I discovered the trick to blogging--I just have to get sick! Then I have time to sit and stare at a computer and I can't run around leading my crazy life. You see, my crazy life keeps getting in the way of documenting the craziness. How do other people do it? Well, here is the result of my terrible cold (I thought pregnant women were exempt from sicknesses!): the past six months are finally downloaded from my old and new cameras (thank you, Generous Donor, who gave us a much-needed new camera!) and presented here for your viewing pleasure.
I know it's a lot to take in at once, so feel free to imagine that I post a few pictures every day. Then just come back each day to look at 3 or 4 more. While you're at it, imagine that my pictures look professional, that my house is perpetually clean, and that my hair is always perfectly coifed. Oh, and that I got to take a shower today.
Finally, I've decided to make a reachable goal: write a post at least once every month. That should be doable, right? Wish me luck! (That is, if there's anyone left who hasn't given up on me completely.) : )
SEPTEMBER: Technically, Steven graduated on September 17th, 2008, so we invited our friends the Hickmans over, turned Pomp and Circumstance on YouTube, and had our own graduation ceremony sans the boring speaker.
Sammy made this impressive dimploma: "Steven Charles gradually graduated from Harvard/MIT with a PhD in Mechanical and Medical Engineering."
William's first haircut: Before. Note all our food storage, moving boxes, etc. still on the floor in the kitchen.
Before.
After. I guess it's good that he doesn't look so much like a girl.
After. I just couldn't cut all the curls away.
OCTOBER: Our best friends from Boston flew all the way from Albuquerque to see us! (Technically, Corey and the kids came--Cort had to hold down the fort at home.) We decked out the house with welcome signs
We have just enough stairs to spell W-E-L-C-O-M-E.
Corey made us a fantastic Mexican meal (or should I say, New Mexican).
The advantage to a loft apartment is overhead shots.
Claire and William. What a duet.
Don't we look presidential? We had a whirlwind day in DC.
Corey always gets the most amazing parking spaces--this time across from the Washington monument.
Our good friend from Cambridge Shelly Astle came up with her two daughters and gave us an insider's tour of DC.
Doing their best Giraffe impression at the Natural History museum.
We ran through the Air and Space museum just before closing.
Reflecting at the Capitol's reflecting pool.
Ben, try not to knock over the Washington monument!
Sam, doesn't that pointy monument hurt your finger?
Sunset at the Jefferson memorial. Then a drive around the Lincoln memorial and yet another perfect parking spot in front of Bertucci's for dinner.
Did I mention that Corey and I did all this single-handedly with 6 kids? Oh, and Corey and I were both pregnant (although not necessarily aware of the fact) and Corey unknowingly had pneumonia, too!
Ben introduced Elliot to one of his new friends Charlotte at his Saturday morning soccer game.
The 3 stooges together again. Ben, Elliot, and Leo.
Playing at the Cylburn Arboretum (just down the street from our house) with the Johnsons and Hickmans. It was fun, yet surreal to be with our Boston friends in this unfamiliar place. Unfortunately, this chilly day spent outside probably did nothing to help Corey's pneumonia that she didn't know she had at the time.
Nothing can beat New England in the fall, but Mt. Washington sure gave it a run for its money.
Aimee Hickman made us her amazing roast chicken and vegetables. As you can see, it's so amazing that the kids even sat still and ate all their dinner!
To make their flight in the morning, the Johnsons stayed at a hotel their last night and the boys enjoyed the hotel pool together. Thanks again for coming, Corey! We had a great time (even if you were deathly ill and Elliot knocked out a tooth on the flight home). Now that's dedicated friendship! : )
Ben played on his first soccer team this fall: Mt. Washington's Ambush.
It turns out he's pretty agressive and really runs after that ball. Once he made 3 goals in one game: 2 for his team, and 1 for the other team. : )
Sam, on the other hand, is a natural defender. His favorite position is goalie (as in this picture).
