Ben VS. Manhattan

This is my favorite picture... it gives the "I'm not from around here" look.


Ben found some Pincho's.... he was SOOO excited!
Eating a HUGE sandwich.... I LOVE that they took lots of eating pictures... he really is a man after my own heart!!!  I LOVE YOU BEN!
Here are the terrific hosts and tour guides!  Thanks guys!

It is a good thing that Candace and Richie are good enough to help Ben out in the Big Apple.  I'm sure he felt like a Deer in the Headlights being around that many people.  For those of you who know us.... we are NOT city folk.  Anyway, here are some pictures from their adventure through the city yesterday.  We don't know what we would have done without you Candace and Richie!  Thanks for everything!!

HI DADDY in NYC

Here are Holdyn and her cousin Brielle enjoying a nice warm bubble bath.  
Kimber being smiley.  We've got her on ANOTHER new formula, and this one FINALLY seems to be helping!
Holdyn sat still long enough for Grandma to put in some pink spongy curlers.  She kept them in for awhile, which shocked me. She had to take them out before she went to bed though.

Happy Birthday Dad!

We had a GREAT surprise party for my dad.  It was his big 60!  We had a lot of fun gathering people from the neighborhood and his friends from around town and church.  He had no Idea! 

Here is little miss Brielle enjoying some of Grandpa's birthday cake!

We had a house-full and loved every minute of it!  We hope you had a Happy Birthday DAD!

Before and After

While we've been waiting and waiting for Ben's test results, waiting through the holidays, then waiting for AUC to help get Ben's clinicals finalized, and waiting to start, we had to do something to keep busy.  So we have been doing work on the Guest house that we are living in. 

Here is the before on the outside

 (we did add the window in the door, the cement walk in front and the  gravel walkway so I didn't truly get a "before" picture but this is as close as we have)... 

And here is the after.  We added the little front porch awning, made and painted the shutters and the door and the trim, and we put little flower boxes under the front two windows.  

(There you go Brenda)

FUTURE PLANS!

We never know what to expect as a MD student family.  Ben has spent many days on the phone and filling out/faxing paperwork.  Only to find those people he needed to contact on vacation, and having surgeries and just gone from the office.  Well, finally today we have some answers and plans!  

From Feb 15- March 6 Ben will be in NYC doing a PMMR rotation at Nassau Hospital on Long Island.  

From March 9-April 17 We will all go to Metropolatin Hospital in Norwalk, CA for Psyche.  

From May 4-May 29 we will all go to Roswell, NM for a Family Practice Rotation.

We will then be able to settle down in Bakersfield, CA for the remainder of his schooling! YIPPEE!

It is going to be a lot of moving and meeting new people and I'm sure some great adventures to come!  We are just happy to finally know what lies ahead!

Two of a kind

We've been having some beautiful weather!  We got a babysitter for Kimber and took Holdyn to ride horses.  (Thanks to Josh and Tiff)    Holdyn and Emma are quite the pair.   It is kind of scary when they are alone together... you never know what they are going to get into.

Here is Holdyn with her favorite outfit on.  Seriously, I hope she grows out of this soon!  She wants to wear this shirt and sweatpants EVERYDAY!  I will get her up and dressed and next thing I know she'll be coming out of her room with these on.  She'll dig them out of the dirty laundry basket.  When I can get them away from her long enough to wash them, she is standing by the drier naked waiting for them to finish so she can put them back on.  We've even hidden them from her for a couple of days at a time to make her wear other clothes! She's pretty obsessed.
Here is Holdyn at her cousin's birthday party in Page, AZ.  She has been lucky enough to be around for quite a few birthday parties and she is now singing "Happy Birthday" every chance she gets.  I think she is hoping that by singing the song she'll get candy or ice cream for someone's birthday.
Here she is with her bestest friends, Emma and McKenzie.  She's actually been crying all morning to go to "Emma's house!" 
While we were in Page, AZ we went to a little park. It was full of HS stoners when we got there but we still had a fun time.

Here is Nolan playing at the park on their back hoe.  Holdyn is fascinated with anything that digs in the dirt.
Little Kimber has been up and down since we moved back from St. Maarten.  She's had a lot of blood work done the last couple of weeks and hasn't been feeling too well at all.  We were told it might be something as serious as liver problems, bone marrow problems, viral infections. Anyway, we did get into a specialist last week and he thinks it is just a bad allergy.  We are hoping so.  We made some changes but they haven't seemed to be helping much yet. 

Ben also passed the USMLE Step 1 and we are moving to Bakersfield, CA in June to do his clinical rotations.  Since we have 6 months to fill, we are going to move to So. Cal for 6 weeks for a Psyche rotation and we are trying to set up his family practice rotation in Payson, AZ before we move to Bakersfield.