A little update

We moved to Kingsport! Actually, we moved a few weeks ago, but we are a bit slow to updat our blog. I (Brent) took my big COMLEX level 1 (licensing exam) a couple weeks ago and we are waiting a few more weeks to here back about how that went. Hopefully I pass and we get to go on with regular old med school life. I was really excited to read the handbook for clinical rotations. It states the the typical week should be around 60 work hours, but it is up to the preceptor's discretion, and we are capped at a maximum of an 80 hour work week. I sure hope I get to see my family more than that! Yesterday Amber and I celebrated a big day. I made a great choice eight years ago. I asked a cute girl out on a date to go see Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. She agreed but insisted on providing dinner. Eight years later we went out on another date, but this time I paid for lunch. It was kind of fun to enjoy a lunch together without refereeing kids. I think we were out of practice on dating because we didn't seem to know what to say without kids around! Now that we moved to a city with more options for quick dates I think we'll do much better. I'm just glad that I have Amber. Life is better when we are together.

New Family Picture

We had pictures taken just after Easter in the girls' new dresses and Scott's stylish tie. Our friend Heather took them. She did a great job capturing our family style. Thanks, Heather!

February 2012

 Here's a glimpse of February. We had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine's Day, taking a pottery class at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, painting, shopping, dressing up and losing a tooth.

Scott getting sleepy after filling up on a yummy dinner.

 Super Scott saving the world one milk jug at a time.

 Playing in the kitchen at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Elli dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi lost tooth number 3. She worked a long time on loosening it and finally letting Mom pull it out. The Tooth Fairy knew how hard she worked and how patient she was and rewarded her with 2 dollars!

 Scott discovering fingerpaints. He loved squishing it through his fingers. By the end it was all over his head.

Wearing hearts for Valentine's Day. They picked different shirts with hearts every day for the week before Valentine's Day. Sammi is making a heart with her arms.

 On a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby. These three are such cuties all together when we are out.

I went through a box of papers from graduate school and found this paper where I doodled my name and Brent's. I think this was before we were engaged. It even has Scott up there in the top right corner. 

February went by so quickly and I can hardly believe it's April already. The children are growing fast and learning so quickly. Sammi is starting to read more fluently. She's moved into first grade math. She's learning to roller skate at our homeschool co-op. Elli is also learning to roller skate. She writes her name. She knows all her letters and tells me frequently that she'll learn to read tomorrow (already a procrastinator!) Her favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Scott loves all sorts of balls. He loves for me to bounce a ball off his forehead. He's started stacking blocks instead of knocking them over.

January 2012

January was a busy month. We started it off with Scott's birthday and ended it with Brent's birthday. Both celebrated their golden birthdays (where they turned the age of their date: Scott turned 1 on the 1st and Brent turned 31 on the 31st). I meant for there to be great amounts of celebrating, but alas, life was busy and we didn't do much.

Scott turned one and ate a marshmallow! No cake for this gluten-free boy. It still seems to bother him. Scott has become so playful. He loves to follow his sisters around and play with them. He loves fruits and veggies, especially mixed together in a smoothie. He's now in 18 month clothes, though some long 12 month pants still fit.

Elli started the new year of with lots of crafts. She is not a fan of formal school time so we do lots of songs and imaginative play. She knows all her letters and their sounds but isn't ready to sound out words yet. She does like to play with Sammi's school supplies so we have fun all together doing school. Elli loves her ballet class and often sachets around the house to her own soundtrack.

Sammi is continuing to grow at a very quick rate. She's lost her bottom two teeth and by the end of January another was getting loose. Sammi is also learning at a quick rate. She is reading early readers but doesn't really like to read. She'd rather I read a more complex book to her. She's also spelling like a champ and a whiz with numbers. But her true love is art. She must do art projects everyday. She enjoyed Grandma Devine's visit where we learned to doodle and she got to watch tons of art videos with Grandma.

Brent went back to school on the last day of his month, a.k.a. his birthday. After having been out of school for 9 months he was glad to get back. We celebrated his birthday during family home evening the night before his birthday. At church Brent is still teaching the gospel principles class, now on his third time

I'm busy with the joys and fun of homeschooling, having three little ones and all the other responsibilities that pop up throughout the days and weeks. At church I am still the Primary President. We started the year by giving the children a journal to keep track of what they learn during sharing time this year and to help them memorize the scriptures that go with each month. The kids love them! We also participate in a homeschool co-op and I volunteered to teach two classes this semester: art to 3-5th graders and an animal science class to the K-2nd graders. My part of the animal science class is to do a craft each week related to the animals we discuss. I love all the focus on art! And Sammi loves to help me plan and prep the lessons, too.

Dear Amazon

I have issues with the US Postal Service. On December 12th we attempted to mail a package from Harrogate, TN to Amazon in Lexington, KY. This shouldn't take long. In fact, according to Google it should only take 15 hours to ride my bike from my house to Amazon's Lexington offices. I could leave and get home in less than two days if I had the stamina.

Unfortunately the USPS decided to ship to Memphis, then Cincinnati, and currently I have no idea where it is going. All I know is it left Cincinnati on December 20th and has not made it to Lexington yet. This seems like poor planning on the postal service.

 All they needed to do was follow that red line. It would have taken about 3 hours... maybe less, but now we are sitting on 15 days. Oh Amazon, I hope you get my package soon.

Sincerely,
Brent