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?