Christmas Joy

Christmas has come and gone but the memories from Christmas 2009 will last forever!

The day started by looking at all the gifts Santa had brought them.

I love this picture of Isaiah looking in the living room to see if Santa had come.

We then headed to my Aunt Mary's house for Christmas lunch. However, I forgot the camera at home so there aren't any pictures of our wonderful lunch and Christmas gift opening with them.

After a long nap we all headed to Jason's parents house for Christmas with the Clarks.

The kids all closed their eyes to wait for one of their presents. You can see that Kate had no clue what was going on and Addison was peeking!

They all got these really cute rocking chairs. The kids love them! And yes, Addison wore her dress up clothes all day long!


Kate actually got the hang of opening presents by the third Christmas that we had. I don't know how she sits like that, but here daddy sat like that as a kid too.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Happy New Year, we hope 2010 brings you joy, love and many blessings.

Until Later,

Melissa

The Night Before Christmas

It was the night before Christmas and the Clark crew was ready for Santa and his reindeer and some new traditions!

Christmas Eve is a magical time for the kids (and Jason & I). We have special Christmas Eve traditions that make the night even more memorable. We even added some traditions this year now that the kids are a little older.

First the reindeer were fed special reindeer food (It even snowed!). We had never left the reindeer food before, but the kids absolutely loved it. We certainly will be doing this for many more years.

Then we headed to church for the Christmas Eve service. We attempted to take a picture of the kids before church, this is what we got!

After church we headed to my parent's house. The kids were all changed into their matching Christmas pajamas. I love to put them in matching pajamas but have had a hard time finding them in previous years. I loved their matching pajamas this year!

My parents went to their church services and while we waited for them the kids decorated cookies for Santa. In the past we had always left Oreos or some other store bought cookie, but this year we decided the kids were ready to decorate. They had such a great time. They ate more than they left for Santa!

Then we all opened presents.

Isaiah loved his frog!

Addison Grace was so excited about her pink horse.

And sweet Kate really never opened a gift, but played with them all! She really loved the bubble wrap!

After all the gifts had been opened we went home and snuggled all the kids in bed with happy hearts knowing that Jolly Saint Nick would be arriving very soon!

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the Christmas post up. I sure am running behind on posting. I thought I would get so much more done during these two weeks I was off. I was so wrong, three young kids and a house that looks like Toys R Us threw up all in it has really kept me busy!

Until Later,

Melissa

The Joy of a Box!

Jason opened up one of his Christmas gifts early this year and the box that it came in became a huge hit. I cut a small door in it and before I knew it the box became the house, "that I always wanted" (as Isaiah told me numerous times). The kids had a blast playing in it today.

Yes, there are 3 kids in the box (and a backpack)!

Kate (and her bed head) enjoying the box.

Next year, no toys, only boxes! That sure would save a lot of money.

Happy Holidays from our house to yours,

Melissa

Tis the Season

I absolutely love Christmas time. I have always loved Christmas time, but I love it even more now that I have children. I love to see the expressions on their faces when they see Christmas lights, help put up and tree and most of all open gifts.

Ever since Isaiah came home (almost 4 years ago!) we have gone to the Gaylord Hotel to take in all the sights and sounds of Christmas. We take pictures with Santa, watch the train go by, look at all the beautiful lights and just have a great time.

This year we experienced Christmas at the Gaylord with more than just the Clark Crew (the five of us). My family joined us and we had a great time (We missed you dad, hopefully you can join us next year!).

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

The Clark Crew

Me with my Mom and my Brother

Grandma with her grandkids

Grandma & Katelyn watching the water. Katelyn was fascinated by the water.

Isaiah waiting for Santa

I love this picture! I may have loved it more if the kids would have looked at the camera. However, Isaiah pretending to drive the sleigh was too cute!

Happy Holidays,

Melissa

If it isn't the kids, it's the dogs!

Not only do Jason and I have three sweet children, but we also have three dogs! One of our dogs, well actually he's my dog, is a big beagle named Sampson. If you have ever owned a beagle you know that they lead with their noses. Sampson is no different. If he smells food he's going to find a way to get it. The other night after dinner Jason and I were getting the kids ready for bed when we heard the dogs growling. We walked out into the living room and this is what we saw:

All we could do was laugh. The bag of donuts, which somehow got knocked off the counter, was stuck on Sampson's head (yes, we did have donuts for dinner with little smokie croissants). He could not get it off and was growling at any wall, dog or anything else that he happened to run into.

Later that night we asked the kids to feed the dogs. Usually, Isaiah and Addison do it and they do a pretty good job. That night, Kate decided to do it. This is what happens when you let a 1 1/2 year old feed the dogs! Thank goodness the dogs aren't picky and will eat their food off the floor.

Dog food even ended up on the stool. Kate has been banned from feeding the dogs until she is at least 2!

Between the kids and the dogs there is never a dull moment in the Clark house!

Until later,

Melissa

Christmas Pictures 2009

We had Christmas pictures of the kids taken today. Or should I say, we attempted to have Christmas pictures of the kids taken today.

Isaiah looked adorable and smiled great. His dimple just melts my heart.

Addison looked precious and just smiled and smiled. I love her little smile and curly hair.


And Kate just cried and screamed "Mama" the whole time. I even tried to leave the room and hide so that she would maybe stop crying. Needless to say, we have a lot of pictures of Kate crying!

We tried to have her sit on Jason's lap. We were just going to crop him out. That didn't work either.
And once she stopped crying she just started reaching for me.


We did manage to get a couple of pictures of Kate not crying, here is her best picture.

Oh wait, there's a smile, but only because she was jumping off of a stool to me. It's nice to feel loved, but oh how I wish I would have gotten just one good picture of Kate.


And a picture of all three. Forget it, they turned out terrible. All I can do is laugh when I see them. Oh, the memories!




We did manage to get a couple of pictures of just Isaiah and Addison.

Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope your family pictures (or pictures of just your sweet children) turn out much better than ours!

Until later,

Melissa