Catholic School Guilt

Ah yes, time for the annual one hour of Catholic school guilt. One mass a year the priest really tries to make you feel like a parental failure for not putting your kids (and money) in the Catholic school here. After being informed by many other parents who have pulled their kids out of it, I no longer feel as guilty. Plus, the inconvenience of CCD once a week is far outweighed by the convenience of the public school bus. Seriously, thank God for the school bus, how I love thee. I could write love songs to the school bus and Patrick would chime in.

Obviously the kids would learn more about church history and Jesus in general, but when it comes to teaching morals I continue to be surprised by how much of that is covered in the public schools here. Maybe it is a wholesome Kansas thing, I don't know, but it is far more than I learned in Catholic elementary and high school. We never did the whole pillars of character thing that they do here, I never got any Respectful Rabbit award (which includes a pencil in case you were wondering). The girls are a little too obsessed with the pencils and who is getting them, so at least it isn't social suicide to have good behavior (at least not in 2nd grade).

Anyway, I do find it interesting that with all this talk of sending your kids to Catholic school, the topic of a Catholic university is never mentioned at any point in the year. Having gone to both I think that the university experience had a far greater impact on my life. Not that I regret going to the Catholic high school but looking back I can see the deficiencies in my education there. Of course it was much easier to stand out in a small school academically- and athletically. One year I was the entire girl's cross country team and I assure you, I was the top runner (on the team). All my medals were stolen when we lived in downtown Indy, but tragically, the photos of me in red running tights were not, so I do have proof of this... but you will not find those photos online. Hedlun (the entire boy's cross country team) wouldn't dare reveal those on facebook because I am pretty sure I have photos of him in red running tights too....

Back to my original topic... the guilt is gone for another year and when it comes to making sacrifices for the education of our children like the priest talked about, well, Sean is working two jobs so our kids can go to a Catholic university someday. And I get woken up by those jobs, poor me! (Hey, it is annoying when all the kids manage to sleep through the night, but army wakes me up several times. I realize this is more annoying to Sean....)

Vampire?

In case the pale Irish radiologist skin didn't tip you off, I have discovered that Sean is also a vampire. As anyone who has read or seen Twilight has learned, vampires don't sleep. I found that to be the most fascinating part of the series... oh, the stuff you could accomplish at night if you didn't have to sleep! Well, if Sean isn't up working half the night then he is up playing video games (his 3rd job?) and is none the worse for the wear the next day. My sympathies to his staff on the days when he does sleep in a bit and skips his shower.... ignoring the advice his dad gave him as a teenager: don't use deodorant in lieu of a shower. Hey, whatever keeps the techs out of his reading room...

Back in the day when Sean was deciding what specialty to pursue he debated between OB and radiology. At the time he claimed that he picked radiology because he didn't want to be on call the rest of his life, but now that he is on call for 94 hospitals (95 if you count army) I am skeptical... Based on my personal research, I think Sean just doesn't like whiny pregnant women. Or whiny women in general which is why I am going to try and nap with the little ones now. Patrick took the motorcycle to nap with him and it doesn't sound like either one is sleeping, so this may not work.

My Personal Trainers

The littles are ganging up on me and trying to motivate me to work out more. Patrick keeps asking me if I want to go exercise, which I believe is part of his plan to get to watch a movie and eat popcorn while I use the elliptical in the basement. Then Emily uses what little hand skills she has to pinch my stomach fat as she eats, as if to say, "come on mom, should you really be eating all those cookies while you're feeding me?!" Deal with the crumbs, little one. Working out with only the little ones at home is tricky due to the shower requirement. Someday it will be warm enough to just take them for a walk... someday. Unfortunately someday is a little too close to pool season.

Patrick's New Show

Episode one yesterday, Bulldozer Mania. He is eagerly awaiting more action but nothing today.

Mommy's Little Eater

Emily went for her 2 month appointment yesterday and we found out she has grown 2.5 inches and gained almost 6 pounds. Why yes, 50% for height and 90% for weight. Apparently I am passing on all those dessert calories... or maybe it's because every time she fusses I use it as an excuse to sit down and feed her. Either way it probably explains why she is able to sleep up to 10 hours straight at night (rarely happens but nice that it's a possibility now!).

Are you kidding me?!

