Back to School

This is our first year with both kids in school! Jane has started preschool and Charlie is in second grade.

His mouth has been keeping the tooth fairy busy and I love his smile. He is liking his teacher so far.

Some old and new faces at the bus stop. Charlie and his friend Roman are in the same class this year again and they both are super happy about that. 

 Jane goes to pre-school for three hours in the afternoon Monday-Thursday. She also loves her teacher.

 After meet-the-teacher night, Jane came home and drew hearts all over both sides of this piece of paper. On the first day of school she took it with her to give to her teacher.

As for me, I'm planning on spending more quality time with Marvin (my cello) now that I have time to myself. :)

Winter in St. Louis

We have been keeping busy this winter. Here is a photo dump of some of what we have been up to...

Paul and Jenae and family spent a day with us shortly after Christmas on their way to Arizona. It was super cold so we took them to the science center. One of the places in the science center the kids tend to always go is the Mars Rover room. Specifically the place where you get to build your own.

Then you give it a test drive.

 Keith made one for Jane with a bit of her help.

One of the things Charlie has wanted to do for the longest time has been to ride to the top of the Arch. Keith had time off after Christmas so we decided to go.

Waiting for the little door to open so we can enter our tram "pod" that will take us to the top.

Only 5 little seats per pod. It was like being inside a large egg with a glass door so you can see out into the inside of the arch. The engineering behind the whole process is fascinating to me. The actual engineers in the family would think it is pretty cool.

Little windows at the top!

One of the things that was a big seller for Keith in our house was the basement that is almost completely unfinished. He worked in construction and this was a blank canvas that made him giddy. The part of the basement that is finished is fairly small and we really wanted to open it up more to give the kids and their friends a bigger place to play and go crazy without driving me crazy. So we are finishing a section of the basement and will knock out the wall in between it and the original finished section. Keith has enjoyed having a project, especially during the winter.

Molly likes to follow me down and sniff around the construction area while I am there. Whenever we send her out she is right there on the other side of the door waiting for us. The framed in box looking thing in the corner goes aroung the sump pump. However, the sump pump pipes aren't that tall so Keith framed in a raised floor for a reading nook that will have little steps going up to it. It has been fun to brainstorm various ideas of how to make the space fun for the kids.

The kids get so excited when Keith has a job that they can help with!

The flu season has been bad across the country this year and we didn't escape it. It hit some of us twice! It melts my heart to see how kind Charlie and Jane are when a family member is sick. They run to get their favorite stuffed animal or doll and give it to the sick person to help them feel better. Not long ago Keith and I were both sick at the same time. Ugh. Jane took her two most loved dolls and gave one to each of us so we could sleep with them instead of her. They draw pictures, cover the person with their own blankets and tell them over and over how very sorry they are that you are sick. Charlie likes to help Jane feel better by reading her books when she is sick. 

 Charlie had a birthday!!! 7 years!!! Can you believe it? He is such a kind-hearted, inquisitive, energetic kid. We love him to pieces.

 Speaking of which, he read in a book one day about a neat way to see the patterns that salt makes as it melts through ice, so naturally we had to do it. You sprinkle salt on ice then add food coloring which lets you see the veins of water left behind by the salt crystals as the melt deeper and deeper into the ice. It looks more impressive in real life and with clear ice, which we didn't have.

 We also made slime for the first time. It was more fun making it than playing with it! Or at least I think so.

 We added glow in the dark paint to ours as well. :)

 We don't have many days where we are going out in public so Jane has been choosing her own clothes with little say, if any, from me. This particular day made me laugh. She was wandering around obviously frustrated about something when she found her cat ears. She got a huge smile on her face, put them on her head, and proclaimed: "Perfect! Now I'm a princess!!!" I'm not sure what cat ears have to do with being a princess, but then again I am not a 4-year old.

And last but not least Charlie is doing great in school. They recently celebrated the 100th day of school and he got these glasses. I don't know how well he could see in them but he managed to complete his spelling words while wearing them!

Let the good times continue! (And I will try not to get too far behind...)

First Day at a New School

As you have probably figured out, I am playing catch up on all significant events between June and now. You can expect quite a few new posts in the next few days. 

