Buddy Guy and his Friends.

This spring has been slow coming. We got snow the last few weeks in March. I was disappointed that it snowed again, however the kids loved it. They filled their dump trucks up and then had a snow ball fight. It was fun to watch them enjoy the snow so much. If it isn't raining Isabella wants to be outside.




Tristan is getting so big. He is 3 months old and can "talk" up a storm. He is always smiling and laughing and babbling. He loves to watch the kids play and will lay on his tummy for long periods of time if they are playing near him. They love to play with Tristan, and make him laugh. Our nickname for Tristan is buddy guy. Isabella loves to introduce us as her friends. She is so sweet! Isaac gives Tristan an hug each morning and comments on how tiny and cute he is. Isabella is so helpful. She like to hold him and will help me get this for him if I am busy. I love my kids!

Matched!

This past week was one of great anticipation. Stanley matched to a Triple Board Residency program. Triple board means that he will get board certified in three specialties. Pediatrics, Pediatric Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry. We will be moving to Indianapolis, Indiana. It was quite a shock for us. It was our third choice but we were kind of banking on the fact that we would go to Utah or Cincinnati, OH. I hadn't even given a thought to Indiana. so when we got the email we were shocked and then excited. We spent most of the day looking up different facts about Indiana. The more I learn the more excited I am go be going there. We know that it must be where the Lord wants us. I am sure there are lots of reason for our family to be there and I am excited to learn them.

It has been an especially rainy and cold spring here in Portland. So I look forward to the warmth and sunshine in Indiana. The night we found out my two friends were so sweet and came to babysit for us so we could go out on a date. The kids loved having 2 moms giving them undivided attention. I am so blessed to have such good friend! We will really miss Portland and all the friends that we have made. I feel like last week was the beginning of a race. Now I am in a race with time to get everything in order for us to move. Here goes! T-2 months until we move.

Stanley's 29th Birthday

Today was Stan's birthday and we had a great day celebrating. Sunday night Stan made the best brownies and then on Monday the kids and I went to visit him at work to bring brownies to the office staff. He enjoys showing off his little family, and the offie staff loved having the kids there for a bit. Then I took them to the Dollar Store to pick out gifts they wanted to give Daddy. They had a blast! Isabella insisted we get balloons and a birthday hat as well. The kids were so excited to have Daddy come home and open presents that he barely had time to put down his bag and coat before they dragged him to the little table for presents and cake. I don't think he actually got to open any of the presents. :) He said it was perfect and the kids were so happy to be a part of his birthday. Oh I also let the kids help me make his German Chocolate cake from scratch. They did a great job and Stanley said it was delicious! I am really enjoying that celebrations mean more to them now. We love our kids! Stan said last night as we were talking about life and our family how much he enjoys having all 3 kids and how it feels so perfect to be a family of 5!
Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Family tree at breakfast

This morning at breakfast Isabella started asking about her family. She talked about Lucie and wanted to know who here dad and mom where. Then she described Lucie's dog Brownie and Lucie's back yard. Then she asked who Zach's dad was and then talked about Todd and Alaenya and Lila and Gavin. It was so cute that she is really starting to remember family. She has really started understanding more about whats going on and what we are talking about. It is fun, but we are going to have to remember we have little ears that repeat things now. :)

I just started Weight Watchers again. It is only day 2 but so far so good. I decided that we all needed to get back on a better schedule since we have been so out of sync lately. I am hoping to get Tristan on a "Baby Wise" schedule so he better about naps. I always loving having a schedule so I feel productive and hopefully give the kids a little more structure.

On a side note here are some pictures from when my mom was here and we visited Ted and Dolly (grandparents) in Olympia Washington. They met us there so we didn't have to drive all the way to Seattle. It was great to see them. After we let the kids play at a Mall playground for an hr or so. I loved having my mom here.

Tillamook

My mom came to visit this week. She stayed with me and the kids while Stan went to an interview in Utah. It was so great having her here. The kids loved having "gwama woten" here. We did lots of fun things while she was here and we had great weather. These pictures are from our trip to The Tillamook Cheese factory. It was such a sunny day we couldn't resist stopping at the park for a picnic.

Finally settled.... for a few months

So I have been terrible at updating because we lost our camera over a year ago. :( However we got a new one for Christmas so I have been able to take more pictures.

Our life has been so busy this past year. We put all our stuff in storage in May and have moved all around until January. Stanley did rotations all over the country and the kids and I stayed with family. It was so great to be close to family especially while Stanley was gone. We were so blessed by so many people I felt that the Lord was providing so many people to make this past year great, even though it was probably the hardest yr ever.

