50 Free Holiday Cards- Shutterfly Blogging Promo

So, if you know me, you know I'm a sucker for good deals and especially freebies! I love Shutterfly- I've ordered a few Photo Books, Calendars, and Photo Cards in my time and I'm always getting emails for coupons and promotions. This year, they are giving 50 free holiday cards to bloggers who do a write up!

This week we are headed to Idaho to spend Thanksgiving with my brother Tommy and his family, who just had an adorable baby named Caleb. Since we'll all be together we will be taking pictures and I plan on taking full advantage of the opportunity. It's not every day/month/year we get the Jeff Clark Family looking all pretty/handsome and holding still (wish us luck).

So, imagine my family on one of these cards:

These are the ones I love with one picture, but if for some reason the stars align and we are able to get more than one picture with every family member's eyes open, smiling and looking in the general direction of the camera, I love these:

There seriously are so many to choose from, they are all so cute- will you please help me decide?! If you want to get 50 FREE holiday cards, go HERE! It doesn't matter what size blog you have or how many readers you have. And I heard back from them in about 3 days.

Thanksgiving Turkey Tradition

My mom pulled out the Thanksgiving file for me today, and I have great memories of doing this each year!

As a family, we would fill in the turkey feathers with something we would like to do for each family member to serve them. We would have a lesson on gratitude and that we show we are thankful for each other by do nice things for one another. Then throughout the month, when we finished that nice thing, we could color it in.

Here is the image we used, you are welcome to save it and use it, even add some feathers if you have a bigger family :)

We always added "We are Thankful for our Family" at the bottom and signed our names. It's fun looking at the Turkeys created in the past when the kids were really young. When Katie was a baby, she "agreed" to give Mom a full night's sleep, big brother Tommy would wake me up for morning cartoons, and Daddy would play on the swing set with me.

We always talk about how the first year we did this Tommy said he would get a Camaro for Daddy. He still hasn't colored that one in yet :)

Here's a closeup of our signatures-- I love how I wrote my i's :)

This is definitely a tradition I would like to continue in our family, starting with this year!

Successful surgery

This is mostly for journaling purposes and a little bit for birth control too since this recovery is reminding me a bit of my c-section pain :)

This is right after I woke up when it's still hard to open your eyes and if you look close you can see the ring I drew on my hand since I couldn't have my real one on :)

I am alive and well just a bit achy and sore. Yesterday was a long day. Jeff and I got to the hospital at about 10:30 for my 12:30 scheduled surgery time. Right after They got me hooked up around 11 they informed me that my surgery was really 2:30 so I got to sit there and watch daytime tv for another 3 and a half hours, which I hate unless it's tlc :) but somehow with the help of my comical husband and his droid x time flew by pretty quickly and soon enough I was being wheeled back on a gourney.
Everything went well during surgery, they repaired the hernia, placed some mesh and soon enough I woke up. I loved my discharge nurse who brought in my husband and hurried me out the door. I remember the first time I stood up to walk to the bathroom a rush of emotion came and I felt like I needed to cry. Not for any reason at all, just to cry. I didn't though, and she told me it was all from the anesthesia. I also have had this strange shoulder pain that she said only some people get that and its kinda a phenominon. Its actually trapped gas and i definitely remember having that with jackson, although back then i thought it was from hard labor before the c-section. She told me she could tell that I'm very sensitive to the anesthesia for two reasons. That I'm a light weight and also that I don't abuse drugs. Yes and yes :)
I slept pretty well the first night, although I hate being able to only sleep on my bavk. I'm a stomach and side girl so I wasn't seer comfortable. But when I woke up in the middle of the night for more pain killers, I was happy to not have to feed a baby ;) how did I do that every 2 hours every night. I guess just cuz we have to. Once again I'm being reminded of my last surgery and how much easier this has already been. No baby to care for and no blood transfusion to completely wipe me out!
The boys are doing so well! It helps that my Mom is so wonderful and I smile every time I hear them call for gamma instead of mommy! They have been so soft around me and so good with all the others who have played with them today. Jackson keeps lifting up my shirt and saying booboo and kissing it better for me.
I am so thankful to my family and my husband for taking care of me and letting me watch Friday Night Lights all day. I definitely feel like saying y'all and tackling somebody... Not really ;)
Oh and p.s. Sorry about the typos I'll fix them later. I'm on the iPad!!

I is for Insects, Ice cream and Instruments!

I is another fun letter!

Today we did preschool again at our house. Monday we played I-Spy at the park, and today we talked about both I sounds.

1. Read my i sound box- great book for I words

2. Wrote letter Ii on paper and magna-doodle. I have to stick in little tricks to get Tyler to participate. He was more than happy to write Ii on the magnadoodle!

3. Drew our own insects and decorated with insect stickers.

4. Ice experiment! Yesterday Tyler and I made ice cubes with an insect (fly) toy inside. We went outside and watched them melt in the sun and added warm water to get them to melt faster. We talked about water+cold= ice and ice+warm= water...

(pics coming soon)

5. I got some insect bath sponges and they got to start dissolving during playtime outside.

6. snacktime!

