Daddy and His Boys

I took this picture of Michael and the boys a few days before his graduation because Christina Nielsen asked all of the graduates’ wives in the ward to give her pictures for that kind gift she gave to all of us with the photo and the fun M. D. poem. I took a bunch of photos of Michael and the boys, and I was pretty pleased with how this one turned out.

The Senior Dinner Dance

The week before Michael’s graduation there was a Senior Dinner Dance. It was fun to get dressed up for something fancy and do my hair up nice (even though I had to borrow a curling iron because we had already packed mine). That night we had fun talking with friends and the dinner was very good. After dinner we danced a little. It was fun to dance and to see our friends dance too. Oh, our camera has been giving us problems and taking really dark pictures, did anyone happen to get any better pictures of the group than we did?

(Well, I did it – I stayed up to a ridiculous hour, but I got caught up with posting our photos. Now I just need to add the ones from this weekend with our family in town and Michael’s graduation, once I have a chance to go through those ones).

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.

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.

Four Things

I got this e-mail from two of my friends, Jill and Christina, and thought I’d post my answers here. For any of my friends who happen to read this, you are all now tagged and you can answer these questions about yourself now.

Four things about me that you may or may not have known in any particular order:

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. File Clerk at a law firm
2. Caller at a telephone interview call center
3. Collections Aid at the Museum of Peoples and Culture
4. Sales Associate at a scrapbook store

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. The Princess Bride
2. The Client
3. Frequency
4. The Fugative

Four Places I have lived:
1. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2. Provo, Utah
3. Nauvoo, Illinois
4. San Diego, California

Four T. V. shows that I watch:
1. Extreme Makeover Home Edition
2. The Big Give
3. (nothing else, regularly)
4.

Four places I have visited
1. Chicago, Illinois
2. Hawaii
3. Palmyra, New York
4. Washington D.C.

Four People who e-mail me (regularly):
1. Michael, my husband
2. my Grandma Faun
3. (most of my friends leave comments on our blog instead of e-mailing)
4.

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Pasta
2. Homemade Whole Wheat Bread
3. Pastries
4. Cookies with Milk

Four Places I would like to visit:
1. Israel
2. Hawaii
3. The Czech Republic
4. Africa

Things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. our first real paycheck
2. finishing a move across the country (not really looking forward to the actual packing or moving process)
3. visiting with family
4. hopefully visiting with some of our Milwaukee friends again after we move

Before and After

So, when I was pregnant with Camden, there were also seven other wives of medical students in Michael’s class who were also all pregnant at the same time. We had this photo taken of all of us at Katie Irion’s baby shower in April 2006, and we were all in order by our due dates.

Stephanie Bradshaw, Christina Nielsen, Jill Craven, Leslie Tyson,

Melissa Jay, Kim Morrison, Heather Vernon, and Katie Irion

Christina Nielsen has been trying since then to get everyone back together again to take a photo of all of us with the babies. A couple people weren’t able to make it when we took these photos again at Ian Nielsen’s birthday party so we’re going to have to try again when everyone is around, but it was still fun. I was feeling a little bit down, being the only one who is obviously pregnant again in the second photo, but I guess it's only fair since I was the least far along (least pregnant-looking) in the original photo.