We are enjoying getting all settled in again in Portland. We have been away so much it helped us realize how much we really love the city and all the friends we have made here. We are lucky enough to live a little out of town in a beautiful home. Our friend made an apartment out of the lower level of his home so we are living there. It is in a beautiful forest and there is lots of room for the kids to play and explore.

*This picture was taken during the 1 week that is snows in Portland. The next day it was all melted*

Poor Stanley has worked a crazy schedule this month. He has had to work a 30hr shift every 4 days. It was hard to get use to. I am glad it is almost over. I was nervous about taking care of all 3 kiddos alone for those long shifts but we figured out a schedule and have all survived. haha. I have actually made it to church on time with all 3 kids by myself. I was pretty proud of myself.

Isabella is getting to be such a little girl. She loves to paint her nails and play princess. Speech Therapy has really helped her and she is talking up a storm and we can understand most all of it. She is very bossy and loves to play make believe and tell Isaac what to say and do. Often I hear her repeating things I say and tattle telling on Isaac. I am sure that is normal for the oldest. Isaac bares it well and usually plays along. Isabella's favorite show currently is Go Diego Go. She can watch a show in the morning and all day long she will be acting it out or coloring pictures about what happened in that episode. She loves to play with her baby, especially while I am tending to Tristan. She is such a good big sister and helps with Tristan a lot. She loves to hold him and kiss him. We have started playing board games with her. She enjoys them but usually has a hard time playing to the end of a game. Isabella is so sweet and polite. She always says Thank You and Your Welcome. In fact if someone doesn't say it she tells them to and bugs them until they say thank you. She is getting to the age that she understands so much and picks up on things that we are talking about. It is so fun.

Isaac is so sweet. He understands and talks much more than kids his age. He is much easier to reason with. Thomas the Tank engine is his favorite toy. He builds tracks and plays with trains and freight cars all day long. He literally will ask for them when he gets up and we have to take them away before bed. He and Isabella love playing together. They will take their trains and play make believe for hrs. Yesterday when Stanley got home Isaac asked if he was a doctor? Stan laughed and said yes. So Isaac ran to his doctor set and put on his white coat and said he was a doctor too. He loves being just like his daddy. Stan got a "Stanley " Train for Christmas as a joke from my parents. Most days Isaac brings "Stanley" to daddy so he can play trains with him. Isaac has much more patience for games, he can play Candy Land to the end and not get board. He also loves his little brother Tristan. Each morning he asks when Tristan will wake up. When he does wake up both kids want to give him a kiss and hug. Isaac gets this sweet look on his face and talks in a baby cooing voice and says "Mom he is so tiny!'

Tristan is such a cutie! He has a sweet little face and little turned up nose. I get compliments on his features especially his nose. It always makes me laugh. He seems to have a touch of colic so he isn't as content as we would like but I am sure he will grow out of it soon. He sleeps pretty well and loves to be held and snuggled. He is just starting to smile and make cooing noises. It is so fun having a new born again. It is a little crazier but that's nothing new for us.

• 

Tristan

I am sure no one really cares to see these but I liked going through the pictures and comparing.

Isabella
Isaac
Tristan

I decided to compare their new born pictures to see who looked more like who.

What a great Poem

Title: It Isn't Costly
Author: Edgar A. Guest [More Titles by Guest]

Does the grouch get richer quicker than the
    friendly sort of man?
 Can the grumbler labor better than the cheerful
    fellow can?
 Is the mean and churlish neighbor any cleverer
    than the one
 Who shouts a glad "good morning," and then
    smiling passes on?
  Just stop and think about it.  Have you ever
    known or seen
 A mean man who succeeded, just because he
    was so mean?
 When you find a grouch with honors and with
    money in his pouch,
 You can bet he didn't win them just because
    he was a grouch.
  Oh, you'll not be any poorer if you smile along
    your way,
 And your lot will not be harder for the kindly
    things you say.
 Don't imagine you are wasting time for others
    that you spend:
 You can rise to wealth and glory and still pause
    to be a friend.

I saw this poem while I was looking for another one by the same author.  I think it makes so much sense and makes life so much better.

Great Little Weekend Getaway

The kids and I made a trip down to Mesa, AZ to visit family. It is the last time I can travel before the baby comes in 8 weeks. It was fun to visit my family and my parents loved seeing the kids. I enjoyed shopping with my mom and then visiting with Dan, Devery, Lucie and baby Weston. Weston is giving us lots of smiles now and its great to see him so alert and happy.

