Milwaukee Friends

I have been putting this slideshow together for a couple months now, just adding the recent photos to it since I started. I wanted to post it before we left town, but didn’t have enough time before we got all packed up and ready to leave, and then I didn’t have an internet connection. Anyways, I just wanted to share these photos of all our Milwaukee friends over the last four years. It’s kind of long, just to warn you. But I enjoyed watching it and recalling all the memories of our good friends in Milwaukee. Thank you all for a great four years, and we are hoping to have a chance to see you again in the future!

Oh, and I’ve tried to be pretty good at sending copies of photos to everyone, but if there are any here you’d like me to send you just let me know – I’d be glad to do it. And if you happen to have any pictures with my boys in them, I’d love to have copies too. Thanks!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We are moving!!

This has been a week of packing and moving. Monday, Memorial Day, was a day filled with packing. Luckily we were invited to a BBQ that night at Ken and Monica Theriot’s, so we had something to look forward to. The weather was perfect and the Theriots have a very nice fenced-in backyard that was perfect for kids to play in.

I was getting so tired of packing as the time got closer to move – it is what we were doing from the time we got up in the morning until the evening. This move was more difficult than previous ones because we had to split everything into two groups, one for Utah and the other for New York. Our goal was to get all of it to fit into 2 pods. That is why we have been selling most of our bigger furniture. We finally got the last sofa sold on Monday, and the guy came to pick it up Thursday morning. We made about $800 selling the furniture, which we can put into savings for furniture in Rochester, and we figure that we will be saving about $1000 by not storing that furniture for one year, so we have been pretty blessed in trying to make things work.

Packing continued all day Tuesday. Thanks to Amanda Hansen and Jill Hunter for watching the kids for a few hours so we could get more packing accomplished. The pods arrived Tuesday morning. They were not very big – only 6 x 7 x 8 feet, and we had to get everything to fit into just 2 of them. I was a little worried. We had some people come from church to help us pack the pods Tuesday night, and as boxes were placed out on the lawn, I started to panic, thinking that we were not going to make it fit, and we would have to use the 3^rd pod. But miraculously, at least in my mind, we were able to make it all fit how we had planned. That felt so good. We were both exhausted after that long day.

Originally we had planned to leave Milwaukee Friday around noon, after the pods were picked up. When the pods were dropped off on Tuesday, we learned that we didn’t have to be there for them to pick up the pods. And after getting so much done by Tuesday, we decided that maybe we could try leaving late Thursday afternoon. Wednesday ended up being a little more of a lazy day as far as packing. We took our time getting up and ready for the day and then had several errands to run with all the kids. We dropped off a van load of things at the salvation army. Then we sold my old nintendos and games and were able to get enough money for 2 new games for our Nintendo Wii – Super Mario Galaxy and Zelda: Twilight Princess.

We met up with Jason and Amy Hymas and Jason and Marcela Maas at Hoyt park that night in order for the kids to play together and say goodbyes. It is still so weird to me that we may not see some of our friends from Milwaukee again after this week. I’m just glad that there are blogs for us to continue to stay in contact with our friends. After the park we took the kids to Peter and Cynthia Hedgecocks to play with Jordan and Carter again before leaving. We are really going to miss our family from Milwaukee. Please stay in touch and let us know if you will be near Salt Lake City over the next year.

Thursday we were able to finish getting everything packed and into the pods. Amy Hymas, Jill Hunter, and Amanda Hansen all volunteered to help Steph with cleaning the apartment, so I took all the kids (7 total) to the park to play on the playground and in the sand while the moms cleaned – thanks to all of you for your help. We were so blessed to be friends with all of you.

Then we got back, finished packing up the car, and left. We decided at the last minute to get a power inverter for my laptop so we could plug it into the cigarette lighter in the car and not run down the laptops battery. We also got a tape to hook into the car’s stereo system so the kids could listen to the movies. Then we got Mulan and Milo and Otis, since all of our other movies were already packed before we came up with this idea. We finally got out of Milwaukee around 8:30 and drove for a few hours. We had decided to try and sleep in the car to save money by not paying for a hotel, so we found a side street and set up camp for the night. The kids actually did really well and the weather was really warm for us. I probably had the hardest time just because I didn’t fit well into one seat to sleep. But at least I tried. :)

We got up Friday morning and finished driving to Nauvoo, Illinois. Our plan was to stay for 2 days and then head to grandma Bev’s Saturday night. We ended up doing just one day in Nauvoo. We took the kids to see the brass band; on a carriage ride with horses around north Nauvoo; to Wilford Woodruf’s house where we got to say hi to Sister Andrea Cartwright, one of Steph’s friends from high school who is serving a mission in Nauvoo; and to the family living center and outdoor pioneer games center. The kids really liked the outdoor play area. But they just had very short attention spans in the places where we would sit and listen to someone talk, and those were the things we had left to do. So we decided to leave after dinner and start on our journey to Grandma Bev’s house.

This time we were able to stay at a hotel where we were able to shower and bathe the kids, which was wonderful. Yesterday we drove the rest of the way to Grandma Bev’s and got here in the late afternoon. She had dinner ready for us, and then she took us to Culver’s, where Aunt Amanda works, and the kids were able to say hi. We also stopped at the store to pick up some Benadryl for me. I am already taking Zertec for my allergies, but Grandma Bev has a cat, and my allergies have been so bad since we got here. I took the Benadryl and after a while it put me to sleep on the couch until we went to bed. Steph was able to video tape a genealogy interview with her grandma, and then she found some old German documents that her grandma had misplaced, which she is going over today to hopefully find out more information about her ancestors.

This morning my allergies were really acting up. I didn’t want to take any Benadryl because I didn’t want to fall asleep at church, but I finally took some, which helped so much. I was tired at church but didn’t fall asleep. In the Sunday school class we talked about Alma’s discussion of things that we should do to become members of Christ’s church, focusing on being a witness of Christ at all times and in all places, and what that means, and how we can try to be better at being a witness for Him. We are having fun being here with grandma Bev. Our plan is to leave sometime after lunch tomorrow and take 2 days to drive the rest of the way to Utah. Our pod is supposed to arrive on Tuesday and then I start my internship 2 weeks from tomorrow.

We have been so blessed as we have been able to reflect on all the people that have touched our lives over the past 4 years in Milwaukee. Thanks to everyone who has been our family away from family, and we hope to continue to stay in contact. Here is our new address and contact information (I am changing my email address so take note):

Michael and Stephanie Bradshaw

4027 Market Street

West Valley, UT 84119

(801) 967-9974

michaelbbradshaw@gmail.com

stephanielbradshaw@gmail.com

Getting Ready to Move

This week has been a whirlwind of packing and getting last-minute things done before our move, with some fun thrown in here and there. On Sunday afternoon Michael’s parents and my parents each left, and on Monday Grandma Faun left too. We were so glad that they could all come for Michael’s graduation!

On Monday Michael got his graduation gift from me (and we used the graduation money from Grandma Faun and the money Michael had earned by helping give a test to the 2nd-years a couple weeks ago, and it was still a pretty big splurge – but Michael really, really wanted it and has worked so hard through school these last few years that I figure he deserves to spend some time just relaxing and having fun). So, I got him a Wii. I was always one of those people who swore our children would never play video games (although I do have a secret love of Tetris). But I do like that the Wii has fun sports games that get you up and moving, and that since it is wireless the kids can play too without accidentally stepping on the chords and turning everything off – Kolby is an expert at bowling already! So we have the sports games and Mario Kart, which is a fun racing game – as long as we steer clear of the killing games, I don’t think it’s bad to sit down as a family or with friends and play some games. Plus, Michael was excited to find out that he could play the games online through our wireless connection with his family and friends who don’t live nearby – he has already played the racing game with his dad in Boise, and with the Hymases. So, needless to say, Michael was pretty excited about that gift.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I went to the family history center and had the sisters there help me translate some of the German records that my parents brought back from their trip to the Czech Republic. I am so excited to sit down and figure out how all these ancestors connect, and my mom said she might even be able to come up to Utah once my brothers’ school gets out, and we can both spend some time at the family history center working on it together – it’s so fun that my parents are both getting interested in family history too now.