UGH, we have been dreading this day for the 3.5 years we have lived in this house... looks like we will have neighbors sooner than we wanted. Don't get me wrong, love our neighbors, surrounded by great people who don't beat each other in the driveway (as compared to our neighbors in Texas), but we don't understand why we have to live so close together. If I wanted to live in a townhouse, I would. And I promise, I would call 911 if our neighbor's house was on fire, you don't have to make it so I am calling because MY house is about to be on fire too.

We were one of the first houses in the neighborhood and when we picked out our lot there was only one house built, so we had no idea the houses would be so close together. I mean no offense to Kansas, but anyone who has driven through it or flown over it, knows that there is PLENTY of open land here, we could spread out a little. As for everyone who cheerily points out that there is less yard work to do... well, ah, good for our lawn boy? At least we don't back up to another house at this point... someday there will be a church there, unless they have to sell off the land.... hmm, may need to up our donations.

Pajamas and Messy Hair

Yeah, this photo wasn't taken in the morning either... they are serious about their pajama days (and bed hair).

He does have 3 sisters...

This sort of thing is bound to happen. He also picked out a pink toothbrush at the dentist the other day. Whenever I start to wonder about his boy skills he manages to do something like make up a trick on his motorcycle that involves slamming the front wheel down very loudly while Emily is sleeping.

Slacker Parent Weekend

Ah, another weekend not packed with kid sporting events. The joys of having children who lack hand-eye coordination... We are still working on getting them to run around the outside of the house without falling down, and I am not just talking about Patrick here. It was nice enough for them to play outside for a bit yesterday, good reason to get them out of pajamas finally (at 4pm). They were content to do little else yesterday though which left time for me to exercise and sit in the hot tub. I was feeling an inkling of guilt as I got in the hot tub and was thinking of those motivated parents, sitting in the stands, cheering on their children... but then I turned on the jets and it disappeared, as did my lower back pain. Rah, rah, hot tub!

I am thinking that if we did spend more time shuttling the children around I would have an excuse for my house being so dirty at least. My excuse for the van being so filthy is that the line for the car wash was longer than my healthy snacks would last. I swung by there after the grocery store and had some sushi ready to eat in line but by the looks of it I would have followed that up with all 6 of the Krispy Kreme donuts I got to bribe the kids to go to school tomorrow. Sorry for the sugar high, teachers! It's my revenge for them teaching the kids to read and write. Now Megan is able to let everyone know that the van says "wash me". 8 year olds are hilarious.

As for the much anticipated shoe hunt update (I know, only my mom cares), Sean was successful of course but I am still debating. My legs cramped up just trying on a couple of them and other ones highlighted my ugly, ugly winter feet, but with the help of Anna who also tried them on, I think I found a pair. I also found Patrick chewing on one pair, so perhaps I am buying those too? Sean offered up some advice from the much loved show, 30 Rock, when I was teetering around in one pair... "Heel, toe, Lemon. Heel, toe." I should go practice, it has been years... and then box up the rest to get out of the house before a child ruins them.

Welcome to my shoe store

I'm trying to think of a nice way to phrase this, but I'm too tired soo.... the shopping here sucks. When it comes to buying shoes I go online and gamble. Last night after a half glass of wine (had to use it up before it went bad, I do hate to waste any) I couldn't make up my mind as to what shoes would look good and not make me want to gnaw my feet off after 5 minutes of dancing, so I just ordered a selection to try on. The shoe store comes to me! I ordered late last night and they were here (in the biggest box Zappos has) by 5pm today. I have no clue how they managed this but no complaints here. I am wondering why Discover Card hasn't called to check on that transaction.

Sean was working a shift during all this and I felt slightly guilty so I ordered him some to try too. You can imagine how excited he was. Or not. Anyway, I think it was a success for both of us and now I just hope there isn't a tornado before I can get them back in the mail for a refund. I did resist ordering the $995 pair just to check them out... couldn't risk those getting ruined somehow before returning them.

8 year streak broken

We have had kids in the house for 8 years and 11 days and for the first time ever Barney is being shown. Patrick told me he wanted Elmo (and I wanted 20 minutes on the computer) so I turned on the TV and Barney was playing. I tried to queue up Sesame Street quickly but it was too late. Patrick was already hooked. I don't understand, I really don't. But look, I got on the computer!

Step up from the Keenan Shirt...

I'm on the hunt for some dress shoes for a party next month and stumbled across these...




