Oh Happy Day

The last few days have been rather stressful. Our house hasn't sold yet, our dryer is malfunctioning, we didn't know if Tyler had passed the boards (which would mean no residency, no moving etc)....

Today things started falling into place. We still haven't sold our house, our dryer still doesn't work but suddenly those things don't seem so bad because Tyler Passed the Boards!!!

I can't even put into words how relieving this is. Now we can officially say just another month of school left!

The Library

We love our library. I am pretty sure all the ladies that work their know the boys. Some know them by name others just recognize their faces. Our library is awesome for several reasons-

1. They sale used books for very cheap. They used to be .25 cents. Now they are a little more but they have sales. Our library growing up had a little cart of for sale books, this library has a whole room!

2. They have not only an excellent selection of books but they also have tons of movies. They even have a new release section.

3. You can renew your books online...No late fees. (Flashback to high school when I got sent to collections for not returning my books on time and you will realize this is a very good thing).

4. They have free classes for kids. Garret started going when he was under two and I have sporadically signed them up since. They love it. The teacher is nice and organized. There is a them each week. They read books, sing songs and do crafts.

5. It is right next to a park so on sunny days we can do the library and the park and it makes for a perfect outing.

6. They told Garret as soon as he could write his name he could have his own card. He has been able to do this for some time now but I made him wait til I remembered my camera for him to get it. (I haven't told him that it won't work when we move...I guess we will have to come a lot before then). He was beaming through the whole experience. It was priceless!
I am glad the boys already love books and reading so much. Our library has definitely helped them develop that love. (Now if only I could get them to pick out books on things other than snakes and motorcycles it would be even more fun!)

"Dental Wives" (After four years we should have given ourselves a better title)

Four years ago we started looking at online message boards that were set up for incoming students. We would read peoples entries and try to guess if they were married or if we thought they would become our friends. When we arrived we still didn't know if we would make any friends.

Barbecues and get togethers were organized and after a little shuffling around everyone seemed to find a niche. Over the last four years this group of dental wives has had a huge impact on my experience here. Some of the ladies I do not see as often as others but they are all very special to me. We were all there for each other over the years. We babysat, had baby showers, girls nights, book club...we stayed up way too late, ate tons of yummy food, discussed life together- our concerns, our frustrations, our joys, our thoughts and our friendships.

We came from various places and backgrounds. We had dental school in common and then realized we had more than that to share. This picture is from Book club this week (Sarah T. was not there).

In just a couple short months we will all be heading in different directions (Kristen and Erica are heading in the same direction). I don't know when we will all be together again, or if we ever will be together again once we disperse. What I do know is that I am thankful that I have known these women. I am thankful that we all ended up in Buffalo together. I am glad we all took turns planning things so we had an excuse to get together. I hope that we all keep in touch (blogs are great) and that everything goes well for each of them. I really love all of these girls!

Days like today...

Make me smile!

It's been so busy around here with boards and open houses- it was nice waking up to sunshine and nothing to do. We ventured out for a "bike ride" (if you can call it that since I end up carrying, pulling and pushing them along). I love it though- I think this picture kind of captures a little glimpse of life with three (Busy, fun and exciting).

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

On Sunday we gave Adele her first food. I thought she would love it...she is a vivacious nurser. She HATED it. She just held her mouth open and pushed it out with her tongue. Then she screamed. I tried again...she screamed again. I tried the next day...same scenario. I tried different foods, different temperatures and different people feeding her. It did no good now she cries when I put her in her chair.

I think my plan will be to wait a few days and then try again. It's weird though because she doesn't lick the spoon of try to suck on it like the boys did. The boys loved eating so much...this is so foreign to me.

It's probably my fault because I keep telling her to stay my little baby!

Locks of Love

I finally cut my hair. It's been a long time. I tend to grow it out then cut it off short. I have donated to Locks of Love before and this chunk of hair will be going there again. Hopefully I can figure out how to do short hair. It will be nice having a change (not to mention the fact that I lost tons of hair after having Adele and it was starting to look rather long and stringy- darn pregnancy...)

