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27 November 2009

Texas or Bust

Tuesday was a really big day for our family. Not only was that the day Creighton called me to tell me that I had earned a place in pharmacy school, but it was also the day we mailed off a contract for Brian to join an ENT practice in Houston. He will be a part of Texas ENT (texasent. com) and we will move back to Texas in June. So, this will be our last winter in Milwaukee!

25 November 2009

It’s All Sarah’s Fault

About 3 years ago, I remember Sarah saying that someday she planned to go to dental school. At first, I felt really betrayed. While Brian and Neil were in medical school/residency, we looked forward to the day of sitting together poolside while our kids were at school and we ate Bonbons and dipped our toes occasionally. Dental school? Oh, man! Not long after, Brian noted that the kids would be starting school soon and what would I do? Get a job? A job? No! I thought. Sit poolside with Sarah! Oh, yeah. Dental school. It really got me thinking. Anyone who is around me for 5 minutes knows I’m not the poolside kind, anyway. I remembered my old yearnings for pharmacy and began researching what it would take to go that route again. I found out that to become a certified pharmacy technician, all I had to do was take a test, pay a fee, and BOOM, that’s it. I also looked into prerequisites for pharmacy school. I made a worst case scenario list (ie get all the prereqs for all the schools I could possibly ever attend since I didn’t know where life would take us next) and realized that I really didn’t have many classes to take at all. Furthermore, we live on the bus line that goes straight down to UW-Milwaukee. So, I studied for a few weeks, took the technician exam, applied to work at the hospital, started working there parttime, and registered for school during the summer of 2008. Summer 2009 I took the PCAT and applied to Creighton’s pharmacy school-distance pathway. November 20th, I interviewed there and got a call yesterday that I was accepted! So I will start a 4 year PharmD program beginning Fall 2010.

Today, the kids all had school, and I didn’t have school or work today. I went grocery shopping, clean house a little, hung out, picked up the girls for school, and just made, ate and cleaned up dinner. The thought keeps coming back to me that days like today could have been my Groundhog day for the rest of my life including the poolside days. But, no! I’m working part time, in school part time and going to pharmacy school! So, thanks, Sarah! You inspired me and a new phase has begun!

31 October 2009

Happy Halloween





This year we have Supergirl, a bee and a gladiator. We scored big on candy!

20 October 2009

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Claire made the funniest card for Brian. Here goes (translation below):Older? Yep. Taller? Totally. Smarter? Oh, yeah! From Claire

14 October 2009

Went to Tyler's parent-teacher conference today. All his teachers love him, say he is kind and polite and a hard worker. His math teacher is going to move him up to the accelerated group this week! What a great kid!

11 October 2009

Rylie is helping to set the table. She says she wants to be a waitress when she grows up.

07 October 2009

The girls are upset today because all the other trees are losing their leaves but ours. Boy, have they got lots to worry about!

24 September 2009

Poor Claire is so sick today. I had to pick her up from school with a tummy ache. By the time I got there, she had thrown up twice. And again on the way home.

05 August 2009

August 5!!

Ahh, I love my birthday! The calls and attention! So, this morning, I took the girls to school, hung out at home and watched Glenn Beck from last night. Then, took Tyler to a friend's house for a swim day, went to Target, then Schlotsky's for lunch, and finally to work for the evening. Back home again to my favorite place with my favorite people...

04 August 2009

Claire's comment about her first day of Kindergarten: "I didn't have to take a nap." (Rylie's class took one yesterday. She first said that she didn't sleep, but later admitted to drooling on the mat.)

03 August 2009

Rylie is at her first day of kinder and Claire and I having a great girls' day-haircut, Claire's boutique and McDonalds!

29 July 2009

Tyler just lost another tooth. Gone are the days when it was a multiday event. He noticed it was loose and 3 minutes later, he had pulled it out! I'm not sure how many more he has to loose, but this has got to be close to the end!

28 July 2009

So, how tech savvy am I? This text message to my phone should post to my blog and email alert my mom. Let's see how it works, shall we?

FYI, the post worked! Let's just see when my mom responds! No more exuses to not post! Especially in the moment when the kids do and say those things!

28 June 2009

Hi, We're Twins!


The girls came out of their room the other day all a-giggles because they had dressed alike. It doesn't happen often, so we all thought it was funny. Lately, the girls have realized that being twins is a neat thing to other people. I heard Claire say to someone at school, "that's my sister, Rylie. We're twins."
Another ongoing, funny thing about the girls is that somewhere along the way, they made a pact together that Claire wasn't going to have any babies and that Rylie would "get" them for her. Well, recently, said babies received names: Kylie, Olivia, Chris and Robert! During this conversation, they argued over who would get to keep Kylie. Rylie settled the argument by telling Claire she could have Robert.
I'm pleased to make the following update to the story. In the car on the way to gymnastics last week, Claire asked me if I liked being a mom. I assured her that it was great. She understood and clairfied saying, "you really like driving us places, don't you, Mom?" I agreed that driving them around was the highlight of my life. Then, Claire decided that she would "get" her own babies after all.