Charlie started first grade this year! Due to boundary changes he switched from Prairie View to Crossroads Elementary. At first he was sad and Keith and I were a bit worried about it since it seemed like we were just barely getting things settled with the nurse and his new school didn't have the social skills program that had helped him so much. Not to mention that he had just barely made a good friend who wouldn't be switching schools.

The last day of school his class had a pizza party. When I went to bring him his pizza I cried as I hugged his teacher and again when I went to tell his amazing nurse good-bye. She didn't know that he was switching and promised to write an email to the nurse at his new school explaining to her what they found had worked best with his formula at school. That was a relief.

Despite our concerns he is doing really well. He has already made two new friends and it only took a month to figure out the formula situation with the new nurse. His teacher is wonderful and he is thriving. Things haven't been perfect, but so far it is proving to be a pretty great year.

Preschool Program

This awesome guy sadly has his last day of preschool today. He is super bummed. The one consolation was that he had a class picnic today to celebrate the year.

A few weeks ago his class put on a musical program for the parents and families of the students. It was extra special to have Granny B there! It was a happy mommy moment to hear my little man enthusiastically belting out the lyrics to each song. I always knew when they had learned a new song at school that day because he would come home and sing it for me. They are super cute songs.

Upper right: receiving their preschool "certificates"

They did a rendition of "I see the Moon" with flash lights. Whenever they sang the line "the ones I love" Charlie would find us in the audience and shine his light right on us. I have never before been so happy to have a flashlight shown right in my face.

Near the end the kids got to sit with their family in the audience. They then showed a little slideshow of the kids dressed up in the garb of those in whatever the kids said they wanted to be when they grew up. Charlie was dressed up as a fireman and was holding the fire hose during the trip to the fire station they had taken earlier in the year. Shortly after that he decided that he wanted to be a paleontologist. That stuck for a long time until he told Keith, while riding in the truck one day, that he didn't want to be a fireman or a paleontologist; he just wanted to be a "regular human," like Daddy.


Near the end of the program they randomly picked 5 kids to pick one of their guests to go to the front. Charlie's name was drawn and so Keith went up. The chosen adults then had to do the comical movements to "Tony Chestnut."

After the program we all went back over to his school for an ice cream social and for the kids to show their guests around. My favorite part is the two story play house. It is really cool. The picture on the left isn't from the program (it was from a Christmas activity) but I had to put it in because Jane is showing so much spunk. She rocks the sunglasses.

Charlie showing Keith is "goldfish" art. He is very proud of it.

With his angel teacher, Mrs. Franchuk. This woman has made his first introduction to formal school a joy. She has been great to work with regarding PKU foods as well which has made the thought of sending my little boy off to school a bit less scary.

Preschool is now out and Charlie keeps asking when he can go to kindergarten. I am glad I have a few months to prepare myself.

PhD: check!

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The day we have been anticipating for the last 3 years (or more) has come and gone! Keith passed his dissertation defense without any strings attached. The presentation part was open to the public so I went. It was really hard for me to stay in my seat and clap politely instead of whooping and hollering. After that everyone except for his committe members left and he spent the next three hours answering any questions they thought he should know the answer to. Then he called to say he had passed without any "as long as you fix this on your dissertation" attached to it.
I am sooooooo very excited to be able to spend more time together as a family and as a couple. For the last few months the norm was Keith got home from work, greeted us briefly, went to work in the office, came out for dinner and usually would play with the kids for awhile before we got them ready for bed. After which he went back to working in the office until some where between 1 or 3am. That was not everyday, but that is how it went most days. So can you see why I am so thrilled that we are done?

Keith with his committee. I am not going to try to give the names of they three other guys in the picture, but the lovely lady in green is his wonderful adviser who has been a gem with all that has been thrown at us. His whole committee has been. [Keith's addition. From left to right: Paul Murphy, Keith (obviously), Ross Whetten, Gina Brown-Guedira, and Spencer Muse]

To celebrate we went out to dinner with my mom (who came into town a few days earlier for the soul purpose to fly back with me and the kids to prevent major seizures again). It still seems a bit surreal. I am in Washington now with my family and will go visit Keith's parents after that and then fly to Fargo ND. Keith is taking a road trip with his brother Shawn and will get to Fargo in about a week. It is crazy how after planning so long for something it happens in what seems like a blink of an eye. So here we go!

