2 Fun Things

A long time ago when we were first starting to talk about residency and where we might like to go, I said "somewhere where there is a place to swim and it has to have a Dunkin Donuts". After I thought it through some more I came up with some more important wants, but that's besides the point. Well, I am happy to tell you that today my first 2 wants were granted! Kurt got off early from orientation and so we went to a local beach people kept telling us to check out. It's less then 15 minutes from our house.  AND the one and only Dunkin Donuts in Kalamazoo just opened today less then 5 minutes from our house! My new friend called me to let me know that DD had opened and everything was on the house due to training!  I'll be going back tomorrow and the next day and the next. Every day actually until Sunday when I drive a 12 passenger van with my sister in law and our 6 kids under the age of 7 on a 12 hour drive through the night to NY. I'm sure I'll have plenty to blog about with that trip!

 We bought a pass for the season! I can take as many people will fit into our van so come visit!!!!!!!!!!

 Ordering at our new DD just down the street a bit.

This picture makes me laugh. And my iced coffee looks and tasted a lot like milk with a spoonful of coffee in it. Not complaining though, it was free and the workers are still learning.

Actual Birthday

You probably saw my earlier post about the party we threw for the twins while we were still in Blacksburg, however the twins had their ACTUAL birthday this past Friday. Kurt had the day off so we headed up to WI to celebrate with my family. Luke was falling apart as we were trying to have lunch, open presents, and eat cake, hence why he is not in some of the pictures. I'm really thankful we are living close enough to my brothers and their families to be able to spend time with them more often.On our way back to MI we stopped in Chicago and had brunch with John and Kristin at my brother's restaurant, Old Town Social. If you are ever in Chicago, you should go, it's amazing!

Anyways, can't believe a year has gone by! Can't believe how much I have learned about myself since being a mom! Can't believe how much our babies have grown! Can't believe how much I am loving being their mom and getting to spend every day with them. Can't wait for this next year!

 

Party people minus Luke (in bed) and my brother John (he arrived shortly after the picture)

Lots of help to open presents!

We LOVE cousins!

State Park

I am taking a break from posting from our super busy week/moving to tell you what we did in our new state yesterday. Just a little break. I still have things to catch up on.

Yesterday we headed to Lake Michigan. We went to Van Buren State Park as our first of many different beaches to try out. When we got our MI license plates for the car they asked if we wanted a pass to the state parks for a small extra fee and we accepted. I think instead of being like "wanna go to a state park? oh wait we have to pay, never mind" we'll be like "let's go to a state park today and it's free!" (not actually free since we paid the fee upfront, but feels free since when we pull up to the guard shed we just get passed right on through) Anyways, we geared up, packed up, loaded up, and drove a little less then an hour and arrived at a beautiful sandy beach with FREEZING cold water and small waves. Because of the effort it took to get there I made us stay for at least 1.5 hours. Babies did great! After the beach we drove about 5 minutes north to a REALLY cute town called South Haven. Mae was already asleep in that short amount of time so we just drove around a bit to see what it was like. Looking forward to going back there to explore some. This was our second trip to the beach with the twins, the first being the ocean, and we have come to 2 conclusions...

1. Luke is a water baby. He's not afraid. Loves to dig in the sand, walk in the water, have the waves hit him, even eat handful of rocky sand without crying, over and over again! The bucket is covering his first fist full. Since I was taking pictures I was too late to stop him.

 2. Mae is more a sit on your towel way far away from the water and observe kind of girl. She's not a big fan of the water, cries actually, and doesn't like her feet in the sand. She is perfectly content to sit on the blanket and play with whatever she can get her hands on. I think she looks pretty prissy in this picture.Prissy, but pretty.

It will be interesting to see if this observations stick.

Birthday Party

I decided to do a birthday party for the twins over graduation weekend thinking family would be in town and also to be able to celebrate with our Blacksburg friends since we would be gone by there actual birthday. So, since I'm probably a typical mom wanting to throw a party for her first child (in my case, children's) first birthday, I had to fit it into a VERY busy weekend already. 

I searched Pinterest for inspiration and found lots of cute ideas for either a boys party or a girls party, but not much for a co-ed party. So I decided to go with my new favorite thing...BANNERS and play off of that for the party decorations. I started seeing a lot of sewing onto paper while searching Pinterest and so I decided to sew banners on the invitations. I made a few extra with just lines on them just in case I threw another party on their actual birthday. I LOVED how they turned out! I got lots of inspiration for flags on cupcakes during my search so my mom helped me make these out of fabric and toothpicks. I didn't get a picture but I got aqua and yellow plates/napkins in several different patterns. I bought party hats but embellished Mae's with a tissue paper flower and Luke's with a tissue paper border. You can see them in the family picture below.

With it being such a busy time for all of us, those who could come, came, and we had a really fun time celebrating. We were going to do the party at the river (a place we have spent countless day while living in Blacksburg) but the weather was calling for severe storms so we changed gears and had it at a park close by our house. It was a great decision b/c it started pouring while we were finishing up the party.  Also great b/c of all the packing and graduation events going on. It just made it a little simpler having it close to home.

