April 13 – April 19

**There are just under 100 pictures on this post. You have been warned :) **

Sunday, April 13:

Jamie O'Banion taught this really cool lesson about the history of the Restoration. She took it all the way back to the 1400s, beginning with the printing press being invented, to literacy spreading across Europe, through William Tyndale and John Wycliff and all sorts of amazing people and events. I am always in awe of these moments in history when you can see movements actually happening, when nothing can stop the human spirit. You can see the people taking back their own lives and destinies, learning to read and to think for themselves; my inner history nerd was so happy :) 

Jamie O. put together this super cute board for our girls :)

The morning rain cleared out after lunch, and we played baseball outside in the backyard after church, gearing up for T-ball to start in the next few weeks!

Monday, April 14: My Assessment lecture was a free day to practice the head to toe assessment checkoff, and a final opportunity to ask the professor to clarify any questions. After school, I took Tyler shopping with me to pick up mint chocolate candy for these little guys.

This was my backup plan if my Concepts presentation didn’t go well: at least I'd have candy to hand out! I was glad to have some one on one time with Tyler, who hasn't seen much of that in a few months. He and I are both excited about this summer :)

Tuesday, April 15: After pharmacology was over, McKay and Jamie brought me lunch. We found a sunny, grassy spot to sit and eat together, and Jamie ran laps around this little field. I love it when they come to visit me at lunch :)

After lunch, I presented my Concepts project on Ethical Dilemnas in Caring for Terminal Patients (so cheerful). I was pretty nervous, but in the end, my group did fine, and we all passed!

After class, we trooped upstairs to practice the Head to Toe Assessments on each other one more time. I've got it down to 25 minutes flat, a huge improvement over 90 minutes! McKay and the kids picked up Babe from the library, something he's been wanting to show them for a while. They've spent the week laughing at the silly mice and the crazy duck :)

Wednesday, April 16: TODAY WAS THE DAY!! We had our head to toe assessment check-off, and it was so nerve racking, but my partner Erynn and I passed without any problems! That was a huge, huge weight off my shoulders to have that done with, but now that I'm on the other side of that mountain, all my finals are looking much closer and more real. I took Tyler and Jamie to Plano where we stopped first at Jamba Juice to meet Kevin and Cindy.

Cindy took us over to Salvation army for an armload of cute clothes for Jamie, and these boots.

THESE BOOTS. Finally after a Costco trip, we were ready for home.

Thursday, April 17: No rest for the wicked! I left extra early to reserve one of the lab rooms at school to practice for Concepts check-off redo, which I am feeling better about this time around since I've done most of these skills in the hospital for real patients :) Then I was off to the hospital to get information on my next patient for clinical. Tyler had running club!

Friday, April 18: I got to the hospital by 6AM for my last day of clinical this semester. My group put together these huge gift baskets filled with snacks and treats, one for each floor of the hospital that we had spent the semester at.

 On our floor, the basket that was about 15 pounds of crackers, granola bars, cookies, chips, and what not was GONE in 15 minutes. I have never seen food disappear so fast!

I finally got to give an injection! It was the weirdest, weirdest experience stabbing another person purposefully, but it went really well!

After clinical, we all went out to lunch together, and then I ran over to Target for all our Easter supplies (so last minute!! I had actually forgotten it was Easter Sunday until a few days before when Cindy texted me to ask what I was bringing to the Easter dinner.) When I picked up Tyler from school that day, Ms. Hobson came out to the carline. I am a bit embarrassed to say I was bracing myself to be told he had a hard day listening, but instead, she couldn’t say enough about Tyler’s testing scores for MAP testing they had done that day. He’s off the charts in math, specifically, and they test reading next week. I am so, so proud of him. He tested below average at Christmas time, and I was pretty concerned at that point. Since then, he and I have been hard at work, practicing his math skills with plenty of time spent on the Study Island website, and quizzing him on math during the day. It has paid off! I am ridiculously proud. I want to just shout it from the rooftops to everyone that my son is a genius. That night, I got a jump start on studying pharm, and the kids helped me pack eggs for the Easter party the next day.

Saturday, April 19: My lovely babies woke up promptly at 6:30 on Satuday morning. This is one of the mysteries of life. Why can they sleep like rocks well past seven on school days, but be bright eyed by 6:30 on weekend mornings? I packed up my little morning people for the ward Easter Party, which was so fun. The missionaries flipped pancakes for everyone all morning, and there was a great egg hunt too.

Later in the day, we all drove down to Ennis for the annual Bluebonnet festival. After lunch, we headed downt the country roads for adventures in horse petting and flower finding.

At home, we had a talk about why we celebrate Easter, and then we set out our baskets and very sleepily headed off to bed!

Funny things:

1. Tyler recently learned that there are different types of dogs. He like to tell everyone that Bronx is "part chee-wah-wah".

Something cool that McKay discovered was that our house is just about a block north of the famous route President Kennedy took on his way to downtown Dallas: After leaving Love Field through the airport’s south entrance, the motorcade turned left onto Mockingbird, then right onto Lemmon Avenue, where the crowds were not as heavy as at Love Field. Still, spectators positioned themselves along the entire route, sometimes 8 to 10 rows deep, to catch a glimpse of the President and his wife. As Lemmon Avenue intersected with Lomo Alto, several boys playing in the park jumped up and down with their hand-lettered sign trying to catch the President’s attention. Their sign read, “Mr. President, please stop and shake our hands”. He saw their sign; brought the car to a halt; and did just that: he shook hands with each of the boys and wished them well. The site of this exchange was Craddock Park, right along Lemmon Avenue. After exchanging pleasantries, President Kennedy ordered the motorcade forward for several more blocks, where he saw a nun with Catholic schoolchildren. As the first Catholic President of The United States, Kennedy again ordered the motorcade to a halt and greeted them. After this final stop, the motorcade was on its way, headed downtown. This southward route took them along the beautiful and winding creekside park and large secluded homes of Turtle Creek Boulevard; the shopping district along Cedar Springs Road; and finally North Harwood Street which transitions from residential and commercial areas to taller municipal and business building complexes that form the recognizable skyline of downtown Dallas.

Craddock Park is just a block or two from our house. It's pretty cool to live in such a historic place. And also sort of creepy :)