My Full-time Job

Otherwise known as keeping Noah/kiddos entertained. When Noah is home from school he seems to have high expectations of what it's going to be like. I think it is partly because he hears about what Presley and Charlie get to do while he's at school and thinks he will get to do all of those things when he is home. He had big plans for his Christmas break. High on his list was a trip to the museum. I was searching high and low for freebies since we are saving up for a trip to Florida in February to visit my dad and Ruth in their winter hibernation spot. Josh spotted an opening on Wednesday afternoons at the Harvard Museum of Natural History where there is no entrance fee for local families. We were there!








These two are so close! Noah gets into Presley's bed every night and reads her stories with a flash light. We peek in there before we hit the hay and they are all snuggled up together. Noah is suddenly so into reading. He was quite overwhelmed about it since he was in kindergarten. All of a sudden it clicked and he is taking off and is so proud of himself. It is the most fun thing to watch. This is why I am loving first grade!



Noah has such a sense of humor! He posed like the monkey without my prompting! He is always making up riddles and knock knock jokes. He wants to invent the tallest bicycle and call it a "high cycle."



I LOVE this museum. a) it's only a few blocks from my house b) it is never crowded c) it's not too big where I am scared of losing a kid c) there are such great stuffed real animals and giant prehistoric skeletons the kids are always entertained.

Charlie ALWAYS says "uh-oh". It is so cute. It's usually when he or I drop something. I can't believe he is already 18 months!



For our other freebie outing we headed to IKEA. Noah and PK were playing in Smalland while Chuck and I romped around in the kids' room displays. Then we had ourselves a free feast. (kids get two meal items and a drink free till mid January). Tacky cheap skate or smart mom, you decide!:)

Since Last time we Spoke...

• we had our first huge snowstorm and had church canceled as a result
  
• Christmas came and went
• my birthday came and went
• Charlie had two new words: "poop" and "bumbum"-both came up on separate occasions while I was changing his diaper.
• Noah finally has a loose tooth! -bottom front right side
• I figured out why I had been having such bad hair days. I needed to trim my bangs! Ohhhh.
• Josh had a big scare at work where he was almost exposed to crazy amounts of radiation.
• I discovered my new favorite shopping spot while on a birthday outing with Presley. Only prob was that Pres wanted me to carry her the WHOLE time!
• I successfully cooked a very tasty holiday meal. I haven't done that in a while! Ham, mashed potatoes, broccoli with hollandaise sauce (thanks Julia Child and TK!), rolls, chocolate cream pie and banana cream pie, home made cheese ball, and egg nog.
• We went to two restaurants with the kiddos and neither were complete disasters! Woo hoo!
• Josh and I watched 500 Days of Summer and I was reminded why I love Zoey Deschanel. I am so glad she sings in that movie! We also watched "Elf" on Christmas Eve and she sings in that one too!
• Presley played a Wise woman in the Nativity, but was holing back tears the whole time because she wanted to be Mary.
• We were tracking Sata's locations online and rushed making him cookies so the kiddos could get to bed before he hit Boston. It was tricky being on the east coast because we had no idea if he was going to come here first or South America first! Ahhhh!

In our neck of the woods

We have been getting into the Christmas spirit around here. Tomorrow will be our first day of Christmas shopping! We are the opposite of Black Friday shoppers I guess. It just seems like the month has flown by way too fast. Here's Charlie on our stairs in his seasonal pjs.

Noah made a battle scene with his Lego guys and was loving having me take pictures. He is so imaginative with his Legos.
Today we had some special visitors. Our friend Nate was in town on business while his wife was at a wedding in Arkansas so he brought the girls over while he was in meetings. It was bliss for Pres. It was also so fun to have such sweet, polite girls over. Claire was so enthusiastic of every activity or meal. Elizabeth went with the flow and had lots of stare offs with Charlie! I should have gotten a picture of that.


Noah had his winter concert today. They sang songs about peace, winter, and all the holidays of the season. With living in Cambridge I couldn't help, but wonder if the song about peace in many different languages was some political statement. Noah sang his little heart out. I was in the back and could totally single his voice out.

Everyone has static hair! Even I have it! Check out the cute kid in the green shirt!

A Shout Out from Pearl Street

Check out my photo blog and Pearl Street Interiors for more of my photos in this gorgeous room.

Movie Night!

We call Friday night, "movie night" at our house. It is the one night we (plan to) let our kids stay up past bedtime and watch a dvd with us. Last night was "Night at the Museum 2". It's nice to just soak each other in after a week of the hustle and bustle. Especially when all the other nights we are rushing to get dinner done and start the bedtime routine. When Noah and Presley got under their blanket to watch the movie, little Charleston Chew had to wedge his way between them and lay exactly how they were! He cracks us up more and more every day!

Rambling Randoms

Josh was out of town for five days and just came back last night. I thought it would be a fun time for me to get some projects done and have a girls night (so fun Nicole, thanks for hanging with me!) What I didn't think about was how completely lonely and lost I was without Josh! True I did get my Christmas cards all designed and ordered-can't wait to get them in the mail, and I did a photo session and completely edited it, but things just weren't as fun without Josh. It was a full time job keeping the kids entertained. Noah adores his dad and wants to hang out with him all the time. We started having the kids take turns spending one on one time with Josh each week on Thursday nights and they really cherish that time.


Here we are painting Christmas trees. When in doubt add more to your Christmas decor! We will be home for the holidays so I have no limit to how decked out our halls will be!

Our stockings and nativity on the fireplace. Stockings made by my dad's wife, Ruth and Nativity from my mom's old Christmas collection. We are all about sentimental with our Christmas stuff.


Here is our tree with multiple homemade ornaments dating back from our first year of marriage. Thanks to my friend Lizzy's yearly (fabulous) ornament exchange parties.


Then this year's homemade wreath from the one and only Wreath making Cambridge LDS Relief Society activity. I was going for big and obnoxious this year!


Noah wanted me to get a pic of him and Charlie hugging. Love my boys!

Here is a sneak peak of a shot that didn't make the cut for our Christmas card. I still like it lots, though.

Give Away's Are everywhere!

Go try to win a set of sweet dessert plates at High-Heeled Foot in the door. Tell them Terese sent you!