Studying

In case you were wondering how a 1st year medical student studies for his midterm Anatomy exam, here is the answer. . .

No, actually they did this in class. The students were told to wear appropriate underclothes for the excercise. I'm not sure of the technical term for this, but basically they drew markers all over one another in order to learn where different organs are located. This time they learned where to listen to a patient's heartbeat, lungs, and a couple other things.

Anyway, I thought it was kind of funny. What was more funny is that Brad came home from class, stripped Lainy down and located her organs. What would he do without her? Hopefully Brad gets this mental picture down so he doesn't have to draw on his patients in order to hear their heartbeat!

Alaina Walks!

Okay, so the truth is Alaina has been taking steps for a couple of weeks. She's been darting in between furniture and in between parents, but it's just been the past couple of days that she's been brave enough to venture out on her own. Here she is!

P.S. For those of you who receive this by email, the video won't work unless you log into our blog. The address is tbahans.blogspot.com. If you haven't been invited to our blog, send me an email at traci_024@hotmail.com and I'll make sure you can log in.

Oh Canada

A few weeks ago my friend Juliann invited Lainy and I to go up to her grandparents cabin just across the border in Canada. Since Brad and Juliann's husband Spencer were really busy studying, we decided they could live without us for a few days and we hit the road.

The kids were great in the car most of the time. (We had Lainy, Reece (2 1/2), and Benson (5 mos) all packed in the middle seat of our Subaru). They each had their little fussy moments, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. Well, until all three kids started screaming at the same time. They were completely past consoling and there was no place to stop for fifteen minutes! All Juliann and I could do was laugh.

The cabin is in a little cove on Kootenay Lake. The scenery is gorgeous! Though it was cold and rainy most of the time we were there, we had a lot of fun just relaxing.

Unfortunately, Lainy had a hard time while we were there. It was all due to one mean little 18-month-old girl. Poor little Lainy was bitten, pushed down, strangled, and all around just terrorized. I felt like some animal mother who had to protect my young from a predator as I tried to calmly keep this girl from killing my kid! I guess I didn't realize the affect this would have on Lainy until we got home and went to church. Lainy cried whenever a toddler came close to her. I'm afraid part of my sweet little baby, who has always been quick to smile and make friends, may be gone. I guess all I can do is shower her with all the love I can at home and hope it's enough when someone is mean to her. It's hard though! Stinkin' mean little kid. . .

So we had a great time, saw some beautiful scenery, strengthened friendships, and learned some life-lessons. . . not a bad trip!

Lentil Festival

Soon after arriving here in Moscow, we found out that a lot of the farming around here is lentils. In case you don't know what lentils are (because I wasn't sure) here is a definition courtesy of Wikipedia.com: "A lentil is a bushy annual plant of the legume family grown for its flat, lens-shaped seeds."

Lentils are a big deal in this area. So much so that the city of Pullman (about 10 minutes away from Moscow) dedicates an entire week to the Lentil Festival. Apparently it is attended by the whole valley. We decided we couldn't miss it.

The highlight of the festival was the Lentil Parade, featuring Tase T. Lentil. We caught up with Tase T. right after the parade for a picture.

After our photo-op with Tase T., we sampled Lentil Brownies, which really are pretty good. (After looking at the recipe, I guess you can pretty much hide anything in something with that much chocolate.)

It was a fun day spent with family, friends, and a big brown bean.

Our Little Reader

Last week I heard Lainy chattering in her bedroom, so I went to investigate. This is what I found:

I thought it was so cute! Now it's a tradition. Every afternoon, she crawls into her bedroom, climbs up into her chair, grabs a few books, and "reads".

Happy, Happy Birthday Lainy Dear

Here are Lainy's birthday pictures. I hope she had a fun day because we sure had fun spoiling her for her birthday!

My attempt at a birthday cake. Brad is afraid Alaina is going to get diabetes because she LOVES anything with sugar in it, so I tried to make her cake healthy-ish. (By healthy I mean sugarless whipped cream and fruit for toppings, ha ha). Here's a funny story: Brad was the one who wrote "Happy Birthday" on the cake. The first time around he wrote "Happy Birthay" with no "d". I thought it was funny - how many times has he spelled "birthday"?! I guess his mind was occupied with anatomy terms or something.

Alaina enjoying her cake. We stripped her down to her diaper, set her on a tarp, and let her go at it! She was very clean and proper until the very end when she smashed the whole thing into her mouth. She loved it!

Opening Presents

Thrilled with her new toy from Grandma and Grandpa Smith

She looks excited about this gift doesn't she? I think she looks way too big.

Thanks to all our family and friends who celebrated with us! We love you all!