Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas Letter 2011 (1 of 7 Posts)


Dear Friends & Family,

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We hope you had a wondrous year. Ours flew by trying to keep up with the 3 munchkins, Mike’s work schedule, and all of our church activities.

Many of our activities are the same as last year. Some of the new things for us are that we started our own garden using the square foot method which Mike built our beds/boxes, the boys tested and received their yellow belts in Judo/Mixed Martial Arts as did Mike, and we have a new puppy--Trixie. Well when we wrote last year’s letter we’d thought it would be a few years before adding another family member (puppy). However, we managed to last about a year.

Shae is taking a sabbatical from choir due to general over busyness and is no longer a table leader for MOPS. So you’d think she’d have so much more time. However, she stepped up to the leadership team of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers-anyone under school age) as the Finance Coordinator for her group at our church. The Steering Team (leadership team official name) ladies sure work hard. Shae’s glad to have one of the easiest jobs and is thankful for those that don’t. We both still lead our small group which is still not small at all.

Mike still enjoys hunting turkey and deer and is still a Manager of Systems Administration (computers) at CSG. His team of employees doubled this year and he continued to travel to Denver. One of the trips was during Spring Break so the rest of the family went with for the week. In one day driving from Alamosa to Denver we got to see and drive through a sand storm, sunshine, and a blizzard. The big focus of this year’s trip was a day long train trip in Southern Colorado on the Rio Grande Railway from Alamosa to LaVeta. We’d been planning this outing for years to coordinate with the “best” age of our kids when Haven would be big enough to handle it and before the boys would outgrow the specialness of it. It was great fun. We splurged and had dome car seats with a huge banana shaped booth that seated all 6 of us. We also visited Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park for the day but found that there is a LOT of SNOW in April which made hiking pretty much out of the question. Shae’s niece, Kim, accompanied us again which was a great help. The week in Denver while Mike worked would have been much harder without her. We literally saw him for 5 minutes total 3 days in a row while he worked some issues for the company. There's a series of pictures of this trip way down the blog. If you go to the side menu, it's in the July section.



Haven is 3 and talks even more now than last year if that’s possible. She goes to preschool 2 days a week and just loves it. It makes her feel big since both of the boys go to school. Haven officially started dance class which wasn’t a huge stretch since she dances and floats around the house in a tutu all the time anyway. I’m sure she felt that it was about time we were seeing to her formal instruction. She also goes with Mommy to the gym and to MOPS. Shae always jokes that she’s officially a Stay at Home Mom, but is never really home running to everything between the church and school stuff. Haven still loves anything Disney princess, cooking in her kitchen, and playing dress-up. No news to report in ending the reign of the Queen of sass and bossiness yet either. We’ve won a few battles, but she’s definitely still winning that war.

Eric is 6, started Kindergarten this year, and is missing his two front teeth (which makes for a great lisp). Eric is just an all around easy going kid. We hear that he is happy with whatever they are doing at the moment at school. He gets great marks for being a good friend, being kind, and following directions. Can’t beat that. His giggle echoes through the house and makes everyone smile which is great since he giggles when he’s having fun, nervous, or even mildly getting hurt (like when the puppy is playing with her TEETH). He’s still our rough and tumble kid. Thankfully there haven’t been any new trips to the ER this year with him, although we’re pretty sure one of his “lost” teeth this year came out prematurely during some wrestling with his brother.

Ethan is 8, in the 2nd grade, and has expanded his football focus beyond just the NE Cornhuskers to pretty much anything football. His library books are even just about football. He’s a walking encyclopedia of football facts. He can tell you when the NFL was founded and which teams were already in existence. He is still one smart cookie and manages to amaze his teachers and parents alike. Lately he’s been thinking of being a Rocket Scientist and working for NASA when he grows up. No really, don’t laugh. He means it. Of course he would say Astrophysicist or is it Aerospace Engineer.



The boys (and Mike) continued with judo/mixed martial arts and all managed to test and earn their yellow belts. They have a lot of fun fishing together, backpacking together, and doing other manly things like wrestling and shoveling snow together. The boys played soccer again this year with Mike as Eric’s coach. They continued with swimming lessons and made their Mom hold her breath while they jumped off the high dive repeatedly including Eric at age 5.

