Happening times at Clark Central

Just thought I'd update you a little bit since I last updated the blog.

Here is our Thanksgiving Family picture...

The 2 youngest had their school Christmas program which was Adorable!

Brooke looked like a little angel up there. And Cade...well, Cade could definitely make us some money on America's Funniest Videos. If I can figure out how to get a snippet of the video camera on here I'll put on a video of one of his songs. The entire first song he spent digging his underwear out (but he went at it from the front, through the legs, squat style...and he was right in front of his class so it was super obvious.)

And the rest of the songs he just did his own thing...wonder where he gets his "mad conductor" skills.

Mimi and Papa with their granddaughters...

Last week was Party Week. I had parties 6 of the 7 days. Book Club, Tri-Delts, the Scrapbook Crew, and last year's "Kindergarten Home Room Moms"...including Miss Baker (teacher) who left early and a couple of moms "drunk dialed" at 11-ish (I had already gone home by that point...thank goodness I wasn't a part of that...but it was funny hearing the "after" stories). Wade's birthday was Friday so we had the family over for dinner and Saturday we did the 'Friend' dinner out. It was a busy week, but lots of fun...but all good things must come to an end.

We've had some nasty weather in Tulsa and the kids have been out of school for 2 days now, and we just got word that they are out tomorrow too. Ugh! It's ice, not snow...so they can't even build snowmen or go sledding or any fun "snow day" stuff.

We've had lots of medical issues with our Riley and MANY tests lately. She's had pneumonia twice since mid-November and a sinus infection...puked at school last Friday. Her recent Cystic Fibrosis test just came back negative (big sigh of relief there). My high school friends and I just lost a friend to that in October...he was 30 and that was a "long" life according to doctors. She's had an upper GI and asthma test this month (both normal) and been through allergy testing...poor thing. I guess all the "normal" results are good, but we'd like some sort of answer to what's going on. She did lose another tooth this weekend and the tooth fairy forgot to come (in my defense, I did not know...I was at a Christmas party and Wade forgot to tell me when I got home...but she has her money now so all is well in Riley world).

Here's a pic of one activity that kept us busy today...

I have cute pictures from Christmas Train but I'll put those up a different day.

I'm off to bed...

Losing It

My kids have finally done me in. I'm seriously losing it...
For example, today I found a full loaf of bread in the trash (still in it's package) and the lettuce (that should be in the fridge) on the bottom shelf of the pantry by the coffee maker. I used the lettuce at lunch today, so it's only been there a couple of hours, but seriously...
Losing it...

The Final 5

#26 Friends. We had some friends over for dinner during the holiday and it was just nice to catch up face to face. Email has made it so easy to keep in touch...but there's nothing like hanging out with good friends.

#27 Thanksgiving...and maternity pants that expand with your high pile of mashed potatoes.

#28 Black Friday (and a husband that wants his "toys" and picks up some things for me so I don't have to face the madness)

#29 Digital Cameras - I've always been a mad photo taker. Now I don't have to waste time (and money) with those rolls of film/developing and wondering if I got one where people aren't blinking. But, I am glad that they weren't really around in college...I can't imagine the blackmail some of my friends would have.

#30 Our Church. The best church in Tulsa, best church ever. Even with Wade away hunting for the weekend I was able to get all the kids fed, dressed, and there early so I could volunteer before the service.

25 (the last birthday...right Micki?)

#25
Free Haircuts.
I have a friend that works for Marilyn Ihloff (a nice swanky salon here in T-town), and she tells me that they are looking for "secret shoppers" that are willing to fill out an on-line survey afterwards and in turn they get their hair services for free. She set me up and today I had my first one. It saved me 50 bucks, I only had to pay the tip. If only they would do it for mani/pedi's too! Thanks Cat!

Took the weekend off

I took the weekend off, but I'm back with my grateful list of the days I missed...

#22

TU Football! We had our last home game on Saturday. We spent the first half in the stands (amongst the common people). We spent the 2nd half in the Letterman's Suite--the perks of being a "jersey chaser" in college and marrying my catch :). It got pretty chilly when the sun went down so it was nice to be indoors with free food/drink (even if I couldn't partake in the drink part).

Nice pic huh? This is from my phone...we laughed forever about this. Wade doesn't like the pic I have on Facebook of us, so DeSpain said we should switch it out with this...2 blobs. BTW...we won 56-7.

#23

Family Movie Night---This time it was Kung Fu Panda, which Wade may have liked more than the kids. Seriously...he laughed more than the kids did.

#24

Amazon.com

I've had to order a lot on-line lately...gifts, books, etc for different things. They make everything very easy. I had free 2 day shipping and for a month (nice!) and I had to make a return and they made that super easy...even provided a postage paid return label so I don't have to pay to ship it back.

