But MOM!!!!!!!!!!!

I asked Thomas to get dressed this morning and a little while later he comes rushing into my office and the conversation goes like this:
Thomas:"Mommy you put 3T pants in my drawer!" 
Me: "Yes, those are your pants buddy."  
Thomas:  "But Mommy, I'm FOUR now I can't wear 3T!!"  (looking at me with wild disbelief in his eyes"
Me: "Thomas its ok some of your 3T clothes still fit you, as long as they are not too short you can wear them ok?"
Thomas: (a little unsure) "Ok Mommy..."

Awhile ago he wasn't thrilled that the clothes he grew out of a long time ago his baby brother was now wearing.  I explained that these clothes said 2T on them and he was no longer two so we were going to let Zach have them now.  He was perfectly fine with this explanation, so I guessed it confused him as to why he was still wearing 3T clothes when he was FOUR, I mean come on Mommy get it straight all ready, geesh!

Clark Family Thanksgiving 2010

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my Mom & Dad in Blackfoot, Id.  Normally this is approximately a four hour drive.  However with three small children this is always an unknown factor.  Luckily the kids slept for almost half the trip on the way there.   We left Monday afternoon and I'm glad we did.  The very next day a severe storm came in and many roads were closed all over Idaho.  I'm so grateful we listened to the promptings of the spirit and left earlier.  My Mom decided that night to give the kids their birthday presents.  They each got a Pillow Pet.  Lyndsey got a unicorn, Thomas got a penguin, and Zachery got a cat 

 
My sister Elisa & her family had moved to nearby Idaho Falls several months ago, and we had hoped to spend Tuesday together.  Mother Nature had different plans instead.  We got snowed in and so we had to wait until Wednesday to see her and only got to stay for a few hours before they had to leave on their Thanksgiving trip to S.L.C.  I wished we had more time together, but I did get to see her new house, which was just lovely, and spent a little time together with my little niece Aislynn.  What a cutie!  She has grown so much since I last saw her.  Made me a little sad.  She is only 5 weeks older than Zachery, my youngest.  Elisa did make time to snap some quick pics of our family.  Zachery wasn't very cooperative, so hopefully they turn out ok.
My Dad & Jeff played a LOT of card games while we were there.  Mostly double solitaire.  Jeff couldn't for the life of him figure out how my Dad could win so many games one after another.  I warned him that I RARELY   have seen my Dad lose a card game, EVER.

Zach was his usual two year old boy self, so my Dad took it upon himself to sit him on his lap whenever he was getting into one too many things.  Zach actually got to liking to sit on Grandpa's lap and he even got him to sleep one night. Dad got quite a kick out of that.

Thanksgiving day, my Mom realized that the yams she had bought had gone bad.  You can't have Thanksgiving dinner without sweet potatoes, so of course we had to go to Wal-mart on Thanksgiving day!  My Mom and I hadn't done that in years!  It was surprisingly not that bad.  I managed to keep my sanity anyways.  
It finally warmed up after nearly below zero temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We let the kids go outside and they of course loved every minute of it!   Normally we would've gone sledding but Jeff & I forgot our snow pants.  There are some awesome sand dunes that are great for sledding nearby my parents home too.  Oh well.

Thomas & Lyndsey out cold from playing hard!

That night we had our Thanksgiving dinner, and what a FEAST!  Since we were the only children visiting her this year (very uncommon since she has SEVEN children), there was plenty of food and plenty of leftovers.  But it was oh soooooooooooo YUMMY!  My fave was the sweet potatoes and the apple pie......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  
Friday afternoon we ventured off.  Not before Jeff & I finished up tuning up my Mom's computers.  She run's her business from home and I knew how important her computers are to her.  You can check out her site at http://www.affordablechristianproducts.com/  She sells blessing and Christening outfits and accesories for infants and young children.  She is one of the reasons I decided to go into my own online business.  I have great respect and admiration for my Mom's business know how.  She's been in business online for about 10 years now.  Not many people running small businesses can say that!  
We got home in time for dinner and thankfully the roads were clear most of the way home!  Just before we left Thomas locked himself in his bedroom for a good ten minutes.  I searched all over the house for him and went to open his bedroom door and realized it was locked.  He opened it when I asked him to however.  He had his back hunched over with a sad puppy dog look in his eye.  He did not want to go home and pouted profusely for quite some time.  He fell asleep (along with Zach) almost immediately for almost half the trip, and upon awakening for a good hour he kept saying he wanted to go back to Grandma's!  Obviously he had a good time.  We all did.  

