February in Recap

Sorry to cut out Eli's face, but this was the only picture of all the boys that showed how Scotie fell asleep while enjoying one of their forts. Building forts has become a Sunday tradition. German even convinced us to let he and Eli sleep in this fort, which was fun initially, until 3am, and 4am, and 6am.

The Niederhauser's are always good for a fun adventure, and Chuck Wagon World, or whatever it was called was no different! They must have advertised their free weekend to more people than us, because the place was packed! The hour long line for the 4 minute train ride was definitely long, but Scotie sure liked the "choo-choo". We did decide to pass the two hour line for the burro rides, which was the coolest event there. But hey, the kids all got hats and bandannas out of it!

We also took advantage of the Children's Museum's Free Friday night. I'm learning that free events are not always worth it - I'd rather have tons of money and pay, than get all excited when I here some event is free. That way we wouldn't have to deal with every other person in the world who also likes a good deal.

We made this homemade play-dough (thanks for the idea Melia) one afternoon and it was the hit for an entire week. They still pull it out once in a while and entertain themselves so well. I'm not sure what magical power it has that regular play-doh doesn't have, but I'll take it!

Our BIG News!

As one would expect by the title of this post, yes, we have some big news. Now, if you haven't heard from us personally and you feel that you ought to have, please don't be offended - we just aren't very good communicators, but more than that it always feels kind of dumb to call someone and say, "Hi, how are you? We're pregnant!"

That's right, baby #4 is on it's way! Now for the answers to all of the FAQ:
1) No, I don't care if it's another boy! (It would actually solve a lot of problems - like how to put 3 boys in a tiny bedroom)
2) August 29th
3) I feel good, just really tired.

The Moment You've all Been Waiting For...

I like to blog like I have some huge following, even though I know the truth!

I'm not even going to try and catch up on such large events as: Thanksgiving, Eli's B-day, Christmas, New Year's, or German's B-day. We'll just move on...

You might recall my ramblings about our house being a lemon, well the main reason was that we had some water damage and would have to replace our entire flooring! That was July - now in January we have completed, well nearly, our project.

This is our new wood and tile, we also put carpet in the bedrooms - soooo much better!

This is what our hall bath looked like for a few days.

My laundry room.

The boys sure enjoyed the living room sleep-overs. We also were housed at a hotel for a week (no pictures), which would have been fun with the heated pool and all, except that my kids were sick the entire week - bummer!

Patience is a Virtue...

A virtue that if you're dying for new stuff from us, you must keep practicing. Our home is in reconstruction stage and is covered in dust! We should be done this week and then maybe life can go back to normal - though I'm not holding my breath!

Happy Gilbert Days!

When we found out there was going to be a parade in AZ we planned to definitely be there! Due to the excessive heat warnings we rarely get a down-home parade! This had the potential for a great parade - If only it had a few more than 2 junior high marching bands and a lot fewer "train your daughter early how to sell herself" dance groups.

Here are some of our favs:
Eli's choice - because he continues to dream about one day receiving a light saber!

This is a random photo of German taken that same day, showing his first painting of an actual something.

Joshua's choice - no explanation needed.

Scotland informed us of every animal in or around the parade and went nuts over these little goats.

You'll see that there is no photo of my fav, so please try to visualize 40 elderly ladies in cheer leading uniforms marching and dancing with their pom-poms to popular show tunes - WOW!

More Bats, Because they are so Cute!

Cheeseball Attempt

What can I say? I tried. I will never be Martha Stewart.

Halloween 2010

Who saves pumpkin carving for Halloween morning? Apparently, we do! The carving was actually a nice family, pre-church activity. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Clark for growing the three smaller pumpkins for us - they were the perfect sizes! The sad part was when we got home from our friends' house we found our lovely pumpkins in pieces all over our yard. Why do teenagers still do that?

German loves bats and was pretty set on being a bat for Halloween this year, so Eli was also pretty set on being a bat. And if you have two, why not three?!

These are all the kids at our annual Halloween dinner. We enjoyed yummy soups and bread bowls and pumpkin custard. Thanks again everyone, especially Tiff and Dylan.

A Moment of Reflection...

Please feel free to skip if you don't want to read my thoughts! A former mission companion reminded me that it was 10 years ago today that we entered the MTC (Mission Training Center). I'm feeling a bit old all of a sudden. I guess a lot has happened in those ten years: I served in Germany for 18 months, finished college, taught 3 years of school, was married to my Man, and have had 3 children. Okay, so I guess the ten years haven't been wasted. Sometimes I'd like to go back and fix my mistakes or just relive a few of those golden moments in my past. Thanks to everyone for being a part of my life - it's a good one.

A Crafty Post...

My sister-in-law recently held a "pay it forward" on her blog and I responded and was thus given this beautiful pillow! I saw it in her house and said a silent hope that it would one day be on my bed and then what do you know, it was given to me that very afternoon and now resides on my bed. Thanks Ang!

