we survived a photo shoot

I'm not sure how we managed (oh wait, I do--it's called having Grandma Lue on hand to chase, catch, feed, primp, bribe, threaten, entertain, tickle, blow dry, and mostly chase) but we finally made our way to the photo studio for the first time in over a year. Our three hours there was plenty reminder why we don't go more often. We did get better pictures this time though so I have to say it was worth it. (pardon the dead space on the photos, these are the pre-cropped versions).
Enjoy!

Kiddism of the day:
Ellie (while sitting on the potty after she was supposed to be in bed and asleep): "I'm a turtle" as she pulls the toilet seat forward onto her back. (Great, I can only imagine the layer of germs on the back of her nightgown now).

this weeks highs and lows

Low: Auntie Bonnie left us on Monday afternoon to return home to sunny Hawaii. I guess she just didn't have thick enough skin for our weather (just kidding, she never really complained despite her thin Hawaiian blood). The kids miss her (and frankly, Josh and I do too!). The first couple of days, Ellie kept asking for Aunt Bonnie and it was just too sad to explain that she had left. They still call the sunroom (aka playroom) Aunt Bonnie's room.

High: Harrison has had a great time in preschool with the other four boys. The past two weeks they have focused on cooking and reading some fun books to coincide with the unit. Harrison has really come out of his shell thanks to his interaction at preschool and church.

Low: Harrison has started a new and very naughty habit. Since Ellie listens to everything he says, he has discovered a loophole in the "do something wrong/get in trouble" cycle. Instead of doing something bad himself, he will just tell Ellie to do it (and she willingly agrees). For example, today he told Ellie to open the bathroom door while Josh was in there. He handed her a dinner knife, and showed her what to do. When the lock clicked and Ellie opened the door, Harrison instantly pointed out that Ellie unlocked the door, not him. Ellie is just so willing to do whatever he says. While we were eating lunch this week, Harrison told Ellie to jump on her chair. Of course, she did. I told her to stop and sit down. She did. Harrison again told her to stand up and jump on the chair. Well, you get the cycle. Harrison is a smart cookie and thinks he can beat the system with this new "get Ellie to do it" business. We are still working on why this is conceptually still naughty. He's pretending to not understand why.

High: I got a botox injection this week. I know, you are all jealous. My right adductor muscle is now looking so tight and fit, no more wrinkles my friends. Well, now that you all think I am a little vain, the botox is just one more treatment option for my mysterous, never plan to leave, abdominal/thigh pain. We will see if it works (it takes at least a week to see any results...2 more days to go). And does anyone else think $1,000 is a little steep for a 100mL bottle of medicine? Ridiculous.

Low: Seriously, does Ellie even have another pair of shoes to pee on? The little goose has done reasonably well on potty-training but still has accidents (and apparently she has expensive taste, she likes to pee on her suede boots and patent leather dress shoes). Come on girl, just get with the program.

High: Josh finished up a class he's been teaching for the past month so that's one less thing to worry about. He's been feeling really good about the two classes he is teaching this semester and his research is pluggin' along. He is looking forward to his conference in Florida this May and we hope he will have the chance to make some good contacts (and maybe, one day, have a real job like other real grownups! =] ).

Low: The kids are still adjusting to Daylight Savings. Ellie has been playing and singing and reading and jumping and throwing and dancing in bed for nearly two hours before falling asleep at naptime and bedtime. Harrison has adjusted easier but that kid is a sleeping machine.

Low: Harrison tossed a toy hammer upward and shattered one of the lighting fixtures in the hallway. He still has a hole in his door from ramming it into his coat hook. Boys.

Anyway, we our adjusting to life with out Aunt Bonnie. We were so lucky to have her stay with us since September. She was an amazing help and always so patient with the kids. I think I am unofficially bound to potty train her kids when the time comes as payment for her services.

My health is struggling but I hope the Botox injection will finally be the magic bullet for my abdominal pain and that my pain management docotor's appointment tomorrow will improve things.

I am not near the camara so no pictures this time but they are coming, I promise (don't I say that everytime?).

dress-up

Just a few quick photos from dress-up time today:




Ellie makes one cute pirate. She can't play dress-up without putting on a pair of heels (it's all you girl!). Harrison always likes to join in on the dress-up action but sticks to manly costumes like his army one. More pictures soon (I promise).

December fun-part one

December was a busy and fun month. Here is a quick recap:

Ward Christmas Party, December 14th

Harrison and Ellie with Santa (if I actually sent out a Christmas Card this would have been a good choice...)

