Author's Celebration and an Award...

Every month, Hayden's class has an Author's Celebration where parents come and listen to them read the stories they have been writing that month. Hayden has really been working hard at reading in front of a group (his whole class and all their parents - pretty good sized group), he did a great job last month reading the story that he wrote called "The Nature and Science Museum"...

 

Sophie entertains the class by giving everyone hand sanitizer...

 

Hayden also received his very first award at school this last quarter. The award is called "Effort Creates Ability", he was one of the few kids that improved in all of his academic areas over the last quarter! Way to go Hayden!!

 

 

Mongolian Day...

What? You don't celebrate that holiday? This is what you do: Take a trip to the Nature and Science Museum to see the awesome Genghis Khan exhibit, if you can't find the time to go there, just ask Hayden, he can tell you about any detail that you ever wanted to know.

 

After that, you go to a Mongolian restaurant and try the native cuisine. Mighty tasty, the kids even liked it...

 

Rob's Dad (his name is Rob, too) came into town last week on business and we had a grand time with him while he visited. He's always so awesome to take us to do fun things like this. The kids loved it! Thanks Rob, come and visit again soon! And Ana says to tell you to bring Nona with you next time.

Farewell Hermana Clark...

When we were in Utah over Christmas, we were lucky enough to be there for Rob's sister Callie's mission farewell. She is headed to Concepcion, Chile for 18 months and we are so excited for her!! Wahoo Callie!! The last photo of the Clark siblings for a year and a half...

 

Since they do curbside drop-off at the MTC now, they only let you bring one vehicle into the drop-off zone. So of course, we piled every member of the family into the suburban (all 16 of us) to drop Callie off...

 

The snowflakes were so beautiful that day, it made for a sweet farewell...

 

We love and miss you already Callie, but we know that you will be an awesome missionary!

Would you claim them?

As many of you know, my Robbie has quite the sense of humor. But what a lot of you might not know, is that he's not the only one. This is just a sampling of what goes on when his family all gets together...
Someone decided to shove grapes under their lips, so of course it was way too funny for just one person to do it. We all had to try it. (That's Rob's mom on the right. It's definitely in the genes)...

 

Match made in heaven. No wonder they married each other...

 

One night we all played the game "Quelf". If you haven't played it, it's a good one! This is what everyone looked like by the end. Yes, that is Rob's dad with the soda bottle tied to his head...

 

I love my in-laws. They are like my own family. There's something to be said about a family that can randomly break out into song at dinner. Seriously, that happens. And it makes me all the happier to be a part of it all. I'd claim them any day...

Christmas morning, I mean afternoon...

Christmas morning was so funny this year. Since we were at Rob's family's house and they have no small kids anymore, our kids, and their two little cousins, were the only one's up at the crack of dawn to open presents from Santa. So we did, and then our little family just lounged and napped all morning till the rest of the clan decided to get up around noon. So we really had a Christmas afternoon of opening gifts instead of a Christmas morning... totally Clark style.
Robbie and I lounging and trying to keep the kids out of the gifts until the rest of the fam awoke (that is no easy task)...

 

Ana and cousin Dallin coloring a princess poster from Santa. Don't worry Dallin, we know you don't "really" like princesses...

 

Hayden and Dallin playing with their Zhu Zhu pets from Nona...

 

We gave Katelyn some fairy wings for Christmas and it was so cute to see her run around with them on. She kept putting on each new thing that she received. She had on her Christmas pj's, a new coat from Papa, wings and a fairy skirt, and a butterfly hair clip. I'm surprised she could walk with all of it on. But the funniest part was when she climbed on the rocking horse, I asked her "Are you a princess riding your horsey?" And then Dallin came running around the corner with his new tool backpack on, pushing Kate's new shopping cart, and shouts "Ya, and I'm a worker guy, pushin' my stroller!!" I laughed so hard, because he was so serious and excited about it.

 

The "twin" cousins sporting their twinner outfits... Testing out the new duds for flexibility. "It's a keeper, I can still stand on my head with it on..." Feasting on stocking spoils... All in all, it was a holly jolly Christmas day...

Ode to Miriam...

As promised, although a little delayed, this is a post all about the person who was able to correctly define the word sarcophagus without a dictionary. (In Ancient Egypt, a sarcophagus formed the external layer of protection for a royal mummy coffin.)

Three cheers for Miriam Donohue! She is not only beautiful, but also brilliant! Miriam is one of my good friends here in Colorado. She has two totally cute little girls, Sadie and Piper, and a really fun husband, Ryan.
What I love about Miriam:
-She is a super positive person all of the time, I've never heard a negative or even slightly rude thing come out of her mouth... ever.
-She is an excellent sewer, and makes it look so easy.
-She loves to go camping (so do I).
-She is way athletic.
-She is a fun, cute mom.
-She is always smiling.
-She is always willing try new things.
-She has a radiating testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
-She is just a super, wonderful, uplifting friend. And I bet you're all jealous now that you aren't friends with her, too. (If you're not already)

Miriam, thanks for being so awesome!

Christmas Pajamas...

Rob's family has a tradition that everyone gets new PJ's on Christmas Eve. It's so fun and makes everything more festive. Here we are sporting our new sleepwear...
Hayden and Ana...

 

Wendy accidentally got Katie and Callie the wrong size, it was pretty hilarious watching them try to put them on...

 

Brothers (plus one). Robbie loved that jersey, I think that he wore it 90% of our stay, he washed it twice while we were gone for 1 week, just so he could wear it again. He cracks me up...

 

Clark PJ fest 2009.Some of you wonder where Robbie gets his craziness, now you know...