Isabella started Head Start Preschool last week and loves it! She goes Mon- Thurs for 3.5hrs. Isaac loves the time with just mommy and well mostly his trains haha. However by the time we go pick Isabella up he is asking where she is. When they see each other it cracks me up how happy they both get. They love each other so much!

We get to see Stan in a week so here is hoping this week goes by fast. He has been gone for a month. :(

Nomads

So I am sure you have all seen PBS specials on strange cultures in foreign lands where people spend most of their time travelling around as nomads. I usually think of outer Mongolia, Gypsies, Amazon tribes, Bedouins . . . Did you know that nomads exist in modern America too?

I didn't think so either, but here we are - modern day nomads moving from place to place every few months. But we probably won't be coming to a PBS special anytime soon.

I will spare you a long diatribe of how medical education is structured, but suffice it to say that one thing many medical students do is audition rotations. We do part of our clinical training at another hospital around the country that we want to go to for the next step in our training hoping they will like us. Mix this in with the fact that my school doesn't have a hospital associated with it (meaning we have to set up some of our own rotations) and you have the perfect storm for 6 months living the nomadic lifestyle.

So catching up on our lives means a long list of travels!

We started out in May, when everything miraculously fell in place for Samira and I to go to Hawaii (including Samira's Mom coming to watch the kids). I was there for a conference, but we still found a little time to go enjoy the beaches and scenery. Perhaps the Lord knew things were going to get crazy and wanted to give us some time to muster up our strength.

The storm hit pretty quickly. Looking at our schedule for the summer and fall we decided it would be best to stop renting our home in Portland and save money. We packed everything up in 2 weeks (with the Hawaii trip in the middle) and put everything in storage then drove to Arizona for a few months. Yeah, we are crazy enough to leave the beautiful Portland summer for of all places Arizona . . .

After finished some of my licencing exams we headed back to Portland for a month where I did a rotation. Thankfully some friends let us stay in their house and we got to enjoy a little bit of the Portland summer. Then I was off to Utah and Samira and the kids went to Las Vegas to stay with my parents. Since Samira is pregnant, she will be staying there until after the baby comes in December. While Samira is amazingly holding down the fort with two very energetic kids, I am off galavanting around the country. My parents have of course been a tremendous help - the kids love spending time with them. I will be done with rotations by Thanksgiving and the light at the end of the tunnel is being off for the holidays and for the baby to be born!

Grandpa entertaining the grandkids.

So when people at the hospital ask me where I am from it goes something like this . . . My school is in Arizona, but I have been living in Oregon for the last several years, but my family is in Las Vegas right now with my parents, but I didn't grow up there . . . Its at about that point that everyone's eyes glaze over and I give up trying to explain it all. Which, I am sure I have lost several of you in this meandering post, but at least you have some idea of where we are or are not living at the moment . . . maybe . . .

Going Private

I know it has taken me a long time to decide, but we are going private. I would love to send you an invite so just email or comment your address.

Where are you Summer??

We had the most beautiful day of the year on Saturday! It was 68 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. However come Monday it is raining so hard and the sun is hiding behind some very thick clouds. The kids and I are ready to have the windows and doors open and soak up some sun.

On a happy note Isabella has finally relearned how to sleep at night. For about 8 months Isabella has had lots of trouble sleeping. Waking anywhere form 3 times a night to 10 times. Needless to say we were trying everything we could think of. We finally decided on a strict night time routine. We had always done similar things at night but this time we actually wrote one out and followed it to the "T". After several weeks of the night time routine she went to bed great. However she was still waking up all night. So we finally decided to lock her out of our room. We didn't want to lock her in her room for many reasons, but we could lock her out of our room and not have to worry. The first week she tried everything she could think of to get us to come out of our room. It was really sad and I probably would have had a hard time ignoring her except for the fact that I hadn't had a full night sleep in almost a year. So after a long hard week she actually slept most of the night. For the past week she has woken only once or or not at all. We feel that it is an answer from the Lord, because I was at my wits end. Now if she wakes we help her to potty once and make sure her bed isn't wet, then the rest of the night our door is locked and she has learned to stay in bed. YEAH!!!!!!

Totally different subject....Easter was great! Stan was the Easter Bunny. He made the baskets up for the kids and hid their eggs. Isabella got a memory game, and Isaac got an airplane puzzle. He has been so interested in airplanes lately. He hears everyone that flies by and when he can't see them he says I hear airplane. If you ask him where they go he tells you the airport.

