Summer fades to Fall...

Here it is!! I was much more timely with this update than the previous ones :). So I guess where I left off was in the middle of the summer. I was able to go visit Eric again while he coached his summer team, the Niagara Power. It was a bittersweet summer because it was Eric's last summer to coach in this league and for this team, they made it to the play-offs!!! for the first time since its establishment 5 years ago. While Eric is said he made the decision for a different experience next summer (telling people he would be spending more time with me :/), he is soo excited about how far the team got. I did visit over my birthday so the whole stadium sang to me, I got flowers from power pup, and I got a sweatshirt (seen in picture).

During my visit, the team scheduled their annual Baseball Hall of Fame trip to Cooperstown. I was soo excited and took tons of pictures but only have room to put one. Baseball players and managers who visit the Hall of Fame sign a special signature book to show they have been there. One of Eric's assistant coaches, Garrett, arranged for the Power players to sign the book. It is soo cool that their signatures are like two pages over from Cal Ripken's! This picture is of John McGraw's jersey from his time with the New York Highlanders. It was amazing to see all the different time periods with their uniforms and players. Some of it was sad since I knew it was a place that Daddy would have really liked to have seen, but I am sure that he is happy that I got to see it at least once in my lifetime. I had a great time and made many more friends than last year. We are very blessed to have people like the Kerns who have such an interest in our future.

We didn't quite make it back to the Falls this year, but we did venture into Canada on Eric's day off. We had Tim Horton's (which is not as good on the Canadian side) and drove around Lake Ontario to go to Toronto. I figured that there really was not going to be another time when we would be going to Toronto...at least me and Eric considering it's known for its theater and Eric is not really into that. We started out by going to the CN Tower which was worth the discounted tickets online. We enjoyed the walk around the top with a 360 view of Toronto, but the "glass floor" was a disappointing 8 glass panes in the floor to view the parking lot...very much a tourist attraction.

We did walk around the city a little bit and ate at Wayne Gretzsky's restaurant. I know, I know..but we honestly looked for local eateries and unless we wanted to eat ethnic food (like Mexican or Asian, which why would we go to Canada for that??) or eat really expensive, it was the best choice for Downtown. The funny story is that we had a great recommendation from Cal, the Power owner, for Ed's Warehouse, but in researching it...it closed like 3 years ago and the best part was we walked by where it used to be downtown and a demo team was taking the area apart. Sad, because Cal made it really sound like it would be a great place to eat.

We then ventured across on the ferry to one of the Toronto islands just south of the city. Eric was "very happy" with the choice of island since it had a "clothing optional beach". That is soo a joke. We stayed on the other side of the island and enjoyed a really relaxing walk around it. We took pictures of a lighthouse there that is apparently haunted....creepy. The ferry ride back had an amazing view of the downtown Toronto skyline which I will admit is the main reason I wanted to go across.

I left a few days later, knowing that it would likely be my last time up there. I was really glad that the team made it to the playoffs. Much to Eric's dismay, they did not do well so not only did they end the season quicker than he would have liked...he did have to help with moving. :) The Ebers family officially moved from Starkville to Cleveland, MS at the beginning of August in a UHaul truck, trailer, and with three SUV like vehicles. (Avery did not help with the move though I know she was there in spirit). Thank goodness we had a little help from my mom, aunt, and uncle. I still can't believe we are no longer in Starkville...I know we will miss it but we were there for quite a while.

Eric's 10 year reunion was this fall!!!!! And yes, we went! Sara timed it right so we got to see little Maddalyn since it had been since her baptism in April. Eric was very excited that Maddalyn can now hold up her head and she's even trying to talk and crawl around too. I'm sure by this time she's walking but it is interesting to see how quickly baby's grow and learn things. We, of course, also got to see Rick and Donna, who we had not visited since the spring, and Sara and Dominic.

