Ben's Instagram Jan. - Mar. 2013

Surprisingly, the security guards at the library of Congress weren't too keen on Dad bringing in his knife. Here he is retrieving it from his secret hiding spot when we were done with the tour.#notthefirsttimehesdonethis

This is my game face, ready for 21 interviews in 36 hours.

Sunny and 68 degrees, three days in a row. I'm liking San Diego in January.

Did I say 21 interviews in 36 hours? I meant 72 hours. Turns out days are 24 hours long, not 12.#newgameface #icantdomath #7interviewsleft

While I was walking to an interview, a grungy, drunk man started yelling, "Hey, business guy!" at me. I thought he would ask me for money. Instead he said, "What's 58.5 minus 4?" "What?" I said. "What's 58.5 minus 4?" "Uh, it's 54.5," I responded. "54.5? Great! Thanks business guy!" #gladicouldhelp#notwhatiexpected

Sam has discovered that the vacuum is very sucky.

I had forgotten how big Chicago is! But it feels surprisingly un-crowded for its size. Off to Ohio tomorrow! Oh, and thanks @jennyiverson for the touchscreen gloves so that my hands didn't freeze while I took this picture!

Not sure there is a more picturesque place in the world than Hanover, NH. #Dartmouth

Traveling by bus from New Hampshire to NYC. I'll take this over a plane any day. #legroom #freewifi

Forgot to take any pictures of NYC while I was here, so here is me yawning in the airport instead. Luckily, I'll be back in New York on Sunday night. #areyouserious#picsjennwillhate

Just finished a nice trip to Yale, which has a beautiful campus. #imagineifthetreeshadleaves

Yes! We're following the glass chicken truck!@617chicken

Not here for sightseeing, but I had to at least see my namesake while I was in London. #bigben

And then Westminster Abbey was close by, so I stopped there too.

And then I was walking on Baker Street back to my hotel, and happened upon this famous address.#elementarydearwatson #londonisacoolcity

Happened upon this road in London. When I showed the picture to @jennyiverson, I said, "do you think it's a sign?" She said, "yep, I'm pretty sure that's a sign." Thanks for taking me so literally, Jenn. #latergram#youknowwhatimean

Went to evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral while I was stuck in London, and it was really cool. They had a boys choir that sang some awesome Gregorian chants for about 45 minutes. I would recommend it at the end of a long day in London. #latergram

For Jenn's birthday, I got a new tie and belt, because I left my ties and belt in Boston on accident. Lame. But I like the tie. #backinchicago

These calories are the last thing I need, but I couldn't come to Chicago without stopping at Giordano's. Mike and Katie introduced me to this pizza at this very restaurant in Evanston 9 years ago, and I've been dreaming of it ever since!

Joy school tour of the police station. Here's Ellis' mug shot. #kindoflikestrouble

And here we are in our jail cell!

Last interview = done! Now I get the middle seat on a packed non stop flight from lax to Boston. #itsover

Here's Sam two-fisting his birthday cake. That's how it's done at our house! Happy birthday Sam! #twoyearsold

Body art by Sam. And floor art. And chair art. And sock art.

Seriously, who sends you a box of fudge and T-shirts for the whole family after you turn down an offer from them? The Lord's university, that's who.

Spring break in Boston. Guess we can keep the Cocoamotion out a little longer!

Ellis' artwork from Joy School today. Here is our conversation about it, word for word: "Ellis, that looks great! Kind of like a Jackson Pollock painting." "No, Lennon and Zach's paintings were like Jackson Pollock. Mine's more like Pablo Picasso."#knowshisstuff

Jenn was gone this evening, so it was 4 boys alone in the house. You know what that means: time for an epic couch-cushion fort!

Birthday Boy Sam

TWO is such an exciting birthday!  Sam has been watching other people have birthdays for several months now, and he's starting to figure out how it works.  He knows that cake is involved, and he knows that at some point, you're supposed to blow.  It was so fun to watch him over the past few weeks when I explained to him that SAM was going to have a birthday.  He would reply with something like, "Sam? Birthday? YOU! birthday cake!" and then he would practice blowing.  Needless to say, he was pretty excited about having his own big day! After a bit of discussion, he decided he wanted a "Frosty the Snowman" birthday cake.

He went with me to buy the ingredients, and as soon as we got home from the store, he sat up at the table and patiently said, "Okay, birthday cake time!"  We started baking immediately.

Of course, Sam got a chance to lick the beaters (orange flavored cake, by the way).

He was pretty excited to see the cakes start looking like a snowman.  He kept saying "Snowman cake!" repeatedly, all day long, lest I forget the important task at hand.  

Miraculously, he didn't try to destroy the cake or even take a taste once I got it decorated.  He was just excited and proud of his cake, and he very patiently waited for the big moment.

He even had to wait several hours after decorating it before his friends came so he could blow out the candles and eat cake.  This video clip captures the excitement during that interim:

(It also demonstrates how Sam-o has the sweetest little voice in the whole wide world.)

At last, "Cake Time!"

We shared it with Sam's friends at our babysitting co-op, and we had a few other snowman-related games.  Very low-key.  Sam was happy about the cake and very proud when we sang Happy Birthday and it was really to him!

We saved the head for his actual birthday a few days later.  He was delighted to get to blow out the candles a second time.

Notice "Baracko Obama," one of his favorite presents from Ellis.

Two dollars from my grandparents! (and doesn't he just have the sweetest little chin?)

Three boys were excited about the "Baracko Obama" gift!

And they have all also enjoyed this "Officer Buckle" costume!  He didn't need anything for his birthday, but he was happy to get a few gifts.  We were so happy to celebrate the life of this delightful boy.

Job Market Update

Most of you probably already know a lot of this information, but just for the record, this is where we stand right now with Ben's job market.  We pretty much have it down to two options: The Tuck School (at Dartmouth, in New Hampshire) or the Kellogg School (at Northwestern, in Chicago).

I could go into a lot of details, but let me just say that we visited Dartmouth and absolutely fell in love.  Hanover, New Hampshire is like a dream world . . . but it's true.  It is stunningly beautiful, and even though we were there on a freezing cold, snowy day, it had a perceptible glow about it.  It is very remote - an hour away from a shopping mall, Target, airport, etc.  It's an interesting pocket of people . . . a group of people who are not only okay with giving up some of the conveniences of our modern world, but they also value education and culture, and they create an environment for that in Hanover.  In the winter, kids have early day on Wednesdays so they can take the bus to ski school; everyone cross country skis and snow shoes; the elementary school has an ice skating rink available for use at recess.  It's just kind of a perfect place if you want to actually enjoy winter rather than just get through it.  And then the other seasons are stunning as well. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that we left that visit with stars in our eyes.

And then Ben got another offer from Kellogg.  We have heard that the north side of Chicago is a great place to live, and most people feel that Kellogg would be the better career move for Ben.  So we're kind of in an interesting spot.  Not sure what we're willing to risk or give up at this point.

We'll be visiting Chicago next week and will hopefully get a better feel for how that would compare to New Hampshire.  We'll keep you posted on what we end up figuring out!  If you have advice, feel free to send it along . . .

For now, I'll post a couple of pictures from New Hampshire:

(House listed for sale)

Pictures I took . . .

Chicago seems lovely too.  It seems to have a great style.  Here's a house I like there:

I'm excited to see more next week!