Easter

The kids got to dye Easter eggs, and as you can see Rhyan was taking this very seriously. We had a kit where you used a little paint roller to paint the eggs, and I have to say it is probably the least messy way we have every dyed eggs, and the kids thought it was pretty fun!

Here are some pictures from a couple of the Easter egg hunts we went to. The one of Mayson was at the one the city does. There are just hundreds of eggs dropped on the ground and it's a free for all for he kids to see who can grab the most. We always come home with way too many eggs. The one of Kaleb was taken at the Huang's house. There were a lot of people & tons of kids for them to play with. They had fun and of course, we came home with more eggs. You can see that Kaleb had to wear his Cavalier gear again... it was a hit for sure!
Here are the kids on Easter morning. They were very excited and of course, they got more candy.

Here are our cute kids all decked out for Easter. The girls had their Easter dresses, and Kaleb felt he needed to dress up too so we got him a new shirt & tie. They all look so cute!
We had the Campbells over for dinner and an Easter egg hunt with the kids on Sunday. We had a lot of fun and managed to send a few of our many Easter eggs home with them. We still have a lot left, but hey – it helped!

The Cleveland Cavaliers

We attended our very first Cavaliers game last Friday. Case was selling cheap tickets, so we took Kaleb & Mayson and everyone had a great time. It's funny to watch the progression of the night in the pictures. You can see in this first that all of us really did go to the game looking like normal people. Well... it's amazing how quickly things can change...
Then dad takes the kids for a bathroom break, and about the time I begin to wonder if my family has had an unfortunate event take place in the restroom, they come trotting up the steps with popcorn, cotton candy, drinks, and decked out in Cavalier gear. I guess this proves two points. One, we have officially become Clevelanders, and two, never trust dad to take the kids to the bathroom by himself unless you first confiscate his credit card!






















































Then you see that Mayson didn't quite make it very far before the sugar gave out, and her nice older brother was holding her head up because she kept falling over. Then of course, I look back and he has joined the sleeping, and they are kind of holding each other up. All in all, it was a fun night, and the kids have been wanting to wear their Cleveland Cavalier gear for the last four days!

Salsa Challenge

We had our annual salsa challenge for Psi O, and once again... we came home with the knowledge that our salsa is superior to many other salsas! Here you can see me loading up on votes for our oh so yummy salsa, & Rhyan is doing a victory dance in the background! (just kidding - we win fair & square) Our first year we got second, last year we got first, and this year we were at second again. Either way, it means I now have a gift card to go to PF Chang's for dinner, so I'm good. Last year it was the Cheesecake Factory, which lets face it, it's hard to beat cheesecake. But hey, its a night out for free & we like chinese food!

Sledding

These are the pictures from the infamous sledding trip where Mayson decided to try and do her fancy tricks on the way down the hill. Everyone had a lot of fun, and even after she got hurt, Mayson has been asking when we get to go sledding again. Just to let everyone know. Mayson had her appointment with the physical therapist again last week, and her shoulder is doing much better. She said Mayson has to do her exercises for two more weeks, but after that she should be fine. We are all grateful she has healed up so quickly. It's odd to see a four year old in the physical therapist's office doing all their goofy exercises they make them do. Mayson thought it was a lot of fun to do all the stuff though!

