October 2011

Just thought I'd share some Halloween pictures. This is my pregnant pumpkin belly. No, we're not naming him Jack :)

Next is Haven with her Joy School class. Haven is a fairy. I think the other kids look great, too! We had one more boy that didn't make the picture, but he was dressed to be on the SWAT team.

Here are all three girls. Two mermaids and a fairy! I think they're darling!


And here are David and I. We're stick figures, if you can't tell. My sister Christy thought up this brilliant idea.


Happy Halloween!

December 2011

1. Countdown to Christmas - Every year I like to do a countdown to Christmas beginning on December 1. Each day we read a Christmas scripture, eat a small treat, and try to do an act of service. This year Mom helped me string up buckets, in a similar fashion to this picture:

Mom did most of the work (Thanks Mom!), and I'm happy to have something that we can reuse next year, since we do it every year.

2. Christmas Activities - People in the ward emailed out ideas of things to do around the Bay Area at Christmas time. One person recommended a town of Bethlehem exhibit in Sunnyvale that is free, so we decided to try it. It was AMAZING!!! I very much regret that I didn't bring a camera. I will definitely try to make it again this year. A local church organizes the event and they construct a little town of Bethlehem. Roman soldiers mill about with spears and shout at people. There are stalls where children can make clay coins, brush wool, make bricks, and more. They also act out the nativity and they have REAL camels that the wise men ride on! It was very impressive. We all had a wonderful time, and helped make the Christmas story a little more real for the kids.

3. Breakfast with Santa - David took the girls to a Kidgits activity. They had a fun breakfast bag with a candy cane shaped bagel. They sat on the ground and drank hot chocolate while some elves performed. Then Santa came and had everyone ask him questions like, “How did you become Santa?” and “How do your reindeer fly?” Then they got to shake Santa’s hand.

4. Haven's Joy School Play – Haven has been doing a Joy School this year with a wonderful group of children and mothers. They did a little Christmas play in which Haven was the Shepherd. And they sang sweet little songs. It was darling.

5. Christmas Stockings – This was our first Christmas not visiting Utah or West Virginia, and so this was the first time I’ve actually needed to have our own stockings. I was surprised at how expensive it was to buy decent stockings, so we opted to make them, because it seemed simple enough. I was wrong. But luckily, Grandma figured everything out and sewed most of them (I helped a little). She got the girls’ stockings finished just in time for Christmas. I need to finish the rest. Wish me luck! I'll try to add a picture soon.

6. Christmas with the Crofts – We love our friends Matt and Mandy Croft and their children, and we were delighted when the invited us to act out the Christmas story with them. They came over to our house and the kids dressed up and acted out the Christmas story. Then we drank wassail and ate gingerbread men.

7. Grandpa Hinman comes to visit. Grandpa arrived the week before Christmas. We were all excited that he could join us for Christmas, and we love having him around.

8. Pictures from Julianne - Julianne will sometimes take pictures of my girls. I think she's a fabulous photographer despite the funny faces my girls make. Here are a few of Alyssa that she has sent me.

9. CHRISTMAS!!! – Hurray! The first Christmas at our apartment. It went nicely. We laid out stockings on the couch and stuffed them with goodies. Santa left art supplies for them on the couch. I also gave Mom and Dad some homemade Gravenstien applesauce with their stocking. We ate croissants and hot cocoa for breakfast (I’ve been itching to buy the frozen croissants at the Milk Pail for ages. They were delicious!) . I think we then went to church and opened gifts afterwards. We received so many wonderful gifts, that it would be somewhat impractical to list them all, but I will mention a few great surprises. Grandma and Grandpa Michaelis gave the girls some wonderful nightgowns made by Grandma Great. The also surprised us by giving us silverware! What a great surprise! Anyway, we received many wonderful and thoughtful gifts, so thank you to everyone!!! Merry Christmas!

10. More Grandparents - Grandma and Grandpa Michaelis arrive along with Grandma Great and Grandpa Great. They came out at the end of the month for Baby David’s blessing. We were so happy to have them join us, and so grateful that they braved the treacherous mountain passes to join us for New Year’s Eve and the blessing.

January

1. David's Baby Blessing - Grandpa and Grandma Hinman, Grandpa and Grandma Michaelis, and Grandpa Great and Grandma Great Michaelis ALL came out for baby David's blessing. We love our parents and grandparents so much, and we are so grateful that they came out to participate in this beautiful blessing.

2. David's 6 week check up - David was 24 inches long and 12 pounds, 6 oz. (86th and 79th percentiles). He's such a sweety and we all love having a baby in the house.

