derek has had some awesome news this week! he was awarded a 10,000 dollar grant for the "Young Investigator of the Year". this was pretty amazing as they APA only chose 4 proposals out of 108 submissions. i'm very proud of him. the money will be used to complete a research project idea that he thought of himself - studying the effects of tobacco exposure related to kids hospitalized with pneumonia.

and if that wasn't enough, the same day he had an abstract (short explanation of a different research project) accepted to be presented at the national Pediatric Academic Society meeting in Vancouver this spring. he'll give a presentation to probably a few hundred people, so also very cool and distinguished.

i'm glad one of us is making our way in our careers! mine is kind of on hold as i focus on being mommy, but i have my plans too, don't you worry.

pretty exciting weekend at the dubs house!... in consideration, of course, that we have 2 kiddos under the age of 3 and are also still pretty isolated in our new city. saturday morning was spent at the nashville downtown library which is awesome, and then we had some friends over saturday evening for dinner, and benjamin charmed one of his many lady friends with his "home livin' " equipment. yes, he has the kitchen, the vacuum, the shopping cart... you name it. here are benjo and lucy claire in their cooking gear... and after sharing a couple of chocolate santas.


aaannnd, harrison got a turn in the exersaucer for the first time! it was definitely a hit. i know, he's only 3 1/2 months, but he really hit that sunshine thing and made the animal noises sound like he's been doing it his whole life.





sunday was also pretty fun as we took the boys to their first CIRCUS! yes! ringling brothers were in town and we got a wild hair and bought a few tickets....

well let me just say to please remind me not to have a migraine when i go to future circuses... thank the lord my sumatriptan started kicking in even though it's 2 years expired. i guess i forgot how absolutely out of control the volume is in a circus filled arena, this one blasting a britney spears-esque number "do not try..... this at home...." for most of the first half.

despite these issues, it was of course pretty cool when the animals came out... elephants standing on eachother, dogs doing crazy stunts, horses, zebras, tigers - the TIGERS! i could not believe this man had 12 bengal tigers in about 100 square feet of space. they were growling and pawing at him, and he had a couple of whips and kept them in control. i never remember realizing how scary it was for the person in the ring with the tigers as a kid, but now it's pretty much the highlight of the whole thing for me. i tell myself these animals are all rescues or raised in captivity, but who knows...

we finished off our circus experience trying a nashville staple for the first time, demo's. i've heard good things, especially as a family with kids type place, and you know it was okay. i was a little disappointed in my ribeye sandwich, as i had a ribeye a few days ago that was soooooo good and i was craving it again. my husband reminded me that my earlier experience was a 30 dollar ribeye and this was a 7 dollar sandwich so i respectfully accept the difference. the kids are now tucked in bed and i got a kick out of the assortment of beverages and books sitting on the end table next to me and thought you might enjoy it.... (margarita, mots for tots, dos perros, enfamil, "where do i live", and The House of God)