My Baby Isn’t a Baby Anymore!

Brennen turned 4 on Sunday! It was a great day and I found myself feeling emotional about the day he was born and the years we’ve had with him. I wanted a baby for quite awhile before he came and he was (and still is) such a blessing!

We had our birthday donuts and then both boys helped me make a candy gram for Matt for Father’s Day. We let Brennen open a present before church so he played with his new dinos there. Then after church we had chicken alfredo (he said he wanted chicken and Matt likes alfredo so that’s what we did) and Matt’s family came over for a party.
He was SO excited to see everyone for the birthday party! He wanted a tractor/dinosaur cake so this is what I came up with and he seemed to love it.

He liked all of his presents and was so cute all day.

Matt and I lay awake for awhile that night just talking about Brennen, how he was as a baby and how he is now. We spent a week at my Mom’s away from Matt while he was at scout camp and he said that while he missed all of us that he especially wanted to see Brennen when he got home. And Brennen flew into his arms and snuggled there for a few minutes as soon as we walked in the door. Those two have a special bond and it melts my heart.

Me with my birthday boy!

Matt reading his boys a story Sunday night. He’s such a great dad and I hope he didn’t feel neglected sharing Father’s Day with Brennen’s birthday. :)

A Lot of Family Fun!

Memorial Day

Matt worked until noon or so and then we went close to Vedauwoo with his family for a picnic. It was so nice and relaxing and the boys are getting better at climbing.

Nathan’s Wedding

We went to the temple in Denver on Thursday night to go through with Abby. We left the boys here in Laramie with Mary and Brad and it was weird to go somewhere without them. But it was nice to have an evening just Matt and me with his family. And it was a really nice night in the temple.

On Friday we spent the day setting up for the reception and on Saturday we got up early to go back to Denver for the wedding. It was a beautiful day and the sealing was really nice. We were able to see and talk to so many members of Matt’s extended family.

We all had a lot of fun at the reception. They had a ring ceremony where Brennen was the ring bearer. He was pretty cute. Then we got to talk to a lot of people at the reception. The boys danced a lot and had a blast.

Sunday we all went to church in Matt’s parent’s ward. It was so fun to be there with the entire Clark family. Then we had dinner together and played games at the house.

Matt’s parents worked hard on the whole wedding and it was such a nice weekend!

Next week Matt will be going to scout camp so the boys and I are looking forward to a week in Lyman with Grandma Hope and “The Kirk” (and my brothers of course). We like to go visit when Matt is gone because we (mostly I) don’t like being at home alone and it’s nice to spend extra time with my family.

Matt went to Newcastle yesterday for some training and to find a place to live. NO luck on that front unless we want a 2 bedroom (which is really too small) or live in a junky trailer. I have nothing against trailers, just junky ones and that’s what they’ve got there. :)

I’ve really been starting to panic about it. I know that we still have a couple months but I’m a planner and I really like to know what’s going to happen. And I want to feel secure and know that my family will have a nice place to live. I just keep praying that something will come up that will work for our family.

