An Announcement

After 5 years, Adam is almost done with his residency.  We finally signed our contract for a job starting in July, and we will be moving to Fayetteville, Arkansas!  I know, it is a random place, and not very many people’s dream city.  But, we are really excited about it.  It seems perfect to us.  I have to say that I will be sad to leave Minnesota.  I have really loved it here.  Now we get to look forward to being closer to our families, and seeing a lot more of Adam.  

Morning hair

Do you ever just wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and have to laugh.  Lately, I have been sporting some awesome morning do's.  I've started to take pictures.  Adam is a lucky man to get to wake up to this every morning.  It is probably a good thing that he gets up way before me, and its dark.

Farewell old friend

Adam was in the middle of a car pileup while doing his pediatric rotation in the cities.  Besides some whiplash he is fine. But, his old blue Honda was not.  The rear end looked like this.  The exhaust was pushed up into the trunk, and the frame was bent.  We are very thankful that he was safe.  It was a sad day when we said farewell to his car as it was being towed to the scrap yard.

   

Lone Star

December 2000-March 2011

We had a lot of good memories with Lone Star.  Dates, road trips, racing to the hospital to deliver babies.  We even hit a deer once, with minimal damage.   He will be missed.  Especially by Adam, who will be riding his bike to work until we buy a new car.  

Congratulate Me

We are just finishing up 10 weeks of Adam living, and working in Minneapolis, while I was here, at home, with the kids, all my MYSELF.  
Unless you are counting the 2 weeks where my mom, and then the in-laws came to help out.  We have the best parents.  
I did it with no whining, at least over the internet.  
Sure, Adam came home on the weekends.   But it was still hard, and lonely. 
 I had to take out the trash, in mostly sub zero weather, shovel snow, also in mostly sub zero weather, and put the kids to bed all by myself....
We really missed him, and it will be nice to have our “dad” home again.  Except tonight he is working. (sigh...)  

Did I tell you that Adam has decided to NOT do a fellowship?  I am one HAPPY women these days.  The next 14 month of residency seem pretty easy right now.      

The newest Mr. and Mrs. Childs

Adam's little brother just got married.  We took a quick 3 day trip to Idaho to be there for the sealing.  It was so fun.  Everyone (minus Phil who is in Peru) was able to be there, AND we were all kid free.  Which meant that were actually able to hold conversations with each other.

Here is a picture of the bride and groom.

This is Julie, my newest sister-in-law.  That's 4 now.  We are very excited to have as part of our family.  Isn't she cute.  She was a very pretty bride.  Her dress was fabulous.  It was SO windy and COLD at the temple in Rexburg, I didn't take that many pictures.

It was a great trip.  We stayed up way to late, ate way to much food (I made my first trip to Cafe Rio), swam, and watched movies in Uncle Dave's theater.  Hopefully, the next time we fly to Utah, we will have time to see friends, and not just drive through.

Snowed in

We had 30 inches of snow, even before winter began.  Church and school were both canceled.  We were all home together and it was great!  Wade loves the snow.  He would stay out there forever.  Here are a few pictues.  Enjoy! 

Sibling Rivalry

Liz wanted a post, and requested a video.  Here are they boys fighting over a toy on Blake's b-day.  At the time I was annoyed.  But, sometimes you just have to capture the moments for them to become funny.

TA-DA!

Here it is.  I LOVE it!.  It is so much easier to clean and cook in.  It was a lot of work.  I might have cried, screamed, and bled a few times, but it was worth it.  

Now I just need a new refrigerator...this one is way to small.

New Stove top and Microwave!

This is my favorite feature!

A few thing's learned:  

Just because you watch a lot of the DIY channel, doesn't mean you can actually   "do it yourself".  We ended up hiring a contractor.

Attempting to do a remodel with kids is insane

Blake can get tired of chicken nuggets from McDonald's. 

It still have to paint the trim and put on the pantry doors, but I am considering this project done! 

The before

When were house shopping in Rochester.  The first room that I walked into in this house, was the kitchen.  I saw it, and wanted to walk out.  Even though it might look "ok" in the pictures, it's pretty gross.  The b&w stick on tiles were sliding around.  The paint on the cabinets started peeling off  the day we moved in.  On the inside of the cabinets there was old vents that took up most up of the space.  We painted it blue, so we weren't blinded by  the too bright yellow, and started saving for new kitchen right away.  We dreamed of something new for 3 years, and we finally did it!

