Congratulations Joe!

Joe graduated last week and is now officially an orthodontist. Congratulations hon, you did it! We both never thought that this day would come, but it finally did after 10 years of college and a lot of hard work! I am so proud of you and the sacrifices that you've made so that you can provide for our family.

After an amazing dinner, speeches from his professors, and a slideshow from the 1st year residents, Joe accepted his Masters degree and Orthodontics certificate. Each graduating resident spoke and Joe did a great job even though he didn't prepare anything ahead of time (typical Joe). He was actually caught off gaurd, but recovered nicely. My favorite part was when he thanked me for being such a wonderul support. I would have to agree!

It was so much fun to have Tom and Suzy visit for this occasion. We always have a blast when they visit and this time was no exception. One of the things that we did while they were here was to visit a toy train museum. Tom is a big collector of Lionel toy trains and it was fun to take the boys and watch their reactions to all of the trains.

We also went to the zoo which was really fun. It happened to be a nice and warm day, so of course everyone in the city of Milwaukee wanted to get outdoors and enjoy the weather...the zoo was absolutely packed. Samuel's favorite thing was the petting zoo with the goats. We made 2 trips because he enjoyed it so much. Here is a video of Samuel in the middle of goats, trying to feed them. He had no fear! He just walks in and sticks food right into their mouths.

So now that Joe has graduated you may be wondering about our plans. After A LOT of searching, the best opportunity that met both criteria of being by family as well as being a good practice opportunity for Joe is in Kissimmee and St. Cloud Florida. The only hitch (which is a big one) is that Joe will have to take the Florida boards to practice there. To all my dental friends, you can understand how painful this process is for Joe to do all over again. He is currently there right now taking a refresher class and then the boards. Save some of your pity for me though, because while he is gone for 2 WEEKS, I am here by myself with the kids. My family was not able to come and all of my friends have either moved or are on vacation. Please pray that I can maintain my sanity without any adult interaction during this time! To Joe in Florida: you are such a trooper and I am so proud of all of your accomplishments so far. I admire and respect you so much. Good luck in Gainesville.

May fun

Below is a video showing a little of the love-hate relationship between Samuel and our cat Chloe...Samuel is all about the love (which he shows by pulling her tail and poking her in the eyes) and therefore Chloe is more on the opposite spectrum. The top of our recliner used to be Chloe's "spot" to sit until Samuel got old enough to climb on and bother her. Now she's usually forced to find another place to sit because of Samuel, but not without a fight! (Don't worry, she doesn't have front claws)

Here is a video of Mason in his little jumperoo. I think babies look so funny when they're in these things and Mason is no exception! He usually won't stop bouncing as long as he's in there and I have to take him out so that he'll rest.

Happy late birthday Tara! Jada and I had so much fun taking Tara (middle) out for her first pedicure. For some reason, Tara's lady gave her the deluxe pedicure and treatment while Jada and I felt jipped, but I'm wondering if she went the extra mile due to guilt...? Here's the funny story: We were talking about Tara's upcoming cruise and new bathing suits, and Tara mentioned that she wanted to lose 5 pounds . Well the lady doing Tara's pedicure piped in just then and said, "no, 10 pounds". We thought that maybe since the lady had a thick accent, there was miscommunication, so we asked her "what?" or "come again?" She then smiled and said, clear as day, "lose 10 pounds". I was baffled, but Tara didn't miss a beat and cheerfully said "yeah, maybe I should lose 10 lbs. or maybe even 15!" The crazy thing is that Tara doesn't even need to lose 1 pound...she is so fit and seriously runs 10 miles a day, which is why we thought the whole thing was funnier than anything. Well, we certainly didn't tip well, but all in all, I think Tara enjoyed her first pedicure experience. To my "Wisconsin BFF's", I will miss you both so much! I will always remember our workouts, lunches, girls nights out, and many more great times.

Fun pictures of the boys

It's rare to get a picture of both boys smiling, or even just looking at the camera so I had to include this picture. Mason is usually our serious one and only graces us with his smiles on occasion. The only reason why he is smiling so big here is because he's by his brother and for some reason always finds him hysterical.

Can you tell that I really want a girl someday? Thanks to Tara, I inherited a couple of bows and have put them to good use (although Joe definitely does NOT agree!) I don't think she meant for me to use them on my boys, but I decided that it's best to torture them with this kind of thing while they're babies and won't remember this in the future! Unfornately for Joe and the kids, this is not the only time I've put bows in their hair! Ok, now this may seem mean to take pictures of my children when they are obviously upset, but this is an "I told you so" picture. Do you know how many times I told Samuel to leave the stroller alone? After blocking it and trying to distract him countless times, I decided to let him learn the hard way. So like any good mom, I grabbed my camera and waited for him to learn his lesson.

Below is a video of Samuel our little kangaroo. I can always tell when Samuel has waken up in the morning by the sound of "boing, boing, boing" on his crib mattress. He will literally jump in his crib for sometimes up to 30 minutes and not make a peep. I feel bad for the mattress, but at least I get to sleep-in just a little longer! The video is long and for the grandparents' sake, but if you just watch the beginning you'll get the idea!