What?!

I just had to post this. Picture this scene with me. I'm coming home from work and pulling into my garage and I can see Aine through our sliding glass door in the kitchen. Spencer is sleeping and I know that she must have just woken up from her nap.

I open the door from the garage into my house and the first thing I see lying in front of me is the Swiffer Mop with the refill box next to it. There is a failed attempt of attaching one of the clothes to the mop right next to it.

The next thing I see is the vacuum, edging it's way into the kitchen from the front room.

Then my eyes see the mess. There are little reds things all over the kitchen floor. It looks like spilled paprika only darker and larger. And I'm thinking, what the? What is that?

Then Aine reappears poking her head in from around the vacuum. This is how the conversation went:

Me: "What is that Aine? What is all over the floor?"
Aine: "I don't know"
Me: "What is that? Did you spill something?"
Aine: "Yes"
Me: "What is it?"
Aine: "It the fish stuff. I can't clean it up."

Beta fish food all over my kitchen floor and my smart little Aine tried to figure out how to clean it up. Sigh.

Then I'm thinking, am I mad because she made a mess? Am I proud that she tried to clean it up? She was smart enough to know the mop and vacuum are used for cleaning up messes.

And then the thought rushes into my mind, how in the heck did she have time to do all of this? Next words out of my mouth are, "Go to bed! You didn't take a nap!" And I'm thinking how did Spencer sleep through this?

Ah! What am I going to do with her?

Special Moment with Aine

We have taken on a challange given to us by Pam. Everyday this week we show the kids a picture of Christ and what he was doing on that day of the last week of his life. Then we talk about what He did and read some scriptures on it. Yesterday was an extra special topic, the Last Supper and The Garden of Gethsemane.

Aine and I had a little one on one time in the morning and I wanted to prep her for the topic that night. I wanted to impress on her the importance of what Jesus did. I told her that while He was in the Garden He suffered for our sins. But He also suffered for the things that would be hard in our lives.

She's had a hard time going to bed lately. She cries from her room down to us, "It's hard to go to bed". So, I used that as an example. Jesus even suffered so He could help with how hard it is to go to bed. I told her all she needed to do was pray and ask Heavenly Father in Jesus' name to help her with going to bed.

Then she said, "Yea, and Jesus can come to my house and read me a story." That is the faith of a child. At that moment the spirit taught me what to say to her. I told her that Jesus may not be able to come to our house right now because He has a lot to do, but He did give her a mommy and daddy that could be here for her when He could not.

I don't know if she understood. She probably thought it was something I said to cover up, but it wasn't. I thought about it a lot yesterday. Jesus wants to be here with our kids. He loves children. I'm sure He would love to spend every moment with them, but He can't. Instead He gave them Moms and Dads. He gave Aine and Tanner me and Spencer.

It humbled me and gave me a fresh perspective on my motherhood. I want to do with Aine and Tanner what Jesus would do. I want to do what He wants for them. It's sweet to think that sometimes that means dropping everything and reading Aine another Curious George story.

I can't say it enough, but I love being a mom. I know that it is a divine calling and gift from our Heavenly Father and I am thankful.

Happy # 3 Aine

Happy Birthday my little Aine. I am sorry you were so sick on your big day!

Candy Soap

Catherine received a Christmas gift from a friend that was a bar of soap that looked like a giant lolipop. Aine discoverd this and attemped to take a bite, even though she had been warned that it was not candy. This is her telling us about it after.

Kids at Christmas

Here are a few quick videos of our kids on Christmas, courtesy of Catherine.

Tanner and his always smiling face.

There are two of Aine, but she is such a smoozer in front of the camera, especially when Aunt Catie is doing the recording.

This one is our favorite and requires some translation for all of you who don't speak Aine.

Aine: I am Aine. I is three. I even got my doll. Yesterday I got my dolls. See it turn around.

Catherine: Hmm... Hmm

Aine: I three. Ah. I is at Grandpa Burpee's (Durfee)

Catherine: Mmhmm

Aine: I am a a prince-ariace(princess). I am a coming my house. Aine's my o-o-o. Aine saying the kids AHHH! Because I Aine ...(not sure of that word, maybe princess again)... bye.

Because We Need a New Post

Aine and Tanner on their way out the door to church one Sunday:

Tickle Time

Aine

Aine Getting Ready for Nursery

Aine loves nursery. This last Sunday she just couldn't wait to go. So, to help her bide the time she sat down to practice her small cup drinking skills for nursery treat time.

By the end of her practice, it was a challange to get the water down her throat. So, she stored it in her cheeks until she figure out that she could discard it by spitting it out.

Then we were done with this activity. :)

These are the "Can't you give me at least one good picture?" poses. Enjoy!

