Catching up

This should be the title of my whole life right now. I feel like I am constantly moving from one thing to the next, while mentally being in the tasks of last week. I can't even keep up with myself anymore! This is going to be the case for the next several weeks as we make our transition from being in Bakersfield to wherever we're going next too.

January was a wonderful but also hectic month. We took the family to Washington for almost the entire month, as Todd had a few interviews and second looks up there. We had an amazing time staying with family, and catching up with friends. It was such a blessing to me to be able to watch the boys interact with their grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousin. I love seeing them form these relationships. Todd and I were lucky enough to sneak away on a few dates- including an overnight excursion to Seattle! It was so much fun to just have a few stress free days to ourselves and reconnect with eachother. Birthday week was also during January. Jackson turned 3 and Noah turned 1. We celebrated with each of them on their actual bdays, and also had a family bday party for both of them. Jackson of course chose the theme- Spiderman :)

Now it's February and we are back in Bakersfield while Todd completes his LAST rotation. I can't believe it's the last one! In just 2 and a half weeks he will be DONE with school. The past 4 years have gone by in a crazy and amazing blur, and I can't believe it's almost over. We find out Todd's residency placement on March 17 and I will be trying to keep as busy as possible until then :) We are both so anxious to find out where we will be spending the next several years. Of course, we are hoping to be back in WA close to our families, but are content to go wherever God leads us.

I need to blog more on the day to day... on how the boys are growing and changing. I feel like if I tried to explain in all now, I'd be writing for days. They are both such amazing boys and I have never been happier.

More to come... stay tuned!

Christmas in California

As much as we wanted to go home this Christmas, we stayed in California to celebrate the holiday. As I have mentioned before, Todd had to scramble to land a pediatric rotation here in Bakersfield, and the catch was that he'd have to do it over Christmas.

We're at the point now in our lives as parents with children of our own trying to figure out traditions- what traditions we want to pass down to our children, and what traditions we want to create.

If we were home, we'd spend Christmas Eve with my family- going to church, going out to dinner, opening presents from each other, sharing a cigar by the fire, and listening as my dad read the Christmas Story. Well, we didn't think the cigar would be very appropriate with our boys, but we did attend a local church and go to dinner at CPK. It was a wonderful time! When we got home, we still opened presents from my family, as we would have if we were home. The boys had so much fun opening presents, listening to the Christmas story, and putting cookies and milk out for Santa!



Christmas Day, in Washington, would usually be spent going to my parents house early in the morning for "Santa" presents and stockings, and then off to Todd's parents house for the day of presents, dinner, and visiting. One tradition Todd wanted to keep was an orange in the toe of his stocking, as the tradition of his family :)

We decided to keep our Christmas Day very low key. We opened the massive amount of presents from all of our generous relatives and Santa, of course, ate lots of candy, and relaxed. I made a big breakfast of cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and sausage. I was bursting at the seams, but dinner was still to come! A tradition that we started last year was making a huge pot roast with all the fixins and of course, my grandma's heavenly hash, for dinner. It was delicious!

The best part of the whole day was just relaxing as a family in our pj's and watching the boys enjoy the gifts that Santa brought for them :) We are so blessed in so many ways and the sweet moments together truly was the greatest gift this year.

Busy

Busy is the only word that can really describe our lives lately. Busy, but wonderful. Here's what's been going on in the Crazy Curtis household. Last we left you, we were about to hop a plane and head to Seattle for a week while Todd attended two interviews and we spent Thanksgiving with family. Well, hop a plane we did, and we had a fantastic time. It was such a blessing to get to spend a whole week with family, and the boys were able to enjoy some snow!



A short week after we returned to Bakersfield, we hopped yet another plane and headed to Arizona for 4 days where Todd had 3 interviews in 3 days (crazy guy), and I had some much needed girl time with my best friend who I haven't seen in almost two years! She was gracious enough to let our crazy family of four stay with her family of four and it made for one big happy family :) Thanks again Galloways! It was my first time to Arizona and I really enjoyed myself, and the near 80 degree weather!




At Phoenix Zoo lights


Since we've been back, we've battled ear infections, nightmares, penicillin allergies, and many many sleepless nights. Oh, and did I mention trying to meet the shipping deadline for Christmas presents? Wait, Christmas is on Saturday.... as in THIS Saturday? Wow. Time certainly flies. But the expression on my babies' faces as they open their gifts from Santa will be a moment that I hope lasts a bit longer. At least I know it will in my heart.

Christmas blessings to all of you out there! Hope you all enjoy this "most wonderful time of the year" with your families and cherish each moment. Hopefully we can all take a few moments to slow down a little.

Thankful

As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, I am thinking on the things that I am truly thankful for. There are so many things, it's really hard to know where to start.

Of course there are the obvious- food on the table, a roof over our heads, beautiful and healthy children, and that we have such wonderful and supportive family and friends, but there are a few specific things that are on my heart right now.

