Jennifer Woodbury

Life in Pictures

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  • So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

    I’m sorry 2013, but I am ready to see you out the door.

    I feel like I unwittingly hopped on a roller coaster in January when we listed our house for sale, and it just now looks like the end of the ride might be in sight.

    The first half of the year can basically be summed up with a stressful move out of our house, two failed IVF procedures, and Matt leaving his job of 5 years for what seemed like a promising new opportunity. And just for fun, let’s also throw in Matt’s long and painful case of the shingles in June.

    By the end of the summer however, I was optimistic that life would finally settle down. We were in a new (to us) house that we loved and Matt was settling into and really happy with his new position. On the Friday before Labor Day he actually came home and told me that he hoped he would have this job forever.

    And then not less than two hours later, he got a phone call from a co-worker telling him that the founder of his company had been arrested. He thought it was a joke at first, but it wasn’t. And although the arrest was completely unrelated to the business, Matt immediately knew that the firm he had joined only five months before would most likely cease to exist by the end of the year because of it.

    So much for life settling down.

    During September, October and November, I watched Matt deal with extreme uncertainty over the future of his company and his career while juggling a full schedule of interviews and trying to figure out exactly what his next move would be.

    Thankfully, by Thanksgiving he had been offered two great opportunities, and next week he starts yet another new job. The only downside is that after several years of working only 10 minutes from home, he will be back to commuting into New York City, which will be a big lifestyle change for our family. It means two hours on the train every day, leaving early in the morning and getting home just in time for the girls to go to bed. And so, like many of the rest of the events of 2013, this new job is bittersweet.

    While Matt was dealing with this whole job fiasco, he had multiple people ask him how I was doing (someone even asked if I was “freaking out”). I suppose looming unemployment, especially when you’ve recently purchased a new home, could rightfully throw a person into a panic.

    However, even during the most intense periods of uncertainty during the last few months, I can honestly say that I have felt oddly at peace… grateful even.

    Part of it was gratitude for practical things: that we hadn’t bought more house than we could afford, that we hadn’t moved across the country for this job like we had seriously considered, that we had something saved for a rainy day.

    But most of it was gratitude for the people in my life, and that despite the obstacles of the past year, it was still full of countless beautiful moments spent with them.

    And today, on December 31st, I’m feeling a special kind of gratitude for new beginnings.

    Hello 2014!

  • Merry Christmas!

    Here is an easier to read version of the text of our Christmas card poem, which Matt wrote (you can read his 2011 version here):

    As 2013 draws to an end,
    We wanted to reach out to both family and friend,
    To provide a brief update on this Woodbury crew,
    On a year full of changes and memories too.

    We moved from the house where we’d lived for six years,
    An exciting event but not without tears.
    We searched high and low for our brand new place,
    The wish list was simple: more bathrooms, more space.

    This fall Ella gave field hockey a go,
    But she still studies karate at the local dojo.
    Third grade has been great, a cause for good cheer;
    And she loves having a sister at the same school this year.

    Claire still loves to dance, both tap and ballet,
    While kindergarten is where she spends most of her day.
    She’s learning to read and making new friends,
    And keeps busy scoring soccer goals on weekends.

    Little Lucy turned three and started preschool;
    She’s feeling grown up and “big kid” cool.
    By night she sleeps soundly, quiet as a mouse,
    But by day she’s full of spunk and no doubt runs the house.

    It’s hard to believe another year has gone by,
    Each one of us older as the time seems to fly.
    So a wish from our family before our poem is done,
    For a holiday filled with happiness, health, and some good fun!

  • A Very Merry Unbirthday to Goose

    I have posted something on this blog for each and every one of my children’s birthdays. Yes, you can even read about Ella’s very first birthday all the way back here and here. So even though it may be six months late (her half birthday was last Saturday!), I have to share these photos from Lucy’s 3rd birthday that I am just now getting around to organizing and editing. 2013 has been that kind of year. So for just a few minutes, try to forget that we are all gearing up for Christmas and imagine we’re on the brink of summer instead of winter.

    Lucy’s birthday fell just a week before we moved into our new home. So even though we had painters and other workers still at the house getting it ready, I hauled cake, balloons, and presents to the back porch so we could have a little celebration in our new backyard. I was ready to start making memories there instead of at the rental house.

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    Lucy requested a strawberry cake, so I made this for her. I’m not sure if it was exactly what she had in mind, but I thought it was amazing and ate it for breakfast and lunch for several days afterward.

