A Change of Pace

When people find out that I (nominally) maintain five blogs -- one for me and one for each of the kids, the inevitable question asked is, "Wow, how do you have time to do that?" And, as should be obvious by the sparse, intermittent posting I do, the truthful answer to that question is, "I don't." So, for the sake of simplicity, starting today, I'm going to try consolidating all our blogs into one, which hopefully will get us enough posts up so my mom stops wondering aloud every couple of weeks if we're still alive or not... :)

The first year of residency is officially over! Actually, it's been about a month already, but I'm only now getting around to posting about it. Started med school in August and boy, let me tell ya, the change in pace is remarkable. No call, no patient responsibilities in the hospital, just classes, exams, and evenings/weekends at home. Enough time to host visitors,


grill a scrumptious birthday dinner for Wifey (okay, I admit it -- I didn't make the cake!),




work around the house,


go for walks in the rain,


and, of course, Saturday movie night (which we've moved upstairs to take advantage of the upstairs sound system)!


I'm not the only one who's had a change of pace, though -- everyone else (but James, that is) started school the day after Labor day, and since then, we've been busy adjusting to the new routines. Ethan in particular had a hard time with starting Gr. 1, feeling like all-day school seriously cut into his playing time. Isaac has enjoyed being in kindergarten -- his teacher loves how helpful and considerate he is. Lilly started two-day-a-week preschool at Gretchen's House, and James stays at home with his daddy on those same two days while Annie is brushing up on her English and Math at Washtenaw Community College.

As the faithful followers of our family milestones may remember, a little over a year ago, soon after we moved into our new house, "Annie razed the backyard to her neighbors' chagrin.". It had been... shall we say, "left fallow" over the year since then.


No more! After a failed attempt to recruit what turned out to be a rather unreliable landscape company earlier this spring, we finally succeeding in getting a (different) landscaping company to come this past week to bulldoze down our weeds, spread new topsoil, dig in a row of fence posts, and seed a new lawn! I stayed home two days in a row to "supervise" (not that I was needed much, but it's always helpful to be available to ensure the laborers get the particulars right).

The neighbors on all sides are ecstatic -- 3 of 4 of them approached us at one point or another to say how excited they were for us, but the last told us he's really going to miss the weeds (haha). I never realized how much attention the state of one's yard attracts!

DAY 1:

Bulldozer grading the yard



Bobcat moving topsoil from the street to the backyard



Our neighbors admiring the bulldozer operator's "blade work"



DAY 2:

Marking out the shrub/garden beds


Installing the fence posts


All seeded and ready to grow


Ever since they seeded the yard, I've spent 1-2 hours each day dragging hoses around the yard (trying not to sink too far into the mud while I do so) to make sure the seed stays nice and moist. They say it'll be mowable in 10 days, but I'm not sure I believe that: Today is day 4, and the yard still looks pretty much the same as the day it was seeded -- which is to say, a big mud hole. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic, but to go from mud to mowable grass in only 6 more days seems a bit of stretch! I'll keep you updated, though...