The twins actually turn 1 this coming Friday. We are planning a very low key party with my family we now live close to. I'm excited for the cousins to get to celebrate together. I'm using the same decor, plates, and napkins b/c I had left overs. Looking forward to one more day of celebration and remembering that crazy day 1 year ago when they entered the world 6 weeks early. I might be shedding a few tears, happy tears that is.

 Kids loved the cupcakes. I had plans to make "healthy" cakes for them (why do they need sugar just b/c they are turning 1), but with being so busy and my house mostly all packed up I quickly ran to Kroger for a box mix. Oh well, one day of sugar won't kill right?

Friends and family that were able to come.

Graduation

First of the list to catch up on...Graduation!

I guess I should change the title of my blog now. I'm no longer a med school wife. I'm now an actual Dr.'s wife! Pretty cool! Did I really start this blog 4 years ago? 4 years ago life looked REALLY different then it does today, different in a really good way. I'm not going to say that life is perfect because that would be a lie, but it is good even with it's up and downs of daily life. Looking on these past 4 years God has provided for us in ways I could never have imagined. I have grown so much as a person and my relationship with the Lord is sweeter. I love that. I also love being a mom and a wife and staying home. That will be another post soon...being new home owners!

Anyways, back to Kurt and his graduation! I'm so proud of him and his accomplishment. He did a great job of balancing school and life. There were definitely hard times with a husband being in school but overall I think the med school stage of life was great! I will always look back on it with great memories. We made some of our very best friends during this time. Oh, one thing I am really going to miss about med school is the long summer breaks and 4 week long Christmas breaks! Gone are those days! Now it's into the real world with scheduling limited time off.

Kurt will be starting his residency July 1st in Kalamazoo, Mi, orientation started yesterday. Now instead of a short white coat, he will be wearing a long white coat! Wow! Also, instead of his coat saying "Kurt Schubert, med student" it says "Kurt Schubert D.O. Cool! Along with being a resident comes longer hours at the hospital from what we have been told until he gets the hang of things and get more efficient with his note taking. So, I think we might be in for the harder part of this whole process as far as time commitments go, but I am trying to remember God's goodness and faithfulness to us. I remember being nervous when he started med school and we moved to a new area and we didn't' know anybody! Sounds a little familiar to life right now, new area, no friends, new "job", only now we have 2 kids and a dog which makes it a bit trickier to get out and explore and hang out. BUT, I KNOW God will provide exactly what we need exactly when we need it. Just trusting Him in this area and trying to spend time with Him more to keep my eyes fixed where they need to be. I'm really thankful we have family somewhat close by and our best friends from med school only an hour away! Praying we find a church quickly!

 Oh, and Kurt is one of the smartest guys I know. Just throwing it out there because I'm proud of him. He seems to know a little big about everything and a lot in a lot of things! Sometimes it bugs me and makes me feel not that smart. I tell him that I am smarter in different ways, House ways, like cooking, sewing, laundry, and things like that.


Ok, Ok so now for the pictures after all my blabbing. That's what you want to see anyways.

 This was at the award banquet a few nights before graduation. Kurt graduated with Honors! See, I said he was really smart!

 Just us. I got my hair just in time for graduation! My highlights were VERY bad!

 Our best med school friends!

 The dress code wasn't black and white I promise! Friends from Bible study. Already missing these girls!

 Kurt's friends and the husbands of the above picture.

 Proud grad

 Kurt awkwardly hugging the dean which I think he did twice. They were required to only do it once.

 I'm hoping my mom or Kurt's mom got a better family picture. Like maybe one that's not quite so white and maybe with the kids looking.

 Kurt's family

 My family

Pretty cute. Future Dr? I think my mom got some of these with Luke and Kurt.

So much more happened over the course of Thursday (the night of the banquet) to Sunday (the day after graduation). So look for my post tomorrow to see what else we were able to cram into 4 days, and these were no little things either!

Normal Life Resumes

Kurt started orientation today which means we are back to "normal life". It's been really nice having him off for the last month but I knew it had to end sometime. The end didn't come without some tears shed last night. Why am I so resistant to change? I always fear the future and then it ends up working out just fine. I need to better about learning from my past experiences. Anyways, moving on. Life has been BUSY the last few weeks with packing, Kurt's graduation, goodbye parties, twins birthday party, painting cribs and chairs, visiting friends, the birth of our best friends baby, moving, and then unpacking. Needless to say, I have neglected blogging but have taken LOTS of pictures! So now that life is seeming to be a bit more normal I've got a lot to catch up on here.

I started this post earlier today then again got busy and now I'm back on at 10pm wanting to post this before bed. So only 1 picture for tonight then more tomorrow! Not a very exciting one but a cute one. That's us all packed up in Blacksburg.

Goodnight! I'll be back tomorrow.