Big helper

Right now we are in Utah visiting my parents and having a great time. Each trip Cambrie seems more and more grown-up and it's fun watching her mature. Yesterday I saw a little glimpse of that growing independence. While I was on the phone with my grandma and taking care of McKenzie, Cambrie came to me and showed me her dirty hands. She wanted me to help her wash the fish food off her fingers. What? Fish food? I walked into the bathroom and burst out laughing. There I saw one little goldfish swimming in a bowl of fish food confetti. Cambrie had dumped the entire container of fish food in the bowl. The fish was in food heaven. What a good helper ;)

What I wish I knew

As I'm counting down the weeks until we leave Philly I've been searching for the random things we have to do before then. I found this blog: http://www.uwishunu.com/ that has so many great things on it. If you're planning on sticking around awhile and you want something fun to do in Philly, check it out.

A-Z

Cambrie and her friend, Lucy, finished the alphabet at joyschool today. They've done a project for each letter and she has quite the collection now. Here are some of her latest:

Q is for a quilt painted with Q-tips. R is for Rainbow. S is for shamrock and stickers. T is for a tea party complete with tiaras, tarts, and tea sandwiches! U is for under. They dyed Easter eggs. Cambrie was so obsessed with playing with them that they didn't stay in the fridge very long.
V is for violet and the girls learned how to mix red and blue paint. W is for whale and Cambrie's new favorite animal. In honor of the letter W she chose a whale shirt from the store.

X is for x-ray and a treasure hunt where "x marks the spot". Y is for yellow yarn. Z is for a zany and crazy zebra.

They've learned a lot but I think most of all they have just had fun playing together. One wall in our office is dedicated to her projects. It has become very full and Cambrie is very proud of it.We have had a great time and the next step for Cambrie is preschool. She's growing up so fast!

Sigh of Relief

This was one stressful weekend for Jeremy. We were waiting for test results from Boards Part II to arrive and he was finishing his WREBS clinical tests. It was not a good combination. His future as a dentist was on the line!

I went down to the school to be his assistant for Friday morning's work and it was an eye-opening experience. All of the students had this permanent look of terror etched on their faces while they were waiting for patients to show up, for patients to be graded, and always watching for the pink slip of doom that meant immediate failure. Jeremy was not immune to the nervousness but he ended up doing just fine. His patients showed up, their cavities were simple, and Jeremy whipped right through them. I couldn't have asked for a better scenario.

While Jeremy was sweating out his future down at the dental school. Here's what the girls and I did this weekend: We had lunch with other fourth-year moms and children at Debbie's house. The kids ran around digging in dirt and jumping on the tramp while the moms sat and talked. Ah...kids are the best babysitters for each other. Sterling and Cambrie get along really well and they went on a little bike ride together. We went to Healthy Kid Day at the YMCA where we played in life jackets, bounced on the moon bounce, made balloon swords, and ate all sorts of free snacks. It doesn't even seem fair does it that the girls can play while the dad is away? But at last tests are done for Jeremy. He passed his written exams and feels very confident about he performed on his clinicals so there shouldn't be any surprises. That means all he has left is a school credits left (dentures, crowns, etc.) and he is done! Yea! He has done so well and now we are really close to being finished. I'm just glad this weekend is over. No more tests means a much more pleasant and present husband!

Cherry Blossom Festival

I have had this dream of seeing the cherry blossoms bloom in DC ever since we moved here. It's not something that we'll fly out for in the future, and in years past Jeremy has had finals that conflicted with the timing, so this was our last shot. I had wanted to go last week. I knew the the blossoms were blooming early this year and it would have been the best weekend to see them, but we had Conference, egg hunts, and camping with friends planned already. I had hoped that they would still be beautiful for us this weekend. This was our view of the Tidal Basin when we arrived: No cherry blossoms-sigh. I knew this was a possibility so I had accepted it and decided to have a good time anyway. There were a few other beautiful flowering trees around that everyone took pictures of because that's all there was available.

We took a family shot by one of popular still-blooming trees.

I have a vision in my mind what this pictures could look like....we could all be wearing matching spring clothing and look really good. Unfortunately it didn't quite happen that way. It was a tricky day to dress for and Cambrie ended up in her very comfortable pants and boots, McKenzie was all wrapped up and asleep anyway so we are what we are.

Do you think we got enough pictures of flowering trees to make it look like we were there at the right time? Cambrie insisted on having one of the flowers from this tree. I felt a little guilty giving it to her because there weren't that many available. But she was "tickled pink" (ha ha), to have it.She went a little crazy when it was time to get out of the stroller. She ran around and played hide-and-seek with Jeremy for nearly thirty minutes. Peek-a-boo!We were there for the parade that included Cherry Blossom royalty, military marching bands, Japanese drummers, and random unicyclists and big balloons. It was rather slow actually, but we still enjoyed it. There was also a Japanese festival going on that looked awesome with performers, children crafts, games, products, food, etc., but we didn't stay to fully experience it. The girls both fell asleep before we had even eaten lunch, and I felt like I was on my deathbed. I was so sick. Jeremy teased me that I should just lay across the top of the stroller and he'd push all three girls because I could barely move. I felt bad leaving only a few hours after we'd arrived but it was better than wandering around DC feeling miserable. I actually spent the next two days asleep in bed so I was sicker than I thought. It was a fun and memorable weekend to say the least.