Eric's reunion was on Friday night at the local bar, The Eagles. It was fun particularly since I got to look through old scrapbooks and yearbooks to see what my husband was really like before I met him. He definitely had some quirky moments, interesting fashion choices (definitely explains the choices now), and skinnier days. We also got to see Travis and Laura who I think we saw last at our wedding! I know Eric has seen them since but unfortunately we just can't time it right to visit Steeleville at the same time. I also got to meet Eric's other two best friends from high school. The slide show was hilarious because I had forgotten Eric told me he wore a white tux to prom and that he and Travis were SOOOOO skinny back then. I also can't believe that it's been 10 years...that means my reunion is next year and boy do I feel old.

Other recent news includes that Momma took us to the beach again this year over Columbus Day weekend. It was fun to see Chris a lot more agile in the water (we did get a life vest to ensure he would not run into the ocean). Katie Margaret definitely was not scared of the waves. The wind was really gusting so the waves were super big and two different times she and I got totally blindsided by a wave! We were both ok...just completely drenched! We built multiple sand castles and went on a few jellyfish hunts because they seemed to be everywhere as well. The house we stayed in had a really weird layout where all the rooms upstairs were connected in this big circle. The most comical part was that Meg had to go through my room to get to our bathroom which was in the closet!? Not only did Grauntie and Gruncle get to come (Gruncle is a great sand castle builder), but Clay flew in for the trip!!! He has never been with us so it was definitely an eye opening experience particularly since he stayed in the room with Chris :) I was glad he got to come and it will now only be until Christmas when we see him again!!

Well, that's all for now. Delta State and Cleveland is definitely different than Martin which is different than Columbus. Eric is doing really well in his classes and is doing a great job with his responsibilities with the baseball team. I'm still working at Banfield part time and on my days off am in Cleveland being a housewife. We are going to keep doing this for a while...all that matters is that we are enjoying life and living it to the fullest!!

Yes, it has been 9 months since I have updated our blog...but that should indicate just how crazy things have been!!!

Back in February, one of my very very dearest friends who I have known basically all my life got married!! Yay for Whitty! I was so blessed to be a part of the festivities and ceremony. It is so hard to believe that both of us are married and how time really has flown. The week was filled with parties, teas, and dinners. I can't believe how creative Miss Mona and Mr. Johnny were to have little "Mississippi" bags as favors. They were really neat...except for the Rebel Ale. :)

Eric started his first collegiate baseball season in February. He was a volunteer assistant basically meaning that he didn't get paid to coach, but did get a salary teaching a few classes (while you can be impressed, weight lifting is an actual college class). In amongst the season, we did try to squeeze in just a few family occasions including Maddalyn's baptism in Illinois and Easter in Jackson. Looking back, I get exhausted just thinking about it but it is pretty amazing what all we were able to do. But it would explain how I was able to put so many miles on my brand new Tahoe! That's right, I traded in the Big Yellow Banana for a beautiful 2011 "Taupe" Chevrolet Tahoe. It's been nice experiencing the 6 months of perks that come with it. It was a little sad especially since the Xterra was something that Daddy and I went and did together.

Spring in Martin was enjoyable....The actual travelling was not. I'll just say that me and the Tennessee highway system are not dear friends. But it was worth it to see the first collegiate team that Eric was associated with....go to their FIRST EVER conference tournament and have a really good season. They didn't make it far into the post-season which did make moving Eric's stuff back down to Starkville very interesting. But Eric and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the people in Martin and will always remember the experience fondly.

While I finished up my Graduate Assistantship in December with Dr. Huston at MSU-CVM, I did not officially graduate with my Master's degree until the spring. Basically, I did my research last Fall and then wrote my Thesis this Spring. I have to say that it is THE most time consuming piece I have ever written, which is understandable. The multiple edits, re-writes, and the recalculating statistics as well as defending my thesis and following the library's exact requirements were extremely frustrating, it is worth it to have a research project with my name on it that helped me obtain a degree to further pursue my passion in public health. I am officially Kathleen Leech Ebers, BS, DVM, MS. Since December, I have been working at Banfield the Pet Hospital, the clinic where I did some relief work last fall. I have gone from one weekend a month last fall to two days a week up to four days a week! I think that if I requested, I could have more days. Basically, there was a point this past spring where Eric wasn't sure if the Graduate Assistant position at UT-Martin would be available and we weren't sure where we would be this fall....so we decided for me to take the part-time work at Banfield so that I wasn't switching jobs every few months based on where we moved next. It has been a blessing considering the work situation as well as I get to see my niece, nephew, mom, and sister once a week.

