Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is so much fun when you have kids! They get so excited about everything. We had the Elders over for Christmas Eve and had a nice dinner with them.







The kids got to open their annual Christmas pajamas from Grandma Ursi and all of them were matching!














Christmas morning always starts a little earlier than I would like, but the kids were good and in their room for the most part until Larry and I were conscious!! They were so excited to see what santa brought, and opening presents is fun for all. Kaleb and Mayson were pretty excited about everything they got, but Rhyan is still figuring it all out. Kaleb and Mayson are more than willing to help if she needs it. After the first present she seemd to get the idea though. Kaleb and dad got matching remote control cars that they can race around with.















Mayson was pretty excited about all her stuff, but especially her singing and dancing Pinkie Pie (a really big my little pony) that santa left for her!


























Rhyan's getting to where she likes to open presents, but she doesn't understand why when she opens the present she can't immediately get the toy out of the box. She doesn't understand that toy manufacturers make toy packaging intentionally into torture devices for parents!! She like her new baby, but I think the thing she got the most excited about was the fruit snacks and candy she found in her stocking at the end!!

And last but not least.....

And just to let everyone know, the newest (and presumably last) member of the Kalke family will be arriving this June. I am currently 14 weeks along, and though we have moments where we wonder what we were thinking, we are very excited. We told the kids today and they are excited too. Kaleb of course wants a little brother but Mayson is insisting that we need another little girl. I keep telling them that we will get what Heavenly Father sends us, but Larry and I both think it is a boy. I guess we'll find out in June! I suppose we will find out rather quickly who actually goes on and looks at our blog....

Kaleb's Dance

Kaleb's school collects bears every Christmas to donate to The Providence House, a safe house for abused children. This year they collected 1482 bears!! They have a holiday dance to celebrate at the end of their teddy bear drive and the kids all have a lot of fun!

Christmas Time at the Kalke House

We love Christmas at our house. The kids are so excited and I am constantly getting asked when it's going to be Christmas, and when can we open presents, and what is santa going to bring, and what are you going to get me, and I could go on and on. Either way we love it. The kid's excitement makes it more fun for us. We went out this year and cut down our own tree. Larry got to feel like a man as he was cutting it down, and the kids thought they were pretty cool because they got to help dad pull the saw a few times each. Rhyan was quite impressed when she realized that tree was now sitting in her front room, and then the lights just closed the deal for her. This should be a fun Christmas for her now that she is getting big enough to be excited about things. We have the Elders coming over for dinner on Christmas Eve and then we will do the Christmas story with them. We have them for Christmas Eve every year, and really enjoy it as it helps us to have the true spirit of Christmas in our home. We can't wait, and we will be sure to post more pictures as we take them!

Family Photos

We had new family photos taken the first week of December and they turned out cute. We have sent some out to all the family, but though we would post them on the blog as well for everyone else to see. Larry and I have been married for eleven years now...wow that kind of makes me sound old! Either way, it's been a great eleven years, and we have three beautiful children to show for it. Kaleb is seven, Mayson is four, and Rhyan is about 17 months. Aren't they all so cute!!

Dance Recital

The kids had their dance recital the end of November and did great. Mayson was dressed as a doll, and Kaleb was a reindeer. It's always fun to watch them dancing because they always have such a good time doing it and they look so cute up there!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was a lot of fun. We had our friends Becky and JJ and their kids over to join us, and of course had a ton of yummy food. We tried our hand a brining our turkey this year, which sounds a little odd, but I have to say it was probably the best turkey we've ever had!! It was so good. Besides the food though, we are so grateful for all of the wonderful blessings in our lives. We have such a wonderful family, and have great friends. We have so many opportunities and are blessed to have the gospel in our lives. What can we say...life is good!

Misc. Photos

Ooh...boxes are so much fun. It's just the right size for a playhouse!Dad – what did you do to my hair?!
This was one of the answers to Kaleb's homework. He was writing details about a book he had to read called "How we use Fire," and apparently...this was one of the details in the story!

Here is Mayson learning of the pain it takes to be beautiful! She sure is a pretty little girl.
Here is Mayson with her buddy Ziggy. Ziggy is such a good dog with the kids. They all think he's the greatest!
Yep..this is the kind of artwork being produced in the Kalke house. Nice, isn't it. Mayson was so proud of herself when she hauled me in her room to show me.

Halloween

Here are our beautiful pumpkins that we carved this year. Rhyan wasn't sure what to make of the slime inside them and after we got her to stick her hand in once, she wouldn't do it again. Below is a picture of the kids at Kaleb's school on Halloween for the Book character Parade. They can't offically celebrate Halloween, so they dress up like a book character that day, and they have to bring their book in and they share their stories, etc. One of the events of the day is the parade, which we went over to see. Mayson had a lot of fun parading around with her big brother.
Below are the pictures of all of us in our costumes. Just in case you can't tell, I am the Statue of Liberty, Rhyan is Tinkerbell, Mayson is a princess riding a unicorn, and Kaleb is a ninja. Larry was a scrooge and didn't dress up...that's why there's no picture of hime on here!

Kaleb Loses Some Teeth

Kaleb lost his first tooth, and his second tooth, on the same day. He was very proud, and was showing everyone and smiling a cheesy smile to make sure you could see the hole in his teeth. He got two shiny silver dollars from the tooth fairy that night. It's debatable who was more proud of the lost tooth though, Kaleb or his dad!

Dental Health Education at Oxford

In October we did a Dental Health Education program at Kaleb's school. We talked to the kids about how to take care of their teeth and going to the dentist. It was a lot of fun for everyone. Larry was the Dr. talking to the kids, and he seemed to enjoy doing it. Below you can see the kids "flossing" some teeth!

Camping

We went camping the last weekend in September to a place about an hour from here. It was a state park and it was gorgeous. They had showers and bathrooms too...which is always a bonus if you're going to be there very long. It was really nice, and everyone had fun. We went with about ten other dental families, so there were a lot of friends around to keep everyone busy. Below is Kaleb with his friend Michael after breakfast in the morning. And the girls as they were finishing up. Food...isn't that what camping is all about?



Here are the girls playing on the playground at the campground. Mayson always like to "help" her sister!

Mayson Gets Her Ears Pierced

Mayson was so excited to get her ears pierced. I was planning on waiting significantly longer before I let her, but the earrings were the final things that pushed us forward on the thumb issue, so hey – it's worth it. She was a little nervous at first, but they shot both ears through at the same time so it was okay. She didn't cry or make a peep, she just had kind of a shocked look on her face when they went through. Either way, she looked really cute with them and she was sure to show every person that she saw that she got her ears pierced. She was very proud! Rhyan had fun at the ear piercing...she was loving the sucker they gave her!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Here we are at the Indians game with Lacey. The Indians won, so that always makes it better. It was the last game of the season, and they had great fireworks after the game. Everyone had a ot of fun!

As you can see...Kaleb really gets excited about going to the games. His dad got him an Indians hat, so then he was really thinking he was special. You'll notice though, that Rhyan takes this stuff pretty serious too!

The Tea Party

Part of the deal with Mayson breaking her thumb sucking habit is that we would have a girly day and got to the tea room for a tea party before we went to Toys-R-Us for her toy and to get her ears pierced. The Tea Room is about the girliest place ever. She was so excited! She got to have her veryown teapot full of hot cocoa.
As you can see, she was excited to have her baby sister there as well. Mayson loves to be the big sister!