My Life Lately

• Teaching piano
  This is my last week teaching piano in Laramie. I’m sad to be leaving all of my students but I have to admit that teaching 17 kids for most of the school year (18 if you count Brennen) has worn me out (especially during that 1st trimester) and I’m ready for a break! I plan to start up again sometime in the future, though.
• Pregnancy
  Man I am hormonal when I’m pregnant! I cry a LOT (mostly happy/emotional crying, not sad crying). And I’m happy then mad in about .5 seconds. But I’m feeling very good and not as tired. I felt a couple of distinct bumps the other day which made it feel much more real (that and the fact that I’m getting FAT but don’t yet look pregnant).
• Motherhood
  Lately I’ve been feeling like a crappy mom. Even though I have more energy I still get tired quickly and I don’t play with the boys enough. And I lose my temper easily. All I can do is earnestly pray to be better and think of all of the good things I’m doing.
• Blessings my children have
  I was helping in the preschool the other day and overheard a conversation between two little 4 year olds about their home lives and how their dad hits their mom or how they’re afraid someone will shoot someone else in their house. Who knows what little kids can come up with but I did talk to the teacher just to be safe. And, really this is true, 4 or 5 of those kids come to school every day before 8 in the morning drinking pop from McDonalds. Not the best breakfast in the world…
  It just made me realize that despite all of my shortcomings that I know my children are always SAFE in their own home. They get 3 healthy (well, mostly healthy) meals a day and have decent clothes to wear. They get tucked in every night and know how to say prayers before bed. They have a mom and a dad who love each other. They are LOVED, taught, and protected. I don’t know how many kids in this world have that and I feel very blessed that mine do. 
  I really am not trying to be judgmental, just recognizing that I shouldn’t be so hard on my parenting.
• Cleaning Routine
  I’ve adopted a new cleaning routine based on maintenance and it’s working out really well! In case you’re interested, here’s the link.
  http://simplykierste.com/2013/12/a-clean-home-every-day.html
  A pinterest find of course. :)
  I think Matt thinks I’m silly that I have a schedule for cleaning but it makes things SO MUCH easier to clean if I do little things every day and it makes me happy. Plus once I’m not so busy with piano a schedule at home will help keep me sane.
• Moving
  We will be moving the first week of August and I think about it All. The. Time. It’s driving me nuts actually. It’s like all I can think about is what it will be like and how we’ll have to adjust and praying that we’ll be able to find a place to live in Newcastle. We both feel really good about our decision and feel like we’re supposed to go there. It will be a new adventure for our family!
• Mother’s Day
  My sweet boys were so cute. Matt cooked breakfast and they all built me a cute house out of Legos (since I can’t have a REAL house) and Matt wrote a poem that he taped to the sides. The boys busted in my room carrying the house and some flowers and bombarded me with kisses and hugs. That was the best part of the day and I love being a mother!

Easter in Lyman

We had such a fun time in Lyman last weekend. The boys loved playing outside, especially when they went to the river with Grandpa, Kasey, their dad and the dog. They also loved playing with Grandma and were sad when it was time to go.

Cute Dean. Cuddling with Grandma after his nap and smiling over a muffin (he ate several of those).

We colored eggs Saturday afternoon and on Sunday morning found some in the house then some more outside after church. They were so cute about sharing eggs with each other.

I love Easter and the feeling it brings. I’m also very glad that Matt convinced me (before we ever had kids) that there didn’t need to be an Easter bunny or presents. They get that kind of stuff enough. We love egg hunts but they know we hid them. And instead of presents we like to fill their baskets with a little candy and pictures of the Savior.

Spring Break and Dean’s Birthday

At the end of our spring break we traveled to Omaha, NE to visit Matt’s brother and his family for their new baby’s blessing.

It was a loooong time in the car but we had a lot of fun there hanging out with family and meeting baby Claire.

We went to the zoo while we were there and Brennen really liked it. He kept talking about the tapir. Dean seemed to like it, too, until he fell out of the stroller and then fell asleep. :)

Brennen gazing at the tapir.
He absolutely LOVES jelly fish! He would have stayed there all day.
We even heard the lion roar!

We went to Winter Quarters to the visitor’s center and went on a great tour then walked the temple grounds.

After the beautiful baby blessing on Sunday we took of for Rapid City, SD where we stayed the night before Matt’s job interview in Newcastle, WY Monday morning.

The kids did pretty well in the car, especially Sunday and Monday and I went to 3 new states, Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota. None of them were too exciting but it was still fun for me. :)

“’Cross the wide Missouri!”

My baby Dean turned 2 last week! It feels like it went by so fast but yet I barely remember life without him. He had a fun day getting balloons and having a party with my brother Kasey and lots of Matt’s family. He was SO cute when we sang to him, he was running around like crazy then suddenly got shy and hid behind my legs. But he blew out both candles and talked about his “tractor cake” for a few days after. Every time he opened a present he would give it away to someone.

Eating traditional birthday donuts for breakfast.
Birthday spankings!Giving away presents.

He went to the doc the day after his b-day and she and her nurse practitioner student kept saying how cute Dean was. He is 50% for height and weight and very healthy.

Now we are trying to decide what to do about jobs! Matt has an offer, an interview this week, and a few more applications to places we’d really like to be! It’s awesome to have so many options but it makes it confusing and stressful trying to figure out what to do.

As a side note, he scored a 192/200 on his biology praxis and a 197/200 on physical science! Such a smart man. Wherever we go the kids will sure be lucky to have him as a teacher!

We’re SO excited to see an end in sight and to see all of the blessings coming into our lives!