Santa and kids

Merry "Kiss"mas

Cousins

I totally swiped this from Alice's blog...(Alice: I hope you don't mind me sharing your cutie fellow with mine on here.)

Clark's Christmas Wishes...

Clark has circled almost every item in this magazine and we have about a dozen (no joke) Christmas wish lists for him sitting around the house. He is wishing big this Christmas...

Lyla Grace (3 weeks)

Lyla Grace is already 3 weeks old and she is doing great! She is a wonderful baby. She has already changed so much and is growing every day. Clark is loving her a little more each day and for that we are thankful! Life is good...

Lyla Grace has arrived!

Lyla Grace was born on Saturday morning, November 13th, at 2:56 AM weighing in at 8 pounds 8 ounces. She is precious!

Clark is 5!

While it is almost unbelievable, our little Clark is five years old! We celebrated Clark's birthday with our family and way too many presents on Sunday afternoon. He had a great time celebrating with everyone and began watching as soon as we got home from church for his "guests to arrive". We are so blessed to have Clark as our son! He is a true gift from God.

Clark's 1st Day of Pre-K

Drew brought Clark to school on Friday to meet his teachers and to get to see the classroom. He was tired from the excitement and crashed on the way home. Of course, he did spend the day with Drew and they made a dozen plus stops before getting back home.

Clark was very excited to get to class Monday morning. Here he is with Mrs. Debbie & Mrs. Renee on the first day! What a handsome boy!

Exploring in the classroom...
He left me a work of art before we walked to his class.
He was very happy to tell Drew about his "awesome" day at Pre-K.

He has been a great student so far and loves school! I hope both of those continue for a few more years.

Summer is coming to an end...

Yet another summer has come and gone! The thing that makes next week different than any of the others in the past decade is that when I go to work, Clark will be coming with me. CRAZY!!!! He will be in Pre-K this year and I am fortunate to have him at Arbor Springs with me. He doesn't seem extremely excited about starting school, but I know he will love getting to socialize with more kiddos soon. He has been home with me all summer and with the exception of play dates and spend the night dates at grandparents' houses, I have been the one to entertain!
On another note, Lyla Grace is doing well...growing like she should and staying busy lots of the time. We got some good news back regarding the testing with the specialist and we are very hopeful that she will be born a healthy baby! November will be here before we know it and we cannot wait to meet her!

Gender is Revealed...

We did the 20 week ultrasound yesterday. Clark was so excited to see pictures of "the baby" and he had been saying both he and she all week long changing back and forth. Drew and I were convinced recently that it was going to be another boy. We finally got to see that the baby was indeed a girl. Lyla Grace was very active and gave us some good laughs at how much she is already like me...quite humorous. We are all very excited; the family gathered last night to celebrate the announcement!

Walt Disney World

We finally took Clark to Disney World this past weekend and he loved it! We all had a great time, especially Clark.



Of course, the castle was amazing to Clark. It seemed a little less large to Drew and me as adults, but it was still "magical".


Can't go to Disney World without seeing Mickey and Minnie!


Drew braved any ride Clark wanted to try....old reliable merry-go-round.
Clark was so excited to see Tigger and wanted to know why he wouldn't bounce on his tail. ;)


Our late night at Disney World and Clark was going strong about 10:30 on the Dumbo ride with Drew.
One of my favorite pictures from the trip!

Another favorite...Clark's view of the fireworks on Drew's shoulders!


This proved to be the best method to keep Clark awake on the bus ride back...games on my phone. We tried whatever worked!

Clark was super excited to see one of the characters in the afternoon parade. I don't remember who it was, but I love his face here and his hand was busy waving as fast as it could go.

Clark and me in front of the castle.


His all-time favorite character (and ride) at Disney World was Buzz Lightyear! He has talked about it non-stop!!!

At our hotel, they had a huge Woody that Clark loved!

A Wild Week

After several rounds of strep during the winter and other issues Clark has faced with enlarged tonsils and adenoids, we decided about two months ago to have them removed. Drew and I discussed (in detail) what exactly that meant with the doctors, nurses, and other parents who had been through similar situations. We scheduled the surgery for this past Wednesday since we knew it would be a two week ordeal of being out of school and arranging for Clark to stay with grandmothers. I couldn't afford to miss before the CRCT (what a shame,but how true that statement is)! So we went in for the surgery early Wednesday morning expecting the procedure just as everyone told us about. "Kids react differently, but overall they bounce back quickly." Well....what a shocker we both faced when Clark was brought back to us. He was MAD and inconsolable for about an hour and a half. It was terrible for him, Drew, and me! After he got the IV out and threw up a few times and we got more medicine in him, he seemed to be feeling better. That was temporary. The night was hard for him and me! But...every day has been a little better and he is recovering "as expected". We are all emotionally worn out and Clark is physically worn out. It has been harder than we expected, but we are hopeful that Clark will (not any any order) a)stop snoring b)eat more food c)not gag at the drop of a hat d)be well e)hear better and f)breathe better. Now off to a child who has seen way too much t.v. and who has learned all about the Nintendo DS.

The Real Snow Day

We got snow (and an extra day off of school)! Clark got out a little while yesterday to play, but we all got out to play this morning. He and Drew tried to build a snowman, but it didn't work so well. Clark had a great time until he took his wet gloves off and then realized his hands were freezing!

Snow Day (the way we Southerners refer to it.....)

Today was a day off from school because of a little bit of snow, but a lot more ice. We went out just for a few minutes to play, but with the temperature at 18 degrees, it was a short trip! The warm hot chocolate was a nice treat afterwards!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was very busy, but we got to enjoy visiting with all of our family members and ate way too much food at every event! I only took my camera to Memaw's on Christmas Eve and took a few pictures at our house Christmas morning. We had some really cute photo ops at Mimi's and PawPaw's and at Peep & D-Dog's, but of course I had forgotten the camera! Please excuse the crazy order of the photos...it's too much work to rearrange them.Clark on his scooter for the first time in the cul-de-sac. He loved it until he fell in the driveway and hurt his finger. It's been too cold outside to try it again!!!!

Clark is enjoying playing with one of his many toys he got for Christmas.

Us on Christmas morning (still in pajamas at 11:00!!!!)

Crip made the whipped cream for the pancakes!


A griddle full of pancakes for breakfast.
This was our dining room on Christmas morning, including the extra chair that didn't get moved out in the chaos of the morning.
Memaw and Alice at Christmas Eve.Baby Austin and Mrs. Carol enjoying some good cuddle time!


Clark was ready to drive through the lights at Callaway Gardens!
One of the scenes Clark enjoyed


Arnie, our Elf on the Shelf, went back with Santa on Christmas Eve!

Drew and Clark having a conversation on Christmas Eve. Drew was probably asking Clark if he thought Santa would find our house. I think Clark was worried he really may not come because the first thing Clark said on Christmas morning was, "Did Santa find our house?"