New School Year at a New School

Kids went back to school this week. We were all VERY ready for the school year to begin. For one, the kids just need to meet some new kids, make some new friends. But we thrive on routine in this house and with the new move, we needed some sort of order in the house.

Brand New Shiny Kindergartner.

So happy to be going to school, riding the school bus, and making new friends. Of course he's had 2 years of Pre-K under his belt. He'll be one of the oldest in his class since we decided to hold him out a year. Loved every bit of school. Favorite part of school: recess.

Big Exciting 3rd Grader. This one is most looking forward to learning to write cursive. (Although she's been "writing" cursive for a year now in her own way). A little upset that she cant wear flip flops to school, but school policy for PE and recess. Had a great first day, met another little girl at the bus stop who is her new best friend....also a 3rd grader, also named Riley!

Think it's going to be a good year!

The Final Days in Tulsa

“What I’ve experienced is that I can’t know the future. I can’t know if anything that I do will change what happens tomorrow. I can’t know with certainty, but what I do know is if I do nothing, nothing will change.” —James Orbinski (1960-); Former President Of Doctors Without Borders

Where to begin?
Big Summer for us Clarks. Haven't had time to document half of what I wanted but here's a start. Of course lots of big changes...

Of course, the biggest change is our move from Tulsa to St. Louis.

I thought I'd put a few pictures out of our last few weeks in Tulsa. Maybe when I have time to scrapbook again, this can help me remember the final weeks so I can document it all. Our social calendar was booked solid (at times overlapping) for the last 3 weeks.
We had several different send-offs. After as many years as we've been there, we have lots of different groups of friends and family to say goodbye to.

My farewell DDD Dinner Club. The girls loaded me up with a ton of Tulsa gear for our new place, including the "I Heart Tulsa" shirt I'm wearing. REALLY gonna miss these gals and our "Girls Night Outs". I just wish I would have thought to grab a group picture.

Wade and some of our oldest TU friends

I've been a part of the most fabulous book club for the last couple of years. Our group sponsored the 50th Anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird event at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa, just before we left.

Saw Eclipse (back to back nights on opening weekend with one of my besties...Jennifer). Saw it one night with our men, then next night with another girlfriend of ours. Loved it both times. Would have gone back for a third if we just had the time. Jen snuck some wine into the theater, which we drank from sippy cups. We may both be moms now, but we still have some crazy fun nights together, just like back in the day. We stayed out way too late that night, really felt it the next morning.

Nicole and I met the day before school started when our oldest were entering kindergarten. We live close enough that we share a bus stop and for 3 years we've been watching out for each others kids. Lucky for us our husbands really get along too (they even got matching "his and his" handguns together). This night we went to the gun range and out for margaritas at one of our favorite places.

I've been taking guitar lessons for the past few months and Mary and I gave an impromptu John Denver performance, there's even a video floating around on-line. Mary is a fabulous teacher, we're hoping to continue via skype once we get settled. The stars were aligned just right...Brad had 2 guitars, the girls were goading us into playing, and the wine was plentiful.

(My book club...like English Class, but with wine) (a few not pictured)

Squeaked in a whirlwind trip to Columbus, OH for a family reunion. Got to spend a few nights with my brother Todd and his family.

Me with my nephews. Garrett did NOT want to be held, but Aiden couldn't have been more loving. He and JP got along like peas and carrots.

Our final morning in Tulsa, we had a donut feast with our family before taking off on for the next chapter in our story.

No one I'd rather be on this journey with.

“There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” —Nelson Mandela (1918-); Former President Of South Africa

Splash Pad

Just one of our favorite summertime spots.
Our splashpad.

(That's Cade getting soaked)

Riley's about to get it...

(Riley)

Beach Beauty

I just love being their mom. They make everything more fun.

