Fellows Graduation
Nathan officially graduated from his Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship in June. This year in San Francisco is considered an additional year beyond that of a fellowship (I know you need to be married to a physician to understand all this jargon). Nathan's department has a great tradition of having a fun dinner to celebrate the two fellow who are graduating. Mayo only takes 2 fellows per year. This year it was Nathan and his fellow fellow John who is also staying at Mayo.
This is Dr. Eidem, Nathan's program director who showered both Nathan and John with gifts. The kids kept saying, "Wow, Mom, Dad's getting a lot of presents!"
These next shots are awful because I was the one shooting them and I still don't know how to work our new fancy camera. Dr. Eidem gave Nathan 3 new shirts because he said they always joke about how Nathan wears the same superhero shirt to dinner when they are at outreach clinic.
This one says, "Mr. Miracle" to go along with Nathan's love of superheroes.
This one says "Without Me the Band would Suck" This shirt has a story all it's own. One of the new fellows, Jessica, had a Rockband game and Nathan went to play it several times at her house. They even named their fellow's" band" the "Bare Metal Stents" which is a caridology thing. You'd have to ask Nathan.
The one says, "I want people to be afraid of how much they love me." I guess this one was for Nathan's love of "The Office."
Dr. Eidem also gave Nathan a Michael Scott bobblehead because he thought it fitting that both Michael and Nathan were "retiring" so to speak at the same time.
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| The remaining fellows gave Nathan and Jon (the other graduating fellow) a few gifts, as well, like the t-shirts above. |
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| Nathan got a special gift to "help him fit in in San Francisco". Unfortunately, it seems as if this gift was accidently left in a box in a Rochester. I'm sure we can go down to the Castro and get another one. |
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| Nathan recewas given the nickname "Dr. Diva" because of his demands in the cath lab--particularly gowns that are long enough and gloves that don't cause his hands to break out. So, fittingly, he was given an extra-long surgical gown with "DIVA" emblazened on the front. |
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| Graduation finished with some rousing music from the Bare Metal Stents with special guests Nate, Haley and Andy. |
First Taste of Cereal
Alina had her first taste of baby cereal on June 19th. She seemed to enjoy getting it on her face more than in her mouth. Everytime we'd bring the spoon to her mouth, she thought that both her hand and the spoon should go in. Both of us got pretty messy!
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| Forget the cereal! I'll just take the yummy baby! |
Camp Taggart
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| The kids wanted to have on last hurrah with their good friends before we left. They decided to do a mock summer camp day. They invited Brett Herbers and Allison Michel who are neighbors and Tessa and Abel Paulsen who are very good friends. The camp started with popsicles and then some slip and slide fun. |
Snacktime consisted of roasting mini marshmallows over a construction paper "fire" that Haley just threw together (she's amazing with the arts and crafts).
And what camp day cannot be complete without a craft? The kids spent almost 2 hours doing Shrinky Dinks, thank goodness I had lots of sheets for them to use!
Nate the Great Parties On!
Nate wanted a Pokemon theme for his birthday party. We couldn't find a Pokemon cake, so we had to go with Bakugan, oh well.
While the party guests arrived, the boys made Shrinky Dinks using Pokemon patterns and turning them into key chains. It was quite a hit with the boys! 11 year old boys and Shrinky Dinks? Who knew!
We then played a series of games. I got some ideas off the internet, some I made up, and some I used from "Minute to Win It." The first game the boys had to throw Poker chips colored like Pokemon balls into bowls floating in another bowl of water. It's actually harder than it looks.
Then, using Nerf guns, they shot Pokemon.
The last game, the boys had to shoot rubber bands and try to disconnect the toilet paper from the roll. I had actually seen this done on "Minute to Win It" and thought it looked fun. The boys thought it a totally unfair game because no one could do it. Then Nathan stood up and did it with one shot.
Out With the Old and In With the New
The swingset that we have loved since we moved in 7 years ago was falling apart on us. We were sad to realize that it was no longer safe and didn't want to leave an unsafe play area for the family living in our house while we were away. We found a nice swingset for a great price at Sam's Club. But.....we sure didn't know what we were getting into. It took Nathan 50 plus hours to put the new swingset together. In fact, by the time it was done this is how he felt about it.....
