Fairy Princess' and the Best of Friends

The hardest part about leaving medical school was being separated from all our friends that we became so close too.  There were 4 other couples that we can easily say became an extended family to us.  We were really lucky that the Carter’s matched into residency in Columbus, only 2 hours away from us, and the Branscomb’s just moved to Detroit to finish the last 2 years of their program… which is about 3 hours from us.

So, when the Carter’s threw their little girl Grace a Fairy Princess 3^rd Birthday Party we all took it as an opportunity for a 2 year reunion… and for our little girls to get together for some Princess time.

This is Carie and Janie.  I know… they are both gorgeous.  They are also amazing friends and mothers.  Seeing them again was awesome.  It was like no time had gone by.  We just talked and laughed… and laughed some more.

The Princess party was adorable!  It started with Carie reading the kids a story about a little girl who became a fairy princess for the day.  Then all the girls received their fairy wings, and magic wands, and a bag of pixy dust. 

We all headed outside and they girls “flew” around the yard spreading their pixy dust, helping the flowers grow.  Adorable!    

Then they all came inside and made some “fairy princess houses” out of cupcakes, and tons of candy toppings.

This was about the time that the sugar rush set in for my Little Princess.  J

There were so many picture perfect moments with the sunlight glowing off the winds of little angels wings, but my favorite moment wasn’t the what I saw, it was what I heard.  3 residents laughing… really hard… for the first time in 2 years I heard Doc really laughing.  I really wish that these guys could get together more often… they need each other.

The Birthday party was definitely the best I’ve ever been too.  Everything was so much fun, for the kids… and the parents.  And I have to point out that Carie made the amazing cake all by herself!

Oz’s favorite part of the party was pigging out on the “Pixy” sticks.... and getting to see Grace... Carie and I have them both betrothed... it's decided.  J 

After the party my Little Princess ran upstairs with Grace and Sophee to play dress up.  They all came downstairs and did a few little fashion shows for us, and then we heard them upstairs laughing so hard.  Carie, Janie and I snuck up, camera in hand, and peaked into see what they were up too.  We found them all laying on the bed throwing the blankets over their heads, and laughing as they kicked the blankets off them.  This went on and on for some time, and us mom’s just stood by the door laughing with them as these little girls bonded.  It’s neat to see these little girls developing friendship that will continue to grow and develop more and more, year after year as the med school gang gets together throughout the years.

When the time came it was hard to say “good-bye” and go our separate ways again.  The only thing that could have made it any better was if the Baugh’s and Davis’ could have been there with us to make it a true med school reunion.

Thank you Gracie for giving us an amazing gift for your Birthday.

Tile by Tile

Oh my gosh, I'm so frustrated!  Blogger isn't letting me upload any pictures!  I've tried everything I can think of, but NOTHING is working.  grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Okay... here is my post... minus the pictures.  Sorry...

One of the many projects that Doc and I knocked out over the past week was tiling the kitchen and the hall bathroom. 

We had some linoleum in there that looked okay, but it had some scratches and even a small burn mark on it left from a refrigerator repair man.

Doc thought tile would really make the house look much nicer… and hopefully up the value of it when it comes time to sell in a couple of years.

We got really lucky because when we ripped up the linoleum we found that the previous owner was smart and laid it on backboard, so we didn’t have to buy or screw in backboard.  There were a few spots that we screwed in a little tighter, but we really didn’t have to do much beyond that to prep for tiling.

It took a little while to find tiles that we liked, but finally we agreed on some that we liked, and that would  We were really excited to lay those first tiles!

It took some time to cut all the tiles, lay them and grout it all, but it was worth it.  The kitchen looks amazing!  I love the way the tile turned out!

Cleaning up all the dust from the grout took several cleanings.

And I’m brilliant and didn’t take a picture of the kitchen and bathroom all cleaned up!  I’ll try to remember to do that tomorrow.

Feeling that clean, smooth, cool tile on my feet in the morning is wonderful.  I love how nice it all looks, but more than that I’m so proud that we did it together.  I think that for Doc and I, a house isn’t really a home until we have added our own touch to it. 

We are building our home together … in every way.

Holding onto Dandelions

It wasn't very long ago, not in my eyes at least,
you used to bring me dandelions and blow them in the breeze.

Your smile would come alive as you gave handfuls to me,
and whisper "Mom, I love you!” it was my favorite sight to see.

It’s been a while sense you’ve done that, but today you gave a surprise,
a precious yellow flower, a youthful gleam behind your eyes.

As the clock hands change positions, somehow the movement changed you too.
Now you bring me Lego creations and drawings made by you.

Someday you will be dating girls, and playing sports for fun,
Maybe you will be like me and find your feet and run.

The day will come when you will leave, your mission to discover,
And as you go I will know I’ve done my job as ‘Mother’.

Just as a dandelion peddles start out yellow firm, secure,
the time slowly changes them to white and fluffy fur.

And as the wind starts blowing, they feel the urge to go,
and explore the world around them away from the stem of home.

So you are slowly changing, and one day I'll set you free.
But for now I'm holding tightly to the dandelions you bring me.

-Rebecca Evans

Freedom

Despite the throbbing headache that is threatening to blow up my brain I've decided that I can't miss another day of my blog.  I've made too many excuses and justifications lately that I'm starting to have a hard time sleeping because I feel like I'm neglecting my 4th child called "blog".

