Dear Scott,

When are you coming? I bought these chocolate and mint chips today and think they will be so good in some of your brownies!


It is very cold in our house. The only way we can survive is with lots of blankets and a fire. It is in the 30's and 40's at night and as you know we do not use the furnace. Pack lots of sweatshirts.

Hope to see you soon!

Love,
Denise

the first birthday celebration

We had Dad, Kari and Shi over to celebrate Clare's birthday. She kept asking when we were going to have her REAL birthday...the one where her friends come over. I was so busy last week I knew I couldn't handle the stress of having a party for her so we are going to wait 'til after Thanksgiving break to have her friends over.

Clare decided she wanted cake for this birthday and choose green frosting w/ pink decorations. For her real birthday she wants cupcakes.





From Calvin, Mom, Dad, Lex and myself Clare got pink legos...she was super excited about this!

she also got some puzzles since she is getting really good at puzzles and spends lots of time on them at home.


Clare is a sweet girl. It was fun to celebrate her!

Happy Birthday to Clare!

Clare got this new dress from Kari and Bob and the necklace from Grandma Linda. Both made her feel very special!


Clare bear is 5 today. It was a fun day.

I love how lex is growing right into all of Clare's old clothes. this was a favorite and is just so cute on Lex just as it was on Clare



Also, it was so fun to see Calvin in Oliver this weekend. He had a blast!
here are some of the little orphan kids/fagin's gang kids. some are girls but the girls wore wigs to look like boys!

Over the course of preparing for the show (especially the last couple of weeks where we were there a TON) the kids became good buddies!


taking a break in the lobby and reading the program.



The principal said no to a teacher change. so, now we're figuring out what to do next.... I did send Calvin to school Th and Fri and he did great. Maybe now that I've stirred the pot a bit the teacher and principal will be a little more careful with him....

anyway, haven't had a quiet moment in a week. I am going to relax now!

life at our house

is a little crazy right now.

this post will be lacking in many many details but here is the short story of why I'm hangin' by a thread this week.

1. sickness. calvin has strep. dave and i have bronchitis. i don't get sick very often and i can't remember ever being sick for so long. it has been a full week now for me.

2.oliver. (calvin is in the musical production of oliver this weekend) so, this is tech week. It is very time consuming and trying on my patience. monday we were asked to be there at 4pm. Rehearsal did not even start 'til 7:30. Last night little ones were supposed to practice from 6-7:30. I left at 7:30 and they were just getting started (calvin was too sick to practice anyway but we were there just to watch).

3. (this is where there is a big story missing- maybe i will have time to fill in details later). this week i requested a teacher change for calvin. if he doesn't get a teacher change I will pull him out of school for the rest of the year. the principal will let me know today. mon night I had nightmares all night about big fights w/ the principal...but it wasn't too bad talking to him.

4. chorus. we're a little behind so this week (minimum days) i decided to have a couple of extra practices. This would be a little easier if I actually had a voice.


On the happy side of life I discovered a new dinner that is fabulous.
ratatouille with cauliflower instead of eggplant. I love cauliflower and can't find enough ways to work it into our menu.

calvin wore an ohio state sweatshirt last week. I got it on him b/c as he got out of the shower I stuck it in the dryer so it was nice and warm for him. He could not resist.



(calvin cut his hair again this week. when he looked in the mirror he cried b/c he didn't like it. maybe he is learning that it is not a good idea?)

Lake Poway

Friday we had no school and we had a very fun day doing a picnic and hike at Lake Poway with some friends from school. The weather has been lovely. very warm and sunny during the day and cool by 5:30 when it gets dark. I am still trying to adjust to the early dark time!

In other news, Calvin is sleeping through the night. After Dave's week with him when I was in Ohio Dave decided we should try melatonin. We found an 8 hour time release tablet that seems to be working for him. Hopefully we can use it long enough for him to get used to sleeping all night and then take him off of it in a couple of months.