A nice break

After I defended on Monday, the kids and I rode back with my family to AR to spend the rest of the week. As always, it was a nice break from the city. The kids had a wonderful time riding the gator, playing with cousins and checking out Papa's new tractor on the farm. Here are a few pictures.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

It's official...

I have my Ph.D!! On Monday, August 17th, I defended my dissertation. It was awesome! My parents and brother came down for the event. I can't believe I am finally done with school!

The title of my talk (a bit blurry) "A Novel Function for Fibulin-5 in controlling integrin-induced ROS production: Implications on angiogenesis and cancer."



My parents and brother waiting anxiously for my defense to start.





My children gave me a nice card, beautiful roses and big hugs when I got home!




My mentor and his wife took my parents, my husband and I out for a very nice dinner to celebrate that night. It was wonderful!

Heavy reading

So what have you learned about human genetics, Ella?

Ella-in-the-box

Ella does anything to make her brother laugh!

And so it begins!

Luke stay away from the DVD player!

Ella's 80's hairdo

A little mishap with the hairspray.

Bye Bye Little School!!

On August 3rd, Ella said goodbye to her "little school" where she has been since she was 7 months....



and Hello to her new "Big school"! She was so excited but mommy was secretly very sad. I can't believe she is out of the little school. The big school is very cool though and Ella got a nice surprise. A little girl who Ella has made friends with at our apartment complex has taken the place of a student that left Ella's class. They were so excited to see each other on the first day!

Tub fun!

Now that Luke has mastered the art of sitting......



we decided it was ok for dual bathtime--Ella was so excited!!