Our MIT Graduate

After two long, chaotic and exciting years, Jordan graduated from MIT with two masters degrees on June 9th.  During that time, we lived apart for 9 months, had a baby, moved four times, sold two condos, bought a home, and generally tried to keep our sanity.  Needless to say, we are tired.  Jordan's graduation day was appropriately chaotic.  That morning, Evie had an end of year "Literacy Exhibition," in which each 1st grader read a piece of writing he or she wrote in class that year.  Evie was chosen to narrate the event, so she couldn't miss it.  So while Jordan got ready for his graduation that morning, the kids and I went to the girls' school for Evie's event.  Here's a short clip of her introducing the event. 

Afterwards, we raced back home, parked, and then ran towards the MIT campus to watch the procession of graduates walking into the graduation ceremony.  Here we are waiting for Jordan and his classmates to walk by.

The MIT graduation is four hours long -- which is way too long to sit outside in hot weather with three kids.  The graduation was being held less than a 1/2 mile from our house, so after the procession, the kids and I walked home and watched most of the graduation on tv.   This also allowed baby Grey to take a power nap.

Jordan texted me when he was getting ready to walk across the stage. At that point, we walked back to the graduation to watch him receive his diplomas in person. Afterwards, we took some photos.

Then we went home for another quick rest before attending one final year end reception with Jordan's classmates.

At this point, I'm pretty sure the girls were thinking, "can we go home yet??!?"

Evie's enthusiasm sums up how we all felt that day. Excited, happy, and more than a little relieved that this crazy, awesome experience is coming to an end.  

Mama and her Babies

Even though we know how important photos and videos are, and how quickly time with a baby goes, we haven't been great about capturing Grey these last few months.  So we scheduled a photographer to take pictures of the kids together when Grey was six months.  The photographer talked me into jumping in them too.  

Maybe Our Favorite Videos Ever

Clara and Evie recently discovered our old home videos.  They love to watch themselves over and over and over again.  This one might be our family favorite.  It captures so much of their personalities -- the way Evie takes everything so literally, her raspy voice, her slumped walk that she still does sometimes, Clara's spirited way of talking, and how she denies any wrongdoing.

Grey at 6 Months

Grey turned six months old today.  Our other babies got a half birthday cake and mini celebration, but Grey's our third baby so he gets a blog post. He's been a playful, sweet, and joyful baby. It's so easy to get a smile or laugh out of him. He hasn't been terribly anxious to get moving, but he loves interacting with people. Mostly he wants to sit in his chair and watch all of our family activity. If we start laughing about something, he almost always joins in. And food! He loves food. If you start eating something in front of him, he will watch you like a hawk and whimper until you give him something. Clara and Evie are still completely smitten with their brother. Having spent six years without a baby in the house, I feel grateful we get to do this one last time.  Most days that perspective makes it easier to overlook the more difficult aspects of caring for a baby -- like the fact that Grey still wakes up 3-5 times a night.

Grey loves:

stealing Daddy's glasses

getting tickled

cuddling his lovey

chewing on anything

playing with his sisters
giving "kisses"

electric toothbrushes
sweet potatoes
waking up at night

Grey dislikes:

sunlight in his face

taking a bath

being left alone

Christmas 2016

November and December were jam packed for us because in addition to grad school life and the normal chaos that comes this time of year, we were also busy with Jordan's job search.  He started with a week of interviews in late October, and then the next eight weeks were full of follow-up interviews and site visits to Seattle, Chicago, Texas and Tennessee.  We still haven't made a final decision on which job to accept, but we'll know in the next week or two.

By the time Christmas came around, we were all grateful for the reprieve from life's fast pace. It also felt extra special to have a baby in the house for our celebrations this year. Here are some favorite photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Jordan took a class called Intro to Making this term and as a project for the class, he made a "Stuffy House" for the girls -- basically a dollhouse for their stuffed animals.

Sorry about your stocking, Grey.  This is what happens when your parents don't think there will be a baby #3.

The Stuffy House in action.  It seems their goal is to stuff it with as much junk as possible.

Winter Break Traditions

Now that the girls are six and eight, we've settled into some fun family traditions during the holidays. We try to go ice skating once a year. This year, we chose to go skating at the frog pond at Boston Commons with friends.

 

We always spend an evening listening to Christmas music and decorating our tree together.  This year, Clara and Evie did most of the work.

Every year we make reindeer cookies for Santa.

We love to visit out favorite coffee shops and cafes for treats or a quick lunch. Our favorite cafe just opened a new location within two blocks of our home, and we've already become regular visitors.

After Christmas, we spend lots of time doing crafts and playing games. Basically, any sort of entertainment we can find to prevent winter break boredom and temper tantrums. 😊

Other favorite traditions include making gingerbread houses and searching for Elf on the Shelf every morning. Last year we also started a new family favorite -- spending one day watching movies in the living room all day long.

First Snowstorm in Cambridge

The first big snowfall of this winter hit Cambridge two weeks ago.  We woke up to 4 or 5 inches of snow and it didn't take long before the girls were clamoring to get outside.   We went sledding on a hill across the street from our home with some neighbors, and even Grey got in on the action.