Graduation

Apparently I graduated from medical school last Thursday, which means I am a doctor. I can't think of many other things that are more terrifying to me (yet pretty exciting at the same time.) A bunch of my family were able to make the trip from the northwest to see me graduate. And my Saint Louis family was able to make it as well.

Part of our goal with the move was to be moved in by graduation. And, thanks to a lot of help from Becky (taking care of Izzie) and the rest of the family, we were able to be moved in enough to host a brunch at our house. Since Matt and I have been married, we haven't had the opportunity to get out our china and I thought, what better time than graduation!

Here is a shot of everything laid out before we began. We had bagels with gravlacks (cured salmon, made by Grant) and fruit salad, as well as coffee and mimosa (or just orange juice). I had a great time getting out the china and making everything pretty - I hope I can get it out more often!

This is a shot of the gravlacks plated. It was a big hit!

After brunch, we headed over to the Chaifetz Arena for graduation (School of Medicine Precommencement).

Here we are reciting the Hippocratic Oath, which I feel is the moment when we became physicians. It is interesting how the oath has changed over the years, the Wikipedia article I linked to actually gives a good synopsis of what has changed.

Here is Isidora at graduation, proud of her Mommy.

With Mom and Dad outside Chaifetz Arena after graduation.

I thought our hoods looked pretty neat - the green is for medicine and the blue and white inside are the colors of Saint Louis University.

After graduation we headed over to Grant and Juanita's house for some dinner... and more pictures.

The three Whitney girls!

The table set up for dinner - well, three tables set up for dinner. We had my favorite, beef tenderloin!

I am so blessed to have had so much family come visit to share this special day with me! Thanks again to all that made the trip out and to everyone that helped with the house!

Soccer

We were out playing in the back yard last weekend at Grant and Juanita's house. Lately, Isidora has gotten better and kicking a ball, so we thought it would be fun to try to kick the ball around the back yard. At first Isidora was interested, and had some fun kicking the ball around.

Check me out!

Better watch out for my sweet moves!

But then she was more interested in watching Sofie chase the tennis ball.

Oh well, There will be plenty of soccer to come, I am sure!

Hot tub

Matt and I have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. We have been packing almost every night and during Izzie's naptime we have either been doing even more packing or trying to sell off books at school or at a used book store. The other big thing we have been doing is research on stuff for the new house or actually going out to buy stuff for the new house. We were able to buy a washer and dryer on Thursday that we are pretty excited about! (More details to come at a later date.)

So, that is why this post is a little late in coming. Two weeks ago, Grant and Juanita decided to get the hot tub cleaned up so that Isidora could go swimming. When Isidora saw the water, she was sooo excited and kept saying, "Pea?" (please) and "Go?" Since the water had just been put in from the hose, the water was really really cold and it was going to take the hot tub heater quite a while to heat it up. But, instead of waiting patiently until the next day to go in the tub, Grant took a garden hose and hooked it up to the water heater in the basement and put about 50 or so gallons of hot water into the tub! (Grant was willing to wait patiently, of course, but Isidora was not, so Grant came up with the idea on how to heat it up.) It rose the temperature of the water enough so that we could go in, even if it was still on the cool side.

Isidora and I had a great time in the tub. She has loved being in the water since she was pretty little and she had a great time in her splash pool last year. At first she was pretty timid in the hot tub and sat on the highest ledge near the edge but eventually she built up enough courage to walk around the whole edge and let me hold her in the middle (the water was just high enough that she couldn't stand there). We even put her floaty toy in so that she could float on her own.

On to the pictures!

Juanita thought it would be fun to put some plastic eggs in to play with. Isidora had a great time playing with them and watching them float around. "Eee!" (egg). Here, she was still content to just sit at the edge.

In the floaty, kicking her legs.

Out of the floaty, learning to kick in the water.

Isidora had such a great time, we took her back over several times that week (it was still pretty warm out - around 80 F). Unfortunately, when we went the next day, the tub was way too hot and we had to dump some water out and put cold hose water back in - oh well. It was Daddy's turn to hang out with Isidora in the tub later that week:

Hanging out in the floaty with Daddy. This time the water was a little lower and Isidora could actually walk around the hot tub while she was in the floaty. She really enjoyed the freedom she had!

Playing with the toys on the floaty.

A downside of having the hot tub working again is that every time we go over to Grant and Juanita's now, Isidora is begging to go outside and to go in the tub. Sometimes we can entertain her with just being outside. Looks like we will be in the tub a lot this summer.

