Wordless Wednesday

Pumpkin Patch 2014

Another year in the books. Our SEVENTH year of going to the pumpkin patch with friends. Joe has missed a couple years. (Darn med school!) But the kids and I have made it every year since Isaiah was one year old. And it is always worth the trip back to Wisconsin. Lots of good times with friends and great memories made at this place.

So per our usual we started the outting by torturing  taking pictures of the children. With siblings. With the whole family. Individual pictures. And of course pictures with friends.  LOTS of pictures are taken within the first 30 minutes of our arrival. And per their usual the children grumble and complain and try their darndest to get out of picture taking, but we persevere. Its tradition after all. This year, Isaiah didn't want pictures because of his jacket. Apparently he does not like that jacket. In fact I would go as far as to say he really, really, really loathes that jacket. Ironically, he picked that jacket out at a garage sale last fall! I don't get it. But what he did like was falling off this pumpkin....

...which made for a great picture of him and his sisters. Even if Hannah wouldn't crack a smile for me, I still LOVE that picture.

And yes, I am looking quite large and in charge in our family picture. 24 weeks of baby belly. And funnily enough I was concerned that Charlotte was covering the belly too much while the picture was being taken. Clearly she wasn't covering it enough!

I love these individual shots of my kids. Seriously that picture of Charlotte in that vest might be my favorite picture of her to date. I need to get it printed ASAP and hang it on my wall so when she is driving me bonkers (as she is apt to do many, many times each day) I will be reminded of my vast love for her. Oh and Isaiah's haircut...yep it might just be an all time record BAD on my behalf. Yikes. And now like every other mother on this earth, I am going to ask the question, "how did my babies get so big?!?!" Looking at this picture I see three children. Good thing I am having a baby soon otherwise I wouldn't be able to handle this.

The last picture we parents require of the children before letting them loose to run and play is the group picture of the kids....with 8 children ages 7 and under it is no easy task. But I think we managed to get a decent shot. Only one pouting child. Not bad. Not bad at all.

And then the real fun begins. Rope swing. Mini pedal tractors to ride. A hay mountain to climb. A haunted house (which Charlotte LOVED this year). Goats to feed and pet...of course Hannah LOVED them. The corn maze - which somehow I missed this year. Ack. Its usually my favorite. Spinning apple ride. And freedom to just be kids on a beautiful fall day. {Seriously we lucked out with the weather considering we picked this date back in May. It was a bit chilly when we arrived but by the time we left it was 60 degrees and sunny. Couldn't ask for better weather in mid October.}

No pictures of all the aforementioned fun activities. Sorry. We were too busy having fun and chasing children...or at least keeping an eye on them from a distance while we chatted;)

The whole crew rode the tractor pulled wagon to the top of the apple orchard and then wandered back down the hill. Sampling apples as we went. It was just as idyllic as it sounds. The sun and the apples and the happy children. It was perfect.

And then before we could call it a day we forced the children to take one last picture...

All 14 of us...mostly looking and smiling. Looking at this picture makes me happy. And a little sad. Happy because these are good friends. Friends that feel like family. And I love that. Sad because I am not sure if we will be able to make it back next year or not. Our fate is in the hands of "the match". And at this point only 1 of the 17 residency locations that Joe has interviews with would be close enough to drive back for the pumpkin patch. Next year we could be living in Nebraska or Texas or Michigan or Tennessee or Ohio or Virginia or Florida or Pennsylvania or West Virginia or Illinois. We don't know. Therefore we don't know if we will be able to make it to the 8th annual pumpkin patch day. So much unknown. I do know that if we go back next year I am getting Isaiah's approval on his outfit ahead of time. That will save me A LOT of grief. Which likely will mean he will be wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

Speaking of Isaiah. As we were walking out of the pumpkin patch, he made me an offer I couldn't resist. He agreed to smile for 2 more pictures IF I would let him stay up late that night. It was an offer I couldn't resist because 1) I love taking pictures of my kids and 2) I was already planning on letting him stay up late with his friends that night. Done and done. And that is how I got the first picture in this post of him with with his sisters:)

a nice long weekend

It's that time of year again. Time for our family to make our annual trek to Wisconsin for THE PUMPKIN PATCH! And because this weekend also happens to be a long weekend for the kids AND Joe's weekend between rotations AND we were feeling especially generous we decided to surprise the kids by bringing them to a water park today before heading to our friends' house tomorrow. Meaning the kids and I got up bright and early so we could arrive by lunchtime. (Joe was at the hospital and joined us later...and YES I pretty much felt like super woman taking three kids to the water park by myself while pregnant...for a couple hours.) 

Four hour drives alone with the kids aren't my favorite activity BUT this drive wasn't bad at all. Plus I could hardly wait to see the kids' reaction to our surprise mini-vacation (as they thought we were driving directly to our friends' house). So imagine my dismay when 2 of my 3 children were brought to tears over the sight of the water park/hotel!!! Tears! Sheesh. One child refused to get out of the van initially. Not exactly the JOY and EXCITEMENT I was expecting. Sometimes you just can't win. 

Excited to be on vacation! NOT. 

Eventually I was able to drag them inside. And as we ate our (packed) lunch poolside the kids sloooowly warmed to the idea of staying and swimming. 

And since our arrival it's been mostly uphill. Lots of swimming. And snacking. And just having fun. 

Just what our family needed as we gear up for 5 weeks without daddy.  Four weeks of emergency medicine in Chicago followed by one week of hitting the interview trail. The next time we are all living under the same roof Joe will have 5 more interviews DONE! (All without my negative presence...I think it's probably for the best that I am NOT going with him for interviews.)