Sam's the one in the blue hooded sweatshirt playing for the blue team Blizzard.
Ah, trophies!
The amazing National Aquarium in Baltimore is free for three hours on one day in October each year. Here we are enjoying our cheap night out.
Blue-eyed William loves leaves.
Ben, Sam, and Olivia--Sam's good friend from school. William likes Olivia so much, he even started saying her name this fall (Leeya).
I'm the class parent in Sam's 2nd grade class. Here's our field trip group--Stella, Katia, Sam, and Tyler--eating lunch at the Baltimore Museum of Art's sculpture garden.
Then they all magically became sculptures.
Here with Ms. Lough, their fabulous teacher.
My brother Uncle Rob and Aunt Erin came up from DC to see us and we all went to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum (again, on a free day--love that!). We rode in a real streetcar.
This if for my Grandpa Waite who knows how to say "Don't Lean out the Window" in a myriad of languages (from his travels on his church mission to Europe).
Nicht hinauslehnen!
Ne pas se pencher au dehors!
E pericoloso sporgersi!
Later we had pumpkin pie in honor of my 31st birthday. It counts as a vegetable--I promise!
Halloween: Steven taking Ben (the power ranger) and William (the train engineer) trick-or-treating. William refused to wear any kind of costume when I put them on him, but once Steven came home, they went upstairs and William emerged with this on going, "Choo choo!" The magic of dads.
Here's what Sam was for Halloween: a very sick kid who couldn't even go trick-or-treating. Poor guy!
William and Zeke Hickman have a shared love of firehats. It's been so nice to have our friends the Hickmans from Cambridge with us here in Baltimore!
NOVEMBER: When the Smithsonian's Museum of American History reopened, we took advantage and met Rob and Erin there. We tried to use the ruby slippers to get home, but ended up taking the car instead.
Here is our group interpretation of Rodin's sculpture "The Burghers of Calais"
The boys love to ride on Daddy's legs up our 3 flights of stairs! It must be all that bike riding that makes Daddy so strong.
Steven has a gift for carving apples. He's made a helicopter with moving blades, a pickup truck and trailer, a mug, and an ce skate, and in honor of Thanksgiving, a "Happy Thanksgiving" sign that Sam found in his lunchbox and brought home to share.
We love living close to family! Uncle Rob and Aunt Erin came up from DC and we even got a surprise visit from Aunt Celina who came all the way from Durham, North Carolina!
Sam's school geography project with mountain, lake, plain, hills, island, peninsula, and river included.
Our angel tree.
The boys with their shoes instead of stockings (we went European, partly b/c it's cheaper, albeit stinkier), and the obligatory sugar cereal Santa brings once a year.
William: Did anything even fit in my shoes?
Seeing the Christmas lights and a Christmas concert at the Washington DC LDS temple with Rob, Erin, and Erin's parents and brother. Poor William had a huge blowout in the car on the way there and we, of course, forgot the diaper bag! Thanks to our friends Ye Ji and Sunbeam Choi who happened to be there and let William borrow their 9-month-old's extra outfit.
Dinner and chocolate fondue with Ms. Lough, Sam's magnificent 2nd grade teacher.
A surprise visit with Steven's brother Jamis and his wife Marcie who had an unexpected layover in Baltimore.
JANUARY: Sam's Hopi pueblo village for his school project on Native Americans. He even added real sand to the paint to make it more authentic.
Dinner with the missionaries--a frequent occurance, usually involving pasta and smoothies.
We got a surprise visit from Steven's mom Angie. She took the boys out everyday in the snow and rain. Thanks, Grossmama!
Looking at brother #4 in the ultrasound pictures. What am I going to do with all these boys?
FEBRUARY: Sam's Spy Movie-Making Birthday Party. Here's everyone splitting into groups and getting their assignments to 2) rehearse their spy movie parts, 2) get costumes and set-pieces ready, and 3) play spy games.
