Snow in March

I don't think anything really has to be said here, except "Brrrrrr!!!!"

Friday Family Update

So, I'm thinking I will start trying to give you an update of how our week has gone on Fridays. As I am typing this, I am realizing that I probably won't remember what we did the weekend before, but I guess we will all have to deal with my lack of memory. I guess the blogger in me will just have to improvise on that, huh? :)

This week has been interesting, from the weather to everything going on in our lives. First, I will say that apparently there are going to be blizzard conditions with snow drifts just 2 hours north of us today. With that said, we will probably get several inches of snow. It will most likely be more snow than any year we have been here...and all of it IN LATE MARCH!!! In my opinion, this just is not right.

Well, let's see what has been going on with us:

Nicholas:

• He danced with a dust devil yesterday at school. That is probably his biggest news this week. You can read about it here.
  
• He had Cowboy day at school this week. They made a vest and rode his stick horse. He participated in a 3-legged race. I really wish I had pictures of all of this stuff, but we weren't told about the fun events. I guess it sounds bigger than it probably was, but ironically the day he dressed as a cowboy is also the day he danced with the dust devil! How cool is that?
• Nicholas discovered how fun he and Christian's sandbox is. They have been playing in it all week. You can read about that here.
• They had a Kid Fit class at our new workout facility. Nicholas participated in that on Monday, but opted out on Wednesday because he didn't want to get out in the cooler weather without a jacket. His loss, I guess. They were not outside for more than a couple of minutes and then they went and played with the punching bags and on the Bosu Balls.

• Today he is excited by the prospect of making snow angels and surprising Daddy with a big snowball fight. We'll see if our Texas weather agrees with him. From the sound of the wind, he might just be playing in the snow this afternoon. The nicest things I can think that will come from that is them playing, me having hot chocolate, and the pictures that I will have to show you on here.

Christian:

• Christian had some new experiences this week. He went to the nursery at the workout facility that we joined Monday-Thursday this week. We would have gone today, but the weather doesn't look that great and I am a little lazy today. He had a rough time in the nursery, but by Thursday he was doing much better. He went from the constantly crying child on Monday to the child who was easily upset, but would still cook you hotdogs in the play stove on Thursday. I am sure it will get better as next week putters along. His behavior kind of reminds me of the stories I have heard about Eddie and Priscilla and how attached Eddie was to her when he was a little guy. When Nicholas was there with him on Monday and Wed, he did better...but as soon as he left on Tuesday it wasn't good. Also, when he left during class for his kidfit class on Monday it was not good. Christian just has to get used to being in the nursery, and it is only for about 1-1.5 hours everyday. I think it is good prep for him being in Parent's Day Out starting in the fall.
• He's wearing some 3T stuff this week. YES, He is THAT big!!! My almost 2 year old fits perfectly into 2T stuff and doesn't look funny in 3T stuff at all! Ha! I WILL NOT be buying shorts for him this year. He will just need a belt. :)

• Christian got his Birthday Sandbox this week! He loves digging and playing in it.

Eddie

• Ed got his fellowship applications in this week!!! Yay!!! One more thing down!
• He worked a lot (as usual)
• Oh, did I tell you he has lost 15 lbs since November??? That's wonderful for him! He's feeling great about it.
• Unfortunately, there isn't much else to write about him this week. He could probably add in his experiences in the hospital this week, but that would be about it. He works all the time, so most of what happens to him is left at work.
  

Jennifer

• As you have heard up above, we joined a new workout facility. I met with a personal trainer yesterday (it was included in our signup) and she gave me a workout schedule. I will be burning calories like never before on this plan...and revving up my cardio. I am siked about it.
  
• I have lost 10 lbs. since late December. (Woo hoo!)
• I was given a "promotion" of sorts with my Avon Admin work by our district manager. She is giving me more money a month for just a little more work each week. This is allowing me to tutor a little less (but have the option to still tutor for more money if needed). This is wonderful because now I am only tutoring 10 hours a week!!! I am excited about this. I am managing to tutor on Tues and Thurs nights and then have Sunday evenings for catch up in case I need to get in a couple more hours to make my 10.
• I signed up to be a contributor to a blog community of doctor's wives. That should be interesting. Most of the girls on there are wives of doctors still in training like Ed. The purpose is to provide support to each other when our husbands are not available to us.

Well, that is us for this week! I would love to see some comments to let us know how you are doing!!! Email me if you don't want to comment!!! Let me know if you want me to auto-email you anytime I add a new post to the blog!! We miss you all!

New Sandbox

Ed and I decided to get Christian (*cough-cough and Nicholas) a sandbox for his birthday. We decided to do this upon seeing the poor boys playing in the dirt of my garden (I still need to plant it).
Poor kids, right? Actually, poor mommy. They got dirt all in the house...there was a trail across the carpet all the way to the bathroom and more in the sink. Nicholas wanted to build a sand castle in his new dirt playbox...so he took a cupful of dirt and poured it on the back porch.

Here the boys are in (*Cough) Christian's new sandbox.


I got Christian to sit down next to Nicholas here, but when he saw the camera he shot up and said "No!" as he left the sandbox. Just one more way he is like his Grandmother Spencer, I guess.

