Clearing Day

Back in April Avery and I made a paper chain with a link for each day until our family arrived for graduation. We had extra marks on links for the weekend, and other things like Easter. The link Travis is holding is a very special link for today: Clearing Day! It's the first day the students are allowed turn in everything and tie up any loose ends and walk out of the school without having to come back until graduation!
Travis saw his last patient last Friday, so this whole week he's just been going in from about 9:30am to 2pm just to finish up paper work and because he was technically still supposed to be there - but he didn't really have anything to do! So this morning he went in early to clear out as soon as possible. While he was taking care of it, he was standing there with two other students, but he got the official first sign off which of course means nothing but is kind of funny. He came home at 9:45am and we did a little celebratory family jig for his being DONE!

That's right boys, live it up, Daddy's home for a long time now!

Travis really will be home for a while. Now we have 2 weeks to finish packing, have graduation May 16-17th, and then we leave the 18th! To get his license to practice, Oregon's board of dentistry needs a transcript with his degree posted. The degree can't be posted until he graduates, and unfortunately Marquette doesn't start posting until later in May. It's completely random, with no way to put a rush on anyone's transcript and they don't finish posting until the second week of June! THEN, after the board of dentistry finally receives the transcript it can take 4 to 6 weeks to process! That means the very worst case scenario has Travis unable to start work until the beginning of August!!! By the time he gets to work, he will be SO ready, but I think the number one reason won't be for missing teeth... after all, that's a LONG time for him to be home with us...

Goodbye Milwaukee Public Museum

Monday we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum for the last time. I'm really glad I got the boys back there one last time.
The butterflies are always a favorite, but having to hold Emmett this time, I didn't get any decent pictures of them. I did however get this spectacularly foggy shot of Emmett. (The lens likes to fog because it's really warm and humid in there and it takes the camera a bit to adjust.)

This is the only somewhat okay shot of a butterfly with one of the boys I got:

No butterflies with Carson, I just like this picture. Goodbye butterflies!

Goodbye Mr. T-Rex and your gory ways

Goodbye giant beetle

Thanks for sharing our last trip Emily and Aden!

Sweet Lullaby

Carson climbs in and out of his crib to get books all the time, but he always ends up back in to go to sleep.

Yesterday he didn't make it.

We only found him like this because Travis heard a weird noise. The card he has open once sang the "Move It" song used in Madagascar, but apparently not anymore! For your listening pleasure, I have included a video.



It sounds like something mind altering - I wonder if he had interesting dreams...

School Bus Fun

This fold up school bus was such a great find. Last summer we found a garage sale with a big "FREE" sign in front of everything. It must have just barely been abandoned when we rolled up because there was tons of great stuff. Besides this bus, we got a globe that Avery plays with all the time, some stacking blue buckets for some of the boys toys, kid puzzles still in their packaging, a Little Tikes kid desk, an Arthur book that looked like it had never been opened, some unused coloring books, and I don't even remember what else. We had to be quick though, because only about a minute after we got there a bunch of other cars drove up. We definitely hit it at just the right time!

Back to the bus. The kids love it and go through stages where they'll play with it for days. This time Emmett got in on the fun.

It's a great place to watch tv from...

...just don't get caught taking Avery's picture.

Emmett kept trying to get in the main door, but the boys would velcro it shut on him!

So Emmett was very pleased with himself when he found the other way in!

TinkerTractor

Yesterday Avery asked to play with the Tinkertoys and specifically requested I make him a front loader. Well, I think I did a pretty nice job, and it has been well loved an played with since then, so of course I have to post it.

Avery admires my handiwork:

Avery decided scoops can't have holes, so he flattened it:

Zoom Zoom.

The adorable Emmett waited patiently in the Jeep while I made the tractor,
so for his reward he gets some cute pictures (some reward, huh...)

Hi.

This kid does some funny faces with his lips.
He's always sucking on one or the other or the insides of his cheeks.

Bank Robbers

A couple days ago it was dinner time and the boys didn't come when called. Travis went to investigate and told me to bring my camera.

This is what they were doing --->

Avery's "Pooh Bear Bank" is kept on a very high shelf next to Carson's crib. It used to be out of reach, but now Avery can get everything down from there. On top of the bank we keep the "Woody" cowboy hat.

Sleepy Boys

Yesterday my boys were very sleepy! Avery never naps anymore, but he fell asleep on the couch before 11:30am! When Carson saw me get my camera, he had to grab his blanket and jump in the shot:

Then he laid his head down on Avery. So sweet!

Just a few minutes later he sat in his high chair with a yogurt to start his lunch, but didn't finish!

Normally he doesn't fall asleep for nap until about 2pm, but at noon he was so out that he slept
through wiping him up, removing the tray and his bib. I thought too bad he has a stinky
diaper to change instead of just getting laid down peacefully. But he slept right through
the diaper change too! Not once did he stir in all that moving and manhandling of him!

Such sleepy boys! And the bonus? Emmett napped somewhere in all that too!
What? All three boys asleep at the same time?! SUCH a good day.

Spring{ish}

Last Thursday, Friday AND Saturday we got to go outside and play!

Thursday:

I love that when Carson lost his shoe, Avery came running to the rescue!

On Friday the boys played outside again while Daddy washed his motorcycle.
However, I was inside making dinner, so no pictures.

Saturday, after Travis was done talking to his Dad, the boys talked to
Grandma Hunsaker for about an hour! Such scintillating conversation
comprised mainly of, "so Grandma, what are you doing now?"
I'm including these pictures in this post simply because I was
so happy to tell Avery yes, he could wear shorts that day!

Ever the copycat, when Carson saw Avery pull his blanket up, he had to go retrieve his too.