Camden and Stephanie Bradshaw, Eden and Jill Craven, Ian and Christina Nielsen,

Ella and Leslie Tyson, Isaac and Heather Vernon, & Grace and Katie Irion

One More Week

Well, we’ve got one more week to go before we get through Michael’s Sub-I this month. Michael and I are both counting down the days. He added up the other day, and he will have worked just over 90 hours this week (even though they are not supposed to make you work over 80 hours in a week or over 30 consecutive hours – but Michael has done both several times this month). Michael and I are both pretty worn out after the long hours he has had this month, and really looking forward to a lighter schedule next month! Earlier this week Michael got home after being on call at the hospital for over 30 hours and only getting one hour of sleep in that time, and when he arrived home all the boys were down for their naps, so Michael fell asleep on the couch. Kolby woke up from his nap a little while later, and was so excited to see that Daddy was home, but I told him that Daddy really needed his sleep and not to wake him up. Kolby got a sad look on his face and just laid down on his blanket on the floor next to the couch where Michael was sleeping. Later on I looked over and saw that Kolby was rubbing Michael’s arm – trying to wake him up, I’m sure. It is pretty cute to see how much our boys love their Daddy. I guess we will all be relieved in October when we have more time to spend together as a whole family.

Well, this week went well. Kolby started his preschool classes again at the YMCA, and he is loving both of his classes. He goes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for 2½ hours each day. Also this week the boys started their swim lessons up again. Kolby has his on Wednesday nights and Eli on Thursday nights. They love swimming, and Kolby was excited that his friend from church, Isaac Anderson, is in his class. I went swimming with Eli (even though he really is ready for swim lessons by himself, they keep the kids in parent-child lessons until age 3 at the YMCA). He is amazing in the water – he loves to dunk his head under the water over and over and jump in to me from the edge, and the other night he kept trying to jump away from me and swim on his own. His teacher is the same teacher he had last session, and she commented that he will definitely be ready to take the swim lessons on his own when he is old enough.

Thursday was Camden’s 1st birthday. We had a little party for him the week before, so we didn’t do any big celebrations this week, but several family members called to tell him Happy Birthday, and he got to open a few gifts. That morning I also had my new visiting teachers come for the first time, which was fun. And then in the afternoon I had a doctor’s appointment for some pain I’ve been having in my foot. The doctor sent me upstairs and had an X-ray taken just to see if there might be anything in my foot, and she told me to soak it in warm water each night for a couple weeks and see if that helps. Hopefully that little problem will resolve itself quickly. And then on Friday night we watched Jordan and Carter so that Peter and Cynthia could go on a date, and when they came back they watched our boys while we went and got custard and rented a couple videos. When we came back, our boys were in bed and theirs fell asleep on their laps, and it was nice because they stayed for a bit and we got a chance to just sit and talk for a while.

And yesterday morning we went to the church and I dropped Kolby off for his primary program practice. Eli and Camden and I went and picked up a few things from the grocery store and came back. Kolby has been doing so well lately – he memorized a scripture and had a little line to say in the program, “In primary we learned that faith means trust.” He has been working on memorizing his part for about a month now, and at the program in church this morning he said it, and then gave a huge grin – everyone could tell that he was so proud of himself! Saturday evening we went to a birthday party for Ian Nielsen, who was born around the same time as Camden. At the party, Christina Nielsen, who is a photographer, also took cute pictures of all the kids Ian and Camden’s age and took a photo of all the moms holding their kids that age – we took one about a year ago when all of us were pregnant. She was talking about putting some of the photos she took in the medical school yearbook – too bad for me that all the other moms in the pictures looked nice and thin after a year of recovering from their pregnancies, and I looked huge pregnant still – oh well. We had fun at the Nielsen’s, and then we headed over to the Hymas’ house for a little birthday party for their daughter, Emily, who is turning 2. I gave Emily some of the bows I made for a gift, and she was wearing some at church today, so that was fun.

And church went well today. Michael was actually lucky enough to discharge his last patient of the day yesterday, so he asked his resident for permission to leave the hospital for one hour today to come to church for Kolby’s primary program, even though he is on overnight call again starting today, and his resident said yes. So even though he was in the hospital this morning, so I had to get all the kids ready for church by myself, he got there and was able to stay for Sacrament meeting, which was great for Kolby to have Michael there for his program, and it was also nice because Eli and especially Camden were a little wild and noisy in that meeting, so it was helpful to have him there to help me with them. He had to rush off to the hospital as soon as that meeting was over, and I haven’t heard from him yet today, so hopefully the day is going well for him.

