Christmas 2012

Christmas was a ton of fun this year.  Jeff and I both took a 5 day weekend from work.  It was nice to relax at home and with our families.  We spent Christmas Eve with my family and both sets of grandparents at my parent's house.  We had a delicious dinner and a fun program with the kiddos.  Cason and Cydney sang Jingle Bells and Cason even sang Silent Night all on his own.  It was adorable and I was a proud momma!  We also went throught he Nativity story and each of the kids got to open one gift.  After the festivities we went back to our house to prepare for Santa's arrival and Cason was out like a light within minutes. 

On Christmas morning I asked Cason if we should go see if Santa had come.  He walked cautiously into the living room, peeked over the couch (where he had placed his stocking the night before), and enthusiastically said "I think, I think, I think this is for me!"  Santa brought him a scooter, a fishing game, a Scooby Doo movie, and lots of candy (of course).  He was excited to play with each gift and open all of the presents from his grandparents and cousins throughout the day.

After we opened gifts at our house we went to my parents for our traditional Christmas morning breakfast and then to Jeff's mom's house for lunch.  We spent the rest of the day with both families and ended the night with a competitive game of Ticket to Ride.  The best part of the holidays is the time we are able to spend with our family.  I love them all so much!

 Cason and great grandma Giles

 Cason and great grandpa Slaugh

 All 5 kiddos in their Christmas jammies

 I love this of Cason and his grandma

 Santa came :)

 Rock Star! Thanks for the guitar grandpa and grandma Clark!

37 Weeks

This picture was taken at 37 weeks, though I am now almost 38! We've passed the mark and our healthy baby boy could come anytime now. This past weekend we made a much needed shopping trip to get the necessities and I feel like we are as ready as we're gonna be... well at least we have diapers :). I am having weekly appointments and things are starting to progress. Now I am just waiting out my last week of work and then there won't be anything holding us back. Can't wait to meet the newest addition to our little family!

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving weekend was a lot of fun this year.  A lot of my family came into town including aunts, uncles, and cousins and we had a big feast at my grandparents clubhouse.  All of Jeff's family, except for one sister and brother-in-law, were also in town and we had a second Thanksgiving dinner with them.  It was so much fun to get together with so many family members and let Cason play with all of the cousins.  My cousin and his family stayed out our house.  They have a little girl just a year younger than Cason and it was fun to see them interact.  On Saturday we took all of the cousins from Jeff's family to Jumpin' Jacks and had a blast.  Then on Sunday we took Cason to see the new movie Rise of the Guardians.  It was super cute and helped to get us in the Christmas spirit.  It gave us the push we needed to come home and decorate our tree and house.  Cason had fun helping for about two minutes :), but loves "Christmas at our house!"  I love the holiday season!

Throughout November I tried my best to teach Cason what it means to be thankful.  At the beginning of the month I made a thankful tree and most days we glued on a leaf showing something that he is thankful for.  Because he is a two year old my explanations often came down to "What do you like today?" or "What makes you happy today?"  He did fairly well and loved to come home and glue a leaf on each day.  My favorite response from him was during an afternoon in which he refused to take a nap.  His response to "What are you thankful for today?" was "To wake up!"  What a silly kid. 

I have so much to be thankful for this year (and every year).  I'm most thankful for my amazing family.  I love my husband and sons.  I am so thankful for a healthy pregnancy and the ability to have children.  My family brings so much joy to my life and I cannot imagine life without them. 

 Cason and his thankful tree.

Intently helping to decorate the Christmas tree. Such concentration!

33 weeks: only 7 to go!!

Visit with Grandpa Clark

This past weekend we went up North to visit Jeff's dad.  We figured we may not have the chance to get up there again before baby #2 comes and wanted to see him before the holidays.  We drove up Friday afternoon in the midst of a blizzardy snow storm.  Luckily Jeff is an excellent driver and we got there safely.  Saturday morning we spent visiting Jeff's aunt's family and my aunt and uncle and cousins.  We then headed up to Salt Lake City for the Jazz game which was a lot of fun.  Cason enjoyed it for the most part and was pretty well behaved the entire evening.  As we left the game the storm had started up again which made for another slow drive back to the house.  The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and admiring the beautiful snow.  This was Cason's first real experience with snow and he loved it!  He would go out for minutes at a time and then get too cold and come back in.  Overall, I think he just enjoyed watching it from the car and inside the house. 

 The three Clark boys

 Go Jazz!

 All bundled up and running through the snow

Cold and sad because he didn't have his blankie :(

HaLloWeEN 2o12

Halloween was a ton of fun this year.  I have taken off work every Halloween and yesterday was no exception.  Cason was so excited that I was taking the day off work just to play with him and kept reminding me throughout the day "You not go to work mommy, you stay home with me!"  We started the day off with jack-o-lantern pancakes and a fun Halloween craft with Cason's cousin and best friend, Cydney.  After a delicious lunch with daddy and an afternoon nap we started the trick-or-treating festitvities.  Cason chose to be Buzz Lightyear and looked so adorable in his costume.  We started at my mom's work with the cousins, stopped by Jeff's mom's house, then great grandma and grandpa Giles, back to my parent's house for jack-o-lantern pizza, and ended the day trick-or-treating at a few houses around the neighborhood.  By the end of the night I was beat and ready for bed.  I ended up falling asleep in Cason's room with my arms wrapped around him.  It was a perfect day spent with my little man!

October





I can't believe that October is over and we are already into November.  Where has the time gone?!  It seems that Christmas is just around the corner and I haven't even started shopping yet.  I better get in gear or I know it will sneak up on me or pass me by.  October was a fun and busy month in the Clark household.  During the few times we were home Cason and I tried to do as many fun activities that we could.  He is really loving art projects right now and I tried to make them geared toward Halloween and Fall as much as I could.  His favorites were decorating a pumpkin face and making a skeleton out of beans.  Some other fun things included painting pumpkins, visiting the Staheli Farm, and having my family over for a night of pumpkin carving.  Halloween seems to kick start the holiday season and I am excited for what is coming the rest of the year!

 

 

Just a boy and his Buzz

Cason LOVES Buzz Lightyear.  Although Lion King has taken over Toy Story as his favorite movie, Buzz Lightyear is still his favorite character.  He is really looking forward to Halloween when he gets to dress up like Buzz Lightyear for trick-or-treating.  He sleeps with a Buzz pillow each night.  During naptime today I snuck in and captured this picture.  He makes me smile :).

Baking Soda and Fruit Loops

Cason and I decided to do a little science experiment with baking soda and vinegar yesterday. It kept us enterained for quite a long time while daddy was golfing. Cason loved mixing the colors together and watching the baking soda fizz as he dropped the colored vinegar on to the pan. We tried different droppers and his favorite was the aspirator... I'm sure because it dropped the most at once, making the biggest fizz. I love to watch his eyes and see his reaction when he is trying something new or seeing something for the first time.

 

Last week we spent an afternoon stringing pasta and cereal onto yarn.  He loved the challenge of making the string fit through the smaller holes.  Toward the end he decided he didn't want the pasta anymore and started over using only fruit loops.  He thought it was a pretty cool idea to make a necklace out of his masterpiece and wanted to wear it and show it off to daddy when he got home from work.  Unfortunately, his tummy couldn't wait that long and he had eaten most of it before 5:00.