randoms

we used to have a rule that tressel wasn't allowed on the couch. now everyone fights over who gets to sit next to and lay on top of him while on the couch. This is especially true when it is super cold in the house...tressel is a good heater!


lex is learning to use the potty. she is pretty excited about this adventure and loves her underwear.




a couple of weeks ago Dave's cousin came to town with his 4 kids. We met them at their hotel to swim in the hotel pool. BTW, the weather has been glorious, come visit us :)

big changes

1. I feel amazing. It is so nice to have energy, to be able to stay up past 7pm and to not throw up here and there and everywhere, and feel nauseated all the time. At 14 weeks I got the ICKIEST stomach bug ever that knocked me off my feet for a few days...which I have to say is totally lame after 2 months of icky morning sickness. But, that is over and I am soooo happy now. It is so nice to feel good. I am about 16 weeks now.

2. Dave has had the EASIEST month ever! he is on a neuropathology month where nobody cares if he comes or not, he has no patients to care for and no pager going off constantly. It is amazing. I have to say I have seen what a difference it is to have a 2 parent family rather than a one parent family. It really makes a HUGE difference to have him home for dinner each night, to have him seeing the kids every day, and to not be a zombie due to lack of sleep, food and daylight. People, if you have a husband who is home pretty often, be THANKFUL, it really is a blessing. Those who don't, I feel your pain. I've had 5 years of this and probably a few more (if not a lifetime) to go. Dave goes to children's hospital next month where the pager is on 24/7 and he probably won't be home for dinner a single night.

3. I pulled Calvin out of school Friday. I have known it was coming for a while. You may remember back in November I requested a teacher change and said I'd home school if it wasn't given to me. Well, I left that meeting and had to run throw up ... after that was 2 months of progesterone poisoning and a haze that left me barely functional. I didn't hastily pull him out at that time even though the principal was clearly a *(%)*%+$ about the situation. I partially hoped that things would improve with a little extra care and attention from everyone and I partially could not fathom taking Calvin out at that time. So, there have been a cascade of events leading up to this decision which I don't have time to document now. However, I do need to write my letter to the school board and superintendent so maybe I'll share some of that story later.

For now, I'm excited about some of the fun things we can do together, some of the charter schools I am looking at and happy to have "saved" Calvin from a very negative school situation. Today I took him with me to work in Clare's class and one of my friends there saw him with me and said, "Oh, did you pull Calvin out? He looks great!" After just a few days at home he is already more cooperative and pleasant and as he says, "I am best listener in the family." This is definitely the way I want him to think of himself rather than the extremely negative labels he was getting at school from the principal and his teacher.

Clare's questions

Clare is my child that does not stop asking questions. Here are some of the past few weeks:

"Mom, when you finish growing does all the food you eat go to your tummy and make a baby?"

"HOW do babies get in your tummy?" and "HOW do they get out?"

"You and Dad are going to be dead when I grow up, right? Who is going to die first."

"Dan, why do you keep eating all that junk? Do you LOVE being fat?"

best salad ever and amazing burritos

sorry, I ate it too fast to get a picture.

Grilled Veggie Salad

saute the following chopped veggies in olive oil until just tender:
1 onion, 2 zucchini, 1 red pepper, some broccoli (or whatever floats your boat)

in a separate pan: saute some chiken in olive oil and 1/2 t red pepper flakes

assemble your salad as follows in layers:
one cup spinach, chopped
one cup romaine, chopped
two cups hot veggies
1/4 cup hot ckn
sprinkle with parmesean cheese

Would totally be fine w/o chicken, I'm sure Dave would prefer it that way -- I just happen to be in the mood for some meat today.

You're welcome.

spicy sweet potato burritos

mix together
3 sweet potatoes, baked until soft, take out insides and mash
3/4 t ground cumin
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t black pepper
2 TB lime juice
1 15 oz can black beans
1 cup corn kernels

spoon mixture into tortillas and top with any of the following: chesse, salsa, cilantro, lettuce, tomatoes

Yummy!

life is good

but sometimes things don't go exactly like I would have planned....

1. Spent $1700 to restore plumbing to our house. long story, but here is the abbreviated version: don't ever live in a house with a sump pump. They are evil. This year we had our 10th anniversary and though we wanted to do something special we both felt like it wasn't a good time for spending lots of money on a trip. I'm so glad we didn't otherwise, we would be so stressed right now. So, we sort of joke that for our 10th anniversary we got a new sump pump.