Jimmy Choo
Keenan Metallic Caged Sandals
$995

I can't even comprehend this price which is why I live in the Little Apple, not the Big Apple. Sorry Carrie Bradshaw.

Mom Fail

On Saturday we ran out of diapers for Emily... including emptying the diaper bag. You'd think after 8 years of almost non-stop diapering I would have it figured out by now. Not really a big deal to run out and get more as Target is 30 seconds away, but still this would have been ugly with 4 kids in tow if Sean hadn't been home. Anyway, I feel slightly better now that I found 10 non-Elmo diapers in the bottom of Emily's dirty clothes basket. Apparently they didn't pass the Patrick standards and he had to hide them. It did seem like we ran out pretty fast at the end there....

The Big Baby

Patrick was tearing around the basement as usual today and ran into the wall, hurting his leg. He was limping around for a while, then wouldn't put any weight on it and was crawling, so I figured it might really be broken or something (having learned a thing or two from the story of Caroline going to World's of Fun with her broken leg). So I called Sean and told him I was bringing him to the office to have it checked out (and Patrick got on the phone to merely say "cheeseburger"). He was so pathetic that I did indeed stop to get him a cheeseburger on the way, which I fear will now be his new ploy to get one. Anyway, his x-ray was fine, just a bruise Sean said and then told him to go home and take a nap. He played in his room instead so I guess he is feeling all better now. No doubt he will be milking this later to get attention from the girls. As you can see, he loves to play the baby sometimes!

Two Months

Yes, can't believe it has been 2 months, blah, blah, blah. Definitely a fun age when they start sleeping longer and smiling for real.

Bust a Move

The other day I heard Megan telling Anna to stop all the rhyming so I started listening to what Anna had been absentmindedly muttering to herself.... why, it was the lyrics to Bust a Move, which is on the Glee soundtrack that I play all the time. I don't think she realized what it was from, must have just been stuck in her head. It is rather catchy.

Just glad she didn't remember the line about "ate so much you nearly split your pants" or she would have been muttering that in church yesterday. I had a wardrobe malfunction which Sean didn't notice until I walked up to communion. Nice. And we were sitting up front so the kids could see the music people, so my apologies to the left side of the church. I'm sure it was due to faulty seam construction (not the arrival of Girl Scout cookies-- and if you want to leave a comment without it getting deleted you must start with the phrase "faulty seam construction of course"). In true cartoon fashion, I was wearing underwear that accented the rip. Sean offered to take a photo when we got home but I passed. I think enough people saw it in person, I don't need to frighten my dear blog readers...

Let's Jinx It!

Emily has only woken up once each of the past 3 nights! This combined with the return of most favored babysitters has been much appreciated. We even had our old sitter call yesterday to say she is in town and wondered if we wanted to go out Saturday night. Was that a rhetorical question?

I also found time to order the clothes we need for some events in February. We'd never have time to actually get to KC to buy them in person so hopefully everything fits. Sean is looking forward to saying "suit up" for once, in tribute to one of our favorite shows, HIMYM. And right on schedule, Discover just called me (twice, I hung up on my cell phone because it was 1-888, so then they tried the home phone, whoops) to confirm the purchases. Yes, whenever charges show up that aren't from Target or Wendy's they get suspicious.

Well, Sean is working the good shift until 2pm so I need to work on the volume level around here. I have suggested moving the office to the storage room (after some drywall perhaps) as it is quieter and cooler, which would also be helpful in the warmer months as those monster computers throw some heat, but Sean is reluctant. Reluctant to haul all the crap out of the storage room that is. We either need a truck to dispose of all the old furniture or we need to find a good weekend to have that faux garage sale. It is my plan to just put all our junk in the driveway, advertise it as a garage sale, and then just put a free sign out and leave for the day. Surely someone will fall for it. I do miss San Antonio in this regard as junk dealers from the south side would just troll our neighborhood the night before garbage day and pick up stuff. I also miss the cheap day laborers... I could get that storage room finished out for about $750, plus tacos. Oh, I'm kidding about the tacos, I usually ordered them pizza.

If anyone was actually interested in hearing what Sean does when he works from home I would post a link to the radiology nerds website where they have some of Sean's cases as "vid-ray of the week". There is some new technology that they are using (wait, did everyone fall asleep just then?) where it is like a video of Sean moving the cursor around the study and talking about what he thinks the problem is. Fascinating stuff to about 0.01% of the population and funny to me as you can hear the kids in the background (and me yelling, "for the last time, if you are going to be loud up here, make hospital noises!"). I don't think you usually hear people fighting over which episode of Arthur to watch at a hospital...