An Update on Life at the Kalke House

Things here have been really busy and everyone is always asking what our plans are, so let me fill you in on what's been going on. We have decided to spend another year in Cleveland, and Larry has accepted a position in the AEGD (advanced education in general dentistry) program at Case. He starts the program on July 1st. He interviewed in Rhode Island and really liked it, but we both felt that if we moved to the east coast we probably would like it there and wouldn't want to move back. Since the ultimate goal is to move closer to family we figured that was probably not the best idea. He was offered spots in the program at St. Vincents Hospital and at the Cleveland Clinic hospital, but we decided the spot Case offered us would be best for us. They told Larry they would allow him to spend half his time in the pedo clinic and that he could take some of the classses with the pedo residents. We figure this will help to give Larry a pretty good idea of wether or not he really wants to work on kids or not. If he decides he does, we will apply to pedo programs again next fall. If we get in it's a two year program, and if not the AEGD program is a good thing to have to go into general practice. So, we have at least one more year to spend here. And really, it is a lot easier that we aren't moving this summer with the baby coming and everything else going on.
As far as everything else goes, it's been busy. Larry had surgery on his leg a few weeks ago, and it's been sore but is doing really well. Rhyan's arm is all healed up and she hasn't slowed down at all because of it. Mayson had an accident while sledding two weeks ago and is in physical therapy for her shoulder now. The ER x-rayed everything and her back, neck and ribs are fine, but apparently she hurt the nerve that runs down your neck behind your shoulder blade, and her right shoulder is sitting a little lower than it should. I guess the nerve helps to hold the shoulder up where it should be, and the exercises she is doing are supposed to help it heal faster. Luckily, it is a kind of nerve that repairs itself, so she will be fine. The physical therapy is just supposed to help it heal faster and better.
Kaleb has been put in the gifted classes at school and attends extra classes every Wednesday. He started these about a month ago and seems to really like them. He is above grade level in math, reading his cognitive reasoning skills. he is such a smart little boy and we are so proud of him. If we can just get him to stop being so mischievous! He is constantly doing something to keep life interesting. A couple weeks ago the cops showed up at our house much to Larry and my surprise. Apparently while Kaleb & mayson were playing in the attic, Mayson was playing with one of Kaleb's toys that he didn't want her to. he told her if she touched it he would call the cops on her, and needless to say he did. According to the police he called 911 three times! He had to come down and apologize to them and had to write a letter of apology to the police department. What to do with him...
Mayson is going to preschool and doing great. Her teacher said she is all ready for kindergarten, and Mayson is excited to go. She is such a fun, high spirited little girl. She has suddenly taken quite the interest in being a big sister, and hauls Rhyan around everywhere with her. She is such a girly girl, and loves to dress up and play with her dolls and ponies. That being said, when it comes to rough housing with the boys, she can hold her own with the best of them!
Rhyan is the sweetest little thing in the world. She is so funny and is constantly making us laugh. She is convince if she can't see you that you can't see her. When she does something she knows she shouldn't and you catch her she closes her eyes and gets this little smile on her face like "I'm not here anymore, now what are you going to do?" It is so funny. She loves to cuddle and give hugs and kisses. She is talking a lot and it's fun to hear all her new words. My favorite is when she says cookie... she sounds just like cookie monster the way she says it! I don't know what we would do with out her.
Larry & I are doing good. Just keeping busy and trying to keep the kids under control. The pregnancy is going good, but I have to say I am looking forward to June coming and not being pregnant any more. Lots of exciting things are coming up between graduation, Larry's residency, the baby, and of course...Kaleb turns 8 the first of June and will be getting baptized. Life is busy, but we are definitely blessed and things are good!

Kids will be kids...

Here are just some fun pictures of the kids. They do the best things!
As you can see, Rhyan is quite the character. Not only does she have her cool hat, but then she has to try to ride Ziggy while wearing it.

Rhyan loves shoes... even when they aren't her shoes. Hey, who says they have to fit? You leave your shoes out on the floor, they're free game! And below, we have Rhyan changing her dog's diaper. She's going to be such a good big sister when the baby comes!

Kaleb is entering the goofy stage of growing up. Doesn't he look great with his four front teeth out. This picture was actually taken a month or two ago, and now his bottom two are almost in! And below you can see the mind control the TV has over children. Turn it on and they are completely oblivious to the world around them!
And here are our cute girls with their freshly painted toe nails. This was Rhyan's first experience with toe nail polish. When I started to paint them she looked at me like I was tryiing to cut her toes off or something. She seemed extremely concerned. Once she realized she had pink toes though she would walk up to everyone and hold her foot up to show them off. The next morning in the bath she wouldn't let me wash her foot until I showed her that it wasn't going to take the pink polish off!

Everything you want to know about my husband...

Okay... so I've been tagged to tell you lots of great stuff about Larry. You will probably know more about him than you ever wanted to know, but then again... it's not like he's shy so you may already know all this anyway.