I have been quite busy this week also selling lots of our furniture and some other smaller things. This week we sold the entertainment center, the kitchen table, another table that we had in the basement, an end table, the breadmaker, and the car. Now we just need to sell the couch, and we will be set as far as the big things go. We’ve also been doing all the last minute things that come with moving – canceling our YMCA membership, getting transfer papers for WIC, getting the tow hitch installed on the van so we could tow the car on our move, making last-minute doctor’s appointments before we move and have to switch doctors, making big batches of soup to try to use up the meat in our freezer before we move, getting oil changes and check-ups on the cars before moving, finding out that the car had some major problems that we didn’t know about that made it un-drivable and would cost more than the cost of the car to fix, posting the car on sale for craigslist for $350 (hoping that we could get more than just $100 for it), having 30 or 40 people e-mail us about the car the night we posted it online, taking one last trip to the Chicago temple before we move, canceling our reservation to get the tow dolly from U-haul to tow our car to Utah, and having someone come to our house as soon as we returned from our temple trip and offer us $500 for the car and then paying us and taking it off our hands right away. Although we were not planning on having to get another car for Michael once we move to Utah, I guess if you look at the bright side of things, we will no longer have to tow the car on our drive to Utah, so that will not only save us a little gas money, but we will also not be limited to the 6 days that we would have had to get to Utah to drop off the U-haul tow dolly, so now we can choose to stay an extra afternoon or an extra day in Nauvoo or at Grandma Bev’s house on our drive out if we feel like it. Also, it was a little annoying that we had just paid to install the tow hitch on the van and we won’t be using it now, but I guess we will tow whatever car we get on our move to Rochester in a year, so the hitch won’t go totally unused.

We have also had some fun this week. Tyce came over and played a bit on Monday night after we put the kids to bed, and the Hedgecocks came over on Tuesday night after Kolby called and asked if Jordan could come play (Kolby and Eli get really excited lately when we let them call their friends on the phone). On Wednesday we got to go to a playgroup at Enderis Park, where we saw Marcela Maas and some other friends. Michael also took the three older boys swimming on Wednesday night while I repaired furniture to get it in good enough shape to sell it. At the playgroup that morning Marcela decided to organize a BBQ for the next night as a little going away party with some friends. She called everyone and got it all organized, and we were surprised at how many showed up since it was planned at the last minute. It was nice to be able to see lots of our friends and enjoy some time together, although people didn’t linger for long after dinner since it turned out to be a very cold evening. After the BBQ, the Hedgecocks stayed to play and Jana and Marie Wells came back over after dropping Keith off at the school to study. Michael figured out how to play the Wii with the Hymases on the internet too that night, so that was fun also.

And today will be our last day at church in this ward. I’m sad to be going, although I’ve kind of been getting used to the idea since Michael matched, so I’ve not been feeling quite as sad lately as I was at first. And this week will continue to be busy too. The pods arrive on Tuesday and we will have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to pack everything and clean the apartment. The pods will be picked up on Friday before noon, and we will head out then. We are planning on stopping in Nauvoo, Illinois for a day and then stopping and visiting with my Grandma Bev in Missouri before driving the rest of the way to Salt Lake.

Oh, speaking of Salt Lake, I sat Kolby and Eli down the other day and explained all of our moving plans and answered their questions, and they seemed to understand and accept everything, except there was some confusion about moving to Salt Lake. Apparently Kolby thought we were moving to a place with water, since it is called ‘Salt Lake.’ I explained to him that there is a lake, but that it’s not right next to Grandma’s house, and the rest of the conversation seemed to go pretty smoothly. I think that the boys are starting to understand the idea of moving, although they keep asking me every once in a while if we are moving back home after we live at Grandma Faun’s house – I think Kolby thought we were going on another extended vacation until I recently told him we would have a new house in New York after we live in Utah. I haven’t mentioned to them that they won’t be seeing their friends again, though. I don’t know if I should say anything about that before we go or not – I’ll probably just tell them today that they need to say goodbye to their friends before we move. Hopefully that goes pretty smoothly too.

Boy Oh Boy!

A couple weeks ago we babysat for the Kearls and the Hedgecocks because we owed them both for watching our kids more than once. It seems like it is harder and harder for Michael and I to ask anyone to babysit for us anymore, because we have a couple of good friends who we know we can always count on to watch our boys for us if we need them too, but we don’t want to take advantage of their kindness and ask them too frequently. And then most other people we have asked to babysit for us have never asked us back to watch their kids for them, so we don’t feel like we can ask them again. We just have more kids than many of our friends do, so it’s hard to ask people to take on so many little boys all at once. And I guess people don’t ask us to babysit for them because they think it would be too many kids for us, but these photos will lay those fears to rest. So, to all of our friends who read this, please, ask us to babysit – we are always looking for opportunities to trade babysitting with friends.

Anyways, coming back from that little tangent – we watched the Hedgecocks’ and Kearls’ kids, and the Wellses happened to come over that night and brought ice cream, so we ended up having ice cream with all the kids. With our boys and Marie Wells, there were 9 kids total, but it made it a lot more fun to babysit with friends over while we did it.

And the video at the end is from a different night, but it shows a typical game night at our place before we round up all the wild children and put them to bed so that the parents can enjoy some games. The boys (and Katie) will often run back and forth from the bedroom to the living room, and lately they have started yelling things while they run, like “Fire!” or “Tornado!” But a bunch of little kids age 4 and younger yelling “Tornado” sounds a lot like “Tomato,” so I had to grab the camera and catch that on tape. Pretty cute! But, of course, it didn’t take them long to realize they were being recorded, and then they all stopped running to pose and act silly for the camera. Isn’t that always the case – when I want to catch something on video, they stop whatever they are doing and pose for the camera, but if I wanted to take a cute picture of them, they would probably start running around the house.

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm graduated from medical school!!

Well, it’s official. After four long, busy, difficult, yet fun years, I graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin with a degree of doctor of medicine (MD) with honors in research. What a whirlwind week of activities and emotions. My mom and dad and grandma Faun arrived Wednesday afternoon and Steph’s parents came on Thursday. Not only have we been happy to have family here to be with us during this special week and to have fun playing with the kids, but also we are grateful for the wonderful weather that they brought with them.

Monday was my last day of classes in medical school. My final lecture was on bioterrorism, specifically on anthrax, the plague, and small pox – interesting note to end on. We had our pass/fail final test Tuesday morning (I had to score more than a 64% in order to pass), CPR recertification in the afternoon, and then I was done. Wow!!

Wednesday morning we went with the Lythgoes to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and probably the most active I have seen the animals. The jaguar and the cheetahs were the best, prowling back and forth in front of the glass; the elephants were playing in the water and with sticks; the monkeys were swinging back and forth and putting on a show; and even the black bear came out to say hi. The boys always like the fish and reptiles building. We met up with the Hymases a little later and had lunch by the new flamingo exhibit. The kids had so much fun playing together. On Wednesday night they got to see Kolby and Eli in their swim lessons and then grandpa Dick swam with Kolby, Eli, Camden, and me for a while afterwards.

