Happy Birthday, Sully! and more

Sully man had his birthday our first Saturday here in town. I was a little worried he would be disappointed in the festivities, so I actually planned a little harder than I normally do for his festivities. Guthrie and Addie went with me to the store the day before and they picked out a Cars bicycle with training wheels for him. They also picked Crayola 3D chalk, a little fishing game, and a green flute/recorder thingamabob (Addie's pick, of course). We stopped by the dollar store on our way home for some wrapping essentials and picked up a little "grow dinosaur", as my kids call it. You put it in water and it "grows". It actually creeps me out a little, reminding me of what a human body would look like if it was left to rot at the bottom of a river and get all bloaty and slimey. . .but they seem to love it. Blech.

Sullivan was so excited the night before that he could hardly sleep. Finally he dozed off - but then wandered into our room around 4 or 5 in the morning. I let him climb into bed with us and when I thought he was asleep I got up to use the bathroom (joy of pregnancy, right?). When I returned, he was lying in our bed staring at the ceiling. I think he just could not WAIT for the fun to start.

I snuck out of bed early and started to get breakfast ready with Guthrie and Addie's help. They wanted to take Sullivan breakfast in bed, which I thought was adorably cute and sweet of them. Unfortunately, Sullivan heard the commotion and couldn't contain himself any longer, so it ended up being breakfast at the table. . .but we tried.

Next came the presents. When Kyle was putting the bike together the night before, I suddenly had this realization that a bike was NOT was Sullivan would want and I told Kyle I was pretty sure he was going to be disappointed. Sadly, I was right. It turns out that the dollar store "grow dinosaur" was the toy that he raved about to my mom on the phone when she called to wish him a happy birthday. I should have known better than to try to deviate from his standard dinosaur obsessed present wish list.

At first he was REALLY not too sure about the whole bike thing, but we made it a family affair and we all gathered around to help and watch him. By the next day he was going "so fast" and actually seems to enjoy it. Unfortunately it has rained nearly every day since then so we have only been out a few more times, but hopefully the chance to ride is right around the corner.

Not sure what he's doing there. . .but it kind of looks like what a certain mother might do to a certain little boy's cheeks when she's trying to get him to make eye contact in a certain difficult moment. Not that we ever have that happen over here at our house or anything. ;) I'm guessing it really just had to do with the sun and him trying to force himself to look at the camera at my request.


We weren't sure what to do in the evening, but our dilemma was solved when we had surprise visitors stop over. Our new friends, the Gasall Family, remembered it was Sullivan's birthday and came over with a cute little dinosaur movie and *another* grow dinosaur. How did the new friends get the birthday present request better than his own mom did?? Of course he was THRILLED with the present, though I think he did say, "I hate Wubzy, but I love dinosaurs!" (It was a Wubzy dinosaur movie.) He requests it often now, so I think *hate* was a strong word.

(I did take a snapshot of the Gasall's singing happy birthday with us, but I decided not to post it because Charity's eyes were half-closed and she was in the middle of saying something. . .and well, I think unflattering pictures on my blog would be a really quick way to kill the friendship, so we'll try again next time they come over :p )

The rest of these are not birthday related. . .just funny.

Kyle is a sucker for a massage, so he's been teaching the kids how to rub his back and then trading massages with them. One evening we were sitting around our furniture-less living room and Guthrie decided to give Truman a back massage. It was too funny that Tru just laid there and let him massage for a while.

Cupcakes on the deck.

Mom's vibrating toothbrush on the deck.

The kids enjoying the sprinkler on the new trampoline. Kyle just finished mowing the back and had moved onto the front. They couldn't wait to get out there.

We were pretty sad when we pulled up to our house to see that the once green, lush lawn was now pretty straggly, weedy, and dry. We bought a lawn mower a few days ago and a sprinkler and we're trying to get it back into shape. I use the term "we" loosely, of course. Thanks, Kyle.

The move . . and stuff.

When we first found out we were headed to Wausau for residency, we immediately began the internal debate of buy versus rent a house. In the end, we went with the mentality that our move to Wisconsin is semi-permanent and we would ALL be happier in a house, even if that means three years from now Kyle take a local job and we stay for a few years beyond residency - or forever, or whatever. I guess we were/are feeling a little sick and tired of all these moves over the years.

We found our cute, little house on a weekend trip and started mentally preparing for a whole new life! We've lived in a 750 square foot condo, our parents' basements multiple times, an 1100 square foot house, a single-wide trailer, the guest bedroom at our parent's house, and then three different rentals in Mexico (while large, they were still lacking in comforts of home i.e. dishwashers, carpet, insulation, air conditioning, garages, etc. I could go on and on). The apartment in New York left a LOT to be desired (not to mention an extra bathroom for those emergency moments). This house just gets us giddy with the excitement of a new normal.