Here is the last picture of our beloved swingset. Our neighbor Brett and Michael are hugging it good-bye. Brett lives across the street and he remembers when the previous owners actually had the swingset built, so he was very sentimental about it's passing. He took a piece of wood from it and had us all sign it. Haley kept a metal link from the swings. Nathan even said, as he was tearing it down, that he was kind of sad to see it go.
I thought we had taken a picture of the playset totally finished, I guess we forgot with all the moving stuff. We'll have to include a finished picture later.
While Nathan worked hard on the playset, the kids would cool off running through the sprinkler.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Update-O-Rama Part II
Hooray! We finally have our computer and I finally have a minute to continue updating the blog.
Sisters
Haley is my wing man (or girl in this case) when it comes to helping me with Alina. She always swoops in when Alina is fussy and I can't soothe her right then. Haley loves to play with her and keep her happy which makes me very happy.
Baby Boom
From May 2010 - May 2011 we had 16 babies born into our ward. Some of us were moving so we wanted to get a shot with all the Moms and Babes together. We put us in chronological order by birthdate. There are 3 babies missing.School Memories
These pictures were taken on the last day of school. Andy finished Kindergarten. His teacher was Mrs. Herbers, who as it turns out, is our neighbor. She started out as the para in Andy's class and when his original teacher was diagnosed with cancer and had to leave school, Mrs. Herbers took over. She is a great teacher, neighbor, and friend. Andy said that she was the best artist that he knew!
We were truly blessed with teachers this year! Haley had Mr. Anderson for 3rd grade and he was a fabulous teacher!
Nate had Mr. Koerner who was also a great teacher. Nate learned a lot in his class and we were appreciative of all his hard work.
At Elton Hills Elementary, they have a 5th Grade Recognition to celebrate those 5th graders who are leaving the school and moving on to middle school. It was a great program. They had 5th graders share memories from each of the grades they completed while at Elton Hills, the 5th graders then sang "Firework" by Katy Perry (which gave me chills) and then they had a photo montage showing a picture of each of the kids as an infant or toddler and then as a 5th grader.
It was one of the hottest days in Rochester with high humidity and Elton Hills does not have air condtioning. Needless to say, we were very hot and sweaty by the end of the program.
This is Mylee. We'd like Nate to marry her some day. She happens to be Hallie's sister, who is the cute girl we'd like Michael to marry.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Happy 4th from San Fran!
We made it safely here to San Fran, but we've been camping out in our own house. The moving company still has our stuff on the road and won't be here until tomorrow (Tuesday). We got here on Thursday evening. Without a car, our options for entertainment and food shopping are limited, but the kids are getting really good at walking up steep hills! After a very loud and excited 5 second tour of our home, the kids were in agreement: this house is much better than our house in Rochester. After we got keys, we walked to a bakery for lunch. It was a little quaint place run by an Asian family. There was a friendly customer there who played his accordian for the kids, it was a lot of fun.
It's my Nathan's birthday today! Happy 36th birthday my love! I wish I had some cool pictures of the most wonderful man in the world, but I don't because they are all on our computer that's still on it's way here. Nathan has some great plans for his birthday: we are going to Golden Gate Park to listen to a band and then we will spend the afternoon and evening at Fisherman's Wharf with a fireworks show at the end of the day. We'll become pros at public transportation yet.
We'll post pics later. We get a lot of strange looks with our big family, but we love it!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Update-O-Rama Part I
There are a few reasons why I haven't posted anything for awhile. Among those reasons would be getting ready to move and that we bought a brand new, very expensive, very cool camera and we had to figure out how to get pictures from the camera to the computer.
Anyway, I will post from oldest to newest. On May 21st it was Nate's 11th birthday. For his birthday we went to the Kid's Lego Fest in Minneapolis. It was a lot of fun, even for Nathan and I. They had several life-size Lego statues and Haley wanted to get a picture with each statue. Here are a few sample pics.