2. our next door neighbors moved! We had a great family next door with an 8 year old girl named Cassy. She has been Calvin's best friend this year (they moved in last spring) and we have all loved her. She has tagged along with our family to sea world, playgrounds, beaches, dog park, dinner, FHE, and every day life. It has been a great blessing. She was, in part, and answer to my prayer, "what should I do with Calvin." As a tom boy she loves all the things boys like, bakugan, sports, skateboarding, nerf guns, etc. but also has some great girl qualities -- she is sweet to my little girls and very obedient.

I am sorry I don't get many pictures of Cassy! We went over to take some pics with her one day right before she moved but only Alexey wanted to come. Here she is with Alexey.


3. I got released from my calling as Laurel Advisor. I was so sad to get released. It has been such a joy to work with the Young Women and the other leaders, to go to girls camp, youth conference, firesides, hikes, parties, etc. etc. with them. It is a very busy calling. It is at least two days a week and sometimes 7 when a big activity is coming up! I loved it though! What other church calling is so rewarding and enjoyable? Sometimes it was a nice break for me from my little kids. Teaching the laurels, who are practically adults, we could have serious lessons and great conversations plus a lot of fun. When the kids did come along, it was sweet for me to see how the girls took care of them and loved them. My kids loved to be a part of YW and begged to come to mutual with me every week.

One of the large contributers to my being able to be in YW with 3 small kids and a husband who is never home was having dan here. He babysat for me on most mutual nights (as long as the kids were sleeping first). It was so nice to have him here!

I am also grateful to many friends who babysat for me for the bigger events like camp and youth conference. I felt like I pawned off my kids a lot over the last few years!

It has been great. I am thankful to have had the opportunities I did. I loved the girls I taught. They are so strong and work so hard to do what is right. Their testimonies are pure. It is inspiring to watch them. I am not super old, but I still feel like they have to work harder than I did in school 15 years ago to stay on the right path. The leaders I worked with were equally as insipiring. There have been a couple of cycles of women in YW since I joined and they have all been amazing. I remember when I first started, going to pres. meeting and being awestruck by all that these women were volunteering to do -- decorate, cook, plan, etc!

When I first started in YW, I had most of the girls (esp. the laurels) calling me Denise. I have to say, that since that time, and now that my new laurels were still beehives when I started, I am more comfortable being Sister Gonda. I guess I have grown up a bit, and as sad as it is to admit that I am old, I realize that there is a pretty big gap between me and the girls I am teaching.

Okay, well, enough rambling!

Here's the link back to my old girls camp post from the summer. (rather than add pics again, they are there.)

things the kids are saying

Calvin: "If it's a boy, let's name him Alvin."

Clare: "Mom, can we have a baby shower for you?"

Alexey, to my friends at church: "My Mommy has a baby in her tummy."

Since I am busting out of my clothes at an alarming rate and news is slowly leaking out I thought it is probably time to share our news here as well! Due July 14

a few pictures

This is what Clare wore to school today! It was sport day at school (thanks to pete and jessica for this darling christmas gift **insert sarcasm here**)



WE went to Legoland on Christmas Eve. It was fun but crowded. We paid a total of $20 for all 5 of us to get in so it was worth it even though it was a busy day. We also got free tickets to go back sometime between now and the end of march!




you can see Calvin's missing tooth on the bottom.

Happy New Year!

Conversation with Clare.

Mom: Clare, get ready, we're going to the mall with Daddy now.

Clare: But mom, Daddy is afraid of the mall.


Conversation with Alexey.

Lex: What the hell?

Mom: Lex, don't say any bad words.

Let: I no say bad words, I say what the hell.
(credit for teaching my 2 year old this language goes to Calvin who has had several bars of soap in his mouth over the break and has quit saying he** but when he says " What the....." lex is happy to fill in with the appropriate ending.)

Conversation with Dave.

Denise: So, do you want to go out tonight?

Dave, very unenthusiastically: If you want, I don't really care.

Denise: Oh.......................................

did you know today is our 10 year anniversary?

Dave, very enthusiastically: YES!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!! YES! WE should go out! Where do you want to go!


(in dave's defense, he had thought he would be working all day and all night on the anniversary, so we had made other plans to celebrate on another day. When he got home early from work that day, he hadn't had anniversary on his radar.)


Conversation with Calvin:

If you could have 3 wishes what would they be?

Calvin: 1. to see Santa at the North Pole. 2. a New game for my DS. (what game?) Lego Star Wars, the Complete Saga. 3. Another wii remote.

We had a fun Christmas with the kids this year...Calvin was especially excited about santa coming to bring him the one thing he wished for (the new super mario bros on wii). Even Clare was excited to have Santa come in spite of being very afraid of him still.