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!

Mayson Stops Sucking Her Thumb!!

Mayson finally quit sucking her thumb!! I can't tell you how excited I am. All it took was some bribery.....dinner at Chuck-e-Cheese, pick out a toy at Toys-R-Us, she got to get her ears pierced. Hey, whatever it took it was worth it!

Niagara with Lacey

Lacey wanted to go see Niagara Falls, so for the third time in a month we went to see the falls. It's a cool place though, and I think she was impressed.





Here is Lacey in her pretty blue poncho from the maids of the mist ride. It was fun and we all got a little wet.









I'm not sure if the blue or the yellow poncho is more attractive?? This one we definitely got more wet. This is the journey behind the falls, and we were grateful for the ponchos.

Eileen Visits from Scotland

Here is Eileen with the family. We had fun with her here but were really busy the whole time. She taught us some great new words, and we got to do some neat stuff with her.

Eileen got to come along to Becky's baby shower at the tea room. It was decided that since she was on her fourth boy we had to do something really girly with her. I'm not sure the tea party here measures up to what they have in where she's from, but I think she had fun.
This was the best part of this trip to Niagra Falls. The picture doesn't do it justice of how high it was or how far he went. The rope stretched for about two blocks, and was as high as the needle/tower restaurant building. I wouldn't be up there!

First Day of School

The kids started school the end of August and were both very excited. Mayson is in her Pre-K year and Kaleb is in 2nd Grade. They are both doing great and we are really proud of them.