    Despite the fact that Claire’s eyes were swelling at an alarming rate as we sang “Happy Birthday” due to an allergic reaction involving the pollen that had collected on our swingset, and we had to cut the festivities short so that we could run to the drugstore and get her some Benadryl, it was still a sweet – albeit rushed – celebration. (Also, this explains why there are no sibling shots.)

    Lucy was absolutely thrilled with the “dollies” she got, which she subsequently named Alice (after one of our babysitters) and Lily (after her one of her cousins).

    Here is an excerpt from the birthday letter I wrote to Lucy this year that gives a little snapshot of her at three years old:

    “I’m not quite sure how to put your three-year-old self into words, Lucy. You have one big and bold, but equally sweet and silly personality that doesn’t quite seem to fit onto the page.

    You are extremely demanding and you want what you want NOW, like “water with ice, make it cold!” before bedtime every night. You tend to blow up at the smallest things, and nothing – not even bribery – can get you to calm down (that memorable incident when you told the dentist that no, you didn’t want any prizes for sitting in the chair, and then later threw your shoe across the room in frustration comes to mind). There are certain things you absolutely won’t do, like sit on Santa’s lap or stand on the scale at the doctor’s office, and there’s nothing anybody can do to change your mind.

    You are also alarmingly sneaky, like the time you pretended to be asleep on your bed facing the wall while you were really secretly and quietly unwrapping and eating the Starburst I had told you not to eat just a few minutes before. You are the only one of my children who has the nerve to go to the pantry and help yourself to a snack of goldfish and fruit snacks before I’ve even had a chance to feed you breakfast.

    But your tenaciousness has its benefits as well. You are so determined to be independent, for instance, that at just over three years old you dress yourself completely on your own every morning. Who cares if your dresses are on backwards half the time? (Certainly not you, as you won’t let anybody turn them around.)

    And then there are the times when you surprise us all with your sweetness, always quick to give hugs when somebody is hurt or sad. And you never deny me a kiss when I ask for one, and I ask a lot.

    Thanks for always keeping us on our toes. I adore you just as intensely as you hate going to the dentist… and that sure is a lot!”

    Happy “unbirthday” Lucy!

  • Thankful

    The week before Thanksgiving, I made a simple thankful tree with a pile of blank leaves for the girls to write down in words or pictures the things they were thankful for. Ella and Claire had many of the same ideas (the sisters one was my favorite):

    A few more…

    Lucy got into the spirit as well. At one point I asked her to tell me what she was writing, and she said “Mom.” She’s been working hard on writing her name lately so you can see a lot of L’s, U’s and a few other letters mixed in as well.

    Claire is thankful for letters and books here.

    Of course we are all thankful for modern technology. That’s a phone in Claire’s picture on the left. No, she doesn’t have a phone but I assure you she’s been counting down the days until she gets one for a while now (see this Instagram photo from two years ago). By the way, that day is many, many years away.

    These were my favorite kind of leaves though:

    Overall our thankful tree was something really simple that the girls loved. Now that Thanksgiving is over and I’ve taken it down (although I did save the leaves!), they have already been brainstorming ideas for a thankful Christmas tree.

    As Thanksgiving weekend draws to an end we are diving headfirst into the Christmas season. We chopped down our tree yesterday…

    … and not one, but two elves showed up at our house today: our old pal Buddy and a new girl elf that we named Sarah. Speculation ran rampant as to why an extra elf showed up this year. Ideas included:

    – Buddy got married, has a girlfriend, got engaged, and other variations on that theme.

    – Since we are in a bigger house now, one elf is not enough to patrol the whole place (trust me, the house is not that big).

    – The new elf is Buddy’s sister.

    – The new elf is an elf-in-training.

    Personally, I just think Santa decided that two elves were more fun than one. 😉 Ella asked me about the elf I had when I was a kid and was absolutely shocked to find out that Santa didn’t send elves to children’s houses back then.

    Let the holiday fun begin!

  • Happy Halloween!

    Halloween 2013. Popcorn, Dorothy, Little Red Riding Hood.

    I say it every year, but I really do love this holiday. Last year the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy canceled trick-or-treating on Halloween, so we are all especially excited to go out tonight, especially since the weather is supposed to be quite mild (in the 60s). I think I enjoy trick-or-treating just as much as the kids. To me it’s not so much about going from house to house collecting candy as it is about having an opportunity to say hello to all your neighbors. I’m sure my children feel differently!

    I was feeling nostalgic recently and put together this series of photos showing my girls over the last five Halloweens – 2009 to 2013 (you can click on it to see it larger). It really is unbelievable to see them grow up right before my eyes. I still think Claire’s Olivia costume from 2010 is my absolute favorite.