The "Huh, you want what?" pose.

This is the "We are having so much fun, I can't quite hold still" pose.

Classic "I think I'm going to pretend to fall asleep" pose.

Some of My Easter Blessings

These are a few of the blessings I have this Easter season and I hope to keep forever because of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection...

The family traditions that help me to remember.

This one symbolizing the new birth of resurrection and the gift of life that Christ gives us.

A handsome son,

newest to join our family, and enjoying his first spring.

A beautiful daughter

in a beautiful Easter dress, getting old enough to discover

the small and special things in the world outside.

Time to watch my children grow and experience life

I’m grateful for this season, especially as Easter falls on the Sunday of Conference weekend. I’m reminded of the great gifts and sacrifices that Jesus Christ has made for me and my family. He has given us the chance to receive bodies and live on the earth together as our little Clark family. We are learning and growing together. We are moving forward to the greatest gift of all, eternal life and exaltation as a family,

all made possible because of Christ.

Pictures from Aine's Birthday

I know it's taken a while to get these up, but here are some pictures from Aine's birthday. Our life is choatic right now, so we decided to just do something with Spencer, Aine, Tanner and I. Aine was really cute about it all. I have to apoligize about the pictures. Aine blinks whenever she looks directly at the camera, so most of the good shots are one when she wasn't looking at the camera. Enjoy.

2 Days Away From Being 2 Years

I know, can you believe it?
I can't!
Two years ago from this day was a Sunday.
I sat in church in the Joseph Smith
Memorial Building.
I was quite uncomfortable
as the beginnings of
contractions were coming on.
My visiting teaching companion saw my face and pointed out what I must be feeling. And I wondered,
"Could this be it?"

Now look at her!

She is my amazing, darling, little girl... not baby. She will gibber away words with only every other one making sense to me. (And that's only because I'm mom and I got to hear her say the word the first time it crossed her lips. Good luck to anyone else.) But she loves to talk and it doesn't matter who you are, she will talk to you about it all. I love it when I get a call at work and it's her. She will talk to me forever about her socks, Tanner, hanging out with Grandma Clark and going bye-bye.

She is a wonderful big sister. I never thought that the transition from "One and Only" to "Big Sister" would be so easy. When I was pregnant with Tanner I didn't think that she understood what was going on or what would be happening to our little family. But, she understood a lot more than we gave her credit for. She took it his arrival in stride and didn't miss a beat. When we brought Tanner home, she was the instant second mom. She takes care of him, plays with him and even helps him when he can't quite figure out how to roll over on his own. (This is whether he really wants to roll over or not.) She will even talk to him in that high, quite voice that she must of picked up from me. You know the one, it's the same one she uses with her baby dolls.

She is the trooper of all troopers. She deals with working mom, school going dad, new little brother and all that those things involve. Including being lugged around in the car to be "swapped" and being put aside while little brother is tended to. Don't get me wrong she has her moments when she just can't take it anymore and she needs her mommy or daddy time. But she puts up with a lot and I can't blame her. Overall she's just happy to be along for the ride.

Oh, how I miss her when I'm at work. She has grown so fast and it makes me sad to know that I've missed a lot of what I was hoping to be a part of. I continue to hope that for the next two years of her life Mommy gets to be home with her. But in the meantime, I remember how grateful I am to have her and to have seen her grow these past two years. She doesn't seem to be hurting at all from having Daddy at home with her. They are the best of pals.

Now, I just reflect that I am soon to be a mom of a two year old. Here it comes, just as before, whether I'm ready or not. :)

Happy Birthday Aine Bo! I love you!

Social Butterfly

Isn't she cute... she actually tried to call the bank. This is way to fast! :)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone! We hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween. Aine was a fairy this year. Rachael made her adorable tutu. When we put it on Aine for the first time she spinned around and around. She loved her costume. She went trick-or-treating for the first time this year up in Farmington. Following the lead of her cousin, Ellie, she wasn't too scared to visit each door. She just couldn't figure out how to put the candy in her sack, she wanted to hang on to it. Oh well, maybe she'll have a better hang of it next year and she can show Tanner the ropes.

Aine's New Halloween Costume?

Meeting Baby Brother Tanner

These pictures were taken right after Tanner and I got home from the hospital. You can see the excitement in Aine's face. She couldn't stop talking about Tanner and wanted to keep touching him. She wanted to name all of his different body parts. She would look up at me while pointing and saying "Eye". And she couldn't stop saying "Baby". She seemed to understand what was happening a lot more than I had given her credit for. After seeing baby Tanner she started rubbing her tummy and saying "Baby" and then pointed to Tanner.