The financing was not without its drama (worst loan officer in the universe, I swear) and I honestly didn't believe it was really going to happen until we signed on the (multiple) dotted line(s) and walked out of the title office with keys in our hands. This was of course after spending a few days in hotels waiting for the lender to make good on their promises to get our loan done in a timely fashion - or in any fashion, because timely it definitely was NOT.

Looking at these pictures from New York taken during our packing/cleaning/stressing days just bring even more happiness because I am SO glad we are done with that and SO happy to be spread out in our not-that-big-but-feels-so-huge-after-what-we've-been-living-in home!!!

The kids did a lot of fending for themselves while we organized, packed and cleaned. I am sure I was less than a stellar mom for the majority of that process. How cute is it that Addie plopped Tru on her knees to watch a movie while we neglected them?? Adorable and totally unprompted. Its a heart warmer for sure.

NYC

We promised the kids back in January when we first drove

by New York City that we would take them to visit at some point. Time just slipped away from us and before we knew it, it was time to leave and they'd never been. It was a pretty low-key

trip involving a simple drive to Battery Park to see the statue from the rail, a drive-by viewing of the Empire State Building, and a solid 90-minute play session in a great little area of Central Park.

This little guy just wanted to run away from us and explore on his own. I had to keep reminding him that New York City is definitely no Wausau, Wisconsin (*wink wink*) and he better stay close to us if he knew what was good for him.

On our way out of Central Park the kids talked us into an ice cream treat from the guy on the corner (a la Mexico-style. . .or maybe Mexico style really originated in New York. What do I know?) Sullivan is the SLOWEST ice cream eater and I should have known it would be a mess on this hot day. We made him wait outside the car until he was finished and he savored every. last. drippity. drop of that Spider-man Popsicle with gum-balls for eyes.

Sorry, Kyle. I know you look kind of awkward in this picture, but at least they all let you take one.

This is what I got when I tried for the same picture.

Young Authors

Guthrie and Adeline were both selected to be part of an after school program at Sophie Finn Elementary in Kingston, NY. This program was an accelerated reading program where the kids partnered with older/younger students and wrote and illustrated their own books. We had a little party at the end of the six-week program where the kids read us all their stories and we got to see what they had been up to for those few hours after school. Both kids were so creative in their stories. We didn't get a copy of the books yet, but the school is having them printed and bound and promises to send us copies when they're ready.

This was some kind of animal hand motion that he desperately wanted to have captured on camera. mmmmm, kay.

Dr. Hunter

One of our last New York outings was to Valhalla to the New York Medical College campus to honor Kyle and the rest of his class in their completion of all the requirements for medical school, ECFMG certification, and residency entrance (aka "graduation".) I was worried about taking all the kids, but of course I wanted to be there - so they had to tag along. Luckily, it was an outdoor, relaxed affair. The speakers kept it short and sweet and the kids snuck out of the tent often to play. . semi-quietly.

Kyle taking the Hippocratic Oath.

I guess NYMC has some Catholic affiliation because they had a "hand anointing ceremony." Kind of sweet.

I'm a little sad that I didn't get better pictures, but it definitely wasn't easy to put myself in the right place at the right time for a photo opportunity while holding Truman and making sure the other kids didn't go absolutely crazy.

Last visit with Taggs and Sanders

We took the time one Sunday after church (the only day that worked with Will's schedule) and met up with the Tagg Family and Sanders Family in Valhalla, NY. The weather turned out to be just right (at least it felt just right after the sun went down). It was so fun seeing all of our kids together again after a long absence from their playing days in Mexico. Its hard to believe that it has been 5 years since we all met in Guadalajara. Will and Jacqueline were already two years into their journey at that point and now he is finishing his second year of Radiology residency in Bridgeport, CT. Kirk pre-matched in the Internal Medicine program in Tucson, AZ. It has been a LONG road - with so much more ahead of us - but great friends definitely make it all seem easier.

Love these guys!

Last days in NY

Our last weeks in New York really drug on. Thankfully, the weather was warm, warm, warm (one day it was hot, hot, hot and I was practically in tears from swelling feet and general discomfort without air conditioning). We found a cute little park near the house and tried to kill some time one Saturday morning with the kids. I know Addie is absent from these pictures and Truman is disproportionately represented. In my defense, Addie is happiest burning off her energy running around and definitely not too happy about pausing for photo-ops. :)