Thanks OkC Grands!

Easter came a little early at our house this afternoon. Clara's Oklahoma City grandparents sent her a sweet and cuddly bunny named Regan Rabbit. Clara enjoyed getting the package and loving on her little bunny. Coincidentally, Regan Rabbit's outift is very similar in color to Clara's Easter dress. I'm having her picture made soon and I think it would be so cute to have her holding the bunny in the picture with her :)

Moustache March

One of the residents Tom works with started "Moustache March" last year and they had it again this year. This is where all the men throw away their razors for the month of March and grow out all the facial hair they can. Then on the last day of the month, they shave their beards into the weirdest looking moustaches possible and hope to be voted on for a prize. It costs $$ for people to vote and all the money goes to the Children's Hospital of Illinois. If it wasn't for such a good cause, I would really dislike moustache march.

Here is my handsome husband...uh..er..kind of ;)

Here is the 'before' shot.

Here is the 'after' shot...yes, he died it black.

The other doctor in this picture tried to bleach his blond, but no amount of dye would turn it any lighter. Tom and the PICU doctor thought they would pose as the Ying and Yang of Moustache March or something like that.

Way too long!

It's been a while!! I apologize to all our family who haven't got to see pictures of their granddaughter, niece, cousin, friend, etc. I know I have been holding out on you for a long time (way too long!) and honestly, I don't have a lot to show for it. Unfortunately, Clara is going on these anti-picture streaks where she won't stand still for a picture because the second I take the camera out she runs over asking to see the picture. Clara has not grasped the concept of WAITING until I actually take the picture, and then come running over to see the picture I've taken. I put up the digital camera for a few weeks and thought I would try again today. Same old story. Like Tom told me, I just need to start taking a lot of action shots.

Anyways, can you believe my baby is 21 months old now?!? What, you may wonder, is Clara up to right now? Well...she likes to color pictures, likes to play with her giant legos, loves to be read to, loves to push her stroller on walks (and throws a fit when we make her actually sit in the stroller!), and is really good about helping to clean up her toys after she's done with them.

Some of her odder and cute quirky things: she immediately tells Tom or I to 'Buckle! Buckle!' after we get in the car, has specific carts she likes in the grocery store (the blue or red ones that look like little race cars), she gets out her honey and peanut butter for me every morning to prepare her breakfast, she says 'yea church!' when we tell her we're going to church, she swings and tries to climb on the back on her high chair while saying 'Monkey! Monkey!', she carries a stool which is about half her size around the house and it's pretty heavy for her too. She'll yell out 'stool!' and sure enough comes back with it from wherever she needed it last so that she can climb up on something or see something she wants to see. There are so many funny and sweet things...she cracks us up.

Just an update on the house...no buyers yet, and honestly, not a whole lot of interest either. We are looking into getting a realtor soon. Tom has been working a TON up at his residency and doing quite a bit of moonlighting too. Tonight is his last night up at the hospital for a while and we are both so ready for us all to be back on a normal schedule.

Here are some pictures from the last month or so...

It's Official!

We have officially put our house on the market! That consisted of a whole lot of odd jobs being accomplished around the house and sticking a sign in the yard with some flyers about the house. Let's hope the offers start rolling in!
Here's Clara watching Daddy put the sign in the yard.

It's been a while since I posted anything...We have been busy around here, mostly trying to get the house ready and dealing with the typical viruses that we invetibly catch this time of year.

Clara has been insistant about 'helping' us around the house. She gets her honey and peanut butter from the cabinet every morning, helps empty the dishwasher, goes through the mail with me, and has recently started doing the dishes.

Papa Tom's

If this whole medical thing doesn't work out, Tom already has a Plan B for what he wants to do when he grows up! Tom has been in the pizza making mood for the past few weeks and has perfected making his own crust. I thought documentation of this process was in order (because it is definitely a process!) and friends and family may want to see the glorious pie in it's finished state.

Step 1:
Measure all ingredients for dough and load into bread maker.


Step 2:
Hand knead and toss dough


Step 3:
Shape dough on pizza pan and add mozzerella cheese sticks for a 'stuffed crust' effect.



Step 4:
Add sauce

Step 5:
The pepperoni layer


Step 6:
Add all other veggies and meats.

Step 7:
Add cheese and bake!

About 25 minutes later, this is what we had to feast on tonight!!


It was awesome. The stuffed crust was a bonus - and a first for Tom. The pizza was great and very filling.

Here's the obligatory picture of Clara (and the real reason the grandparents are still reading at this point) Crazy hair night!

Big Sky was Big Fun

After a week in the mountains, it was hard to come back to the midwest. We had such a good time in Montana!! We did so many different things, it's hard to write about all of them in one post.