    Happy Halloween!

  • 11 Things Right Now

    Ella

    1. You are loving the "I Survived" series of books.

    2. You are extremely conscientious about making sure your school work is done. One evening after being tucked into bed you came downstairs in tears because you realized you'd forgotten to finish an assignment.

    3. You are getting really good at the violin. You are getting ready to graduate from Suzuki Book 2 and you have just started Book 3, and I'm amazed at the progress you have made.

     

    Claire

    1. You are two months into kindergarten and loving it.

    2. You spend most of your recess time on the monkey bars.

    3. You come home from school with various rainbow-themed drawings that you work on during "play centers."

    4. You hate being covered up at night, and don't even unmake your bed most nights. This is baffling to me as somebody who loves blankets and covers.

     

    Lucy

    1. Every school day after you've eaten lunch and watched an episode of Max and Ruby, you announce that you are ready for a "rest." That's when we snuggle together on the couch and you fall asleep. It's my favorite time of the day.

    2. At night after Daddy or I tuck you in and tell you to stay in your bed, you matter-of-factly announce "I won't."

    3. In the afternoons when your sisters are home from school and practicing their violins, you get out crayons or markers and your notebook and sit quietly at the kitchen counter coloring.

    4. You have created a new verb: sticker. As in "Do you want to sticker with me" or "I'm stickering in my room."

  • School Binders

    2013 has been a turbulent year, and a lot of the things I love have fallen by the wayside over the past nine months or so. I haven’t printed a single photo. I haven’t touched Project Life. I can’t remember the last time I went to yoga and I haven’t gone running in ages. How’s that for real life? I know I will find my groove again, but for now I’m basking in these school binders I put together last weekend.

    Now, like most good ideas I come across in life, this one was not my own. All the credit goes to my sister-in-law Melissa. Melissa and I have a lot in common. Among other things, we married brothers and we both have families full of girls (she has four daughters, I have three). Melissa has just done everything a few years ahead of me, and so I tend to let her blaze the trail and then I just follow behind in her footsteps.

    When Matt’s entire family was gathered at her home last Thanksgiving I came across these school binders she had put together for her girls, and I knew immediately that these were the solution to the stacks of school papers I had been collecting for Ella ever since she started kindergarten. And the best part about them is that they are ridiculously easy to put together. Even though I can’t seem to
    accomplish anything else these days, I managed to get these done in the
    middle of a busy Saturday afternoon.

    All you need is:

    – a binder (I use this one)

    – 8.5×11 page protectors

    – 8.5×11 cardstock

    – envelope to hold bulkier items like writing journals (I use Project Life 8.5×11 Envelope Pages, these tabbed envelopes also work)

    I bought this rainbow pack of Bazzill cardstock last year, which includes six colors (sadly it looks like this may have been discontinued). Since our elementary school is K-5, covering six grades, I use one color for each grade. Kindergarten is red, first grade is orange, etc. One pack of this cardstock is enough for me to make a binder for each year of elementary school for all three of my girls.

    To start I just typed a simple title at the top and subtitle below, ran the cardstock through the printer, attached that year’s school photo, and slipped the page into the front cover of the binder. For the spine of the binder (shown in the picture at the top of this post), I again typed a few words, ran the cardstock through the printer, trimmed the paper into a 1″ strip, and slid the strip of cardstock into the spine of the binder.

    I placed the class photo in the inside cover, and then I just started filling up the page protectors with the work Ella brought home from school throughout the year.

    I don’t keep every single thing, just those items that I think are most important (original writing ends up being the majority of what I keep). Sometimes stuff sticks out of the top, but I don’t stress out about it.

    In the last page protector, I keep report cards and extra school photos (why yes, I tend to order an excessive number of school photos). And then at the end is an envelope with writing journals and other items that won’t fit into a page protector.

    The best part of these binders is that if you plan ahead, you can just add to them throughout the year. I already have Claire’s kindergarten binder and Ella’s third grade binder sitting in my kitchen filled with empty page protectors. I haven’t received their school pictures yet but when I do I will just attach them right to the cover page that I’ve already printed out. Now when my girls bring anything home from school that I think is worthy of keeping, I can just stick it into the binder right then and there. At the end of the school year, all their work will already be organized and ready to go!

    Ella asked to keep her finished K-2 binders in her room, and I already caught her staying up late one night flipping through them. So that in and of itself has made the minimal effort involved totally worthwhile.

    As always, thanks for the inspiration Melissa!

  • 31 Briar Brae Rd


    Illustration by Miranda Wulff Altschuler.

