Christmas 2013

I finally have some time to blog about Christmas. This year we celebrated Christmas in Rexburg with my parents. I was very excited because, one, it had been over a year since I've been in Rexburg, and second, my parents haven't had Christmas with my kids before. And it was great; and I have a lot of pictures to prove it! And I'm already miss having them around especially when Thomas asks to see grandma and grandpa from Idaho, and asks where the snow has gone? But before we left we had a little Christmas with Dustin's  parents and the kids loved what they got from grandma Lisa and grandpa Doug. Grandma Lisa gave Thomas some cool super hero underwear hoping to get Thomas excited for potty training, but that died pretty quick when Dustin told him to put it on his head. So we will see how potty training is going to be like in a couple of weeks... maybe I should have Dustin do it....

 

The Sunday before Christmas we headed to Idaho, which was our 4-year anniversary so we celebrated earlier that week. Then we stopped at Denver at Dustin's uncle's house then finished our drive to Idaho that Monday.

On Christmas Eve I went shopping with my mom which was fun, we went to the toy section and she asked what the kids liked and packed a whole cart-full of toys for Christmas, she spoiled them, and we also got Thomas some snow clothes. Also that day the kids went outside and played with real snow, I say real because in Texas this last year it was all ice when we had that strange ice storm. And the kids loved it! Oliver crawled all over and eat as much as he could, and Thomas was excited to build a snowman, and I thought their snowman turned out pretty cute. Grandpa West came also came out to play and helped pull the kids on the sled, which was a big hit.

Then Christmas Eve night we gave the kids baths and let them open their pajamas and got ready for bed when a visitor came...

Thomas was so excited when Santa walked in the house, it was really cute.

And, Oliver not so much....

But he liked hanging out with Grandma West:

Then Christmas morning, it was so fun and exciting this year, it's really fun being a parent and seeing your kids get excited, it brings the magic back.

Everyone woke up pretty early, but Thomas slept in a little bit so we were all waiting for him, but when he realized it was Christmas morning and that he could finally open his presents he got pretty excited.

Thomas ready to see what Santa brought:

Opening presents:

I forget how long it takes for younger kids to unwrap presents, they want to start playing with their toys right away and have little interest opening the next present.

Us Christmas morning with our new pajamas and our lovely bed hair:

Later in the week we went to Smith Park and went sledding. Thomas loved it, Oliver liked it but rather play in the snow.

Then for New years we headed to Utah to hang out with some of our families, it was so good to see everyone and Thomas loved playing with his cousins. 

Susie and Thomas shared a bed at night, they were so cute together.

While I was in Utah I got to do a photo shoot of my new niece, I haven't finished editing them but I got this picture before the actual shoot and really liked it, so here's a picture for my mom.

We headed back this last Friday and stopped at Denver for a day to hangout with Dustin's sister and family  and now we are back. It's nice to be home again and get back to schedule but I miss my family already... if only we could all live close by... that would be great. But it's been great having all the new toys, the kids have been entertained all week so I have had time to work on stuff. 

So we had a great Christmas and we are excited about this new year!

I know this picture is blurry but I wanted to show you another Thomas drawing. We got him an easel this year (he got a lot of art supplies for Christmas which he has loved) and the other day he drew this whale, this kid is awesome, and the circle things are sharks and their teeth. Anyway, had to show it because I'm one proud mom!

Snap shots of December

Last week we got iced in for 4 days! So we had a long weekend so we played outside a couple times and did some fun Christmas crafts. It was crazy weather, at first I teased Texas for shutting everything down but it's different than Idaho, there was no snow so everything was completely ice so it was way more dangerous so I was humbled this past weekend.ha ha

1. We made a snowman craft. 2. We have had a lot of hot chocolate 3. We made some snow flakes.

4. We made some snow globes(Thomas LOVED the snow globes he carried those things everywhere) 5. Playing around 6. Making paper trees 7. Hanging out around the Christmas tree 8. The Nativity I painted this last year. 9. Thomas playing with his snow globe.

And Oliver being so cute and growing up way too fast.

Also this week Dustin got two caricature gigs and made some good money. So if we can have more of those that will be a nice second source of income. And we are heading to Rexburg in a week! I'm so excited! Anyway, there is a little update on us.

Christmas Card 2013

 The Clark's year in a small review: 

Dustin: Dustin accomplished a lot this past year, he finished his teaching certification the beginning of the year and continued to substitute teach until summer then decided to take the whole family to San Antonio and drew caricatures for the SeaWorld park down there. In the summer he also set up a few job interviews and got an art teaching position with his first interview back in the Dallas area! It was a great blessing to get a job so quick. Now he's teaching art at middle and intermediate school and making a difference to many kids there. He also has been doing caricature gigs on the side along with other art projects.

