Jingle Bells

So, Christmas with little kids is a ton of fun.  We sing songs all the time and make fun festive goodies quite frequently.  The girls love singing and will often favor me with a free concert- they love watching the videos I record so it's not hard to get them to do a little number.  Here's a little bit of what I've enjoyed lately:

I have  many to choose from, but it takes too long to upload 

videos and apparently the files are too big, so nevermind... 

Unfortunate lack of pictures

There is more than one problem with me not taking pictures- not only does it make for a less entertaining blog  (cause, honestly, who actually wants to read what I write) but I also can't remember what I've done.  

I will say this though, that I don't think I've been home before midnight more than 1 night in the past week and that I'm averaging about 5 hours of sleep.  I'm getting even more loopy than normal.  I feel like my life has been a constant stream of small group and ward activities- and I love it.  Today is the first day in what seems like a long time that I've spent the evening at home, which is why I'm finally updating my blog, and it doesn't seem like it's going to get much slower before I go home for Christmas.  That's okay though, I'm sure I'll have a little down time there, at least until after Christmas :). 

I guess I just need to track down the people who have had cameras when there have been fun activities... but that's what facebook is for, right?  

Christmas Gala

12/3/2010

There was New England Regional Gala Saturday night... a formal dance... I don't do formal dances.  Anyhow, after much coercion I purchased a dress (not a formal) for this dance.  I was not incredibly excited about this event, but figured it would be memorable.  Saturday day, I was with some other gals who had decided last minute that they were going to go and to make a long story short, we found ourselves at the fabric store a couple hours before the dance where we purchased and rushed home to construct (without patterns) two lovely skirts before the dance.  It was completely insane, but now I have a nice formal skirt and a new dress!   Even though it felt uncannily like a youth dance from my past, it turned out to be a fun evening and I had a good time in spite of myself.

Tree Lighting Extravaganza

Apparently Nova Scotia and Boston are pretty good pals- although I can't remember why- but they've sent  down a huge Christmas tree every year since 1917 and there is quite the celebration when they light it including: The Rockettes, Katherine McPhee (at least this year), a few other random performers, and fireworks.  It was a lot of fun despite the numb fingers and toes from the cold.  

The smoke from the fireworks... we got showered by the soot we were so close.

Amy, Camilla, Me, Ruth, Mollie

Outdoor Ice Skating rink... I really wanna go!

A very merry tuba Christmas

I caught wind of an even that would be happening downtown- 140 tuba instruments from little tubas to big tubas playing Christmas music.

Totally Awesome!

Plymouth

Thanksgiving break was fantastic.  Wednesday night after a very impromptu viewing of the 7th Harry Potter, we began our late trek to Connecticut to enjoy Thanksgiving day with the van den Berg family.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of our delicious feast, as the one with those pictures is currently in Hawaii (thanks, Sofia) but at some point in my life I hope to have a few of those.  I headed back to Boston on Thursday night and enjoyed a restful evening at home.

Friday morning I headed to Plymouth with Amy Stuart and Kristen Peterson- two fabulous gals from my ward.  We just wandered and explored.  We saw THE Plymouth Rock (which coincidentally my or may not be where the pilgrims landed), a replica of the Mayflower, the oldest Grist Mill in the country, and wandered the burial grounds.  Pretty sure I've never seen gravestones this old before in my life.  It was a very fun Thanksgiving weekend activity.

 

Good things comin'....

Yes, I realize that I'm very behind on my blog. I've been so super busy having a good time and haven't gotten around to updating my blog.  I've also been kind of slack about taking pictures, so it may be more of the written word when I do finally get around to updating....  So for now, I guess that'll just have to do.

Back in Boston

It was nice to have a pretty low-key weekend in Boston.  The week was busy, but now as I look back I can't quite figure out why.  We went to the library, the Children's Museum, Costco, and played at home.  Same old, same old.  The museum was pretty cool, though.

There was this really really cool climbing area described in the brochure as "A three-story climbing sculpture made of brightly painted-curved platforms." It looked really fun but you had to be pretty tiny to fit through some of the gaps.  Sammy really liked it, but Cate made it up two platforms before she started crying and wanted out.  It could be a serious problem if your kid was all the way at the top of that thing and freaked out- you'd have almost no way of getting to them in a hurry. But I guess they think of that kind of thing when they put this in a children's museum. Right?

The weekend was great.  Saturday morning I went and helped clean the church and then headed into Boston to see some sights.

I went with my friend, Kendell, to the top of the Prudential building (I'm pretty sure it's the tallest building in Boston) and had lunch.  The view was incredible.  It was a pretty swanky place and I felt ridiculously under-dressed, especially considering I went to this place immediately after cleaning the church, but oh well.  The waiter claimed it's the best clam chowder in Boston, and it was indeed pretty good.  

After lunch we wandered downtown a little bit and went to Faneuil Hall- The Cradle of Liberty.  Apparently some pretty important discussions were had there and it's now a historical site.  Kinda cool building.  
Outside, there were a bunch of vendors and people milling around and there was this one booth advertising for the Boston Ballet where you could get your picture taken.  It was really funny- there was an old Asian couple who kept going back to take more pictures.  Really funny.



After that I met up with my friend Amy and her roommate and did a little shopping.  In theory, I was looking for some good waterproof, winter shoes.  Oops..  the only thing I left with were these tennis shoes. I just couldn't resist.  I can just go to Target and get some rubber boots and wool socks, right?  A much better deal.
Saturday night, I spent playing with Amy and Alexandra.  We cooked yummy food and watched a movie and had a slumber party.   Good times.
Sunday was ridiculously busy-  I went to a Lutheran church service at 9 with Alexandra for a class she's in.  It was interesting, but served to make me want to go to my church more.  It helps me be more and more thankful for the restored gospel!!  Then there was choir practice, the regular block of meetings, a munch and mingle, being home taught, practice for the Christmas concert, and then a musical fireside.  Sounds like a day of rest, right?  On to another week....

Washington D.C.

Another fun-filled weekend travelling around.  This past weekend I was in D.C. to visit with my Trainer, Sorella Christine Ross.  We had a blast and it was so much fun to spend time with her and her roommates, Kristina, and Sydney. I flew down on Thursday afternoon, then Friday while everyone else was at work I explored D.C.  I ventured into the Metro and visited, at least briefly:

The Museum of American History

United States Holocaust Museum

National Museum of the American Indian

Washington Monument (yep- I went to the top)

My ticket to the top!
The Museum of Natural History
The National Sculpture Gardens

The view from the top of the Washington Monument:

You could see the Washington D.C. temple from the monument.

Saturday Morning we went to the Temple-

Then that afternoon we had lunch at an Amish market-

Then we went to a Navy football game because Kristina's (not Christine) fiancée is in the Navy-

On Sunday, Church wasn't until 3:00 so we went and wandered around Old Towne Alexandria and had a little photo shoot.  It was such a cute little town and fall was really putting on a spectacular display for us!  

It was a fantastic trip!

The view from the Apartment in Alexandria