The spy games: first a "Spy-Q" test . . .
and then did a Put-on-a-Spy-Disguise relay race. Stella really got into her role.
After filming in their costumes, our spies went on a spy mission to find the missing treasure . . .
which turned out to be magnifying glass-shaped cupcakes.
Sam chose to wear his "rock and roll" shirt as his spy costume--hand-ripped by Sam himself.
We watched the three groups' spy movies and then everyone loved seeing Sam exuberently open his gifts.
On Sam's actual birthday day we celebrated with cupcakes for his class in the school lunchroom.
Everybody added several creative verses to "Happy Birthday."
Thanks to Grandma Delys who sent Sam birthday Spy gear, including the amazing book
Spyology.
It was William's turn for a birthday--his 2nd. We celebrated with German stollen (almond, dried fruit, and marzipan cake).
William attempting to blow out his candles.
Sam and Ben graciously blowing them out for him.
Their true selves.
Sam's Baptism day. Many of his friends from school and church came to celebrate Sam's big day.
Steven baptized Sam and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a wonderful meeting with both Sam's grandmas giving excellent talks and the Primary children singing two songs about baptism.
Grandma Delys flew here from Utah (thanks, Rob and Erin, for having your baby just in time for Grandma Delys to come to the baptism, too). Steven's parents, John and Angie, also flew out, although we sadly neglected to take any pictures of them (or anyone else at the baptism, for that matter).
We had close friends and family over for food and talk. And Ben and Sam got to hold their new cousin Emily Elizabeth. She is so cute that she has us all wrapped around her little finger!
During every pregnancy, I inevitably fall asleep on the couch with one of my sons and Steven takes a picture. It must have been quite an exciting get-together if this is the aftermath!
Steven took us to his lab at Johns Hopkins and showed us all the cool equipment they use. Here is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that Steven's parents were really here. : )
Steven's desk in the post-doc office. Notice Mr. Bones who serves as inspiration in the background.
Even though they drove and hour and a half with a brand-new baby to come to Sam's baptism (thank you, Rob and Erin!), we couldn't let Aunt Erin leave without celebrating her graduation with her Master's degree. Thanks to Gael Ulrich who gave us his PhD robes--we've definitely put them to good use!
While my mom played "Pomp and Circumstance" by ear (she's amazing!), Sam gave Erin her offical diploma: "Erin Cowles has graduated from Library Science"
Wow! What an accomplished family!
MARCH: Before Grossmama and Grosspapa (John and Angie) left for the airport, John shared his Zoom (cracked wheat) with Sam who became a quick convert, much to the chagrin of Steven who still has nightmares about eating Zoom as a kid.
Then we had a final celebration of William's birthday with a homemade cake by Grossmama . . .
and the perfect choo choo" for William.
We were blessed with a recovery day aka "Snow Day" and we even picnicked in the front room for dinner and watched High School Musical 3--thank you for the DVD, Grandma! We Bostoners laugh at the "snow" Marylanders use to justify their myriad snow days, but we still enjoy the time off.
Finally, we had one last night with Grandma at Rob and Erin's house. Here's all the grandkids.
I love my mom!
The whole crew (Steven's taking the pic)
William either lamenting the loss of all his visiting grandparents or singing an ode to his beloved pacifier.
Basketball in the kids' playroom.
For some reason we seem to take a lot of action shots at our house.
Aren't I cute?
And growing up way too fast?
Here's Megan Vandre, Steven, Shelly Astle, and Jenn Kirwan with Sam (formerly known as Jack in Cambridge).
Peter Vandre, Matt Astle, and Barrett Kirwan
Matt, Annie, Elli, and Shelly Astle
Peter, Megan, Colin, and Miles Vandre
Since haircuts are such a rare ocurrance at our house (Cristie only gets up the energy once every few months), we decided to document their half-haircut punk rock look.
DECEMBER: Our traditional Christmas Eve cheese-y swiss fondue night.