I'm not going to waste your time (or my brain) thinking up excuses... I'm going to let the past go, and do my best to post something from now on.

I really want to write about our trip to DC.  Though it was only just over a week ago, it feels like much longer due to the home renovations that we've been under going sense we've been back... but there I go slipping in an excuse...

Instead of throwing it all in one post I think I'm going to have to break it up into different sections of the trip.

On Sunday morning we visited Arlington National Cemetery. 

Seeing the rows and rows of white tombstones was very sobering. 

 While we were there we would periodically hear bells ringing, and then I found an inscription on a plaque that said, "While these bells ring safely rest, freedom lives."

While there we were also able to watch the changing of the guard in front of the the tomb of the unknown soldier.  It was very moving to see how perfectly executed the changing was, and how serious they took their duty. 

I'm so grateful for all the soldiers who are currently serving our country, and all those who came before.  Those who fought and returned, and those who gave their lives.  If it weren't for them who knows where our country would be.  I doubt I would be able to write so freely in my blog if it weren't for the freedom that they fought for.

There are so many freedoms that we take so forgranted.  I hope to never forget to be grateful for the country which I'm so blessed to live in.

What a Trip!

The last few days were amazing.

The kids and I were able to tag-a-long with Doc to Washington DC for the annual ACOG meeting.  It was the first family vacation that we were able to take in 5 years.  The last time we took a vacation Oz was 2 years old and in diapers ~ he doesn't remember it.

We saw so many fun and amazing things while in DC and I wanted to share some of them with you!

The White House was just down the road from our hotel so it was definitely our first stop on our walking tour of DC.  The kids were pretty excited to see the big white building.

But I think they were a little more excited about the extremely friendly squirrel that came up to say "Hi" to them.

The boys favorite monument was the Washington monument.  They were fascinated by how tall it was.

We had to have a little photo op in front of the monument.

The boys turned into little super heroes and held up the monument for a little while. 

The Lincoln Memorial... they were working on the reflection pool.

The kids also loved hanging out at the Air and Space Smithsonian Museum.

The Wright brothers airplane.

The capital building.

We were so exhausted by the time we got to the Natural History Museum that we just shot a couple pictures and had to head back to the hotel.

What was really funny was that night as we were flipping through the channels "Night at the Museum" part 2 about the Natural History Museum was on the TV.  What a coincidence... we would have watched it... if the kids were still awake.

I'll write more about the trip later... I'm going to have to break up the story of our visit to DC because I've been so stinking busy.

Dancing in the Streets!

Wow!  What a day … or night to be in Washington DC!  Doc and I were watching “West Coast Customs”

when we heard a group of people drive by honking their horns and yelling out the windows.  We couldn’t tell what they were saying, but you could hear the excitement in their voices.  I figured that their team just won a big game or something and ignored it.  Then another car drove by doing the same.  We looked out our hotel room window and saw across the street that many people in the apartment building were also peering through their windows.  As we were getting up to look out the window accidently flipped the channel to CNN and there was the news:

President Obama made his official announcement shortly after.  It is an amazing feeling to be sitting in a hotel literally 5 blocks directly behind the White House, and to be able to hear from here the occasional cheer from the ever growing crowd wafting through the air. 

 

As I looked out the window more and more people started hitting the streets walking toward the White House and yelling and cheering and honking horns as they went. 

I wanted to join them so bad… but I had three sleeping children happily oblivious to the joy that the death of this evil man has brought to the world.

It took me a while to finally peal my eyes off the news of the spontaneous celebrations busting out in Times Square and Ground Zero, but I knew that I had to get some sleep… whether I liked it or not the children would be up and ready to go in the morning, and I was going to have to be awake enough to watch them.

At around 2:00am I finally drifted off to sleep to the sounds of air horns, car horns, and cheering.

I’m making the boys work on their homework this morning while Doc is at his convention, and once they are done we are going to walk over to the White House and join in the experience there. 

What an amazing time to be in Washington DC.  It is not often that there are parties and cheering and celebrating in the streets here rather than protests and tension.  I’m so grateful that my children and I get to be here for this amazing moment in history.

I’ll take lots of pictures and when I get home I’ll upload them and share them here… maybe my cell phone can post some for me… hummmm…  I’ll figure it out, and post another blog entry tonight!

Have a wonderful day… I know I will!

Forgiveness

I don't want to sit here and list the reasons why I've been neglecting my blog.  I'm pretty mad at myself for choosing to crash at night rather than sit and write.  Part of it is this transition to getting up extra early and taking care of sweet little baby Wilson.  I couldn't ask for an easier little boy to watch, but I do feel a little like a brand new Mom again getting used to his schedual, and trying to figure out the balance between holding, feeding, burping, changing, singing, and sleeping... and then switching gears to playing, teaching, and feeding my 4 other children... and then there is house work... and I'm still potty training Otis.

I'll get there.  I've just been so wiped out at the end of the day I've crashed out before giving a second thoguht to my blog.

I'm hoping to get back on track though.

Right now the kids and I tagged-a-long with Doc to the annual ACOG convention in Washington DC, we are on a little vacation of sorts here in DC.  It's our first family vacation in 5 years.

Tomorrow Doc is going to be at a meeting most the day, so while the boys are busting out their homework that they are going to be missing over the next 3 days, I'm going to actually write a post.

So please forgive me for not staying true to my word... and I'll try to forgive myself and start anew.