Since July 4th....

Okay, photo-editing keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the list...but here's what we've done since July 4th weekend in VA.

1. Celebrated Jana's birthday with boursin chicken and yummy Daube's cake with hat's made by Chloe.
2. Celebrated my birthday.
3. Bought a mini-van (a Honda Odyssey from Mum)...Aaron flew out to VA and drove it home (Straight through in one day!). No it was not my birthday present, as much as Aaron would like to convince me so...(see #4 for my birthday present)
4. Drove aforementioned van ~1300 miles each way out to Milford, NH for convention. Jana, Aurelia, and Autumn all went with us. We can affirm that it is a great road-tripping vehicle. We can also affirm that driving straight through the night is helpful with kids asleep, but not so helpful for the adults doing the driving. It was heart-warming and uplifting to see all the family and friends from New England.... We even got some more Langston cuddles in.
5. Made a quick trip to Iowa for Reid's first birthday!
6. Celebrated Aaron's birthday (he got a projector this summer that's his birthday/anniversary present for the next few years).
7. Said farewell to the Layden family as they left for their Great Adventure to the West.
8. Aaron has "retired" from American Airlines. Yes, that means we no longer have flying benefits. However, anytime we've tried to use them lately we can't get where we want to with flights chock full! Plus, when Mateo turns two in April we'll need 4 seats...nearly impossible on standby. With my work/school schedule this fall we knew there wouldn't be any feasibility to Aaron getting work hours in or even traveling anywhere for that matter. We're also hoping it will encourage family to come see us more (hint, hint)!!
9. I have started my final year of grad school. Start stock-piling your fireworks because the celebration in May is going to be a seriously huge one. 2 classes + 120 clinical hours this fall, 1 class + 120 clinical hours in the spring. I will be done in less time than it takes to fully gestate a human. It is not possible for me to convey my excitement through the two-dimensional black and whiteness of these words.
10. I am applying for an administrative fellowship at Mayo. It would mean rotations through all the management areas (finance, HR, research, operations- all the stuff a healthcare organization does) for two years. It's apparently highly competitive, but they can't say yes/no if I don't apply, so I'm applying, in spite of all the nay-sayers!
11. I will make it an item on Aaron's to-do list to take photos and post them on here....since his full-time job now is Daddy...he can take over the blog, right?! Ha. :)