Then, on Saturday, we had our first trip of the season to the park!
In shorts and t-shirts!
I love that Emmett had his bare piggies sticking up.
It was warm enough for bare baby piggies!

Of course, it's just Sprin{ish} because since then it has been raining. Thankfully,
the 1-2" of snow they were forecasting for this morning held further to the north!
Even more thankfully, it's supposed to warm up (over 70!) this coming Fri and Sat again!

Our Easter

We had a great Easter!

Discovery:

The hunt:

Emmett's just tall enough to stand on his toes and see out the screen door.
I think he was waiting for our friends to arrive!

For the first time we got to expand our table out to it's full size!
We had to move it to the living room for enough space.
I should have taken a picture of the table covered in all the great food!

Avery had a blast with an accommodating Jared

Krista, Wendy and Baby Harper (who will probably be the
only girl to ever grace our baby swing with my luck!)

Playing the Wii is serious business for Aaron and Brady, not so much for Carson

Kristel, Aaron and the adorable Kieley

Thanks for coming Salmon's and Nelson's, we had such a great time with you guys!

After everyone was gone we plopped the boys in a chair and took some pictures.

Of course, to get a picture with all three smiling and looking,
I had to put three different pictures together! Why can't three
boys all cooperate simultaneously and save me the trouble?

I like how the boys are trying to kiss Emmett
and he just wants to know what they're doing!

There's the kiss!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Links to Home

Look what Avery and I made last Sunday while Daddy was gone to the Priesthood session of General Conference.

Each link is one day until all the Grandparents arrive for graduation and moving back to Oregon! I can't believe how close we are - and we've already taken 6 links off since we made it and took this picture!

During the week after Easter, Travis will be finishing up his last four patients. The week after that he has a rotation in oral surgery. Then he just has to go around to each department so they can sign off on his being done. Thursday, April 30th is the first day the students can turn in all their sign offs, locker keys and so forth. Then he'll be done! Of course, that doesn't mean it's time to relax - that means it's time to pack!

We're SO close, I can't believe it!

Just a Shave, Please

Notice something amiss? Or lopsided?

Last night at bedtime, as I was getting Carson changed for bed, Avery was waiting in the bathroom for teeth to get brushed. When I walked in I found him, Daddy's razor in hand, SHAVING HIS BELLY! I'm glad I didn't yelp or similar and make him jump!
"Mom, I'm just trying to shave like Daddy."
So... why the belly?!
As I was talking to him about it, I noticed hair on his nose and cheeks, but couldn't see any blank patches in his hair.
"Avery, where exactly did you shave?"
Finally I spotted the eyebrow. Notice also the two parallel lines just above the mutilated eyebrow? He's lucky that's all he nicked, and it didn't even bleed!

Presentation

Back in February Travis presented his research project for dental school and won first place at the research fair. (you can read about that HERE) After that, one of the Dr's asked Travis if he and his group would be willing to present his research at a local continuing education group. Travis was a little worried about it, mainly their ability to answer all the questions that might be thrown at them, but after asking the team, they agreed. So for the last few days Travis has been working on preparing a powerpoint and brushing up on all his research. Yesterday was the big day.

He said the presentation went well. He said one of the weirdest parts was giving a lecture to a group filled with so many who had given lectures he sat in over the course of dental school.

For their work, each team member got a plaque and a $100 gift card to Target! Below is the poster Travis made for the fair (the school prints it for them - it's 3 feet tall!) along with the plaque and gift card to offer some scale:

One interesting presentation from the day came from the director of admissions for Marquette's dental school and was all about the admissions criteria. He had spreadsheets going back to 2005 which is when Travis started, but he actually first applied for 2004. We were wait listed and had to wait a year. After yesterday Travis wonders how he got in at all! Apparently they receive 3000 applications each year to fill the 80 spots. Last year the first NINE pages of the WAIT LIST were all 4.0 students with DAT averages of 22! (I think the national average is around 18 - although the average of accepted students is higher) Makes me wonder how many pages down Travis would have been...

It really highlights the importance of the interview!! Actually, when Travis first applied in 2004 Marquette didn't have mandatory interviews. Travis chose to ask for one and went out anyway. We always suspected that had an impact come 2005 when they instituted the mandatory interview and remembered Travis because of his previous efforts. The presenter did make that point of how important the interview is, and another point was that they are more likely to accept those they know, or those who get recommendations from dentists they know. So now we're certain the money spent to send Travis voluntarily in 2004 wasn't a waste and helped his 2005 admission! THANK GOODNESS!

Just reminiscing here... I gave birth to Avery on Dec. 1 after he was 13 days overdue and the day we came home from the hospital we found Travis' acceptance letter waiting for us in the mail! All that waiting for Avery to finally arrive; all that waiting and worry about school, all answered at once! Such relief! Such a great time!

Photographer Avery

Avery thinks it's pretty cool that Mom can take pictures, but he thought it was even cooler when Mom gave him her old camera so he could start taking pictures too!

I mentioned this in a previous post, and he's already debuted on the blog when I used a great picture he took of Carson for the post on Carson's 2yr checkup. (I did crop that one a little, get rid of red-eye, etc, but the shots on this post are all SOOC).

Now, here's a whole post just for his pictures!

I loved looking through the pictures he's taken so far. You could really tell what's important to him. All his family members, a thorough canvas of the house, one of his favorite tv shows (Caillou), some toys, etc.

This is such a great example, he loves tools and he LOVES helping his Daddy
(who set him to pounding nails to get the trailer rails just tacked together).

Daddy

Mommy, being very attractive

A funny Carson

Emmett

A great shot of Monkey (a very important member of Avery's family)!

Okay, so we're still working on aiming...

...but I love his excitement and desire to set up shots as well as "being sneaky" with his camera so he can capture a moment!