Thursday morning I went over to the school to get some pictures taken with several of the other graduates in front of the school in our graduation robes. We took the family down to the lakefront to see Lake Michigan and play frisbee and throw balls in the grass. Then we went across the street to the Children’s Museum for a few hours. We are really going to miss this museum that has so many fun and varied activities for the kids. That night was the graduation awards dinner held at the Italian center in downtown Milwaukee. We were treated to a very nice dinner and then several faculty, residents, and people in the class received awards from various departments. It was fun to be there with all the family members and we received some good advice from those who got the teaching awards.

Then it was here – graduation day. The morning was spent around the apartment and just outside, playing with the kids and enjoying time together. My mom made me a really nice embroidered picture of a lighthouse with a really cool quote from our prophet, Thomas S. Monson: “The lighthouse of the Lord beckons to all as we sail the seas of life. Look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost, but what its beacon light can rescue. It calls ‘this way to safety and this way to home.’” Steph’s parents got us a really nice new digital camera – a Canon G9 series with 12.1 mega pixels. It has so many buttons and gadgets on it that it will take me a while to learn just how to use it. And grandma Faun gave us some money to put towards a graduation present. Thanks to all of you for your generosity, and to everyone else that has called to wish us congratulations.

We headed to the Milwaukee Theatre just after lunch in order to take pictures with me in my graduation robes. Then I had to separate from the family to go to the graduate waiting area and to say goodbye to some people who I probably won’t see again. It was a blur of feelings, thoughts, and emotions. We were lined up and marched into the theatre. Our graduation ceremony is done in conjunction with those receiving a PhD, a MA, and an MS. The speaker focused on what a privilege it is to be a doctor – it is a blessing and honor that comes with a responsibility to always help and serve your patients in order to find true happiness in the profession. Then I was walking up to the stage, across the stage while they were saying my name, and receiving my diploma, signifying that I am now a doctor. There is no way that I could have got here without the help of my wonderful wife Stephanie and all the family and friends who have supported us over the past four years. Thanks to everyone who was able to come and participate – it was so nice to have family here. And again, thanks to all who have called or sent congratulations our way. It is still a little surreal to have the degree – I don’t think it has hit me yet that I am actually a doctor – hopefully that will happen as I start into my intern year.

We were able to drop the kids off at a babysitter (thank you Hedgecocks) and go to dinner at Bartolottas, and Italian restaurant in downtown Wauwatosa. Our reservation was for 8pm, but the party before us didn’t want to get up from the table, so we didn’t end up getting seated until almost 9pm. The owner came out and apologized, and we ended up getting 2 free antipastos (one a mix of meats, cheeses, and veggies; the other delicious calamari) and 5 free desserts. That was nice. The dinner was pretty good – I got a nice seafood mix with some swordfish, octopus, mussels, scallops, and prawns. And we just had a great time spending time together. Thanks mom and dad for dinner.

Saturday morning we took the boys over to the hotel to swim with the grandparents. Grandpa Dick taught Eli how to dive into the water and he did it right away with no fear. It was so cute to watch. Nana and Papa took the boys to the mall to Build a Bear and Camden got a puppy named Quinton; Eli got a bunny named Benjamin; and Kolby got an Elephant named Rutherford. You can squeeze the hand and the animal says, “Nana and Papa love…(and then the boys name).” They are really cute and the boys love them. Steph got a new skirt and shirt and I got some new Levis – thanks again moms and dads. We went to a BBQ for dinner at Enderis Park with several other recent graduates and their families. There was good food and fun times seeing some of these people probably for the last time. The Nielsens and Tysons gave us a really cute frame, with a picture of me and the boys and a whiteboard, along with this poem:
“When Daddy write his name, he always writes M.D. That’s so people all will know that he belongs to me. So, M.D. means My Daddy, or something just the same, and that is why he always puts those letters on his name. Some letters in his name are small but those are big, you see. He always makes them big like that because he’s proud of me.” Thanks you guys. After the BBQ, we rushed home to put the kids to bed, and with Tyce babysitting, we were able to run to the mall to see Prince Caspian. I really liked it, and what a fun and exciting weekend.

It is now Sunday morning and we are just about to head off for church. The roast is cooking and the potatoes and carrots are ready to be cooked; the rolls are rising; the cake is cooked; the kids are dressed; grandma Debbie is playing beautiful piano music; the boys are playing with the other grandparents; and it is just a wonderful Sabbath day that we get to celebrate as a family here at home and then at church. Both parents leave tonight and Grandma Faun tomorrow, which we are sad about, because it has been so much fun to spend the weekend with them. This just gets us so excited to come to Utah to be closer to all the family.

Night Out

As I have been catching up on posting some of our pictures from the last couple months, I had to put up this one. We got to go last month with the Kearls and the Hedgecocks to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s performance of The Planets. The music was great and it was really fun to get dressed up and go out with our friends (without any kids, for a change).

Happy Mother's Day!

This has been quite the week. Every evening we have had something scheduled, so it has been busy, but very fun too. Not to mention that May is a crazy month for birthdays and other celebrations in our extended family – Michael’s sister and her husband, Mel and Christian, had their anniversary last Saturday, my parents’ anniversary was Wednesday, my sister Michelle’s birthday was Thursday, my dad’s birthday was Friday, Mother’s Day is today, our brother-in-law Christian’s birthday is coming up on Tuesday, our nephew Jaden’s birthday is on the 24th, Memorial Day is the 26th, our brother-in-law Jake’s birthday is on the 28th, not to mention we are moving to Salt Lake on the 30th. Wow!

So, this week on Monday we had a fun Cinco de Mayo BBQ at Wirth Park with some good friends. We grilled and ate yummy Mexican food, played a bit of ultimate frisbee, let the kids have fun on the playground, and after everyone else headed home we took our boys and went on a short nature walk through the trees (the boys were excited when we saw deer on our walk).

On Tuesday we went over to the Nielsen’s house to play in their back yard in the morning. Then that night Michael helped give one of the OSCE tests to the 2nd year med students (he got paid $50 for each night he did it). After he got home, Grant Roper was kind enough to come over and study at our house while our kids and the Kearl’s kids slept and we went over to the Hymas’ place for a Wii party. It was a lot of fun to play – and to have the three couples together again one more time (since the Kearls are now in Utah for a wedding and we will be moving before Faith returns to Milwaukee).

On Wednesday we dropped the boys off at the Hedgecock’s house and went to the Senior Dinner Dance downtown at the Wisconsin Club. It was a nice dinner and we had a lot of fun talking and dancing with our friends from Michael’s class. It is weird to think that in a matter of weeks many of them will be scattered all across the country (one reason I am grateful for blogs – so we can all have a good way to keep in touch).

On Thursday Michael went and helped with the OSCE test again, and I took the boys with me to a 4th-year BBQ at the Nielsen’s house. It is always fun to get together and see everyone again, although it is always a bit more challenging for me to go places with the boys by myself, without Michael there. It was nice to come home afterwards, get the boys to bed, have Michael get home, and just sit down and do nothing really important for the rest of the night.

