The Last Gathering

This past Sunday, our ortho family celebrated (or anti-celebrated?) our last full get together of our group of 6 families. Starting on Wednesday, one of the families will be gone at some point throughout the entire rest of our 15 months. It's bittersweet to be at this point in our residency...Four years ago, it felt like we would never make it this far. Now there are only 15 short months left to enjoy our time with these friends. There are a lot of things we haven't done, and a lot of memories yet to be made here in Rochester. Luckily, I know there will be a lifetime of memories with these friends as we visit each others' future homes and meet up for orthopedic conferences. But I thank God that the Mayo Clinic brought us all together...Life would not be same without them!

The big kids made their own pizzas...

Kinsley and Witt saucing their pizzas.

The guys minus Mike...He was on call.
Steve, Jon, Louie, Tim and Rob with Witten (and Helen at his feet)

The ladies and the babies.
Sari and Helen, Catherine and Kinsley, Me and Kylie, Rebecca and Ellasen, Mel and Baby K, Danielle and Sydney
Catherine and Louie's newest addition, Aubrey, was missing from the photo session because she was sleeping.

16 months!

Kylie turned 16 months on the 19th of March, and I am a little late on this post! But it's partially because I have made an executive decision about her monthly updates. I think it's time to cut back to quarterly updates. There are 3 reasons for this decision. 1. She isn't growing and changing as rapidly as she once was. 2. I cannot get her to sit still for a picture right now...It takes forever to get a decent one! 3. I'm getting a little lazy in her old age...and it's hard to sit inside and blog when I could be outside enjoying this beautiful weather.

So her next update will be at 18 months, which is in May. But, don't fear, if she does anything BIG (like walk), I'll post it!

For now, here are a few pictures of her at 16 months!

It's a little hard to see, but this is a picture of Kylie with her hair in a ponytail.
She has worn it that way two times.
I think it's cute, but it's difficult to put in because she is so wiggly.
I have learned that I get one chance to get it in, and it stays however it goes in.
This one is a little crooked! :)

One Saturday, I had an all-day class that I had to attend in order to renew my teaching license.
Jon was in charge of Kylie for the whole day by himself.
He got her up and dressed, kept her on her schedule and fed her lunch.
I found this on my camera a week later...
Lunch got a little messy!

This was the best picture I got of her with her gloworm this month.
That's what I mean when I say that she is too wiggly for pictures these days.
But she sure is cute!

Jon's Birthday

Jon's birthday was back on March 10th, and it was a beautiful spring day. Kylie and I wanted it to be his day so we did our best to let him choose all of our activities for the day. :) He started out by sleeping in until about 9:30-10:00am. I know he would have preferred to sleep longer, but I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to waste his whoooole day sleeping. We met friends for a picnic and adventure at Oxbow Park. It was a little windy, but everyone seemed to have a good time. We even enjoyed some yummy birthday cupcakes made by Erica!

Our little family in the parking lot of Oxbow!

The guys in front of the wolf cage: Chris, Jon and Brandon.
For all of you Twilight fans, they creatively named the wolf, Jacob.

The girls: Kristen and Halle, Erica and Annabelle, and me and Kylie.

After lunch, we came home so that Jon and Kylie could nap! :) Once Kylie woke up we headed up to Hudson so we could spend some time with Jon's family...and there was only one bump (or maybe two) on the way up. First, Kylie apparently wasn't feeling 100% because she threw up in her car seat when we were about half way there. So, like champion parents, we remained calm and stopped at the nearest gas station for an outfit change. I took Kylie and cleaned her up in the bathroom while Jon did his best to clean the car seat. This is where bump #2 comes in...Somehow in my packing rush, I forgot to pack clothes for Kylie. So, poor, little Kylie had to ride the rest of the way in her pajamas on top of plastic Kwik Trip bags. This might seem like no big deal, but the reason this was a semi-emergency was because we were supposed to be meeting Jon's parents for dinner at the Lake Elmo Inn, and we were running late. I envisioned my daughter sitting in a fancy restaurant in fleece, footy pajamas (that smelled a little bit like vomit) and just did not feel right about it. Thankfully, Jon's parents were able to stop by the nearest Target to pick up a new, adorable outfit (or two) for her. So, except for the smell that was lingering in our car, everything turned out well! Dinner at the Lake Elmo Inn was amazing, and Kylie was an (almost) perfect angel! After dinner, we ate some of Jon's mom's world famous carrot cake, and spent the night in Hudson so we could visit with them some more. We loved spending time with Jon's parents, and I think Jon really enjoyed his birthday!

I wish I would have taken more pictures of Jon's b-day, but I forgot...I'll do better next year for the big 3-0!

A Little Monkey

Over the past few weeks, Kylie has developed two new favorite, monkey-like activities. Her most favorite activity right now is climbing. She climbs onto everything: stairs, the toy box, chairs, couches, the toilet, and pretty much any other obstacle that presents itself. It's cute and scary all at the same time. It's cute because she is so proud of herself for accomplishing such a feat, but it's scary because she doesn't really know how to safely get down. She has some new bumps and bruises to prove it.

She climbed into the toy box, but could not figure out how to get back out.

She loves climbing on to the toy box.

She does this many times each day.

We have started to surround the toy box with pillows and cushions in case she falls.

So proud of herself!

Her other new favorite activity is swinging! On Tuesday, when the temperature got up into the 60s we spent quite a bit of time outside. We went for two walks and even made a stop at the park. Kylie discovered how much she loves to swing!

Having fun in the swing!