We thought this was going to be a year without as many big trips but instead turned out to be the year of many weddings including big trips. A longtime family friend was married on Haven’s birthday in the Minneapolis area so we had a few days of fun up there with a trip to Valley Fair Amusement Park and of course Mall of America with the Lego store and Rainforest CafĂ©. We also went exploring to find the area’s waterfall. Who knew? Minneapolis has the beautiful Minnehaha Falls which we visited in the rain and enjoyed some great puddle stomping. Shae’s family was also in attendance for the wedding so lots of fun and 3 birthdays to celebrate.

Then Mike’s cousin was married in Fargo, ND on Ethan’s birthday so we had a great time hanging out with the Dalke clan for a couple of days and a whole bunch of Dalke grandkids' birthdays to celebrate.

The biggest wedding of the year for us was local even though Shae tried to talk them into a destination wedding. Hey! We haven’t seen Hawaii yet. Shae’s sister and only sibling was married mid July. The wedding party was made up of family which was fun. Shae was the Matron (sounds old) of Honor, Mike was a Bridesman (don’t laugh). The rest of the bridesmaids, groomsman, and groomswomen were Scott’s siblings or Shannon’s kiddos. Mike also assisted Dad in giving Shannon away since we’ve been heavily involved in their lives for the last few years. Scott didn’t know what he was getting into when he married into this family, but we’re so glad he did.

Well, this is the long promised Christmas letter. If I managed to get the blog updated a bit more often maybe this would have a little less info (and take less time to do). There are 7 total posts with lots of pictures which you can click on to see larger. You may need to click on “Older Posts” at the bottom of each page to see all the posts. Most of the other posts are pictures. The last official Christmas letter post is the one that's all Trixie our puppy. However, the posts about the train trip and Colorado are found in the July 2011 section of the blog so you may want to keep going after that. We hope you enjoy catching up on life with us!

Have a Blessed Christmas,

The Dalkes

Dress-Up Days



The band. 7-25-2011


The kids ready for a safari adventure. 8-8-2011

Haven loves her dress-up bin. 8-20-2011


My 3 kiddos came upstairs in pirate garb with the oldest Ethan claiming the moniker "Captain Black Eye" complete with a white paper "eye patch", the 2nd, Eric, was "Mr. Missing Hand Crackle". We're pretty sure the first part is like a Captain Hook, and we think he might be trying to incorporate the word Kraken as something causing fear, but we're not really sure. The youngest, Haven, was Miss Holly complete with pink tutu,a pirate pistol and a purple crocheted blankie dragging behind. There was actually 5 different rounds of dress-up personas and scenarios to go with them. Some time I'll create a separate post for that. 8-23-2011

Trick or Treating at Dad's office. Ethan was Obi Wan Kenobi, Eric a Cowboy, and Haven was Pocahontas, and no we did not intentionally go for "Cowboys and Indians". 10-28-2011


What! We can't let the kids have all the fun. 2 cousins were turning 40 so here's our 80s garb for the party. Yes, Mike is rocking pinch rolled jeans and a mullet which everyone had to try on including my Grandpa. 12-4-2011



Here he is. I knew the Landis clan would appreciate seeing this. "Grandpa, I think you need a haircut."

New Garden & Out and About Around Town


End of the season harvest from our gardens--a new project this year.
10-16-2011



at the Children's Museum with part of the robotic Dinosaur exhibit.
7-28-2011

Member's Day at the Zoo. 8-3-2011

Eric's favorite thing to do is to feed the budgies (parakeets).
8-3-2011
Ethan would not make a good scarecrow. 9-24-2011


Even the big cockatiel wanted in on the action.


Didn't the sign say, Feed the Birds?


Everyone loves the petting zoo.


and the Carousel.

Kids Sports & Such


Boys' last soccer game of the season. Mike was Eric's coach this year.
6-4-2011


Ethan Going off the Highdive. 7-30-2011

Eric Going off the High Dive at Age 5. 7-30-2011

Boys being awarded their yellow belts in Judo/Mixed Martial Arts.
9-6-2011
Haven's 1st Day of Dance. 9-12-2011
9-12-2011


Yes, she can do the splits. We always hear "look at me" and see this or if she's elevated like between the couch and recliner she can even invert (go beyond 180 degrees). Good grief...flexible child. 12-30-2011

Shannon & Scott's Wedding

July 16, 2011


We were married in the same church--just 12 years, 6 months, and 1 week earlier.