And now because this barely cohesive post is taking me far too long to type up, I will end with my favorite Charlotte quote from today. "Mommy we found this special restaurant where you can order whatever kind of water you want!!!" (AKA a bar.)

interview season

Joe just left for his first residency interview social (ie a dinner to meet the current residents the night before the actual interview). But before he left we fought. I said ugly things like "well then maybe you shouldn't go into emergency medicine" when he said he couldn't focus with all the chaos surrounding him (ie our children demanding his attention). And I critiqued almost every article of clothing he was wearing...his shoes weren't dressy enough, his jeans were too baggy, and his sweater was the wrong color! I might have even said he wasn't going to match this year. Lots of ugly and hurtful things spewed from my mouth. 

That is not how it was supposed to go down. It's not how I imagined sending him off for his first interview social. 

I was supposed to tell him how proud of him I am. (Because I AM!) And reassure him that he is the perfect candidate for a spot at this emergency medicine residency. (Because HE IS!) And just generally cheer him in on! (Because everyone needs a chearleader!). But I did none of those things. Not even a goodbye kiss and a "I love you" to send him out the door. Seriously?! How could I fail so miserably?! 

The fact that the 48 hours leading up to this event have been utter chaos did not help the situation. [Background information: we are living in my parent's basement this year. There are two bedrooms down there. Both of which desperately needed paint and new carpet. A project we were determined to complete before Joe leaves this week for his next 4 week rotation. And the carpet guy was only available TODAY.] So starting late on Friday night we began moving our belongings upstairs, tearing out the old carpet and patching the walls (& by "we" I do mean Joe:). Saturday was spent prepping and painting...amongst other necessary activities like attending Isaiah's last soccer game of the season (they won again!) as well as taking care of our children's basic needs. Last night Joe went into the hospital for a shift in the ER. I put the kids to bed and painted until he arrived home at 2am. He then took over the painting until about 7am. At which point I got up with the children and Joe went to bed. We each probably got about 4 hours of sleep. Not a good set up for a stressful day (and a first interview at your top residency choice = STRESS!). Add to that the fact that all five of us were confined to two rooms ALL DAY due to carpet being installed and tensions were high, high, HIGH. Oh and I burnt the soup for lunch:(

Me & my belly painting at midnight. 

The icing on the stress cake was when I attempted to force a very unenthusiastic Joe to practice interview questions with me this afternoon (as our children circled around us demanding attention - apparently papers needed to be taped and books needed to be read at that exact moment!). It probably didn't help that I told Joe after every answer he gave that it was bad/wrong! I didn't find a single thing to praise in regards to his mock interview. So much for being loving and supportive. I failed the interview miserably and I wasn't even being interviewed!

So this is where we are at. 

Carpet and (most of) the painting done. Social dinner #1 (almost) done. The house is completely in shambles. None of our belongings are where they belong. Me still crabby. And for good reason...I am a pretty terrible wife/cheerleader at the moment. Tomorrow is Joe's first interview (at his first choice residency program!!! Pressure. Stress!! Oh my!). 

I guess the good news is Joe has 14 more interviews to fall back on. The bad news is ALL of those residency programs are out of state:( I love the new carpet and paint. But at the moment I hate the fact that it makes me feel like we have lost our opportunity to stay in Minnesota. 

Dramatic...who?!? Me?!? No never;)

I think I hate interview season already. And it's only just begun. 

this week part II.

Apparently I am on a weekly run-down rut. Forgive me. Because here I go again! (And yes I realize it hasn't been a complete week yet...but close enough). This morning (on a whim!) I decided to load up the whole crew (my parents' dog included) and walk Isaiah the one mile to school. I was huffing and puffing. But we all made it. Besides one leash wrapped around the stroller wheel fiasco, plus one stop for the dog to poo and my compression stockings NOT staying up, it was actually quite lovely. And I will just go ahead and check off 'exercise' from my list of things to do for....oh at least the next week! Probably longer. Let's be real here. A lot longer. 

I swear I do have some of my ducks-in-a-row. However at 5:15 on Monday evening when I discovered Isaiah's soccer practice was at 5:30 (NOT 6:30 like I had previously thought), you wouldn't have believed me. Ducks?! What ducks? Where are the ducks?! Can I just say how proud of myself I am that we arrived at practice only 10 minutes late?! Super duper proud. I had to get two kids out of the bath, dressed and fed in order to make that happen. And it happened. Scrambled eggs and toast in the van totally count as dinner. Even if one child was barefoot:) 

Today as I was dropping Charlotte off at preschool she (randomly) informed me that "Hannah is going to be taller than me soon. Because she eats more foods than me." Truth. At least she realizes she is going to be the runt of the family. 

Two nights ago Isaiah lost his second tooth. The tooth fairy forgot to visit that night despite him carefully placing his tooth under his pillow. (She couldn't find it because he didn't put it in the correct tooth fairy container. Obviously.) Last night the tooth fairy remembered to collect the tooth and dole out the cash...only after she was cozy warm in bed and almost asleep! She may or may not have misplaced the tooth in the dark, but that is irrelevant. Guess who didn't check under his pillow this morning?! Does that mean the tooth fairy can take back her money? I am thinking YES. 

Let's end on a really good note. We had parent-teacher conferences the other night. I went into it a little...okay...A LOT nervous. But Isaiah's teacher had nothing but good things to report to us!!! I worried for no reason. Apparently that apology note Joe had him write his teacher last week did the trick! She said things like "bright" and "helpful" and "socially appropriate" and "confident" and maybe even "gifted and talented" in regards to our eldest child! I might have walked out of there with my head held just a little higher than usual. Apparently we haven't completely screwed up as parents!! And changing schools seems to have been no big deal for him. Good to know. Good to know indeed.