Thankful for Facetime with the cousins

Thanksgiving 2010

Our Thursday began with getting bundled up to go watch Josh play football. It was sooo cold out there. Some guys from church and their friends played at the MIT fields. I love watching Josh play football. It along side with math and science is his forte'.

I adore my kids in hats! We were too cold to stay long.

Go Josh!

Then we and half of Boston decided to leave the city and head out to Rhode Island for some yummy dinner. We had quite a spread with tons of different dips, cocktail shrimp, turkey, yams, stuffing, potatoes, etc. Noah especially loves Thanksgiving food. He was devouring his food like a starving pauper. After eating we switched gears to Christmas and made gingerbread houses. We found out that this will be our last Thanksgiving in Rhode Island with Uncle Mike and Ruth. They are moving to Dallas! Booo! Happy for them, so sad for us. we'll miss these guys so much!

Noah and Justin

We read the instructions and found out that you're supposed to let the walls dry for a few hours before putting the roof on. We knew that wouldn't fly w/ the kids so we just went to work.

Presley worked so hard on the house. She was so sad when it fell apart! We'll have to try again for family night. We thought our house resembled a night club!

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to Megamind in the theaters with the whole family (plus Justin's date!! ha ha) The kids were real good. None of us had to spend time in the lobby with a cranky child. Yippee!! I'm feeling like this holiday gave us a chance to recognize how lucky we are. If you are like my sister and talk to me quite often, you'll know that this past 9 months have been a little grueling as Josh prepares to get some work published. Thanksgiving was great to get us (or me) to think about all the positives and blessings we have.

Next on the agenda. My last three portrait sessions of the season and Tuesday we are hoping to take our own portrait for a Christmas card! Send me an email if you want to be on my card list and don't think I have your latest addy. I love reconnecting with friends and family over the holidays. It's probably one of my most favorite things.

A Special Day

Yesterday was special because it was Noah's last fall soccer game. He became so passionate about soccer during the World Cup. At recess and after school at the park he had been playing kickball, soccer, and football like crazy. His little competitive nature really came out of hiding this year! We signed him up for Cambridge Youth Soccer and found out that the whole town was involved in this. All his buddies from school were on teams and it was really enjoyable for him to compare stats and keep track of rankings!

It was hard not to get a picture with Noah in it. He had to be everywhere the ball was. You can just tell he's having the time of his life. That made it worth standing in the cold on early Saturday mornings, dealing with bored siblings on the sidelines.

Turquoise Team! (doesn't the kid with the dark curly hair just look like a pro soccer player?)

Yesterday was also special because it was the day of Presley and Josh's special daddy daughter date to the ballet. They went downtown to Boston and saw"La Bayadere." It was a three hour show. I was sure Pres would get tired and want to leave in the middle, but according to Josh she was so into it. I believe it because when she came home she showed me the playbill and told me the whole story line and all about the characters.

She is so excited! I can see it in her face. :)

A little graphic designing

There's this event at church here in the whole Boston area that is a huge tradition. It's a little event known as wreath-making. I was enlisted this year to do the advertising and loved the design I came up with for the invitations. I'll have to post a picture of the finished product. The style of them almost makes them look letter pressed (an added bonus!)

If you live in the area, you are definitely invited!! It's one of my favorite ways to kick off the holiday season. See some examples of my finished products through the years here and here.

Trick or Treat! (east coast style)

We trick or treated in our neighborhood for about 45 minutes. It was a chilly evening. You wouldn't know by Josh's flip flops! He would up stepping in an icy puddle, I felt so bad.

I love our neighborhood. Trick or treating is an excuse for Josh and I to check out all the amazing homes. It was also a nice treat that the people answering the doors weren't stuffy richies, but fun, nice neighbors.

One house actually set up a little candy shop with bins you could shovel all sorts of candy into your take out box. It was so fun for the kids. This was over on Irving St. where Julia Child had her Cambridge residence. Cool, cool.