Mayson's 5th Birthday

Mayson was so excited to turn five. She was telling everyone she saw, "today's my birthday!" She would then proceed to tell them what she got. We took cupcakes to her school and everyone sang happy birthday to her. She was excited, and as you can see, Rhyan was too at the prospect of getting to eat all that frosting!

We went to Applebees for dinner, and Mayson insisted she needed to wear her birthday crown the whole evening, and then again to school the next day. She got to open all her presents at dinner, and it was torture to have to wait until we got home to take them out of the box.
Her birthday party was a week later than planned because Larry was in the middle of taking his last set of boards over Mayson's birthday. Either way, we had purple cupcakes, and did a barbecue with her friends. She had a lot of fun and so did the rest of us.

AADA Conference in St. Louis

Becky and I went to the Alliance of the American Dental Association (AADA) conference in St. Louis the middle of April. We were able to get a grant so it was a free trip - that's by far the best kind to take. We stayed at a beautiful hotel right across the street from Busch Stadium, which is right in downtown St. Louis. We walked to the arch and got to ride up the tram to the top. It was a lot of fun, and because it was raining and the 5.4 earthquake we had had about 4am that morning, it was pretty much empty, so we got right in.

We also went to a murder mystery dinner at the Lemp Family Mansion which was a lot of fun. It was one that required a great amount of audience participation, and we were all either a super hero or a villain. Depending on which character you got you either had a big role to play, or just mainly got to laugh at everyone else. Our Last night there we had a formal dinner which was really nice. The other ladies in the picture with us student wives were some of the cute ladies we made friends with while we were there...all of which happen to be from Salt Lake.

Dental Formal

Our dental formal this year got delayed a month due to weather. We got about 18" of snow the day it was originally scheduled, so they decided to reschedule it. I had a dress that still fit and everything, but a month more pregnant definitely changed that. So, I went shopping for a new dress that would fit a seven month pregnant Misty. Either way, shopping for an appropriate formal is hard enough, let alone one you can wear pregnant. Things worked out okay though, and we really had a lot of fun. The food was great and we had a lot of friends who went this time, seeing as it is our last year.

Kaleb's Field Trip To Shaker Lakes Nature Center

Kaleb had his field trip to the nature center and mom got to go with him. We learned about animals, marshes, fields, forests, ponds and lots of other nature stuff. It was a lot of fun. The kids all got cards with clues on them and had to figure out which animal they were. They worked on it as we walked around and looked at the different environments. Kaleb was a woodpecker!

Splash Lagoon

Every year over Larry's spring break we go to the indoor water park. Normally we do Great Wolf Lodge, but this year we went to Splash Lagoon in Erie, PA. We all had a blast!! The kids loved the room, because it had a kitchen, fireplace and hot tub...hey, what's not to love?? And everybody had a lot of fun in the water park. Rhyan especially was a lot of fun this time, because she is now big enough to want to play...forever. She knew exactly what it meant when her swim suit got put on, and she would run in the direction of the water park saying "swim, swim!" She was so cute and had so much fun. The other kids did too. It's nice that Kaleb can swim now, because he can do everything, and has a little more freedom to run around. Him and Michael had a great time together.

Mayson's Fieldtrip to Lake Farm Park

Mayson had her field trip to Lake Farm Park the beginning of April and had a blast. She was so excited to go, and was really excited that dad was out on spring break and could go with us.











As you can see, there was this little lamb that was following the kids around, and they thought it was great. Rhyan had been eating some chocolate cookies, and the lamb was loving licking the chocolate off her hands. She thought it was great, though she was convinced it was a doggy!








Rhyan was not scared of the animals at all...she wanted to pet everything and thoroughly enjoyed herself!








Mayson learned how to milk a cow, and was pretty impressed when she actually made the milk come out!










Mayson's favorite part of the trip was the horses. She has a thing for horses right now, and took some apples to feed to them. I tried to explain to her that they probably wouldn't let her feed them, but when we asked the lady in the stables she was great about it. She let Mayson take the apple into a paint horse by the name of Lakota Dancer. This was definitely the highlight of the trip for Mayson. She was so excited the the horse ate the apple she gave it!

Pinewood Derby

Kaleb enjoyed his first pinewood derby the end of March. He had a lot of fun making his car...dad helped him carve it and mom helped him paint it. He knew exactly what he wanted it to look like and we tried to get it as close to that as possible. Either way, it turned out great and he had a lot of fun racing it!

Isn't She Cute!

Here is the newest picture of our cutie Rhyan! She is such a doll and she makes us all laugh on regular basis. She is starting to talk a lot and is getting interested in the potty. She is such a sweet little things and loves to snuggle, give hugs and kisses and be held. We can't wait until everyone gets a chance to see her again. She really has grown so much and is so cute!

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!