A few weeks ago, my cousin Meghan visited us for an evening. My children treated her like an abused jungle-gym, constantly climbing over her, demanding pony rides, and probably driving her nuts. It was nice to see her.

Leo had an allergic reaction to something and got all rashy. That same day, Odessa got a black eye by falling down the stairs. That’s the truth.

Leo is now the age that Odessa was when we announced Serena was pregnant with him. But now, the thought of a third child is so horrifying that I can’t even bring myself to contemplate the significance of that.

Serena got a job at St. Francis Hospital upon completion of her residency. We’re all proud of her, but we’d never tell her that because she’d just let it go to her head.

I have uploaded a new video of Leo on our Vimeo page. He is supposed to be sleeping, but instead he is playing with his new stuffed kangaroo toy. Link to the actual video is here. We find it entertaining. The video is public, no password is needed. And, as always, if you’d like a password to the videos that are private, please feel free to ask. Pictures are below.

Odessa is getting ready for her first ballet recital in June. Tonight was parents’ observation night so we got to watch her class practice their dance. Odessa may be the most excitable and least graceful little girl among them all. She dances with such passion and utter disregard for any instructions from the teacher. Well, that’s not truly a fair statement as she appears to try very hard but just gets carried away with her own excitement.

Odessa and Scott have also been working on our yard, planting flowers and a garden. Our fruit trees have been flowering and blooming. There is still an animal using Odessa’s playhouse steps as a bathroom.

Leo is still a happy, playful little boy. He is hilarious and truly seems to have a developing sense of humor. Favorite jokes include, “pewda.. you stink!” which we try very hard (and usually successfully) to ignore.

I will be traveling to California and Idaho for pharmacy conferences and conventions during the month of May. Scott is contemplating getting his hair cut (keep your fingers crossed). That’s all the news that’s fit to print in the Von Ruden household.

Here’s your update of March, plus or minus a few days. Hippity hoppity.

To most, this would be considered little more than mere juvenile whimsy. Indeed, it almost certainly is, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, I find it harmless to encourage her to take control of her identity in this way. She is her own person, and I find a strange sense of pride in the fact that she’s been so assertive in this matter.

So, after much conversation and tiresome paperwork, we finally finished legally changing her middle name from “Denali” to “Flower.” It might seem silly, or perhaps even irresponsible, to our friends and family, and we understand that sentiment. Even so, we think this is a great way to show her that she alone is the one who decides who Odessa is.

The legal documents are actually really interesting, I’ve scanned them and you can see them here.

My article entitled The Pharmacotherapy Implications of Ventricular Assist Device in the Patient with End-Stage Heart Failure was recently published in The Journal of Pharmacy Practice.  This was a project I started in 2010 with four pharmacy and nursing colleagues.  We have worked on it for the past several years before it was finally accepted for publication.  Pretty exciting times around the Von Ruden household, I tell ya!

[End horn tooting]

Now on to more important things that our audience cares about, namely pictures of the kids!

The photos from this website update are from the past month or so in any scraps of free time we might be able to eke out.  There have been some fun times among all the working.  Leo is working hard at potty training.  Odessa is back in ballet on Monday evenings after a brief experiment in a tap, ballet, and tumbling class.

On Friday, we headed to Seattle to explore the Pike Place Market.  It was a gorgeous day with beautiful views of Mount Rainier.  We drove to Alki Beach to take some nice Seattle skyline views before having some delicious pizza in Federal Way.  Odessa and Leo had a blast being the center of attention for 9 visitors.

The following morning we left to spend the weekend in Portland.  Saturday had nice weather as well which afforded views of Mount St. Helens while driving south on I-5.  To take advantage of the sunny (although cool) day, we spent much of the day exploring waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge area, including Latourell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Multnomah Falls.  After our waterfall adventure, we decided to grab supper in downtown Portland.  While dining from some of the food carts, Scott’s grandmother tried her first lamb gyro.  We explored (and got lost in) Powell’s.

Although we had been fortunate to have wonderful weather thus far, we woke up to a cold wet Sunday morning.  Not wanting to let it spoil our plans, we left for the Oregon Coast.  It was the wettest we’ve ever been while tidepooling near Haystack but we warmed up afterwards with some great clam chowder.

Although it was a brief time together, it was wonderful to see our family!  We had lots of laughs and special times and can’t wait to get together again!

We left Leo practicing on the potty Saturday morning and drove up to Seattle.  Our hotel, The Silver Cloud, happened to be located right between Safeco Field (where the Mariners play) and Century Link Field (where the Seahawks and Sounders play).  We were on the top floor right down the hall from the doors to the outside pool and hot tub.  While a hotel in Wisconsin with an outdoors swimming area would undoubtedly be closed in January, we were surprised and excited to see  this one open.  Odessa and I swam four times over the course of our weekend.  I dipped my toes in the swimming pool but spent most of my time in the hot tub.  She had fun running back and forth.  On Sunday morning, it started snowing on our heads while we swam.  This was the first snow we’ve seen since Wisconsin.

When we weren’t swimming, we were shopping, eating, or watching movies.  We took a shuttle bus down to Pike’s Market, got some ice cream, and walked around.  We found a cute toy store on our walk back to the hotel where Odessa was excited to spend some of her Christmas money.  It was a bit of a challenge for her to figure out how much she could buy with the money she had.  She kept trying to pick out the really expensive items.

We ordered a pizza for supper and watched a movie in the room.  Odessa ate three pieces of pizza while I could only manage two.  The next morning we ordered room service for breakfast before swimming once more and driving back to Tacoma.  We had a great time together.  Unfortunately, my camera was almost out of batteries so I didn’t take very many pictures.

We had our family Christmas on the 24th.  Scott made the same Christmas duck recipe he’s made several times in the past, which we enjoy very much.  In Madison, we could buy duck at our usual grocery store but in Tacoma we visited five grocery stores before finally venturing to an Asian specialty grocer to find a duck.  Odessa and Leo had a great time opening presents and being the center of attention.  We were very fortunate to receive such generous and thoughtful gifts and cards from friends and family.

We wish health and happiness to all our loved ones for 2012!

Prior to the theater performance, we saw a rehearsal where all the children did their parts with enthusiasm. But when on the stage, most of the kids seemed to be hesitant to perform. An exception, of course, was Odessa, who had more her share of enthusiasm.

This story is probably pretty dull to most people. I realized for the first time what it’s like to watch one’s child perform something publicly. I am not immune to the feelings of pride that most parents must experience. As a consequence, I find it likely that I’m talking about it far too much.

I took a crappy video of the show. You can see her bounding across the stage to meet her peers. It’s pretty cute. It includes other children, and is consequently password protected, like the slideshows. The password is the same as the others. You can view the video here. The video is not very high quality, unfortunately.