Beautiful Birdhouse

Hayden had been saving a container that he thought would make a good birdfeeder for literally months - so I finally was able to take the time to help him turn it into the birdhouse he had been waiting for. We put it all together and then he decided that we needed to decorate it a little bit. I didn't really want to take the time to paint it or do anything major - so I suggested stickers. Hayden chose these wild alien stickers and when we were finished he was SO proud of it. He ran to show it to Rob, and Rob said "Kari, don't you think those stickers might scare the birds?" The look on Hayden's face was pure devastation - Rob could see it and made a quick recovery. "But maybe... it will be their favorite restaurant with awesome decorations!!" Hayden loved that and he promptly ran outside to hang it in our tree.

Here he is with his creation...

Super Shark Birthday!!

So February is our birthday month... with mine on the 1st, Ana's on the 14th and Hayden's on the 22nd. Hayden decided a couple of months ago that he wanted a Shark themed birthday party - so we've been planning and preparing for his first ever birthday party with friends. We had ocean decorations, a shark birthday cake, we had a fishing pond game and a bean bag toss game into a sharks mouth - Hayden absolutely loved it, and the weather was great so we even got to go outside for part of the time. And now I'm kicking myself, because somehow, the pictures from his party got deleted from our camera! AAAhhh! But we do have some of his birthday and the decorations and our family, so I guess all is not lost, and overall I think Hayden had a great birthday!!

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Lammers Girls Weekend

Over Presidents Day weekend, the Lammers Girls all convened in Las Vegas for a getaway! It was wonderful - three whole days when no one had to worry about being a Mom, and 70 degree weather - what more could you ask for?

We rented an awesome house, with a pool and a hot tub. We spent most of the weekend just gabbing and relaxing outside. We did make a trip to the Strip and saw some of the sights, we did a little shopping and ate out at places that were fun. Best of all, we just got to be together as sisters, it was such a blast!

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Glimpses from Ana's Birthday...

Our little Ana turned 3 on Valentine's Day! Here are a few shots of her birthday and party.

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For real this time... three kids in our family!

We wanted to let everyone know....... Clark baby #3 will be arriving sometime around July 6, 2008! We are so excited to have another sweet, little one in our home. We'll give updates in the future when we have more details! For now, I'll just give you some dialogue from a very excited and concerned future big brother, Hayden keeps telling us things that we need to buy or do before the baby comes. Here are just a few:

Hayden: Mom, I know the most important thing we need to have a baby.
Kari: What is it?
Hayden: Clothes. Tiny, little clothes.

Hayden: Mom, we need to get a pacifier for the new baby.
Kari: OK.
Hayden: Because if Ana hits or punches the baby, I'll put the pacifier in it's mouth.

Hayden: Mom, we need to get a fence for the stairs.
Kari: You're right, we'll need one of those.
Hayden: Ya, I would be so sad if the baby tumbled down the stairs.

As you can see, he's taking his big brother duties very seriously. I'll need all the help I can get protecting the baby from Ana. Just kidding, she's really excited for a new baby, too!

Great Grandpa and Grandmom Clark

While in Utah over Christmas, we visited Hayden and Ana's Great Grandpa and Grandmom Clark. The kids loved seeing them and we took a few really cute photos while there. It was so fun to talk to and spend time with them.

Christmas 2007

We spent almost two weeks in Utah over Christmas and New Years - we had a blast! All of Rob's brothers and sisters were home, so we had so much fun hanging out with everyone and being crazy with the Clarks. Some of the highlights: sledding, girls night out to get pedicures, visit to Great Grandpa and Grandmom Clark, awesome food (thanks Wendy and Rob) and playing the Wii till all hours of the night.

Gingerbread House

The only thing that Hayden wanted to do before Christmas this year was build a gingerbread house. So he and I made one while the little kids were napping - he did a fantastic job - it turned out really cute!

Year in Review...

I had to gather up some photos from the last year to give to my parents for their Christmas letter/blog, so I figured I post them here, too.

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Three Kids in our Family

Mindy and Rob had our family for Christmas this year. They sent us a really awesome christmas decoration (they told us to open it early) that was packed in about 10 pounds of shredded paper. Rob decided that it was a great idea to open it in the middle of the living room floor. And thus we see the mess that took him over an hour to clean up. Here are the 3 kids having a wonderful time with the paper - they say that little kids would prefer the box and the paper to the gift - true in Rob's case as well. But don't get me wrong the kids loved the snowman decoration, they promtly took it outside and plugged it in on the porch so that we wouldn't be the only lame-o's on the block without outdoor christmas decorations.

Grandpa's Possum

We took a trip home to Pipestone for Thanksgiving this year (a slight change in plans, Mom and Dad were supposed to come to Denver, but Mom hurt her back so we decided to make the trip there instead). Upon arrival to their house at about 11:30pm. Dad proceeds to tell us that there is a ferocious animal that has died in the middle of the front yard. Rob of course had to check it out and found the biggest possum I've ever seen. When Hayden woke up the next day, Grandpa told him that there was a dangerous, ferocious animal in the front yard, but wouldn't tell him what it was. The conversation went something like this:

Grandpa: What do you think it is, Hayden?
Hayden: I fink its a bear.
Grandpa: I don't think so, what else do you think it might be.
Hayden: I fink it might be a deer.
Grandpa: I don't think it's a deer.
Haydens: Well, it wooks wike a deer.
Grandpa: Well, kind of.
Hayden: Yep, it's a deer.
Grandpa: Why don't you get your shoes on and have your Dad take you outside to check it out. Then you come and tell me what it is.
*Hayden goes outside with Rob to see the ferocious beast, and then comes back into the house*
Hayden to Grandpa: Yep, it's not a deer.

Hayden Loves Letters - Literally!

Hayden amazed us today when he decided that he was going to teach himself how to write some words. He's been practicing sounding things out lately, but we didn't know that he could write them as well. He loves letters so much - he'll tell you that he LOVES the letter "H" and any words that start with "H" as well. Hmmmm, I wonder why.

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Our "Thankful" Tree

To celebrate thanksgiving this year, we decided to make a thankful tree (another great idea from familyfun.com) We glued papers to autumn leaves, cut a branch off of our front yard tree and "planted" it in a pot with some rocks. Everyday in November we've been writing things that we are thankful for and hanging them on our tree. The kids loved making the tree and leaves for FHE and it's been great to talk about the things in our lives that we're truly thankful for.

The first day that we were writing down our blessings on the leaves, I asked Ana: "What are you thankful for?" she replied, "Ummmmmm..., Rocks!" So we wrote rocks down, then I asked: "What else are you thankful for?" she thought for a minute and said, "Umm, trees!" I wrote that down and said one more time: "Tell me one more thing that you're thankful for." She thought again and said, "Ummmmm, Jesus!" It's moments like those that make ME thankful for being a parent.

How Time Flies...

It seems like just yesterday we brought Ana home from the hospital, and now she's almost 3! These are the most recent photos of our sweet Ana.

Halloween 2007

The Pokemon and the Princess were ready to go trick-or-treating from the moment that they woke up on Halloween. We had a great time trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with some of our neighbors and friends. It was a beautiful night to be out - the kids didn't even need coats!