Ham it up

Lately Eli has really been hamming it up for the camera.  Every time we get it out he gets this squinty-eyed, cheesy smile on his face that just cracks us up!  Of course, it is my motherly duty to document and share it with the world. Enjoy! 

A family affair

Do you ever feel like when you're really looking forward to a really exciting, new, life-changing event that time just seems to creep by?  Then as it gets closer all of a sudden it seems as though you're speeding toward the goal line and all you can think is WAIT!  Slow down!!  I'm not ready for this!!!  This seems to be a recurring theme in my life: my wedding date, the birth of each of my kids, moving to Iowa to start dental school, the list goes on and on... Well, this whole graduation thing has been no exception.  Joseph has two weeks left until he puts on that cap and gown for the very last time in his life and is handed that ultimate, extremely hard-earned (and very expensive) piece of paper which will say "Joseph Dennis Dougherty, Doctor of Dental Surgery."  We've been looking forward to this since we've been married - 6 years!!  I am so proud of him, but at the same time, as graduation draws near I can't help but wish time would slow down a little.  

I'm not quite ready to leave all the amazing people that we've met here in Iowa. You see, for me, the experience of dental school has been less about learning dentistry, and more about navigating the rough terrain of raising our little family.  Of course, neither Joseph nor I would have had nearly as much fun with said experiences if it weren't for these people:

Here we are four years ago, when each of us were starting our various programs at the university:

(P.S. Because I know you're all thinking it, my hand is not on Joseph's butt, it's on his thigh...it's the angle...)

And here we are today, when we're (almost) all about to graduate:

Our numbers have exploded exponentially!  The reason I say "we" when I refer to graduating is because dental school has been a family affair for all of us.  It hasn't been something that only Joseph has accomplished, but something our whole family has done!  And really, all of these people that have gone through this experience with us (including ones that aren't in this picture) have become like family.  As time gets closer to Joseph putting on that cap and gown, I don't know how we're going to say good-bye to our dental school family.  I guess I still have two weeks to figure that out.  

I'm still here

I'm sorry for the lack of blog updates lately, and lame excuses, but I have just one more for you.  My right arm has been killing me lately and it's painful to type!  Was that a good excuse?  I know, it's not, but if it makes you feel any better, I certainly haven't forgotten about you.  Thankfully, since you are reading this, it means that you have not forgotten about us yet either.

I do want to update you on some of the major things that have been going on this past month, though, because it has been quite an exciting time!  First of all...we bought our first home! Sorry we don't have pictures, but we will definitely take some when we move in.  It was quite an ordeal, but we are so excited to have our first home.  One of the best parts was that my mom was able to come out to Iowa to help us house-hunt!  Love this woman.

Also, we recently had Frolics (aka Dental Prom) which is essentially a great excuse to get a babysitter, dress up, go to a fancy dinner, and dance the night away!  I was totally in my element that night and had a blast! 

   

 
Then we recently just returned from a little mini-vacation in Chicago where we visited my Aunt and Uncle and their family.  We toured the train museum, played at the park, and just enjoyed being with each other.

I'm not sure if we were supposed to climb on these trains, but no one was there to stop us!

 (can you tell he's terrified to be up on the train ladder?)

 He got up!

Finally, I thought I'd end this post with a word of advice from Eli: If you're going to eat a cookie, make sure you at least brush your teeth!

Muddy buddies

Have you been wondering why I haven't posted anything in a little while?  Well, it's because we have been outside loving this amazing spring we've been having!  I have to keep reminding myself that this is not normal March weather, but that hasn't stopped us from taking full advantage of it.  

Jake and Eli went outside to play in the gorgeous weather this afternoon.  Eli is just barely starting to get the hang of walking (he's been taking his dear, sweet time) and he is an adorable, wobbly toddler.  Of course, with the wobbles come the falls, and it seems as though Eli has a knack for wobbling himself right into the mud puddles.

As for the lack of pants, they had already been taken off because they were too muddy.  That's how we roll around here!

Isn't this the cutest little muddy bottom you've ever seen?!

When Jake saw these buds he exclaimed, "Look, mom, popcorn on the trees!  Let's go eat them!"

My little Spiderman playing at the park with Eli.  I love that these two are best friends.

If only spring would last forever!!  :)

Finally Four

For months now Jake has been counting down until his birthday, and yesterday it finally arrived!  You can imagine his excitement!  He woke up, ate breakfast, and got ready for the day while I put the finishing touches on the homemade cupcakes I had made for Jake to take to preschool.  Jake was doubly excited because not only was it his birthday and he was bringing cupcakes to preschool, but it was also pajama day so he got to wear his favorite batman pajamas to preschool.  