I am thankful that last month is over :) Todd is on a new schedule now of 8-5 and we are loving having him around more!

I am thankful that the half-marathon is OVER and that I was able to shave 8 minutes off of my last time! Todd and the boys stayed in the park the whole time in cold conditions while I ran the 2 hour race. What support! It was so nice to see them cheering me on and in to the finish. My time was 1:58:44 and I am very proud of it!



Finally, I am SO thankful that on Saturday, we will depart for Washington to be with our families for Thanksgiving. It's been 6 months since we've been home last and I was getting seriously homesick. You never realize how important being with family is for holidays until you move away. Family really makes holidays what they are, and I'm so looking forward to being with mine for this one.

We really are SO blessed in so many ways. I really encourage everyone, if you haven't already, to think on the individual ways you have been blessed. I bet you could come up with a new one each day for the rest of your life.

The Marathon of Life (or something slightly less cheesy)

What a month this has been. I have been tested in so many ways I can't even begin to count them all. It all started with the lovely Kern Medical Center saying they didn't have any rotations available to Todd this month so he would have to figure something else out. We panicked. Todd spoke to the medical education office and told them he would take WHATEVER they had available so that we could stay in Bakersfield. He was given two options. A Pulmonary elective that had long hours, but no call, or another elective that had call, but normal hours. Well, it can't get worse than having call, right? So he chose the elective with "long hours." I mean, how long could they be, right?

Wrong choice.

For the past month, Todd has been leaving for work at 630am and not returning home until after the boys are already in bed, usually around 9pm to 10pm. So, I have been doing everything for the kids by myself. The good old days of counting down the hours until 5pm when my partner in crime would return home to help me corral the kids were over, and I was left dealing by myself with the kids from Monday through Friday, from the moment they woke up to the moment they were in bed, with no family around to help. Add a couple of out of town trips for Todd for interviews, the stomach flu for Jackson and myself (while Todd was out of town, no less), and training for a half marathon, and you have the most challenging month of my life.

What did I learn from all of this? That God will truly not give you anything you can't handle. Without Him, and our constant conversation throughout the day, I never would have made it through this month. While the kids were eating dinner in the living room and I was losing mine in the bathroom, not thinking I could go on one minute further, He gave me that extra ounce of energy I needed to continue. He is truly and amazing and faithful God!

And a big shout out to my mom, who was on the other end of the phone at least twice a day coaching me through. I really do not know what I'd do without her. She is the wisest person I know.

Saturday marks the end of this crazy rotation, and the day of my big half marathon race. In both "marathons" I have pushed myself beyond my limit and have seen that I am capable. And I never would have known what I was capable of accomplishing unless I had been pushed beyond my own self limitations. I hope I never forget this lesson, and if I do, I'm sure God would be happy to teach me again :)

Big Fat October Post

It's crazy to me that it's November already. It's 87 degrees out today! California weather is so unlike anything I've ever experienced. I suppose I can't complain too much :)
October came and went in a flash. I can't believe how fast it went by. It was filled with wonderful events, a trip and visitors!

The first weekend of October, we headed down to LA to meet up with Todd's family and watch the Husky Game vs. USC. It was the first game for the boys and we were little apprehensive about bringing them and having to hold them the whole time, but they did amazingly well. We had a great time visiting with everyone and were even lucky enough to see the Huskies dominate USC for the win!


Noah so tired from the fun of the game :)



An excited Jackson before the game

We also had the pleasure of a visit from my parents. They were only in town a short while, but Jackson and Noah had a blast with them. And so did we :)



Enjoying the pumpkin patch with Grandpa



Making cookies with Grandma



Sweet Noah at the park :)

Halloween was a wonderful time as well. Jackson was very excited to show off his Superman costume as a trick or treater, and Noah was very happy to be along for the ride as the Incredible Hulk. Jackson had a blast trick or treating, making sure to say "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" at each house. He was so proud of all of the candy he got!



My adorable little Hulk :)



The boys all ready to go! Jackson loved being superman. He would throw one hand up in the air and say "To the rescue!"



My boys out the door and ready to go!

Alright blog. You don't like me, and I don't like you.

I am just not good at this. If I want to be better, I am going to have to make this a discipline. Just like anything that doesn't come naturally, I will have to work at this one a little. But I feel that blogging is important and this is why- it's a wonderful way to communicate with friends and family, beyond the cryptic status updates of facebook. If you want the LONG caption behind the photo, come to the blog. There, you will get the real story. The other beautiful thing about the blog, is that it is, in a sense, a digital scrapbook. I just took a few minutes to go read my posts from Grenada. Ah, a simpler time when I was so invested in and committed to this blog. Now I struggle to find things to write while the current posts sit collecting dust. That's just not right. This blog should be nurtured and loved, and that is what I intend on doing. One post a week. I can do that! I will thank myself for it someday.