I wanna roll my eyes right now, but the doctor said if I keep doing it my ocular muscles might spasm and eject my eyeballs

Just wanted to pop in and let you all know that February is treating us well in the Cleve.  Since last we wrote Nicholas has become a real dentist.  I went to the clinic the other week and watched him drill the teeth of his first patient.

If you're wondering why the patient looks familiar, it's probably because you know his cousin.

At any rate, we just wanted to pop in and wish you a happy Valentine's Day.  As we curl up by the romantic light of the fire,

The majestic Cuyahoga River

we can't help but feel blessed by all of the love in our lives. 

Even Tolliver has found a girlfriend

Sending you all our love,

The future Mr. and Mrs. Lias

This blog entry has been brought to you by

Van Holten's Hot Mama Pickles: the individually wrapped pickle snack available at your local Blockbuster.

A Tail of Sadness and Woe

Nicholas and I would like to share with you our profound sadness over the loss of a larger-than-life figure, who is etched indelibly in our memory.

No, not this guy.

THIS GUY!

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let me start from the beginning...The gigantic raccoon--whom you may remember from other blog entries, such as lf the whole world moved to their favorite vacation spots, then the world would live in Hawaii and ltaly and Cleveland--showed up in our backyard again the other day.  Obviously we were surprised that the critter was bold enough to show his face around here again after the extent to which we previously scared him (minimal).  Actually, the most surprising part was that it was broad daylight and raccoons are known to be nocturnal, which means that they usually only come out to forage in response to auditory stimulus provided by this guy:

Too esoteric?

Editor's note: Being nocturnal has nothing to do with response to Chopin's Nocturne. 

At any rate, there was the raccoon staggering around our yard like a Harvard sociology major after a kegger.

Harvard sociology major after kegger

So naturally we were concerned.  Our first thought was that this golden retriever-sized raccoon was probably rabid and we should keep our distance.  But he made it difficult to avoid him when he decided to charge the house

And then curl up by our back porch

where he decided to stay almost motionless for a good 6-8 hours, moving only to glare at us when we went to check to see if it was still alive (Nicholas) or give it the finger and squeal (Wendy).

So at this point we had to decide what to do with the lurking raccoon. And since we have such good boundaries with feral animals,

We don't

and we would never take one in and try to integrate it into our household,

We would

we decided to call animal control and see if we could get the mammoth raccoon exterminated.  And that was when I learned the most important lesson that I've learned since moving to Cleveland (Thanks, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences): Spring and Summer are "rabies seasons".  Fall and Winter are "old animals crawling out to die seasons". So rather than incur the cost of having animal control out to trap the colossal raccoon, we took their advice...which was to leave it alone and if it died in our yard to put it out on the curb for the trash (Cleveland Heights, you are a classy, classy town). 

And so we mourn the loss of a very sick, very large raccoon.  If I got one more chance to talk to him I would say, "Old buddy, come trash day we're going to give you a cozy resting place right in between my empty seltzer bottles and the giant bag filled with soiled kitty litter"...and then I'd probably give him the finger.

The final lesson that we'd like to share with you, our family, is this: if you happen to look outside this winter and see one of these:

Or perhaps, one of these:

don't be afraid.  Just remember that they're old and sick and just coming out to die. 

It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.

Well, a lot has happened since we last wrote. Nicholas and I both finished our first semester of graduate school.  And then we got all of our grades.  That's right, Molly, ALL OF THEM!

Sad Molly.  Cry, cry.

After classes were over Dad came to visit us here in the Cleve.  We wanted to show him all of the exciting things that Cleveland has to offer.

Footage not found

When it turned out that there was nothing exciting to see in Cleveland, we took Dad to see the house from A Christmas Story.  Dad clearly enjoyed it and at no point tried to threaten us with a prop razor from the bathroom in order to make an escape.

Dad not threatening us.  Maniacal laugh! Maniacal laugh!

 While we were at the house we got to meet the man who played Randy in the movie!

Child Star

Adult nobody

Can you still call it a "star-sighting" if the person is skulking around and begging you to take a picture with them?  It's sounds corny, but it was actually a fun way to kick off the holiday season...with joy, good cheer, and family.  And not once did we lose sight of what the holiday season is really about:

       PRESENTS!!!!










As you can see, I got the Hunger Games trilogy from Santa.  I read them all over break, much to the chagrin of anyone who was planning on actually talking to me during break.  I'm so glad that I finally got to read them.  Since Nicholas hasn't finished reading the last book, I won't say anything else about it...just that in the end it's all really just a dream that the protagonist is having. 
Let's see, let's see...we got to spend some time with everyone in New Brighton and finally go home to Philadelphia. 
But I think that's really everything important that happened over break.  Nicholas is telling me that I'm forgetting the most important thing...but I mentioned the Hunger Games!

Oh yeah, we also got engaged.

Gray Days

Well, the didactic portion of Nicholas' first semester of dental school is over.  He did really well and we're both very proud of the hard work that he's done.  At this point he's been going into the under-served areas of Cleveland and putting sealants on the teeth of public school children so that they don't get cavities.

Hard at work

This is a really wonderful program that Case has established and the dental students do a lot of very hard work.  And besides, why wouldn't you hand over your children to strange men doing charity work?

Oh, yeah.

As for me, I'm in process of writing all of my final papers.  I must say I'm handling it well:

Artist's rendering

Okay, fine, maybe I've been a little stressed as the end of the semester approaches; but I'll rally.  I have to.  Cause, really, who ever heard of a crazy mental health professional?

 Oh, yeah.

School aside, autumn in Cleveland has been really nasty.  We've had a ton of gray days and inches upon inches of rain.  Take a look at our back yard from this past weekend:

 Clearly God's covenant never to flood the world again does not extend to the suburbs of Cleveland.  You know where I'll bet it never floods...

It's a bible joke AND a gay joke

Well, I'm busy with finals so that's all for now.

This blog entry was sponsored by 

Topol brand toothpaste: where dental hygiene isn't just our job...it's TRADITION!

What We're Thankful For...

We're thankful for Addi, who's sassy and cute,

For Brynli and Ben, both yellow to boot!

We're thankful for Chloe, who's verbal and smart

And for our Dads, you're both in our hearts.

We're thankful  for Electricians--they make the world shine.

We're thankful for Fifters, who can read our minds.

We're thankful for Grandmas--Beth, Betty and May

And for new Houses! Hip-hip-hooray!

We're thankful for "Ice cream"--It's like the real thing, just try it!

And we're thankful for Joey, though I may deny it.

We're thankful for in-laws, both Kayla and Kate

And for the Love that has made our lives great.

We're thankful for Mothers, lovely and rare.

We're thankful for Nursing students with extra flair.

I'm thankful for Owen,  Derek and Mark--all brooding and steamy.

And Pig, Pog, Pi, Tolliver-- all cuddly and dreamy.

We're glad Querius is gone, even though it was dandy.

We're thankful for Rosalind and all of her candy!

We're thankful for Step-families, who have bonded through strife.

And we're thankful for Tiit who is dancing through life.

We're thankful for all the hard work that we do

At our new Alma Mater, CWRU.

We're thankful we don't speak the Pittsburgh Vernacular,

And for the Waxlers, a couple spectacular.

We're thankful we're Xendochial, it's helped us to make lots of friends

And for our Youth, though God knows it ends.

We're thankful for Z's when we're able to catch 'em

But we're usually awakened by someone hoping we'll scratch 'em

Wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving,
Nicholas and Wendy