Deacon Robert

Last night I had the pleasure of welcoming my new nephew into the world. Angie was a rock star and delivered him naturally and drug free after less than 12 hours of labor. He is a healthy and alert baby boy. We are so excited to have him here!

Deacon Robert
April 17, 2009
7:32pm
9lbs 4oz

20.5 inches

Spring?

Well the weather here is getting tolerable. There have been several days when the sun is shining and it is warm enough to be outside. The boys love heading out to play. They run and run and run. Samuel loves riding his bike around the drive and in the field. Liam loves chasing the dogs, looking for the cats and playing with his truck. Here are a couple of pictures of the boys outside playing...finally!

running away from mommy

sometimes they love each other...sometimes

cheesy as ever!

playing soccer or picking clovers?

riding bikes together

looking and waiting for the catsThese days of nice weather have reminded Mike and I how nice summers in Michigan are. We are looking forward to spending lots of time outside this year. I am sure that will translate in to lots of pictures too!

Lately

Sorry we have been so sporadic recently. I have been really busy the last couple of weeks working on some of my photography. I have found that I really, really, really love photography and am currently deciding what that means in life. Since the beginning of the year I have had four shoots all with either friends or family and have both loved doing it and am getting good results. So what does it all mean...???? I will keep you informed. In the meantime, I thought I would share a bit of what has been consuming me over the past month.

Enjoy~

Rock On

This video is pretty old. If my guess is correct it would have been sometime in November. Anyway, I found it the other day when I was loading videos from the other camera and thought I would share.

Rock On from Mike Clark on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Jen

Hope you have a great birthday today! We miss you tons and wish we could be there to celebrate with a little Indian food and a game of Settlers. I might even let you win since it's your birthday and all! Have a good one!


Happy Birthday Jen from Mike Clark on Vimeo.

The Clark Clan

This past weekend we celebrated Ruby's first birthday. It may have been the first time that we had all six of the kids together. Here are the kids I kept referring to as the Clark Clan (even through two have the last name Puck).

Samuel and Liam (Mike's boys), Tristin and Evan (Sean's boys), Addison and Ruby (Kate's girls)

Happy Birthday Ruby

Today is our niece's first birthday!
Happy Birthday Ruby!

Hope you have a great day!

So Helpful

I noticed the last few posts have featured Samuel. Don't take that to mean that Liam isn't in full force around this house. The other day I needed to shower and Mike was busy so I took Liam in the bathroom with me. I was hoping he would entertain himself with the shampoo bottles and I would be able to get a quick shower in. He entertained himself alright. This is what I opened the shower curtain to see.

I still don't know who caused most of the problem, Liam or Wrigley, but know that together they had some fun. Liam was so proud of their mess and thought that I should be pretty proud of him. To say the least, he hasn't been a guest in the bathroom since.

(No, I don't shower with my camera. I did go and grab it right away though)

So Sweet

On days that are really rough I have to pull these pictures out and remember just how sweet they are. The other day Samuel feel asleep on the couch and since I don't have pictures of him asleep since he was a baby I figured I better take the opportunity. Makes you just want to cuddle up next to them.

My Handsome Little Boy

The other day Mike designed and built a backdrop stand for me. I have been looking at them and couldn't fathom spending the close to 200 dollars for it then the fabric or paper on top of that. After looking at what I wanted we figured we would try to build it and did so for $30! Yeah for us.

Anyway, the next day I wanted to play with it and try some stuff out. Samuel was very cooperative and tolerated me for about half an hour or so. I ended up with some pretty cute pictures of our handsome little boy. Here they are...Backdrop I am eager to try with a newborn...

Samuel explaining that he is 3 1/2 years old now but he still does just 3 fingers

Tough guy

Cute as ever

His favorite, probably daddy's too.

Legos

One of the things Mike has been looking forward to since the time we found out we were having a boy is Legos. As a kid, Mike loved playing with Legos and couldn't wait to re-live those fond memories with the boys. Samuel has had Duplos now for awhile and we figured he was probably ready to start entering the world of more complicated Legos. A few weeks ago, Samuel and Daddy built thier very first lego spaceship together.Samuel was very excited and did a great job. He sat patinetly, looked at the directions, found the pieces he needed and attempted to put them in the correct places. Mike had to help make sure they were snapped in and in the end they were successful.

I think they are officially hooked.

Snow

One new experience for both the boys this year is the snow. Of course this also means snow pants (which Samuel adorably calls pants coat), boots, coats, hats and mittens. So far it has really been too cold to be outside for more than a few minutes but the other day after we picked up daddy from work we played for a bit. The boys were so excited but soon realized how cold they would get and decided that another day would be better. Here are a couple of pictures of our moments outside. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer soon and we can introduce the sleds!

18 Months

Liam John-

Today you turn 18 months old. Eighteen months ago you entered our lives and nothing has been the same since. Was it only eighteen months ago that daddy excitedly exclaimed, "It's a boy"? Was it only eighteen months ago that Samuel became a big brother and mommy was once again outnumbered in the household? Where did those eighteen months go?

In the past eighteen months you have gone from being my little baby to my little boy. You have developed into a little boy full of imagination, curiosity, wonder, and energy. You bring so much life and entertainment to your household. From your crooked little sly grin to your rolling belly laugh, from your glare out the top of your eyes to your belief that you really do disappear when your eyes are close, you make us laugh.There are so many things I want to remember. I want to remember that your favorite thing to do right now is brush your teeth, at least 10 times a day. I want to remember how blue your eyes are when the sun hits them just right. I want to remember how you smell when you get out of the bathtub and how snuggly you are first thing in the morning. I want to remember how appropraitly you sign "please" especially when you really want something. I want to remember that you are always up for a graham cracker, granola bar or banana or how you just know that I am trying to hide something green in a spoonful of applesauce. I want to remember how much you love animals. I want to remember the smile that you give when you do something on your own or the sparkle in your eyes when I return to pick you up. There are so many things I want to remember about you right now and so afraid of how quickly I know I will forget.

I want you to remember that you are my special little boy. That each day would not be complete if I didn't share it with you. That my favorite thing to do is to watch you grown, watch you discover things for the first time and feel the pride in you becoming more and more independent. I want you to remember that I will always come back for you and that I will always be here whenever you need me. I want you to remember the way it feels to do something for the first time or how good it feels to laugh until your belly hurts. I want you to remember that even with your eyes closed, mommy can see you.

Today not only marks the eighteenth month of your life but today marks a very significant day in our country. At noon today, with you asleep in my arms and tears rolling down my cheecks, I witnessed the inaguration of our 44th president, President Barack Obama. Today is a day that I am so proud to be an American, to be part of a generation that has come together to say enough is enough, a generation where an Aftican American man is given the opportunity to lead the nation. I will always tell you that you can do whatever you want to do and that you can be whoever you want to be, today I say that with a little more confidence, a little more faith and a little more truth.

An eruption of cheering filled the air today as President Obama took oath, today people are dancing in the streets, gathering at parties, and celebrating. Today I will hold you in my arms and honestly whisper to you while you are sleeping,
you can truley be whoever you want to be buddy.

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are

And if you want to live high, live high
And if you want to live low, live low
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are

You can do what you want
The opportunity's on
And if you find a new way
You can do it today
You can make it all true
And you can make it undo
you see ah ah ah
its easy ah ah ah
You only need to know

Well if you want to say yes, say yes
And if you want to say no, say no
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are

And if you want to be me, be me
And if you want to be you, be you
'Cause there's a million things to do
You know that there are

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
-Cat Stevens

Love,
Mommy