The bonus? They go out and play and I get time to myself with actual "quiet"....it's amazing!!! I am sure the newness will wear off sometime soon and they will be back in the house and in my hair. I told Ed the other day that I was going to start making them go outside to get them out of the house this summer. I even bought 5 cans of sunscreen. I am definitely prepared.

Lots and Lots of New Posts Coming!

I am a blogging Fool! It doesn't look like it when you first glance at the blog, but I have added LOTS of stuff. Take a look at the labels and the blog archive to find everything I have added. I especially recommend the pictures of our Trip to Colorado (archived in July 2008) and some of the baby firsts are cute too! There is also a "video" label...I will try to label every video so that it appears there so you can watch the cuties in action. Some of my favorites are Nicholas and Christian dancing and Christian's interview. The one of Christian is funny because he refuses to say his name. He runs away when I ask him...classic Christian.

Anyway, take some time and get some reading in. Also, look for many more posts as I am attempting to get every photo/video in that I can to make this as complete as possible for the boys and for you, my family and friends.

Bye for now! Ed is kicking me off the computer...time for bed. :)

Accept My Apology

It has been brought to my attention that the blog is auto-sending some of you MANY posts because I have been furiously trying to get many old pictures scrapped/blogged on here. I have taken the liberty of deleting your email addresses from the auto-email for now. Once I have gotten most of the pictures done, you can let me know if you want me to add you back. If you don't mind the extra email and want me to continue emailing you automatically, please let me know that too. Since Mason likes a "prod" every now and then on the email, I have 'thoughtfully' left his email on there and am sure he will say something if the number of emails starts to drive him crazy.

Love,

Jennifer

Fellowship Applications Almost Done!!!

These past couple of months have been super-busy for Ed. He had been studying very hard for his exam that he took a couple weeks ago. Since then, he has been working on getting 12 applications in for Pain Fellowships he is interested in. The final list of places he applied is as follows:

• Cleveland Pain Clinic-Ohio
• San Antonio-Texas
• UCLA-California
• University of Maryland-Baltimore
• University of Pittsburg-Pennsylvania
• University of Washington-Seattle
• Johns Hopkins-Maryland
• Vanderbilt-Tennessee
• Med College- Wisconsin
• Texas Tech-Lubbock
• MD Anderson-Houston
• University of Pennsylvania-Philladelphia

As you can see, the places are all over the US map. We hope to start hearing things about interviews starting sometime this summer. Maybe, if there is any luck going along with this, we will have the interview process over by Fall and know something about where we will go in 2010. With everything being up in the air for interviews and with the added costs that they will bring, our travel plans for coming home this summer are definitely "up in the air." We will let you know more about what we can afford to do once we get more info.

Next on Ed's schedule is to continue working on his research presentation for his Miami conference that he will attend sometime soon. I am guessing that will happen in May, but I am not sure yet. He knows more about it.

The nice thing about all of this stuff coming to somewhat of a close for him (only to start back up again soon with the studying, I am sure) is that he is ALMOST done with his 3rd year of residency. Beginning in July he will be a 4th Year Resident!!! I am so excited for him. I know that it has been a long struggle for him to go through all of this training and I am happy that he will finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. He is really excited and tired, all at the same time.

I just wanted to update you on how he is doing. He is working today and had a stretch of 16 straight workdays this month. Needless to say, he is tired most of the time, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he spends every waking moment he can devoted as a father and husband. He's a wonderful man, and we all love and appreciate him very much.

How This Will Work

I have been banging my head against a wall trying to figure out a way to get all of these memories in order. I have not found a way to file things away in tabs and I have so much stuff that I could never get them in order. I am not that organized. So, here is how this will work.

I will be randomly posting different past moments...and there will be some current updates along the way too. I am labeling each post with the Month and Year as a label, so if it bothers you to see these out of order (or if you want to go back to them) you will be able to select the label on the right column of the blog. (at least I hope so..HAHA! I guess I will figure this out through trial and error.)

Update: Jaidi has saved my sanity!!! I can now post these in order...so, here we go. The posts will not appear on the front page of the blog since they are in order by date (month/year). Just click down to the label with the year you want, then you can view them all. Thanks Jaidi!!!

Dear Family and Friends

I hope all is well in your worlds. A friend of mine recently started blogging and I am inspired by her. The blog that she is writing is more of a way to capture moments and remember them...almost a family diary with pictures. I have decided that I want to start doing that for our family so that the boys can read back and see these things as they get older. The other reason for doing it is so that those of you who may not see us everyday can check in on us. I selected blogspot.com for this because I can have the site automatically email you when I post a new entry. I was only able to select 10 of you, so if you find that you come and check in on us without my "prodding you" electronically, let me know so I can make room on that list for others who may need the old "kick" in the butt to get on the internet and check this out.

I do want to reserve the content on this site strictly for how we are doing as a family, so I will leave my complaints and the content that I share regularly with my readers on my other blog at Life's Ups and Downs. I have come to love ranting on there and sharing my life with my readers. (Yes! I actually have regular readers!!)

I will sign off for now, but please check back and see the beautiful, funny and sometimes embarrassing pictures of our family.