On Friday Michael dropped the Kearls off at the airport early in the morning, and then he told me that he was feeling a little sad all day since they left. At least we will have a chance to see them in Utah again after we move before they come back home. That evening we dropped the boys off with Jessica and John Gittens, and met the Hedgecocks at Habaneros for Peter’s birthday dinner. We mentioned to the waiter that it was Peter’s birthday, and he said they would surprise him with something. After a good meal, a group of waiters and waitresses came over and sang Peter Happy Birthday, and then they gave him a shot of tequila. We felt pretty bad – we expected ice cream! We were all a little relieved that the group of waiters didn’t stay at our table and cheer for Peter to drink the shot. The waiters did look at us curiously each time they passed our table for the rest of the evening, though, because the shot glass was still full. We snapped a couple pictures of Peter on our phone with his “first drink,” and then wrote a little note on the receipt saying that we appreciated the gift, but that we don’t drink. That was a pretty funny experience. Then we went back to our place and played a quick game before returning to retrieve our children from our babysitters. We stayed and talked a bit with the Gittens when we picked up the boys, and we have been wishing that we had gotten to know them better while we were here – they are so nice! Plus they had a little dog that Kolby and Eli absolutely loved (and Camden was quite afraid of). It was a little gray yorkie-poodle mix, and Michael has been talking about how cute it was since then. Kolby had started asking for a pet dog a couple weeks ago, and we saw another person throwing their dog a ball in the park yesterday and Kolby asked if he could have a dog to throw a ball to. I think we’ll probably have a dog or two eventually, but I was rather surprised that Kolby has started asking for one already – I didn’t expect that for another few years at least.

Yesterday morning we met Amy Rahm in Tosa Village where she took pictures of the boys. I really wanted some good shots of all the boys together (it is really hard to get them all looking at the camera at the same time, let alone smiling), and I think that she got some great shots. I asked her afterwards if this had been her most challenging shoot yet, and she said that it probably had – at least as far as getting all four boys to look at the camera at the same time. I am really excited to get the CD with the pictures in a couple weeks. I have always admired Amy’s pictures of her boys on her blog, and I was so excited when I found out that she was starting a photography business and that her prices were affordable. If you want to check out her photo site, it is: http://www.amyrahmphotography.blogspot.com/.

After the boys finished their lollipops (bribes for posing during the photo shoot), we dropped off Michael and the two younger boys at home because some people were coming to buy some things we had posted on craigslist, and the two older boys went with me to run some errands. Kolby got to pick out his new “big boy underwear” (boxers) because he had been dry with no accidents for a week. Kolby has been potty trained for a while now, but has been wetting the bed at night recently. The pediatrician told me not to give him any liquid for 4 hours before bedtime (except 2 ounces to drink with dinner) unless he was sick or we were outside and it was hot out. I feel kind of bad not giving him water when he wants it at night, but it worked. Not having anymore accidents is definitely worth it. So, after going to pick out his special new underwear, we went and sold a few games at a video game store – Michael was so excited when our friends gave him their old Xbox and games, and he played it for two days before the xbox started showing an error that we found out meant the hard drive was shot. Oh well. When we got home, someone had come by and bought my old computer from college, which was nice. We got all the boys fed and down for naps and then I actually took a nap – I don’t know how long it has been since I did that last. (Happy Mother’s Day to me!). Michael woke me up just in time to head over to the school for the MSSA closing social. It was fun to sit with the Hymases at the dinner and to have a chance to talk to some other friends there.

And this morning was really nice. The boys helped Daddy make me an omelet, and they brought me breakfast in bed. And they colored pictures and Kolby wrote “I love you Mommy” and Kolby and Eli both wrote their names on cards for me. What a nice Mother’s Day. After getting the boys fed, Michael has been reading our church lessons to me while I’ve been writing this morning. I guess we aught to start getting ready for church soon. Tonight should be fun too, because the Lythgoes are coming to dinner. Happy Mother’s Day to our moms and grandmothers too! We love you, and can’t wait to see you all soon at Michael’s graduation this week and as we move later on this month.

Last Month of Medical School

This week I started into my last rotation of medical school – the preparing for internship course. This is just a 2 week lecture series – daily lectures from 8:30 to noon on various topics that the school feels will be most helpful to us in preparing for the intern year. I am amazed by how short my attention span has become for listening to lectures and wonder how I survived the first two years of lectures. :) The things they have taught so far seems pertinent and a good refresher, and it has been especially nice to see all my classmates that I haven’t seen for a few months or years.

Monday we went to the domes, since it is free for Milwaukee residents on Monday mornings. This is a set of 3 large dome-shaped greenhouses, each with a different theme inside them. One had a garden theme, one had a southwest desert theme, and one had a tropical theme. It all smelled really good and was quite pretty. We especially liked the tropical dome and so had lunch on some benches in there.

That night Steph and I were invited to dinner at an Italian restaurant with my dermatology advisor, Dr. Valerie Lyon, and her spouse, and another student that has worked with Dr. Lyon, Christine Palmer and her husband. I tried anchovies on pizza and conch (like the conch shell) in a salad for the first time. It was so nice of Dr. Lyon and her husband to treat us out.

We have started selling our big furniture on Craigslist.com and have had some success this week – we sold the bunk bed, a couch, a dresser, a bookshelf, and a small cabinet. If we can fit all of our stuff into one pod for long term storage in Rochester rather than 2, that will save us about $1000. We are going to put the “furniture money” aside and save it for when we get to Rochester to apply towards new furniture. We have also been able to get some more packing done this week and only have a little left to do after graduation. The apartment is looking quite sparse recently.

Tuesday night we met with Kendra McMullin, a resident wife in our ward who has talked with us before about finances and some suggestions to prepare for the future. She came this time to give us some advice of things she has learned since they started residency – things that we should and shouldn’t try to do once we are living on an income – I think she had some really good advice. She also gave us a book to read, called The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach, and so far it is really good. He stresses coming up with a method to pay yourself first in order to have enough saved to enjoy retirement. I was also shown a new website this week, poormd.blogspot.com that a recent graduate from my school has put together on different financial topics and he and his colleagues advice – from Roth IRAs to renting vs. buying to what to do once you start earning an income. Steph and I also sat down this week and started to put together an Excel spreadsheet showing what our monthly expenses will be next year and what things we want to start saving for. I guess we are just excited to finally have a paycheck and to start saving for the goals that we want to accomplish in our life.

Wednesday we went to the playgroup at the park. The weather was almost perfect and the boys had so much fun with their friends on the playground and in the sand. Camden is now old enough to run around with the older boys and do most of what they do, so it is fun to watch all of them playing together. We packed lunches so we could eat there at the park.

Kolby and Eli continue to improve in their swimming skills. Eli was able to swim back and forth across half the pool with only a flotation assistive device that looks like a weight barbell – his teacher just walked in front of him to make sure he was doing ok. He is also almost just tall enough to stand in the water by himself, so he likes jumping off the side and then trying to walk from me back to the wall – it is really funny to watch since he is not quite tall enough. I swam with the boys in the water after they were done and we had lots of fun.

Kolby and Eli have been working on staying dry all the time for potty training. We decided to start a new chart, and if they went 7 days straight with no accidents, then they could get some “big boy” underwear – boxer briefs – from the store. They have been so excited to work on it, and Eli actually was the first one to get to 7 days, so we went to the store and let him pick out some new underwear. He was so excited. We also had a 2 for 1 at Noodles, so we packed dinner for the boys and Steph and I were able to enjoy a nice dinner for under $8. What a deal.

We have had some fun with friends this weekend as well. Friday night we had the Kearls and the Hedgecocks over for games and dessert. They have both watched our kids for us a number of times and so we set up to watch both their kids for them last night so they could both go on a date. Then, the Wells called and came over to do an ice cream bar and games, as well as helping to watch the kids. We had 9 children last night and they all did reasonably well together. We were even able to get most of them to sleep and able to enjoy playing some games. Steph and I borrowed an old Disney movie from the Kearls called The Happiest Millionaire that we finished watching this weekend and that was really funny.


Well, it is a nice sunny Sunday morning and the kids are getting a little rowdy, so I probably should end to go and help Steph get them all ready for church.

Super Why!