1. What's his name? Lawrence Edward Kalke; aka Larry. Sounds serious, doesn't it. Anyone who knows Larry knows better though.

2. How long have we been together? Twelve years. We celebrated our eleventh anniversary last November. makes us sound old, huh! But hey, that leads into the next question.

3. How old is he? 34, but who's counting. Get him around the guys and you'd never guess he's officially an adult. Do guys ever really grow out of being a kid?

4. Who eats more? Probably him, but lately I might be giving him a run for the title. I guess that's what happens when you're pregnant, you get hungry.

5. Who said I love you first? He did, and of all the times to do it it was in the midst of one of our first big arguments. It's kind of like that great line all of us parents use, the "I'm only doing this because I love you" and then the kid looks at you like yeah right. Just kidding, it wasn't quite like that. I was probably more to blame in the argument than him (maybe), and he was being his sweet self trying to explain why he was feeling the way he did... because he loved me & maybe I hadn't been as nice as I could have been (If you are reading this Larry, this is not an admission of guilt.)

6. Who is taller? Larry, thankfully. If I were taller than him, it probably would have been tough going to get me to go out with him to begin with. Then again, when his winning personality started to shine through, I may have not been able to resist!!

7. Who sings better? Probably me, but neither of us are real public singers. We sure can carry a tune in primary though, and our kids are probably our most appreciative audience. They love it when we sing them songs at bed time.

8. Who does the laundry? We normally split it pretty even. Just depends on who gets to it, and a lot of times we sit down and fold it all together at night. I will admit though, Larry is the one who irons. I don't like to, and he's so good at it I wouldn't want to deprive him of the opportunity to show off his talent!

9. Who pays the bills? I do. Larry's idea of balancing the check book when we got together was to call the bank and see if there was money in the account before he used his debit card. That didn't work for me so I have just done it since we've been together. I'm sure he would do just fine though if he ever had the great desire to help out.

10. Who sleeps on the right side? That depends on you vantage point. If we're in bed, Larry sleeps to my left. So, I guess if you are standing at the foot of the bed looking at it, Larry would be the one to sleep on the right.

11. Who mows the lawn? Normally Larry, unless I get to it first. I don't mind doing it, so if I have time I figure it saves him from having to do it. He is the one who edges though... I don't want to have all the fun!

12. Who cooks dinner? Normally I do because I'm the one home to do it, and I like to cook. Larry likes to cook too though and is a good cook, so a lot of times if he's here he helps or will cook for me. Most of the grilling is done by him in the summer, but I occasionally do. There are certain things he always cooks, just because he's is good at it, and other things that I always cook because I am. So really, it depends on the day.

13. Who drives? I drive much more than him simply because I am the taxi driver for three children while Larry is at school. If we are together though he typically is the one who drives.

14. What does he like to do? He loves to play and watch sports, likes to be outside and hike and camp. He likes TV and video games, though I know he tries to limit his time with that because I'm not a big fan of either one. He has recently taken up reading, and seems to be enjoying that. He likes to cook and he likes to eat – loves cheese, pretty big on ice cream too. He is a great dad and likes to wrestle around with the kids. He seems to really enjoy doing dentistry, which is good because he would have a long and dreary life to look forward to if he didn't. Larry is a people person, and he really likes to be around others.

15. Who is more stubborn? That probably depends on the day, on what it is, on how the stars are aligned in the heavens... We both have our own things that we are stubborn about. Probably overall I am the more stubborn of the two of us (okay, it's highly likely that I am), but I don't win the prize for being the most stubborn person in the family. That would be Mayson for sure?

16. Who kissed who first? That would definitely be Larry kissing me. I can't blame him though, I'm pretty irresistible! That's okay, it wasn't too bad for me either.

17. Who proposed to who? Larry proposed to me. When he first brought it up it wasn't necessarily a proposal, maybe more of "testing the waters." When he did propose he took me up to the Bountiful temple one night, and he'd just had knee surgery so he couldn't get down on one knee, but it was very sweet none the less.

