I wuv you Peter

The past few months it has been so sweet to watch Peter grow on Jillian. She probably still struggles internally because I can't hold her all the time but she loves to call us all buddies and be on the family team. With all the driving we've been doing lately, Peter's aversion to the car has definitely gotten worse. Poor guy. And he'll never just fall asleep without screaming for a good twenty minutes first. So we often will see Jillian reaching for Peter's hand to comfort him. Well, that or plugging her ears because his crying has finally chiseled into her otherwise strong 2-year-old composure:)

Hmm...not a bad idea. I'll distract her while you steal the treats.

Oh, golly! Now you're embarrassing me.

Virginia is for Lovers, Apparently...

although I am not seeing my hubby much. We are still managing to stay busy and have lots of fun with our families.

Pete is the exact opposite of Jillian in the water at this age. He LOVES the water.
Mom recently found this great kayaking place that is right downtown! It's amazing because you feel like you're in another world even though there is a major city all around you.
Hadley and Jillian at a splash park in Arlington
Grandma and Peter
Taking Josh lunch at the pool where he works. Mom embarrassed him by having him get up in the life guard chair for a picture.

Photo of the Fam before Kate's Senior Year, Josh's Freshman Year and Hadley's first year at Franklin Middle School

Yoga a la Aunt Katie

Katie is famous for this move and does it whenever the mood strikes her, like in line at the Dairy Queen!

I swear this was her first time doing yoga! You'll be buying her video someday!

Reporting live from Beijing...digo Virginia

Aren't the Olympics sick? As in bad? As in Awesome?! I'm only five and a half years older than my next sibling but honestly I am so behind the "modern lingo" I feel like I'm fifty. I can usually decifer what is being said, with time:) Anyway, we're here in Ol' Virginie and having a grand time. You know, my siblings are teaching Jillian to say things like "Old fart" and "Yo, Homey G" and "Mary Poopins." I would put a stop to the corruption but I know that my kids will in turn do the same to their kids one day and I feel okay about it. Just kidding. It's so nice to have so many helping hands around. Today Peter had a major blow out and no one was around for the first time since I've been here. I almost forgot how to deal with such situations by myself in just four short days. It was so fun to have the whole family home for a little while, even though Kevin was only here the first day before leaving. Now Kate has left for the OBX to hang out with her newly returned missionary man, Jared Hatch. We're jealous he gets to have her but we totally understand the need to be with your man! (Bytheway, we sure miss Kevin. I was glad to hear that being at UVA has NOT made him miss the life of a bachelor. Phew- thank heavens!) Next Monday, she and Josh will head out to BYU for Kate's senior year!!! And Josh's freshman year! I'm so pumped for them both...and wish I could be going with them, if only for the first few weeks of fired up BYU fun. College life was so fun and carefree! Well, besides deciding on a major, who I wasn't going to marry, to serve a mission, who I was going to marry. Okay so there was some stress involved too. Hadley is going to be starting the seventh grade (middle school) soon and it seems crazy that when the family moved here she was only in Kindergarten! Our family is so FUN, and funny how we just keep getting older.

This morning while Jillian and Peter were waiting for their respective turns in the shower with Mommy, Jillian started to scream bloody murder. I didn't think anything of it because recently she has been VERY dramatic about any tiny thing...stubbing her toy, dropping something when her arms are full, etc. But then she says "Mommy, pee-pee on the floor." Sure enough, there was a cute little puddle underneath of her cute naked self. It was pretty funny. I think these kids are lightening me up because I probably would have been totally grossed out and upset not long ago.

Then and Now

Today after church we attended the White Coat Ceremony at Saint Louis University for the incoming first year medical students. This was also the first year they honored the recipients of the Arnold Gold Humanism Award - which Kevin received. I wish I had a copy of the speech given to explain exactly what this award entails. In a nut shell, it is "the quest for humanism despite the rigors of medical training" - putting into practice the ideals you learn about in the classroom. It was really neat and a much bigger deal than we realized previously. To receive this award means you become a member of an honor society. This membership is based on several characteristics that your peers have observed you exemplify. Some of those characteristics that she listed were a willingness to risk, stand up for what you believe in and put others above yourself. I think my favorite qualifier is that Kevin's fellow students had to pick people, they each voted for 3 students, who they would want to have as their doctors some day. To me, that says a lot coming from a group of people who are training to be physicians themselves and learning and observing everyday what it is to be a "good" doctor or a mediocre doctor. Anyway, enough bragging about my husband - he just works so hard, oftentimes without recognition. We were proud to be there with him! Several good friends he has made over the past three years also received the award, so that was neat. Those who received the award got to help "Cloak" the incoming students in their white coats. Peter listened through the whole program and even fell asleep for Mom - a huge feat after sitting through three hours of church right before. He and Jillian DID have three poopy diapers between them though just during the duration of the program. Hopefully we weren't too distracting to the folks around us!

Kevin's own White Coat Ceremony seems so long ago, even though it has only been three years! Who knew at the time what the future would hold for us? We've come a long way as a family! Two kids and one gold pin on the lapel later...