Paul's first week as a journalist

 Alice flipping through the Book of Mormon after her bath.

 Pretty dang cute.

 Alice reading Tag books.

 On Monday, I was sick most of the day after a bad night. It was Paul's last day off, so he took care of the girls and hung out with me. We had no internet or phone most of the day. We had FHE on reverence, then went on a family walk around the complex. We found this cool area of trees that you can walk in and have a hide-out! I cut Paul's hair that night.

 Tuesday was Paul's first day of school. It was actually just orientation, but it lasted from 9-4, so it seemed like his first day of school. He was SO excited, with his backpack all packed and everything! He took Grace to school on the shuttle, then continued on the shuttle into campus. Alice and I went to my doctor's appointment.

 In the afternoon, Grace and I did a craft, and Grace read the Lizzy McGuire book she got from the school library. I made good Filipino food (pancit), which even the girls liked! Then we went to the grocery store and the new dollar store. Alice was really bad. Paul spent the whole evening on homework, but he's really excited about his program. I'm so glad he loves it! We prayed for Dad after his heart "episode" that day.

 On Wednesday, I took Grace to school on the bus, but the bus was late, so we were late too. Alice was good all morning. We let her sleep in when it's feasible, and it's totally worth it. She just grabbed a stack of Tag books and entertained herself for an hour.

 Here's the owl craft Grace and I made the day before, as well as an owl decoration from the dollar store.

 Paul started his internship at the newspaper office that afternoon. They immediately gave him a desk and assigned him a story. He called people for interviews, and wrote most of the article that afternoon. It's about a tennis court. Alice and I got Grace from school, then Alice and I napped while Grace entertained herself. We had no internet or phone that afternoon. Grace and Alice played for a while at our Chilean neighbors' while I made dinner.

 On Thursday, Paul walked us to the bus stop, then walked off into the dense fog to class. Grace cracked jokes with her friend Sophia the whole way to school, and Alice was good all morning while I made potato salad and did dishes. We had Grace's friend Catalina (our Chilean neighbor) over for a play date that afternoon. They had a great time. Paul got home around 3, and we had a nail clipping/painting party with the girls. Then we went to a potluck at Paul's program director's house. The girls and I all dressed in pink hooded sweatshirts. The party was pretty late for a school night, so we ate and visited a little, avoided all the alcohol around, and left somewhat early, but the girls still got to bed late and were tired the next morning.

 On Friday, Grace slept in a little, and Alice slept in a lot. Paul has no school or internship on Fridays, so he spent all day at home doing homework. He has A LOT of writing to do, and every assignment comes with lots of research to do first. Alice was good reading books and playing with shapes, so I started on the Flake Family yearbook, and made delicious toffee. Grace had a play date at Catalina's house that afternoon, and I had a nice talk with her mom when I went to pick Grace up. We had pizza for dinner while watching the beginning of the BYU/Hawaii game, then we went to Alice's friend's b-day party with a bunch of our friends from the ward. The girls got to bed late again, and Paul and I watched the end of the game.

 On Saturday, Paul and the girls slept in until 8:45, but I couldn't sleep past 6:45. Maddening. Paul went to the farmers market in the morning to get some interviews about organic food. Paul did homework all afternoon, then he took the girls to a neighbor's birthday party while I went to the relief society broadcast/dinner.

 Grace liked climbing trees at the birthday party.

 And there's always a pinata at these things.

 Today we had a little photo shoot in our backyard before church. Grace and Alice love their baby brother!

 Cute kids!

 Sister love!

 Alice is very serious.

 Possibly the last picture of our family of four, thanks to the tripod.

 35 weeks pregnant.

 We got the family pictures from the Bear Lake reunion this week. Here's Paul and all of his Poulsen cousins (on his mom's side). He's the oldest.

 Our little family.

 The Gabe Gabrielsens.

 Grandma Lu and her descendants.

Go cougars!

Banana Slugs and Redwoods

This picture is from our long wait outside the DMV last week. Alice was such a good girl sitting along the wall reading her book, and she charmed all the old ladies in line!

On Sunday, Grace wore Paul's suit coat. I made crockpot chicken/potatoes/carrots with lots of seasoning, and the girls gobbled it up! It's hard to find "real food" that they both like, so we'll be adding it to our menu. That evening, Paul and I looked through a bunch of tourism guides for things to do in and around Santa Cruz. We've got quite a list! 

