And the envelope please...

The last few months have been busy as I have interviewed for fellowships in craniofacial surgery! We have travelled to Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Boston, Dallas, Salt Lake and Chicago looking for the right fit for all of us. Finally, after agonizing over how to rank the programs for the match, we submitted the list and crossed our fingers.

And the verdict....We are going to Dallas!

That was the #1 program on our list and offers great training, proximity to family, minimal "on-call" responsibilities and no need for a snow shovel! I couldn't be happier. Now we just have to survive another move...all so we can look forward to another one in a year when I am finally done with school.

Lots of other things have been going on here in Cleveland in the midst of all the job hunting and deliberating about what city we would like to live in. Riley and Austin both celebrated birthdays, number 8 and number 6, respectively. That meant that Riley got baptized.

Riley also lost another tooth. Here, I have to insert a couple of funny stories. First, toothfairies and broccoli.

When Riley started loosing teeth, Austin was really sad that he didn't have any tooth to leave the tooth fairy. He really liked the idea of getting some money and painstakingly wiggled every tooth to see if one might possibly be extractable. He was discouraged to find they were all solidly rooted.

That's when we hatched a plan.

We told Austin that the toothfairy liked teeth a lot, but that TF's second favorite thing was kids who ate their broccoli. I went on to explain to Austin that if he ate his broccoli that night, I was certain the tooth fairy would bring him some money, too.

He gobbled down to veggies and the toothfairy produced some quarters for both boys. Cool.

Only ever since then, every time Riley loses a tooth, Austin frantically begs Lynelle to cook broccoli for dinner. Should I feel guilty? Nah! :)

Now, the other story - How the toothfairy almost blew it.

After Riley pulled his tooth (and Austin ate his broccoli), the tooth was placed in the usual place. Unfortunately, TF forgot to come...er...was delayed by a winter storm. The boys were crestfallen in the morning, but they felt better after learning that many other kids also missed their toothfairy visits due to a Midwestern snow storm that dumped as a couple feet of snow on parts of New York and Pennsylvania.

Then, would you believe it if I told you that TF forgot again??

Lame!

Lynelle came up with the save when she discovered the toothfairy had left money on the front porch...after the kids were awake, I might add...along with a note explaining that the toothfairy did not have time to come in given the back-log of kids to visit. You know, that winter storm again. :)

And while Austin has been eating his veggies, Matthew has been shoving them into his nose. I recently caught him shoving a piece of corn in his right nostril one night at dinner. After pulling it out (amidst a great deal of protesting from Matthew), I was surprised to find another kernel up there. I got that one out, too, only to find a third kernel that was really shoved up there. To get the third one out, I got out my head light and a long pair of forceps. Matthew really hated that, but I retrieved kernel #3, and crisis was averted.

I guess that is the lot of the 4th child. You know, to not have your parents notice you are shoving things up your nose until you are putting your third piece of corn in. If he had been a fifth child, he might have had the whole cob up there before I saw what was going on. You gotta love family life!

Oh, and before we leave teeth. Lily recently lost a tooth also (more broccoli for Austin). Only Lily's was a bit more traumatic an experience...literally. She nose dived off a bonk bed (she claims she was pushed???) and knocked a baby tooth out cleanly. Now she will just have that cute little "look-at-me-I-just-lost-a-tooth" look...for like the next 5 years or something.

Otherwise, life is good in Cleveland. More later....

Trip to Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh not "the pits" afterall!

We had a great time last weekend on one of my interview trips for fellowship. We were in Pittsburgh interviewing at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for craniofacial fellowship. Lynelle and the kids came along since it is only a couple hour's drive to get there from Cleveland. While I was checking out the hospital, Lynelle and the kids went to the Zoo and to the Carnegie Science center where we were able to explore a WWII submarine, bounce and flip on a trampoline and try exotic new foods like the little fried squid Riley is downing in the picture I have included. Hope you enjoy the pictures. We are well and happy in Cleveland. Next interview, Dallas then Salt Lake City. Hopefully Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston to come after that.

Austin bounces on the trampoline at the Science Center...

Matthew chucking a ball at his dad with the camera...

Lily ready to go for a bounce...

Riley experiencing calamari for the first time...

Me taking a break from interviews to decompress...

New to blogging...

Greetings from Cleveland!

Lynelle and I have decided to try our hand at blogging. We both worry that it will be an immense time sink and that every little bit of free time that we really don't have will be consumed in the effort. Still, seems like it could be fun...

For those we haven't seen in a long time, we are currently living in Cleveland where I am finishing my plastic surgery training at the Cleveland Clinic, and Lynelle is running things at home and doing a fabulous job herding our 4 very active kids. Though my job is tough, she works a lot harder than I ever have!

Cleveland has been great...no really...I mean it. We have loved it. The only downer, from Riley's perspective, is that we have to endure Cleveland Browns fans when we remain staunch Indianapolsi Colts fanatics. We even painted a Colts field in our backyard this past year and then sent a photo of it to Coach Dungy.

When he sent us an autographed picture of his with the Vince Lombardy trophy, the boys were ecstatic at first. Then Riley thought for a minute and said, "Oh, man! We should have sent the picture to Peyton Manning instead!"

The boys are sports enthusiasts and both the older ones played baseball this last Spring. Matthew (at age 16 months) is still not old enough to join a league, but throws anything he can get his hands on...including dinner.

While Lily and Matthew excel in competitive cake eating, which I am told they may adopt as a Summer Olympic sport for the 2012 games in London.

Northern Ohio is beautiful and lush, and there are lots of outdoors things to do. We have especially loved hiking and swimming in Lake Erie. The kids have also especially enjoyed our recent creek walking adventures in the Chagrin River valley.

While here in the Midwest, we decided to take a trip to Niagara Falls. What a great time! Lynelle and I thought the Falls were spectacular. The kids were far more impressed with the indoor waterpark at our hotel and the snacks for the car trip.

It was the first vacation we have really taken since . . . well . . . ever. Not that we haven't traveled. It's just that we travel to interview of residency or to visit family most often. We really haven't ever just taken to the road with no agenda and no schedule. I think the break from being at home was good for Lynelle.

While in Niagara, we loved riding the boat down at the base of the falls - the Maid of the Mist. The kids also liked taking the walk through the tunnel that lets you come right up behind the Horseshoe falls and hear the roar of the water - which by tour guide accounts is enough to fill 1,000,000 bathtubs per minute.

We also took a little day trip down to Palmyra, New York to see the Joseph Smith farm and the Hill Cumorah. God bless the poor sister missionary tour guide who tried to keep our children engaged and interested! While she was trying to make the experience a spiritually memorable one, our children (who had spent a lot of time couped up in a minivan to get there) were more interested in collecting interesting rocks from the gravel path leading to the Sacred Grove. At one point, Lily had all of her pockets loaded with gravel and her pants were riding low. I think a highpoint for the kids was log rolling down the Hill Cumorah. Overall, pebbles in pants notwithstanding, it was a fun afternoon.

We anticipate we will be doing more traveling in the coming weeks. I am gearing up for more interviews for a final year of fellowship training in pediatric plastic surgery. Next stop, Pittsburgh and then a handful of other cities around the country. Lynelle is hoping I will one day stop being a resident (when you have been a resident for 8 years, what's one more???) and find gainful employment.

We will try to post updates and new pictures a couple times a month, so stay tuned!