Pat-pat's Dolls

I have been hearing quite a bit of talk about "Pat-pat's dolls" the past couple days. Patrick is insisting that his sisters' American Girl Dolls are his and he loves to carry them around. I keep trying to put them away and make him forget about them, but it isn't working. Last night he was throwing a small fit at bedtime so I let him take 2 of them to bed with him. Sean was working a shift so I had to try my best to keep the herd quiet, desperate times here. I didn't tell Sean, no need to worry him about his son's interest in girl toys (by the way, he also begs to go to dance class), but since I found the dolls with their clothes off this morning, I don't think it's going to be an issue. Not that I think sleeping with naked American Girl Dolls is a good thing either... plus, the girls will be ticked if they find this out. Need to find a better hiding place for them tonight!

Emily earns chore points

I tried to teach the big girls how to do their own laundry, now it's Emily's turn. This is one way I can get stuff done around here when she is not being a good napper. She should be one today after being up so much last night... someone did not like the food from Harry's apparently.

Return of the Vee-Vee

All hail the babysitter! After a month of no sitter in town I received the best text message ever this morning... as Patrick says, "Vee-vee here!". Yes, locked her down immediately for date night tonight, it was time to finish a conversation for once and not have to use code words either. We took Emily with us to Harry's because we figured it is a Monday night in January, they will just be happy to have customers and will politely hide their annoyance that we brought a baby. She slept the entire time so we did our best to run down the clock... no need to come home early and too tired to run an errand after dinner. Certainly too tired to schlep that car seat any farther than necessary. Arm of iron.

Now it did occur to me on the way to dinner that most other people out driving on a Monday night are taking their kids to sports practice, games, dance, music lessons, art class, whatever... and once again ours are at home running in circles until they get dizzy and fall down. I think we may have a problem with "well roundedness" when it comes time for college applications. Hmm, I can't find a way to tie this in to how I'd still rather get out once a week for date night. For the record, I have never said no to the girls when they asked to be in an activity, but I also haven't shown them the flyers for soccer. I'm sorry, 8am games on Saturdays? Fiddlesticks no! (Oh look, I did get to use code words tonight.)

I should probably clean up this blog a bit now that I have heard from a few new readers.... quick shout out to Uncle Kevin (ignore the post with the insinuation about the church being a gold digger-- I will now resist making a joke about the other song being more appropriate), to Bobbi (get on facebook, no seriously, you are the only person not on there), and to Megan's teacher to whom I accidentally included my blog address on the email I sent her (it's my signature line). I promise it was because I was tired and not because I was drinking wine. Seriously, the wine stuff is a joke. I am too tired to drink.

8 Years

Happy birthday to Megan yesterday! That's right, I can't even get a birthday post up on time for her, all part of the joy of having a birthday so soon after Christmas. She didn't want a party this year, once again opting for a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge, something I offered up before I realized I have 4 kids now. Sean can handle the girls on the big kid stuff, but how in the world would I manage a teeny baby and a two year old? So who knows when or how that will happen, maybe Megan will forget. I know, only 11 days into the new year and I already have Mother of the Year award all wrapped up.

Speaking of wrapping, I also didn't think to wrap her presents until she asked to open them, whoops. And what wonderful presents they were! Why, it's all the presents I ordered for Christmas that didn't come until after Christmas. Presto, now they are birthday presents! She was thrilled though and I later took her to get some jeans that aren't 4 inches too short and acted like that was another present. Hey, you have to keep expectations low. Her husband will thank me one day.

Patrick finally got to sing Happy to You on someone's birthday and he did it all day long. You can see him leading the others in song in this photo of him. Quite a versatile song which I guess explains why he is still singing it today.

Back from hiatus, it's Emily Photos For Grandma!

Baby acne has mostly cleared up, only to be replaced with cradle cap. This poor girl has every skin problem known to babies. Hoping the teen years are kinder to her.

Thanks Aunt Bridget, I love it!

