One More Month!!!

Exactly one month from today we will find our where we are going for residency! We are extremely anxious to find out. Our top choices will either take us to Texas, keep us here in Vermont, to Arizona, or to Pennsylvania. We're excited about the possibily of purchasing a home and starting a new chapter in our life!! We've already calculated how much it will cost to go to each place, checked out the homes for sale, made a budget for each place, etc.--we have to keep telling ourselves to STOP!!

As far as how match goes. We make a list of programs we would like to go to, the various programs make a list of what students they would like to have in their program. All those numbers go into a computer and wa-la! we are assigned a spot--HOPEFULLY!! There are instances where students do not match, where if that happens they try to scramble into a program that has an open spot where they didn't have a student match. In Orthopaedics, that's virtually unheard of, so we are crossing our fingers that we will match!

Valentine's Day Fun!

For playgroup, we had a Valentine's Day party. The kids decorated a valentine's box or bag and then they brought their own valentine's to give to one another. It was a lot of fun! We also had yummy rice krispie treats and popcorn. Kelsey was completely enamored with her valentine's and the box she decorated. It's been a few days since valentines and she still asks for her box and enjoys looking at the valentines she received. It's really funny.

Here are the valentines Kelsey brought. They are heart flowers with a sucker in the middle. They turned out really cute! I of course had to cut out the hearts. I guess she could have done it, but she has a perfectionistic mom and I wanted them to look good. She was able to punch holes in them and put the hearts on the sucker. She was quite thrilled with herself.

As for Mylee, she was sort of MIA. She didn't care too much for the festivities, she did however enjoy the treats--of course. Mylee is my good eater. Kelsey has even learned this and will give Mylee her leftovers so she doesn't have to eat them. Uh huh, tricky tricky.

Kelsey Skiing

I Forgot to upload this video a while ago, but I thought it was cute. Kelsey loves her skis! She thinks she is pretty cool. Maybe Blake will get a skier for a daughter :) She did have some better runs, we just didn't get it on video, oh well. Humm, and someone want to tell me why my video is sideways? I'm confused.

Class of 2009 Party!

To celebrate the end of interviews and our friends' Andrew and Michelle's match into Urology we had a desert party. It had been a while since we had done something all together because our schedules have been so different, so we took advantage of the opportunity and had a party. It was so much fun to get together and talk. Us 12 have really become close and I consider them my family. For those who don't know, all of us moved here the same year to go to medical school, all of us happen to be LDS, all of us live in student housing together, and we all have children around the same ages. Mix all those things together and you have one really tight knit group! When we first arrived, all of us together had 5 kids, now we have 12 with one on the way.

We are missing one in this picture because he is sleeping.

Trip to Cousins'

We are so glad we have family close to us now!! Blake's sister Dionne moved to Boston this summer after her husband Matt accepted a job there. Blake had two weeks off and Blake's mom was going to visit Dionne, so we made it a trip and went out to visit for a few days. We had such a great time!! Matt and Dionne had been wanting a pantry in their kitchen, so Blake used his manly skills and helped Matt build them one. It turned out great and it was so satisfying to help them out. Kelsey and Mylee had a great time. When we pulled up to their house, she quickly ran up to the door without us and ran inside to find Grandma Clifton. Even though we live so far away from our parents, it makes me feel really good that Kelsey feels so close to her grandparents. Blake and I got to go to the temple, which was fabulous by the way!! While we were at the temple, Kelsey and her cousins had quite the princess party! Being that these cousins are all boys (5 of them), they had never had a princess party, but Kelsey was very much obliged to show them how to throw one. Mom and Dionne gathered together some clothes for them to dress up in, but Kelsey was quite dissapointed her cousins didn't have a princess dress. Mom came to the rescue though with a white garbage bag and all was good! She was quite satisfied in fact I heard. Mom also made crowns out of disposible pie tins, so creative!

I heard that at one point in the party, Kelsey said, "This doesn't feel like a princess party." And then Dionne asked, "What do you do at a princess party?" She said, "We twirl like this."

and this...

Trey then joined her for a dance. How cute is that?!!!

Later that day, we also had a be-lated birthday for Mom because we missed it and an early birthday for Kelsey because it is coming soon, Feb. 24th! Dionne made a popcorn/marshmellow/M&M cake. It could not have been more perfect! Kelsey loves popcorn and marshmellows and M&M's! The boys also gave her a little bag that she now calls her make-up bag (she takes it with her every where!) with a whole bunch of first aide items in it. Her favorite are the rainbow bandaids and the lipstick. I've been finding bandaids on her dolls, on Mylee, on the bottoms of my socks, etc. She loves them, and I think she especially loves that she doesn't get in trouble for using them. And the lipstick, she has a daily ritual of putting it on at least once if not many times. Then she talks very carefully so the color doesn't come off her lips. One time she put it on right before dinner and she told me she couldn't eat because it would take her lipstick off. Wow, that girl is nothing but girl!! Of that though, I don't have a problem with. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my girls!! They are so much fun.