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.

Rhyan's Arm

As most of you know, our little Rhyan broke her arm about a week and a half ago. She was laying on her stomach rocking back and forth on a bathroom step stool, about a foot off the ground, and somehow she rolled the stool forward and fell on her arm. We knew it was sore but she was using it, so we thought it was okay. Either way, two days later it was still bugging her so we took her in and the x-rays showed a buckle fracture on both bones right above the wrist in her right arm. According to the pediatrician and the orthopedic doc we saw, they don't cast these kind of fractures because they heal fine on their own. It's just sore and she's in a splint for a few weeks. As little as she is, they say within about ten days it's not healed completely, but it's solid again. I wish us old folks healed that fast. She favors it a little but she is doing fine, and you can already tell its not bugging her as much as it was.

Baby Update

We went in for our big ultrasound on Monday right after we got back in town. I am currently 19 weeks along, and as you can see in the picture, the baby had a nice tan and looked nice and rested. The doctor said everything looks great! We counted ten toes and ten fingers so we know we're good there. There was more than one time where we caught the little stinker with its hand in its mouth though! Hmm...do we think there's another thumb sucker on the way. I think there will be an immediate stop to that if that's the case. We figure it was either that or this one is already hungry and will be a non stop eater when it gets here. It kept opening and closing its mouth. It's pretty cool how much detail you can really see in these ultrasounds. We didn't find out what we're having, we're just happy everything looks good. Besides, Larry & I both still think its a boy, so who needs to find out...

Dominican Republic Trip

Larry said he had a great time doing dental work in the DR. He says it is nice to be able to provide a service for these people that they really need, and to truly be able to make a difference in their lives. I think especially since most of the people they were working on this time were kids. They spent the first day in a tent...how would you like to get your dental work done there!! The others days they were in schools working on the kids there.
You can see Larry must have felt real safe...he was hanging out with their guards. You know your safe when men with a machine guns are standing at the door to protect you!

You can also see that there is a great need. There are just crowds of people who show up to try and get work done. Apparently they are in the middle of their presidential elections there, so they went out to dinner with the head of the senate there, and were kind of used as a political propaganda to say look what we are doing for the people. Larry said it was fun but that it also made it more hectic because they were dealing with media and things like that.

This picture shows the area they were working in. You can see it wasn't a well to do area and that the people need all the help they can get.

After Larry had been there about a week, I flew down with Becky and Sabrina to join them at the resort. It was so much fun!! The beach was beautiful, the water was warm, and it felt so good to be sitting in the sunshine in January.
The resort had a couple of restaurants and a big buffet that was open almost all the time...kind of like a cruise ship. For the most part, it was all inclusive, which is good because then you really don't spend much while you're there. Here we are with Becky and JJ after dinner at one of the restaurants. Some of the food is a little odd (mountain goat) but for the most part the fish was really good.





















We had the resident flamingos at the resort that I had to get a picture for Mayson. She loves the flamingos at the zoo, and would have loved to see them out like this.
As you can see, we had a very competitive game of mini golf while we were there. It was played by DR rules, which pretty much equates to "jungle golf"! It was a lot of fun for everyone, though I am pretty sure there was no method behind the madness when it came to the design on this course. We swam, sat on the beach and relaxed, ate lots of food, watched some very interesting shows at night, played beach volleyball, and did some snorkeling. We wanted to go scuba diving, but unfortunately I can't do that right now. Maybe next time. I have to say, beaches outside the USA give you the opportunity to see a lot more skin than you really want to. It was really quite comical, and it made for a lot of jokes and laughs between friends. All in all it was a really good time and I am glad that I went down to meet Larry. The trip was short, but I am grateful to our saint neighbors, who though they have no children of their own, got a good break in taking care of our three while we we gone. As much as we love them, it's nice to have a few days of couple time every now and then!

Mayson's Night Out

This year for Christmas Mayson got tickets to go see the Very Hungry Caterpillar play down at playhouse square. She had a lot of fun and asked if we could go again next year, so she must have enjoyed it. They did the Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Little Cloud, and the Mixed Up Chameleon. It was all done with painted sets that are exactly like the Eric Carle illustrations in his books, and the people were dressed in all black so with the black lights on all you could see were the puppets and sets in motion. After the show they showed the kids how they did everything. We went to Applebee's for dinner when we got done, and I think all in all we both had a great evening!!

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!