Farewell Broad

It has been a tough month for me. I had the excruciating experience of walking into one of the most respected Institutes in the world of biology, face one of the most brilliant minds in the industry, and tell him that I've been offered a better opportunity. To say I'm heart broken is an understatement. I love the Broad Institute, my part in its mission, but mostly the Broadies, past and present. Thankfully, this is Cambridge and I will just be across the street at Biogen. My heart is full of gratitude for 4 1/2 years of growth, friendship, awesome science and lots of robots to do the work for me.
I am going to miss EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY!

I was treated like a queen my last day on the job. There was a big farewell cake party and lunch with friends. As wonderful as it all was, I nearly chickened out and didn't show up my last day of work.
I was sure my heart couldn't take it.

Bruch at the Friendly Toast!

The whole gang before the massive lay-off last year...

And for my own memories... a few pics of the space I occupied. 

My desk...

The collection of leaves from the maple trees in the Boston Common, pics of my interns, and of my Toads...

The BL2 system... the beast of all beasts

The General System...

The Dual Nanocell...

And Hornby...

Okay, I'm not actually going to miss Hornby.

Let's see what Biogen brings!

Spring has Sprung!

With the crazy amount of snow this year I was actually praying for a S-L-O-W thaw, and we got it! The last thing we needed was a basement full of water. This winter has been a slow moving disaster. Thankfully we did exceed all previous year's of snow fall in Boston (and we annihilated the previous record on the South Shore for sure!), so all of our suffering has at least awarded us with a badge of distinction.

Here is a picture of the backyard iceberg the the week after Easter (April 12)... 

If you look close, you can see we were thrilled to actually see deck and pulled out the grill!

The following week we could actually walk out our bedroom door!

And the last of the snow melted in the yard! We all did a Spring-Time happy dance!

And even relished in the thrill of the last few snow balls...

...as we fired up the BBQ for the season!

Everything tastes better grilled!

We have been such couch potatoes that all of this Springtime exertion has wiped us out! The kids have been jumping their brains out on the trampoline and running up and down the hill like maniacs. Little Chief has been getting 12 hours of sleep a night! Poor kid can't hold his head up at 6:00 p.m.!

New Conference Record

We pulled these babies from the oven and smothered them with frosting. 

Ready to devour at 10:38 a.m.

Yum!

Num. Num.

Mmmmmm.

Yummy!

Yum. Yum.

11:00 a.m. Done. 

A new Toad best.

Then the rest of the day was spent listening to conference and taking conference naps.

...and eating Easter candy. 

Pretty much the perfect day.

Easter!

Our morning started at 6:00 with this crazy kid scooping up the Easter eggs that the bunny left inside the house. That's right, the bunny didn't want muddy feet.

Little Chief was pleased to see a little puppy friend to snuggle.

Superkid has a soft spot for a stuffy. Especially a dragon friend.

Miss Abizella made a request to the Easter Bunny, only the pink Springy basket baby would do.

She set up "Springy's Sweet Shop" with the little treats the Easter Bunny left in her basket. 

She served up delicious treats to the other stuffies all day long.

It was love at first sight for Jaws and his "Brown Horse"

Little Chief is a natural at putting together puzzles! He got a stack of Jake and the Neverland Pirates Puzzles and put them all together with the help of his little puppy.

Tadpole is a puzzle whiz too. He had some pretty tricky Transformers puzzles to piece together!

The Easter Bunny left Superkid a book on Oragami Fighter Planes.

Let's just say Superkid is a fighter plane building pro.

And Jaws said, "Brown Horse I jump trampoline!" So we took the buddies out for a little jump.

Pops wanted to try something new for Easter - a Passover Leg of Lamb!

Abizella and Pops set the table with Grandma Davis' china. Abizella spent most of the morning session of conference folding little bunny napkins. 

Super adorable.

 Abizella also chose this little ducky with flowers for our Easter table. Jaws has been dying to get his hands on it for weeks, "Duck-hold it-PLEASE!". It was a happy day!

 Easter Dinner!

 This has been a very nice Easter.

I love these people!

Finger Coloring ... I Mean Egg Coloring!

This day was packed! We had Feed the Need in the morning, General conference all day and Easter Eggs that needed to be dyed! Good thing Pops took care of the house cleaning and egg boiling! We gave him a pass for the actual egg coloring, as he needed to go to Priesthood session of conference.

So I manned this scene solo. The prospect of 8 bowls of dye and 10 hands should have made me shake in my boots, but I was too tired to care.

Actually, it was a rather calm affair.

Everyone was super careful.

Even this pair of tiny hands.

"Look Mom, I make yellow egg!"

Superkid was very proud of his multicolored Spring egg.

Little Chief was a egg-dying factory.

Abizella liked to take her time and get the colors just right.

Tadpole liked a little of everything!