With the craziness of the spring and the stress of finishing up school, it was really nice for Momma to take us to the beach for Mother's Day...I'm really starting to enjoy these beach trips. We took the kite this time and unsuccessfully flew it. The wind really wasn't that good and the kite was one of those weird trick ones that Clay got like years ago and is the only one we still have.

My birthday ended up actually being like a birth-week! It was pretty exciting. With my birthday being on a Saturday and Eric's team having home games, I decided to visit him in New York. Because I wouldn't be there, Momma decided to take the crew out to eat that Monday night. I chose Cock of the Walk which was alright, but I have to be honest and say I'm not really sure if they have a new cook or whatever but it wasn't as good as I remembered it has been. We did presents that night where I then received the lovely puppy dog cake below from my sister and niece. Katie Margaret saw it and thought of me...I'm scared. Momma and I went out to lunch one day that week too. I actually flew to New York on my birthday so I actually spent the day of my birthday with complete strangers moreso than people I knew. That night at the game, the whole stadium sang Happy Birthday to me and Power Pup gave me flowers. Eric did end up taking me to Toronto a few days later which is a blog all of it's own. When I got back, we had birthday cake at our monthly staff meeting at work.

As usual, the 4th is always a kind of last minute, let's see what we feel like kind of holiday. But it's kinda nice because Clay and Lauren came to visit!!! Lauren has a new job so we weren't really sure she would be able to since she hasn't accumulated her days off, but she was able to come. We enjoyed "payying" in the pool, cooking out, and just relaxing at the house.

Well, that's all for now. I have more updates from the summer especially about Eric's summer baseball team but that will be next....and very soon!!!

When It's Cold Outside...

The Fall has been jammed back with activities! The Bulldogs have been having a great football season after a bumpy start. Mom, Meg, Katie Margaret, Chris and Jake came up one weekend to go tailgating....aka "to the party!". It was really hot which makes me appreciate the current below freezing temperatures outside. October was a busy month with both a trip to the beach with "the girls" and Chris and then a trip up to Charlotte with Mom to visit Clay and Lauren. The beach was just what I needed to relax and enjoy some

last bit of summer fun. It was bittersweet after such

an amazing trip last year. Mom and I flew up to Charlotte which was a good visit minus the speed race through the Atlanta airport so we wouldn't miss our flight and Mom getting sick. Clay and I played the game of Life and I definitely beat him!! It was pretty sweet. I did get to see a little bit of Charlotte thanks to our wonderful tour guide. There's a really neat place downtown that has the mileage to various places in the US. (example below!)

October also was pretty busy for both me and Eric at work. Eric had fall baseball practice ending with the Soybean Series similar to the Maroon and White game at State. They ended up splitting the series 1-1-1 so there really wasn't a winner. But he is enjoying his job and really excited about the Spring! I think he's also a little anxious about me being there more regular. I had a few training workshops to help with at the end of October....which fortunately landed me in Jackson over Halloween weekend. Katie Margaret and I painted a pumpkin again this year. She liked it a whole lot more this year...and kept sneaking onto my side of the pumpkin.

November was a little more calm. I did get to do a few more days at Banfield earning some extra money and keeping up my clinical skills. I started doing that back this summer and try to do it once a month. With Eric and I both working at universities, we got a few days off for Thanksgiving. Because of everyone else's scheduling, we decided to go to both parents' houses! We headed to Illinois where we ate Thanksgiving Dinner with Eric's extended family. Sara and Dominic also came down a day early so that we could see little Maddlyn who was born on November 5th. She is so little and 8 lbs. Eric looked really sweet holding her as you can see, but I did remind him that our children will probably never be that small.