The travel part was so much easier than our ski trip last year. Our flights were on time, weather was good, the car rental went smoothly and we made it easily from the airport to our condo. The drive from Bozeman to Big Sky is gorgeous. You ride alongside the Gallatin River for much of the trip up the mountain. Apparantly this is one of only a few rivers that flows northward and was the river that was filmed in the movie 'A River Runs through it'.

We made it to our condo and were happy with our accomodations. It's 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, nice open floorplan with the kitchen, dining room and living area all together. We were only 150 yards from the ski lifts and had an awesome view of the ski runs on the mountain.

Clara found a few little spots she she enjoyed sitting. This was one of them - she could sit on the windowsill, eat her snack and look up at the skiiers on the mountain. A few minutes after this picture was taken, Clara was messing around, trying to climb up the windowsill and she fell over. She bit through the skin below her lower lip and had a fat lip the rest of the trip. Tom didn't think it was worth stitching up and Clara wasn't too traumatized by the whole thing. She cried for a couple minutes and then started laughing in my arms. What a trooper!

During our week long stay, Tom skiied 5 days and I skiied 4 days. The terrain was great - plenty of snow, lots of challenging runs, and no lift lines! This was taken on one of the rare, clear days. A lot of the time we skiied, there was snow falling and cloudy skies.

Clara, G-ma, and I went tubing together one evening which was so fun. Once we learned how to slow down, it was a little less scary.

The reason we decided to go to Big Sky was for a Wilderness Medicine conference that Tom wanted to attend. Tom would go for a couple hours early in the morning and then come home and we would ski the rest of the day. Several of his resident friends also went to the conference and it was fun to hang out with them in the evenings and on the mountain.

We took a horse drawn sleigh ride one night out to a little cabin in the woods for dinner. There was no electricity or running water. Only a huge 120 year old wood burning stove and candelight. There were lanterns hung from the ceiling too, maybe gas powered?!? I can't remember. The dinner was so good - we had lentil soup, wheat rolls, prime rib, potatoes, veggies, and cheesecake for dessert. Yummmmmm.

We also tried something new this trip. We took a dog sled ride through the woods and it was probably the highlight of the trip. Tom drove our sled, while Clara and I rode, and 8 Alaskan huskies pulled our sled. Clara fell asleep quickly into the ride which surprised Tom and I both.

Here's Clara and I standing behind the sled.

Here's a view from the sled, while the dog's were pulling.

It was an 8 mile round trip and halfway through we stopped for cookies and hot chocolate and took some pictures. Here's Clara sleeping during the ride.

My Mom came with us to help out and watch Clara while Tom and I skiied during the day. She was a huge help and it was a lot of fun for Clara to hang out with Grandma. They played a lot, walked around the base area, shopped, etc.

Clara played several times on this playground which was mostly covered in snow, but was fun for Clara to crawl through and climb on.



We had a really good time in Big Sky and will make a trip back there, maybe next year. It's a great place to ski - huge mountain and not very crowded. It's also a quick and easy drive from the airport. There isn't as much shopping and businesses in Big Sky, like in Colorado, but that doesn't really matter to Tom and I very much. The skiing was good and that's what was most important.

The trip home was pretty easy and uneventful. Clara was a really good traveler this time. She slept when she should and was happy and content while awake. (This is in stark contrast from our trip out west over the summer...). Now that were home, it's back to normal. Tom is back at work today and Clara and I are trying to get the house back in order.

47 out of 47

Wonder what the title means? You probably would never guess so I'll just tell you. Tom just finished his 47th night of overnight call (over the past three years) and it is his last!! Yea! This means from here on out Tom only (yea, right, 'only'...he is still a resident so is working a lot!) will work his 10 or 12 hour ER shifts, no more of those energy draining, crabby-making, way-too-long-for-Dad-to-be-away-from-his-family 30 hour shifts at the hospital!


I love this picture of Clara with the phones. Right before I took this picture she was walking around the house chattering away with both phones up to her ears! You know how little boys make anything they can find into a gun? Clara makes everything she finds into a phone...like the TI-83 calculator, the remote control, etc. You get the picture.

Here's Clara in her Valentine outfit. I am hoping to get Tom and Clara's picture made together with her wearing this shirt and Tom dressed up nice too. Stay tuned...hopefully you will see it in a couple weeks.
We are getting excited about our upcoming vacation. In a couple days we will be skiing down the slopes in Big Sky, Montana. Clara will be with us too along with my Mom who will lovingly babysit for us while we are out during the day and night! Rest assured there will be a ton of pictures from that coming soon too.