Lyndsey being cute

Lyndsey doing her big sister thing

Sleeping children on a road trip=happy Mom

Zachery actually loves to travel!

                                              
I hope that all my family and friends had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.  This year I am thankful for my family, my friends, my faith, my freedom, my home, my cars, food on my plate, clothes on my back, my college education, and all the little things I know I should should gratitude for each day.  I look forward to new memories and new friends!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!




 

Happy Birthday Zachery!

Today my beautiful baby Zachery is two years old!  I can hardly believe it!  It seems like it was only yesterday I was holding this sweet angel in my arms on the day he was born. Feel free to read the amazing story of his birth here.  It was truly one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.  Zachery has been such a joy and a blessing to have in our lives.  We love watching him blossom every day from baby to toddler.  His speech is improving and he is very active.  In fact if he gets a head start into a run, I can barely catch him, this boy is FAST! I'm certain he will be very athletic when he grows up.  Every day when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap, we race to get the first hug from him because we all know he gives his best hugs then!  He is a very loving and cuddly boy.  He LOVES to play with cars especially BIG ones that he can push around on his knees.  His favorite movie is also Disney's "Cars" so we got him a "Cars" themed birthday cake this year as well.  We are so blessed to have such a loving, happy boy in our lives and even though he pushes the limits of the term "terrible two's", we know how much joy he brings us every day nonetheless.  Happy Birthday baby boy!  You'll ALWAYS be my baby!  Here are some pictures of him over the years for you to enjoy!  
(sorry Blogger wouldn't post these chronologically for some reason 
and dragging them wasn't working either)

3 Months old (fell asleep next to Lyndsey playing barbies. LOVE this pic!)

Zachery at 1 mo & Cousin Aislynn who is 5 weeks older

1 Month old

10 months old

Happy Birthday! One day old!

11 months old

23 Months old

Happy 2nd Birthday Zach!  "Cars" is one of his favorite movies!

Happy Birthday Zach!  2 years old! (cousin Trevor holding him)

5 Months old

"Are you really my Daddy? You sure are big!" 6 months old

Mommy and Me 1 mo old

Zach nursing Thomas cheek!  1 mo old

5 months old

My very FIRST ever Parent Teachers Conference..............

I admit, I was nervous.  I mean what parent isn't?  I know my daughter is overall a good sweet little girl with a heart of gold.  What teacher wouldn't love her? I've met her teacher many times, emailed back & forth several times.  So why was I nervous?  Because it was an "official" meeting perhaps? I also had to bring my younger two boys with me.  I hoped they would behave.  In the back of my head I'm thinking, I want her to think I'm a good Mom, that Lyndsey comes from a good home, and we are a perfectly normal family.  At least that's the "illusion" I hoped to portray. lol!

Turns out she told me what I all ready know, that Lyndsey basically has the attention span of a fruit fly and is very wiggly.  But on the up side she is a very good student and right where she should be academically.  She is ahead of almost all of her class mates in her artistic abilities which of course she gets from me ;-).  The short attention span I would love to blame solely on my hubby which he suffered from as a youth (now he only suffers from selective listening), however I do recall my Mom mentioning many times that my teachers would say "Tonia's a very good kid, but when she's here, well, she's not really here".  So overall it was a good meeting, her teacher is wonderful and she loves my kid. So no need to be nervous.  

Well at least until the boys are in school............. (to be continued)

Lyndsey at the school "Sock Hop" party

One of these days.......

One of these days, just maybe, I'll get around to having a blog that's updated.  

I did however pick out a new template for fall.  Do you like it?  I love it!  Hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I'm hoping to get pictures up here really soon.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I thought it would be nice if I started out the new year by actually updating my blog.  2009 has turned out to be an interesting year for our family.  A lot of challenges and A LOT of changes.  Jeff was laid off again thanks to this lovely economy with no work in sight at a reasonable wage.  So we made the decision for him to go back to school and for me to go back to work full time.  It hasn't been easy but we have both learned a lot from our new roles.  I've learned how stressful it can be to be the sole provider of a family.  Frankly I don't know how you single Mother's do it!  Jeff has learned that running a household and taking care of children is a lot of work too!

This year my new years resolution is to be more grateful, even for the little things.  I am grateful I have a roof over my head, clothes to wear, food to eat and two cars that are paid for.  Most people are struggling to have that even.  We are very blessed.  I have a great job with benefits and a lot of people are still looking for work.  We may not have a big house and fancy cars and designer clothing, but the important things in life, frankly, aren't things.  We have each other, we have our beautiful children, we have our faith and we have our friends.  That makes us rich in my book!