If you post pictures of your daughter's room on your blog...

Kayleigh saw my last post, and told me that she was so "unbarassed".  After that she immediately cleaned her room.   At her request, here is her cleaned room.

Is it Genetic?

I'll admit as a youth I had a very messy room.  For the past year K and B have been sharing a room.  About  a month ago, K decided to move to the downstairs bedroom.  She was tired of Blake waking her up at night, and insisted that the mess was all his.  Behold her bedroom.

In case you were wondering, Blake's room has been clean since she moved out.

Days like this

I'm going to miss days like this.  Warm summer days.  Days where they play outside and use there imaginations.   

We are suppose to have a cool front coming through later in the week.  School starts in two weeks.  I'm just not ready for the summer to end.   

I can do it!

Wade decided that he would try walking a few weeks ago.  Here is a cute video of it.

In one year

He went from this

 

To this

Can someone tell me how to freeze time for a little bit?

Headboard

I have been shopping for headboards for years.  I have just never found something that I loved, for a price I was willing to pay.  But, this was perfect.  It was made in a day.  The total cost for the lumber was $30.  It makes me feel so grown-up to have a headboard.  Its a knock off of a PB piece.  What do you think?

mine, $30

PotteryBarn Mason headboard, $800

Now, if I could just get the rest of the room to look like that!

New Pictures

Our new family photos were taken by my friend Jolene.  If you need pictures taken, I recommend calling her.  She is great with kids (she has 3 of her own).  That is a major stressor with me.  She was able to get a lot of great shots of us, even though my kids do not sit still. It was very hot, and very humid.   But, I think the turned out great.

 

Visit her blog, Jolene Reed Photography

Bench

Adam has been busy,  Well, he is always busy.  But,  I found a blog last spring that has furniture plans.  I begged until he finally made a few things for me.  This is the first one.  

Isn't it great.  It opens to store things on the inside.

 I love benches for my coffee table.  We had to use our old one in kitchen now.  I've been looking for a replacement, and I knew that this one would be perfect.  I love it, and I love him!

 

Now that is better

(a make-up free picture of me. Don't look to close, ok)

Are you still there? My blog is haunting me. I realize that I haven't posted in 6 months. I feel like that longer I go without blogging the more I am expected to say. Kind of like calling a friend that you haven't talked to in a really long time. But, we all know that I don't do that either. :) I'm sorry!

Minnesota is beautiful in the summer time. we spend most of our days outside. We have to soak it up while we can. A few highlights that you have missed:

Kayleigh finished Kindergarden

Wade turned 1!

Adam finished his 3rd year of residency.

Blake has been potty trained for a while (that was hard)

Lots of home improvement projects

The Childs family visited. (I love guests! hint, hint)

Kayleigh moved to the downstairs bedroom

I'm REMODELING my kitchen.

Milo found a new home.

We now have pet fish, much easier.

The list can go on and on. So, I have lots to blog about. Have you missed me?

Jack Frost

This is what we woke up to last Saturday. Isn't it pretty It is called Hoar Frost. It happens a few times a year, and I just love it. But, to tell you the truth, I am sick of winter. We are severely suffering for cabin fever. If you have a cure, let me know.

p.s. I found my camera cord, and I can now download pictures. More posts to come!

Checking In

There is a mouse in my house. Well, at least their was. We had a suspicion that we had a unwanted house guest, and we set up a trap. I looked this morning and there he was. I was disgusted, and I am still very disturbed. I paged Adam several times this morning freaking out. Hoping for a less interrupted afternoon, He came home quickly to remove it from the house for me. I often wonder what the O.R. staff must think of me. I'm sure they think that I am crazy.

I am trying to potty train Blake. It is time. I just can't put it off any longer. He hates using the potty. He has even conned his sister into putting a diaper on him. I don't understand how someone how eats so little, can poop so much. We have made great strides in the last few days. He is no longer scared of the toilet.

Wade is sick, he has bronchiolitis, on the heals of a family wide stomach bug. I really don't think that we can make it through a January in Minnesota without being sick. But, the weather has been really mild. The temperature has been in the 20's-30's. I actually don't mind that at all. Adam will be home this weekend, and I am so excited. Hopefully we will seal up the hole to the attic where the mouse came from. Exciting, right?




Blog post are better with pictures, right? Here is the most current picture of the family. I love my kids. They have been so cute and fun lately.