Congratulations Brittany!

After our eventful stay in Rock Valley we went on to Sioux Falls to celebrate Mike's niece Brittany's highschool graduation. Brittany has come a long way since trying to jump out of a moving car to go back to Pamida to get the "pink shoes" when she was two. We are very proud of her and her future seems quite bright.
We started the party at Empire Bowl. The girls had a blast. Check out how both of the girls stick out their tongue when they are focused. We then ditched the little girls by bringing them to Auntie Ginnie (thanks!) and when out for dinner. A good time was had by all.

Carter gets lots of love from the Miedema women. He'd better just get used to it.

Field Trips

Following the Como Zoo field trip we all headed to Iowa. (We arrived in Rock Valley around 4pm and at 7pm we were all in the basement at Brad & Pam while a tornado passed by the edge of town!) On Friday Hailey was invited to go with Madison on her preschool field trip to the local green house. What a lucky girl. They got to plant their own flower and learn about all of the different types of flowers. Hailey simply said "I'm just the field trip girl."

Hailey had her big field trip day to the Como Zoo on Thursday! Mike was on vacation and was able to go along; there were not any other dads there so Hailey thought it was pretty special. One of the best things about the trip was riding the bus; Mike said that they all giggled and screamed when the bus turned corners. They had an educational speach about reptiles/amphibians then were assigned to a mom (a dad in Hailey's case). Hailey and her friend Aischa held hands around the entire zoo because they were scared of all of the animals. Mike forgot the snack at the school, so Hailey and Aischa were treated to prezels and pink milk at the zoo (another highlight).

Biker Babes

The girls are loving some of the warmer temps and learning some new biking skills. Hailey's bike no longer has training wheels and she is doing awesome. There are some issues with stopping so she mainly is just finding some grass and falling over. We have some practicing to do; it looks like the bike is in control of Hailey instead of Hailey controlling the bike.

Taylor also loves her bike. She is so strong and determined! The trike has a handle, but don't touch it because you will get yelled at: "I do it myself!"

Spa Day

Mike surprised me the other day with a spa day with Laura. WOW! We enjoyed a back/shoulder massage, a 50 minute facial, and the steam room. I must say I could get used to that, but if I did on a more regular basis I don't think that I would enjoy it to the extent that I did. Chalk one up for Mike.

What's next?

When thinking about a title for this post I couldn't think of anything better than "what's next?" I feel that in the recent past that question has popped into my mind frequently. You might have noticed that there has not been a post for some time. That is where the "what's next?" began. Our computer crashed right after I had posted last, but thankfully it had been acting quite moody before that time and we had saved all of our precious pictures and important research files. The computer crash was accompanied by a cold that swept through our family with the domino effect hitting Hailey, then Taylor, then Carter, and then me with fevers, running noses, plugged sinuses, and cough. By the time it had made it through all of us the life span on this bug has been more that 14 days. We then had a completely flat tire on the van and a plugged toilet. I was starting to feel defeated and poor with all of the unexpected expenses. Things have a way of resolving. Our God-given immune systems beat the cold. Money allowed us another pink lap top and new tires of the van have made a ride a bit smoother.
My next "what's next?" question involves a bigger NEXT. Mike had his final interview at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester yesterday. The kids and I went along and enjoyed the hotel, went swimming, and toured the city while Mike was subjected to long interviews and deep thinking. I think that we have been waiting for some letters to be written in the sky as to where Mike should train next, but they are some how not appearing. Mike has to submit a list ranking the programs where he interviewed at, numbering them from 1-8. We believe that Mike is likely to get his #1 ranking, but this obviously is not guaranteed until June 18th. Our struggle remains between Mayo Rochester and the University of Minnesota. Both have outstanding programs. Housing is much more affordable in Rochester as well as there not being much traffic to consume our lives with. This being said, we have so many emotional ties to Minneapolis, our friends, and our church. Its hard to weigh these out. The decision of Hailey's schooling has also been heavy on our hearts and we are asking "what's next?" with her as well. We don't feel that we can make that decision until we decide where we want to spend the next 4 years.

Our beautiful little Carter Dean is growing like an absolute weed! We broke out the exersaucer for him the other day and he is in love with it. He so happy all of the time, but needs to work on the skill of bottling.

I had to share the photo of Taylor saying "good bye" to the pipes. She did an awesome job, but reminds us every time when we go past the dumpsters that "my pipes in dere".

Pipe Update

Well it has been just over a week since we had little Taylor say good-bye to her pipes. It went exceptionally well. We had the whole family go out to the dumpster and she willingly threw them in one at a time. We cheered for her and said that she was such a big girl and also emphasized that she still had her silky blanket. The first couple of nights and naps were rough. I have to admit that I was expecting a more angry response, but when struggling to fall asleep and finding a new routine of getting to sleep it was just complete sadness. We would go up and comfort her every once and a while she would just cry and say "my pipes!". By day five she was down to 15 minutes to fall asleep with just a little amount of crying. I think that she is quite proud about this accomplishment, but more proud during the day, at night I think that she would gladly go back to being a "baby". Good job Taylor.

We have been struggling pretty bad here with colds and fevers. Hailey has ear infection and Taylor is in the middle of the cold yet. Carter got a stuffy nose but was thankfully spared from having any of the fevers. Today I am feeling quite stuffy; I guess it is inevitable.

We are anxiously awaiting Mike's interview at Mayo, Rochester next week Friday for this will complete the interview process. He is now pretty convinced that the choice is primarily between the University of Minnesota and Mayo, Rochester. I guess time will tell!

Bye bye pipe day

Today I have declared it to be "bye bye pipe day" for Taylor. Taylor has loved her pacifiers from the very beginning and is rather attached to them. I didn't want to rock her boat by taking them away around the time that Carter was born, but now that we have survived the first four months I have decided that it is officially time. They are like a drug to her. She is only allowed to have them for sleeping and once they are in her mouth it automatically makes her look and act sleepy. She also adores her blanket and may keep that for as long as she needs to. I'm not sure how we will ceremoniously say "good bye" but tonight is the night. I recall when I took Hailey's away; she pulled my hair and said "go get them!!!" I'm trying to publish a video that I took with Taylor and her pipe tricks. I tried to do it with them and couldn't!Our next big task will be potty training.

A crazy weekend

This past weekend we packed a lot into a short amount of time. It started with a trip to Sioux Center, IA where Mike dropped the kids and I off on his way to Omaha, NE for an interview at Creighton University. The kids and I hung out at the Walhofs' all day and I even got some shopping in. When Mike returned from Omaha we headed to Edgerton for my Grandma Vis' 92nd birthday party. We helped put on a little program for her and the girls even participated in some singing. Before the birthday party really even got started Mike, Carter and I took off to sing Mike's Mom perform in the Opland Singers in Pipestone, MN. We left Ginnie and Will in charge of the girls. Saturday we spent the day in Edgerton and then in the evening Hailey got to go to the "Go Fish" concert with Teresa and her girls. She loved it! When we asked Taylor where Hailey was she would answer at "fishers of men". We watched the Final Four with my parents and went to Leota church the next morning. Its great to live close enough to do all of this fun stuff with family, but today we are just needing to recover.
The interview trail is almost over. This past month has really just been a blur. Mike has completed all of his interviews with the exception of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. That interview is on the 25th of April. He has been pretty impressed with all of the programs that he interviewed and they each have attractive aspects. After the interviewing in Rochester he will have to rate the programs according to where he prefers to practice then on June 18th we will find out which program that he matches with. That fellowship doesn't actually start until July of 2009 after he completes his chief year at Abbott.

Oplands'

After another blow out!

Grandma Vis' great grandchildren