Wintertime...

Ahh, winter in Michigan. Break out the snow-blowers and ice-picks, right? Well, typically, but this year has been freakishly warm. Like we're talking 40s, even 50s occasionally, in January! And as for snow, what's that? The girls have had very few opportunities to go out and enjoy the snow since the most we've had so far at one time barely made 2 inches. Crazy. Anyway, I'm really not complaining. The girls wish for snow but I'm just opening up the shades and enjoying each ray of sunshine and jacket-weather day. I have this awful sinking feeling its all going to end with a bang somehow, like with blizzards and power outages and ice, oh my!

We were very excited to decorate our new place for Christmas. I have been really bad with the camera lately and never seem to have charged batteries in it so most of my pictures are grainy phone or ipod pics, which I'm not posting here. But I did get this shot before my camera shorted out. This is the first place we've lived that has had a fireplace and we've been wanting one for so long. So even though it's a very quirky one, it was our pièce de résistance this Christmas!

And though it hasn't been the whitest Christmas holiday we've experienced, there have been plenty of cold days that keep us indoors. Lex and Caprice have been little pals lately without Kira being at home all day. I love catching calm moments like this when they are just lovey and snuggly.

When Caprice is napping, Lex really has had a hard time not having SOMEONE right there with her. So I've brainstormed special activities just for her so I can use the down time to get something done. A favorite was having a tent in the family room to have her own little picnic and Christmas movie-watching experience (after dressing up for the occasion, of course).

Here's proof that we have gotten some snow up here...I think this is the most we've gotten so far. Just enough to gear up to go out and enjoy it.

Another special winter treat: After finally getting every wet layer off after rolling in the snow, snuggling up by the fire with hot chocolate and Christmas carols (and warmer snowmen friends, of course).

Another exciting winter happening: Christopher's little sister Autumn got married last week! Though we were unable to make it to the Oklahoma wedding due to lack of control over scheduling vacation time as an intern, Autumn wanted us to feel a part, and she and Lawton made the trip all the way up here to take out her endowments at the Detroit temple. It was so nice to have them here for a few days. The girls warmed right up to Dad and Autumn right away.

It was a wonderful opportunity to escort Autumn at the temple and be there with Christopher and Lawton. What a great way to add to the true holiday spirit.

Christopher did have the week before Christmas off and we enjoyed so much having him home. I tend to forget how luxurious it can be to have a partner to wrangle kiddos, cook, clean and snuggle with each day. Since he wasn't home much of December, we tried to do a few extra special things with the kids for Christmas. One night, we had the kids get ready and into bed early, only to find a "gold" ticket in their beds. After hearing a whistle blow from downstairs, they rushed down to find the "conductor" (mom) ushering them into the "train" complete with pillows and blankets to watch The Polar Express, which they had only seen once two years ago and had been reading that week. They were able to trade in their tickets for hot cocoa and popcorn and stay up extra late to watch the special show about the first gift of Christmas.

The next day, being Christmas Eve, we focused on the true first gift of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. We enacted Luke 2 with our toy nativity as Daddy read from the scriptures. We also had a little birthday celebration for baby Jesus complete with chocolate fudge cake, since we know chocolate would have been His favorite! ;) The girls opened their annual Christmas pjs from Grandma and new slippers that they gave to each other.

We woke up and decided to go to church first instead of suffering the wrath of post-Christmas-present-opening whines to stay and play. This is where I'm really feeling the woes of a dead camera. The girls received a guitar (K), make-up/hairdresser kit (A) and a bounce 'n ride (C) from Santa, along with wonderful gifts from mom and dad and extended family. They were in heaven! I always secretly dislike Christmas day since it means the end of a month-long celebration of my most favorite time of year. But it was so nice to be together as a family and enjoy the spirit of the day on the Sabbath. I was more than ready two weeks later to have everything put away!

Just for me...

So after a grand total of, wait for it...3! posts in 2011, I decided that something had to change. I'm not really sure why I have been so reluctant to just get on and post about life but I have been. It seems almost a chore, I guess. I think I spend so much time trying to write something interesting for the few readers that I've missed the whole point of my blog. As much as I would love to have the photography, interior design, cooking, fashion and/or crafting skills that so many of the bloggers I follow are blessed with and perfectly layout into witty posts, I'm just not that talented. The reason I started this was to have a place to keep a record of "life in the Wood's" household and make it available to family and friends, since I'm awful about calling and writing to keep people up to date. If nothing else, I love reading through past posts and seeing and remembering my life for the past three years. I start to get disappointed as I near 2011. I need to do better since this is my most consistent form of journal-ing, sad as that is. So, many of the posts may be short or strictly pictures with descriptions, depending on my mood, but my goal is to have a post once a week so come 2013, I can look back and more thoroughly enjoy 2012.