3. Grandparent's leave - Boo hoo! Why do they have to go?

4. School Starts again - Callie and Alyssa started school again. I'm glad they like school so much.

5. David interviews at BYU - David flew out for an interview with BYU. We hope it works out! We would love to be closer to our families. He felt like things went really well, so here's hoping!

6. Callie starts Girl Scouts - Callie has several friends in the Girl Scouts program in school, and she's been asking to join for a few months. Well, I finally filled out the forms and Callie got to go to her first girl scouts meeting. She's really enjoying it.

7. Nothing for dessert - When I was growing up, my Mom would make this dessert titled "Four Layer Dessert" which had a crunchy crust topped with cream cheese/Cool Whip, chocolate pudding, more Cool Whip, and maraschino cherries. Well, for some reason we found the name of the dessert lacking and we renamed it "Nothing". We thought we were so funny! I especially remember having the missionaries over for dinner and excitedly telling them that we were having Nothing for dessert! Well, the fun has continued into the next generation! I told my girls about this, and they were so excited to have this when the missionaries next came to dinner. Nothing was a great success! The girls excitedly told the missionaries we were having Nothing for dessert. And then the jokes just kept on piling up! Good-for-nothing cherries! You gave me Nothing! Thanks for Nothing! We even had a riddle about Nothing! Anyway, it was fun to carry on a silly family tradition.

November 2011

My friend Sarah Lumley does a really cute monthly post where she lists the top 10 things for that month. She does a darling job! I like the idea of posting once a month, so I may attempt that. We'll see how it goes. I'll have to start paying more attention to my favorite things that go on in the month. Here are a few of my favorite things for the month of November! (I had to stop when I got to #3 because somebody needed mom, so now I'm trying to catch up from two months later!)

Baby shower - Mandy Croft and Julianne Pack threw a baby shower for me. They were so kind to host the party! I have acknowledge my visiting teachers who also offered to host a shower! Everyone is so kind and I'm grateful to my many dear friends who came. Mandy had one game that I hadn't seen before that I thought was cute. She said, "Since you haven't had a boy yet, you need to be introduced to toy guns." She pulled out a dart gun - the kind with a suction tip that will stick to a surface. Yes, I definitely will need to learn the lingo. Anyway, she put up a calendar, and we all had to shoot at my due date. Whoever shot the closest would win. I thought it was a fund game. I really appreciated the love and support and the lovely shower.

Gifts from Grandparents - Grandma and Grandpa Michaelis sent a package of baby gifts this month and a birthday package for Callie, too. Grandma Great made three beautiful blankets and a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful white tuxedo for the baby blessing and a beautiful car seat cover. I am forever amazed at Grandma Great's talent for creating beautiful things and grateful to Grandma and Grandpa for sending these wonderful packages. Grandma and Grandpa Michaelis also sent Callie a birthday package with a cute outfit in it. We love and appreciate our thoughtful and generous grandparents.

David Michaelis joined the family! No, not David John Michaelis. David Cameron Michaelis! Our baby boy! Hurray! I went into labor on Tuesday, November 22. My water broke while in Target, and after several hours I had contractions strong enough to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital about 10:30 and little David Cameron was born shortly before midnight. Although it hurt like crazy, it was my best labor yet. I felt more in control than ever, and the SUPER painful part was rather short. And then, out came our beautiful boy, our first son. So far we're calling him Baby Davy. I'm so grateful for our beautiful children and that I have uncomplicated births!

Grandma Hinman came. Okay, actually, Grandma came before David was born. Blessed Grandma! She arrived Monday night, and my water broke when we were out shopping on Tuesday. She was able to stay with the girls while we went to the hospital. Unfortunately, I told Haven that we were going to the hospital. She still wakes up in the night sometimes, and I didn't want her to wake in the night and panic. Unfortunately, she panicked before she went to bed! She was still awake when we went to the hospital, and stayed awake for some time afterwards. She also woke up and panicked in the night, too. I obviously have some things to learn. Thanks Mom for being so patient!

Hospital Stay - I'm so grateful for modern medicine. Although I really dislike staying in the hospital, and want to leave as quickly as I can, I'm grateful for wonderful and capable doctors and nurses who try to make things pleasant and are there in case something goes wrong.

Thanksgiving - I had high hopes of actually cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner this year. I was excited to brine and roast the turkey and make homemade stuffing! But, as I didn't come home from the hospital until about noon on Thanksgiving day, poor Mom had to do all the cooking. But, she's such a good cook, that I think it was a blessing to all of us that she was in charge. Thanks for all your hard work Mom!

