Tid Bits

As I type, Presley is standing on the back of my chair, styling my hair and spraying it with water:). I had three main goals for the weekend that got accomplished. 1)nap 2) long, uninterrupted shower and 3) TWILIGHT! I saw Twilight last night with two friends and Charlie who slept like an angel through the whole movie. We rushed to the theater thinking we would have to avoid the mobs of Edward fans only to find crickets chirping in our theater with a handful of people. I guess that means we're not in Utah! I really liked the movie in some ways, but couldn't help but giggle at a lot of the cheesiness. It was so fun to see the story come to life though. Worth the $10 to me.

We had the annual Ward Thanksgiving dinner Saturday put on by the men. Josh once again volunteered to make a turkey and enlisted Noah and Press to help.

Other than that I have some random pics to share. We redid our Christmas card picture so I'll show you the first take that didn't make the cut. And I got a shot of some brand new teeth:

Pass!

love this guy, sigh
Josh just found out that he passed his qualifying exam today!!! We have been working toward this since the summer. It was the huge exam to allow Josh to continue further in his studies here. We are so relieved. Now we can enjoy the holidays. Whew! I didn't even want to talk about it because I didn't want to jinx Josh. (I can't believe how supersticious I get!) Over the summer we heard the pass rate was 50%, but then as the school year went on the pass rate started to drop drastically to 30%! Josh would have lost his scholarship if he didn't pass and we would probably have been forced to leave Harvard due to the high cost of tuition and living.
We have been up to quite a bit lately besides that. Noah and Presley each had their parent teacher conferences this week and both are doing well. We will be working on speaking up with Press as she has a tiny voice in class (takes after me to a tee!) and we will practice writing with Noah who is stubbornly insistant with us that he can right his name backwards and it still "counts". The teacher says it's normal and he will grow out of it, so nobody's worried or anything.
I have been doing some photo sessions and just a whole lotta running around. I want to get my Christmas errands done early this year so there is minimal stress. We'll see how it goes.We still have to do over our family pics for the Christmas card and I don't know if I'll be able to wrangle up the troops for that one. Atleast I have envelopes for the cards...

Joy in the Journey

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly." -Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I keep hearing this quote lately and I think it must be because it's something I need to hear.
I've been meaning to document some of these cute little things Noah has been doing lately. Sometimes I am just so busy shuffling these guys from place to place that I don't take the time to sit and enjoy them. Bad, Terese!

• Noah has this theory that singing the Indiana Jones theme song cheers up Charlie when he cries. Every time Charlie starts crying, Noah rushes to his side and sings, "dadadadummmmdadada dummm, dadada...." in his high pitched soprano voice, further adding to the chaos of the moment. Love that little helper!
• Speaking of singing, we just had our Ward's Primary Program at church and guess who sang the very loudest? Yep, Noah. He bellered out the lyrics to each tune. He sang his little heart out. After church Noah said, "mom, people kept telling me that I sang really loud and I did a good job." Noah and I practiced lyrics, not so much delivery. Josh said his little face was so into it. (I couldn't tell because I was in the back bouncing Charlie.)
• I can tell Noah has been listening to lots of fairy tale type stories at school. We were talking about shoes and Noah said, we can go to the Cobbler and get some new ones! Also, his questions are getting more and more sophisticated as he matures. We pass homeless people all the time in our drives through Cambridge. Noah asked where they go when it's cold and rainy. I told him they might go to a shelter and he said, "or they probably search for a cave". That one might be a had to be there story, but the way Noah said it sounded like he was with Scooby and the gang and they were looking (or "searching") for clues.

Meanwhile on the Charlie front... he has been doing this a lot lately:

He was so fussy all day Saturday, then Sunday morning I saw he had his two bottom teeth cutting through the gums! So ironic that the kid I want to stay a baby forever seems to be growing up the fastest! I love how into toys Charlie is starting to be. Those jerky motions are definitely bcoming more fluid and coordinated.

glasses

Two Things

One: I got a LONG overdue haircut!!! My hair reaches a certain length and it looses strength and breaks off easily. I was also getting so bored of it. Boring mom hair as my friend, Lauren calls it. Here I am before (cheesy smile)


This was the photo I brought into the salon (I love Michelle Williams' hair, just the right mixture of classy and edgy):
And the AFTER:

I am so happy with it. LOVE it. I think my hair is meant to be shorter. I can't believe how long I'd let it get in college. That's just one of those things that are fun to cringe at while going through old pictures.

Oh yeah, and the Second thing is that I just finished Breaking Dawn. What a fun read that was. I was never bored for one second in that one. Thank you Stephenie Meyer. Then last night I saw the full trailer for Twilight the movie. I am all stoked now.

TGIF... can't wait to get some sleep. The whole fam has been sick and not sleeping well so it'll be nice to catch up on some zzz's. I have a fun downtown photo shoot planned too--I finally figured out a way to get down there and take pictures without the parking hassle. Can't wait.

Charlie's shots went well. He cried for just a few seconds and was good to go. He wasn't as tender afterwards as before. Thank goodness. But guess how much homeboy weighs? 18 POUNDS!!! I was shocked. I think Noah weighed that at one year!

Such an Exciting Day

We have a new president (elect) and Charlie is four months old officially! Can you believe it? I am dreading tomorrow. He is getting shots and last time that happened he was so tender and miserable.

Right now Charlie:

• can sit up if he's propped up with something
• is sleeping through the night (if he's not sick)
• is grabbing things and pulling everyone's hair
• can roll onto his sides
• can reach and hold onto his toes
• thinks Elmo is a stud
  

Halloween 2008

We had a good night of pizza eating, stroller pushin', train riding, and trick or treating. I have many photos to share thanks to Jenny who snapped away as we were on our adventure.
Here is our little motley crew.


Love the man with the yellow hat!







We were at the lovely Beacon Hill in Boston, hitting up all the rich folks for some big sized candy bars and sneak peeks into amazing homes.