The rest of church went well for me. With the help of a couple little bags of Cheerios and Honeycomb cereal, Camden actually stayed in the classroom with me for all of Sunday School and Relief Society (except for a few minutes when we had to go out because he was crying after he fell and hit his head on a chair leg). But it was nice to be able to stay in the classroom for the entire lesson, since he is starting to get to that age when kids are too old to just sit still for 3 hours of church, but not old enough yet to go into the 18-month-old nursery class, so many parents end up spending a lot of time out in the halls at church for those months. After church I went to choir practice, and the boys enjoyed playing at the choir nursery. And when we came home we took dinner over to the Hansens because they had a baby a few weeks ago, and I put the boys down for naps. Camden just got up, and the other two are still sleeping. Thank goodness for naptime. I think that even when Kolby outgrows naps, I will still insist on a minimum of a 2-hour “quite time” in his room while the younger boys nap. On days that I am frustrated with the kids or just days that seem especially long and I am tired, their naptime is very important for me to have a couple hours all to myself. Well, I hope you have all had a good week!

Toddler Art Class Luau

We had a luau the other night at the Nielsen’s house to celebrate the end of the summer Toddler Art Class that Kolby and Eli have been attending on Thursday mornings. The kids made decorations for the luau at their last art class last week, including palm trees, tiki statues, and grass skirts that they modeled for pictures. Then we all brought food and had a nice dinner together in the Nielsen’s back yard. It was perfect weather for an evening outside, except with the recent rain the mosquitoes have been worse this summer than any other time since we moved here, and I think that these annoying bugs were the reason that most families didn’t stay too late. But it was a very enjoyable evening.

Michael and the Boy before the Luau -- they all happened to be matching in their red shirts.

Kids in their grass skirts: Sofia Maas, Nathan Kearl, Mikey Kam, Kolby and Eli Bradshaw, and Eva Nielsen.

Kolby and Eli

No, those aren't chicken pox on Camden's face -- just mosquito bites the morning after the Luau.

Sub-Internship Makes My Life Seem Like A Blur

This week has seemed a blur as I have started into my medicine sub-internship. I say that because I am realizing just how busy it is going to be when I am an intern full time next year. I had to ask Steph to look at the calendar to remind me what actually happened this week outside the hospital.

I was on call Monday and Friday this week. Being on-call entails being at the hospital from 6:00 am one morning until 1:00pm the next day – about 30 hours total. During an on-call day, our team can get up to 10 new admissions, usually starting in the afternoon. There is a senior resident, three interns (including me) and two junior medical students, so we take turns going to meet the new patients, usually in the emergency room. On Monday I got two new patients – an older gentleman that had fallen in his home and been stuck on the floor for two days before being found by his neighbor, and a lady with multiple sclerosis (MS) with a bladder infection. As an “intern” I am in charge of meeting the patient, conducting a full history and physical, writing all the admission orders, and then taking care of the patient while they are in the hospital. I still have the senior resident who looks over all my orders before they go out to make sure they are ok, but it is a new experience to be in charge of making so many decisions. I am at a new location that uses a computer system that I am not familiar with, so it has been an uphill learning experience on that end as well.

That first call night I got about six hours of sleep, which was great – I didn’t have to go home and sleep the next day. But I did miss the Labor Day ward BBQ that Steph went to with the boys. She said some of our friends helped her with the three boys and that the boys loved playing on the playground.

My other call night, Friday, I got about 3 hours of sleep. I got two admissions again, this time a man with a cellulitis (skin infection) in his left leg, and a really complicated patient that has a 3rd clot in his left leg and shingles all over his body because he had a lung transplant a few years ago and is on medicine to suppress his immune system. Things were a little busier overall for our team, so I was up more of the night and pretty tired the next day. It is nice to have that post call afternoon to recuperate before having to go back in the next day.