Back from camp and all grown up

Got Riley back from camp safe and sound. She had a BLAST. They swam (lake and pool), rode wave runners, and canoed/kayaked. She rode go-karts, bumper cars, rode horses and a jillion other activities.
After hearing about everything they packed in for those 5 days I asked her, "well, did you get homesick at all, do you know what that means...did you miss home?" Not a second passed and she says, "No. Didn't think about you at all." Then she follows it up with..."I was just too busy." Well good, I'm glad for that. (Then she spent the next 2 days being super snuggly).
My girl is fearless and independent, from day one she came out of the womb holding her head up. I'm really grateful that she's that way, she's not going to let anyone walk all over her.
I do wonder what the world holds for her...that is, if it survives beyond Dec. 21, 2012 ;)

Living in Fast Forward

Literally feel like we've had the fast forward button stuck down lately.

Today we put Riley on a bus to attend our Church Camp for 5 days/4 nights.

I know she's going to have a blast and she's had no fear or concerns about camp at all. The girl is fearless...her name means brave/valiant and she certainly lives up to it. I held it together til we got back in the car to drive away. Had to drive back to get one last goodbye in. I'm still getting weepy just writing this...what is wrong with me?

Yesterday wrapped up a very LOOOONG t-ball schedule. Everytime we think we're done, another tournament pops up.

Cade has had a very decorated season. Everyone gets a trophy just for participating. We won first place in our league, so each kid won a medal. Because we won our league tournament we got asked to play in the all-city tournament which we got 2nd place last night (another bigger trophy) and a patch in recognition. Sheesh. We're going to have to build a room just to hold all the kid's awards.

School ended a few weeks ago, here are most of the kids from our bus stop (minus a few). Really gonna miss this.

Sometimes my bus stop moms are the only adults I get to talk to during the day (twice a day at that). We all watch out for the others and will grab the kids off the bus and stay with them til their mom can get to them. Plus the kids look out for each other. Whether it's bullies or falling asleep on the bus they all stand up for each other and make sure the bus doesn't leave without everyone on or off.

We've managed to squeeze in a little summer fun. Kinda feel bad for the kids that get to the park after us...there's no swings left when the Clarks are at the park. J.P. LOVES the swing! What he does not love - is to be held still, now that he's mobile. Totally love his "other" dimpled cheeks. Why is this so delicious on him but not so much on a mom of 4 kids? Speedy (our turtle for a day). The kids and I found him during our early morning bike ride and brought him home. We thought about keeping him. But I found him out of the basket, upside down at one point during the day...and I figured if he doesn't want to live with us so much that he's trying to commit suicide we should probably set him free.

The kids and I went to St. Louis for 10 days. We were there mainly to house hunt, but we got a little friend and family time in too! We got to meet our newest niece Violet (who is just precious)...I'm not sure I heard her cry at all. I had planned my 15 year reunion over that trip and that was an absolute blast. Much (MUCH) better turn out than I even expected! Although I think us girls decided we like calling it the '3rd Anniversary of our 5 year reunion', better.

Of course it's not summer without a little mischief. I included pictures of all the other little ones so I figured I'd share my sweet little angel Brooke. How could this one ever get in trouble? Hmmm... This is what my lovely angel of a child, Brooke, did to my mom's back door. She threw a rock and busted out the glass. In her defense, she wasn't trying to hit the glass...she was trying to hit her brother.

Busy Busy. That's my life. This spring we've had games almost every night of the week, sometimes 2 games a night (which gets tricky getting each kid to their field, when dad is traveling 1/2 the time). But the kids have really had a good time which makes it worth it. Riley really has grown so much this season, she's fielding well and she's probably the best hitter on her team.

Her favorite position is pitcher (even though the coach pitches...the girls hit the ball to her a lot and she runs it in to get them out). She's really a good little ball player, she got a double just last night.

It's Cade's 2nd season with t-ball and he's a little...well, he's less focused. He really enjoys being out there, getting dirty, and messing around with all his buds. Sometimes you find him doing this, on base...playing in the dirt or he'll be sitting down in the outfield (well...in his defense, it can get boring out there).

Cade is one of 5 Cade/Caden's on his team. It's a bit ridiculous. Coach asked him if he had a nickname and Cade told Coach he could call him Donkey Kong. (He often refers to himself as Donkey Kong. Funny side story: when I had him come to sign my mom's Mother's Day card, he gets up to the card, grabs the pen, looks at me and says, "How do you spell Donkey Kong".) Silly Boy. Aren't they cute?