Really, couldn't be happier with the gift you sent.
Love,
Emily

Management Material

I joke about my four bosses but one of them is definitely cut out for a managerial position. Whenever I go to change Emily's diaper I have to sneak off now or Patrick will come micro-manage me. He has to have final say as to which diaper I use (they have Sesame Street characters on them). This was the exchange this morning:
Patrick (running into the room and catching me about to change Emily): NOOOOOOOOO!
Me: Patrick, I have to change her.
Patrick (whipping the clean diaper out from under Emily): ELMO!
Me: (one step ahead of him) It IS Elmo, Patrick.
Patrick: NOOOOOO, COOKIE MONSTER!!
Me: (2 steps ahead of him) Here is Cookie Monster (my back up diaper which I then put under her).
Patrick: NOOOOOOOOO, ELMO!!!

Okay boss, whatever you say, I will bow to your every whim on non-essential matters.... Ah, better up the monthly contributions to his college fund, this one needs an MBA.

Lessons on a Snow Day

1. No matter how tired Sean is, he still won't fall for the old "it's take your son to work day" plan.

2. Everyone knows that the Schwans man doesn't deliver milk, but he also won't make a special run to get you wine, no matter how much you say you will tip him.

3. I think my black tea is defective as I still have no energy. I saved it for dire situations and it let me down. I hate you, black tea.

4. The snow boy keeps forgetting to shovel a path to my hot tub and I don't have boots high enough to make it out there through the drifts without getting frost bite on my knees. After waiting 10 months to use it, the arctic blast is pissing me off.

5. I am certain that Sean is glad he's not a teacher. Parting words as he ran out the door this morning, "sorry, no snow days at the hospital, suckers!" Who cares if the patients won't make it in... army fire wall doesn't keep out espn.com or my blog. Come. Home. Early. With. Wine. I'll let you nap with the baby on the couch.

Wild Dogs? Bear?

Whoever attacked my pantry and ripped open boxes of cereal apparently used the Hello Kitty walkie-talkies to coordinate it all in the 30 seconds I went to the basement to gather water glasses (Anna is prepared for an alien attack a la Signs). Hard to be mad when the first thing the culprit says to me is "Daddy nuts" and hands me all the pecans he has picked out of Daddy's cereal. Wow, so many jokes I could make now but I am no longer in 9th grade.

Should've named him Richard

Will no one understand my outdated SNL reference? You all are getting too much sleep because it made me laugh. Boy, I really need to get out of this house...

Gray Highlights

It is a "light caffeine" day here according to some new tea I just got. Apparently green tea is light caffeine, is that like light beer? God, I hope it doesn't taste as bad as light beer. I am throwing up just a little thinking of the smell... any beer smell really, including, or rather especially, beer breath of nearby people. This ties in with how I am having college flashbacks this morning thanks to the Glee soundtrack, which I might add is the oddest collection of songs. We were listening to it on the way to church yesterday (to drown out the complaints) and I don't know which was more inappropriate, I Wanna Sex You Up or Gold Digger? Well, I guess it depends on who is doing the homily. Was glad to find out we weren't the only ones who tossed the survey wanting to know which percentage of our income we were giving to the church and then how much that would work out to in a dollar amount. Hmm, does God know Sean moonlights? Somehow we made it into the Bishop's Circle according to a letter we just got, not sure what that means... maybe the Bishop knows about the moonlighting? I sure hope he doesn't know about this blog.

Anyway, the kids are still working the shift system here. As soon as the older ones finally, finally, FINALLY, get in bed then Emily wakes up and kicks off her party. She knows how to get attention around here and maybe if I was on full speed caffeine I could last until 2am, but instead I am just up and down with her the entire night. Sean needs to learn how to wear the sling so she can be wingman while he moonlights at least. So I am pretty sure I will be sporting some gray highlights soon (or if I am already, many thanks for not pointing it out). Somehow Sean continues to not age (working in a job that doesn't allow access to natural sunlight may help there) so I am going to have to put his gray highlights in while he sleeps because it simply is not acceptable for him to continue to get carded if he wants a drink at dinner.

Light caffeine is kicking in and hopefully it is the right amount... to get me through the morning but then to let me nap in the afternoon if the opportunity arises. Yes, so if anyone wonders how I manage to get it all done without real caffeine, let me assure you it is NOT getting all done. Let's just say my favorite quote from Glee is "my family is fully committed to take-out". Fortunately I have nausea memories that are linked to all the restaurants in town from the months of not cooking while sick and pregnant, so I can't eat much of it. Very fortunate because I certainly am not exercising. Umm, it's too cold? At least I can burn calories sitting on the couch feeding a baby, or even more if I walk around feeding the baby, making sure that Patrick isn't putting "daddy tools" into electrical outlets.... As always, the day is a success if the children have survived. In a few years I will resume my former standards... if there are no toys in the freezer and no snack bowls in the bathroom. I am too tired to make this stuff up...