Bonus picture!

Here is Isidora in her splash pool last year - it was an inflatable open hippo mouth (kind of creepy). The canopy was great and did a great job protecting her from the sun. It also had a little fountain (where her hand is) that you would connect a hose to so it would spray water. This picture is from the first time she used it. She was 6 months old in the picture and was about a week away from being able to sit on her own. She had a great time in there!

On a side note, Isidora started saying a new word this morning - "sewoh" or sword to us. Claire had bought Matt a Prince Phillip sword for his birthday or Christmas a couple years ago and now Isidora loves to play with it. Today she told us what it is!

Why My Dad's Cooking Is Awesome, Reason #2381

We greatly enjoy the cooking at my parents' house. My dad has become a very good cook over the years and tends to do his best work on Sundays. Every once in a while I also enjoy taking pictures of his cooking because it looks so darn delicious.
Last Sunday provided just such an opportunity as we were hanging out at their house.

This particular meal centered around a roast recipe he knew of that involves bourbon. That alone is enough to get my salivary glands going, but the pictures really drive the point home. Also, he did the roast outside on the grill using a large cast "Dutch oven" type pot, which was just cool.

First we see the twin chuck roasts browning nicely on the grill. Quite aesthetically pleasing, wouldn't you say?

Next we take a gander at the pot situated on the grill. Because the pot has legs and wouldn't sit right on the surface of the grill, Dad just used a simple base for a potted plant pot to rest it on.

There aren't very many ingredients to this recipe. The bowl holds the liquid mixture that the meat will actually sit in while it roasts (the part that contains the bourbon, yum) and some cloves of garlic and lots and lots of onions also go in. Sometimes simple is better.

Everything into the pot. Now it looks like just a bunch of onions. Appearances can be deceiving. Let's check back in a little while...

Now that's more like it.

The roasting being finished, here we see the meat resting. Mmmm.

Finally, the components of the meal; the sliced roast, the bowls of sauce made from reducing the roasting liquid, some mashed potatoes, sauteed peppers (you can't see them, but trust me they're there) and carrots sauteed with butter. Add wine and people to eat it and this makes a heck of a meal.

Easter Triduum

This week has been pretty busy. Most of the week was spent looking at houses and then making an offer on a house. We also went to the Magic House again with Katee and got to explore some new areas! But, as promised, Isidora got to wear some new dresses for the Triduum!

Here is Izzie playing with her letter magnets at Nanny and Papa's before we head out to Holy Thursday mass at the Cathedral Basilica.

On Friday we heard back from our realtor that our offer had been accepted on the house in the Morning, and then later in the afternoon we took Isidora to Good Friday Service. Fortunately, Juanita was able to come with us, because Isidora was quite a handful during the veneration. Nanny was able to take her outside for a while (the veneration lasted 45 minutes with all the people there) during which Matt and I were able to have some quiet prayerful time inside.

Isidora ready for Good Friday (minus shoes), complete with pig tails! Thanks again to Godfather Greg for the beautiful outfit!

On Saturday, we decided that since Easter Vigil mass was not going to start until 8:30 pm, and Izzie is in bed most of the time at 7 pm, we were going to have Grant and Juanita keep her overnight at their house and Matt and I would go to the Vigil alone. But before we left, we were able to participate in Easter egg dying.

We made some pretty neat eggs this year I think.

One of Katee's striped eggs.

One of the speckled eggs made with food coloring with all of the eggs in the background.

Matt and I had a wonderful time at Easter Vigil, and we were both very glad we left Isidora with his parents since we didn't even get home until 11:45 pm. But, we felt that Isidora really should go to Easter Mass, so we decided to go with her again at the 8 am service Easter morning. Unfortunately Izzie was kind of on a funky schedule secondary to sleeping somewhere different and waking up 2 hours earlier than normal and so she was pretty tired - which meant that she was a wiggle worm during the whole Mass. Oh well.

After mass we headed back over to Grant and Juanita's to celebrate Easter.

Here is Izzie's Easter basket, complete with Libs chocolate - a family tradition from my mom's side of the family.

After Izzie took a nap (she fell asleep on the 10 minute drive back to Grant and Juanita's), Isidora got to go Easter egg hunting! She loved it! She was a natural. She already likes picking things up and putting them in a basket or something of that sort, so this was a breeze for her. She had such a great time.

Isidora finding Easter eggs in the grass wearing her Easter dress and hat. (Thanks Grandma!)

