Sophie Goes to the Dentist...

Last time that Hayden and Ana had a dental check up, Sophie was trying her best to get up in the chair with them. That was my cue that she was ready for her own visit to the dentist. So here she is on her big day. She was so excited to have her turn up in the flying chair, with the fancy sunglasses on...

 

And she was super brave when they cleaned her teeth...

 

I just love our dentist, he is so sweet with the kids. Thanks Wild Smile for making my kids LOVE going to the dentist!!

Christmas Dancers...

Two cute dancing dolls...




The girls had their Christmas dance recital last week and it was just so fun to watch them. I wasn't sure if Sophie was going to dance or not (you never know with her), but man did she dance! She was so stinkin' cute!

Snowman Treats...

It wouldn't be the holidays, unless we made some sweet treats...


Thank you Pinterest!!

Ana's Egypt Day...

It seems like just yesterday that Hayden was having Egypt day in first grade, but it's been 2 years, Holy Cow! And now it's Ana's turn, and man was she excited. This is what she looked like before she left for school...

And this is what she looked like when I got there to help with the activities...

I asked her where her hair went, and she said "Joseph didn't have a costume, so I let him have part of mine." Ana, you are such a sweet girl:) Egypt Day was such a fun time with you...


Ana and her teacher, Ms. Cantrell. It's so fun that the teachers dress up for these special days, too, the kids just love it...

Flash Moms at Christmas...

Do it once... and you'll have to do it again... Ever since our Twilight flash mob, we Flash Moms have all been itching to do it again. So last night was the night! We had all planned to go see a play at the Fine Arts Complex, downtown Denver. It was the perfect scenario, we couldn't help but do it. This time my friend Sara coordinated it, she even got finger lights for all of us to wear... fitting for the season (and the song Lights). It pretty much rocked! Here's a photo of the group and a video. Can I get a Woot Woot!?!

First Grade Field Trip...

8 first graders. 1 huge museum. 3 hours. Fun(but total chaos)...

Daddy-Daughter Day Spa...

Over thanksgiving break, Rob promised the girls a "surprise". I had no idea what he was planning, he uses the word "surprise" quite loosely, so I thought nothing of it. So when he busted out his plan for a spa day, in which he would be hair stylist, nail tech and cosmetologist, I was just as "surprised" as they were... Yes, Rob is sitting in a tiny pink chair:)
It was so fun and cute to watch the whole thing play out, and of course, Sophie and Ana were on cloud 9...


He actually did a really good job on the make-up and nails. Way to go honey!!

A Tree for Me...

Last year after Christmas, I bought these cute little trees for just $3 each. It was so fun to get them out this year and let the kids each choose how they wanted to decorate them. Ana kindly let Sophie have the pink one, it made her year I think...

 

 

The kids loved choosing which tiny ornaments to use (also purchased last year at 90% off!! Gotta love a good deal), and making each tree their own. I think they decorated and redecorated their trees about 5 times. Great family fun...

 

This may be the year that our big tree is just for me! We'll see...

Thanksgiving Break...

I don't know how many times I've said that I just love it when my kids are home from school. We never have time during a school week to do all of the fun things that we want to, so when we're on break, we like to take full advantage of the time at home together.

Q-Tip Painting. An idea I saw on Pinterest, and that all my kids LOVED. And, not to mention, super easy to do because all you need is paint and Q-tips. We did fall-colored trees...


Sophie, mad because her tree didn't look like Hayden and Ana's. (That happens sometimes when the only color you will use is pink)...



Roll a Turkey. Fun for kids (and for the kids at heart)...



Candy Acorns. Hayden especially liked this craft, and made sure that every nut went through quality control to make sure it was fit for a squirrel...



Sophie, on the other hand, made sure that each nut was fit for her little mouth...



Owl watching. There is an old abandoned barn near our neighborhood where two big, white barn owls live. Rob and I took the kids out to see the owls as part of one of Hayden's cub scout badge requirements. Hayden got out of the car with this on his hand...

He claimed that he needed my oven mitt for protection, just in case one of the owls wanted to perch on his arm. (I love that kid!) Ana thought that it was as funny as we did...


Relaxing. I think that this is the best part of "breaks", just lounging around and being together. I'm so thankful for my little family, and that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with such dear, sweet kids and a wonderful husband, whom they love to pieces...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Castling...

If there were a verb to describe what our family did for several days to help Hayden with his latest third grade project, castling would have to be it. To conclude their study of the Middle Ages, each student had to build a castle that had all of the "real life" features of medieval castles. It was quite the undertaking, a lot more work than I expected (thus the reason we waited till the last week to do it and ended up burning the midnight oil to get it done). But in the end, Hayden did an awesome job and had really great ideas on how to make it cool (ie. the flag labels and the rocks around the outside)...


Sophie and I got to go to his class to listen to his oral report about the Middle Ages, it was so fun to hear him explain all of his ideas and how he implemented them into the castle. When I was helping him type his report, he kept wanting to add information that he didn't learn in school, but learned from a book. I kept trying to persuade him to just stick to the stuff from school, but he wouldn't be deterred, so we added it at the end. I'm so glad he was determined, his teacher was really impressed that he added things that he learned on his own. Way to go Hayden, I'm proud of you for always being true to yourself and never afraid to take risks (you get that from your dad:).

Cheap Entertainment...

Marshmallows and toothpicks. Hours of fun (and you can snack along the way)...

 

Debut of the Flash Moms...

Every year my friends and I get together and go the premiere of the newest Twilight movie that is always played at midnight, the morning of the opening day. Well, this year was also the premiere of something else... My friend Annie decided that all of us Moms should do a flash mob dance in the courtyard of the theater. And so we did! It was so hilarious!! After we danced outside of the theater where all the Twi-hards were waiting in line, the manager of the theater let us mob each of the individual theaters before the movie started. What a riot!! People were clapping and cheering and we even had the movie theater staff running down to the front of the theater to join us. It was such a great time. Definitely one of the highlights of my year!!

Thanks Annie for being so awesome! I'm so glad that I have friends that are so fun!

Here is a link to a video of the Flash Mom premiere, I couldn't get it to upload straight to my blog for some reason.

Crazy Craft Day...

Last year, when Ana was in kindergarten, I was fortunate to get to know some of the moms of the kids in her class, and we have all become quite good friends. They are some of the nicest people that I know. This year all of our kids are in different classes and we don't run into each other as often, so we decided to plan days just to get together. We had our first Crazy Craft Day last week and it was so fun to hang out and talk with all of them again. I seriously love these girls...

 

Happy Halloween!!

 

 

 

Love, The Clarks

The Death of a Pumpkin...

Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but there is one quintessential Halloween activity that I just don't enjoy... carving those darn pumpkins. There is something about the smell of the pumpkin guts that just gets me, and the fact that the pumpkin just rots and crumples after two days of being skewered. I prefer round, untouched, pretty pumpkins... but I had to finally admit to myself that I was depriving my kids of a classic Halloween pastime, and that I should just suck it up and do it. The kids were thrilled, and Ana exclaimed, "Woohoo, our first time carving pumpkins!", while running circles around the kitchen. It was then that I decided that it was a must-do for Halloween from now on. We even tried our hands at "fancy" pumpkin carving. Hayden and Ana were the tracers, I was the pattern poker, and Rob was the carver and guts-digger-outer. Sophie basically just ran around causing havoc and having a happy Halloween time...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to admit that they turned out pretty cute... even though they did rot and crumple the next day;)