Summer...

So, with lack of updates here on the ol' blog, just about everything I've brainstormed writing about is news on here, even if it did happen MONTHS ago! Sad. Anyway, enough with excuses. Most of this will be out of order, I'm just writing as it comes to me. Here's how we spent our summer, post graduation/vacation.


We FINALLY went to the Henry Ford Museum! We only lived about 15 minutes away from it in Wyandotte, but didn't go until we moved away! In June, the museum was displaying the original Emancipation Proclamation for 72 hours and offered free admission. We thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and invited some friends from school to meet us there. Well, we decided when we arrived that with six children (three of which were under the age of 1), there was absolutely no way we could stand in line for the 4-6 hour wait to see the document. The trip was worth it, though. We got to see planes, trains and automobiles, along with the Civil War/Civil Rights exhibition that was set to commemorate the 200-year anniversary of the beginning of the War between the States. It reminded me how much I love museums and history. I am glad that we could at least say that we were in the same building as the Proclamation for a few hours and for the opportunity to talk to my children about its importance and inspiration.

The original "horseless carriage"...so amazing.

Kira, Nate, and Lex apart of the "crowd", watching old air show stunts.

Kitty Hawk replica

The closest these girls have gotten to an airplane ride

Two cuties standing in front of Eisenhower's presidential limo. I can't believe we didn't get a picture of the Kennedy limo.

This shot says it all...a tired baby trying so hard to be happy for us the whole napless day.

Had to take advantage of the Oscar Meyer photo op

We've so enjoyed living a little further from the city. We still live pretty close to Southfield and right next to the highway, but in our little subdivision, we tend to forget. It's so awesome to live around trees again! This is the first place we have ever lived since getting married that has trees in the backyard. Big trees. All throughout the community. My favorite thing to do during a thunderstorm or a rainy day is just sit on our front porch and listen to the rain hit the leaves. I'm not anxious for the issues that trees bring during the winter months with power outages, but I'm trying to stay positive and enjoy the shade and color they provide, especially with fall starting to make its appearance around here. Anyway, this has only happened twice, but I practically ran into this deer one morning while I was walking in a little "cove" of trees we have in the yard. Scared me half to death. Had to get a camera.

Napping, something that doesn't happen enough at our house!

Sharing

Fourth of July...in the summer in Michigan it literally does not get dark until almost 10 pm! As much as we wanted the girls to get the full 4th effect, there was no way bedtime was going to get pushed back that much. So we had our own little celebration with hot dogs, slip-and-slide, watermelon and little fireworks early. The picture above is such a typical Lex look. I'm glad I caught it on camera.

Dad tutoring Kira in the workings of FI-YA!

Watching

There is an awesome park near our home that we spent quite a bit of time at this summer. There are nature trails, a little nature center, playgrounds and best of all, a splash pad! No matter how cold, the girls loved it!



It seemed like there was always an ice cream truck parked out in the park's parking lot in the afternoon, so we splurged on our favorite one day.

Cute girl, always along for the ride.

We also went to a town carnival for the afternoon in August. It was fun to see the girls' reactions to rides. Kira LOVED them and wished she were big enough to go on all the roller coaster rides. But she just had to settle for slides and "kiddie" rides. Kira, Alexis and I did go on one together that probably ruin rides for Alexis from now on. It's one of those rides where you're sitting in a spherical seat (big enough to fit the three of us) and you go spinning around the entire platform very fast. That's not too bad. But then your seat/ride itself starts spinning super fast round and round. Takes your breath away. Thank goodness Lex was in the middle. She would have flown out! Needless to say, she was done long before the ride was over and Kira wanted to go again! Christopher said that he was standing by a mom who had gone right before us who starting throwing up right next to him...it made you that dizzy. Thankfully, none of our lunches made a reappearance.

Reminded me of Looney Tunes space ships

Carousel

"THE" Ride...look at that smile, so blissfully ignorant of what's to come...

Couldn't leave without having an artery clogging elephant ear to make the carnival experience official

The summer was full of fun for all of us- enjoying a new yard and fort/swing set, trips to the library, play dates, having dad home for a few weeks, shopping, etc. We had one of the most eventful summers of our married lives and we loved every minute of it!

"Paging Dr. Wood..."

Wow, has it really been six months?? Well, some days it certainly feels like it when I attempt to formulate potential posts in my mind, trying to figure out the most efficient way to cram all the things that have happened in the last few months into semi-quick reads. Instead, I tend to give in to my procrastination and enable the cycle. Oh, well.