Part two Round two

Tuesday and Wednesday Tyler took the boards again. He took them in Rochester so we stayed the night up with him. We are very proud of how hard he worked and know that no matter the outcome he has done great. We won't know for 3-4 weeks what the results are.

Adele has decided that her feet are so much fun. She loves holding them and sucking on them!

The boys were SO excited to swim at the hotel pool....when we got there we discovered there was no pool at all. They were pretty disappointed but put on happy faces and ended up having a nice afternoon.

We went to a park - this was the first park we have been to since last fall. They had fun. Plus Adele had some exciting "firsts". She went in the swings and down the slide for the first time ever.

Her brothers were there for her every step of the way!

I was pretty excited to see the little lady in her swim suit so we decided to let them "swim" in the bathtub together. It wasn't nearly as exciting as a pool would have been but they still enjoyed it.

Tyler had to study Tuesday night for his test Wednesday. We let the kids watch "the princess and the frog". I had planned to save it til Christmas but decided the boards counted as a special occasion and let them watch it at the hotel. They enjoyed it and it kept them pretty quite since Adele was already in bed.

By the end of the night they eventually crashed. It was not the best nights sleep ever but everyone had fun and we were glad we could be there for Tyler.

The Buffalo Zoo (oh how we will miss you)

The sun has been shining these last few days so we headed down to the Buffalo Zoo. We hope to go a few more times before we move. The Buffalo Zoo is a great zoo. Here are a few reasons we love the Buffalo zoo.

-It's Close- It only takes us about 5-10 minutes to get there and there is always parking. So we can come whenever we want.

-It's small- This may seem like a weird reason to like a zoo. It is big enough to have all the animals the kids really care about but not so big that you have to spend the whole day there. You can see the elephants, giraffes, gorillas, bears, rhinos, lions, tigers etc. All in an hour. If you feel like spending more time there then you can spend time in the reptile house or places we normally avoid.

Don't you love how Spencer is standing on Garret's feet to see the Giraffe?!

-Digging- In the summer they have a big sand pit that if you dig in there are fake dinosaur bones at the bottom. The kids love it.

-Zoo Pass- For 80 dollars our whole family (plus a guest) can go the zoo as many times as we want. The zoo pass also gives us carousel rides, train rides, free parking and extra guest passes (plus discounts at other zoos and aquariums).

-It's never busy. (That's not true it is busy the last week of school when all the kids are on field trips there). Typically, there is no pushing shoving, worrying about lost kids, fighting to see the animals or the stress of the crowd.

-History- it's the third oldest zoo (in the US) so it's historical in that sense and it's historical to us- it's our zoo. It's the one we come to, the one we have come to so many times now. The kids know lots of the animals names, they know what time some of the animals are fed, they know when an animal dies, where everything is and they often say "remember when we went to the zoo and..." .

We had a great afternoon at our zoo!!!

This picture doesn't really have anything to do the with zoo but I think Adele looks pretty funny in it- Gotta love double chins!!!

The Valley of the Sad Song

I wrote this last night, and though I don't share much of what I write I thought I would share this.

In the valley of the sad song

there’s a little bird that sings,

And if you sit by her, but not long,

she will tell you many things.

She has talked to many people,

who have come to her with tears;

And they tell her of the sadness

they have felt throughout the years.

She sings of the very first story

that started so happy and bright;

Of a love that would go on forever,

it was eternal in both of their sight.

This first man that sat in the valley

before the sad song filled the trees,

Came right to this place from a memory

and crying fell down to his knees.

He saw no one there but the young bird,

with feathers that looked like the sun;

So he told her of all he had lost now,

because of the love he had barely begun.

They had newly just started their family;

a little child had bounced on his knee.

But no bouncing and laughing was had now,

no, laughing, there just couldn’t be.

And as he sat in the valley of sad songs

(for that’s now how the valley was known),

The bird cried a tear for the sad man

and gave him a feather that shone.

And as the man picked up the feather,

he felt a slight warmth touch his heart;

He wasn’t all healed or unsad now

but inside, well, he felt he could start

To look at the world as half full, just,

and he thought “I might not be done”.