Callie's Birthday - Callie turned 7! Yikes! How does time go so fast! I can't believe she is so big! This year we had our first family birthday since Callie was three. She was a great sport about it. We ate Ramen for lunch and salmon for dinner. And Grandma made Callie a cake that looked like a present, and per Callie's request was topped with Optimus Prime and Megatron! Sometimes, I love the tom boy side of her. She received clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Michaelis, roller blades from Mom and Dad, and a large stuffed purple snake and some other assorted toys that she picked out while shopping with Grandma Hinman. I'm so glad that Callie is part of our family. I love that she is helpful and a good leader. I love her imagination and intensity. Happy Birthday Callie!

School begins and grandparents visit

I keep a journal on the computer, but this week our computer died. It just wouldn't start up! So instead of journaling this week, I am blogging. Which is good because I have pictures to include. too.

This week the girls began school! It was busy, busy trying to get them ready. But they started on Tuesday and they are doing great. Callie was nervous the first day. She had a stomach ache, but the poor dear didn't complain much. Alyssa did great the first day. She was really excited. But I caused a bit of confusion and stress for her the second day. The girls' classrooms are rather far apart, so I left Alyssa to play at the kindergarten classroom while I dropped Callie off at her playground. Unfortunately, the bell rang right as I was bidding farewell to Callie. Poor little Alyssa didn't know where to go or what to do, and felt quite confused and lost. So she had a hard time saying goodbye for a couple of days. David dropped her off on Friday though and said she did great.

In other news, Grandma and Grandpa Michaelis came to visit this weekend! Hurray! It was wonderful to have them here. They arrived Thursday about 2:00 which was perfect because the girls get out of school early on Thursdays. David came home shortly afterward. We packed some snacks and took off for the Bean Hollow Beach where we had fun finding hermit crabs, crabs, sea urchins, fish, anemones, and even a lone star fish. Afterwards, we ate at The Flying Fish in Half Moon Bay where we enjoyed fish and chips. I believe this may be the first time we've taken the girls to a real restaurant since we've been in California. It was very nice and the girls were fairly well behaved. Hurray! Oh yes, and one interesting thing about our beaches is that they are always about 15-20 degrees cooler than inland where we live. Hence, the sweatshirts and jackets.

On Friday, David and his Dad went golfing while Grandma and I did some shopping a doctors appointments. In the afternoon we took the girls to the hotel pool, and everyone swam while I sat in chair under an umbrella and thoroughly enjoyed the fact that there were enough adults to keep an eye on the girls without me having to wear a swimsuit while pregnant! I'm really not a swimsuit fan, so I was very excited about my comfortable spot out of the pool.

On Saturday, we drove about 3 1/2 hours to Yosemite National Park. We have never been and were afraid that we might not make it this year. Grandma and Grandpa Michaelis were great sports and cheerfully agreed to the long car ride. I think we all had a good time. I enjoy spending time in nature and even if it's crowded. :) We had a safe journey back and Grandma and Grandpa left Sunday morning. Callie had a hard time saying goodbye and cried for about 20 minutes afterward. She's determined to move us to Utah. Alyssa had a hard time when the left last time, and made me chuckle as she pouted, "This is the worst day ever!" Needless to say, our girls love their grandparents. We're so glad that they could come for a visit!

A funny thing happened on our trip to the temple...

Okay, funny's not the right word. Interesting is more like it. So we went to the temple today. It's going to be closed for the month so we thought we'd better go along with the rest of the area. It was packed. While David went into the temple, I took the girls to a nearby playground. We go to a nice little playground up in the hills, that has lots of beautiful old stone stairs and dry grass and small trees and even a few pools filled with fake looking blue water. Anyway, the girls had fun collecting wood for their "campfire," and I was amused as Haven insisted that we bless imaginary marshmallows and hot dogs. Then hordes of people showed up to run the steps and exercise around the playground. And that made the park a little more interesting too.

But that's not what my story is about. The fun part started when we left the park and decided to get gas at a station about a mile down the road from the temple. I pulled up to the station, and the girls wanted to get out to help me pump gas. I usually make them stay in the car, but since we had a half hour before we had to get David, I decided to go ahead and let them out. I was just lining them up next to the pump, when I heard sirens. I looked down the street and saw a nice black and white fancy car coming toward the gas station with about three or four police cars behind. My initial thought was that Oakland must be like Mountain View. Things are slow enough that when anything happens the police show up in bunches. Comforting to live in a safe area. But apparently, Oakland is somewhat different than Mountain View. The black and white car pulled into the gas station and came to a stop. The officers jumped out of their cars with their guns drawn and yelled at me, "Ma'am, get your kids in the car!" I liked that they still called me "ma'am" even while their guns were pointed in my direction. So of course I got the kids in the car as fast as I could! We spent the next 10-20 minutes crouched in the back of the car. Here's a bit of what our conversation sounded like while we crouched there.
Mom: "Keep your heads down! Pretend we're hiding!"
Kids: "Why? Why do we have to hide in the car? What are they doing?"
M: They're arresting someone that did something bad.
K: But why do we have to hide?
M: Because they have their guns out and I don't want us to get shot
K: But why are they using guns?
M: Because these bad guys are probably pretty dangerous
K: Are they going to shoot? Will it hit us?
M: No, I don't think they're going to shoot. I think the bad guys are obeying the policemen. Put your heads down!
Police: Get your hands in the air! Hands up! Hands up! Turn around slowly!
K: I'm scaaaaared!