What the what?

You know how sometimes you end up following the same car for ages, making all the same turns, and it's starting to get a little awkward, like does this person in front of you think you are a really obvious stalker, etc. Well, last week I did that, picked it up shortly after leaving the neighborhood and then followed this person all the way to my doctor's office. I mean, this is not like how I'd follow a neighbor all the way to school at 8:30am to drop off the kids, that just makes you realize you should car pool. Or it's not like going to Target because let's face it, half the town is headed there at any given moment judging by the parking lot.

No, this was not only weird and awkward... I also felt like I was in trouble! Yes, it was a police car and while I was doing the following, for some reason I felt like he was following me and I had done something wrong. Oh and this appointment was my 6 week post-baby check-up. I actually made it into the lobby first and thought the policeMAN must be going into another office nearby (since he has no "lady parts"), so when he walked in I seriously thought he was going to tell me I broke some law somehow and give me a ticket. Yes, the paranoia of the "rule follower" personality. Sean totally gets this as he lives in fear that the shoplifting sensors at Target will wrongly go off when he walks through them. No worries though, it has still been 18 years since I have gotten a ticket and that one was due to a broken speedometer (honestly, true story but of course all those shoplifting types have been using that excuse for ages so the officer didn't believe me and I was not about to cry my way out of it). Ah, now I am just remembering all the random cars Dad had during our teen years when he kept buying them at auctions and fixing them up with his buddy. But, that's another post... I may have to find a way to scan in some photos...

It's a Small Town Segment

In today's segment about living in a small town, I will discuss embarrassing movie theatre antics. The girls wanted to go see the Princess and the Frog movie again and since they didn't shout out, "I hate church" while actually IN church, I decided to reward them with something besides food and take them myself. Sean always takes them but has a strict rule about only seeing movies with the word princess in them once, so this one was all me. Well, me and Emily that is. Can never be sure when she is going to want to eat, sometimes it's a frequent snacking day (we've all had those).

So we stumble in late to the dark theatre during the booming previews and Emily is already crying. I was shocked to find so many people there, people who were no doubt already annoyed with said crying. We manage to find seats and then try to untangle the mess of coats and blankets and car seat and get Emily out so I can bribe her to shut up with food. So then there is a lot of loud smacking, what is that about you're not supposed to eat because you are angry? Emily hasn't heard that rule, but I'm sure everyone heard her eating. OH well, I figure at least it is dark and we don't know anyone. Yeah, you know where this is going... as we leave we realize we do know quite a few people. And thankfully they are all very nice and understanding-- and wondering why Sean got to skip out! As I hoped, Emily did sleep the rest of the movie and all in all, it was easier than putting Patrick down for his nap!

Random sidenote: I feel the need to make jambalaya now since the movie is set in New Orleans and they talk about the food a lot. A guy I worked with in Indy gave me a great recipe for it as he grew up there, but back when I made it the first time I wasn't a very experienced cook and misinterpreted what a clove of garlic was. Recipe called for two cloves and I used 2 HEADS of garlic. It was really good but a bit strong... This same old coworker just emailed me yesterday asking for $2000 to help him get home from the UK and it made me laugh so hard because it was written in proper British grammar (think Peter Rabbit, "presently") which doesn't really go with that southern drawl. Well, I need to end this so I can get down to Western Union to get that money to him...

Happy New Year!

Sean has to work this New Year's Eve, had the last one off, so happy paycheck to him is more accurate. The girls had a great time with some friends over but we'll see how they act in the morning. I had real tea with caffeine in it today so I am staying up with the girls. Tomorrow might be ugly for all of us around here!

Hard to believe ten years ago we were celebrating with our college friends at Kathleen's lake house. No one had kids, most weren't married, how things have changed. We have lived in 4 cities since then and of course had 4 kids. Very happy to have med school, internship, and residency behind us... has been a busy 10 years. Can't imagine where we will be in ten years but Megan will be a senior in high school. That is crazy.