Thank you Mr. Gnome!

Are there any more eggs over here?

Here is one!

Check out all of my eggs!

Let me show you, Nanny.

We got Isidora a baby carrier for her baby doll.

And we went for a walk after brunch (breakfast tacos and mimosa!) and Izzie got to try out her new carrier.

Auntie Katee got Isidora some bubbles for Easter and we had lots of fun blowing and popping bubbles.

After opening baskets and hunting for eggs, we spent some time on the deck. Isidora that these potted evergreens (Uncle Ben's bonzai trees) needed more dirt in them, so she took dirt from some failed tomato seedlings on the other side of the deck and put them in the pot. This occupied her for about 20 minutes or so! It was a blast to watch.

Too much moss, not enough dirt!

Getting more dirt.

Hmm, a bit more dirt, I think.

I wonder what this tastes like. (She did try it eventually, and she didn't like it.)

I think I will just eat some worms instead. (More Easter candy from Auntie Katee.)

As always, we also had a very lovely Easter dinner made by Matt's dad, Grant. For the last couple of days, he has been soaking a country ham to rehydrate it and decrease some of the salt content. I have ever only had a country ham at the Colvin house. They are very salty, but pretty tasty. The ham he was able to get was huge, I think he said it was about 20 lbs to begin with, but he had to cut it into 3 sections because it was simply too big. He ended up cooking about 13 lbs of it today (the main 10 lb portion and a 3 lb shank).

Grant cooked the ham outside on the grill so that the oven could be used for other things, and so that the house would not get so warm.

Here is the complete meal set up buffet-style. We had the ham with an apple cider reduction raisin sauce, some pan fried okra, dinosaur kale, and sweet potato fries. We also had home made buttermilk biscuits and home made pickles, pickled onions and pickled okra. For dessert we had bread pudding with a whiskey sauce. It was great!

Izzie got to have a chocolate lollipop from Auntie Katee for dessert. Spoiled rotten.


Happy Easter! He is risen!

Palm Sunday

I love Holy Week! Other than Christmas time, this is definitely my most favorite time of the year and it is certainly my most favorite time of the liturgical year. I get so excited for the Triduum!

So, today was Palm Sunday and in celebration, I decided we should dress Isidora up in one of her new dresses! And, of course, we took a ridiculous amount of pictures of her today in her new dress. 60 to be exact. :O

Just a warning, there are a lot of pictures (12), and a video! Isidora did some pretty cute things today, including playing outside with Sofie and some fun play time with Daddy.

Izzie being silly with her lovey. Apparently she needed both hands for something, I have no idea what though!

I am going to smoosh your face with this lovey and my head, Daddy!

Here Daddy, have a lovey in your face!

Aww, I love my Daddy. And I have a mouth full of cereal bar.

I think I need a hug now.

And a cuddle.

Time to go outside at Nanny and Papa's house! Check out my new rain coat! (Well, we've had it for a couple of months, this is just the first time she has gotten to wear it.)

Daddy did some fancy camera work. And Isidora loves to play with her ears, which calls, "eye." (She also calls her eyes, "eye," and lights, "eye" as well.)

It was raining this morning, but the sky cleared up and it was really pretty outside in the late afternoon.

I just really liked this picture.

Playing with Sofie.

Friends.

And finally, Matt took this video of Isidora and I playing with Sofie outside. I didn't actually know he was taking a video, but it is fun to see what Isidora is like around Sofie, especially when we go outside to play! (I had to split it into 2 parts)

I love how she gets so excited when she sees Sofie playing. I also love how occasionally she plays with Sofie's tail. They didn't used to get along this well. Sofie didn't always like playing with Isidora, but since Sofie figured out that she can take food from Isidora, she has started to like Izzie a lot more. And Izzie pays attention to her, which Sofie likes. I also like how Isidora pats Sofie - it's like she is trying to get her to cough something up she pats so hard!

Anyway, I am sure that with all of the big masses coming up, we will take more pictures of all of her new dresses! Really, they aren't so much "new" as have just been given to us over the last several months or bought when they were on clearance and there weren't any in her size or they were the wrong season, etc. They are just being worn for the first time. Also, several different people bought Isidora an "Easter dress" - she has at least 4 now. Oh well.

PS: I am also very excited because we are going to look at houses tomorrow! Today made me realize the importance of having a yard (one without dog poop everywhere), since Isidora loves to spend time outside!