Busch Gardens

April 30, 2011
Last month Jason got some free tickets, from his work, for us to go to Busch Gardens.

It was the first time me and the boys have gone, and I have to say for someone (like me) who doesn't really like amusement parks, it was pretty fun.  I like how they had something for everyone.

Clark and Daddy watching the animal show.  They had dogs, cats, birds, and even some rats, preforming little tricks.  Clark really loved it.  Ever since we saw the show he talks about dogs and cats, he really wants a "cat-dog".  At first I thought that meant he wanted some kind of cat-dog hybrid, but he finally explained that he really wants "a cat AND a dog, you know Mom, cat-dog".

Clark petting the snake.  He was a little a little nervous at first, but his curiosity won out.

My sweet little cute Harry, giving me a rare smile for the camera.

Harry and I did a lot of standing around, waiting for Daddy and Clark, while they rode the rides.

I don't really like riding rides (and I am pregnant anyway) and Harry was too little for most of them.

He was so good and patient, and I think he enjoyed all the sight seeing, and treat eating.

Clark and Jason- They are like two peas in a pod.
Clark was so into riding the rides, all of them.  He was quite heartbroken that he couldn't get on the giant roller coasters.  Jason was so excited to finally have someone to ride the rides with, since I NEVER get on them.

This was Clark's favorite ride.  He was so sad they couldn't go on it over and over.

Riding the train around the park.

Dinner for 4???   No wonder we are all so chubby and round.
The food wasn't too bad, for an amusement park, although it was very expensive.

Overall it was a super fun family day.  I would definitely rather go to Busch Gardens, than any of the other parks.

Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend April 23-24, 2011

The Saturday before Easter we had a nice little party, and Easter Egg Hunt, at our house for our friends. But before we could stuff the eggs with candy, and eat the tasty BBQ pork I made, we had to get Harry back from the cops.  Yep, you heard me right.  He ran away again, or rather, this time he was let out the house (by Clark) and wandered down the street.  This is the third time he has wandered off, but by far the scariest, cause we had no idea he was ever gone.  With our guest showing up, and kids running around in the back yard, I had no idea Clark even opened up the front door for Harry.  Luckily people were out and about, and some neighbors got to Harry before he went into the  busy intersection.  Since they didn't know which house Harry came from, they called the cops... and well the cops finally came to us.  I was/am mortified, embarrassed, angry.... and relieved that he was okay, and nothing more serious happened.  The cops were really understanding, once they understood the situation, and the rest of the afternoon went off without a hitch.  The cop did make some ridiculous comment about how Harry didn't recognize him as a police officer and a person of authority, and I laughed and said, "Well, I'm sorry.  But Harry doesn't even really recognize me as his Mother... so I can't really help you there... nor do I care".

Since then Clark has let Harry out the yard one other time, out the side gate I didn't even know he could open.  Harry does pretty well not wandering away, as long as we can keep Clark from letting him out, so we are now locked down like a prison, bolts and locks on everything.  

Everyday I think about how bad both those situations could've ended, someone could've taken Harry, he could've wandered into the busy intersection...my whole life could've been over in a matter of seconds.  I am thankful someone was watching out for my family, and protecting my child, when I couldn't...or didn't.  We have definitely have learned our lesson.  Also, we are now"that family" on the block, all my neighbors think I am a crap Mom, and talk over the fence to each other about it...ugh, they suck.

Anyway, back to our awesome Easter weekend.  

After a rather tasty lunch, the Dads hid all the eggs around the yard for the kiddies to find.

Harry found a few eggs, but mostly just wanted to open them up and eat the candy inside.

Clark had a lot of fun finding the eggs, but just like Harry, he wanted to open each one to see what was inside before he would go find another one.

Cute little Porter, Clark's best friend.

I'm so glad we have such nice friends, and enough friends to have a fun party for our kids, we are so lucky.  It is so wonderful to live in an area where we really feel like we belong, 

and we have a "far away from home family".

Clark finding his basket Easter morning.  He was super excited about his Star Wars eggs.

Harry was only interested in the books in his Easter basket, 

I think it is safe to say he had a pretty good morning.

Clark was THRILLED to get a little Star Wars Lego kit, to build planes. 

He loved building them with his Dad, he was in heaven.

Enjoying his book, so serious.

The finished plane.

I wish I had a nice little picture of us dressed up in our Sunday clothes, but alas my babies do not like looking anywhere near a camera, and I didn't want to be late for church....maybe next year.