Anyway, that's about how it went. And while it made my heart beat fast, I have to admit that I wasn't really scared. Partly, because it seemed like the police had things under control, and partly because I really didn't think Heavenly Father would let us get shot when we'd come to the temple. We ended up saying a prayer together to help the girls calm down. But I just felt peaceful because I felt like Heavenly Father was watching over us. I finally poked my head out when I heard other people talking outside. This time I made the kids stay in the car while I got at and pumped gas. I counted six police cars as I stood by the pump, and saw one officer putting away what looked like a sniper gun (but what do I know about guns?). Anyway, it was exciting! And it was fun to tell David when he came out of the temple that we'd had an adventure that involved police and guns! After I told him all the details, he said, "That sounds like something that would happen to Allie!" I think I need to have Allie rewrite this for me! :) Anyway, that's the funny thing that happened on our trip to the temple!

2010 Year in Summary - AKA- The Christmas Letter - aka -The Valentine's Letter

Dear family and friends,

Since we obviously missed the Christmas letter deadline, we would now like to wish you a happy Valentine’s Day! And in the spirit of love, we would love to share with you some of the things we each have enjoyed about this year.

We spent the beginning of this year in Utah where David’s parents’ generously housed us and fed us for several weeks while we searched for new housing and waited for David’s post doctoral fellowship to begin at Stanford. We finally made the move to California at the end of January. Here’s a summary of the highlights for each of us.

David has enjoyed beginning new research in the lab. We live about six miles from the school and David bikes there and back most days of the week. This year he had the wonderful opportunity of attending a conference in Germany. It was his first trip to Europe and he loved it. The rest of us missed him, but were so happy when he returned with lots of amazing chocolate! In other news, David also seems to be getting clumsier as he approaches the ripe old age of 30! This year he fell off his bike and bruised a rib, stubbed and broke a toe on a door, sliced his finger open at work and had it stitched back together, and broke his collar bone when he fell off his bike again and had to have it surgically plated and pinned together. He’s still recuperating from the last escapade. My only consolation is that Stanford hospital is across the street from his lab, and that in a couple of years he’ll hopefully be done working with toxic chemicals and will let his students have all the fun. Nevertheless, we’re praying daily for his safety!

Tanya – I have adapted fairly well to California. The first couple of months were calm and relaxing as we had few commitments and little to do but unpack boxes and entertain three kids. It was nice. But then it became boring so we got busy again with preschool groups and lessons and trips to the zoo. I keep myself busy nowadays by volunteering at Callie’s school and by acting as a room parent. I also babysit a few times a week and do the usual take care of a family of five kind of things. I recently was called to lead the nursery at church where we have lots of toddlers/preschoolers and I love it! My favorite things about California are affordable and delicious produce, a mild climate, the wonderful people who have befriended us, and the fact that I don’t have to have a baby to persuade family members to visit us! We were happy to have both our parents stay with us this year. Friends are welcome to visit, too! I also have to add that I loved visiting our families in Utah and West Virginia this year.

Callie’s big news of the year is that she started kindergarten! Callie is loving kindergarten and thriving. She has made many friends and loves her teacher, Ms. Francis. She still loves running, climbing, and playing, but she’s added coloring, drawing, and writing to her array of interests. She also loves transformers, dinosaurs, and dragons.

Alyssa has enjoyed making new friends, participating in a parent led preschool, and taking ballet and swimming lessons. She was sad to see Callie start school without her, and cried the whole way home and then some on the first day of school. But now she has recovered and is her usual cheerful self. She loves to color and loves to pretend she is different characters – usually a type of dinosaur or one of many transformers.

Haven’s big accomplishment is growth! She has changed so much over the course of the year! She’s mostly talks in sentences (although she’s still missing a lot of consonants, so Mom has to serve as interpreter), she learned to use the potty, and started nursery at church. She really wants to be a big girl like her big sisters. She loves her baby doll and totes it around with her often.

We miss you all and we are grateful for your love and friendship!

Happy Valentine’s Day

Love,

The Michaelis Family