Tyler's 5th Grade Completion Ceremony


Yea for Tyler! He is no longer an elementary school kid. He's a big ugly middle schooler! These are some of his friends: (on the stairs: Tyler, Keegan, Chris and Joe). Tyler goes to a cool school called Golda Meir, an urban gifted and talented school. They have 3 classes each of 3, 4 and 5th grades. Recently, they added one class each of 6, 7 and 8th grades. Sometime earlier this year, they invite the top 1/3 of the 5th grades to stay on for middle school. All 4 of these boys will remain at Golda next year. We are so proud of Tyler. He loves his friends and teachers and all the great opportunites going to a school like this gives him that he would not receive in a regular public school. For example, during his years here, his class took overnight trips to Chicago, a submarine, and camping. He got to serve as a junior docent at the art museum and has learned to tap dance, although he will not demonstrate this for you! Congratulations, Tyler. We wish for you continued success as you apply yourself to all kinds of learning.

09 April 2009

Tyler's 3rd Quarter Report Card

We are so proud of Tyler for his great accomplishments in school. I never remind him to do homework. He takes responsibility for this all on his own. In addition to doing well academically, his teachers routinely praise him for being polite, kind, helpful and a positive influence, character traits which I think will ensure greater success in the long run. His standardized test scores are also here for you to view.

Gee, thanks.

Tonight, we had family night and a brief lesson about humility. (Claire asked what that word meant earlier this week, and I thought the answer would make a great lesson.) So we started by having everyone tell something they were good at doing. When it got to my turn, before I could answer, Rylie piped up that, "Mom, you are good at doing the dishes."

In case you are wondering, Claire said she was good at back hip circles (don't ask me...it's a gymnastics thing), Tyler said he was good at playing Halo, and Rylie said she was good at helping the other kids at school. Then we acknowledged the other people that helped us succeed, such as Mom and Dad paying for and driving to lessons, teachers at school, etc. Then we learned that, ultimately, Heavenly Father is to thank for our sharp minds, strong and healthy bodies, eye/hand coordination and big hearts that enable us to do the things we are proud of. So, a big component of humility is gratefulness, in addition to being teachable.

I'm off to use the greatest of my gifts in the kitchen...

18 March 2009

When I Grow Up

We were just watching an episode of Dora the Explorer. Dora and Boots were drawing pictures of what they wanted to be when they grow up. Then Dora asked the audience what they want to be. Rylie wants to be a teacher and an ice skater. Claire wants to be a "dentister" and a ballerina.

28 January 2009

A Rough Start

Monday marked the first day of the new semester (when this semester is done, I'll be halfway through my prerequisites for pharmacy school!). I've been home for a month and no one was sick the entire time.

Sunday morning about 2, Tyler threw up in his bed. I got that cleaned up and made him a bed on the couch because I wasn't going to remake a bunk bed at 2:30 am! Sunday evening, Skyler barfed in the living room. At least I got him onto the wood floor for round 2! Sunday night about 10, Claire threw up all over her side of the room. That took a while to clean up! By Monday morning, Tyler and Claire felt great, but Rylie didn't feel so well, but I had to go to class! So, I took her with me! She sat so still and quiet with her coloring book, Sprite and pear fruit cup. I have lab on Mondays, but thankfully only had to stay a few minutes for the first day.

On our way out of the building, she had an accident which warranted removal of her tights and unders. I couldn't take her outside in 7 degree weather with bare legs, so I removed my own knee socks and put them on Rylie. They came all the way up to the tops of her skinny little thighs! We made it home, picked up Claire, and headed back downtown to get a lab manual from a printing shop.

On the way, Rylie said she felt like she was going to throw up. We were in Brian's car and he had left an empty chip bag. I gave that to her, and soon she began to use it. Most of it made it into the bag, but plenty didn't! Finally, we made it back home, to clean up everyone and everything.

Hopefully, the rest of the semester will go better!

21 January 2009

The Miracle of Inaguration

During family night yesterday, we decided to focus on America and our new president by watching the Inaguaral address. Brian reminded us of the miracle that happened yesterday. One party went out and a new one took power. This may have gone unnoticed here in America, because we do this every 4-8 years. But in other countries, often the outgoing administration refuses to leave and blood is shed through the process of honoring the will of the voters. I am grateful to live in this wonderful land where we abide by the rule of law. (I need to take a picture of what Rylie made in school yesterday...)

Snow Board Bunnies

We went out sledding last Saturday. Tyler brought his friend Alex, who brought a couple of snow boards. The girls begged to be able to try and we were so impressed with how well they did.

In all fairness, all the kids did spectacularly...except when I tried to film them. When I wasn't filming, the went all the way down the hill, darn near into the river! So these are all the BAD runs. At one point, Claire was tutoring Rylie on how to properly ride the snowboard. "When you feel like you are going to fall, bend your knees." We asked her how she knew that. She replied that was what they told them in gymnastics on the balance beam!

And Tyler! Wow! He was riding a professional type board where your feet are clamped in! That would scare me to death. I really wish I could have captured one of his several great runs! What cool kids I have!