Holidays are much more meaningful to me, now that I have a family.  I hope I did a good job teaching and explaining to the boys the real significance of Easter.  I am so thankful for the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, my brother.  And I am thankful for the knowledge and testimony that I have, that my family can be together forever.

I love Easter time!

Somethings you just get right.

"Look Mom!" he says, "I'm Harry Potter."

It's not easy teaching kids right from wrong, manners, 

or how you are supposed to eat all your veggies.

It breaks my heart every time Clark talks about Batman, when clearly we are a SUPERMAN family.

We make a lot of mistakes, as parents, and I'm always

hoping that something sticks after all the lectures, time-outs and "teaching moments".

Its never easy...

but somethings you just get right.

Fluffy Tats

Every time this commercial comes on tv, Clark screams, runs to me, and says, 

"Mom, I neeeeeee dat tat! I neeee a tat, and a dog. Pease mom, peeeeeease...a fatty tat". 

Everytime. He went on and on about it for an hour the other night. 

Well Clark, I need that cat too, I need it too.

Spring Break Shenanigans

Just some highlights of our spring break :)

April 19, 2011

Coloring Easter Eggs, for our upcoming Easter Egg Hunt.  

This is the first time I ever attempted to do this with the boys.  Harry did not care at all, and actually kept trying to spill the dye everywhere (so he was banned from the table).  Clark had a lot of fun!  I had found little face stickers, with funny eyes and mouths, and he loved turning all his eggs into funny monsters.

Porter (Clark's BFF) and his blue fingers...
I think we all ended up with our fair share of dye on our hands.

April 20, 2011
The next day, my friend and I, packed the kids up and took a day trip to Chicoteague (which is only about a 100 minute drive from my house).  I love a little road trip now and then, especially if it is out to the country or the beach.
Before we got to the beach we stopped to stretch our legs, and let the kids feed these ponies.
Why oh why is it so hard to get my kids to take a proper picture!?!
Here Clark is "helping" Harry stand still and look at the camera, which obviously -to Clark- translated to "choke your brother until he cries".  Brothers...

Almost at the beach.  The weather was warm, but overcast, and very windy.
A different kind of beach day, but delightful none of the less.

The water was still too cold ( for me) so the kids didn't go swimming,
but there was plenty of "sand-tassle" building, as Clark says.

Harry was so happy to be at the beach.  He loves to dig and play in the sand.
Here he is cuddling up with Allori, and digging himself a little hole.

Wild ponies at Chicoteague.

April 21, 2011
Jay even took off a day of work so we could have a family zoo day!
Clark begged and begged for two days to go see the "am-nimals".  He has been learning all about farms and animals at preschool, and I think he wanted to show off all his knowledge.  The morning we were going to leave he woke us up at 6 am saying,
"time to go see am-nimals, dit up fasssssss!"
Even Harry was excited to be there.  It always takes Harry a few times to warm up to a place, enough to get comfortable and have fun, and thanks to Auntie Carol (and Uncle Eddie) we have a year zoo pass so we can go as often as we want.  It always makes the day extra fun when Harry has a good time too.

Clark ran around, crazy like, trying to name and see all the animals he could.  Then he hung from the bars, like a proper little monkey.  Harry quietly took it all in, and got in as much reading as he could :)

I had such a nice spring break week with my boys.  I love spending time with them, and as a family, and with our friends.  I am really looking forward to summer, and a lot of beach days, some more zoo days, and a fun road trip or two.

Trampoline!!

The boys' favorite part of April was when we got a trampoline!

We had been saving a little money to take a weekend trip away for our 10th wedding anniversary, but I decided the money would be better spent on the boys, and a tramp. 

 Of-course, Jason and the boys agreed with me wholeheartedly!

(By the way... Happy 10 years to us! No pictures, because I am a slacker.  But Jason did take me to a very nice dinner, and a movie.  I can't believe we've been married for 10 years!!!!!)

Harry loves jumping so much, I have never seen him more happy.

He can jump for hours.

Clark and Harry

It is so nice to finally find something Harry enjoys, besides reading his books, and watching tv.

It is a good release for him too, when he is feeling stressed and needs to calm down.

It's also a nice place to lay, and soak up some sun.
Clark likes to lay and look up at the sky, watching for planes or birds.

JUMPING!

I took these pictures right after we first set it up.  Since then Jason has set up the netting around the tramp, so the boys don't accidentally fall off.  Clark managed to stay on, but Harry would get lost in his bouncing, and jump right off a couple times... but that didn't stop him from getting right back up to jump again.  I'm glad we decided to get a tramp for the boys, rather than go away for the weekend, money well spent.

It's going to be a fun summer with our new tramp. 

Wordless Wednesday-Bath Time for Little Pirates

April 3, 2011
Clark
No words necessary for a cute little pirate taking a bath.

Jamestown

Months ago, in March,
 (I have REALLY been sucking in the picture/blogging department)
I had the opportunity to meet my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins in Jamestown for the afternoon.
I hadn't seen them for over 7 years!
It was so fun to catch up, spend some time together, and introduce them to Clark and Harry.  

March 25, 2011

Clark had a lot of fun running around and exploring, and he was actually really well behaved (well, for Clark, hehehe).  He was not bashful at all, and took to Shane and Stephanie like he has known them forever.  I love how friendly and social Clark is, he truly loves everyone.

Harry was a bit reserved, he was happy to just sit in his stroller and be pushed around all day.
He's not big on new places, and new people, but he enjoyed being outside and looking around.

Clark, and cousin Stephanie.
We went to Jamestown Settlement, which had a nice size museum, and a big outdoor living area, with replicas of an Indian village, and replicas of the boats that the settlers came over from England on.  It was such a nice day, a little chilly, but sunny and warm for me.

Clark grinding up corn to make cornmeal in the Indian village.  

Also, one of the tour guides skinning a squirrel to show us how the Indians would've cooked it.  Clark was quite traumatized by the dead squirrel, and he kept on saying "oh no, poor whirl is sad, what happened"...  I tired to explain it to him the best I could, but I'm not sure he was ready for that life lesson.  Every now and then when he sees a live squirrel in our backyard he makes sure to tell me that, that squirrel looks happy, and not red and sad.

Clark's favorite part of the afternoon was the giant boats, or pirate boats, as Clark called them.  He was thrilled that we could get on them, and he ran around crazy exploring things.  He kept on telling me he was looking for treasure... I really do love his imagination.

Cousin Shane trying to carry Harry around the boat :)

Auntie Bon, me and the boys (who can never look nice for the camera), Uncle Jim, and Stephanie.

Me and the boys on the boat.
I thought this knight's head statue was interesting.  The boats were made as an exact replica of the real ones, and there was so many cool facts about them.  Funny enough there is no record of why they used knight heads on the pulley boxes, they were always used on the boats at that time, we just don't know the significance...  Cool, I thought.

Tuna trying on some amour.

Clark and my sweet cousins.
I'm glad we had a nice day to visit with family.
It can be so hard being so far from home, and the people you love,
it is nice to get together every now and then.

The One That Might Be A Girl

These ultrasound pictures are from March when I was about 13 weeks along.

(I've been so lazy in getting things scanned and on the computer.)

The doctor had been a little worried that I was so sick, and wanted to check things out.

I was just excited to get an unplanned ultrasound, and see my tiny little baby.

 The doctor said everything looks great, and in all the right places.

Strong healthy heartbeat, and very long legs.

She commented several times about how long SHE looked.

She???  

"Yes" she said, "it looks like a girl to me".

When I didn't immediately get excited (she knew we wanted a girl).  She continued to try and convince me, see this, and this, and then the 'I've been doing this a long time sweetheart, I know' speech.

She was very optimistic about it.  And I left being just as excited.

Whether it is a girl or not we won't be sure until, TOMORROW.

But this pregnancy has been so very different from both of the boys, I can't help but agree with the doc.

I've been much more weepy and moody.  Almost everything makes me cry.

I never cried with the boys, at least not often...but I was very crabby and bitchy.

I've been craving the weirdest things, like candy.

I never eat candy.  I like a small piece of chocolate now and then, but not candy.

All I want to eat some days is Gummy Bears, and Smarties.

I haven't been growing as fast as I did with the boys either.  I still feel like I don't have a tummy at all, and I'm sure I won't "pop" until next month.  I haven't felt the baby kick yet, when I was pregnant with Harry he was already jumping on my bladder at this point.

Some days I don't even feel pregnant.  I don't know if it is because I was so sick at the beginning, and I am having a harder time bonding with the baby... or the fact that it is actually a baby, and not a parasite trying to kill me.  I just feel so different.

So, maybe, just maybe this might be a little girl.

It is what we have suspected from the beginning, I'm just too afraid to get my hopes up.

I just pray all is well, and the babe is healthy. We are all very excited to find out what the sex is.

Clark said he wants a baby sister.  In fact he has been calling the baby a sister from day one... without any prompting from me or Jason.

Until tomorrow...