So he thanked the good bird for her kindness,

with the feather he walked into the sun;

And though now the bird felt slightly colder

she was pleased for what she had done.

So on and on goes the story

of each person who came with their tears.

The little boy who missed his doggy,

or the woman who had many fears.

And to each of them went just one feather

unsuspecting of what they received,

As they walked from the valley of sad song

they felt like they could at least breathe.

So I sit here right now with the old bird,

oh her sad song to most is not grand;

But she listens as I weep through my cold eyes

and buckle as I try to stand.

She looks down at me and she shivers,

for one feather she only has now,

But she pulls it from off of her bare skin

and passes it to me somehow.

And as the sun touches my cold hand

I look to the bird and she cries;

For new feathers, they cover her over,

But much brighter then ten million skies.

See, in taking our pain she got coldness,

So that each of us could live again;

She added a small part to her sad song

But gave of her love without end.

And now she had infinite feathers,

As she gives they will always grow back;

And though the sad song keeps on growing

New feathers she never will lack.

So down in the valley of the sad song,

There is a little bird and she sings;

And if you sit down by her, but not long,

She will tell you of the love that she brings!

Hope you enjoyed,

Tyler

The Neighborhood (A place we will miss)

Nearly four years ago we drove down our street for the first time. We had no idea then how we would love it. This street has changed over the last four years. The October storm eliminated many trees. Some of our neighbors have come and gone. But it is the street that has brought us home each day and we love it.
When we first started unpacking we saw a family working in the yard across the street. They had young kids and we wanted to get to know them. We almost chickened out but finally braved up and crossed the street. That little family became good friends. Their kids are adorable. They call me Ms. Rachel. They think Garret looks just like their cousin (this is so adorable to me because they are black and we are white but no one sees that- I love that). They are a wonderful family. I will miss watching their kids grow.

When we first moved in we had a man named Lou (Not sure about the spelling?) next to us. He was probably in his 80's. He had been in the neighborhood since it was built. He was a wonderful neighbor. He had some quirky habits that made him even more fun. He smoked a cigar every night at 11, he hung his underwear on the line behind his house and liked mowing the lawn without a shirt on. He might sound a little odd but he was a sweet old guy that loved the kids and was always willing to share tools and chit chat.

On the other side of us is our dear sweet Grandma Bates. When we first moved in she told me to call her Grandma. I felt weird doing so but now I can't imagine calling her anything else. She is about as sweet as they come. She adores the kids. She makes them cookies, waves to them when they are in the backyard, hangs their pictures on her fridge and tells everyone she knows about us. (when we run into anyone over their they say "oh your the ones..."). She broke her hip a year or two ago and called and called for me. I felt awful that I didn't hear her. I did hear the ambulance and went to check on her. And then went to the hospital with her. She loves knowing we are here if she needs us. She has even handed our number out to her family so if they can't get a hold of her they call me. Grandma Bates will always have a special place in our hearts. Down the street is Anne, and behind the fence is Peg, and a little farther down is the lady that walks her dog in the same red pant suit every day around 11, and their used to be a woman that wandered around with a bag (not sure where she went).

Keep going a couple more houses and Amber, Jason and kids are right there. I can't count the number of times we have stopped by, babysat for each other, visited, dropped off extra cookies, borrowed things and enjoyed being each others neighbor.

Just barely around the corner is Josh and Kandis and Kids. I don't even know where to start with them. We have know them since before we were married. Since before missions for the guys. We have been following each other around for years. We have been neighbors for years and not just here. We have been there for basically every significant event in the last decade. Sometimes we go a week without seeing each other but we are always their for them (or at least we try) and they are always there for us. I am hoping the navy puts them in Bremerton because what would we do without them.

There are so many more just a little farther away (but we will stick to our block for this post). We live in a great little neighborhood. Everyone has always been friendly and kind. We really feel like a part of it. Grandma Bates cries almost every time we go over now (I try to hold it together for her sake). I love the way we have become part of this little community. I had no idea I would go from such apprehensive feelings when we first arrived to such a sense of community.

A Little Sun + A Little Mud = Two Happy Boys

A Few Pics of My Three Little Treasures