On Monday, the primary presidency came and brought us cookies. Paul went to a lecture for a possible newspaper article, and I started teaching Grace from the Suzuki piano method. The girls had a bath that night.

 We waited for their hair to dry, then did sponge curlers, since Grace had picture day the next day. Alice begged for curlers, but you can tell she didn't like them as well as Grace did.

 Oh, wait, she changed her mind.
On Tuesday evening, we tried out the downtown branch of the library. It was really hard to park since there's lots of traffic and they don't have a parking lot, but the library was pretty good. We got a bunch of books and movies, then rushed back to the car before our meter ran out of money.

On Wednesday, I got a cute quilt in the mail from my old sewing teacher. It's a hand-quilted I-Spy for Charlie. So nice! It inspired me to get out the BYU fabric I bought a while ago and try to plan my own quilt for him. Alice was pretty sure the fabric was for her. We went through all of Charlie's clothes that evening. There are some pretty big gaps in his wardrobe, but at least we only have to have clothes for the first few months, then we can get him a bunch for Christmas. He'll live, even if we end up dressing him in pink!

 On Thursday, Paul, Alice, and I ran errands. We went to Ace for pot hooks (we have a peg board in our kitchen), the fabric store, the post office, and the computer shop. Our netbook is for sure dead, so we just got the hard drive out of it so we would have the data. We watched The Pied Piper with Grace in the afternoon. That evening, after I made Filipino food for dinner, we watched the BYU/BSU game. Alice must've known what the outcome would be.

 They put forth a valiant effort. Luckily, the girls went to bed before the sad ending, and I went to Back to School night for most of the middle. I drove two of the other parents in the complex, and got a lot of good information from Grace's teacher. It's a very high performing school.

Paul took the girls to school on Friday morning. They ran into the UCSC mascot: Sammy the Slug.

Grace finally got up the nerve to get her picture taken with it. I did laundry in the morning, then Paul, Alice, and I were hanging out when we heard a loud sound outside - it was the Endeavor space shuttle flying right over our house! We ran outside, but only saw the cloud trail it left. Still cool though! That afternoon, Paul got all his paperwork and drug test done for his newspaper internship. Then we made an appearance at the apartment complex BBQ, and came home to watch Road to Avonlea and make cookies. The girls were super tired by 7:45, then Paul and I played games.

 On Saturday, we met up with Paul's program director and all his classmates and their families. There are 9 students total, with 3 spouses besides me, and 2 babies besides our kids (all girls). One of the couples with a baby lives in our complex. We carpooled to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park for a hike. Grace liked the big trees.

 Obligatory Lorax pose.

Hollow tree.

 Our WHOLE group fit in there! They used to rent it out as a honeymoon suite.

 Charlie and me inside the tree.

 More redwoods.

 It's hard to get good pictures of such tall trees!

 Nature girl.

 Grace got bored at the picnic after the hike, so she climbed trees. Alice also got bored, so she threw up...or maybe that was all the grapes she ate. When we finally got home, we were tuckered out. Paul, Alice, and I napped while Grace watched a movie.

That evening, we went to a birthday party for Grace's kindergarten classmate/our neighbor. There were tons of people there, good food, and a pinata. It was so cold outside though. We sure go to a lot of parties - we have 2 more scheduled for next week!

Sampling of our Week

 A typical foggy morning headed to the bus stop.

 We took Grace's classmate to school one day since she usually rides the shuttle with us anyway. Grace loves having lots of her classmates in the same complex as us!

 We saw our very first banana slug. Paul's pocket knife is in the picture for scale. Gross!

 He was already wearing the shirt, so he had to pick up the slug.

 Alice reading a book in the back yard. We like to sit out there when it's cold and foggy, and drink cocoa.

 A game of pick-up snakes turned me into Medusa!

 Sweet sisters all ready for school.

 Grace and our neighbor Enzo building a pretend bonfire with wood they gathered.

 Enzo's sister, Maria, was turning 3, so we got invited to her birthday party. Our girls loved playing with the other kids.

 Alice was wearing her BYU shirt for the big game. We got a lot of comments, since all 4 of us were dressed alike.

 Their pretend bonfire turned into a lean-to.

 Alice and Grace in the clearing under the trees searching for more wood for the lean-to.

 Tightrope walker.

 They found lots of sticks!

Cake and ice cream at the end of the party.