So, I was thinking the other day that it’s kind of funny that we have something in common with each of our best friends: we all love “Super Why.” Yes, our kids love it too, but we as adults really love this show. We wait for it each morning, record episodes to play for the children later on, and even have the songs and quotes memorized from the show. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of watching the “Super Why” cartoon at 9am on PBS, you are definitely missing out. It’s a cute little show where the storybook characters use spelling and reading to resolve a problem in each episode. Plus, there is usually a good moral of the story that is taught in each episode too. The coolest thing about this show is that it is totally interactive and somewhat repetitive, so our kids love it and they actually read the letters and spell out words out loud while watching the show. Kolby says that he is the main character, “Super Why,” and Eli tells us that he is Alpha Pig (and he is also all of the other characters at the same time, he always adds). Camden even enjoys watching the show, and at the part where it tells the children to say their name out loud he said his name the other day (which was impressive since he doesn’t really talk much yet, even though it sounded more like “Mama” than “Camden,” but it was a good try). And Kolby has started to sound out more and more sounds lately and has even read a few short words without help, so I know it’s nice practice for him to work on the spelling and reading while watching a fun cartoon that he likes so much. But the funny thing about this show is that Super Why has been the topic of many a conversation lately between us and our friends. As our friend, Peter, said, “We wish we had a show this good when we were growing up.” When you go onto the PBS kids website, you can play a spelling game and make your own superhero. This is the one that Kolby made:

Ready for Retirement

This month has been so wonderful having Michael home with us for his vacation month. Not only has he been super helpful with the kids and allowed me to get a little more rest most mornings, it has been great for the boys and for me to just be able to spend time with him. I told him that I am feeling ready for him to retire so that we can continue having all this great time together as a family forever (I wish!). We have gotten all the planning done for the move and have started packing some things for Rochester this week. Planning for this move has been a little harder than past moves because we are sending half of our things and storing them in Rochester for a year and taking the other things that we will need with us to Salt Lake, so as we pack we can’t just throw everything into boxes, but need to decide which things we can get by without for a year and which things we have to have with us. But we are making progress – we sorted through our basement storage unit and our storage in the apartment, we have assembled a pretty good collection of boxes, we took many of the pictures and decorations down, packed the china, packed all the things we could from Kolby and Eli’s room, we went through all of our food storage and removed the items that would expire before we get settled in in Salt Lake so we can start using them, and we have packed what we could from the bathroom and linen closet, and a little from Camden’s closet, and I have started to post a few things for sale on craigslist.com. I think the next step will be to pack the odds and ends that have started to pile up in our bedroom since we started packing, then on to finishing Camden’s room. I feel like we’re not too far from getting the majority of the Rochester stuff packed, and then we can relax a bit more until we need to get everything packed after Michael’s graduation.

So, a lot of days this week were taken up by several hours of packing in the morning/afternoon with interspersed feeding, changing, and disciplining of children, and usually a fun family activity like some time spent outside (the weather has been nice) or games with friends. On Monday for family home evening we went over to Jacobus Park and took a little nature walk with the boys around a pond and through a wooded area to the playground and then back to the car, which was really nice. And when we got home Michael gave the boys a great lesson on the creation, after pointing out all the beautiful things on our nature walk that Heavenly Father and Jesus created for us.

On Tuesday I was able to go to the family history center in the morning for the German translation service that they provide a couple of days a week there. I took the scanned documents that I got from my grandparents’ house and the lady there was able to translate a letter and start into another document for me. So far most of the letters just list names that we know are family members from the last names, but the first names are mostly unfamiliar, but I am hoping that if we get all the letters translated that we will be able to figure out who some of the people were and how they were related to us. When my parents come for Michael’s graduation next month they are going to bring the pictures that they took of the headstones and the pages of the parish birth record book they found one afternoon at an archive while on their trip to the Czech Republic, and I can barely wait to see what those records show and am very hopeful that we will be able to find the names of some more ancestors when we look at those together.

Tuesday night was Eli’s night out with Daddy, and Michael had a meeting about student loans, so he took Eli with him. Eli colored during the meeting, then they both went to the library to read stories afterwards. After they got home, the Kearls came over and we had a fun night of games. Then on Wednesday evening Michael took Kolby, Eli, and Camden to the YMCA and I took Isaac with me. Michael swam with Camden while Kolby and Eli had their swim lessons, and then they all swam together. I went to an enrichment meeting at Sarah Lythgoe’s house about cooking with food storage, and I’m still trying to motivate myself to experiment with using some of the wheat and other food storage items in our everyday cooking. For now I feel like I want to keep trying to perfect my whole wheat bread first before adding something else to my ‘to do’ list.

Thursday night was a really nice break for us. After packing in the daytime, we got ready and dropped off our boys at the McMullin’s house and then went and picked up the Kearls. We drove downtown to the Marcus Theater and arrived just at the same time as the Hedgecocks. We all enjoyed a night out at the Orchestra listening to Holst’s “The Planets.” The music was very good. Afterwards we headed over to the hotel across the street for free desserts, which gave us a nice chance to talk to each other. After picking the kids up from the McMullins’, we ended up playing a few games over at the Kearls’ house before heading home late that night.

On Friday we continued to pack and we babysat for the McMullin’s to go out for a date that night. I think Michael enjoyed having an older kid around (their son, Tyler, is 10), because he pulled out his old Nintendo and they played an old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game. After the other kids were all in bed we watched Jumanji – probably one of my favorite big kid movies – and it was fun to see Tyler’s reactions as he got excited and jumped up and down during the more intense parts of the movie.

On Saturday we had plans to go to the Hedgecock’s and the Kearls were coming too, and we were all going to enjoy pizza for dinner and play some games together. So, Michael was working on getting some laundry done and I was helping the boys when the Kearls called in the morning, and Faith and I ended up going shopping while Tyce and Michael took the kids to the playground. It was fun – I haven’t gone shopping with a friend (other than my mom) for about 2 years now, I think. After the Kearls headed home, we ate lunch and then Kolby and Eli played some Sesame Street games on the computer until it was time to go over to the Hedgecock’s house. We had pizza and played a few different games, in between playing with and taking care of the kids. It was pretty impressive – by the end of the night we had all the kids asleep at the same time in their two-bedroom apartment: Carter fell asleep in his crib in Peter and Cynthia’s room, and Camden fell asleep in our playpen that we set up next to Carter’s crib, and Nathan slept in Peter and Cynthia’s bed. And Jordan slept in his bed, and we set up blankets on the floor in Jordan’s walk-in closet and Kolby and Eli camped out in there. After Isaac fell asleep we moved him in his car seat into Jordan’s room too. Then, after Camden was asleep we moved him to a blanket on the floor and put Katie to sleep in the playpen. I think we’ve gotten pretty good at getting a bunch of toddlers and babies sleep all at the same time in a small space – we probably wouldn’t know what to do if we ever had a big house with lots of bedrooms and beds for all of us and our friends to use.

And today church went pretty well. The boys did very well in Sacrament meeting and we didn’t even have to leave the meeting except for one diaper change. Then, after dropping the older three boys off at their classes, we substituted for Amanda Hansen as teachers for her 5-year-old primary class. We had five kids in the class, and they made our job easy by all being very good for us. We taught them a lesson about the Holy Ghost and I think it went well. Teaching the children’s class sure seemed to make church go by a lot quicker too. Then, after we got home I stayed home with Camden because he fell asleep on the drive home and Michael took the other boys for a walk around the neighborhood (and gave me a chance to write this). And, just as I was finishing writing, Isaac just rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time (he rolled the other way a while ago, but hasn’t rolled this direction before). Well, better go get dinner ready. Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday!

