Happy Birthday to Tressel

Tressel turned 2 on Valentine's Day. We took him to dog beach to play for a while and then let him have a hot dog for dinner.

The kids sang happy birthday to him and blew out his candles for him! Tressel LOVED his hot dog!






Clare takes off Tressels collar a lot! I am always asking her to put it back on or leave it on so that if he gets out people can help him find his way home. I asked her why she took it off, thinking she did so at night so he'd be more comfortable when she gets him settled in bed each night. Her answer surprised me. "Mom, his neck is soooo beautiful." Love my Clare.

Tressel is a good dog. They say big dogs are puppies 'til 2 and I would have to agree. Though he doesn't have accidents or anything he is still very excitable and full of energy. As a family we love having a dog. However, it is a TON of work for me. The thing that makes him high maintenance is that he needs so much exercize. When I was not pregnant and not homeschooling I loved my daily walks with him and Lex in the stroller b/c it made all of us happy to be out walking. However, now that I have Calvin full time and am not walking as much as I used to it is harder to get his exercize in. I either have to take him to a dog friend house or to a park to run. It takes a lot of time. Precious time. This is not meant to be a ton of complaining but more for the education of those of you who dream of having a dog!

LOVE Dave

So, back in August I got a speeding ticket in my neighborhood. It was a pretty lame ticket. A cop was waiting in the dark (we have no street lights in our neighborhood) at the bottom of Martincoit, a hill that goes about a mile straight down. I think my ticket was for 48 in the 30 zone. Anyway, I requested trial by written declaration and paid bail way back in October. Dave wrote my argument, with lots of evidence as to why there was not good cause for a ticket. This week the $350 ticket was refunded!! Ticket dismissed due to lack of prosecution. Good job Dave!! wooo hooo

Our ultrasound for baby 4 is next Wed. I'm still debating whether or not I should find out the gender ahead of time.

The other day Dave had a conversation with the kids about baby gender.
They asked Dave, "how do we know if it is a boy baby or a girl baby?"
Dave: "If it has long hair, it's a girl; if it has short hair it's a boy."
Mom: "REALLY, DAVE"
Dave: "Actually, all babies have only a little hair, so that's not they way you can tell. If it is wearing pink it is a girl, blue for a boy."
Kids: "for real, dad"
Mom: "Babies come out naked....how do you think you can tell boy or girl?"

lots of thinking.......

Calvin: "Oh, if it has a penis it is a boy."
Clare: "I hope our baby doesn't have a penis." (said in total sincerity)


Now, time for finishing the legoland post.

Alexey was DEVESTATED everytime someone went on a ride and left her behind b/c she was too small. There were only a few times when she was too small, but she cried and fussed and said sweetly, "but I sooooo big girl."

Dave tricked clare into going on the roller coaster. She was NOT HAPPY


.However, it was Calvin's favorite ride. He and dave went on it a few times and then I went on it w/ him a few times.

kid taken pic of dave and I, with lex jumping in too! Dave thought in addition to celebrating Calvin's b-day, it is also a big day for us, remembering the first day that we turned our life over to our children. It has been great, but never the same as the care-free kid-free life! Also, this was my last day in regular pants. These ones were 2 sizes bigger than what I used to wear but even those don't fit anymore. I popped out a lot in the last week!

lex is a poser now.


coming up in the next couple of weeks:
Dave's b-day and Calvin's baptism and baby Parker coming to visit....closly followed by Alexey's b-day. everyone is excited!!!!

legoland

Last week for Calvin's birthday we went to LEGOLAND. It was a mid-week, beautiful sunny day with no lines and no clouds. It was great. We were able to go on every ride we wanted and often could just go on the rides over and over again if nobody was waiting to get on.

One of the funnest things we did was go in this little place where you could build car and then race them.

Lex says, "I WIN"



Dave and Clare made a BLOCK O (OHIO STATE) car.




There was another room for playing Duplos. Calvin isn't here 'cuz he stayed in the car building place.



This ride was our favorite. We went on it several times. It went up and down and up and down. The perfect combination to make your stomach drop without making you feel like you need to barf!




I have a few more pics but I out of time for now. I'll put those up next time!

Calvin is 8 today! and other happenings at our house

-Today Calvin turns 8. Hard to believe that we are all getting old enough for this to happen. He is very excited to go to LEGOLAND today to celebrate and to have his dad baptize him early in march.

-Tressel turns 2 on Monday. We decided we will take him to dog beach and give him a hot dog as his presents.

-We are coming up on our mid-pregnancy ultrasound. I had originally thought that I'd just wait and find out what we're having the old fashioned way but now dave is trying to convince me we should find out ahead of time, claiming, "If it's another girl, I need some time to prepare myself." (WHAT!! Does he forget how sweet our girls are?) and "I have exhausted all girl names and would need some extra time to think of another one." Who says boys can't do drama?

-I am showing a little bit now but I'm sure I just look chubby rather than pregnant at this point. Most regular clothes don't fit and maternity clothes are still too big.

-Speaking of drama. Dave LOVES the bachelor. Well, he actually loves Michelle on the bachelor. If/once she is gone, I'm sure he'll quit watching!!

-I got my music for spring chorus. It is called NUTS! It is super cute and pretty easy; a perfect combination. We added about 15 new kids and they are all K-2 grades so I am glad we have an easier show this time. Our concert is the 1st week of May.

-My suburban is coming up on 17 years old....it has been an amazing car. We are wondering how long it'll keep alive but for sure won't get rid of it until it is absolutely dead. People in SD, keep your cell phones on so that when it does die you can come get us :)

-Dave is back at children's. It is a PAIN in the neck to have the pager going 24/7. I kid you not, he was on the phone for 2 hours last week b/c a teenage girl (THE worst of all types of patients) was screaming in hysterics b/c of pain. She did this screaming thing about once or twice a day for varying types of pain. He also has to do other not so fun things like tell people their kid will die. I would not want to trade jobs with him....even on those really bad days.

-Dave and I took a little trip to LA last weekend. He had a conference at a hotel there and since they were putting him up for the weekend I thought I'd tag along. We spent a great day Sat. eating at Cafe Rio and visiting w/ the Larsens. Sat night dave had conference so I enjoyed quiet time. Sun morning I had more quiet time. Quiet time is a gift -- one that I don't get much at home. Plus, I realized I spend too much time on the computer when I do have quiet time and need to spend more time just thinking and planning my life. Sun afternoon was a Superbowl party for the neurosurgeons but I tagged along anyway. Mon morning we walked around downtown and then headed home. Downtown LA is kind of weird. There is not much going on on the weekends and all the little shops are only open during the week when the business people are around. It is definitely not as fun a place as BOSTON or NYC or Chicago or San Francisco or even San Diego. However, I am sure for those coming from bad weather, the 75 degrees was amazing. I'd just recommend the beach instead of the city for LA.

clare's birthday

Clare's birthday was Nov 21st, but at that time I was too sick (pregnancy) and too busy (production week for Oliver) to give her a b-day party. So, we finally gave her one in January! She basically wanted a repeat of last year's princess party, so it was pretty easy to do. We played pass the present, pin the crown on the princess and did some crafts. It was great. Girl parties are easy b/c the girls can easily entertain themselves in the case that you don't have enough to do, and they really don't ever run out of stuff to do b/c they take their time on everything. I think they could have spent one full hour just decorating their goodie bag.

I didn't get my camera out enough, but here are a few pictures.


calvin was allowed to bust the pinata after all the girls took a couple of turns each

clare at the pinata



lex at the pinata

calvin right in the middle of it all!


lex was excited to get dressed up