33

I just had a birthday right after Christmas. It was a really great one with just my kids and Josh. 

At 33 This is what I know:

• At some point between now and the summer, I will be moving out of student housing!!!
• I should never leave my cooking toaster oven unattended.
• I am way more obsessed with my kids than I ever thought I'd be. :)
• I ran the equivalent of two marathons in the month of December.
• I am NOT a neat freak.
• I am actually really good with money when I am in charge of the budget.
• I don't love cooking (yet).
• I fell in love with Kevin from the Wonder Years. (He even has his own Wayne:)

At 33, here is what I want:

• To find a new apartment or home that I feel at peace with.
• To have a more optimistic perspective about people.
• To not judge people based on first impressions (I am wrong too many times!)
• To see my siblings more often.

Here's to making this a great year!!

Date on the Charles

Tonight we went on a fabulous, spontaneous date thanks to my friend Brittany. The Bishop (or pastor) of our church in Cambridge is an expert in the history and architecture of the area. Every year he guides a boat cruise on the Charles River. Josh and I wanted to go, but didn't have the energy to find a sitter to watch all three kids. We totally forgot about the whole thing. Then My sweet friend Brittany called saying her and her husband couldn't go and they would love to give us their tickets + watch our kids for us while we went. She called it a late b-day present. Holy cow! It was a wish come true! After a week of drenching rain, today was gorgeous and Josh and I had been postponing date after date lately. This was PERFECT.

Isn't Boston cool?

Don't we look happy? Unexpected dates are the BEST.

 This sunset was the reward after putting up with all the rain. I actually liked the rain (as long as I wasn't shuffling kids in and out of the car in it). It is getting me excited for fall. We are already planning a fun Halloween with a visit from Josh's cousin, Porter. Yay for visitors!!

We watched one of the many specials about 9/11 last night. I can't believe it's been 10 years. I was in Mexico doing my student teaching when it happened. It was four months before I met Josh.

Right after the special, the news came on and said NYC is on high alert on bridges and tunnels. They said Boston will be too, just to be safe. It kind of creeped me out. Then we wind up on the river, cruising right underneath most of Boston's bridges!! I was on high alert for any suspicious activity. All was clear:) You can rest easy guys.

spoil me why don't you?

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I can't help but think of all the women in my life (mother's and non mother's) who influence me for the good and inspire me to be a better person. Thank you, thank you.

Wanna see what Josh got me for Mother's Day?

I had been wanting an ipod to exercise with for a few months now. I ran with it this week and had a blast. Josh was cute to get it inscribed for me. Mom, Wife, Artist, Teacher. He seems to think I'm something special ;).

One of the highlights of our week was a special family home evening that we had with our neighbors on Monday. We strung a string all throughout our house and the kids had to follow the string from beginning to end to find the treasure (ice cream sundae fixings with all kinds of candy and ice cream!) in our neighbor's kitchen. The string was supposed to represent the iron rod or the gospel and following it will lead to great rewards. It was slightly hazardous and we did almost break a lamp or two, but we had fun!

So our week was pretty crazy. On Tuesday afternoon Josh had a big project come into work that had him staying till past midnight a couple of nights and till 10 pm on a third night. 

I was on single parent duty running the kids to their activities and keeping things fun on the home front.

Here we are at this awesome building at MIT where Noah has swim lessons for scouts. I was floored that Noah gets to do this for dirt cheep in such a cool place. I am addicted to my camera phone these days!

I'm so glad it's warming up. This was fun. Pizza subs for the kids and philly cheese steak for me. 

When Friday rolled around, Josh wanted to get the heck out of town and as far away from work as possible. I didn't blame him. 

I'll give you a hint to where we went.

It was beautiful there. Everything I always pictured (including lots of old Volvos!)

First stop was Sharon, VT for a church history lesson. We visited the birthplace of Joseph Smith who was the first president of our church. It was amazing to re-learn about the story of his life.

Then we headed to the Benny and Jerry's Factory for a tour and some delicious ice cream! They had a dish of ice cream there called the "Vermonster" which had all the flavors and costed $44. It was meant to feed eight. We opted out of that one. 