After a few days in Illinois, we headed down South to Momma's specifically because Clay and Lauren can't come for Christmas. We had a blast! It was nice for all of us to be able to be there. It was definitely a jam packed weekend: Katie Margaret and I decorated our gingerbread house. I cheat and do super glue the house together instead of using the icing...but to be honest, there ended up not being much icing to begin with and we had to open a can of icing. KM did a great job decorating this year! Last year, she spent the majority of the time eating the icing, even during pictures afterwards. But this year, she was really good and meticulous about icing the roof and placing candy. Eric impressed us all and made a gumball snowman that stayed together. We also decorated Momma's trees which we had spent the weekend before putting up while I was at home working. We put on the Christmas music and went to work. We waited until Chris was asleep to avoid having to re-place ornaments on the tree. Katie Margaret and Eric developed a system of tag-teaming the tree and probably decorated more than anyone else.

I can't believe it's already Christmas time!!! Only 24 more days. 2010 has definitely gone by fast...a lot faster than I thought it would.

Summer Fades to Fall

As always, I am writing with months that have passed but always lots of stories to tell.

Eric went back to Niagara and was the head coach. They didn't make the playoffs but had a better record than the previous summer so he's happy with that. I was able to go visit and see "Coach" in action. We also had a few days to ourselves where we headed to Canada to Niagara on the lake and visited the Falls on both sides, American and Canadian. Although we didn't get our passports stamped, it was really interesting because Eric apparently looks like a shifty character. We were stopped by patrol going into Canada...good thing Eric is a "teacher" because the guy finally let us pass after Eric said that.

I offically started my work position on June 1. I am a Graduate Research Associate at MSU still at the College of Veterinary Medicine. I'm finishing up the Master's degree I started a little over a year ago along with working on various projects. One such project involved going out to farms around the state to take samples for different types of tests. I definitely know what Mississippi summer feels like in coveralls now and I met tons of good people that I am proud to claim as fellow Mississippians. My actual thesis project for my Master's involves a survey for private veterinarians around the state and their experience with disaster preparedness. I've been busy stuffing envelopes and entering data. It really is interesting the results I've gotten though. The plan is to finish up come December and then who knows????

I have had some opportunities including doing some relief work at a clinic in Jackson a few days a month, going to the AVMA convention and running their 5K with Lauren, and then also going down to the Mississippi Coast for the Oil Spill Response. It was an awesome opportunity, and I realized the first disaster experience since graduation so I actually was able to perform doctor duties instead of technician type stuff (which they generally have students do). On the topic of disaster response, I received an American Veterinary Medical Foundation grant for a workshop I'm creating for first responders and veterinarians together. I'm really excited but can't believe all the crazy planning that is going into it.

Eric took the Assistant Baseball position at University of Tennessee-Martin. It's only 3.5 hours away so we do get to see each other fairly often. They started practice recently, and he said it's going well....just different from what he's used to. He's really excited about the spring, and I'm hoping to be able to go to as many games as possible. Avery's more excited about the fact she has a backyard at the new house!

We went up to Illinois a few weekends ago for Sara's baby shower. It was great to see everybody and she received plenty of good presents! I can't believe November is almost here!! Thanksgiving and Christmas should definitely be different.

We've done a lot of travelling lately particularly me with work...so hopefully, more adventures will be posted soon!!! Congrats to all our friends on new jobs, upcoming births, and proposals!

Graduation

So I am officially a doctor as of May 1, 2010...contrary to what Eric thinks (his definition is that I have a job and am practicing). But I officially have a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. Once I become licensed in June....I will be able to practice veterinary medicine on my own. It was a pretty awesome day. Graduation Day was April 28th where I received the Vicksburg Kennel Club Scholarship and Veterinary Cancer Society Award at the Awards Ceremony that morning and then received my diploma at the Graduation Ceremony that afternoon. Momma, Ann, Meg, Clay, Chris, Katie Margaret, and Eric all came. Avery did get to participate a little because we stopped by the apartment after lunch at Oby's.

