Oma & Opa's House

We spent our first week of our trip at Oma & Opa's house. We had a great time & everyone felt right at home. The kids loved Oma's gardens and insisted on pretending they were a jungle and following the path. They were hanging out on the rocks and I thought they looked cute. The other picture is of the kids hide out at the house. My dad rolled out carpet and put the couches out so the kids had somewhere to hang out. They thought it was so cool, and on the night we took the picture Quinn was over camping out with them.

Beez Game

Adam got us free tickets to go to the Beez Game in SLC, so off we went with Opa in tow. It also turned out to be free kids meal night, so not only did we get in the game free but everyone also got free hot dogs, chips & drinks while we were there. We all had fun, and how can you beat a free night out?

Trip to Utah

We left for Utah the middle of June. These pictures were taken up at my mom and Marks house when we all went up for dinner. In this first one you can see that the kids are taking full advantage of having Grandpa Mark around to be at their beck and call. They thought the wheel barrel was great fun. Later in the week my mom and Mark took the kids out to Antelope Island while Lacey & I went up to Park City to the outlets.After roasting their hotdogs and seeing the antelope and buffalo, they came home singing at the top of their lungs their newly learned ballad, "Home on the Range."Here are Lacey and I hanging out on the rocks watching everyone running around playing. It's nice to just sit and chat when it's not over the phone!

Here you see Uncle Jared getting broken in by the kids. Nothing like a little baptism by fire. He got the special treat of getting to eat some of the kids Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans that Tia gave them. Apparently they were pretty bad, because he voluntarily followed the vomit flavored bean with two soap flavored ones to cover the taste. Ummm, yummy! The kids got a lot of laughs out of trying to get everyone to eat their beans!
And here are the guys just hanging out. Larry only got to spend two days with us after we drove here because he had to get back for his residency. We really miss him and wish he could have stayed longer. I'm sure we will have excessive pictures up of our trip because we are posting a bunch so that Larry can see what's been going on. So, everyone else will have to bear with us.

Asher's 1st Birthday

I cannot believe he is really one. It seems like just yesterday when he was brand new, and now my baby is not such a baby anymore. He loves to eat... everything he can get his hands on, and is weighing in about 24 lbs. He loves to talk to you and all day he is spouting off gibberish to anyone around. He is always smiling and happy and is such a blessing in our family. The kids love having a baby brother to dote on, and if you ask Larry he says I am totally smitten with him. He is so snugly and cuddly that he almost always is up after bedtime at night because he is sitting up on the couch snuggling with me and I don't have it in me to put him to bed. He is such a lover! For his birthday we had the Johnsons over for a barbecue and cupcakes. We had a good time and Asher now has the traditional Kalke house 1st birthday bank. The kids all knew he would be getting one and the question leading up to it was "what kind of animal is it?" There was much speculation, and everyone approved of the alligator after he got it. I think the hit birthday present was his very own set of keys he got from the Johnsons. Maybe he'll quit trying to steal mine!

Blast Off Into Summer

The school district does their blast off into summer event right after school lets out each year. Kaleb went to scout camp for the day and I took the other three kids to this. They had hot dogs, drink & popcorn, a live band, face painting, etc... But, the highlight of the day was definitely the rocket car. It is a pretty fancy car that they use for nothing other than to give kids rides in the summer. After five years in Cleveland we have finally ridden the rocket car and the girls definitely thought it was cool.

Field Day

The kids had field day at school their last week & I got to go help in the morning. I got to help with Mayson's class and it was fun to watch the kids run around! Turns out Mayson is one of the fastest kids in her class as she won a few of the races. That's my girl!! You can tell by looking at her that she takes this stuff serious. It fell on Kaleb's birthday, so after I got done Larry met us at the school and we took him out to lunch. It was a fun day for all.