They had this really cool area called "Creation Nation" where you could create anything and then these volunteers would place them somewhere on the floor in the massive United States figure. Kind of hard to explain, but here are some pictures and maybe you'll catch on. The first picture is of Andy's creation. It was put someplace in California.
Haley's creation. Her's was put by the Golden Gate Bridge. I think that the volunteers knew we would be moving to California soon.
Nathan created an igloo. He asked them to put it in Alaska, but they didn't have an Alaska, so he asked them to put it in North Carolina because Jim and his dad built an igloo when North Carolina was hit by a snow storm this past winter.
In this shot you can kind of see the whole "Nation".
Anyway, I will post from oldest to newest. On May 21st it was Nate's 11th birthday. For his birthday we went to the Kid's Lego Fest in Minneapolis. It was a lot of fun, even for Nathan and I. They had several life-size Lego statues and Haley wanted to get a picture with each statue. Here are a few sample pics.
They had this really cool area called "Creation Nation" where you could create anything and then these volunteers would place them somewhere on the floor in the massive United States figure. Kind of hard to explain, but here are some pictures and maybe you'll catch on. The first picture is of Andy's creation. It was put someplace in California.
Haley's creation. Her's was put by the Golden Gate Bridge. I think that the volunteers knew we would be moving to California soon.Nathan created an igloo. He asked them to put it in Alaska, but they didn't have an Alaska, so he asked them to put it in North Carolina because Jim and his dad built an igloo when North Carolina was hit by a snow storm this past winter.
Here's a shot of the "West Coast".
In this shot you can kind of see the whole "Nation".
After the Lego Fest, we had dinner at the Paulen's house. They are really great friends and wanted to have us over for dinner before we moved. Sarah even baked a cake for Nate and we had cake and ice cream for dessert.
Tae - Kwon- DoJo
On May 16th, Nate tested for his red belt in Tae Kwon Do. He got to break two boards for the first time. He broke both!
I Left My Heart in Rochester, MN
The weekend of May 13th and 14th, Nathan, Alina, and I flew to San Fransisco to find a place for us to live for a year. It was a frustrating experience for many reasons, which I won't go in to. But, we found a house! It was the last one we looked at and we are happy with our choice.
It's on a hill (of course!)
Looking up our street...
and down our street.
Tae - Kwon- DoJo
On May 16th, Nate tested for his red belt in Tae Kwon Do. He got to break two boards for the first time. He broke both!
I Left My Heart in Rochester, MN
The weekend of May 13th and 14th, Nathan, Alina, and I flew to San Fransisco to find a place for us to live for a year. It was a frustrating experience for many reasons, which I won't go in to. But, we found a house! It was the last one we looked at and we are happy with our choice.
It's on a hill (of course!)
Looking up our street...
and down our street.Let's Play!
On May 7th, 4 days after Michael turned 4, he had his first birthday party. The kids got to have a snack and watch a movie while everyone arrived.
After the movie, we opened presents and had cake and ice cream, then the kids got to play, play, play. It was just a huge playdate.
On May 7th, 4 days after Michael turned 4, he had his first birthday party. The kids got to have a snack and watch a movie while everyone arrived.
After the movie, we opened presents and had cake and ice cream, then the kids got to play, play, play. It was just a huge playdate.
This sweet little girl is named Hallie. We'd like Michael to marry her when they grow up.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Big Brothers are So Sweet!
Nate: "Mom, I'm missing a vital organ."Mom: "You are?"
Nate:"Yeah, my heart because Alina took it from me."
Friday, May 6, 2011
4 months!
My baby girl is 4 months! Where is the pause button on her life? Tomorrow she'll probably be walking, riding a bike for the first time, having her first crush, going on her first date, graduating from high school and then college!Here are the rest of my babies at 4 months.
Michael John
Andrew Charles
Haley Nikole
Nathaniel Hatch
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Big Day
We had a big day in the Taggart House yesterday. We had two significant events happen: Michael turned 4 and Nate got his braces off.
This is Michael at one day old. I can't believe that my baby boy is 4! Where does the time go? Michael is such a sweet boy and is such a blessing to our family.
This is Michael at one day old. I can't believe that my baby boy is 4! Where does the time go? Michael is such a sweet boy and is such a blessing to our family.
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