Easter and more...

I realized today that I haven't blogged in a while, and we've had a lot going on. First, Easter! Neither Paul or I grew up in homes that did a lot typical Easter stuff. My family dyed eggs and talked about the resurrection, but there were no Easter baskets and elaborate egg hunts. After Church the girls and I dyed eggs. They of course loved it and immediately wanted to hide them everywhere. So we had a mini-egg hunt in the house.  

 (note Hattie's French braids...my first attempt ever!)

They were pretty proud of themselves, and soon they were hiding the eggs themselves and having Paul and I hunt for them. Good thing we didn't have a ton of eggs!

Niels has been doing much better. I can't believe he is three months old already. We have been giving him medicine for acid reflux which has done a world of good. It's nice having a baby that doesn't cry all the time!

Paul finished school on April 20th...school really is out forever! We drove to Dallas, dropped the girls off at my in-laws, and hopped on a standby flight to Milwaukee where we spent the next three days looking at house after house. We just put an offer in tonight, so we're crossing our fingers! We loved the city there...we enjoyed 50 degree weather the whole time. Many of you may think we are crazy to be excited to be moving to a place that gets super cold, but after 4 years in Texas where four distinct seasons don't exist, I am ready for a rainy spring, cool autumn, and snowy winter.

Tomorrow we are driving to San Antonio...I figure I had better visit before I leave Texas for the foreseeable future. And besides seeing the Alamo, Sea World, and watching Paul attempt the Four Horseman burger, two of my greatest friends (mission friend Miranda and Ontario friend Jenny) will be driving over from Houston to spend some time together before we move north. Here's crossing my fingers that the kids do well in the car again!

Attempting to make sure baby #3 doesn't suffer from blog neglect

Aren't lots of moms afraid they'll photo-neglect their children as they have more and more? Proof: my sister Laura (child #4) really doesn't have any baby pictures of herself. So here is my attempt to make sure Niels has pictures of himself when he gets older. 

Hattie loves to take pictures with our camera, especially of his "cute little face."

During our St. Patrick's Day party he fell asleep on the couch...for about 3 hours. I think it was the longest nap of his life!

 

Our three munchkins. The girls love to give him snuggles.

They also already like to play dress up with him.

 And Hattie does a decent job of giving him a bottle.

 Yup, he's out cold...slept in his Bumbo for almost 2 hours.

We just went in for his two month appointment...he's in the 95th percentile for both weight and head size...just like the girls were. And the 50th percentile for height. Again, just like the girls. We seem to make short, chubby kids!

Another St. Patrick's Day without catching a thing

These Legos perfectly represent last Friday...Match Day and our annual St. Patrick's Day party. (Thanks Steve M for using your Lego divination powers to find them!)

Paul decided that this year we would make a cooler trap...in recent years we were so busy getting ready for the party that we didn't put too much effort into our trap. So we took a trip to Lowe's for some wood, and Wal-Mart for spray paint. We did some prep work before the party...

Dinner first... shepherd's pie, chicken and dumplings, Irish soda bread, roasted potatoes and asparagus, rainbow jello, homemade root beer, and pizza for the kids.

Then it was back to the garage to finish it up.

The Miller family trap...I love their rock wall. We'll have to incorporate one into ours next year.

The Lindsay family trap

The Mayer family trap

The Flake family trap

The Foutz family trap

On Saturday morning, Hattie came to our bedroom announcing that she had stepped on a lot of chocolate in the hall. Paul gave her a flashlight to investigate.

Somehow we didn't get a great picture of the girls with the trap. You can see behind Anna's head that there was a rope ladder for the leprechauns to climb, but they still somehow managed to escape the 2 foot tall trap. Hattie has already been giving ideas for next year's trap.

Before Anna ate each individual jelly bean she asked, "Can I have one please?"

And Anna enjoyed the leprechaun loot...eating one bite out of each. 

And we are moving to....

...Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Wow. I am still a little shocked. Paul ranked Aurora St. Luke's Hospital pretty high. When he interviewed there in January, he said it was one of the nicest hospitals he had ever been to. He really enjoyed the program director as well. We ranked it high partially because it is a categorical program, meaning that we will be there for 5 years, instead of going somewhere for one year, then moving somewhere else for the last 4 years. He also likes that it is a private hospital. 

The match day ceremonies were kind of fun. They drew each student's name out of a jar one at a time to come up and get their letter. Then, if they chose, they could put a couple bucks into a money jar. Whoever was the last student to be called up to get their letter would get all the money in the pot. Paul made it a long time...he was 11 spots away from making some extra cash. Gratefully the girls had a play date with friends so we just brought Niels along with us.

We were a little stunned when he opened the envelope. We didn't expect to match as high as we did. We are thrilled. We'll be 5 1/2 hours from my sister in Iowa and 5 1/2 hours from Paul's brother in St. Paul. It'll certainly be colder, but we are ready for a change and a new adventure.

Sad but true

Our house is officially on the market today. We've loved our first home. It has been the perfect place for us, with so many things that we love. Although I am thrilled to be done with school and starting another adventure, Lubbock has been our home and we have loved it here. I have such an amazing group of friends. Living away from my family, I have felt a greater need for friendships than I have before. Lubbock has given me so many friendships over the years, some who left after our first or second year here. But they have all been such an important part of my life and my children's lives. 

Now it's a countdown to tomorrow at 11:00...

It's almost here...

Yesterday we received this rather anti-climactic email:


Congratulations! You have matched.

Check the Match Site at https://services.nrmp.org/r3/ on Friday, March 16, 2012, at 1:00 PM eastern time to find out where you matched. Because you are matched, you are not eligible to participate in SOAP and you will not have access to the List of Unfilled Programs.

NRMP Staff

Of course we are thrilled and anxiously awaiting Friday...

Niels' Blessing Day

Paul's parents flew into town the first weekend in March to meet grandchild #10 and to attend his baby blessing.