Boot Camp

Kaleb decided he wanted an army party for his birthday this year (can you believe he's nine already) and it turned out great! At first I wasn't sure what to do for it but then decided to go with boot camp. We started out with push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks and jogging in place. From there we went to army man crawl races across the front yard. Can I tell you how out of shape the children today are?! They had to do three times across the grass to finish the race and three of the six kids quit mid grass and wouldn't move any more. This of course is not to mention that most of them could not manage to even get one sit up done. Thankfully my children were not among the casualties of a little exercise, but still... pathetic! They are supposed to be full of endless energy. Anyway, enough of that. We then did paratrooper training. The kids had to drop their parachute guys out of the upstairs window and try to land it in the hula hoop below. Needless to say, most of the paratroopers died an untimely death among the rocks and trees below! Last but not least we made marshmallow shooters for our marshmallow war. You make them out of PVC pipe and essentially, they are just a blow gun for marshmallows. Easy but a lot of fun for the kids. So, after cake & ice cream and pinata time, we had our marshmallow war. It was fun and painless, the perfect thing for kids!! It was a great success! (disclaimer: make at shoot marshmallow blow guns at your own risk. If you do so in doors your walls will get sticky!)

Lak Farm Park

While Larry is busy working Saturdays, I have to find ways to entertain everyone. We went out to Lake Farm Park one Saturday and let the kids play. They had a lot of fun and love to see all the animals. They all got to feed apples to the miniature horses and thought that was pretty neat, and there was a turkey running around that they got to pet and they thought that was cool too! I think the best part of the trip was Asher and the sheep. He thought they were quite amazing and was laughing as they kept sniffing his hands and legs. There were a few that were pretty noisy because it was about dinner time and they were bawling for their supper, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of them, but all in all he was quite impressed!

Shaker Lakes Nature Center

Kaleb had another field trip to Shaker Lakes Nature Center, and Rhyan, Asher and I joined them. It was fun, and Rhyan thought it was great helping to take pictures of everything she saw. She wanted the picture she took of Asher & I on here, so the one you see with me in it is Rhyan's artistic ability! Rhyan also really liked the big hollow log she got to climb inside...

Summer Fun

We have this great park by our house that has all these houses for the kids to play in. It is like a small town, and they have a jail and beauty shop, a gym and bank and other stuff. There are the bouncy cars to drive, a boat and a train, and of course all the normal park stuff. It is a really cool park! Rhyan and Asher had a lot of fun... the older kids were at school but I'm sure we'll make it there again this summer. This last picture on here is Rhyan after one of our daily outings. She apparently was all worn out and just couldn't make it any further!! (for those of you who have seen our yard in the past, this grass she's on is the new grass in the back yard!! I'll have to get some pictures on of our newly landscaped back yard for everyone to see.)

Mother's Day

My kids got up and helped to make me breakfast for mother's day and it was great. I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and they made me a great dinner that night. I love my kids so much and cannot believe how blessed I am to have them in my life. I am so grateful for them, for all that they add to my life and how often they make me laugh!

Fancy Nancy at the Children's Museum

The Children's Museum had a Fancy Nancy girls night out that Mayson and I went to that was a lot of fun. We got to make homemade lipgloss, decorate cupcakes, we painted a ceramic flower platter, read Fancy Nancy books and got to dance! It was a lot of fun and it was great to just have a girls night out with Mayson. She is so cute!

Kaleb's Recorder Concert

At Oxford the kids learn to play the recorder when they start third grade, and then have a concert in the spring. It was great. Kaleb practiced and worked hard. He actually sounds pretty good. There was only one song where it truly was just noise...

Rushleigh Picnic

Every year in the spring we have a picnic with all the Rushleigh families to say goodbye to the ones who are graduating and leaving. It's always a lot of fun, and though Larry was at work and couldn't join us, the rest of us had a lot of fun and will miss the Johnsons, the Rhodes and the Francis's when they leave. Good luck to you guys!!

Kaleb Earns his Wolf

We got to go to pack meeting and watch Kaleb get his Wolf badge. He worked hard and was very excited about it. I am now the proud owner of Bobcat and a Wolf pin.

Rhyan's Baby Brother

Rhyan goes around telling everyone that Asher is her baby brother, and that he is her best friend (one of many of her best friends) She loves having a little brother to play with.

Dora Live

While Becky was still in town, we had tickets to take Mayson & Rhyan to see Dora live. Rhyan was of course ecstatic about getting to see Dora, and kept saying "this is where Melmo lives!" (we went to see Elmo Live at the same place) Everyone had a lot of fun and Rhyan thoroughly enjoyed herself!