Ellie spent the entire party asking, "Santa?", "Santa now, Mommy?". She was so excited to see Santa (and not so excited to hear the primary kids sing). Harrison was just excited the ward activities committee served breakfast sausage (he ate 4 or 5 I think). After Santa made his appearance, we got up to sit on Santa's lap and Harrison adamantly refused to come. Ellie and I waited patiently waited in line and shortly before our turn Harrison appeared all smiles. Josh later explained that he told Harrison Santa was giving out candy canes (which was true). I guess you now know how we get our kids to do anything.



Preschool Family Christmas Party, December 15th


We attended a Christmas party with the other four boys from Harrison's co-op preschool and their families. We had a great potluck dinner and decorated gingerbread houses afterward. One of the mom's made from scratch and constructed five houses, one for each family (thanks Janika! I can't believe how much work she put into all those houses). All the families brought a few bags of candy and we decorated the night away. All the boys had fun (dads included). Josh added a satallite dish to our house after seeing licorice cable wiring on one of the other houses (the "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality at work).The kids had a blast but eventually tired of the activity which left the adults to finish decorating. the kids took full advantage of their distracted parents and kept disappearing down the hall with bags of candy. On our ride home, Harrison proudly announced that his tummy hurt (all the kids heard, "your tummy is going to hurt if you keep eatting so much candy!" more times than I can count between all five moms). The pictures of the gingerbread house were taking the following day and it didn't take long for Ellie to steal some candy off the house (the temptation was just too great, I guess).

Grandma Lue and Topper arrive, December 18th

"If you don't behave you won't be allowed to stay up to see Grandma and Topper tonight!" That phrase was said that day, A LOT.

Jumping on the bed, December 19th


Grandma Lue showed me these pictures during their visit and I asked her what in the world were the kids doing. She said that the kids were jumping from the rail on Harrison's daybed onto the bed and they assured her mom lets them do this all the time. Uhm, no. Those kids are amazing manipulators (I just have no idea where they get it from). In Grandma Lue's defense, if your grandkids were this cute, wouldn't you let them jump on the bed?

Museum of Science, December 19th

Harrison and Ellie in a real Apollo command module

Topper and Josh join the fun

Harrison out-racing the "running" light-Science in the Park exhibit

Topper and Ellie learning how ice skaters spin-Science in the Park exhibit

On December 19th when ventured out of the house despite the impending storm. We arrived at the nearly empty Museum of Science and were told they would be closing at noon because of the storm. We spent the next two hours exploring the museum for the first time. Harrison says his favorite thing was the space shuttle that he, Ellie, Josh, and Topper played in. Harrison was an absolute riot in there; he was in full character as an astronaut and very busy ordering people what to do the entire time. Ellie liked the swings the most I think (although she was almost half asleep by then). All the kids (Topper included) loved the interactive exhibits, dinosaurs, and escalators. We left the museum (okay, were nearly kicked out the gift shop) shortly after noon and drove home under the ominous storm clouds. Between that afternoon and the following morning we received 16+ inches of snow; Topper and Grandma Lue were quickly reminded why they live in sunny Southern California now. Josh and Topper repeatedly unburied the rental van during that time (thanks mr. snowplow).

Harrison's 4th brithday

Yesterday we celebrated Harrison's fourth birthday. He told me the day before that we all needed to wake up "super early" to start making his cake. I did my best to convince him that making his cake would NOT take all day and that 7am would be plenty early. Well, he awoke at his normal 6:15am time and proceeded to pester Josh to wake me up for some early-morning cake making. Thankfully, Josh held him off until I rolled out of bed. Harrison continued to ask me every 3 minutes to start on his Curious George cake--a design he settled on a couple of weeks ago--until Josh offered to take him to the "play place" aka Burger King for lunch.

So off they went to Burger King where Harrison ate every bite of his lunch and played on the newly renovated play area until naptime. After naps, the boys headed off to the party store to exchange Harrison's quickly deflating, over-priced, jumbo balloon for a replacement while I started on the cake. After completing the cake (which only involved making one extra batch of frosting instead of two like Ellie's Hello Kitty cake), and deflecting Ellie the entire time from sticking her fingers in it (although she did lean over and like the top once), we had Harrison's birthday dinner as requested: strawberry smoothies, strawberries (with some other fruit thrown in), and pasta with butter and parmesan (what the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets).