The first 20's

#20

The little "treasures" you run across with kids in the house...

This is Elasti-Girl from the Incredibles---not quite sure how she got stuck in the mixer...
This is from earlier this year, but Riley used to "hide" flowers from outside all around the house for me to find.

#21

Getting to be a kid again, with your kids.

We made this "Fruit Gobbler" turkey after school this week. We've eaten all his "feathers" (which are just grapes and cheese), but we all had a good time making him-even Brooke got in on it. I think we ate more than we put on him...nobody ate a good dinner that night. But that's ok...there are worse things.

#19
70 degree days in November.

18

#18
My Laptop and Wireless Internet.
The ability to be anywhere in my house and get on-line.

Seventeen

#17 The Library
I like it as much as the kids do.
What I didn't know until a year or two ago was that you can get DVD's, we just got the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special, but they have "big people" movies too.
I get all my book club books, some of which I'm glad I didn't buy (Moab is my Washpot--all-time worst book ever, group consensus).
If I didn't have the kids I could spend hours there. The children do not have that attention span, but they do love to go.

Sweet Sixteen

Kids that say the sweetest things.

Tonight I was combing Cade's hair.
He looks at me with his little sparkly eyes and says, "Mommy, I love you".
To which I said, "Cade, I love you too"
And then Cade said, "Mommy, I love you more than MOVIES!"
Wow. That's a lot!

Half way through the month!

#15 - All the laundry in my house done. And put away.

2 for the price one

So I didn't get my "thankful" blog out yesterday because all afternoon and evening I was sick on the couch...but when you're sick there's still things to be grateful for.
#13...the couch potato in me is grateful for my DVR. Wade and I were late in coming to the DVR craze, but can't imagine going back. It's so nice to rewind and pause live TV because with kids you often have someone talking over what you want to hear or you can pause TV while you bathe and put kids to bed...come out and not miss a moment...love it!
#14...my neighbors--with some of our house under the weather - my bus stop moms have helped get the kids on the bus for me and brought over dinner tonight. Wade's mom (also a neighbor) also brought over dinner last night and fed the kids.

Twelve

#12--My Book Club.
One of my dearest friends got me involved in this book club and I just really love getting back into reading. My first degree in college was going to be in English Literature...until I realized they probably weren't going to pay me to read all day. So I had to make a change. Bummer. Not that I get paid for my current job either.
We've recently celebrated our 1 year anniversary and I've read so many things I wouldn't have touched otherwise. Tonight's discussion was about Bel Canto...a pretty good read. Jen mentioned that on my blog bio - somewhere I wrote that I don't get to read books and that I needed to change that - I do read about 2 books a month...so I will update the blog here soon. You just have to make time for it...now I need to make time for cleaning my house. Yuck!
So thank you Jennifer for getting me back into it....I'm thankful for you too!

Playing Catch Up

So we made it back from our crazy trip to St. Louis.

We left Tulsa on Wed. after Wade got home from work and got in town LATE. Thursday Wade had a business downtown that morning - but didn't get home until 4 that afternoon, so the day was shot, but we went to Rich n Charlies (my fave) for dinner.
Friday we took the "train" (really the Metro Link) to Union Station and on down to the Arch with the kids and bummed around a little. Friday all my brothers were arriving in town and we had dinner at mom's and celebrated Lori (my sis-in-law's) b-day.
Saturday the boys went skeet shooting (which took entirely too long) as Lori and I were waiting to go to Archivers (scrapbook store) for their Holiday Extravaganza, which we thoroughly enjoyed...once we got there. That night was Christmas at Chad's house (we moved Christmas up because Heath and Pearl are expecting and can't travel in December).
Sunday we had a baby shower for them.
To all my friends from STL that didn't know I was coming, or that I was in town, I'm sorry...this was a jammed packed family weekend and I knew it'd be hard to see you, I didn't see anyone...Next time, I promise.

During ALL of this we had "Vomit-Fest 2008" going on. It started Friday with Riley (middle of the night...real pleasant, she made it to the toilet all but one time).
Saturday belonged to Cade (this was the most brutal...he just had to keep running to the bathroom, it was so incredibly sad). I continued into the night and on Sunday. We almost had to take him to the ER, we were worried about him getting dehydrated...he was such a champ though and all but once made it to the bathroom or into a bucket.
Monday was the drive back and everyone did great. That night and this morning was Brooke's turn. My kids also managed to get my niece, my brother, and my nephew sick, so far...but there seems to be more casualties every day.

Which leaves me with catching up on my gratitude journaling:
#6 - So grateful to be done Christmas shopping for one side of our family. It was a bit hard getting into the spirit of Christmas...but we had a great night and we all enjoyed seeing the kids excited about their gifts...that's the best part of the holiday for me...watching the kids get excited about everything.

Cousins

#7 - Grateful that 2 of my 3 children know the sensation of throwing up and can make it to the toilet or bucket next to their bed

Before Vomit-Fest Began, down on the Arch grounds

#8 - No cleaning puke out of the van, or having to smell it for the 6 hour ride home. Seriously this was the BEST thing about Vomit-Fest '08
#9 - My favorite person...my hubby, who was up with me during each puke session and helped clean up the kids, while I cleaned the bedding and changed their sheets---we make a good team.
#10 - Home Sweet Home....how good it is to be home.
#11 - Veteran's Day...I come from a military family, so I understand some of the sacrifices they make to serve this country. Our Veterans made it possible for us to keep our freedoms. It's like that old quote that says, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" Case in point...(Dad you will like this one...we all know what you think of air traffic controllers...this just proves your point)

As a mom, I got a giggle out of this. Riley had a Veteran's Day assembly at school today and this was the little song her class sang. If you're wondering what Cade is up to, he is saying "Cheese" nearly every time you see him (funny if you can hear him over Brooke). You may need to turn off the song playing on the blog (mom and dad...you can do that by scrolling to the bottom and click on the stop or pause the song in the box). She also sang kinda quiet so you may need to turn up your computer volume.

Happy Veteran's Day everyone!

Temporary Pause

Had to travel this weekend.
Will resume list next week...

Fifth on the List

#5 - Caramel Apple Spice from Starbucks.

I don't drink coffee, but love Starbucks for their Apple Cider this time of year. It's THE best!

Seriously, one try and you'll be addicted.

#4 on the Gratitude List

This is a gimme today...

I think we all take for granted the country live in, in the famous words of Tim Russert, "what a country". I liked him so much, I miss him, especially tonight.

#4 -- I exercised my right to vote...waited an hour and 15 minutes. Some of that time is because the vote counting machine broke down and we had to wait for it to get fixed, but our polling place was the social place to be. We probably ran into a dozen people we knew, it was fun.

#3

#3 Bunco Night
Once a month my neighbors meet at the clubhouse for Bunco and it's just really nice to have a night off...but what I like most is to talk to big people. When your home with little ones all day you can go a little loopy. Tonight was extra good because I won (well I tied with Dee so we split the pot) but I still walked out with some extra cash in my pocket. But I'm still a Wilson and I don't like losing, so more than winning the cash I like the bragging rights as Bunco Champion.

Gratitude #2

2. Fall Daylight Savings Time. I volunteer at our church on Sunday so instead of leaving at 7:45 this morning, I got to leave at 7:45 (really 8:45 body clock time).

Gratitude...

We're trying to teach the kids a little about gratitude. They (as I imagine most kids ) have A LOT and take it for granted. So for about a week, each night at dinner we all tell at least 2 things that happened that day that we are thankful for. We've been doing that about a week now and the kids come up with some pretty nice things (and sometimes really funny).
Since November is all about Thanksgiving, I thought I'd try to update my blog each day with something I'm grateful for.

1. Today I filled up my car, gas in Tulsa is $1.95/gallon. Not only is gas low everywhere, but Tulsa often has the lowest in the country...gotta love that!

The Summer I never got around to blogging...

Fix yourself a snack, kick back and make yourself comfortable, this could take a while...

Here is a bit of our summer in pictures...I'll try to keep the captions brief. We really had a busy summer. 2 trips (Our couple get away to New York and our family Mid-Country vacation-St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus and back)...but beyond that - we did lots around T-town. Here's a sampling of our summer.

Weddings galore, here is the whole Clark family at one.

Me and my BFF Christy at another

Riley and Cade were enrolled in the summer reading program at the library and earned free tickets to a Drillers game (Tulsa's baseball team) for reading all their books. It was "Bison" night so all the kids got a little stuffed Bison(see Cade's hand) --which beside the food, may have been the highlight of the game. I'm thinking "Bison Night" might be an "only in Oklahoma" thing.

Huge milestone: Riley learned to ride her bike (sans training wheels).

My garden was pretty pathetic this year. As you can see from the size of my produce here. Then again, I think it takes a lot of talent to get a carrot and a watermelon the same exact size. Seriously...you try it. We did get a few tomatos and zucchinis but nothing like years past.

Brooke cannot be contained. She will not stay in her crib - so we have to shut her door to keep her in her room. When we check on her, this is what we find.

4th of July -- Brooke LOVED the fireworks, she'd just clap and clap after each one

We LIVE at the pool in the summer. Cade took one on one lessons this year and was out of his vest, holding his breath, and swimming under water by the end of summer.

Another pool pic, because these two are just too darn cute.

Normal spaghetti night... I really love that my kids can eat themselves and I don't have to feed them anymore, but sometimes it's just almost not worth it.

We took full advantage of our splash park too. It's funny, the most patience my kids have ever shown is waiting for these buckets to fill up before they tip over on them.

Father's Day at the Lake.

Brooke was content to just play in the mud.

Riley "caught" a dragonfly!


Fathers Day at GreenLeaf State Park.


Cade trying to catch a fish with his Spiderman fishing pole. Didn't catch any fish, but we saw a ton of baby turtles.

Remember what I said about the kids trying to feed themselves...yeah, same thing.

There's a Blue Bell Ice Cream Plant just a couple miles from our house. Every year they have their "Taste of Summer" and have tours, tons of free samples, and lots of activities for the kids. Here are Riley and Cade "milking" a fake cow.

An annual Clark tradition, blackberry picking.

This year we got nearly 6 pounds (not including what we put in our bellies while we were picking...which probably equaled what we put in our buckets). With our bounty I made 5 pies, 9 jars of jelly, and we gave 3 pints to neighbors. Next year we're gonna do raspberries too! You might be able to roll us to the pool next summer.

NO more pictures mommarazzi.


Cade taking after Uncle Heath with his hurdling...

Cade turned 4!Blowing out his candles!

Brooke turned 2!

Blowing out her candles!

The mark of a good party...crashing on the tile. I think my husband did this a few times after parties in college, it must run in the family...

this was actually for our nephew Clark's 1st birthday, but you can see all the kids had as much fun as the birthday boy

We camped in our backyard a couple times this summer. The first time we did it a storm blew in around 2 or 3. None of us slept very soundly so when the wind was practically blowing us into the neighbors yard Wade and I decided we better move everyone in. Good thing we did, a massive storm blew in moments after we all got in.

Reading stories by flashlight (well LED "puck" lights) courtesy of mom.

Cade and Riley both loved their goggles this summer and I just thought Cade looked so stinkin' cute that I had to include this picture.

Just one of those days

Yesterday was one of those days that just went completely different that I thought when we woke up. My dad is in town a couple of days and this was his last full day with us. (He left before noon this morning).

Riley had coughed a lot the night before so I thought I'd run her to the doctor. I had a doctor appointment in the morning and right after mine I ran her to hers. Turns out she has pneumonia. Riley just kinda gets sick easier than most people, she gets a little tiny virus and it just takes over her body. So they wanted us to go directly to the hospital to get IV antibiotics...they needed to aggressively attack it. But first, I had to get Cade to pre-school. So I ran home, picked him up, ran him to school, and let dad stay behind and put Brooke down for her nap. I took Riley up to the hospital we got the IV (torture), spent a couple of hours getting the drip and doing some other tests...they left it in so if she had to go back today they wouldn't have to re-poke her. On the way home, I got rammed (from behind) at a red light by a lady who "speak-y no englisse" and had to wait for an interpreter to get there...I mean it was just an awful day. Today at the doctor they said she was doing better and could switch to oral antibiotics, breathing treatments, mucinex and Robitussin...sheesh. They have scheduled an upper GI for her on Monday. Poor thing. She refers to this incident as her "surgery" and her IV (that is all wrapped up so it doesn't come out) as "her cast".

Missing Mike

If only we could all just blog about sunshine and roses, but unfortunately life doesn't work that way.

Into each life, a little rain must fall...and we've had a downpour for the last 2 weeks.
Most everyone that reads this already knows, but Wade's brother passed away 2 Saturday's ago.

It has been the hardest thing Wade and I have ever been through.

We still don't have any answers to why this has happened, the medical examiner said it could take up to 12 weeks to get all the reports back. We did have a very nice service for him with a packed church which just shows how many people he touched.

We've had so much support from all over. Our neighbors have been AMAZING, from bringing food, to watching kids, and beyond. All my 'bus stop moms' even came to the "viewing" we had the night before the funeral. I called my mom at 3:30 on Monday and asked her if she could get on a plane that night at 8:30. She did, and took care of the kids, got them to school and gymnastics, tried to give them attention and keep things as normal as possible for them while the world was turned upside down for us. She even did 6 loads of laundry for me. Thanks Mom!

We've been trying to get back to everyday life, but it's a struggle.

Wade spoke at the funeral and had the greatest line in his eulogy--"Everyone has one of those friends they know they can call at any hour to come and bail them out of jail. Mike was NOT one of those friends. Mike was the kind of friend sitting in the cell right next to you, saying, "Boy, wasn't that fun".

That truly captures Mike.

Our kids will no doubt miss "fun Uncle Mike",

but there's no doubt that he'll live on in the countless stories we'll be sure to tell them.