18. Who has more friends? Probably Larry. As I said, he is a people person and loves to be around people. Besides, for he most part people just like him. I don't have a shortage of friends either, but I guess there's probably only a few I actually hang out with on a regular basis. I am a little more of an "I need my space" type person. And since I have three kids, that quiet, alone time is few and far between and I try to take advantage of it sometimes. But still, it's always fun to go hang out with the girls.

19. Who is more sensitive? Larry is... I tend to not be very sympathetic on a lot of things. When it comes to the kids I might be a little more sensitive with them than Larry, but I'm sure part of that is because I am around them so much I have learned to be a lot more sensitive with them than I tend to be toward other people.

20. Who has more siblings? That depends on which ones we are counting. I have two brothers and a sister from my parents, and three sibling from my parents' remarriages. Larry has one brother, a half sister from his dad, and four siblings from his mom's remarriage. So if you count everyone we are even. If it just full sibling, I have more.

21. Who wears the pants? Well lets see, how do we put this delicately? Just kidding... Larry and I are pretty good about sharing the pants in our house. There are days and things where one is more dominant than the other, but for the most part I think we do a pretty good job of working together and looking out for each others feelings. Larry is very good about making sure I am happy and liking how life is going, and hopefully he feels that I do the same for him.

Just for the record, Larry is awesome and I am really lucky to have him! He's a great husband, the kids think he's the best thing in the world, and I know I have friends who wish their husbands would do a lot of things for them that Larry does for me. So hey, that says a lot! And now... if you're reading this, Natalie and Emily – you've been tagged!

Mayson's beach night

Mayson's preschool does a beach night each year, with a potluck and lots of activities for the kids. Everyone had fun, and as you can see... Rhyan's arm didn't teach her anything!

And then there was snow...

We have been waiting all winter, as up to this point the only snow we have gotten has been as few inches at a time, and then it melts the next day. The kids were so excited about all the snow and loved going out to play. These pictures were taken on Sunday because they canceled church! Can't say that the kids were too disappointed. The only downside was that our dental formal was supposed to be Saturday night, and it got canceled. It's been rescheduled, but the problem comes that I actually had a dress I could still wear, and I can't imagine it will still fit next month. That means I have to go dress shopping, and though that sounds great, it's hard enough to find a "modest" formal on a good day, let alone one that fits you at 7 months pregnant. I can't wait!


You can see that Rhyan is ready for summer, she was convinced that it was good conditions for bike riding. She looks so cute in her little snow suit and would wear it all the time if we would let her. She requests her "no-tute" every time we go outside, and half the time when we're inside if she sees it.

Kaleb's Winter Concert

Kaleb had his winter concert at school a few weeks ago. They sang some fun songs, and Kaleb had his first solo speaking part. He did really well and we had fun watching him. As you can see, our baby girl Rhyan has finally figured out how to smile for pictures, with the patent Kalke cheesey smile! Her dad is so proud.

Wicked

We got to go see the musical Wicked last month with our friends Becky & JJ. It was SO fun!! I would recommend it to everyone. It was very entertaining and even the guys loved it. It's fun to get to go out sometimes as adults and not have to do kid stuff. Especially when that going out gets to be going to see a broadway show!

Monster Jam

Kaleb got tickets to the monster jam for Christmas, so of course, him and dad had to go and be boys. They had a lot of fun, and as you might assume from the ear plugs, Kaleb told me a few times that it was really loud! If you notice the jagged line that is Kaleb's hair on his forehead, that would be because he is practicing to be a beautician when he grows up. I tried to explain to him that it normally works better when you're not trying to practice on yourself, but hey... what do I know?

Valentines Day

Here are our two cute girls all dresses up in their valentine colors. You can see Larry doesn't have a shortage of women who love him!! Mayson got a cute pink unicorn for her valentines surprise, which she won't let out of her sight! Rhyan got this big pink ball that she is convinced she should be able to sit on. She doesn't seem to get that when the ball is as big as you, it's going to roll over every time. Kaleb got a star wars lego set and The Adventures of Captain Underpants book. Not very romantic, but hey, he liked them.

Matchbox Twenty

Larry is such a sweetheart, and for Christmas he got me tickets to go to the Matchbox Twenty concert. They are one of my favorite bands, and it was a blast. We had so much fun, it made me remember why I like going to concerts so much.