Sunbeam

Cambrie was singing to herself as she put on her shoes this afternoon: "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, to shine for him each day! Jesus really, really, really wants me for a Sunbeam!"

No surprise

There was chaos outside the Dental School today when I went to pick up Jeremy. I asked him what had happened and he said that someone had been shot right across the street from school. Now, I know we've been in Philadelphia too long when my comment was somewhere along the lines of, "Did you see it happen?" instead of, "Ah! Let's get out of here!" Here is a copy of the story to have as a Philadelphia souvenir:

Gunshot victim stumbles into state liquor store
By JULIE SHAW
Philadelphia Daily News

Gunshots were fired on Broad Street yesterday morning near Temple University's School of Dentistry, critically wounding a man who then stumbled into a state liquor store, spilling blood onto a counter and the floor.

Police said that based on preliminary information, they were seeking the brother of the 39-year-old victim's new wife's ex-boyfriend. The suspect fled in a black or blue Dodge Magnum, said Officer Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman.

The shooting occurred about 10:50 a.m. on Broad Street near Allegheny Avenue in Tioga. Stacey Witalec, spokeswoman for the state Liquor Control Board, which oversees the state stores, said, "It's our understanding that none of the shooting happened inside the store."

A trail of blood was seen on the sidewalk outside the store, leading toward the exit door. Inside the store, which was locked to the public for about 2 1/2 hours after the shooting, a pool of blood was seen on a cashier counter and on the floor.

Little said the victim had been shot three times - in the chest, abdomen and left arm. In critical condition, he was taken two blocks north by police to Temple University Hospital, outside of which striking nurses were picketing.

Little said police know the name of the suspect but would not release it until he was arrested. Police also would not identify the victim.

Karim Owens, 32, a security guard who works for a private company at the liquor store, was cleaning the blood off the sidewalk yesterday afternoon. He said the two women who work in the store were "hysterical" and "a little traumatized by it all."

An employee of a nearby store, who did not want to be identified, said that he heard shots, then saw the victim standing on the sidewalk holding his chest. The victim acted "like nothing happened, like Terminator," the man said. "I was, like, 'Wow, what the !' "

New Stroller

I have been test driving strollers since McKenzie was born. I wasn't sure if I wanted a side-by-side, a sit & stand, one that had the kids sitting one in front of the other, or just use a jogger as our every day stroller. It shouldn't be that hard of a decision, but it really was. I finally settled on the Combi Twin Sport. Today I took it on its inaugural drive and I'm pleased to announce that it passed my tests:

• It fits through my front door
• I can turn it around in a store aisle
• I can go through a set of double doors at the bank without looking like a fool
• It fits on the sidewalk
• I can easily maneuver it up stairs
• It fits in my trunk
• It folds up easily and compactly
• It's light and easy to carry
• It's light to push
• McKenzie comfortably reclines
• McKenzie's car seat can snap into her seat if needed
• The seats are removable and washable
• It doesn't pull to one side even though Cambrie is heavier than McKenzie
• I love the color
• It was on sale

Yea! I feel free! I can now go places without the car! Thanks to everyone who let me test drive their strollers!

Easter morning

Easter morning Cambrie woke up at 6:00 and was so excited to see what the Easter Bunny brought her that she couldn't go back to sleep. The video we have from that morning is really fun. Cambrie was running all over the house finding lost eggs and was very confused as to where the Bunny hid her basket, and kept asking why. She finally found it and was in heaven. She got gum, a new movie, and lots of eggs to open. The fun didn't stop at Cambrie's Easter basket though, she helped McKenzie pull the goodies out of her basket, and even helped Jeremy find his.Here's a picture of the girls in their Easter jammies. I love McKenzie's smile!Later that day we finally dyed our Easter eggs. The first thing Cambrie did was drop her egg in the yellow cup. It splashed all over the place:the counter, her clothes, her hair, and her eyelid (weird, I know). She quickly learned that you had to lower the eggs slowly. We only dyed six of them. In the past it takes us a couple of weeks to go through our dyed hard boiled eggs so it seemed a shame to cook the entire dozen; after all, I wanted to bake cookies that night. Imagine my surprise when I woke up from an afternoon nap to discover that Cambrie had managed to stuff the eggs into her tea party teapot, shell and all. Jeremy was able to dig them out but they had all broken. We ate egg sandwiches for a snack that day. I don't even think the eggs made it back into the fridge before they were devoured. We had a great Easter weekend. It was so busy that I had a hard time remembering the reason for the holiday and did most of my reflecting today. I read the Easter scripture story to Cambrie and tried to help her understand that we celebrate Easter to remember our Savior and what he did for us. Explaining it to her made me realize how real a story it is, and how hard it had to have been for the Savior and Heavenly Father to do what they did to save us. The story of our Christ's death and resurrection touches my heart every time I hear or read it. I love Him and know that He loves us so, so much. I love the Easter season and what a great reminder it is of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Easter Egg Hunt