While we were loading in the car I put the cupcakes on the roof of the car so I could buckle Eli in.  Buckled him in, closed the door, and we were off.  You can see where this is going, huh.  It wasn't until we were halfway down the road when we heard that dreadful "thud" that reminded me about the cupcakes that WERE on the roof of the car, that were now splattered all over the road.

 

So, of course, Jake was in tears, and I was trying desperately to scrape the cupcakes and the container off the road without being run over by any oncoming traffic.  Ugh, I hate it when this like this happen!

This led to a quick trip to the grocery store to pick out some non-homemade cupcakes that would still make his day special (who am I kidding, he couldn't have cared less about whether the cupcakes were homemade or not).

Even though the day started off a little crazy, it got better from there.  After preschool Jake came home and we did an interview in honor of him turning four years old.  Here is a snapshot of life with Jake:


How old are you today? 4!

What do you like about turning 4?  Umm…singing Happy Birthday to me!

Should we sing it right now?  Umm..no, I already did it at preschool.  Did you hear it here?

No I didn’t hear it here. Ok, I’ll sing it for you!  Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Jake, happy birthday to you.  Did you hear that, Mom?

Yes I did. Oh, good!  Hey mommy, maybe we should play a game.

Which game? The one that I like.  The one that we played last day. 

Which one is that? (Picks out a bug game and goes to the table)

Wait, Jake, I’m still asking you questions! Ok, ask the questions over here…

But I have to be at the computer to type them. Why, mommy, why?

So I can write what you’re saying! Oh, I’ll do it.  I wanna do it!

Good, Ok, what is your favorite color? Um, blue...I mean red!

Ok, why is red your favorite? Because.

What is your favorite toy to play with?  I like to play with the ones in my room.  I like to play lots of toys!  (Runs to his room) My motorcycles!  I like to play with motorcycles, mommy.  And I also like to play with my new toys too.  Spiderman.  And Yoshi too.

What do you like to do during the day? Wear pajamas at preschool.

What else do you like to do?  I like to play Mario and play with Eli and you.

Who are your favorite friends? My cousin Isaac. 

Who else?  Spencer, and Ethan and Noah.  And Eli.  But he’s not my friend, he’s my brother.  Mommy, that’s a lot of words!  How many are there?

Too many!  Ok, What is your favorite food? Uhh…one that I…umm…cupcakes!

What else do you like? That’s it, mommy, just cupcakes.

That’s it?  What about pizza? No, that’s just it.

Just cupcakes? Yeah.

That evening, we ate dinner (pizza, which he requested then told me during his interview that he doesn't actually like), sang "Happy Birthday" and opened presents.  Can you tell he loved his spiderman gear from Grandma and Grandpa?

Wow, this birthday boy has been spoiled this year!  Happy Birthday Jake!!  We love you so much!!!

Mario Party

Can you believe Jake is turning 4 this week?  He had a pretty rad combined birthday party with one of his best friends, Spencer over the weekend.  The two of them are just five days apart, so Tawnya and I teamed up to throw a Super Mario Bros. birthday party for these two Mario maniacs.

Some of the decorations:

We had all the kids make their own Yoshi treat bags to fill with goodies to take home.  They each wrote their names on their bags, and Jake, of course, wrote, "Mario."  Nice.

Then we played Star Power Coin walk (i.e. a cake walk where they got chocolate coins to put in their bags).

Next we played "Rescue Princess from Bowser" by taking the kids on a treasure hunt to find Princess. Along the way they had to get their "fire power" (balloons) and shoot at the goombas.  It was pretty adorable:

Then we fed the kids lunch (of course, the dads apparently thought it was necessary that they should try it out before we gave any to the kids):

We ate goomba cupcakes:

 And blew out candles on the Mario cake (made by yours truly...I'm a little proud of myself):

Then we let the kids play together and called it a day!  They had an absolute blast!!  The best part about throwing combined birthday parties is that I only had to do half of the work!  A win-win in my book any day.

I can be obedient

Jake and I have been working on obedience lately.  I was getting so tired of saying, "Jake, don't do this," and, "Jake, don't do that."  I decided instead of telling him NOT to do things that I should take a more positive spin and reward him for doing things that he should.  Thus, our experiment with the Obedience Chart came to be.  Whenever Jake was obedient, he could put a star on his chart, and when he filled up his chart we were going to take him to the ice cream shop!  

The verdict: HUGE success!!  For both of us.  Jake loved putting the star stickers on his chart, and would often ask me to ask him to do something just so he could be obedient.  It was not uncommon for him to say things like, "Mommy, I wanna be more 'bedient, can I clean my room?" or, "Mommy, I wanna be more 'bedient, can I share my toys with Eli?"  Ummm...yes!

It took about two weeks until he finally completed his chart.  We were so proud of him and now we need to make a new chart up.  His next reward?  Ice skating (he chose it).  We'll see how it goes!