Jeff...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

To my knight in shining armor, and the best dad in the world!

Who always takes the best care of us...

Who tries to steal other peoples kids so he can have 12 of his own...


Who would do anything for anyone...

Who loves to be the center of attention...

And who teaches me how to relax...

Here's to one year closer to growing old together. I love you Jeff!!

Day off...time for a field trip!

I had Monday off and so I joined Hadley's 2nd grade class for a field trip to The Western Reserve Historical Society. This was the first class activity I've been able to attend, so it was fun to put faces to the names Hadley always talks about. Hyrum came with me, and the highlight for him was the thought of riding on the school bus!! Unfortunately, 3 year olds were banned from the bus the minute we arrived....here's Hyrum's sad face.

But he cheered up soon!

He fit in well with the big kids, and kept raising his hand to ask questions...usually the same question. "What is that?" He was very proud of himself! Can you see him in here with the big kids?

Hadley had fun trying out the billows, and learning about the pioneers who came "west" to Ohio. I guess primary's good for something, she's the only one who knew what "Oxen" were.

I loved her friends! They are so cute and such good girls! As I was sitting on the floor with them eating my tuna fish sandwich, I thought...well maybe my co-workers would say this was a wasted day-off...but I loved it! Plus, I indulged in a little shopping later. :)

Off Early!

I got off early on Thursday so we went exploring and discovered a new "tire" park...I wonder why the kids call it that?!? :) P.S. To clear up any confusion, the kids are on a zipline and not pole dancing which is what Jeff thought when he saw these pictures. :)

So cute...

Thanks Rachel for posting some more of Hyrum's always unexpected quotes!

http://jeffandrachelrice.blogspot.com/2008/04/funny-things-hyrum-says.html

Why we don't have pets....

So the book fair was this week, and Hadley came home excited! She immediately dived into her newest purchase entitled "How to Care for Your Cat." She informed me that she bought this book on the off chance that one day in the far distance she might have the tiniest possibility that we would get a cat OR if our neighbors go out of town she can give THEIR cats the proper care. (We've already offered multiple times, hopefully they'll go on vacation soon!!!)

So while Hadley was devouring her book on how to bath and feed a cat, my stone heart was starting to melt. And then, I remembered the last time we had a pet...

Our Beta fish, Ricky, (named after my brother) was a surprise from the Easter bunny when Hadley was 5. Now you may ask, what ever happened to Ricky...did he move to Cleveland with us? Did we leave him in Fort Worth? Why don't we ever talk about him? Well, as could be expected, Hadley was ecstatic to finally have a pet and very eager to show him off at Kindergarten show-and-tell. After receiving advance permission, and Mr. Joey making an exception and allowing Hadley to bring a living thing to show-and-tell, we packed up Ricky and drove him carefully down to Alice Carlson Elementary.

Well, those of you who know me very well, already know that we were a wee bit late and so I was trying to make-up for that lateness by driving as fast possible under the circumstances. As luck would have it, we took the turn into Hadley's school just a little bit too fast and.....SPLASH! All over the carpet floor of our car. Fish water, rocks, and ..... RICKY!!!! Now at this point I was rotating through the county hospital ED and had seen multiple people die during unsuccessful codes, gun shot wounds, car wrecks, head lacerations, etc. During all these encounters I had managed to keep my cool and keep my lunch, but for some reason, seeing little Ricky flipping and flopping on our car floor something tripped in me and I started to FREAK-OUT!! I screached to the curb and started screaming along with Hadley in a lovely ladies duet. I ran to the back and found 2 bottled waters. I dumped one into the tank...which rose about 1 inch. Then I used my head, took a deep gulp and picked up little Ricky and squeezed him into my second water bottle. At this point I managed to stop screaming and look at poor Hadley who was crying. The thought crossed my head about how wise it was for the school to have a policy on no living things for show-and-tell!!!!

I finished the drive to school, limped into her classroom where Hadley gave her teacher and hug and told him the whole story…including the part about her mom screaming so loud it scared her. Well, we filled up Ricky’s tank, and tried our best to take care of him, but he was never the same again. We had a fish burial in the backyard a few days later.

And so now I remember, why we don’t have pets!

A little boy's face....

Here's what we've been up to lately. I"m sure people whisper and point and wonder what kind of parents this little boy has...but what do you do?!?

My kids crack me up...

10:00 pm the night of the basketball national championship Hyrum stomps down the stairs.
Hyrum: "Hey! Why are dad and you watching TV?"
Me: "Hyrum go back to bed."
Hyrum: "Mom, why are dad and you watching TV?"
Me: "Um, I'll tuck you in."
Hyrum: "Maaaommmm, why are you and dad watching TV?"
Me: "Well, it's a special game that Daddy wants to watch."
Hyrum: "Well, me and Hadley want to watch a special game too...it's called PBS Kids."

Hadley's elementary school vocabulary lesson for the day, today on our walk around the neighborhood.
Hadley: "Maya S. is always getting in trouble."
Me: "oh?"
Hadley: "Today she said, 'Hey, who hatched a grumpy?' and Mrs. Lum told her 'I don't want to hear about who's farting'."

Double duo...(the names have been changed the protect the innocent)
Hadley: "Mom, Megan is always talking about how fat her mom and dad are when we ride to the zoo. She says I'll probably be fat too when I grow up too."
Me: "What?"
Next day...
Hyrum: (puts on his own shoes by himself)
Me: "Hyrum great job! You're getting to be such a big boy!"
Hyrum: (beaming) "Mom!!! I'm getting fat like Megan's mom!!!" :)

What I've Learned This Year As an Intern...

As more of my internship year is behind me than in front (11 weeks left...:) :) :)) I've been thinking about all the experiences I've had and all the things I've learned. I've decided to post a few things that come to mind...
(For those who don't dealve into the cryptic world of medical training this has been my first year actually practicing medicine.)

-Take MY pulse first in an energency
-How to tell which patients are really sick and will crash any minute
-How to look someone in the eye and be the one to tell them they have cancer
-How hard it is to call someone's family in the middle of the night and tell them their loved one has passed away
-Little things count - 5 extra minutes to answer questions or small talk with a patient, a 10 minute call to a concerned family member, etc. goes a long way
-How to tell the truth even when it's hard
-That I know more than I thought I knew - I guess medical school wasn't a waste of time!
-That I can adapt when I'm pushed beyond what I thought I could do - never worked 30 hours shifts before
-That it takes at least twice as long to do things when I'm tired
-That indecision is one of the biggest wastes of time
-That Primary care requires more paperwork than I ever care to do again!
-To Say YES to my kids and my husband even when I'm tired -- still working on this one, but I WANT to do it EVERY time
-To Say NO to the extra-curriculars (drug rep dinners, extra presentations, etc.)
-To work hard without procrastinating -- I get slammed if I don't
-That there are extra points for poise and composure (I guess Junior Miss wasn't a waste of time)
-How to make my work (anywhere) a signature of who I am -- even if it seems like it doesn't matter, it usually does
-How to trust my gut -- aka listen to inspiration
-I'll never take another 2 day weekend for granted again!
-And the number one thing I've learned this year....45 minutes of sleep at night is better than no sleep at all!

Anyone else want to share their break throughs this year?

Home already?!?

We had a great time walking on the beach, wearing flip-flops, and just PLAYING this week. We were greeted at home today by clouds and rain in Cleveland. So while we recover from our jet-lag, I thought I'd post a slide-show preview. We had a great time, and Jeff has already called me 3 times saying he wishes we didn't have to come back!