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Random Acts of Craziness...

Indoor Fun...

When the weather gets chilly... all you need is some masking tape and Hot Wheels, 

and you have a whole day's worth of fun!

 Sophie was so funny.  She wasn't so interested in the cars, but she did spend over an hour drawing the center lines on all the roads...

Kindra = Sugar

We have totally loved having my niece McKindra around this year.  She moved out to CO for school this last fall, and we couldn't be happier to have "family" nearby.  The best thing about Kindra is that every time she comes to our house... she makes treats.  Cookies, pies, bars... if it has sugar in it, Kindra is all over it.  

On her latest visit, Lollipops were on the agenda...

We love Kindra!!

December in Review...

Some of the highlights from December 2012...

Rob's first gig as the the Jolly Old Elf at a school fundraiser.  His beard was so ghetto, it still makes me die laughing every time I see this picture.  No offense honey, you did a great job, but the beard was so hilariously bad.  I don't think any of the kids were fooled, but everyone had a good time.  Ana figured out that it was him pretty quickly, her reaction was classic.  She looked at him closely and then into his eyes and said in a tiny little voice "Daddy? Is that you?"  She was a good sport and played along nicely when we explained that he was really just "helping" the real Santa...

Sophie's preschool party.  

They sang all the classics... Rudolph, Frosty, Jingle Bells and the cutest rendition of Let it Snow. 

Soph insisted on wearing her antlers and bells for the occasion...

 They also ate enough sugar to put a person into a coma...

The day after Christmas we made the trek to Minnesota to spend a week with the Lammers clan. 

It was COLD.  Reassured me that CO is the place to be in the winter:)

Sophie helping Nana with some holiday treats...

There is a bit of Viking love in our family.

My Dad even did a Gangnam Style victory dance when the Vikes won.  I told my kids to commit that moment to memory, they may never see Grandpa let loose like that again in their lives.  It was so great!

It's funny that those were the only pictures that I took from that whole trip.

Back to CO...

Dad and Sophie enjoying their favorite lunch, princess style..

Just for posterity's sake...  a shot of Hayden in his favorite chair, eating his nightly bowl of granola cereal ("Just Bunches" - also his favorite).  Had to document it...

December 2012 - a great month!

Happy New Year!!

We finally snapped some family pictures over the holidays...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Love, The Clarks

Countdown to Christmas...

Every year, I always have good intentions of making some sort of Christmas countdown for my kids, but never seem to think ahead in enough time to get it done.  Well, this year with Thanksgiving being on the 23rd, I thought about it in just enough time for December.  Yay!...

 Each pocket holds a little Christmas treat and then we have been taking turns choosing an activity to celebrate the season...

 It's been so fun to have some planned family time, built-in each night...

 Merry Christmas!!

Good-Bye Hostess...

We had to commemorate the last time we would ever eat another Hostess Fruit Pie.  These are one of Rob's favorite treats, not necessarily mine, but I do enjoy a good Twinkie every now and then...

Good-Bye Hostess!  We will miss you... but not your calories...

Late-Over Necessities...

I had to snap this picture of Ana, it was just too funny and cute.  She was invited to our next-door neighbor's house for their daughter's birthday party.  It was going to be her first late-over (where she got to stay there until 10pm, so exciting!)  Apparently late-overs require a lot of necessities, enough to fill a whole suitcase...

I know she'll think this is funny someday...

Ana Goes West...

Each year after learning about the westward expansion, the 2nd grade celebrates by having "Pioneer Day".  Ana was so excited for this day, she wouldn't stop hounding me until I had found an authentic bonnet for her to borrow for the day...

 They celebrate the day with old-fashioned games, food, artifacts and crafts...

Such a fun day for our Ana-girl...

My Second Life...

I always joke with Rob that I have a second life, but in a lot of ways that is exactly how I feel.  By day, I am once again a full-time college student, and by night I am mom and wife.  This transition back to school for me has been so crazy, yet so exciting and fun.  Those of you who know me well, know that I thrive on learning, so having the opportunity to be studying again, has been so awesome for me.  I wanted to document my second life a little for my kids... so that they will know that education such a privilege, even if it comes at the cost of having to be at the bus stop at 6am...

(These pictures were actually taken on my last day of school, when I didn't have to be at the stop until 8am, so just imagine that it is still dark out.)

I refer to the people that I ride with everyday as my "bus friends", it's always the same group of people that are commuting downtown for work everyday.  You get kind of tight with people that you stand out in the cold and dark with on a daily basis.  I've met some pretty awesome people on my bus adventures.  They even notice if you miss a day and ask if the family is okay the next day.  I've also come to love this time because it gives me the opportunity to read that I never seemed find time for before.  In this case, listening to a book... (Photo, compliments of my bus friend, Denise:)

This is the view as I exit the light-rail after my hour-long commute.  Heading onto campus for class...

And this is where I live on campus.  The West Classroom building is the home of the Teacher Education Dept, so I spend upwards of 8 hours a day in this lovely building...

And this is the view to the East as I walk through campus on my way home at night.  It's kind of fun to see the city all lit up at night...

  

And this is me on the rare occasion that I try to study at home...

I'm sure you all know how much studying actually happened here.  Thus the reason that I usually spend all day on campus.  So there you have it kids, my glamorous second life...