For Easter I made my first turkey!! It wasn't actually that hard, and it tasted great. The gravy that I made from the drippings was fantastic too! I was pretty proud of myself for being able to do that on my own. Holidays are always hard to be away from family. However we had a great time sharing a meal with our friends the Wadsworths. They have 2 kids close in age to ours so we actually could have a dinner conversation because the kids played so well together. I am truly blessed with great friends!

Carefree...... Someday

This past few weeks have been especially trying. I have felt overwhelmed in many areas in my life. Feel as though I am failing in all my roles and responsibilities. I am not sure why I am not dealing with it as well as usual.... Today I just wanted to go home and be a carefree kid rather than a parent, leader, teacher, adule.... and all the other rolls that come with growing up. I know I need to change my attitude but haven't found motivation yet to do it. I am sure it will come.... until then I will just keep trudging a long.

Random happenings. This isn't in any specific order.

• Isabella is doing great in speech therapy, they think she has speech apraxia. She has a great therapist and we work with her a lot at home. In the past 4 months her language has bloomed. She can say so much now, and actually be understood. It has been so fun to see her personality coming out more and more each day. Her nursery leader at church commented that she has really been able to understand Isabella now, and just realized that she loves being bossy. It cracked me up, because Isabella is very bossy and now that she can speak she has to tell everyone what to do or not to do. She loves to tell Dad all about her day when he comes home from school. One day he was so excited because he actually understood what she had done that day, without my translations. I think it is still going to be a long process with her language but at least she can communicate and is much happier.... and so are we. Isabella get to go to her friends house for a preschool day every now and then. She loves it, and looks so cute with her back pack on. We are hoping to get her into preschool in the fall. She would love the interaction and the activities. I am hoping to get her in one that I get to help in the classroom 2x a month. I think it would be fun, and give me more ideas of activities to do at home.
• Isaac on the other hand talks all the time. He can say all of the words that Isabella practices and repeats what we are saying. He is saying sentences, and will be well on his way to talking over his sister soon. He is getting so big. He has surpassed Bella in weight and has enough energy to keep up with her most of the time. He loves to sit down and read and do puzzles and can be kept busy for quite a while. I have been trying to find activities that they can sit down to the table and work on. I got a book called What to do with Toddlers and Twos, it has lots of ideas of activities, and helps me be more creative with our days. It has been fun doing projects like painting, putting beans in glass jars, or milk jugs, making shakers from old pill bottles, pasta necklaces, play-dough, coloring.
• I participated in a Health Challenge for 60 day. I won second place! It really helped me get back to exercising. I try to run several times a week and was up to about 4 miles at a time. Currently I am planning on running a 5k so I am working on running 3 miles faster. I enjoy running and it is a stress reliever. I am the Young Women's president at church and enjoy working with the girls. The friends I have made in Portland have been such a blessing. I have made several through church and the community and they help keep me sane. Most of us have little kids, and busy husbands, and working off a small budget. It's nice to have friends with so much in common. I am so very blessed with the friends in my life. My Ellen has become such a close friend. The kids love her, she is like a grandma next door. She is helping me with my first quilt. I am to the stage of sewing all the squares together. She is a professional quilter, so I am soaking up her knowledge. It is so fun to have a project to work on when I get some free time.
• Stanley has been pretty busy with rotations all over Portland. This month he drives over an hour one way to work. He has really enjoyed his pediatric rotations, he had a chance to do OBGY and delivered a few babies. Currently he is working at a Psychiatric Hospital. The stories he tells me are so sad. I could never work in that environment. He really enjoys child psych and is hoping to be able to do both pediatrics and child psych. Hopefully in the next 6 months we will have narrowed down what he wants to do and where we want to go next May. He graduates in just over a year. The time has gone fast! No matter how busy he is he always finds time to play with the kids and spend time with me. We enjoy every spare minute we all get together. Last week we took the kids to a play place that was showing Toy Story 3. They got to play and have fun while Stan studied. It was a fun family date. Today is a beautiful day. Sunny and 60 degrees, so we are going to go to the Tulip Festival. I love being outside when the weather is so nice.

We like to take walks even when it is cold outside. Thankfully it wasn't raining this day.

Isabella, Abby, Andy and Isaac chilling out on Abby's cool bed.
Poor Isaac wasn't feeling good this day, so Isabella laid down by him and comforted him. It was sweet... even if it only lasted a little bit.
This was a cow they saw while visiting Grandpa Rhoton in WA. They loved to see it!
Isabella has so many little friends to come play. This is her friend "Annie" (Real name is Andy, but she has a hard time saying that. They are all rowdy and love running around and being silly. Isaac is getting big enough to join in on the fun.