Now it is my turn to "pay it forward" and so I am offering something homemade for the first 3 people to respond to this email, who will then in turn make a similar offer on their blog. (Disclaimer: I do not profess to be a great crafter/sewer, but I do enjoy it and I don't promise anything before the new year, but I am good for it!) Since our blog is such a hot one, I would act fast - mostly, acting fast will boost my self-esteem, so thanks in advance.

Last week my friend Jen and I (and her mom and our boys) got together and did some spooky Halloween projects. The ghosts are the old classic cheesecloth ghosts and the Frankensteins are made out of wide-mouth mason jars and have tea lights inside. The ghosts were more of a mom project, but the boys loved painting their monsters. German even painted the face on his all by himself (far right).

Random Photos From our Utah Trip

We had a great trip to Utah. We got to go to Will and Amanda's wedding, go to a BYU football game with the Hallberg's, take my first trip to Tai Pan, and spend time reading with Grandma Clark. We also celebrated Joshua and my's birthdays, got to see lots of Joshua's extended family, and see almost all of our immediate families. Chad and fam - German asked us if we would pray so that Payton would know that we were missing you all! Sorry to the Hallbergs, I never think about taking pictures until it's too late, hence the one photo of G and Sydney!

Uncle Will and Aunt Amanda' Wedding

Will and Amanda were married on Sept. 24th in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple - it was a beautiful day for a beautiful wedding. We're very happy for them both and look forward to getting to know Will better.

Unfortunately, I only got one photo of the bride and groom and it wasn't a great shot, so I won't embarrass them by posting it here. I did manage to get a bunch of shots of my handsome young men - aren't they adorable?!

You'd think with five shots, one would have worked, but instead I have all five beautiful photos full of personality to choose from! What funny guys!

A Bunch of Random Photos from the last Month

A quick replay of the last few weeks (our trip to Utah will be in the next post!):

Joshua's second basketball accident in the last month - I think it might be time to sit out a bit - yeah, right!

Scotland is the messiest eater, but WOW does he like all kinds of food. By the way, he's still making slow progress on his walking.

This one is for Aunt Melissa (or anyone else) - isn't that a fun idea, a dorito covered cheeseball with olives?! AZ friends, sorry to blow the surprise of what I'll be bringing this year!

We went to a Diamondback game where they actually won (a first for us)! Don't you love the expression on Eli's face? He spends more than half of his life as a dog, so it's rare to get a boy smile out of him!

German is loving preschool! He is starting to sound out words all on his own and do some good problem solving with reading. The other day he spelled 'ciend' (kind) and 'hrt' (heart) - I think he's doing a great job!

A Clark Night of Firsts

1) My husband was home from work before 5pm for no reason other than to be with us.

2) For the first time in 4 1/2 years one of our boys climbed into a filled bathtub fully clothed (the water had drained by the time we found the camera).



3) Scotland took his first steps without holding on to anything! We were all on the floor talking about a cricket we had captured in German's trap (an old parmesan cheese container with a Ritz cracker in it) when Scotland wanted to touch it. He stood on his own for about 10 seconds and then took 3 or 4 steps toward the trap. We are so proud of him!

Our Labor Day Hike

We ventured with some friends on Labor Day to find some cool weather and ended up in Payson, AZ. We hiked, played at their town park, and went to 'linner' at Chili's (the finest dining in Payson)! Enjoy the pictures. And by the way, I fully intend on dressing them in matching shirts for as long as they'll let me!

It's Fall...

My neighbors put a scarecrow up in their yard, so I'm officially declaring it 'autumn!'

What we've Been up to This Week...

German's first day of preschool. I think he was a little nervous because he refused to pose for the traditional first day of school photo and insisted that Eli be in the photo with him. Eli was strong and didn't cry that first day that German parted from us, but he did ask me about 10 times when German would be home!


Our New Patio Furniture and it's box. We scored a great deal at Target a while back on patio furniture. It's been way too hot to actually enjoy the set, although we have eaten dinner outside once. We have great dreams of meals together outside in a couple of months. The box that the chairs were in has proved to have been a great investment. If I can't find Scot and the bathroom doors are closed, I know he's in the 'dog house'. Our friend Madison made us a window on the front door, so now I can look over and see this beautiful face smiling back at me. (Too bad he moved just as I shot the photo and then wouldn't pose again!)

Mickey Mouse Pancakes. We took the boys to breakfast on Saturday and as all normal children do, both older boys ordered the Mickey Mouse pancake. Of course it was huge and so they wanted to box it up and take it home for later. As we were doing so Joshua noticed that neither boy had eaten the blueberry eyes. When Joshua inquired as to why, German responded with, "I didn't eat the blueberries because I want my pancake to see where I'm putting it." What an imagination!