 

Papa with his two best grandbabies. They both adore him, and fight over who's going to sit on his lap... Rob and his siblings. The picture says enough...

Candy Land...

Over Christmas break, I took the kids to Hammond's Candy Factory for a tour. It's always fun to get out of the house and do something that you normally don't do. We hooked up with a couple of friends, and had a sweet afternoon. FYI: If I had this to do over again, I would not go the week of Christmas, we had to wait 3 hours to get a tour. Good thing we had friends (and Costco) to entertain us...

Funny Stories...

I'm way behind on blogging, which I'm planning on catching up on soon. But I had to post these cute little bits before I forgot.

On Sunday, I heard Ana singing as she was eating breakfast: "The Wiseman built his house upon the rock, the wiseman built his house upon the rock, the wiseman built his house upon the rock and the rains came bumbling down. The rains came down and the flowers came up, the rains came down and the flowers came up, the rains came down and the flowers came up, and the house on the rock stood still."
I thought her little rendition was pretty precious.

As we were driving somewhere the other day, from the back seat Hayden asks, "Mom, do bad guys persevere to get out of jail?"
Me: "Where did you hear that word?"
Hayden: "At school. It means to keeping trying."
Me: "Yep, it does. I suppose bad guys do persevere then sometimes."
Hayden's mental process seriously cracks me up all the time.

December with the Clarks...

December can get a little crazy around here with all of the fun Holiday happenings. I'll give you the short version - Really, this is the short version. I'm going to skip the first grade class Christmas party (that I got roped into making 26 graham cracker gingerbread houses for - don't ask), Relief Society Progressive dinner (they drove us from house to house on a school bus - it was hilarious), and all other holiday chaos for the the sake of briefness, and the fact that I didn't get any pictures of those events, he, he...
Ancient Egypt day at school. After this event, Hayden told me that he wished that he could live at school. Apparently it was THAT good. I got to go in to his class and help with the celebration, I was in charge of helping the kids make mummies and sarcophaguses, that's right, sarcophaguses. Am I the only person in the world that didn't know what that word meant? I had to learn it from my first grader. (The first person to leave a comment with the definition of a sarcophagus - from your own brain, leave Webster out of this - will be the Clark Clan Chaos' Commenter of the Day - I will do a special post all about YOU!)

Pop-Can Chicken. Rob roasted his first chicken with his handy-dandy pop can roaster - and it was mighy tasty! Way to go Rob.

First Grade Christmas Program. This was the best picture I got of Hayden - walking off the stage - it was the only time we could see him. They had the lighting set up weird and you couldn't see any of the kids on the top-right row of the risers. (Hayden said that he was on that row because he was the 3rd tallest kid in the first grade - the first two were girls - funny, huh?). It was sad to not see his cute little face while he was singing, but oh well, he had a great time and sang his little heart out. I know this because he's been singing his songs all around the house for the last month.

Thorton Winter Fest. We took the kids to see the lights at a winter festival - it was such a great way to get into the Holiday spirit. They had a Christmas village, an ice skating rink in the midst of hundreds of trees covered in twinkly lights, ice sculptures, and carolers. The kids loved it! Sophie was especially in awe...



Wrestling with Dad. This isn't just a holiday event, it happens frequently, but it was the first time that our dog, Stella, decided to get in on the action. She loves to play with the kids when they are on the floor, she is so tolerant and gentle with them.

Elf Practice. We had a real cold-spell here (like 5 degrees) that lasted for a good week. The kids got pretty stir-crazy being in the house so much, so when it got remotely warmer they were begging to play outside. Sophie kept running out the back door whenever we let the dog out, so Ana decided to get herself and Sophie bundled up to play. Sophie looked just like a little elf...


A Visit to Whoville. Ana went with our neighbor, Paige, to a Christmas party. The theme was "Whoville", so Ana was transformed into Cindy Lou Who for the occasion.

Preschool Pajama Party. For Ana's Preschool Christmas party, they all wore their PJ's and decorated sugar cookies. It was the perfect little event for this wild bunch. (Photo compliments of Jen Anderson. Thanks Jen!)

Breakfast with Santa. For our ward Christmas party this year, we had a breakfast. And man, I have to give some props to the Activities Committee! Has anyone else ever gone to a ward Christmas party and waited in line for like 2 hours to see Santa? It seems like that always happens. Well this year, they handed out numbers to everyone, so you got to sit and socialize until they called your number. It was the best! So here are the classic "Santa Photos"...



Christmas Sweaters. And last but not least, for your veiwing pleasure... Rob and I went to an adult Christmas party with some of our friends. And Rob thought it would be a good joke to get the ugliest Christmas sweaters we could find from the thrift store, and wear them to the party. It was hilarious - and man, they were ugly! I love that Rob likes to keep things fun, we'll be young (at heart atleast) forever...

So, that was the short version. Merry Christmas everyone!

Our Tree Needs Help!

It's been a couple of years since we've had a walking baby around the house. I had forgotten what havoc they can create for a Christmas tree. On top of a monger-baby, the middle section of lights on our pre-lit tree decided to stop working, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out the problem. So when all was said and done, only the top 2/3 of our tree had any ornaments, and the middle 1/3 had no lights. Oh well, I guess we'll take Sophie over a beautifully decorated tree. And my sister so kindly pointed out that I could just add some more lights to the middle, which I did. Seriously, why didn't I think of that?!? Despite it all, it is still so fun to put up decorations for the holidays. The kids' excitement is nearly tangible!
Decorating...Decorating...Undecorating...Not tall enough? Just get a Dad-Lift...And if you get sick of undecorating, just start decorating yourself...