calvin speed gonda

here is how calvin writes his name on school work now, using his full name.



calvins wish list:
-size 6 superman shirt. His size 4 shirt he has worn for 3 years and is starting to fall apart. and needs a size 6 shirt "since I'll be 6 soon."
-piggy bank to save the money that he gets when I bribe him to do chores or help me out.
-a REAL rocket ship. he's going to ask santa for that for next christmas. we said that santa only makes toys and not rocket ships but he just says, "we'll see."

things he's looking forward to:
-Calvin will be 6 in two weeks. We're going to Disneyland to celebrate. we are all super excited!
-He is also starting t-ball next week. Luckily we got a boy from his K class on the team and it will be great fun and great for carpooling!

Sample conversation with Calvin:
cal: dad, superman is real, right?
dad: no calvin, actaully he isn't real
CAl: NO Dad, he is real. he is. Really. Real. Dad.

Favorite things to do:
-listen do the songs on Dave's phone (hang on sloopy, OSU fight song and superman theme song).
-wake up early and go to bed early. by early I mean 5 for wake up time and bed time. often.
-make all kinds of things with scotch tape and sissors.
-torment clare. What are big brothers for if not to cause the little sisters to scream?

so sweet

This morning I accidently dumped 1/2 the bag of powdered sugar onto Clare's pancake. She thought it was perfect and knew that the one with the huge pile of sugar was just for her. She LOVES all sweet things.

It was all fun and games 'til she accidently flipped some of it on her face!

(no I didn't let her have All the sugar. I scooped most of it off -- but she still had too much!)


One thing we are lovin' about 1pm church is that we have time to eat a fun breakfast every Sunday. The kids also enjoy the laid back time to play together with no place that we have to go right away.

oops

my brother dan rear-ended one of his best friends while they were "following each other." The friend only has a couple of scratches on the bumper. With Dan's car the main problem is that the hood won't open. Other than that, it's just cosmetic. All the lights still work. He is looking forward to borrowing a nicer car from my dad while his gets fixed but I'm pretty sure dad is in no hurry ... I am getting a big kick out of the ordeal and am happy that I do not have any teenage drivers of my own. yet. Maybe the green truck will still be around when Calvin starts to drive!

blue eyes!

Alexey is 10 months old and a very good at the army crawl. She knows how to get around! She loves to talk. She says "ma ma ma ma" and "ba ba ba ba " and likes to hear her own voice. She is a little sweetie. She loves food and has been known even to yell at complete strangers if they are eating in front of her. Last night the kids fed her chocolate milkshake. She was very impressed!



Clare bear had a rough week. on Monday she fell and hit her head. She had a decent size cut on her forehead so we decided to take a little field trip to see Dave at the hospital and he put sterostrips on her face so it wouldn't scar. It would not have been worth a trip to the ER but since Dave was having a lighter day it worked out well. By Monday evening Clare was coming down with something and was running a fever which lasted 4 days. She also had a sore throat. She called it "owie in my mouth" and cried A LOT. At one point I was very worried about her b/c she was crying uncontrollably and flailing about in so much pain, I wondered if there was something more serious wrong with her but when she calmed down she was able to let me know that it was just her throat still hurting. She was quite the drama queen.

visitors

Since we have moved to SD we have had TONS of visitors! We LOVE it! We have enjoyed everyone who has stayed in our house.

The top 2 visitors of 2008 were Jared Anderson and Scott Dahlquist (my bro). Jared was amazing while he was here. He painted a bathroom one night and cleaned the kids' bedrooms before he left for the airport (while we were at church. Scott gave me a gift that $$ can't buy: 10 days of not having to wake up to Calvin's singing and yelling at 4:30am. Since Scott was sleeping downstairs, right next to Calvin's room, he would jump up when Calvin first started singing and tell him to go to back to sleep. I have tried doing this as well and even committed two weeks to sleep next door to him once but Calvin doesn't listen to me. However, he did listen to scott. So we had lots of great days of a well rested calvin and I got to sleep like a normal person. It was fabulous.

Now, don't think we don't love everyone who visits just for the sake of visiting because we definitely do. So, come visit!

Right after Christmas the Petersons came from AZ. We spent a lovely afternoon at the beach one day. Here are all the boys. Dave, Ben and Tyler and Calvin.


Who's coming next?

books

In Jan for our bookclub we met at a bookstore and spent about 20 minutes looking at books and picking out some that we wanted to read. Then we came together and choose books and hosts for the year. It was a fun activity and good way to get everything planned instead of taking time at each meeting to make sure the months ahead were in order.

