dear dan

Hi Dan, We are so excited for your birthday Monday!  The girls think we are having a big party but I think we'll save the parties for when you are actually here.

Lexey made a note with a picture of you and her that says I love you Dan (you have seen many of these) and hung it on her wall. She says it reminded her to pray and to pray about you when she does. She always blesses you to do good on your mission and come home safely.

We have had a bee hive in our backyard behind the pool, near all the pool equipment. It has been there for a year or two and we haven't thought much of it. Last week when Jack the pool guy was here he said that last week the bee swarm chased him. He had been taught not to hop in the pool if killer bees are chasing because the killer bees will swarm over your shadow and get you when you come up for air. So, Jack ran to his truck and shut the door. He wasn't able to finish his work w/ our pool stuff. So, anyway today I called "the bee guys" and someone came to look at our bee hive. The guy said it was an Africanized colony (killer bees) and removed all the bees. It was $250. He gave me some tips on a special paint to paint the pool supplies with so that the bees don't come back and try to reestablish themselves in the same location.

Dave has been working like crazy. JoJo always says "dada gurk" (daddy work) and the kids are re-adjusting to having him gone all the time.  Dave is loving it though and it is fun to see him having a good time. I'm glad he loves his work.  He is turning in his application for fellowship this month -July. He asked 3 doctors for letters of recommendation - Dr Levy from Chldren's and Dr's Carter and Marshall from UCSD (current chair and former chair). Levy and Carter both said, "sure, can you send me a draft" so I am working on those letters. So far they are pretty decent but I might send them to Scott to lawyer them up and make the more convincing.

JoJo turns two next week and we're going to make her a monkey cake. Her favorite things in life are animals. We go to the library each week and get her a non-fiction book about animals from the adult area of the library. She isn't really happy unless it is a  monkey book. She is funny.

Glad you are doing so well with the fitness competition. Scott and I are trying to keep up w/ you. It's hard for me in summer to get my exercise in but no that's it hot I guess I'll do it in the pool. I hop in with the kids and tread water while they play. Today we went to the Swim and Tennis club to see Jill Goodrich who is visiting. Apparently she has tons of relatives in your mission area so keep your eye out for all the Goodrich people (Cal's brothers).   I told Clare I'd give her .25 / lap in the big pool and she swam for about an hour and got $8!! Yikes. She is going to run me dry. Maybe I'll have to change it to a dime per lap as we get later into the summer.

Scott proposed to Abbey today. She said yes!

Don't you think Abbey kind of looks like she belongs in the family. I'm sure many a person will assume Lance belongs to her which will probably be nice for everyone to not always have to be explaining about step family stuff.  They are cute and she is great.

So Scott did the most romantic thing for his proposal. He took Abbey to this amazing house he bought and proposed there. They are coming this week and I can't wait to hear the story from her about what she thought about it all and to hear about wedding plans. Can you imagine at age 26 getting a gorgeous house as an engagement gift? Nope, me neither. Pretty amazing.

Chris Ewell took this cute pic of Holli and I walking with Tressel and the girls. He thinks we are quite an amazing sight. I guess we are. I miss my walks now that summer started and it is too hot and I have too many kids home to get my walking in.  During the school year I walk with Holli a couple of days a week.  

around the house

Clare got the camera and took a few pics around the house a few days ago.

We hung this US map on the wall a few weeks ago. Everyone in the family loves to look at the map. When we have visitors over everyone seems to congregate around the map and talk about where they've been and where they are going.  Kinda fun.  When I walk by the map I think, "Where will we be a year from now, and where will we be two years from now?" Could be two different places! Yikes.

Tressel is Clare's BFF.  She really loves him. We all love him. He really makes me crazy sometimes when he empties the trash can or eats food of the counter and I get really mad at him and grumble about how I hate having a dog so Clare thinks I don't like him. I guess I need to be a little more mild mannered! She is probably worried I will throw him out and let the coyotes eat him.

 Little jo in her favorite "cupcake jammies"

I am helping to plan a bridal shower for Marly Davis this week.  I noticed the evite hadn't been viewed by about 15 people, not sure why, so I had to make a bunch of calls one morning. The girls played so well together as they often do.  We will have a huge turnout -- about 50 people! I think the #'s are really high because quite a few women are bringing their teenage daughters. It should be a fun gathering!  Hoping the food we have planned is enough. 

I took the rest  of the pics

Cute girls

Lexey had herself totally hidden in her blanket on the floor. She is cute and spunky and delightful little person.