Then, on top of normal call coming every 4th night, we have “short call” that occurs the day after our post call day (so call day, post-call day, short-call day, and pre-call day). On short call we start taking admissions in the morning and can get up to 4 as a team. Most mornings we are already busy with seeing how the patients did overnight, writing progress notes, filling orders, calling consults, and rounding as a team to talk about our patients, so to add admissions on top of that makes those days pretty busy as well. I guess I never realized how much paperwork goes on in the background behind patient care.

Wednesday night I had my first Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) meeting. AOA is the medical school honor society – only 32 of the 200 people in our class were invited to join. Dr. Kolesari shared with us how he ended up as a family practice doctor and the director of the anatomy program at the medical school. Then we were introduced to the different programs that AOA members typically take part in, including helping to prepare the 2nd years for the Step 1 test; helping with testing the 2nd years for their physical exam test; helping with the Make a Wish foundation; serving at free clinics; and more. It looks like one of the goals of AOA is to find ways to serve the medical college community and our community at large.

I had Thursday off, which was such a nice break after the busy week. I helped Steph to take the boys to their last art class. They made tropical trees, “grass” (plastic) skirts, and other decorations for a luau that we had Saturday night at the Nielsen’s house. The luau was really fun, except for the mosquitoes that bit all of us in about 20 places each. Camden looks the worst with pink spots all over his face. There was a fishing pond and a treasure hunt for the kids, and dinner and desserts. Then we came back to our place for games last night.

Thursday afternoon and Friday all day Steph participated in getting several ultrasounds of Isaac, to help with training residents and some nurses on how to conduct ultrasounds. She got to keep several of the ultrasound pictures, got food, and even will get paid $100 for participating. I also made about $70 this week from selling old text books. Oh, speaking of money, we got our residency interviewing and relocation loan this week, so we now will have money to help pay for applications, interviews, and then moving next summer.

On Tuesday I looked over my application for residency programs one last time and then hit the submit button. I ended up applying to 100 dermatology programs and 6 transitional year programs. The ball is now out of our court and we will wait to hear for interview invitations. Keep us in your prayers so that we can get in somewhere. :)

Today I had to go into the hospital to round on my patients, so I finally got over to the church about 1:00pm for the last 20 minutes of choir practice. Mainly I went to help Steph with getting the boys back home. The Kearls invited us for dinner tonight, so that should be pretty fun. And I have tomorrow off, so that will be very relaxing. I am looking forward to when this month is over so that I can have my weekends back and more time to spend with the family.

Making Dinosaur Pictures at Art Class

Today it was my turn to teach the lesson at the weekly Toddler Art Class that Kolby and Eli attend. Since both Kolby and Eli love dinosaurs, I decided to make that the theme. I brought pictures of dinosaur skeletons for the kids, and they each got to glue different shaped pasta pieces to the papers to make their own dinosaur skeletons. As you can see from the photos, both Kolby and Eli had lots of fun with the glue, and both of them ended up with a pile of pasta glued onto their papers that didn't really resemble any kind of dinosaur that I have ever seen before -- but they sure had fun making them! We also read some dinosaur stories, and then the rest of the time was spent playing with the swing set and other outdoor toys in Eva's backyard. This little outdoor art class has been great for the boys this summer -- a good opportunity for them to spend time with other kids, play outside (in a nice, fenced-in yard where I don't have to constantly chase them), and to be creative in making their own art work (where I don't have to worry about cleaning up paint or play dough off our floor, walls, curtains, etc. when they are finished). And someone gave me the great idea to scan (or photograph) their artwork, which I have done now. So each of the boys will have a nice binder with big, colorful pictures of their own masterpieces, but I won’t have to worry about trying to protect over-sized pieces of construction paper or keep all the glitter and stickers from falling off of their pictures in some box in the closet for the next 20 years. They already like to sit down and look at their own artwork books, so it is really fun.

Painting at the Toddler Art Class