  • Goodbye Summer


    School actually started last week, but now that Labor Day weekend is drawing to a close it officially feels like the season is ending.

    This summer had its highs – for Ella & Claire that was probably the Taylor Swift concert at MetLife stadium back in July (after the concert the soundtrack for our summer became her Red album; I hope I always remember Lucy’s voice in the car requesting “Taylor Swiss”) – and its lows – for Matt that was probably coming down with a case of the shingles (when your doctor tells you that many people who get this disease go on antidepressants because of the intense chronic pain, you know it’s not going to be fun).

    In the midst of it all we tried to pack in as much as we could (much of it documented on Instagram), including:

    almost daily trips to the pool (it was the first time I haven’t been stuck at the baby pool all summer… bittersweet)

    pizza dinners at the beach

    fireworks

    the town 4th of July parade

    evening walks around our new neighborhood

    celebrating Matt’s 38th birthday

    a trip to Brooklyn for lunch in Williamsburg, a few rides on Jane’s Carousel, and ice cream at Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory

    rowboats in Central Park with cousins

    swimming lessons

    lazy evenings on the hammock

    Ella riding her new red bike up and down our street

    flying to Oregon

    rafting the Klamath River with my dad

    a getaway for me and Matt to San Francisco & Carmel (my first time back to the Bay Area since we moved away 6+ years ago)

    the girls playing with all my childhood toys (think vintage Little People and American Girl dolls) at my mom’s house

    visiting the Oregon Coast

    catching fish

    celebrating our 14th anniversary in New York with dinner and a show (Once)

    We moved into our new home just before school got out, and so the summer was also spent settling into our new space. And even though half the house isn’t furnished and we all still seem to congregate in one bathroom despite the fact that we now have two additional full baths, I am looking forward to moving into the schedule and rhythm of the school year and putting most of the upheaval of this year behind us.

    Hello Fall!

  • Church Bells, Sleepovers, and Monkey Cupcakes

    Eight years old.

    I didn’t do much documenting of life in The Rental House. It almost feels like a lost period of our lives. One Saturday afternoon back in April as we were set to celebrate Ella’s 8th birthday with monkey cupcakes in the backyard (a week after her real birthday, which for the third year in a row fell on the last day of our Florida vacation and was celebrated with doughnuts and go karts), I had a little bit of a breakdown. On many levels, this was not the place I wanted to be celebrating.

    A few weeks later, I found Ella sitting on the couch with the sliding glass doors open listening to the church bells ringing. The Rental House was practically next door to a church where the bells constantly marked the time of day in fifteen minute increments, and pealed out a hymn every evening at 7pm. The girls loved to listen for the music, and wherever they were in the house they would stop what they were doing and shush each other every time they thought they heard it starting.

    That evening in particular, as Ella sat quietly and listened, she turned to me and declared what a great memory those church bells would be once we moved again, and how much she would miss them. This surprised me, coming from someone who loved to exaggerate to everyone she came across what a hardship it was to live in The Rental House.

    But listening to her find the good in the whole situation turned my heart a little bit.

    And I acknowledged that there were some memories I would also like to hold on to from those “lost” months:

    Church bells.

    The fact that even though Ella finally had her own room (however tiny it was), she slept in her sleeping bag on a camping cot in Claire and Lucy’s room almost every single night.

    Walking to Papa Joe’s for pizza at least once a week, sometimes in pajamas, because it was just that close.

    But most of all, celebrating Ella’s eighth birthday with monkey cupcakes that literally made her squeal with delight (“I love them!”) and a trip to New York City for lunch at Max Brenner (her choice), a visit to the top of the Empire State Building, and a stop at the Lego Store in Rockefeller Center for a Lego police station.



    Ella’s birthday interview:

    My favorite fruit is: plums.
    My favorite TV show is: Full House.
    My favorite thing to eat for lunch is: Bosco Sticks.
    My favorite outfit is: my sailboat t-shirt and shorts.
    My favorite drink is: milk.
    The toy I love to play with most is: Legos.
    Something that makes me scared is: when I hear loud bangs.
    My favorite animal is: monkey.
    My best subject in school is: math.
    The thing I do the most awesomely is: violin or karate.
    If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go to: Texas, so I can see what
    it’s like there. I would write about it and share it with my class.
    My favorite color is: blue, orange, and green.
    My favorite thing to do on the weekend is: spend time with my family.
    The snack I could live on is: goldfish and fruit leathers.
    My best friend is: Payson and Will.
    If I had one wish it would be: that I could live forever.
    When I grow up, I’m going to become a: karate teacher.