PhD

Well, I'm officially done with my terminal degree.

I successfully defended my dissertation on Monday and it went really well (minus the part where my advisor told me I was going to have to postpone my defense because of some logistical, paperwork issue).  But, I proceeded and managed to get out of there without any difficulty!

I am SOOOO glad to be finished and know that I don't have that stressor in my life any longer.

And, I'm kicking myself because I didn't even think to get a picture of my advisor and I.  

However, I did get a picture of my friend Ben, who just finished his degree a month ago.  We have taken pretty much all of our classes together since we started 3 years ago.

Ben and I holding our signed acceptance pages of our dissertation

But I did get a picture of Carole and I.

I lived with Carole while I was getting my masters and she has been one of my biggest cheerleaders throughout this whole process.

Sheesh, I remember the days when I first started, and I was still having to pump before class, and I would sit in Carole's office and just make small talk for 20 minutes.  Don't know what I would've done without her help!!!

After my defense, I met up with a girlfriend for lunch out at the Legends, came home and got myself a pedicure, and enjoyed a nice evening out to dinner with the family.

Brian and I are going to go out again on Friday night to spend some time just the two of us.

I think Brian's as excited as I am to be done.

Yipeeee!! No More School!!!!

Ordinary days

We went to see Cheeto again and practice taking him for walks.

Colin did awesome...Maggie, well, not so much.  She was pretty upset whenever Cheeto would try to smell her - We've got some work to do with that little one!

But, we had a great time hanging out with Cheeto for a bit and we can't wait until December!

Doggy kisses!

Maggie being her typical dramatic self :)

Sit, Cheeto!

Meemaw got Colin a book on how to draw dinosaurs.

His drew this one on his first try - pretty awesome!

Someone in our neighborhood was giving away this free dog crate - Never been used!

So, I swung by and picked it up, and the kids decided they needed to try it out.

Looks good to me! :)

And finally, a Maggie and Mommy selfie while watching a movie one night.

Love these ordinary days!

Postseason Baseball

The KC Royals have made it to postseason baseball for the first time in 29 years.

Brian has been waiting almost his entire life to see this day.

It finally happened, and we have been lucky enough to get to see the games in person!

We went to the stadium to watch the wildcard game last week, and then Brian went back this past weekend to watch the 3rd game of the series at home.

There have been some really exciting games - and so far, the Royals have come out on top.

I love this one of the guys

Caitlin and I represented the ladies for the group

I love this picture of Brian and I - it was a great night!

And Brian sent me this picture of all the Teson guys from the playoff game this past weekend...

What a good lookin group of men!

Hoping that Blue October continues with a World Series win!

Our neighbors rock!

We love our neighbors, have I said that before?

They have two kids, and they have outgrown their playset.

So, they offered to move it to our backyard as long as some cousins can play on it when they come over for family gatherings.  

DONE DEAL!!

Maggie and Colin are ALWAYS over at their house using it whenever they can.

Plus, it's big enough, but not monstrous, so that it doesn't completely take over our backyard.

Brian gathered all his brothers and dad and they moved the playset to our backyard.

It really didn't take too long, only about 20 minutes, and they used 4 PVC pipes to scoot it along.

Great work, boys!

 Even Colin helped out bringing the swings over to our yard

Then Brian spent the next few hours leveling the ground out and making sure everything was tightened for the kids to play on.

And...Ta Da!  We have a real life functioning playset to use!

Brian and I think we'll spend a lot more time outside on our deck, watching the kids play around.

Sounds like a win, win to me!

No more tonsils and adenoids for Colin

 Colin had his first surgery today that he was able to understand.  Around 1, he got tubes put in his ears - and that's so minor it's hardly even considered surgery anymore.

But, today he got his tonsils and adenoids removed.  We didn't really talk about the surgery much before this morning - we didn't want him to get worried about it before he needed to.

I looked up some good ways to explain the surgery to a child.  He seemed to be comfortable with it all when we talked about it on the way to the hospital.  We discussed the 'special nap' he would take, and how he would wear a 'batman mask' that would have some special, smelly air in it that would make him sleepy, and how he would wake up with a sore throat, but that mommy and daddy would be with him when he got up.

Colin did WAY better than Brian and I could ever have imagined.

There wasn't a single tear - not ONE!

The hospital did some really cute things for kids there - he got to drive a Jeep car into their surgery, he got to pick a stuffed animal, he had a goodie bag of little trinkets to take home, and the best part of all - the surgery was on time and we ran right on schedule!

 Colin played around in his Jeep for a while when we were getting checked in

A blurry pic of Daddy and Colin while we were waiting

 Such a happy camper even without anything to eat or drink

 I snapped this picture real quick before he drove off to the surgery - 

he was so brave!

They took him back at 8:30 am and we were in talking to the surgeon by 9:05 am. 

He said his tonsils were HUGE (and we have a picture to prove it - the right and left tonsil were each 1.5 inches in length) and his adenoids were enlarged as well.

He said everything went great and that we should focus all our attention on keeping Colin hydrated.

We waited about another 10 minutes and went back to see him in the recovery room.

This is what we saw...

 I'm serious when I say he didn't move a muscle for about 10 minutes - just drank his juice and stared off at the other end of the room.  No tears, whining, nothing.

Eventually he wanted me to hold him, which I was super excited about.  He also really wanted his IV out of his hand.  

 Finally waking up a bit

And while Colin was in my arms,

Batman kept his bed warm

 The nurse anesthetist had put on a bonnet and little booties on his feet, as well as gloves on his hands.  I guess he did that while Colin was having his surgery - it was pretty cute to see Batman all decked in his surgery gear like Colin was.

We were on our way home by 10:30 am - and stopped to get a chocolate smoothie (per Colin's request) on the way.  He watched the Lego movie and was ready to get outside to play by around 1 pm.  Too bad he has physical activity restrictions for the next 2 weeks.  The doctor says the pain will escalate until about day 3-4, then we have the highest risk of bleeding around day 6-7.  He will be off school for a week and then we'll see how he feels.  I think it's going to be pretty tough to keep this busy kid sedentary for the next 14 days.

In other pictures - I found these on my phone

Maggie and I ran to CVS over the weekend and she insisted on trying on this mask - 

We called her "old man Maggie"

And a picture of the kids on the way home from gymnastics one day

Colin looking all hip and cool!

Maggie looking like a little diva!

pics from the camera - ordinary days

Found some pictures on the camera that I thought I'd share - 

A pretty cute pic of Maggie - she's got some crazy, wild hair!

Brian went to the Chief's game last weekend - came home with some personalized Coke cans for us all (he drank his at the game)

Maggie had 'homework' where she had to color and practice cutting some paper using her scissors.
She did a wonderful job and was so proud of herself.

And Colin has been a little artist himself.

He learned how to draw a clown at school one day, then decided he wanted to draw one for each of his grandparents (plus Dave).

I thought they were super cute.  Plus, he thought it was awesome to mail them and get a call from everyone letting him know they appreciated his thoughtfulness.

Ordinary days that I don't want to forget!

2014 school pictures

The kids brought home their school pictures last week - they are so stinkin' adorable!

But of course, they are so stinkin' expensive to buy!

I just thought I would share with you  how cute my kiddos are.

 Not a genuine "maggie" smile, but still cute

 Here's a good smile from Mags - but please disregard the shorts peeking out from under her dress

 I actually loved all of Colin's pictures

 Looking so grown up

 This one is my favorite though - so cute!