Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Leaving Cleveland

Austin had his last day of preschool on June 5th. He absolutely loved his friends and teachers at school and will really miss them. Each of the children received an award on their last day and Austin's was the "Most Sensitive" award. We think that award is very fitting both because he is friendly and kind to everyone around him and, well, he's not afraid to shed a tear or two (or fifty). We love you little guy and are so proud of all the great work you did in preschool. It's hard to believe you'll be starting Kindergarten soon (and even harder to believe that we get to spend a whole summer with Mom being the only source of entertainment...OK, maybe we'll get some help from Diego, Dora and the Backyardigans. Oh, and don't forget our friends on Sesame Street. He he.).

Kent's mom came to help us move and she was an absolute lifesaver! (We love you mom!) She had the great idea of going to the lake one last time before we move to get some pictures. I'm so glad we did. The boys loved seeing the lake and it was a fun way to wrap up our experience in Cleveland. We made lots of great memories there. We definitely had some trials along the way (don't we all) but we can honestly say we loved our time there and will miss all the great friends we've made. It's hard to believe that four years have past and it's time to move on.

So, we had the brilliant idea of getting rid of a lot of our crap before we moved. Well, the not so brilliant idea was getting rid of our air conditioners right before a heat wave hit Cleveland. We spent the week before we moved packing, cleaning and almost dying in our 90 degree house. We had almost record breaking heat (low 90s--which is pretty much unheard of in June) and lots of humidity...yuck!!! Needless to say, we were absolutely miserable. I think it was one of the worst weeks of my life. Kent's poor mom didn't know what she was getting herself into. We had her cleaning, taking care of kids and sweating her brains out with the rest of us. Sorry mom! It was hard to be sad when moving day came simply because we knew we would be driving in air conditioned cars to a house with central air!

Here is the last picture in front of our Cleveland house. We had so many great memories in that house and will miss it. Goodbye Cleveland!

Dr. Howell (crazy as it sounds)

It's now official! (Actually it has been for a month or so now, I'm just really slow at posting.) It's hard to believe that we're done with the Dental School experience and my husband is a doctor. I keep reminding him that he is now fully qualified to get a job and make some money but I think he prefers being poor and in school. Oh well, I think the next three years will be exciting despite the lack of money or a job. (In case you don't know, he's doing a prosthodontic residency at Ohio State)Graduation day was really special. We decided the boys could skip the actual ceremony so they joined us for the luncheon and a few pictures...good thing we didn't ask much more of them because that's about all they could handle (thanks Andrea for watching them so we could enjoy the day). It was really neat to see Kent all decked out in his gown and the ceremony (despite a few boring speakers) was really cool. Thanks to Kent's parents and sister for making the trip and spending the day with us. We love you guys.

I'm really proud of you babe. You have worked so hard for this and I admire your ability to keep up with the pressures of school and home and do both so well. We love you so much.