A few days ago we had som friend over for lunch. When they all sat down at the table, Tressel joined them. He is not allowed to have his face on the table but I guess he thought these girls were so cute he wanted to be in the middle of it all!

Look at how sweet little jo is in bed. This was taken probably at 10pm. She loves to sleep with multiple "mimi's" (the little blue or pink ones). She also loves her animal blanket and her baby oh and don't forget the "birdie" (pink puppet). She's a hoot.  During the day one of her favorite games is putting her baby to bed. She lays them down on a pillow, covers them up and says "nini baby" and then turns off the light. She'll wait about 20 seconds and then go back and say "morning baby. up".  She also likes to play this game with Lexey who is sweet enough to play along.  Lexey is a very good big sister to Jo/.

summer hair cuts

 In the summer we swim a lot, shower occasionally and comb hair almost never. Short hair is much better for our summer lifestyle. Plus the chlorine in the pool really makes the hair stringy and tough to handle.    Clare has needed a hair cute for a while now but wanted to wait 'til after school ended to get a short summer cut!  She decided she wanted a shoulder length bob with a few layers. 

(before)

Clare got about 6 inches cut off.

Alexey also wanted a hair cut!  I have trimmed her hair a couple of times this year so she was not in desperate need of a cut but she wanted the same hair as clare.  I kept  hers a bit longer b/c I didn't want to lose too many curls! 

Alexey

Jo loves her "baby"!

Both girls look great with fresh hair cuts. Dave threw a mini fit when he saw how much hair they lost but later admitted to me that they look good.

summer piano

I happened across a cute idea for a piano chart so I copied it. What was funny about the original chart is that it said it was made for a 16 year old viola player. I can't really picture this working for a 16 year old, but whatever! It is perfect for my house. Each person gets their own color sticker and a prize when they get to the end of the chart. Clare wants her own Ben and Jerry's ice cream. She is a funny girl! So far she is very motivated. She gets a sticker for her daily practice and then an extra sticker for each 15 minutes she does of theory or extra practice (usually old, fun or easier music than regular lesson stuff).

That reminds me a of a funny story from a few weeks ago. Clare was really upset that she had to do her piano before .. . fun of some kind (tv, swimming, can't remember). Anyway, she said, "It's no fair Lexey doesn't have to do piano." I said, "Oh, well she did hers already." Clare's reply: "Well, it's no fair she likes piano!"  haha. I said, "Clare, you are allowed to like piano too!"   She is a hoot.

Clare was doing theory yesterday and was doing a page about space notes and line notes. There was a fill in the blank.  Notes are on __________ or in _________.  I'm pretty sure the correct answer is notes are on lines or in spaces, but Clare put Notes are on paper or in books. It was so cute and quite literally true so I didn't correct her and left that gem for her piano teacher to enjoy when she corrects it! Hopefully she finds it as cute as I did.

Clare's talk in primary today

Clare dictated the talk and I typed it up for her.

Clare June 15, 2013

This is what getting baptized is all about.

The time you get baptized is when your turn 8. And, after you get baptized you get the Holy Ghost by men who have the priesthood.

When you get the Holy Ghost there's also one other thing. You get to be a true member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

In November I am going to turn 8 and get baptized. I am really looking forward to getting baptized. Getting baptized is really important.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

1st day of summer

(photography credit to Calvin for this one)

Today is the first day of summer for us!  I love June in San Diego. It is cool in the morning and then sunny during the day and then cool again at night. The kids enjoy swimming but for me, it is still not hot enough to swim!

Clare finished 1st grade. She had a good year in school. She has some really sweet friends and a good academic year.  For summer she is excited for play dates with friends, swim lessons and Scott and Lance coming to visit.

Alexey finished preschool (over a week ago). We had a nice year. We did a mom preschool swap two days/week from 9-noon. It was a good group of kids.  For summer Lexey is excited to learn to swim and start piano lessons. She will take lessons from one of the advanced high school students named Christine. Christine's lesson is right after Clare and we all love to ohh and ahh as she plays her scales for warm up faster than I can even image being possible! Lex is excited!   I decided that 5 year old girls are one of my favorite things. Lex is so easy going and cooperative, helpful and cheerful. Clare was the same way at 5! (Clare is still great but not as eager to please as she was at 5 and she is busier so I don't see her as much).

Calvin is still in school. He has today off but then goes back for another 6 weeks. His last day of 4th grade is July 30th.  He doesn't return to school until after Labor Day (the girls start around Aug 20th).  Summer is great for Calvin because he loves to swim every day after school.

