Check-Up Time

Time for weight and height checks.

And a head to toe check.

And of course shots.

They were troopers.
Only a few tears!

And Lucas is skinny and tall. As always.

Weight 42.75 lbs (55%ile)
Height 45.75 lbs (87%ile)

And I promise we feed Haley.

Weight 22 lbs 3 oz (8%ile)
Height 32.75 inches (28%ile)

As always blessed to have two amazing and healthy children.

Beards and Babies

Matt has a picture with his dad that we tried to re-create when Lucas was little: Bearded man with a baby (note to self: find this original picture). So now it's a thing. Pictures of our babies at 9 months with their bearded daddy. Scary thing I know. See for yourselves.

Lucas:

Haley:

Trick or Treat

Candy galore at la Case de Israel now that Halloween is over. We took our T-Rex and Ladybug trick or treating with L's friends Belle (Ella) and Sleeping Beauty (Anna) on their closed off street and very soon all we could see was a streak of green as our dinosaur ran from one house to the next. We have trick or treated on the same street for a few years now and it's fabulous: no cars, lots of spooky decorations everywhere, and even one house that serves smores to all the adults. Yum!

HK is unsure about this whole Halloween thing but L is watching out for her

T-Rex and Sleeping Beauty

The princesses with our critters

Still unsure...

Better. Hoping for some candy now.

The candy hunt begins despite refusal to wear the dinosaur head

Shortly after starting on the candy hunt, HK passed out in her daddy's arms. We had one tired bug!

After Lucas successfully collected a whole bag of candy we met up for pizza and more pictures with some of our other little friends. We had a whole zoo: a duck (Molly), a dog (JD), and a giraffe (Will) in addition to our little guys. They were such cuteness! I do admit this picture was not a small feat to capture. 

HK and JD playing. Look how big we're getting. These two little ones have birthdays exactly one week apart!

Chattanooga Weekend

A few weekends ago we headed to Chattanooga with Lucas' favorite girlfriend Emma and the rest of the Shoemakers for a quick getaway. We left Saturday after soccer and then spent the afternoon at the aquarium.

Arriving at our hotel and ready for a fun weekend

That's a lot of kids in one dark "troll" cave



Enjoying the water play area outside the aquarium



Petting the stingrays

One fascinated girl

The hotel had a fabulous indoor/outdoor pool which the big kids (and the husbands) enjoyed immensely.

We did pool all evening accompanied by some Mellow Mushroom Pizza and beer and again in the morning with self made waffles in hand. Good times all around. I'm sure we'll be back soon if our schedules allow.

And our little ones enjoying each other's company:

Peter showing Haley how sitting is done

Mini Kickers

A few weeks ago we had a big day for the Israels. Lucas had his first day of soccer (and I'm officially a soccer mom). Lucas is a Minnesota Thunder along with BFF Emma. The mini kickers were not quite sure which way to kick or even if to kick the ball but they were so cute. Matt is so giddy too which is adorable. He's been wanting a kid in soccer since I told him I was pregnant. He just wishes he could be coaching. Maybe next year. But Lucas did a great job even though he did want to bring his own ball into the game instead of playing with the one the other kids were playing with.
Haley's big news was that with a little help of the soft grass at the field, she sat all by herself!!!
So stink in' proud of my kids!
And last but definitely not least. Matt and I had our first celebrity spotting in Nashville! Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's daughter Sunday Rose is playing in the same league as Lucas and they were on the field right behind us about 20 feet away! Had to try really hard to stay cool.

Before the first practice, I got my sweet boy to let me get some pics in his new gear:

Getting first instructions from their coach:

Finally kicking!

A quick pep talk

Sweet Kids:

Huddle and "Thunder" cheer

Summer Catch-Up

It's been a busy summer with many events and many changes. After three years of call nights, sick babies, learning, laughing, and crying we have finally finished residency. Of course we are excited to have these years of training behind us but at the same time we now face many new challenges and will miss so many parts of the last three years. We will cherish the memories we have made and will miss our friends that are leaving Nashville behind. Luckily, like us, many of our friends are staying here in Nashville for fellowships or jobs but sadly not all of them. It's amazing how the past three years seem to have flown by but at the same time so much has happened in the past three years: we became parents, we learned how to be pediatricians, and we made it through the first years of homeownership. It's been an incredible three years and we thank everyone in their love and support to get us through it.

End of Residency Party

A more formal and more complete picture of our graduating class.

We had an especially hard time saying good-bye to our friends Kathleen and David who are moving on to NC for practice and fellowship. In there short years we have gotten to be very close to them and I think Lucas has seen them as his second set of parents. We'll miss our impromptu dinner and Cece's dates. And we're not sure when Lucas will stop asking about KK and David when we are headed to get ice cream. In April we also took a wonderful trip together to San Fran, Sonoma, and Napa and I have absolutely not gotten around to posting some of our great pictures. Here are a few:

An amazing tip from a friend: biking across Golden Gate. We had amazing views!

So many monkeys!

At the top of Lombard Avenue

We had a wonderful (but sad) breakfast at Copper Kettle with Kathleen, David, Emily, and Mercer right before the Barry's hit the road to NC.

With the heat of the summer, we also spent a lot of time grilling and getting together with our friends every opportunity we could get.

Content with the pink stroller. Pink is L's new favorite color.

Hug from Anna

Cuddles from the newest addition to our friend group: Molly

The girls: Kim, Emily, Steph, Molly, and Kathleen

The boys were off playing... of course.

More sweet Baby Molly

[Lucas: "Baby Molly little; don't touch Molly" - he had to learn fast that the first 2 month of life and toddler germs do not mix well ]

We also had a great visit with our friend Kim who came all the way from Australia. I'm so thankful that she still stops by to see us on her few weeks back in the States every year. We can't wait to plan our Australia trip even though that will probably have to wait until after Matt's fellowship. Second year in a row we took her to Star Bagel. We have a weakness who can blame us.

On one of the rainy Saturdays, we went to the Nashville Library. They have the cutest puppet shows. Luca loves them! This particular day we had lots of company to see “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” – based on the short story by Mark Twain.

I think we took up half the space in the room.

Lucas and Ella

Anna

And finally, rounded the corner the other day to see this traffic jam in our hallway:

Good thing we're not lacking in cars, trucks, and bikes around here