March 2012

1. David gets the Job! - Hurray! We finally heard back from BYU, and they offered David a position as a Chemistry Professor! The first (and hopefully final) real job! We're so happy that his years of hard work have paid off. They let us choose whether to start this summer or next summer, and we opted to stay here another year. We hope that a little more experience and a stronger resume will help David get grants. We went out to dinner at La Bamba and out for ice cream at Cold Stone to celebrate.

2. St. Patrick's Day - We had a fun and busy St. Patrick's Day. First, a sneaky leprechaun turned our milk green!  Then before David took the girls out, they built a trap for the leprechaun.  But this was a rather clever leprechaun and he didn't get caught.  He did, however, leave a series of rainbow colored clues that lead them to a treasure at the end of a rainbow.  Our Best Bites contributed the fabulous treat idea.




3. Shine! - This month we went to a stake youth "play" that was more of a series of music and dance performances, but it was amazing!  I really couldn't believe my eyes and ears.  The youth apparently worked on this performance for about three years, and have the guidance of talented dancers and musicians from the stake.  I was so impressed and found myself wishing we could stay in the area just so my girls could be a part of something so fantastic.  The youth did a fabulous job, and I'm so glad that our family could watch.  PS - Our ward did an abbreviated version of Tangled which mesmerized my girls.  They were so excited to see Rapunzel and Flinn Rider after the performance. 

4. Mission Call -My parents got their mission call!  Hurray!  I've always admired them so much, and now I've got yet another reason to praise them.  They will be primarily working with the young adults in the London South Mission.  They go into the MTC on June 10, and I'll be flying to Utah to say goodbye and wish them well.  Congratulations Mom and Dad!


5. Book Sale and Face Paint - David took Callie and Alyssa to a fabulous neighborhood book sale by the girls school.  Each book was $.50 I believe, and in addition to books they had free face painting (the best I've ever seen!) and food and balloon animals.  What a great event for families!  We'll definitely be going back next year. 

6. Daddy Daughter Dance - David and Callie attended the Daddy Daughter Dance hosted by the Girl Scouts.  They went out for pizza with Callie's troop before the dance.  Callie's favorite part was dancing with her Daddy.  And she even let me do her hair! Wow!  What a night!

7. Cookie Sales - Callie also participated in selling Girl Scout cookies.  I had no idea we would have to sell so many cookies.  Callie's troop leader put in a standard order for her which turned out to be about 70-80 boxes of cookies.  But my little girls were such great cookie sellers! They were so cute, that I think people had a hard time telling them "no", and I almost felt guilty sending such darling girls to sell the cookies.  We would go door to door, and Callie would smile sweetly and say, "Would you like to buy a box of girl scout cookies?"  Haven ran up to someone on the sidewalk and asked them to buy a box, and the poor lady bought a box even though she had already bought some from someone else.  I don't like door to door sales, but if you have to, girl scout cookies are probably the best way to go.  The girls did a great job.  They sold all their cookies. 

8. Customer Service Award - We took some of our cookies to sell with the troop in front of a store.  I didn't go, but the other moms told me afterwards that Callie did most of the selling.  She just kept walking up to people and politely inviting them to buy a box.  Later, she received the Customer Service Award from her troop for doing such a great job!  Good work Callie!

9. Master Davy's Four Month Check Up - Davy is growing so fast!  He weighed 15lbs 6 oz. at his checkup and was 26 inches long.  He's still got a sweet temperament and patiently smiles at his sisters mothering (which I like to call smothering!).  He is super drooly and always wants to have something in his mouth.  He's starting to roll a bit. Happy four months Davy boy! 

10. Callie and the mayor - Callie had one more girl scout event this month.  She went with her troop to accept a letter from the mayor in honor of the 100th anniversary of girl scouts.

February 2012

1. David's birthday - David's birthday is February 8th. Haven, Davy, and I joined David for lunch on campus, and then David's adviser joined us for dinner. We had salmon which is what we always eat on special occasions.

2. Cakes - I love to bake. For David's birthday, I made one terrible cherry chocolate cake, one delicious german chocolate cake, and one delicious strawberry cream cake. The latter two made me very happy, but I don't think I took pictures! Too bad!

2. Fun Valentines - I found some fun Valentine's ideas on designmom.com and familyfun.com. So we had a fun time passing out these Valentine pictures with lollipops and pencils.

3. Alyssa's Favorite Book - Alyssa has a wonderful Kindergarten teacher by the name of Ms. Elizabeth Francis. One day after school this week, she told me she'd been doing reading tests with Alyssa. She asked Alyssa what her favorite book was, and Alyssa responded that her favorite book was "The Book of Mormon!". Ms. Francis asked her what she liked about the Book of Mormon and she said, "It's so FUN!" :) David and I had a good chuckle over that one. David jested that she has yet to learn about the separation of church and state.  For which we're grateful.

4. Valentine's Day - We had a lovely Valentine's day, but I'm writing the two months later, and I don't remember anymore what we did :)  I'm sure it was wonderful and involved chocolate.  I had better catch up on my blogging. 

5. Haven's Song - Haven is a grown up primary girl now and it shows in her singing. Today she was singing, "Pwaise to the ma-an who confooed wit Dehodah".

6. Girls start gymnastics - I finally signed the girls up for lessons. Hurray! We only have enough money to keep them going for a few months, but they are very excited and look forward to it each week.

7. Callie reading - Callie's a good reader, but she's not naturally drawn to it. So we've been trying to encourage her to read by rewarding her with new books. She just finished reading Ruby the Red Fairy, and thereby earned Amber the Orange Fairy. We're pleased with her efforts, and I think she's enjoying it, too!

8. Temple Trip - We babysat for our ward at the stake center next to the temple.  David made all the arrangements and did well.  Things went smoothly and I was impressed that a few of the adults even managed to take some of the children on a walk through the visitors center. 

9. Little helpers - My girls have been wonderful little helpers with the baby. I'm glad that they love him and want to help. Thank you my darling girls!

 

10. Hair styles - I don't know what's come over me, but lately I've really been wanting my girls to look a little better kept up. So I looked up hairstyles on the internet. Callie has beautiful hair but has always strongly resisted (i.e. crying and screaming) having her hair pulled back and even brushed. But the girls have been great about this. I was able to show them pictures of the hairstyles which makes them excited. I only had to bribe them with chocolate chips once. So far we've done twists, cat ears, butterfly wings, and hearts. Thanks to shedoeshair.blogspot.com and babes in hairland!

I've also been trying to do my hair a little more, too. I laughed when Julianne told me that her goal is not to look like a man (i.e. hair straight back in a low ponytail - my usual style!). That's my new goal this week. Don't look like a man!

11. Professor Trost joins us for dinner.  Professor Trost's wife passed away towards the end of January. We've invited him to join us for dinner once a week so he doesn't have to go home to a lonely house.  He's been very patient with my wild children, and it's been nice to have him over.  My girls looks forward to it, and ask about him on the weeks that he can't make it. 

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!