Circus

This is our 3rd year going to the circus. This kids absolutely love it. Davis did so much better this year than he did last year. His attention span has lengthened and as a result, we were able to stay for the 2nd half. We lucked out that the kids decided to get their face painted instead of buying one of those super expensive cheap toys. And they also chose popcorn, which was the cheapest food option. We made out pretty well.

 Davis chose a tiger and Elliot got a butterfly. I couldn't get over how cute they looked! Definitely worth the $12. Seriously, I couldn't stop telling Lane how adorable they looked.

 

 

 Wearing their clown wigs.

 

 

 

 

 

Towards the end. Fading fast.

 

And he's out.



A Little Celebratory Getaway

So I mentioned in a previous post that Lane has finished his residency. That pretty much means he will now be receiving normal doctor pay (woohoo!). He has also signed a contract with EMC. That's a group that staffs several hospitals in the area. So now Lane works at 3 different hospitals close by.

 

Anyway, we have a trip to Vegas planned to celebrate, but that's not until August. We felt like a celebration was needed a bit sooner, so we got a babysitter and headed to Dallas. One of his friends recommended The Rustic. It's owned by Pat Green. Glad we went there. The décor was really cool, live music, relaxed atmosphere. We ordered the Texas goat cheese w/ baguettes, the Rustic hamburger, onion straws & deviled eggs. Everything was delicious.

 

After, we hit up the mall and shopped til we dropped. Well it was all for Lane, but I enjoyed picking things out for him. This shopping trip was long overdue. I don't think Lane has bought any new clothes with the exception of a few t-shirts and jeans in 7 years. He hates shopping. Luckily we had a salesperson follow us around helping us gather what we needed. He ended up with lots of dress shirts, 2 pairs of dress slacks, 2 pairs of shoes, a couple ties, and a leather jacket (for me :)). We still need to get him a pair of casual khaki pants and some casual shirts, but that will be for another day. We were worn out!

I bought a Groupon for The Stoneleigh in Dallas. I was very pleased. It was a 1920's theme, but modern. Very cool décor. Breakfast was included & it was pretty good. But the best thing about it was that we were able to sleep in :) I wish I could have slept longer, but 8:30 is better than 6:30. It was such a fun little date with Lane and a much needed pat on the back to him.

 

 



Fabulous Fourth

 

 We had a great Fourth of July weekend. There were 2 incidents that could have put a major damper on things, but luckily they were both diverted. On the 3rd, we watched fireworks in Mansfield again this year. Before heading to the fireworks, we ate hamburgers at Amy's house. We had 4 families there. The kids had so much fun together. After eating, we walked over to the ballpark. There were all sorts of inflatables and even a snow hill. When the lights went off for the fireworks, that's when things took a turn for the worse. Regina & I were passing out glow sticks, Lane went to buy cotton candy, and Davis decided that would be a good time to disappear. Yep, in a crowd of about 10 thousand people, in the dark, in less than a minute. We immediately start looking for him. I head towards one of the bounce houses he was talking about earlier, but it had already been deflated & I didn't see him there. After searching for about 5 minutes & worrying that the fireworks were about to start, I found a policeman. Up to this point I felt like I was pretty calm. But when you have to give your missing child's description to a police officer, a whole new wave of emotion sets in. Luckily he immediately escorted me to another group of officers who were with Davis. That was a close one. I was a little surprised that Davis was not crying. For as much of a mama's boy as he is, I thought for sure he would be hysterical. But he seemed unfazed by the whole ordeal. I on the other hand was quite shaken up by it all. We headed back to our seats and were able to enjoy the rest of our evening drama free.

Our group of kiddos

My crew

 Making the trek to the ballpark .

 Arden & Elliot



You can see how Excited Elliot is in this picture.

 

 



 





On the fourth, we headed to Tool, TX. Lane's aunt lives there and invited all the family over. Things started off a little scary. Lane's uncle was heating up the grill and the propane tank caught on fire. Like a BIG fire. We're all sitting on the back porch by the grill when this happens. Lane yells, "Everybody run, it's going to blow!" So we're all taking off to the edge of the yard. I have Perry. Luckily Davis & Elliot were taking a walk with Alan, so I didn't have to worry about grabbing them. We jumped over the fence to get further away and waited for the worst. I felt like we were in a movie. You know, the ones where the people are running from the burning building & then it blows, sending them flying. And that's really what should have happened. No joke. But God was watching over us that day and nothing happened. Lane's uncle stayed with the propane tank & grabbed a nearby hose to put out the fire. Not the smartest move on his part, but at the same time if he hadn't, the whole house would have blown up for sure. In fact, for as big as the flames were and as long as it was burning before water got to it, I'm really surprised that it didn't explode. We were lucky! Other than that snafu, things went smoothly. We just hung out the rest of the day.



