We reached the end of the road.....

In some ways, I cannot believe that it even happened, but it did, Andy graduated from his Emergency Medicine residency.  There really are no words to express how I am feeling and how proud I was to see him get up and receive his many plaques and his diploma.  It has been a long haul for the both of us with undergrad, medical school, and residency, but we did it.  Not only did Andy finish but he managed to do it with four children, a family, and we are even stronger now than ever before.  Andy is amazing and has been amazing throughout the whole process.  I can honestly say I don't know of any other dad's that can come home after working 16 hours and happily play with their children or go straight to the soccer games and take over entertaining the one year old.

Andy had a wonderful graduation night.  The hospital set up dinner/presentation at a country club in Avon and it was beautiful.  I love when they have an open bar and I order a Coke, the looks I get are priceless, and the bartenders always remind me that I can order ANYTHING I want. Anyway, not important, got distracted.  We were able to sit with our firends the O'Neils and the Groesbeck's.  It was just nice for all of us to be together and say our goodbyes.

I am so grateful for the whole experience of it all.  I think it made us more humble and better people.  I have a greater appreciation and belief in hard work.  I am also grateful for our families and for their constant support.  Thank you for the cards Andy received, it made Andy feel so special.  Thanks to our friends who supported us, and a special thanks to Sara for watching our kids that night so we could have some together time (I can't imagine going through all of that OH experience without you.)

    
Andy and I at Sara's when we dropped of the kiddos.

Dinner

Andy hugging his director Dr. Bloxdorf


Blox braggin on Andy.....love it. He was emotional, Andy was emotional, it was so touching.


Jef and Sarah, Todd and Loni, Andy and I, the mormon residents.....to funny. (side note, between all of us we have 12 children)


The graduating ER residents.

Andy and Blox messing around. I love that Andy has such a great experience at St.Johns and that he truly felt he could not have gotten a better medical education anywhere else.

Nail Party....

I promised Carlee that we would have a party for her and some of her friends before we move. It was just so hard throughout the year to find a time where everyone could come, so I decided that the day before the last day of school would be perfect....NOT!! Like we don't have enough going on with moving, but who cares, friends are more important. Andy took Porter and Marin somewhere so that us girls could have the house to ourselves. First when the girls got there, we soaked their feet in the sandbox lid, there was no way I was touching their feet unless they were clean. Then they all got to choose a color for their toes and which press on nail they wanted for their hands. The girls were in heaven, they felt so big. We had pizza, drinks, and ice cream. Does it get any better?? Oh yes it does, throw in a little Barbie and the Diamond Castle music have a dance party, and we are good!! All of the girls were so cute and fun!


Soaking....

 
Sophie and her nails.


Lindsay and her nails.


Gwyneth and Maggie.

 
Peek a boo Maggie.


Carlee'e bestie Lucy.

Being crazy girls.

 
 Lucy and Carlee.


Eating a cool treat.


Lindsay and Carlee

Sophie and Tessa. Seriously this was such a fun time. I am so glad we just went for it amongst the chaos. We made some great memories and are going to miss these cute girls a ton.

Porter's last day of 2nd grade....

Porter had a super great year of 2nd grade.  He has always lucked out and has gotten, what I think, are the best teachers in the school.  This year he has Mrs. Bogart who was a gem.  She is everything you would want in a teacher.  She was gently, loving, kind, genuine, a great listener, organized, and trusting.  Porter felt so comfortable with her and was always excited to get to school.  When it came time for the end of the year and he and I were talking about what to do for a gift for such a special person, he suggested we make her a quilt.  I talked with the room mother of the class and she asked all of the parents to go in on it, which was perfect because then we could buy nicer material and have it machine quilted.  Porter helped me every step of the way, I don't know that he enjoyed every step, but he helped.  I also had an idea to had embroider each of the kids names on to a square all throughout the quilt, it really was so simple, and added the perfect touch.  The room mom also went it a few days before we gave it to her and took a picture with all of the kids holding the quilt to give to Mrs. Bogart. 

Mrs. Bogart was so cute when she opened the gift and so was Porter, he was so proud.  She immediately started crying and gave everyone a big hug.  Yes it was a lot of work and took a lot of time, but it was worth it.

The class with Mrs. Bogart, Porter is on the far left of the pic.

The kid all love Marin and want to be around her every time she came to the class.


Mrs. Bogart wearing the quilt. It is kind of hard to see the kids names in this picture, but they are brown.

Ice Ice Cream party!!

 
Marin had all of the kids chasing her.

Porter and Mrs. Bogart. It was such a great year for Porter, I know he is going to miss Mrs. Bogart very much!!!!

Carlee's Kindergarten Graduation....

Carlee had a wonderful year in Kindergarten, although, I don't know much that she was the student as much as the teacher.  Carlee loves school and I think she would have done great in a full day Kindergarten, she just couldn't get enough.  She really enjoyed just about all of the kids in her class, there were a few who she just didn't understand, but she was just so kind to everyone.  There was one girl in her class who had just moved from Russia and did not speak any English at all, but the girl, Carolina, could say Carlee's name.  She would always run up to Carlee and try to hold her hand, it was so cute.  Carlee also really loved her teacher, Mrs. Brax, she did a great job for her first year of teaching.  Carlee is super sad to have the year come to and end, but she is also so ready to move on. 

Her graduation was simple and cute.  They all had on cute hats and got called up one by one to receive their portfolios.  After the graduation we headed down to the gym for a special musical performance, it is so fun to see the kids singing songs like "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".  It was just a very special afternoon for our Carlee girl.

Carlee in her special chair, her really good friend Lucy is in the pink sweater next to her.

Mrs. Brax talking to the class.






Carlee felt so special at this moment.


Carlee and her best friend Wes.

Mrs. Brax prepared a video of pictures throughout the year that we all watched together. I am so proud of Carlee that she had such a great year, but cannot believe that she is going to be in the first grade next year!!

Soccer wrap up.....

Well, the soccer season is over, that is always both good and bad.  It is good to have a break from the crazy schedule and games, water check, gear check, but sad just the same.  Porter and Carlee loved playing soccer and it was a lot of fun to watch.  It is crazy that it is our last time playing on the Bay fields down the street from our house when we the kids have played the past four years.  Luckily this season we had good weather pretty much every game!  Here are pics of the kids last games.


Carlee would always volunteer to go out, she was very interested in the oranges for snack.

Carlee and her team.

Porter is getting so big and his games were getting more intense to watch. He always insisted on wearing his red shorts to match his team shirt.

Team Red....

I got to help out with Carlee's class for Kinderlympics, which was just a series of different "events".  Her class color was red.  The first event was the banana relay, which was a hoot to watch.  It was funny how some kids would do anything they could not to touch the other kids, while others were all about just being close and having fun.  Then we did sidewalk chalk, the parachute, hula hoop, jumprope, and another relay race.  It was just all around fun! 

Carlee Carlee and Nicholas


Carlee was the banana master.





I love the head popping out in this picture.



Move those hips Carlee!