Jo turns two this summer! She is such  a fun little person. She is a very easy going little person and so delightful.  We are going to have a family b-day party for her and probably give her a zoo pass for a gift. She loves animals! The girls, Clare and Lex, are planning a monkey themed b-day party.

Dave is back to work full time as chief resident. He started a couple of days ago and last night was the graduation dinner for the outgoing chiefs so they are officially gone and it all rests on Dave and Chiazo to lead the way through this year. He's excited to be back on clinical service and to be at the top of the pack so he has 1st choice on all the cases. He's already had a great few days!  Summer is a busy time since July the new interns start and everyone is on a new rotation.

Denise --  I love these 6 weeks of summer where Calvin goes to school and the girls are home. Things are relaxed. The girls play together for hours without any problems. I am hoping to get the girls to do piano practice and some math each day without too much fuss (from Clare). I'd also like to have rooms clean (clare). The school year is so busy and Clare is so tired at the end of the day that I have a hard time making her keep up with her room.

 Jo has a favorite book about animals. We read it 10x a day. Clare was reading to her today and was cracking up at the spider page. Jo says "ewwwww, yuck" and then shivers when she sees the spider.

Jo whacked Clare with a book on the head earlier today and made her cry so for the rest of the afternoon she rubbed books on her head and said "soft" "soft".

bed time

Dave says, "Bed time should go like this. We say Kids get ready for bed. They say okay and then get ready for bed. we read them one story and then they say thank you and quietly walk to bed. That's what bed time should be like."

I'm not sure how bed time goes in your house but in our house it is nothing like this.  First, we say, okay go get ready for bed and the kids ignore us for the first 10 times. Then when they know we are serious they wander downstairs so we won't bother them anymore. Then all go in a bedroom and shut the door and jump on the bed and scream and party until I come down and threaten bodily harm.  Then they brush teeth.  They spend about 3 seconds brushing "ALL of their teeth". Sometimes they are so quick at brushing their teeth that their tooth brush doesn't even get wet when they brush their teeth.

Then comes story time. The kids pick several books, one of which is an I SPY book that would take 3 hours to finish!  After you get through story time then the kids get super hungry and thirsty. They cry and beg for water WITH ICE and snacks of all kinds. Then they want you to lay by them and tell them stories from your childhood, tell them what is planned for the next day and anything else they can think of to keep you in the room.  AS you go out the door they claim you forgot to hug and kiss them. Then they want to make sure the other parent says good night too. Then, they want to go give hugs and kisses to everyone in the house.  Then they need Tressel in bed or out of their bed.

Then, for Lexey she says she is scared of the dark and needs to come sleep in our bed.

By now an hour has passed. Sometimes it feels like a year!

I think this time is precious. Sometime the girls won't want us to put them to bed. They will rather listen to music, read on their own, etc. and I wonder if when they do if we will miss it. Dave says he won't, but I know he will.

Lexey loves soccer!

I signed up Lexey for and 8 week soccer class this spring! It was great. She had a wonderful time and played very well. She definitely had a age advantage so I'm not sure if she seemed good 'cuz she is older or if she actually is pretty good!


The kids did drills for the first 40 minutes of class and then they'd scrimmage boys vs. girls for the last 10 minutes. I would tell Lex "go get the ball from that boy and then score in your goal over there" and she would do it. Every time! It was awesome. Finally on my 3rd kid I have a soccer lover! Yay!

cutest little fan! She brought her sand toys and would play in the long jump sand pit (at the high school where we practiced!)

Trophies and certificates are of high importance to 5 year old soccer stars! :)

We were lucky to have 2 friends in our soccer class. Lyla

 and Gavin

Calvin took all of these...  I love the sequence of Lex going to the goal and scoring!

May the 4th be with you

 

Dave and clare and Calvin went to a geocaching event on May the 4th. Clare dressed up a little bit with her hair and t-shirt being star wars themed. Calvin wore his full Darth Vader costume (no pic, sorry). Anyway, when they got to Balboa Park Clare looked around and realized that she was the only one dressed up and felt really embarrassed. Calvin didn't think anything of it.  It was a funny parenting moment for us -- didn't want to forget it.

end of performance season

This is such a busy time of year! 

Clare probably had the most going on with piano, school play and kids sing performances. 

Clare was the toucan in her classroom musical about the rainforest. It was the second biggest part with lots of speaking lines and a singing solo. She was excited to have the part.

 

 

It was a cute little program. The kids worked hard and were proud of themselves!