seem not so dreary, tiring, and bad today! Here are some pics from our great day!

My Mom...holding her gift that we were DYING to give her since it's been a month in the making!

Trying to figure out exactly what we got her...

Very excited for our professional portrait!

But..there was more...an album with all the professional pictures we had taken by Mandy Mayberry (www.mandymayberry.com)

 Posing with her new album...

we took my mom out to brunch at a place called Latitude in West Springfield, MA. The food was so good and deserved to get its picture taken. Here are Mr. Allan's Lobster Egg Benedict

 My momma's french toast

 My sister's grilled scallop salad



Such a great day and it was so nice to see my Mom so excited for her gift and the three of us so giddy to give them to her! Mr. Allan gets a big shout out for hanging out with the ladies of our family for the day..even though he had to be up at 3am for a red eye flight! Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

Steven Novogroski (March 3, 1955 - April 27, 2010)

The blogging has been slow the last couple weeks. I have primarily been in Western, MA with my mom. My stepfather passed away on April 27, 2010. He fought a long 21 month battle with cancer. He has been in my life since I was a bratty 9 year old...so a long time. My mom and Steve celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary exactly 2 weeks before he passed away.

I am so thankful to have had him in my life for so many years. I think having divorced parents always made me worry about my mom or dad being alone while I was growing up. I was so happy that my mom found such a wonderful man to share her life with. She showed such love and dedication as she was his primary care taker throughout his illness. I was so grateful to have helped her and stay with her and my sister Heather that last week. My mom showed me strength  and courage I could never have imagined.

I am also so thankful that Steve was present at my sister's wedding in June 2009 and our wedding in October 2009. Here are some pictures from our wedding.

Steve, my mom, Mr. and Mrs. Allan and my sisters

Steve, Mr. and Mrs. Allan, and my mom

I hope Steve knows how much he will be missed and I also hope he knows that myself and my sisters (the 3H club as we refer to ourselves as) will take very good care of my mom.