my best little helper

Kate is such a good helper.  If I'm watering the flowers, she wants to hold onto the hose; if I'm sweeping the garage, she wants to sweep too; If I'm watering the herbs in the deck pots, she wants to dump water too.  I'm sure the day will come when her helpfulness is a little less than helpful, but for now, I'll take it!

she calls this one Kate's broom

Happy Father's Day!

Matt had to work all day on Father's Day this year, which was quite a bummer.  We celebrated Father's Day with him on Saturday night instead:) During the day on Sunday, Kate and I went to my parent's house for a cookout and swimming with my extended family.  The pool was only 70, but Kate, Lukas and Liana didn't seem to mind.  They all wanted to go swimming.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the day, but Kate did get to see Matt for a few minutes before bed.  Here they are just loving each other:)

Kate wanted daddy to lay down on her pillow

lots of Father's Day kisses

Frederick Meijer Gardens with Grandma!

We went to the children's gardens at FMG with my mom a few Fridays ago.  Kate had so much fun, and we ran into our friends, Leigh and Caleb, too! What a fun day.  I'm so glad my mom is close by to hang out with us.  You can probably tell from the pictures, but Kate's favorite thing was choosing a boat from the cart and putting it into the 'Great Lakes' water and watching it float.  She's so cute!

Residency Graduation

Last weekend, Matt graduated from residency! It kind of doesn't feel real yet, because he still works until the end of June, but it was a fun celebration anyway.  For those of his classmates that are going on to do general pediatrics (like in an office setting), they will be finished with their training at the end of the month.  We have a little bit to go:)

For those of you unfamiliar with the medical world, they keep track of training by Post Graduate Years (PGY), so Matt's first year of residency, he was a PGY1.  He's finishing his PGY3 year, and when he's the chief resident, he will be a PGY4.  He'll then spend PGY5-7 as a hematology/oncololgy fellow.  So, by the time he finishes, he will have completed 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of med school, 3 years of general pediatric residency, 1 year of chief residency, and 3 years of pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship.  Seriously, that's a lot of training.  And he's seriously smart to prove it!

Matt's parents came up for the graduation, and my parents attended as well.  I know all of us are proud of Matt, but I'm really, really proud of him.  And since I'm his wife, I get to be the most proud:)

The 3 Musketeers

friends! 

future Chiefs giving out awards

all the graduates

just a little light reading for Monday morning

Kate loves to jump on beds, and she made it very clear that I was no longer going to be able to make the bed because she was going to play on it.  My Type A personality is usually always going, going, going and wanting to get things done, but instead, I stopped and enjoyed some playtime and reading with my little lady.  I'm thankful for the little reminders of what life is all about:)

silly goose! 

my little laundry helper

Sorry for all the background noise; the washing machine was running:) Isn't she a great helper?

mama's shoes

After we went for a run, Kate said 'mama' and then put my shoes on...and she walked in them a few steps before falling down:)