Also this week we got Josh's thesis printed. We had to drop off copies all over campus to seal the deal on graduation. Such a good feeling to get that out of the way.

Valentines Date Night

We had two different offers of people wanting to take all three of our kiddos for a sleep over so Josh and I could have a late night V-Day date. We turned down the first offer because it turns out this is the weekend we were hosting a future Harvard Student to stay at our house for recruitment weekend. My second friend emailed me and I found out we could still do a date night even though we had this student staying with us. Yaaay! The wonderful Walther family drove an hour to come pick up all three kiddos after school on Friday for a sleep over extravaganza!

{This picture if proof that I need a little point and shoot camera to take on outings! We gave the nice camera to some guy to take our picture and his hat kept knocking the flash shut!}

 It was so weird to say goodbye to everyone! I hopped in the car and drove into Boston to get Josh. We parked at his work and walked to Boston Common to start off with some ice skating at the frog pond! (something that would be tricky with all the kids)

Here is ME! Ice skating was so fun! Josh had me laughing so hard with his "graceful" skills out there.

For dinner we headed to Stephanie's on Newberry St. Josh picked it out because it boasted of "sophisticated comfort food" Josh got Shepherd's Pie and I got a salad with warm goat cheese, pears and pecans. So good!

 We were walking all over the city and it was freezing so we stopped for some cocoa at Borders and heard the cheesiest live music. It was fun to see what kind of groupies follow musicians that give you nerdy chills!

After that, determined to squeeze more into our night, we went and saw True Grit! It was so hard to stay awake after 10 pm. We were loading up on candy to keep our eyelids open. The next morning we slept in till 8:30! It was heaven. Thanks so much Jason and Anna! We owe you big.

Big News

I am telling you, since last February, it has felt like our household has put off lots of r & r time to work together and get things going for Josh's work to get published. We took a big trip to Disney World then buckled down and took a break from any family trip or outing for that matter so that Josh could work towards something huge, graduation this May. Josh had to meet with a committee of professors and present his work before he got the green light for graduation. His meeting was Thursday and the answer was YES! Graduation in May is going to happen! Can you believe it? I get choked up every time Josh and I talk about it. In a couple of weeks Josh's work will be sent in to hopefully get published in a science magazine. He will also be in the process of applying for jobs and possible post docs. His current lab has told him he can stay there as a post doc for as long as he needs. That gives us a little cushion of security. Before I start dreaming of dishwashers and garbage disposals in my future, I am just going to enjoy envisioning this guy in a cap and gown. Cannot wait!

Did I tell you the other big news? Noah lost a third tooth! Here is a blurry, but cute pic of him.

 The crazy thing was that Pres was helping him pull it out. So funny that he trusted her. I actually would too. She has such a gentleness about her. Maybe we have a future, doctor, nurse, or dentist on our hands?

I have to post also about my fabulous birthday. Last weekend my friend, Lindsey arranged a big celebration at a local Mexican restaurant in my honor. It was such a fun girl's night. There is Lindsey to my left.

I blew a candle out of a virgin strawberry dacquiri

These are my mom friends from Noah and Pres' school. We endure hours of cool temps at the park together after school. Love these guys!

Whirlwind Days

Since we last spoke, Justin arrived in Cambridge on Tuesday. We have been doing all sorts of things with him since. Saturday we went to a Harvard v. Cornell football game. We had a great view, but we were on the Cornell side. Boo. I had never seen Noah eat a hot dog so fast! He is such a big eater these days.

What's that behind Josh? JUSTIN! on a date! This guy moves fast.

My attempt at sports photography. I needed one of those gigantor lenses they were using down on the field.

Then today was the big race I had been training for since July. Here's our running group. Love these guys!

Sooo crowded! There were 8,200 runners. Most of the race was trying to get around all the slow pokes and blockades of friends. Next time I need a strategy!

Waiting for mom to cross the finish line.

Here's my name in the race results! (click to enlarge)

Now Josh is leaving for Utah for a week bright and early tomorrow morning. A science conference and a speaking gig at my alma mater.

