Annie’s Last Day of Preschool

Annie loved her year at preschool.  She had a great teacher, Mrs. Gifford (in the purple) and enjoyed being one of Mrs. Gifford’s Goldfish.  I loved watching Annie gain her confidence this year as she made some good little friends in her class.  I wish I had taken a picture of the group of girls she played with everyday.  She had to miss the graduation because we moved 2 weeks before it, but we still celebrated by going out to ice cream after her last day.  We will miss this preschool!  They did some really great things here, and I’m sad Leah can’t go here with all of her little friends next year. 
 

                                                    This girl is ready for Kindergarten!

James – 6 Weeks

One Last time

The other day as Sarah headed out with some friends for the evening, the girls and I took off to explore some favorite parks for the last time. We made our way to the bunny fountains, a favorite with the girls in the summer. Despite the setting sun and coolish temperatures, the girls begged to go in. I said, “You can take your shoes and socks off and run around.” “And what happens if we get all wet?” Annie asked. “Then you’ll be cold.”

As expected, they got soaked, laughing and screaming the entire time. But after a cold walk back to the car, Annie, trying desperately not to let her wet shirt touch her skin, exclaimed, “I’m never going to do that again!” (Unlikely) I guess some lessons are learned best through experience.

Mother’s Day

What a great Mother’s Day! I woke up to a yummy breakfast of Citrus Pancakes made from scratch by my hubby and some adorable cards made by the girls! The card in front is Leah’s and she even wrote all the letters by herself! The girls actually had hidden the cards in the family room and made me search for them. Of course, this was all their idea. So cute. Then they gave me the perfect Mother’s Day gift – a new “James” charm for my necklace. After church, Dan impressed me even more by cooking dinner – he imitated the Miso Salmon recipe from the Cheesecake Factory and it turned out delicious! Then we went over to the Columbus Temple to walk around and take some pictures. It was such a good day, and once again I was reminded how lucky I am to have 3 sweet and beautiful children and the best husband in the world. Also, happy Mother’s Day to my mom and mother-in-law! We love you!

Loving this . . .

I am loving my new diaper bag! I hadn't planned on getting a new diaper bag with this baby because my old one was still fine, but when my mom asked me if I wanted a new one for my birthday, I thought, "maybe!" . . . So I saw this one on ebay, and when Dan noticed I was "watching" it, he decided to surprise me with it on Valentine's Day! Seriously, is he not the best husband? Those close to me know I'm loyal to Fleurville diaper bags. I had the Sling Tote with Leah and really liked it, but wanted to try something new this time. This is the Re-Run Hana and so far I love it! I love the design, the shape, and all the pockets to keep me organized.

Touring Columbus

The Burnetts called us Thursday night with the news that Trever had the day off on Friday. So, we decided to keep the kiddos home from preschool and go out and have some fun in the city! We decided to do some touristy things in Columbus that we hadn't done yet and have been wanting to do before we move. First stop: The Topiary Park in downtown Columbus. The Topiary Park is most famous for its topiary interpretation of Georges Seurat’s famous Post-Impressionist painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grand Jatte. It was a beautiful little park.

We ate our picnic lunch there and then played a little freeze tag.

Our next stop was the Santa Maria which floats downtown on the Scioto River. This ship is the world's most authentic, museum-quality replica of Christopher Columbus' ship.

Then we headed on over to North Market, a chic indoor market that is home to dozens of unique, independent merchants and farmers.

Columbus is such a cool town. I remember 3 years ago when we found out that we would be moving here, I thought, "Really? Columbus, Ohio? What is there to even do there?" Well, we have found so many fun and unique things to do during our 3 years here. Columbus has so much character that we will truly miss. I know we are going to want to come back and visit.

Graduation

You know the old saying, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step? Well, that journey started 24 years ago when he first stepped into his kindergarten classroom. Wasn't he a cute little kindergartner?

And along that thousand mile journey there are a lot of mile markers. You feel like your school years are almost over when you graduate from high school. For Dan, it was the half way point.

My sister-in-law just ran the Boston Marathon and she wrote about how the crowd's cheering and the thoughts of her family waiting for her at mile marker 20 and at the finish line kept her going. This journey requires a support group as well. Here was Dan's as they took him to Ricks College.

I was waiting for him at mile marker BYU. It was fun finishing this leg of the journey together.

And then the journey took us to San Francisco to attend dental school at UCSF. And his fan base grew.

But I have always been his #1 fan.

And now that journey has finally come to an end. The destination has been reached!! Dan has graduated (for the last time) from The Ohio State University with his Masters in Orthodontics. He is now Dr. Dan Walton DDS MS. But he says he prefers to just be called Master:) Here he is with his fellow graduating residents: Nate Springer, Matthew Ames, Nathan Helm, Sahira Kortam, and Tisha Randall. I am so happy Dan had such a great group of residents to associate with everyday. They all got along so great and everyone at OSU is sad to see them go. And now they are all officially orthodontists! So go out there and give people beautiful smiles! :)

Not the best family picture, but the only one we got.

Graduation was on Saturday, March 27, 2010. There was a nice dinner and ceremony to congratulate the 6 graduating residents.

Here he is receiving his diploma and going down the line shaking hands with his professors.

One of the ortho assistants put together this hilarious video. Check it out here.

Oh, and how do you get little girls to sit quietly through a long graduation program? IPods, of course.

I was doing pretty well emotionally through the whole thing until Laura and Abby came up to me at the end with huge tears running down their cheeks. Then the sob fest began as we said our good-byes. They were all moving out of town in the next few days. Emily Springer, me, Laura Ames, and Abby Helm. Emily was actually being induced the next day with her 3rd baby and I was being induced the day after that. Funny timing, eh?

The guys did better on the emotional level. Although I know they are going to miss each other. Nathan Helm, Matthew Ames, Nate Springer, and Dan.

So we all vowed that we would have a reunion - AAO 2012 in Hawaii baby!

Dan, I love you so much, and I hope you know how proud I am of you. I am so lucky that I got to be a part of this journey with you. And now we begin a new journey. I can't wait to see where it takes us!