The Crew


Mike dancing with Haven during Steven Curtis Chapman's "Cinderella" song.
Kind of a tradition for us.


The happy couple.
Did we mention that Scott has a great sense of humor?

Minneapolis Trip in June


We went up a few days early for the wedding to have some fun in the Twin Cities. We started with Valley Fair Amusement Park. 6-9-2011




The kiddos tried on some non la (conical hats) in one of the stores.
This is also the traditional hat in Vietnam.

The Planet Snoopy area was tons of fun.



Of course who can go to the Twin Cities and not go to Mall of America. We visited the Lego store twice, the American Girl store, ate at Rainforest Cafe, and had Gelato for dessert. Yum! 6-10-2011


at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. 6-10-2011


at the wedding. Our niece and nephew are in the middle of our kiddos.
These 5 look like trouble, don't they? They all had a great time cutting a rug at the dance. 6-11-2011



My kiddos are hilarious when dancing. Ethan is either dipping or swinging Haven around. He does both. Or on second look, I think he's throwing her between his legs. Eric's got some smooth moves going too. I'll confess that I like Dancing with the Stars. My kids may have seen it a few times as well. It brings back my Swing Choir days. Ha!

Mike's already shed his suit coat and we haven't even left the hotel.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Trixie the New Baby of the Family (Post 7 of 7)

Just a forewarning here of what’s to come in this segment. Dog lovers will understand; the rest of you may want to skip to the end of this section. We managed to hold out for almost a whole year without a puppy (instead of the 3-4 we’d been planning on). That’s a whole story unto itself. Mike wanted to pick this one, and it had to be a hunting dog—almost definitely a pointer variety. However, everything he suggested was either huge or was known to be one of the most energetic breeds on the planet or both which doesn’t mix as an indoor family pet (first job). So after starting research into breeds we found the “perfect” one that does upland game, retrieves water fowl, is the smallest of the pointing breeds, and is known for being crazy in the field and calm in the home. Um…sold! However, I now know that calm hunting dog does not even come close to equaling really calm dog (any other non working breed). Ha! The joke is still on me I guess. I’d figured I married a hunter who is soundly indoctrinating our offspring in the hunting ways so I figured if you can’t beat them, join them. No! I’m not taking up hunting anytime soon, but I figured I better be an active part of this dog’s selection and training since I get to spend the most time with her of anyone. So unfortunately during our research we also found the perfect storm of generations of field champion doggy genes in one litter—which leads us to the fact that we have added a new four legged friend to the family. This project actually took a good chunk of time this year as we were visiting the breeder a lot to look at prior litters and then visiting Trixie a ton until she got to come home, plus you add the puppy/hunting training and voila=huge time commitment. Glad to say that Mike’s instincts were good when he picked her, and she’s shaping up to be a great dog. It’s just fun to watch her in the field. Officially she’s Glimpses of Trixie which was supposed to be Glimpses of Trixie Dust. The kennel’s name took up too many spaces—not bitter a bit. LOL! Drum roll please…she’s a Small Munsterlander. I know, you’ve never heard of it. Just go Google it. There’s actually a good group of very dedicated breeders/trainers/national field trial judges in our area which made the breed even more appealing. It’s a breed that’s only been bred for field work, never show, or just “pet” class so the natural instincts are insane. Yep, you know it. She’s pretty much taken over the house.





Trixie went sledding with us a week ago at 6 months old.

Trixie at 1 month old





Trixie at 2 months old. All tuckered out.

When we first brought her home, she could curl up on her squirrel squeaker mat. Not so much anymore.

2 months old. Playing in the yard.


4 months old. Playing with the leaves.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Vala's Pumpkin Patch #1





Last night was AWANA night at Vala's Pumpkin Patch so all the kiddos got in for free. We hadn't been since Ethan was really little. Lots had changed and many things were added.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch #2