Let's start with some random cell phone pictures. Paul was in San Francisco the first part of the week, so I sent him this picture to let him know things were going okay.
He sent me a kiss! Aaaaw!
Sleeping cutie.
Happy Grace.
I love baby yawns.
Cute boy.
Okay, so here's how our week went: On Sunday night, we bathed Charlie. He's getting big!
On Monday, Paul left super early to go to San Francisco for the American Geophysical Union conference. He had to go to speakers and posters and write a blog post article. The morning was a little wild for me to get 3 kids ready all alone, so the neighbors took Grace to school. Then I took the other 2 kids to a birthday party for Alice's nursery friend.
She loved dressing up as a princess and playing with all her friends.
When Grace got home from school, she was a good girl cleaning the living room, doing a workbook, and playing with Alice. We had a simple dinner and read a bunch of books, then I put the girls to bed and dealt with fussy Charlie until Paul got home. It's so nice that he got to come home at night!
On Tuesday, Paul left early for San Francisco again, and the neighbors took Grace to school again. Then they gave Grace a ride home from school, and kept her for a playdate. They are so nice. We got fun mail that afternoon: a letter from Dillon, Ashley's Christmas card, and a package from Sarah with her Christmas card, a candy advent calendar, and a CD of all our old favorites from the Christmas records. So fun! We had leftovers for dinner, wrote to Santa, and made cards for Mom's birthday. Then I put the girls to bed, and hung out with Charlie until Paul got home.
Wednesday was Charlie's 1-month birthday. He weighed in at 10 lbs 14 oz. It was a rainy day, and the girls were happy to finally see their dad again! He was a big help with the school drop off/pick up, and with tending the kids, even though he was working on an article for the paper.
Paul went into the newspaper office in the afternoon, and Alice played with the small ceramic Christmas decorations. She LOVED being allowed to play with them. I did a bunch of online Christmas shopping. When Grace got home, both girls wanted to play with the breakable decorations. I supervised them, and they had fun, until it was time to put them away. We had a large musical snowglobe, and Alice was trying to hand it to Grace to put it away. That's when it shattered into a million pieces. Both girls burst into tears. I didn't care about the snowglobe, so I was able to keep my cool while trying to clean up the mess and console the girls. Grace was so dramatic: "Nothing can ever replace it! That was our best, most perfect decoration! It had music, and sparkles, and a little bubble in it - we'll never have a decoration like that again!" Luckily, all but the globe part survived, so it's still a little scene that plays music.
Paul got home and saved the day, finishing up the clean-up and dancing with the girls while I made dinner. That night, Paul did homework while I did more online Christmas shopping. You've got to be pretty creative with such a small budget!
Thursday was Paul's last day of school. I got Grace off to school, then quizzed Alice on body parts (I was surprised she knew "waist"), and had a blanket party with her. When Paul got home from school that afternoon, we went on a family outing. First we had to make a quick stop for Paul to get an interview for an article, then on to the dollar store for the girls to pick out gifts for each other. It was really fun! Then we went to KFC for dinner to celebrate Paul's last day. The girls love fried chicken as much as I do. There was a juke box there, and we had a little dance party afterward. When we got home, Grace gave a short FHE lesson on Christ's birth, and we put them to bed. Then Paul had to go to the church to set up tables.
Friday was Mom's 60th birthday. Charlie had a rough night, waking up a lot with his runny nose. Alice has the same cold, and woke up super grouchy, and Grace woke up tired - we all were!
Paul worked from home all morning, and went to the newspaper office in the afternoon. Alice read Tag books.
Grace helped take care of Charlie after school.
He's pretty easy to tend when he's asleep. When Paul got home from work, I made a potato casserole for the ward party.
The ward party that night was very well attended - we didn't even get to try my potatoes! Good food and visiting, then Grace got to be a goat and sing in two songs during the program. (She's front and center.)
Alice watched from the floor, and kept saying, "Mommy, Jesus is born!"
She's a cute kid.
Then Santa came, in sunglasses and sandals, since it is Santa Cruz after all. Grace liked him, Alice did not.
We looked at Christmas lights on the way home.
On Saturday, we slept in some, and Paul helped clean the church. Then we all cleaned the house together while listening to Christmas music. Grace and Charlie danced together.
Cute siblings!
They were pretty worn out after that, so they took a break on the floor.
Then I took Grace 30 minutes away to her friend's birthday party at a bounce house place. Paul kept the other 2 sleeping kids and did homework. Grace loved the bounce houses.
And the slides. I talked to a bunch of kindergarten parents.
Then they had snacks and cake. Grace hung out with our Chilean neighbor Catalina most of the time. On the way home, Grace had a meltdown that the actual birthday girl never played with her at the party. Grace played with lots of different friends at the party, and there were like 30 guests, so the birthday girl had her hands full, but Grace wasn't appeased. Poor kid. That evening, we made a pizza and watched "Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas" at Grace's request. Painful. After the girls were in bed, Paul and I made mini cakes (our first time using a double boiler!), cut out paper snowflakes, danced to Christmas music, and watched a cheesy movie on Lifetime. It was a perfect date!
Today, Charlie and Alice are still sick with a cold, so I'm home with them. I was planning to go to church with Grace, but Paul had to go and do stuff for his calling. So here are some cute pictures of Charlie.
A look of wonder.
Isn't he precious? We sure like him!
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