From Zero to One, in a Flash

My baby is ONE. I've had a hard day today. Maybe because my cousin Roxanne lost her youngest son yesterday, and I keep thinking that would be my J.P. It's just so heart wrenching. I pray I never have to know that heartache. Sure makes you evaluate your life and remember that this is really the only moment you have for sure, we tend to forget that in the daily grind of life. I know that I'm not having anymore babies and there is nothing I can do to stop J.P. from growing up. From here on out he's a toddler not a baby and there's no going back. So, I have hugged and loved all over him today-which he loves...but, he reaches the point where he just wants me to put him down so he can MOVE...(I could see him thinking, "Enough already Mom!")
I just love him so much. He is so unbelievably happy. All the time. We are so blessed.
His face here is just saying, "Ummm...what is that? Hey guys, a little help here?" And his brother and sisters were happy to oblige. Next year he'll be doing it himself...but this year he's got some people to show him the ropes.

His favorite dinner for his birthday...Hot dogs and apples.

Followed by a little mischief after dessert.

Happy Birthday my love.

Such a big boy!

This boy is one amazing little dude. Cade took his training wheels off yesterday and almost immediately took off on his own.

He's a natural. I'm so proud of him, what an awesome kid! (Had to brag on him a bit...he is so happy with himself). As far as he's concerned this is the best day of his life!

My prince...

I'm wondering how long it will take him to figure out I put this pic out on the blog. I literally have hundreds of these pictures in the 13 years we've been a couple.

Wade loves to jump in random pictures. During this one, I was taking pictures of the house to put on our "for sale" flyer and Wade jumped in. Once, Annette was telling me how she was searching through her pictures and came across a pic of someone's bare hiney...guess who?

I tell Riley all the time..."Riley, marry someone who makes you laugh"....because when you don't like them very much that can go a LONG way.

But I do like him. Very much.

Today anyway. ;)

JP is Walking...and other tidbits of life

So this video only shows a couple of steps but he can do 3-4 as of tonight.

We live a crazy life, anyone who knows us knows that. Here is a couple of snapshots of what we've been up to since I last updated.

We've had the snowy-est winter in Tulsa in the 15 years I've lived here and we've taken advantage of it...

Cade getting air-born on a little ramp Wade built in the snow...I love this picture cause Cade's face shows pure joy.

The kids built a fort in the snow. When this melted it looked like 4 snowman in the yard guarding the house...it was funny.

As the kid's homeroom mom I planned a couple of Valentines parties.

Think Cade can get any more sprinkles on his cookie?

During a whirlwind trip to St. Louis, my brother and sister-in-law invited us to ride on a float with them in the Mardi Gras parade...which was so crazy...but fun. The float theme was hoosiers on a float trip (hence the sweet handlebar moustache for Wade).

We went to our 1st basketball game as a family...all of us. Where the kids did remarkably well. Sometimes they surprise me and I realize I might be doing something right as a mom. ;)

Papa celebrated his 60th birthday with a big bash.I celebrated my 25th (again) birthday with my favorite 4 munchkins.We celebrated the normal everyday moments in life.

My GirlsMy Boys

Took to the kids to the circus with their cousins (which was also my 1st circus). This was really cool. We really enjoyed it. They had white tigers, bears that rode bicycles, all the normal circus-y stuff...but the trapeze artist had me coming out of my seat thinking my kids were going to be scarred by some tragedy...they were a-mazing.One of Wade's best friends got married. Wade got congratulated by the bartender (thinking he was the groom). I don't understand it but these 2 always get confused for each other...they always have. Beautiful wedding though. Beautiful couple. Lots of fun.
I've got so many others, but I'll leave it at that. We've got lots on our plate the next couple of weeks. We're putting our house on the market and looking for a new house. I'm worried about how to keep the house "show-ready" with 4 kids, but my sister-in-law Lori gave me some really good tips and she's a semi-pro at it. We're also planning our 1st Slumber Party (No Boys Allowed) for Riley's upcoming 8th birthday. And softball/t-ball games start this week.

ps. Got a new niece this week. My brother Heath had a little girl (Violet)! Which evens out the nephew/niece count on the Wilson side of the family.