This was the first year Cambrie has ever gone Easter egg hunting in good weather. The past two years it was windy, cold, and rainy. The sunshine this year put everyone in good spirits and it was a very successful egg hung. Nana provided Cambrie and McKenzie's super cute egg hunting clothes and I had to get a picture of how darling they looked together. But as many parents know, it's nearly impossible to get your infant and toddler to cooperate at the same time when taking pictures, so this is the best I could come up with.Cambrie could hardly wait to get going. She kept trying to follow Jeremy as he hid the eggs in the park.We had a huge turn-out this year. I wish I had taken a count of the number of families that came because we were quite a crowd. The other park-goers looked at us like we were all crazy, but we had a blast. I'm going to miss these guys! Look at our chaotic joy!Cheese!Cambrie has become quite the pro at hunting for eggs. She found her 12 very quickly but was particular about what eggs to pick up. She passed by the ones that didn't look quite right before she found the best ones.Cambrie was showing her daddy all the eggs in her basket.Checking out the haul. She would dump an egg and then quickly stuff as much candy as possible into her mouth before I told her to stop.McKenzie spent more time playing with daddy than hunting for her Easter eggs. That will probably change next year.After the egg hunting was over the kids headed over to the playground to play. I had to get this picture of Cambrie and Hailey playing on the swings. They had such a great time.

French Creek camping

With perfect weather forecast for this weekend we decided to make the most of it and go camping with some friends-the Greens, Ringers, Bostons, and Petersons. It was just a quick overnight trip, but there are just too many fun things going on right now to spend longer than that. We drove up to French Creek Friday afternoon. We've camped here three or four times now but I still have to take directions. This time we typed latitude/longitude coordinates into the GPS instead of just map questing it like normal. We noticed it started taking us on different roads than we are used to but thought that maybe the default route was set to "shortest route" instead of "most use of highways." As soon as we got to the little star on our GPS map we knew we were in trouble. We had no idea where we were. It was a beautiful view but it was not French Creek. Luckily we were able to google the address on Jeremy's phone and get new directions. We were an hour away! How we got so far off I don't know. I just know that we spent an extra hour and a half in the car driving aimlessly.When we finally got there it was time to party. McKenzie thought the fire was fascinating and Cambrie was thrilled to be eating her fire-roasted hot dog. We used our new tent for the first time. Our previous tent was a simply three-man dome tent that fit Jeremy, Cambrie and I very snugly. With the addition of McKenzie we needed to upgrade. We found this tent online and liked a lot of the features it had: a screened-in porch area, it was tall enough to stand in, and fit six people. Normally you have to subtract a person in tent measurements if you actually want room to sleep and put your stuff. This tent was the exception. It is huge! I think you could comfortably sleep eight. We set up McKenzie's pack 'n play, laid out our sleeping bags, and we still felt like we were floating away inside. It will be really awesome for long trips where we need a ton of room and for the day when we have an even larger family. I had to take this picture of McKenzie chilling in the middle of the hotel tent. The funny thing is that she never even slept in her pack 'n play. She spent the night in her car seat and the morning in my bag. What you don't see in this picture is the massive emptiness waiting to be filled.Getting warm by the morning fire.

I love the freedom Cambrie has when we're camping. She can go exploring, get dirty, and play with all the toys the outdoors can offer without once being tempted by cartoons. We should really spend the whole summer camping.

Ocean City

Yea! It is warm enough to start taking trips to the shore! On Thursday we headed down to the beach for playgroup. The water was bone-chilling cold but the air was warm enough that it was very pleasant to play on the beach. Unfortunately since it was the first trip of the season I was a little out of practice applying sun screen and Cambrie's face was rather splotchy from a sunburn afterwards...oops...you can tell she had a good time at least!

Cambrie was having fun digging her toes into the sand.I think she and Jayda were trying to make a sand castle. They look like they're really focusing hard.The kids loved digging holes, and were able to get them pretty deep. This was a lot of fun for the older kids but a little bit of a problem for the younger ones who would fall in and disappear completely. After they dug the holes they needed to get some water to fill them in. The water was so cold that they didn't make many of these trips.McKenzie spent the day happily asleep in the shade.

I don't know what we're going to do in a few months when we don't get to spend days like this at the beach. We all love it!