Jessica: Jessica's work load has doubled this past year. From having one boy to two little boys, while having her illustration and photography career pick up a little more. She was able to take an online art class this year from a PIXAR artist, Louis Gonzales, and learned a lot and continues to draw during her free time. She loves being a mother and having exciting adventures with Thomas and Oliver. She loved San Antonio and being close to SeaWorld but is glad to be back in the Dallas area near family and friends.

Thomas: Thomas is becoming a little artist himself. He loves to draw and paint, and he's pretty good at it. He can draw anything from self portraits to book covers. He loves his little brother, most of the time, and likes to wrestle with him and is his protector so you better not mess with Oliver. He loves super heroes especially Batman and Iron man and likes to pretend to be them. He also loves movies, playing outside, and going to the park. He's a good little helper for Jessica and a great big brother. And he will be a sunbeam next year!

Oliver: Oliver joined our family this past January and has been a great addition. He is one smart cookie and keeps Jessica pretty busy. He gets into everything and will be walking in the next few months or less. He loves waving good-bye and saying "baa baa". He is a little dare-devil and nothing seems to scare him. He's a huge momma's boy but loves to interact with anyone. He loves playing with Thomas but also likes to mess with him, being the smaller one doesn't phase him. It's been fun having him in our family.

We have been greatly blessed this year, and we are excited for new adventures next year.

And we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

SNOW!

This morning we woke up to this:

I was one happy camper, since I miss having a white Christmas! And the crazy thing is, Wednesday it was 75+ degrees! I didn't think it would last and melt right away so I made the whole family come out to enjoy the fun. We couldn't do much since it was pretty much all ice but Oliver loved it and crawled all over the place and tried eating it too, that funny kid. Thomas liked it until he got cold, he didn't want to wear his gloves and when he finally let us put them on his hands they were already too cold for his comfort. 

What was also great was all the schools were closed so Dustin had the day off! Yeah I thought it was funny that everything was close because of the ice, we aren't in Rexburg that's for sure or school would still be going on, but I can't complain it was great having Dustin home; we stayed inside, watched Christmas movies, and I made cookies, and had hot soup for dinner. 

It was a perfect winter day! 

-And it never melted like I thought so we might head out again tomorrow! Got to enjoy it while it lasts here in Texas.

Gingerbread Houses

A couple of weeks ago, before Thanksgiving actually, we had Emily, Scott, and baby Carter come over for FHE and to come decorate some gingerbread houses! It was a lot of fun, we love hanging out with them.

There house/church turned out better than ours, our excuse was we had a three-year old helping us, ha ha, just kidding I really like ours. Thomas and Oliver had a lot of fun and I hope we do this every year.

Oliver @ 10 Months

This post is way over due, he's more like 10 and a half months now. 

What's new with Oliver:

He's a smart cookie, that's for sure! I pray he's a good teenager or I am in trouble. When he wants to do something, he does it, and he does it perfectly. For example, today I was at my in-laws and they have wood, and pretty steep stairs (we don't have any stairs because we live in an apartment so he's never around stairs) and I was busy doing something and he knew I was occupied and I couldn't stop him, he headed up the stairs and he was half way up there before I caught him, and that is the FIRST time he has even touched the stairs, he's always on the go.  I really think it will be a matter of time before he will try and climb out of the crib. He's cruising every where and he started to take one step to reach to the other furniture, and again, he does it perfectly and doesn't mess up or stumble. Sometimes I will watch him climb something and see how he's going to get down and he always finds a way and does it gracefully like his done it a million times, it's CRAZY!

He also LOVES to wrestle with Thomas, it's sooo fun to watch. But he also knows what buttons to push to annoy Thomas, it's kind of funny...

He loves to sing, he will sing with us in church and he will sing the tunes of some of the soundtracks we listen to in the car, like I can tell which songs he's singing.

He loves to dance, he doesn't do it often but he likes to bounce up and down.

He loves to wave bye and will say, "Ba, ba" and he can say "mommm" and "Daaa" but only if he wants to, and I guess the other day he said grandpa, Dustin's parents and sister heard him, but I wasn't there.

And when he doesn't want to eat his food he will hide it behind him in the high chair, so I think he eat it. So he can be sneaky....

He's a lot of fun, and I love his hugs and kisses, and I love that he's a momma's boy!