Home Sick

This week was nice, especially since it was basically Michael’s last week of his plastic surgery rotation (officially, his last day is today). Then he is mostly done with medical school. He planned one if his vacation months in April so that we would be able to get ready for the move, and then in May he has a course called ‘Preparing for Residency’ that only lasts a couple weeks until he graduates on May 16th! So, even though he is getting tired of the very early mornings he’s had this month, it will all be over soon. And then he will get to catch up on some sleep (at least for a couple days, until we start using the month of April for packing, cleaning, organizing, and figuring out all the details for the move). Right now I think the plan is to try to find a storage unit to store the majority of our stuff in Rochester for a year, and just take the necessities with us to Salt Lake, so I have been attempting to make lists of everything we own, separating things into one column for taking to Salt Lake and another column for storing until we get to Rochester, and trying to figure out which items we can leave behind. It is kind of hard to try to plan what we could possibly need in an entire year, but we’ll figure it out, I guess.

So, on Monday the Kearls watched our boys so Michael and I could go to the annual meeting that the school puts on about financial planning and buying a house for graduating students. We felt like it wasn’t the best use of our time – the portion about financial planning was pretty basic and we felt like we already knew much of what they said, and much of the buying the house portion was over our heads or did not apply to us. But they did hand out a good booklet on buying a house, which might be helpful in the future. We are still waiting to receive the packet of paperwork from Michael’s program in Salt Lake with his contract and the insurance information so that we can make some more accurate financial goals for the upcoming year. After the meeting at the school, we watched Enchanted with the Kearls when we went to pick up the kids, which was fun (even thought Michael now needs to borrow the movie to finish the second half of it since he fell asleep on their couch midway through).

On Tuesday Eli had his night out with Daddy. They went to the mall and got food from the Taco Bell dollar menu and then went to Barnes and Noble to read books together. Poor Michael said that he was falling asleep as they were reading, and it got to the point that Eli thought it was a game because he had to wake Michael up so many times as they read. But Eli loved it – he has been asking about when his night out with Daddy would be for the last couple weeks.

On Wednesday morning I had a group of girls and their kids over to make a playgroup schedule for the next couple months. We haven’t had a playgroup for a while, so I figured if I wanted to have it I would need to take charge. We got a schedule made and I am looking forward to taking the kids to the activities, especially to the ones we have planned at the playgrounds in the area once it gets warm enough out. After the planning meeting, Faith stayed and Amy came and we all had lunch together with all the kids. It was a lot of fun, even though the kids made it a little chaotic. That evening I took the boys to their swim lessons and Michael met me over there after he finished with his meeting at school so that I could go to the second half of the enrichment activity where they were making a bunch of baby quilts as a service project. I picked up Amy and we headed over there in time to help with cutting and tying a couple quilts. It wasn’t too late when we finished, so Amy, Faith, and I decided to stop at McDonalds for an ice cream cone (and some time out without any kids). It was fun to sit and talk, but then when we went to leave I saw that the brake lights were on on my car (I had driven Michael’s car, which I’m not used to driving, and must have turned the lights to the wrong notch – which was frustrating, because I was very careful to make sure that the headlights had turned off because Michael accidentally left them on the other day and the car had died). So, our jumped cables were in the van at home and there were none in Faith’s car, so we left the little car there and Faith gave us a ride home.

On Thursday, when Michael got home we headed over to pick up the car. We got there and realized that we had left the car keys at home and were quite frustrated that we would have to go all the way back to get them, until we realized that they were actually in my purse, so that was a relief. We got the car jumped and let it charge while we went inside and got the kids some food. Then we rushed home and I went over to my visiting teaching appointment after helping get the boys in the house.

On Friday I really wanted to get out of the house and go do something, so after dinner we met the Kearls at the McDonalds on National Avenue and let the kids play in the two-story play area there. The kids had a lot of fun, all except Katie who threw up all over Tyce’s lap (it was kind of a relief that Katie was already sick, because Isaac had been spitting up more than normal that afternoon and I had wondered if he wasn’t feeling well, but at least that way I don’t think we passed something to their family – not on Friday, at least). After stopping at Target to pick up a change of clothes for Katie and Tyce, they met us at our place and we put the kids down to bed so the parents could enjoy some games. I’m so glad that we have been able to find friends who are like us: people who enjoy to do things with the children, but are still willing to take their kids anywhere and do anything and are not ruled by the schedules of their babies. (If we could only do anything with friends when all of our children were awake, in good moods, and not demanding our attention, we wouldn’t have any friends).

On Saturday morning Michael had to go in and do rounds for his last call day at the hospital. I was proud of myself because I got up and made the kids a big breakfast of eggs and toast then deep-cleaned the kitchen, picked up around the house, and helped the boys clean up their room all by myself that morning. Michael got home around noon and put the other boys to sleep while I took Camden out for his activity with me (it was supposed to be his night out on Thursday, but we had to rearrange because of my visiting teaching appointment). I took him to the mall and we found some flip flops for the three older boys, and he had so much fun trying them on – he was taking little tiny, quick steps all around and acting really excited. (No, it’s not really flip flop season yet here in Milwaukee, but I’m hoping that it will be sometime in the next month or two). We took longer there than I had planned because I checked several other stores to see if I could find similar sandals that were less expensive, but didn’t find anything else. I was planning on letting Camden push one of those little kid-sized shopping carts when I stopped at the grocery store on the way home, but he fell asleep in the car so I dropped him off at home so he could sleep and went back out to get the groceries. After getting home, getting all the groceries put away, cutting up some chicken before freezing it for meals later on in the week, and having some dinner, the Hedgecocks dropped their boys off so we could watch them while they went on a date. The boys had un playing with each other, and then the Kearls came over and when the Hedgecocks returned we all played games together again. It was a fun night.

And Sunday went pretty well. This morning I made bread (I have just about resolved to be frustrated with somewhat flat bread from now on) and I made a cake for dessert (it’s really hard to make a cake while on fast Sunday and not be able to lick my fingers or anything). We went to church and the boys did well in sacrament meeting. Then, just before our Sunday school class ended we found out that Camden had thrown up. (Sorry, Sister Cook!) After cleaning up the mess in the hallway and getting all the other boys out of their classes and into the car, Michael took them home. The third hour of church was a combined lesson on genealogy that I stayed for. Afterwards I got a ride home with the Hymases and when I got home all four boys were napping and Michael had picked up around the house, put away the dishes, and prepared dinner (what a nice break to get home and not have to worry about any of that). He said that Camden had gotten sick in the car a little on the way home again, poor kid. Our home teachers came over to give us a lesson and then the Kearls came over for dinner. Michael made corned beef and it turned out very good. After dinner Michael had to rush off to his home teaching appointment, and while he was gone I did the dishes, cleaned up the water the boys splashed all over the bathroom floor while I was doing the dishes, out the boys in their pajamas, Tyce read them all a story, I cleaned up after Camden throwing up again, and they all went down to bed just before Michael got back. Then we played some card games and a round of Carcasonne. It will be nice after today that Michael won’t have such early mornings so we won’t have to cut our nights short so that he can get enough sleep to get up so early. We got to bed around 11:30 last night, and then Isaac woke up at 1:30am. I got up with him four times before Michael also got up and we finally got him back to sleep. The poor kid – whenever our boys get sick with a stomach flu (or whatever it is they have) I just give them Pediatlyte or Liquilytes to keep them hydrated, but no other foods until they seem better so they aren’t throwing up constantly. So, we ran out of the Liquilites last night, and we gave Isaac water, which did not make him happy. And then this morning Camden was very mad at me because I didn’t give him his cup of milk when he got up. I called a couple friends to see if someone would come sit with the boys while I ran to get some more of the Liquilites from the grocery store so I didn’t have to take sick kids out today, but instead Kim Morrison offered to go to the store and pick them up for me. That was so nice of her! So, now that we are all stocked up, we can hopefully kick this bug before it spreads to the older boys or Michael and I. Wish us luck and a quick recovery!