Harrison was once again spoiled with plenty of lovely gifts from family. We gave him a Leapfrog Tag system with a few books and activity cards (he played with it today for the first time and he mastered it quickly and loves to be able to "read" by himself). He also received more big boy Legos, puzzles, board games, clothes, more Tag books, a space shuttle playset, and yogurt covered raisins (that's honestly what he told me he wanted for his birthday). He was so cute while opening presents; I would tell him who the gift was from while he was unwrapping and he would stop, turn to me or Josh or Bonnie, and say, "thank you, mommy" in the most gracious voice I have ever heard from a four-year-old. He has his moments : ) (although they have been few and far between lately).

After presents, we quickly sang Happy Birthday and ate cake since we were pushing bedtime. Overall, I think Harrison would agree he had a nice birthday this year. Today he has officially broken in all his new toys, put together every puzzle, played every board game, and convinced Josh to construct every Lego building and person pictured on the packaging.

Today Harrison said two grown up things (sometimes I just don't know where he gets these things--cough, cough):
"Dad, I don't know what your deal is today."

"Mom, we need back up in here." (meaning, Dad needs some help managing both Ellie and Harrison at the same time)

I promise to play catch up including Christmas and Ellie's birthday in the next few days. I have been swamped with sewing projects for Christmas this past month and my blogging has taken a back seat (obviously).

Halloween festivities-take two

Last night we attended our ward trunk-or-treat activity held at the church. Harrison asked the entire afternoon to go trick-or-treating and was our main motivator to get out the door (late, of course). After eating dinner and taking a few pictures, we headed outside and let the kids make the rounds. Ellie was quick and efficient leaving Harrison in her dust until I handed her a glow-in-the-dark light stick. At that point, she aimlessly wandered (with some shepherding by mom), looking at her stick and occasionally reaching her hand out to grab a piece of candy. Both kids had fun and were happy to show off our jack-o-lantern and their Halloween lanterns made the day before in our less than exciting trunk display.

trick-or-treating in Medford Square

Last Friday we went trick-or-treating in Medford Square at the local businesses. I love that they hold this event in the afternoon when it's warmer and light outside. The kids had a blast! We attempted to take a few pictures before venturing through the square but Ellie would have nothing to do with it; she was way too excited to be dressed up and wanted to run. Harrison did his best firefighter's impression (maybe he's a boxing firefighter?).

Both kids were very polite and said "trick-or-treat!" and "thank you". One of the business owners even commented that Harrison was the first kid to say "trick-or-treat" that day (and there were a lot of kids). I didn't hear too many thank you's either.

Ellie eventually got tired of her elephant hat because she could only see out of one eye with it on. She was adorable; the costume makes her look three-feet wide from the backside.

As we were walking around, we spotted a plaque marking the spot where Jingle Bells was composed. Since Harrison sings Jingle Bells at least once a day (his all-time favorite song), I made him stand by it to take a picture. Naturally, he wasn't too cooperative.

Toward the end, Harrison wanted to sit on a wall and eat his candy like some of big kids. We walked a little further and let them have one treat on the park bench. Harrison picked out a Reese's Peanut Butter cup (truly his father's son) and Ellie wanted her little bag of bat pretzels (maybe the costume inspired her to watch her figure). When she was done, she started sneaking off toward the local cemetery and eventually ran off. Harrison followed her and they got out their last bit of energy as they raced around the tombstones (what Halloween isn't complete without a tromp through the cemetery?).

In other news, the kids had fun with Grandpa Cameron this weekend. They carved our large pumpkin on Saturday afternoon with the kids' design. I came home from the pharmacy to find Josh's new bike light inside the jack-o-lantern since we apparently own zero candles (never fear, I picked some up at CVS while out). The kids loved watching the light flicker in our dark kitchen.

Ellie was Grandpa's little girl and always wanted him to read to her before bedtime and naptime.

On Sunday, Josh took Grandpa Cameron and Bonnie to Harvard for a short tour and to show his dad where he works. In the afternoon, the family sans Kristen took a walk to Nathan Tufts park. We have driven by that park hundreds of times and always say, "we should really walk there one of these days." The area is beautiful and marks several historical sites including a powder house built in the early 18th century. The kids enjoyed running around and Harrison apparently scaled a rock wall (real rock that is, Josh was very nervous). After their little jaunt, we had a nice family dinner and drove Grandpa back to the airport. We were sad to see him go so soon but are glad that he will be able to return this weekend for more fun.


Other than that, the Cameron house is pretty quite minus Harrison's frequent requests for more Halloween candy.