Piled Higher and Deeper!

Ahhh! I just defended my PhD thesis and my 5-year headache immediately started to go away.

Thanks to everyone who helped out and made the journey enjoyable, easier, or more interesting: Matt "get's things done" Dirmyer, Dave "of course I have time to talk about something besides science" Newsham, Shakuntala "Shak Attack" Sundararajan, Megan Nagel, Rong "not Right" Luo, and a bunch of other people who will probably never read this blog.

Thanks especially to the love of my life, Ronni!

Happy Happy Birthday To You!!

You had a birthday; shout "Hooray"!
We want to sing to you today.
One year older and wiser, too,
Happy Birthday TO YOU!

Happy 6th Birthday Kelsie!

Our American Girl

Kelsie was part of a school play entitled "Growing Up In America" with all the kindergarteners at her school. She did a great job singing all the songs that she learned. We especially loved all the dance moves that went along with all the songs!

Our favorite part was the medley they sang with "Comin' to America" and the disco moves, the decorated sunglasses for "Born in the USA" and finally, "God Bless the USA". What a talented group of kindergarteners!

Way to go, chica!

To my best friend...

Through all the good times and bad, I'm glad that I've got you to share it with. Thanks for sticking through it all with me. Happy #7! I love you.

Soccer Girl

That is some serious concentration!

Go Kelsie, GO!

The Amazing Race

I have only one thing to say...

TOTALLY AWESOME!

The Perfect Day

I am so happy that it is warmer outside and that the flowers are blooming! We had a great weekend together enjoying the beautiful spring weather! We went to lunch, went geocaching, played at the park, went on a bike ride, bbq'd pizza on the grill....it was a perfect day. It is so nice to do things like that as a family every once in a while and put all the "have to's" on hold.

It made me think about the all the things that I am blessed with. I have two great kids who make me laugh, cry, and proud. I have a husband who loves me despite my imperfections and who likes to have fun. I am an individual, comfortable in my own skin and ready for adventure. Sometimes I wonder why I am so lucky to have what I have. I really don't have any answer for it, but would like to think that I am doing the best that I can as a wife, parent, friend, and person.

Sometimes it takes a perfect day for me to appreciate what I have right in front of me. I love you guys.