 Davis, Asher, Elliot, Perry

Asher is really into snorkeling these days. He looks so cute in his gear!

 Sparklers!



 



 



Residency DONE

Lane is officially done with his 3 year residency program. It's been a LONG road and we are thrilled to put it behind us. When you add the time he spent in medical school, it's been a total of 7 years. Another way to look at it is to say it's lasted our entire marriage. This last year has been particularly stressful because Lane has had extra duties as one of the Chief residents. To say it's been a headache for him is an understatement.

 

They had a nice ceremony at the Dallas Arboretum. It was a lot more entertaining than his med school graduation. They did a roast of each resident. When they applied to the program they had to submit a personal essay explaining why ER is their specialty of choice. They then took excerpts from their essays & pretty much used it against them. It was pretty hilarious. Lane received the "Tough on the outside, soft on the inside" award. They got the "tough" part from the portion of his essay where he talked about digging out the foundation for his house. The words he used sounded like they came out of a romance novel...very descriptive. They got the "soft" part from his fear of cotton balls. There is a medical term for it, but you'll have to ask him what it is.

 Residency Class of 2014

His friend Megan.

Us.



Swim Lessons

Elliot started swim lessons for the 4th summer in a row. All the past years have pretty much been a waste, and I wasn't sure if this year would be any different. But it was! She finally did it. She definitely needs more practice, but the skill is there. I'm so proud of her & how hard she worked.  I chose to put her in private lessons so she could have undivided attention. I feel that helped a lot. Her teacher worked her hard. Lessons were 1 hour long. We finally got her to put her face in the water which of course helped her improve. I think her biggest hang up is still fear. Just taking that leap to push off the wall & start swimming. In fact, Elliot was the biggest procrastinator ever! Her teacher would ask her to swim to her & Elliot would ask a question or tell her about something. Anything to keep her from going. Her teacher finally started taking Elliot to the middle of the pool & having her swim to the wall. That way she wasn't able to make excuses. Here are a couple of pictures. I didn't get any pictures of her actually swimming because I was taking video.

Preschool Graduate

Elliot had a wonderful year at preschool. She learned so much and made lots of friends. I'm so glad she went. Her teachers were so loving and I couldn't have asked for more. Here are some pics from her graduation.

 Singing Jesus Loves Me.

 Accepting her diploma.

 

 Her teachers, Miss Jessica & Miss Jess

Elliot's little friend, Isabel

 

 



Princess Encounter

A local high school had the brilliant idea to host a Princess Tea Party as their fundraiser. It was absolutely wonderful. Elliot & Arden both went as Cinderella. They were so cute! They went around the room meeting all the princesses, getting their autographs and pictures. Then, they ate treats with juice while being entertained. The princesses got up and sang songs from their movies. After that, they had their face painted & made necklaces. Everything was really well put together.

Arden & Elliot

 Christoff, Anna & Elsa

 Rapunzel & Flynn Ryder

 Belle & the Beast

 Aurora

Prince Charming & Cinderella

 Making necklaces

Face painting. Why is her flower on her forehead you ask? Because she originally wanted it on her eye. What the what?!

 Group pictures

 



Perry at 15 Months

 

Weight: 20 lbs 5 oz---26%

Height: 31.25 inches---62%

Head: 17.81 inches--33%

 

Perry is doing great these days. She is very independent which is AWESOME for me. She will sometimes go off into her bedroom & play in there for a while. She refuses to wear bows which is a shame. I have to catch her when she's not paying attention & slip one in her hair. She'll keep it in 10% of the time. She has 7 teeth right now. I think she's about to get her molars in which will help her out a lot in the eating department. She loves bring books to us to read to her. She'll back herself up onto our laps. So cute. Our big challenge with Perry right now is that she started climbing. It is such a pain! She is constantly pulling chairs out & getting onto them & then climbing up onto the table! It's maddening. Other than that she is awesome!