the clark's: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Happy 6th Birthday...

... to Lily!

Max and Kendall picked out 3 gourmet treats each, and Lily celebrated all day long.

Dexter's Visit

With Owen, Mom, and Dad in Baltimore for Owen's appointment, Dex was left hangin' with the Clark's.

This boy even makes a "queen bee" bib look cool.

Not a quiet moment in our house for two days....

We've missed you Double D! Thanks for being such a good boy, and for putting up with the Amazon (Kendall)... though I think you're going to return the "favor" someday soon.

Friday, January 21, 2011

S'now Problem

Actually... there is a problem, there's too much of it!

I suppose we wouldn't get these sweet, funny pictures without it though (because I would never dress them to look this ridiculous other than to play in the snow in our yard and playing in the snow makes them happy enough to hug and smile for the camera).

I told you it was a lot of snow.

"Ham"

I've never done it, but I bet if you were to look up "ham" in an online dictionary, you would find this video.

Max and I agree that this girl has lost her mind.

Letter To Santa

(sorry for the untimeliness, this one slipped through the cracks)

Max composed and wrote his letter to Santa this year. Mom helped with the spelling.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Potty Boot Camp

The time had come. We had to forget about the awful, dreadful, year-long debacle that was the potty training of Max. With Kevin home for a three-day weekend, we hunkered down in casa de Clark and had a potty weekend.

We had 4 or 5 accidents to start things off Saturday morning, but after a nap, the light bulb switched on and this girl was a pro. We haven't had any pee pee accidents since.

Here's a pee pee on Day 1.

While going, Kendall says, "Working!"

The stinky poo poo is another story. We had one hit on Day 2 (we got a picture, can you see it? :), but 3 bombs that were way off target since :(

Now, here we are on Day 4. Still willingly going with a smile. We'll keep working on the dos. The girl eats enough to go several times a day, so we're not lacking in opportunities.

Lego Max

Thanks in part to all of the Legos he received for Christmas, Max now has a new hobby/obsession. Watching him follow the instructions and put these together is one of the most fascinating things we've ever seen him do. The recommended age range for them is 6 or 7 to 12 years. We pull them out after Kendall goes down for a nap and he follows the instructions and builds for several hours. Here's a police station that has a mere 953 pieces. It took him several days (with a little help), but now it's done and he plays with it every day.

DEEP THOUGHTS by Max

{after dropping a deuce in the potty}

Max to Kendall: "It looks like a pointy pickle, doesn't it?"

Safety First

... gotta keep a close eye on this one

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Diva

Kendall singing a song she wrote with her princess dress wrapped around her like a shawl.

Pretty Dress

Kendall's new thing is to get up after being put to bed, and put on this skirt (as you can see it's over pj's).

"Pretty dress, mama, pretty".

Once in a Lifetime Opportunity???

we scored tickets to the Chiefs game (rare)

it was a playoff game (extremely rare)

the chiefs came up short... way short

but we had a great time anyway

thank you keith for sharing the tickets with us!

Rachel's Birthday

thoughtful cards and flowers

church with little resistance from my loving family

a trip to starbucks

as if that wasn't enough...

lunch with friends at the peanut to watch the chiefs

this would be kendall at the candy machine with her dress up showing off her thigh-highs

a great way to end my 33rd year (yikes!)

New Year's Eve

Yet another (5 in a row, I believe) fun-filled NYE with the Kaiser's. This year the Maximuk's joined in the fun.

Highlight of the evening:

Kevin sabering a bottle of champagne with a cheap butcher knife

Even though we stay in, we like to dress for the occasion.

This year.... matching outfits, classy!

(You'll have to excuse the terrible photography on the right)

DEEP THOUGHTS by Max

"Look Mom, I'm like Perpesso!" (that would be Picasso)

[Again, I have no idea where he gets this stuff]

Metro Christmas

We got things started off right with an intense game of SPOONS on Christmas night. Aunt Debbie and Max teamed up as a dynamic duo. That lasted one round... they lost, Deb let out an ear-piercing yell while slamming her hand on the table, and Max was outta there.

Bodies hit the floor, hands were battered, spoons were mangled, and some woke up the next morning with bruises. Despite all that, Adrienne now has a new favorite game.

This is as good as it gets at this stage.

We miss you Ryann, can't wait until you're ready to take some pictures with us! :)

Christmas Morning

The tree after St. Nick's visit

Coming downstairs after waking up

Opening presents

Someone discovered princesses, high heels, and dress-up

Lord, help us

Santa or an elf made some sort of mistake with us this year. Max had a cap gun with lots of caps in his stocking. Here's how well that went over...

Max said, "No, I'm going to shoot someone, I don't want to do it."

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at home, still recovering a bit from the flu we all had that week. We had plans with Adrienne that night, but she wasn't able to be with us due to our ailments. We were bummed about Adrienne, but we made the most of the evening.

We attended Christmas Eve mass. We went embarrassment-free this year. Max went to the front of the church with the other kids for the Christmas story and remembered where we were sitting afterward. Kev actually walked toward the kids to find him and Max beat him back to our seats. The embarrassment-free portion of the night only applied to church. We had quite the dinner experience at Applebee's later that evening (you can read about that here).

After church and dinner, it was time to sprinkle the magical reindeer food in the yard.