The Haps

I have been away for too long! My photo blog has been much less neglected these days so if you want to see where I have been or what I have been up to, head over there.

We have been busy and we have been lazy! It is a good mix! This week we had lots of play dates with Noah's buddies. At lunch one day the boys were all eating and watching a baseball game online. I felt like I was surrounded by mini men. They were on espn.com checking scores and talking about players. I thought it was a crack up.

Other things going on around here...we went to a fun water park the other day in New Hampshire. It was nice not being able to carry a phone or camera around for a change! The kids had a blast. Josh spontaneously took the day off work and we celebrated one of the last days till school starts. Noah went with Josh on this drop ride that almost made me lose my lunch. Pres, Charlie and I watched him go down and it was so freaky! His arms were flailing and he was supposed to have them crossed over his chest. Holy cow! He loved it though! My kids were incredibly brave. We had so much fun.

Also, I have changed some things in my life these days. I started running. No half-hearted once in a while stuff. This is five days a week sometimes twice a day for 2 to 5 miles. I gave up a bunch of my guilty pleasures too: Red meat, white bread and pasta, and mayo. I will eat these things when I'm at someone's house and it is offered, but I have been moderating it a whole lot. Also I cut back on sweets quite a bit. It hasn't been so hard since I feel like it is a lot of work to get up at 6 am to run every morning. I can't imagine throwing that away with a giant cupcake! Josh has been awesome at supporting me and getting Charlie entertained when he wakes up. I feel like a new woman. It has been about six weeks since I started this and I've lost 12 pounds! I didn't think I was a fatty before, but now I feel trimmed up. I was wearing some jeans from last fall and I thought I accidentally put on Josh's pants, they were so baggy! It's a fun feeling. I'm not posting this to be braggy. I just want anyone out there to know that it is doable. It has been 7 stinkin years since I have had a steady workout. The time has now come. Mentally it has been the greatest thing. I do so much thinking on my runs. I have quiet to sort things out. Also, I feel so proud of my accomplishments. My latest thought is this:

"You can't sit around and wait for others to cheer you on and praise you. You have to be the one to root for yourself."

This applies to me in so many areas of life: motherhood, art, photography, running, just being a woman. Maybe not the most profound thought, but it as taken me to the ripe old age of 31 to figure it out.

Here's to more days of running and happiness!

Eight (crazy) Years

Josh and I are celebrating our 8th anniversary. It is actually tomorrow but we went out last night on one fabulous date. My friend, Heather mentioned she had seen She and Him in concert in Chicago last month and I was so excited to hear they were on tour. I checked the Boston dates and it happened to be that they were playing here right around our anniversary. It was so nice to have an anniversary date all planned out a few weeks in advance. Usually both of us are scrambling to figure out what to do. The venue for the show was the House of Blues which happens to be in the Fenway Park region of the city. As we walked past the Big Green Monster, I decided that next year we'll have to do a baseball game for the anniversary. But this year was a night for ME! Thanks hun!

Thanks to our babysitter, Kirsten who watched the kids through the wee hours of the night! She took this pic before we left.

Waiting for the show to start. We missed the first band which I am glad. They back up sang for S & H and were a little too folky for my taste.

We entertained ourselves by snapping iphotos of Zooey look-alikes! There were many more that we didn't catch!

I must say that this is the most comfortable I have ever been at a concert! We sat in cushy chairs with a great view. We didn't have to fight sweaty teenagers to see. It was pleasant. It made me feel old, though. I'm so not hard core! ot only were there Zooey look-alikes, but there were plenty of old folks there. I assume they loved the do-op sound of She and Him. My mom would've liked them for sure!

We could see pretty well from where we were. I was amazed at the talent of that girl! Ukelele, keyboard, tambarine, and the voice. Oh the voice. Props to Rachel Takahashi for introducing my sis to She and Him which of course led to my becoming a fan. I love the power of music. I thoroughly enjoyed myself so much. The very best part was the guy I was sitting next to though! I told Josh how lucky I am that as a silly, mixed up, young 23 year old how on earth did I know to make such a right choice for me in marrying him?? Pure luck and (a little intuition) I tell you! Happy Year 8 Josh. I love you!