Here's what we're reading this year:
Feb 12 - The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura Schlessinger

March 12 - - Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

April 9 -- Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

May 14 - The Road by Cormac Mccarthy

June 18 -Diving Justice by David Baldacci

** Young women are invited to the July and August meetings where we will be reading young adult books
July 9 - - Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

August 13 - - The Time Travelers (The Gideon Trilogy) by Linda Buckley-Archer

September 8 - - Bridge of Sighs by Richard Rucco or The Alchemist by by paulo coelho

October 13 - - March by Geraldine Brooks

I also read a couple of books recently. I have been a lousy reader lately (I spend all my time preparing lessons for YW and reading cook books and watching our new TV. quick side story -- my brother dan got a 42 inch tv for christmas and he keeps it in our living room. I have been completely addicted and will be cutting the cable to save money and time for all of us!)

Snowflower and the secret fan by Lisa See. a really good book. touching. I learned a lot about Chinese culture and stepped into another world of a couple hundred years ago. It really made me appreciate my life as a woman in America but also taught me to appreciate the comfort and joy in tradition and doing what is proper. It was highly recommended to me by several women in my ward.

Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. pretty good. I did this one audio and it was pretty good company while walking and cleaning but I didn't like the ending. I'd be curious to know what others thought of it. I don't know of anyone else who has read it but it is a top seller right now. The sequel is now out and if I run across it I will read it.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of my all time favorites. I think this was my 3rd time through and it was just as good as ever.

moming mishaps

A friend posted a funny story on her blog about falling asleep and missing pick-up of her kids at school. I was going to post my story in her comments but realized it was waayyy too long for that so I posted here instead for all to enjoy.

One day as I was getting to be time to go get calvin and I couldn't find my keys. I had a brief glimpse in my memory of having seen clare walk away with them so when they turned up missing I knew they were not just missing but had passed through the hands of a toddler and could be anywhere. I looked for them for an 45 minutes and by that time school was just getting out and I still had no sight of them. I had to call the school and tell them I'd find someone to come get Calvin. I called several people and finally got in touch with a new person in our ward. She had just gotten home from getting her kids and she went back to school to pick up Calvin for me and bring him home. I told the office ladies who were watching Calvin 'til she got there "my friend Holli is coming to get Calvin. He doesn't know her AT ALL so don't be surprised if he doesn't want to go with her!" Super embarrassing!!! Oh, and I found my keys plugged into the electrical outlet later that day. I guess I am lucky to have found them AND that Clare didn't die.

Another time I was lucky that Clare didn't die was the day that Calvin gave her Tylenol. I had just given her Tylenol. For her the correct dose is 2 squirts of the concentrated infant drops. Calvin saw me do this and then came by about 30 minutes later and gave her 2 more squirts. I freaked out! Cried and panicked (and maybe yelled I can't remember...). I called poison control and they informed me that she would be perfectly fine as she was no where near the lethal dose for Tylenol.

It is a miracle our kids have lived as long as they have and still continue to live with such dimwitted parents as we are!!! All joking aside I feel fortunate that my kids have been watched over. There are many other times that serious accidents could have happened and they have been protected and remained healthy and safe. What a blessing my kids are!

Another quick story: today I was out walking with Clare and our neighbor asked me if Clare was my sister!!

stats

Alexey - 9 months
weight: 17 lbs (35%)
length: 27 in (35%)
shoe size: 0-6 months (smaller than size 3)

Clare - 3 years
weight: 29 lbs (25%)
height: 37in (50%)
shoe size: 8

Calvin - almost 6!
weight: 42 lbs (less than 25%)
height: 43 in (25%)
shoe size: 11

SPAM ... .passed on

Most of the American populace thinks it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of 'those moments.'

One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk.

Some say it's the vibration from the car, others say it's the time away from any distractions such as TV, Video Games, Computer, IPod, etc.

Either way, my kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together. Eye to eye contact helps a lot too.

I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique.

Sincerely,
Your Friend

auto show

I took the kids to the auto show at the SD convention center. Pete and Dan (my bros) were going and after learning that kids under 6 are free I decided we'd give it a try as well.

Here are Pete and Dan with the kids.




The kids had fun looking at and especially climbing into all the cars..

a fancy ethanol powered suburban
a sick BMW

some kind of golf cart type thing

Alexey LOVED the baby backpack. It's the first time I've used it on her.

I carried for a while and then pete took a turn. She was completely happy for the entire 2 hours we were there.

for some strange reason the kids thought it would be super exciting to view the road show as puppies and spent a great deal of time on the floor crawling around. Calvin even licked the floor outside the convention center (YUCK!!!)

books

so.....I was asked (because I run the bookclub and not because I am any kind of expert in the field) to teach a class on books at a stake enrichment coming up in June. I will probably be coming to you for some help over the next couple of months. The first thing I need to know is: What is your favorite book? hopefully it goes without saying that it needs to be clean


Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~Author Unknown

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. ~P.J. O'Rourke


Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. ~Mark Twain, attributed

"Instead of going to Paris to attend lectures, go to the public library, and you won’t come out for twenty years, if you really wish to learn." Leo Tolstoy
"I cannot live without books." Thomas Jefferson

The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television. ~Andrew Ross

I've never known any trouble that an hour's reading didn't assuage. ~Charles de Secondat, Baron de la Brède et de Montesquieu, Pensées Diverses