P.S. I know we have said this before, but it can't really be said enough; we would not be here with out all the friends and family who helped us. We truly would not have done this by this time without all the prayers, fasting, visits by family, friends and ward members who helped me when I needed it most and allowed Keith to go to work with the peace of mind that I would be okay. For all the meals, babysitting, calls, texts, offers to help, and support in general, we thank you. Most of all, I thank Heavenly Father for sending his angels, on earth and in heaven, when we needed them.

Outstanding in Their Field

Center: Charlie laughing as he waves his hands through the wheat.

Arrived

We made it! We pulled out of St. Louis Thursday evening and (six states later) arrived at our new home Saturday afternoon. Charlie was an absolute champ but is glad to be out of the car seat. I brought along two new toys (a set of plastic keys and a plastic container filled with objects (key, marble, etc.)) and when all else failed to keep him happy those novel (to him) toys would do the trick.

With the help from one awesome guy from the ward here we got unloaded by Saturday night. Although we were a bit disheveled (anyone know which box the iron is in?), we made it to church the next morning and are excited for our new ward. There were a few other new people there starting school at NCSU as well and LOTS of young families. We took a short drive that afternoon over to campus to try to orient ourselves a bit before Keith had to dive right in with meetings today.

The relative drop in heat (although not in humidity) already has me liking this place. And if that wasn't enough take a look at these pics:


These are the views from our little deck attached to our apartment. Trees! Trees! Trees! Hooray for living adjacent to a forest again! (I grew up next to one). It is so nice and quiet except for the lovely birds.

In short, it is a great area, nice apartment, and we are excited for our new adventure!

Moving

Top center: Charlie on the brink of mobility. Top right: my last shipment of milk to the Mother's Milk Bank (since Charlie was born I have donated about 28 gallons, yikes!). The rest: Charlie is happiest with a full tummy and boxes to play with.

Good-bye St. Louis! NC here we come! The truck is loaded and we are headed east!

Packing

It's that time again! Boxes are being pulled out from under the bed and filled with our worldly possessions. Thankfully we unpacked minimally over the summer so there is not too much to do. Not having finals and graduation right before moving also makes this move comparatively easier than the last. It is all relative though, I still hate moving. One week and we are outta here!

After planning for years, we are happy to be on our way. PhD school: here we come!

Graduation Take Two

Keith and I graduated and walked together for the second time just two weeks ago (sorry for the post delay, moving happened). Getting a master's degree was, at one point, something that I thought was a pipe dream for me. It was hard but it was great. I think one of the best things that I got from the experience is an increased confidence in myself. More so than from any other achieved goal in my life, getting this degree proves in my mind that I can do really hard things. I can stretch myself further than I previously thought possible, and succeed.

The whole experience was made all the better by going through it with Keith. He was like my personal coach and tutor.

Liz also graduated with her master's degree in business and is off to work at Amazon after a couple months of celebrating (China, rafting, long bike trips, etc).

The two of us are the first women in our family to get master's degrees. (Graduation robes are fun and funky, but not flattering).

We have been so blessed to have the support of family, especially after sweet Charlie arrived. Grandma Merrill and Charlie have grown quite close as she took care of him while I was in class and preparing to defend my thesis.

We crossed paths with the Madsens after commencement. Their sweet little family is headed off to Texas this week. The last of the original roomies have left Provo. It is the end of an era.

Defended

Keith and I have officially passed our respective thesis defenses. I for one am amazed this day has come. It was only three short years ago that I decided to do a master's degree, now here I am. Being amazed that I got here does not mean that I don't know how it happened. A lot of work and a lot of support. So thank you, all of you.
My committee and me.

Me right before my thesis defense presentation.
Keith's parents were there and his mom called my mom (unbeknownst to me) and put her on speaker phone. I was standing at the front of the room just before beginning when Bonnie (Keith's mom) hands me her phone and tells me to say hi to my mom. I do and all eyes turn to me. Loudly out of the phone comes my mom's voice "Hi sweetie! I love you!"
At that point everyone laughed, my face turned red and we started the presentation. Love you too Mom.

Keith with his committee. He rocked. Seriously.

Charlie was so excited for us he did a little dance...