Papa, Mama and the Boston Media.....

It all began with a broken lazy susan...

A few years ago, once the little royals started to arrive, our beautiful home fell to a second, (albeit, third, fourth and fifth) position as far as priority. We do our part to keep up with the yard work/mulching and cleaning, but anything that requires a lot of tenacity--well--we kind of let it fall onto the Honey-Do list....which gets reviewed maybe twice a year.

Then, our favorite news station (New England Cable News; http://www.necn.com/) shifted their a.m. format to include a Morning Show from 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. Former New England Dream Home producer Deb Halperin took over a new responsibility with "Help Me Brian"-- a fix-it show hosted by and starring Brian Gurry of American Builder.

So, tying two things together--a small fix-it project and support for our favorite local station--we reached out to Deb with our mini-disaster and Brian kindly responded.

The results of that labor earned us not only a new lazy Daisy (replacing the Susan) but some airtime on regional television. (including a shot of Aramis!!) :)

Wendy and Brian Gurry--he's quite a character!!

John Hamman, Princess Abs, Wendy and Brian post-shoot... (We're thinking Abby may want to fore go anything that requires a lot of photo-taking, so modeling is out for now... :( )

Help Me Brian - NECN; 2.28.2011

The fun-filled, silly segment is below. (NOTE: To increase the hilarity of the segment, some liberties were taken prior to filming (i.e. overloading of the cabinet) since we're pretty sure Aramis and Abby broke this by stepping on it. Oh well....Keep your eyes out for the mouse!! :)

http://www.necn.com/02/28/11/Help-Me-Brian-Make-your-lazy-susan-spin/landing_newengland.html?blockID=429397&feedID=8499
Within the same week, King Tony too got into the media spirit and responded to friend Lauren Beckham Falcone--who was doing a story about recently released Farrelly brothers film, Hall Pass. Tony was interviewed for Lauren's column (linked below) and Queen Wendy was quite relieved to read his response. Although, she questions his motives....

http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1318712

And there you have it! We're just a media-friendly family and one unafraid to throw ourselves into the mix.

(See former blogs about Abigail and our family....)

http://kingdomandcastle.blogspot.com/2010/10/10-10-10abbys-continued-ascendance.html

http://kingdomandcastle.blogspot.com/2009/10/princess-abs-makes-front-page-newsagain.html

Sightings of Early Spring....???

We're not sure how or why, but New England saw temps above 50 degrees today--marking what many around town believe to be early-onset Spring 2011. Now, having been an East coast family for the better part of our lives, we know all too well that this is Mother Nature's 'tease.' She taunts us with sunshine and melting snow/ice, but soon enough, we'll again be in the grips of another Nor'Easter--at least until late March when most of us start to feel more secure that Spring is, in fact, on its way. So, in the spirit of enjoying what the good Lord gives us when it is given, the royals headed out to enjoy the warm temps and begin yard cleanup!

Prince Aramis trades in his winter gear for lighter clothes and a shovel.

And goes to work on the mountainous snowbanks lining the driveway....

Abby pitches in to take a turn once Aramis tires of the manual labor. Royals aren't supposed to get their hands dirty, are they?? :)

Wow...looks like the perfect cover art for the weekly newspaper...title "The Big Thaw" :)

Craziness in the Kingdom....

There's nothing quite like catching an actual 'push' between siblings on camera. Well, that was just the beginning of a crazy week in the kingdom. We had TV crews in our home, spent time jumping around like monkeys and enjoyed a special Valentine's Day.

Auntie Wendy again outdid herself and sent lovely Valentine's Day shirts to her Godson, Aramis, as well as his sister and brother--so that everyone sported the most gorgeous designs from www.chicboutiquecreations.com!

(Just a plug: For anything you want personalized, please visit Chic Boutique. Our Aunt Wendy is super talented and has limitless gift options for just about every member of the family.

We love our Auntie Wendy!! :) )

In an exciting turn of events, we welcomed members from New England Cable News (NECN) to our home during the week. More details about the airing of a hilarious segment (featuring American Builder star, Brian Gurry (below) ) to come in two short week! Stay tuned!

To work out our 'cabin fever,' members of the royal family traveled for an afternoon with other members from the Merrimack Valley Mothers of Multiples group--which hosted a lovely day at Jump On In--the most cool indoor recreation venue. After a few hours of jumping and super-sliding, the kids were ready for bed--what a treat for mom and dad! :)

Prince Alec still amid his downward slide...

Aramis and King Tony getting ready to jump off and start again! :)

Topping off the week, our cameras caught up with King Tony--who was inside the kids' tent reading The Hungry Caterpillar.....

...and Alec who instead of hanging out in the tent, decided to hang out on the john and talk on his cell phone. I guess we know who is going to be the businessman (or sports agent) already! :)

Snow Day 2: The Big Climb.....

"Heellllloooooo".....can you find me amid all this snow??
Princess Abs is really enjoying the white stuff....just like her mama! :)

King Tony tries to walk the grounds and finds himself buried up to the waist in white stuff. Hmmm....what to do next!?!

Ah, call the royal princess and princes for assistance. Alec comes to the rescue and pulls Tony from the snow....

Tony teaches the royals how to climb snow mountains....

And then, there's video of Tony's rescue (below). :)

Well, clearly it's a crazy weather year here in the Kingdom. Our snow-belt location has certainly earned its reputation--with now an approximate accumulation of nearly 5 ft. of snowfall (and lovely 10 ft. snowbanks to boot!). While the royals have had a wrench thrown into their daily routines due to snow days off from school, Mom and Dad are finding a number of ways to teach our children about the joys of winter weather. Even King Tony, who abhors the cold and winter months, is taking a lesson out of the Super Parent's Rule Book, and ' jumping in' (literally and figuratively) to the snow to show how fun it can really be. I guess we'll have to plan a vacation in the warm weather soon, so that all can defrost properly. :)

Above is video from Snow Day 2 video titled, The Massive Climb, highlighting our ridiculous antics which keep us sane and warm as the temperatures drop and we're forced to make-due within a sea of white mountains! Hard to believe there is actually grass and driveway underneath all this stuff!