Katie Margaret decided she liked both my tassle on my cap and the cowbell I received from the MVMA with "our" name on it. She is Bulldogbound!

The day was awesome but I have to say really sad because we all definitely could tell someone was missing. Miss you and Love you Daddy!!

I meant to post this back in May....it never did...weird.

Spring

With the beginning of spring and the end of the school year approaching, many changes have been going on in the Ebers's house. Avery turned two back at the end of February, and it is amazing that we have had her that long! She had a playdate with her mother and it is interesting to see similarities and differences between them. It's hard to believe that she is as big as she is considering we live with her everyday and are used to her size.

Baseball season at Columbus is finishing up with the Junior High team going all the way to the District Championship game losing to Louisville. Although disappointing especially after last year's win, the guys played hard and Eric is very proud of their hard work and great attitudes throughout the year. The high school has only a few more weeks to play....and then off to Niagara for summer ball!

I officially completed my last two weeks of my senior year at an externship here in Starkville. Although a few bumps along the way in scheduling, all-in-all I have enjoyed the opportunities I ahve experienced this year. It is hard to believe how fast time has flown by, but at the same time, graduation has been a long time coming. In just a few weeks, I will receive my DVM and after getting licensed, can officially practice veterinary medicine.

We currently do not know where we will be or what we will be doing come the fall, but we know God has great plans for us and we wait patiently. We each have a few options and are weighing them along with seeing what else could be out there.

We have continued to have opportunities to spend time with our niece and nephew, over spring break and then again over Easter. Below are a few pictures of our busy weekend. From visiting with family to egg dyeing to church to Easter dinner, it was a hard weekend, but we are very tahnkful for what we have. Christ is risen indeed!! And happy birthday to my fabulous big sister!!!

A New Year...many changes

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has been supportive, caring, understanding, and just simply there whenever needed. It's been a difficult past few months, but we are very blessed with a close family and great true friends. The cards, flowers, text messages, emails, and prayers are greatly appreciated beyond words.

It's hard to believe how busy everything has been. Eric assistant coached for an FCA collegic baseball team this past summer and did so well, he was asked to be the head coach for this coming summer. They did fairly well, but he had a wonderful experience and thoroughly enjoyed being in Niagara, NY. The past few months in particular he has been busy recruiting and finalizing plans before the regular baseball season starts up in Columbus. He is still head coaching the Junior High team who won the City Championship so we're looking for a repeat! and he is still the pitching coach for the high school team. Games officially start up this coming weekend with a Jamboree. Hopefully, I'll get to visit this coming summer since two rotations kept me in Mississippi last summer.

My senior year officially started back at the end of May and it's hard to believe that graduation is almost here! (April 28th). I took my National exam (called the National American Veterinary Licensing Exam- NAVLE for short) back in December and found out in January that I passed! So as soon as I get my diploma and pass my state exam, I can practice veterinary medicine. I've had lots of experiences in the past few months including six weeks at the CDC, some advanced clinical rotations, a clinical externship, and even took a few Masters classes that will count for both my veterinary doctorate and masters degrees. I am taking a few weeks off right now to enjoy being with my family and resting after not only a busy school year, but also an emotional time. Just a few more weeks credit and I'm ready to graduate.

Avery had her first official duck season and retrieved three! We are very proud of her and hope she continues to do well. She has always been a bundle of joy and will always be a puppy in our eyes, even though it is very apparent that she is quickly outgrowing the condo.

I was able to spend a lot of time this past fall and the early part of this year with my family. I was able to enjoy going to the beach in October, painting a Jack-o-lantern, seeing my nephew get baptized, watching the Egg Bowl, playing in the snow twice with my mom, and spending 7 official weeks in Jackson this winter with my mom and dad. Lots of good memories, lots of lessons learned, but most importantly...thankful that I am who I am and am blessed to have a great family to call my very own.