Eli's Third Birthday Party

Eli's third birthday was January 31st, but since we were traveling on his birthday, we did his party in February. He has been really into trains lately, and he especially loves Thomas and Percy (which were recently introduced to him and Kolby when they got some Thomas toy trains for Christmas from my mom). He wanted a Thomas the Train party, so I made an attempt at decorating a cake with Thomas on it (it didn't turn out professional-looking or anything, but the kids liked it a lot). The main event at the party was getting out the train set and letting all the kids play with it (I think that at this age most of the kids are too young to really get into organized party games, and they are too much work to organize, so playing with trains seems good enough to me). And then he opened presents. You can see in the pictures that the coveted gift by the kids at the party was the ice cream cone that launched the foam "ice cream" ball into the air at the push of a button, from Jordan and Carter Hedgecock -- each kid wanted a turn shooting the ball. Eli loved all of the nice gifts from his friends and had a lot of fun playing with everyone and eating cake and ice cream. I love doing these little birthday parties for the boys, especially while they are so young and it takes so little to please them.

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Count Down to Match Day!

So, this week started out pretty busy (and kind of stressful), and ended up really nice. As I mentioned in my earlier post this week, we had to deal with all the financing for getting the new van and we are still trying to tie up things with the insurance company, but we are glad to be in a new van that works well (what a relief to have a car that doesn’t die when we stop at a red light and doesn’t need to be jumped if we leave the doors open (and the lights stay on) long enough to take the groceries into the house). After we got everything worked out with the van, got the house all cleaned up, and got past a few different days of a few of our kids being sick, it turned out to be a pretty good week.

The Egberts came over for dinner last Sunday night, which was fun to get to know them a little better. And I also had fun because we decided to get out the nice tablecloth and the china for dinner (we haven’t used the china for a while, but because Camden is in a high chair and Kolby and Eli are old enough now, and the Egberts’ kids are old enough too, so there weren’t any small babies to pull the dishes on the floor and break them). On Thanksgiving we set the table with the china and nice tablecloth too, and when the boys saw me get them out, they insisted that I get out the fancy candlestick I used at Thanksgiving too, so that was pretty cute. And our kids played great with the Londyn and Dyllin Egbert when they came over too. I think Kolby has a little crush on their daughter, Londyn. Londyn goes to Kolby’s gym class at the YMCA on Wednesdays, and this week I went to pick Kolby and Eli up from class and Kolby ran up to me and the first thing he said was, “Mommy, Londyn’s here!”

On Monday the boys missed preschool because Kolby woke up early in the morning throwing up (some kid at church the day before must have had a little bug or something). I wanted to stay inside that day, especially with Kolby having been sick in the night, but we had a WIC appointment that afternoon (the WIC office is only open two days a month, plus Kolby was acting totally fine during the day). So we went, and it’s probably a good thing that we got that done. And then we went over to the car place and emptied all of our possessions out of our old van. And then Michael was on call that night, but call hasn’t been bad this month at all so far. He is on call overnight, but this is one of the rare months in medical school that he is on home call, so they just call him in if they need him (which is what I assumed that ‘on call’ meant when we came into medical school, not the usual staying at the hospital overnight). Anyways, he hasn’t been called in yet, which has been really nice for us.

On Tuesday Michael got a little time off work in the day between surgeries and we went and signed the loan papers at the bank and then that night when he got home we went and picked up the van. It was great, except the radio needed to be fixed so we took it home without a radio while the dealer ordered a new one. Then that night Kolby and I had our night out, and we decided to go to the mall. I let Kolby pick what he wanted for dinner, and he got a burrito and a treat from Taco Bell (and I got to have Chinese food, which sounds much better to me than Taco Bell anytime). Then we went over to Barnes and Noble and Kolby played with the Thomas the Train set they have there in the bookstore for kids to play with. Then he picked out a few books and we sat together in one of the big comfy chairs and read them. Although it sure makes me smile when I see my little boys all getting along and playing well together or when I see one of the older ones being sweet to the baby, I have to agree with what my mom told me once: that she enjoys her each of her children individually more than all of them together. I think doing these little one-on-one nights with the kids once a week has been a really good idea so far, because we can do such simple activities with them and they still think it is the greatest thing ever to have alone time with Mommy or Daddy.

On Wednesday morning the boys had preschool and then they had swimming lessons that evening. Near the end of each session, the swim teachers hand out notes to the parents saying if the kids should take the same class again or move up a level in the next session. Kolby’s teacher said he is ready to move up, and Eli had a substitute teacher this week so we didn’t get a note for him yet. I had actually already signed the boys up to be in the same swim classes next session because it is so convenient for us to go and have them in their lessons in the same pool at the same time. The problem is that their lessons are from 6:30 to 7:00 now, and I was looking at the program for the spring session, and the class that the teacher recommended for Kolby is only during the middle of the day or right during our dinnertime. We’ll have to see what Eli’s teacher recommends and then decide if we want to change their classes for next session or not.

On Thursday I finished catching up on the housework that had gotten backed up with this busy week, even scrubbing the kitchen floor and getting everything looking nice again. Then we went over to Karissa’s house for Marcela’s baby shower. She is having a little boy, which will be so much fun. That night we had the Kearls over for games, which is always fun (although it might be nice someday to be able to afford a babysitter so that we could do things without our kids sometimes, but I do think that it’s pretty impressive that we can usually get all four of our kids and both of the Kearl’s kids down to sleep at the same time so that we can play games).

On Friday morning the boys missed preschool again because when I got Camden up in the morning I found that he had thrown up. After he got a good bath and some clean clothes he seemed just fine and didn’t act sick at all. That afternoon I made several cakes and decorated them for the young women’s fundraiser at church (and the next day I was able to ‘fix’ the frosting on two of them so they turned out better than the pictures I had posted earlier). Michael was on home call again on Friday, but didn’t have to go in, so that was nice.

Yesterday we got a lot of little things done in the morning that needed to be done. Michael went to the dealership and got the new radio put in the van, I went grocery shopping, Michael got all the laundry done, we cleaned the kitchen and picked up around the house, and I ‘fixed’ those cakes. On the way to the grocery store, I stopped at Kohls and they happened to be having a sale. I found some cute jewelry (thank you, Grandma Faun – this is what I ended up using the Christmas money for that you gave me and I had been saving up until I found something I really liked) and a shirt on sale, and I got Michael a few shirts on clearance too – I love the Tony Hawk brand of guy’s clothes at Kohls for Michael (especially when we can find them for a few dollars on the clearance rack). That night we went over to the church for our ward’s annual Chili Cook-off and the dessert auction fundraiser. It was fun to see friends at the party, and we were glad for the young women that the fundraiser seemed successful. (My cakes, by the way, did sell, even if they didn’t bring in the most money, but at least they didn’t have to return them to us because no one would bid on them). :) And after Michael came home and helped me get all the kids in bed, he was invited to go and play video games with a few guys from church. He said he wasn’t any good at the game they played, but it was nice to hang out with a few people that he hasn’t had a chance to hang out with in a while.

And today has gone pretty well so far. Michael had one of his home teaching appointments this morning and the boys are all ready to go to church. They have watched the Testaments church movie twice this morning (once in English and a second time in Spanish) while we finished getting everything ready to go. And Michael got the dinner started for tonight while I made bread. We are having corned beef for dinner (it’s my favorite way to have meat prepared).