I HAD to at least post about THE most anticipated event in the Wood family-- GRADUATION!! We made the trek back to ol' Kville for a long weekend of graduation events. It was very nostalgic to be back in Kirksville. We only spent two years there and though many days were tests of sanity and trials of faith, we made some wonderful memories (and friends) there. It almost felt as though we had never left as we drove past our old duplex, went to familiar parks and met up with old classmates and friends. My parents and sister were lifesavers and came up with us, helping out with the kids so that Christopher and I could go to all the "grown-up" dinners and events. Each night was a date night it seemed, as we had my SAA Banquet dinner Thursday, Christopher's Award Banquet Friday night and then graduation itself Saturday. My parents (and sister Jesi) stayed in the hotel babysitting most of the time. The girls did enjoy swimming in the hotel pool and eating early breakfasts with grandma. Besides dealing with a screaming baby ALL.NIGHT.LONG. the night before graduation, I think the five us did pretty well trying to sleep/play in one hotel room for three days.

I've been wanting to write down my thoughts and feelings from that weekend for a while. It's a time I NEVER want to forget. Some of the first conversations I had with Christopher after meeting him had been about how he was going to go the medical school and become a doctor. I know that the vast majority of college freshman rarely end up with the profession they had first considered, especially if postgraduate work is required. Not that it's wrong to change minds/paths...that's the beauty of being a freshman. You're just beginning your life as an adult and there seems to be so many options and roads to take. But Christopher had a plan and for anyone that truly knows my husband, you stick to the plan! So I've had the privilege of witnessing and supporting this man for the past eight years on his road to becoming a doctor. Christopher has worked full-time (as undergrad) supporting a family for 90% of this journey, studied his tail off for every test/entrance exam, held down church callings, moved away from family and familiar, and gave up SO much personal time to provide a better life for his growing family. I've never known anyone as dedicated and driven. This man can go for days without sleep, food and coming up for air so to speak to take care of business. There have been so many aspects of this learning process that didn't necessarily come easily to Christopher, though few people see that since he always pushed through and came out on top. He, like anyone else, has had moments of doubt in his abilities and time in the slumps. So while we discussed the fact that the graduation weekend would seem anticlimactic and drawn-out (which some parts were), it was a very emotional few days for me. I remember those "one day..." conversations back in our newlywed sophomore year as we would drive back and forth between Ponca City and Tonkawa for school, discussing how the goal of med school and then med school graduation seemed so far off, and some days, unattainable. Then there I was, sitting there, watching my husband cross the stage a student to a doctor just like that. I've never been more proud in my life. Christopher also received a scholarship during the Awards Banquet from one of his professors, Dr. Sargentini, and his wife. It's a memorial award for their son who died from Hodgkin's disease ten years ago. Christopher was very honored. We enjoyed getting to know these sweet people that night and hope to keeping in touch with them over the years.

Awards Night

Med school friends

Like I said, graduation day seemed a little daunting since I had only gotten an hour of sleep and Caprice was not a happy child. I'm very grateful for my parents' help, again, and that Christopher's sister, Autumn and her friend, Zach, came as well and entertained the children beautifully. I didn't have to get up once with children during the whole ceremony and was able to focus on the moment. The entire program was very inspiring and embodied the D.O. theme of "mind, body, and spirit" very well. But we were sooooo ready when the W's turn came around during the conferring of degrees!

It took a little while to meet up with Dr. Wood after the ceremony, trying to find him in the crowd. There are those momentous times in life that you always have mental pictures of when you think of things that make you happy- your wedding day, the birth of your children, etc. You know, the moments that in a movie would be drawn out or go in slow-motion with swelling music in the background, all that cheesy stuff? Seeing the love of my life after this achievement that has been a major part of our dating/married life was such a moment. It was very hard to hold back blubbery emotions, and getting no sleep the night before did not help. But I kept it together...for the most part. We still had to take pictures, for goodness sake!

the men who spent more time with my husband than me for two years!

Christopher with sister, Autumn

*I don't know how my parents got out of getting their pictures taken, but they were there!!

We stayed in Oklahoma for a few more weeks after graduation so that Christopher could participate in his brother's, James, med school graduation. Christopher saved his white coat to ceremoniously (and a bit vengefully) burn with his brother the night before his graduation! The look of pure joy on their faces in the third picture is absolutely priceless!

Christopher was invited by James to hood him during the ceremony, which he could do since he was officially a doctor! These two have been each others' greatest support through the trials of going through school, step by grueling step.

I love this pic

proud parents

happy wives

James, Amanda and cute family

It was great to see ALL of Christopher's siblings that day! Afterwards, we had a party celebrating the first doctors in the family!

It's been a crazy journey and it's definitely not over, but I'm so lucky to have been a part of it! Love you, Dr. Wood!