I made my big batch of bread, and once again it didn’t rise as much as it should have. The bread tastes really good, but it only rises about as high as the edge of the bread pan and won’t go any higher than that. Last time I wrote about having trouble getting the bread to rise, several people gave me suggestions (thank you!), but many of them didn’t apply. I am using a Bosch to mix the bread, so it’s not a problem with the kneading process, and my mom just bought the yeast a few months ago, so the yeast is not too old, and she got me her favorite kind of yeast that she said doesn’t depend on the temperature of the water, so that shouldn’t be an issue either. I have tried letting the bread rise on top of the stove, on the countertop, and inside the oven at it’s lowest setting, and none has worked just right. So, I told Michael this morning that I am hoping the problem is just that our little oven cooks too hot or not hot enough, and maybe when we move we will have an oven that works better and that will resolve this issue. I would appreciate any other suggestions you have for me to try, though.

After church we are staying for choir practice because Michael is going to sing in the Easter program. Then we are having the Maases over for dinner. Marcela’s mom has come to stay with them for the next four months, and she mostly speaks Spanish, so I thought it would be nice for Michael to speak Spanish with her and make her feel welcome. Plus we haven’t been able to get together with the Maases lately, so it will be nice to talk to them again.

This week should be pretty exciting. Tomorrow morning at 11:00 Michael will get an e-mail telling him if he matched or not. Then on Thursday we will all go over to the school in the morning and sit at tables in the alumni center and wait while each student is called to the front of the room one at a time to receive an envelope telling them where they are going for residency. That is at 11 am also, and then there will be a lunch afterwards. And the Hedgecocks are being nice enough to watch our boys for us so that we can go out and celebrate by having a nice dinner out. Michael has been pretty anxious for the match the last week or so. I think he will feel a lot better after tomorrow when he knows that he did match, and is just waiting to find out where (hopefully). I have just been more impatient than nervous lately, since I am such a planner and I want to start researching for houses, school districts, moving plans, and everything else for the place where we will end up. We will be sure to let everyone know how it turns out.

Oh, and I almost forgot the biggest thing of all: Camden gets to start his first day of his nursery class at church today! He has been looking forward to this for weeks – going to the door of the nursery and watching the kids play with toys and sing songs, and then crying when he didn’t get to go in too. He will be in the same class with Eli, so that will be fun for them. I know he will just love it!

Swimming, Zoo Trips, Potty Training, and Car Seats in Church

This week the boys enjoyed their preschool class. Kolby and Eli love their classes, and on Friday I even got motivated and took all 4 boys and worked out during their classes. Camden and Isaac went to their kid care, and I used the elliptical machine for a while. Afterwards I picked up the boys and it was all I could do to keep Camden from joining in with Kolby and Eli in their gym class. That was a fun morning.

On Tuesday it was Camden’s night out with Daddy and they went to the YMCA in Menomonee Falls because it has a nice kid’s swimming area with a little wading pool and slide. Unfortunately there was a problem with their heating system in that room that evening, so they got moved into the lap pool. Camden wasn’t able to go down the baby slide anymore, but they still had a lot of fun. And then on Wednesday night Kolby and Eli had their swimming lessons, and they both did great. Kolby is now able to jump in from the side of the pool without anyone to catch him and he can walk out to the middle of the pool. Eli is still as brave as ever – dunking his entire head under the water over and over. It’s pretty fun to watch.

On Thursday we had an Enrichment activity at Catherine Call’s house sharing all of our favorite children’s books, which was nice to have a night away from the kids. I enjoyed remembering the books that we loved as children and thinking about which ones I would like to add to our collection for our kids. Then on Friday evening we had a ward dessert night at the Spencer’s house and Alicia and Steve Taylor were there too. That was nice to get together with some ‘new’ people, and it was fun to see all the little boys running around together too.

And then yesterday was fun. We went to the zoo in the morning because it was a free zoo day (our membership had expired on Friday). We told the boys that there was going to be a surprise at the zoo (Eli was sure that the surprise was going to be the animals, but Kolby was excited to find out what it would be). When we got there we met our friends, the Hedgecocks, and Kolby was excited that the surprise was his friends, Jordan and Carter, at the zoo with us. My favorite part of the Milwaukee zoo is always the big cat house, because the lions and the cheetahs are always right there in front of the glass and they are usually active and moving around so they are so interesting for the kids to watch. We stopped on our way home and picked up some tennis shoes for Michael since his were getting his feet all wet every time he went out in the snow because he had so many holes in the soles. Then, after naps we took the boys to Denny’s for their kids eat free night. After we got home, picked up around the house, and put the boys to bed, the Kearls joined us for some games.

And today started out with Michael waking me up to help with the other boys because he needed to take care of Eli, who had had an accident. We are working on the potty training with Eli, and he is doing pretty well most of the time. He still wears a diaper at naptime and bedtime, and we have been using pull-ups for school and church (just in case), but during the daytime when we are at home he is just in underwear, and he has only had two accidents since we started this week, so I guess that’s pretty good – we are using less diapers, anyways.

Today went pretty well. After getting the boys ready and making bread, we headed to church. (On the making bread, if anyone has any good suggestions for getting bread to rise well, I would be open to them! I have made bread now every Sunday for the last five weeks and am starting to get a little discouraged. The first time the bread barely rose at all and turned out very thick, the next time it took hours and didn’t rise much but was a little better, another time it rose pretty well and then sunk right before I put them in the oven, last week they rose nicely and then they sunk while they were cooking, and this week they rose ok but still not very high. I know the recipe is good because my mom’s bread turns out great. I have tried letting the bread rise in the oven on “warm,” letting it rise sitting on top of the stove while the oven is on warm, letting it rise on top the stove on a cooking rack, letting it rise while the oven is on higher, and letting it rise just sitting on the counter top. There are just so many things that could be affecting it, and I don’t know which thing it is I need to fix – is the yeast bad? (but it has risen somewhat), am I letting it get too hot or not hot enough while it rises?, am I letting it rise for too long or not long enough?, or is it something totally different that I haven’t even thought of? At least the bread tastes really good and it’s nutritious, but I sure wish that it looked good and it made bigger slices for sandwiches. So, any suggestions would be appreciated!)

Anyways, on the way to church Camden fell asleep in the car, and Michael and I spent the entire ride to church considering options of how we might keep him asleep (church is hard with a child who is too young for nursery, too old to sit still, and too tired because it is right in the middle of naptime). Various ideas were thrown around, including taking a playpen and setting it up in an empty room at church, leaving him in the car, or putting him in the shed out behind the church – but none of these seemed satisfactory (and some rather illegal), so we ended up deciding on carrying his entire car seat in and setting it on the bench next to us. Now, Camden has long outgrown the little infant car seats that are meant to be carried with a child in them, and he is in an upright, forward-facing seat. Michael huffed and puffed and lugged that big old seat into the church building, and Camden actually slept through a good portion of the first meeting. Michael also decided to take a separate container of snacks for each boy to eat, and that actually kept them all entertained for the entire first meeting, which is uncommon. So, other than the fact that Camden can now open doors and escape from the classrooms at church and so the second two hours of church were not the easiest, it was a good day so far. Camden has two more Sundays before he is old enough for nursery class – yeah!!!

Well, only 18 more days until Match Day when we find out where we will be going for the next four years. We are not-so-patiently awaiting that day. So, tonight we are heading over to Amy and Vicente Cortez’ house for dinner, which will be nice since we haven’t had a chance to visit them for a while. We’d better get ready to go to their place now.