7. Ice cream cone coloring for the abc book... We are making a spiral bound book at the end of the year. With every letter we make a 41/4X51/2 piece (1/4th of a paper) with the letter on it.

8. ate ice cream dibs :)

9. Made musical Instruments from paper bowls and beans!

Then Miss. Julie came and did a fun rhythm exercise with them. They loved this!

Even Jackson sat and followed along...

...or danced along:

We had a great day!

Now I am gearing up for hernia repair surgery in the morning. Wish me luck!!

...actually, wish my mom luck who's gonna be in charge of my kids for a couple weeks! :0

H is for Hippos, Helpers and HALLOWEEN!!

It seems like forever ago that we did H day #1, I should've posted about it last week! Then on day #2 Tyler had a croupy cough so we decided to stay away from all other children for a couple of days. He missed nursery on Sunday, preschool on Monday and gymnastics on Tuesday. Needless to say, we were very happy the boys were well enough to make the preschool Halloween party on Wednesday!!

This is going to be a long post, so grab a sprite and have a seat :)

The first thing we did on H day #1 is review all the letters. So I taped our alphabet pictures in various places in the living room and read Dr. Suess's ABC's. We stopped after each letter for the kids to Hunt for that letter.

H is for Happy Helpers:

I talked about all the ways we can use our Hands: to wave hi, to share, or even to Hit {Can you imagine me saying, "Is that a nice way to use our hands? No, it isn't."} We should make good choices and be good Helpers, that will make us Happy!

So we learned the song, When we're helping we're happy... words and pictures here. I added in a few simple pictures like a happy face (we're happy), a family with an arrow pointing at the mommy (for we like to help mommy), and a heart (for we all love her so). It was fun!

Next we go to the table to learn how to write the letter H. Tyler still scribbles all over the page (please tell me this is normal for 3 1/2... ) and sometimes will draw the letter. We like to use a page protector and let them use dry erase markers, they love this! And then I let them pull it out and put on happy face and heart stickers. H writing printables here.

I always include Do-A-Dot painting because it's Tyler's favorite- shout out to this mommy teacher who made them cute alphabet printables here!

Then we had a break for some physical activity!! Hippo Hopscotch,

Hippo floor number printables here. This is still on the floor and Tyler does it everyday!

Hula Hoop, Hokey Pokey, and even Hungry Hungry Hippos. We didn't have time for all of these, but just puttin' them out there for ya!

Our snack consisted of hotdogs, grapes and cheese chunks and I gave them a toothpick to stick them on. No real reason for that, just thought it would be fun... and motor activity, I guess :)

For the craft, they made Hoot Hoot Owl Handprints, idea found here. (we used brown paper bags instead of construction paper)

It was fun, but Tyler had had it by the time we got to the craft. Some days I'm lucky to get 20 minutes of structured activity with him (once again, please tell me this is normal!) The other kids seem to do fine, but Tyler has always been my spirited child. He does what he wants when he wants (and reminds me of me) so really I do embrace that. I know he is learning, so I just have to remind myself he goes at his own pace.

Here is a great H is for Halloween Packet by Oopsey Daisy, full of fun Halloween games, activities and printables. We would have done this on H day #2, but it would be fun to do just as a family, too!

Alright, moving on to the Halloween Party! This was a blast and the kids were great!

The mom who hosted the party lives next to an old folks' home, so we trick or treated there. The kids enjoyed it and I know they did too!

They played fun games like eating doughnuts on a string

and bobbing for apples (jackson got in on this one!)

bowling for ghosts and pin the nose on the witch...

We all brought a snack to share

And they had so much fun eating it

my boys are still talking about the jello bats and pumpkins

Then they blew balloons and put tissue paper around them to make ghosts

I love making goody bags, so we put together a fun playdoh bag with halloween cookie cutters for the kids to take home. Happy Halloween label printable here. Tyler picked out which friend got which colors and cutters, and he had a reason for each one. He is a very thoughtful friend!

Soooo, with that looooong post, I will conclude by saying that I love having a blog to document what we do and it really is my everyday journal. I really should print it out- if I lost this record somehow I would truly be devastated!

And, I hope that my collection of ideas helps someone. I love browsing ideas online and there are so many creative people who share ideas and printables which sparks my creativity too. I may do this again next year and then Tyler will still have one more year before kindergarten, and then I'm sure I'll do Mommy school with Jackson, so maybe I will eventually plan and teach a lesson on every letter in the alphabet!!

Why I am the MOM

I couldn't figure out what Jackson wanted to eat for breakfast. Everything I offered him, he "uh-uh"ed and everything I handed him he threw down. So I told Tyler to figure it out...
Tyler, "You want a cheese stick?"
Jack, "Uh-uh." -that means no :)
Tyler, "You want a hot dog?"
Jack, "Uh-uh."
Tyler, "You want a cookie?"
Jack, "Uh-uh."
Tyler, "You want a candy?"
Jack, "Yes."
Tyler, "He wants a candy."

p.s. he did NOT get a candy for breakfast... but I am yet to find out what he wants to eat. Wish me luck!

Village Venture

I met up with some friends for the annual Village Venture Festival! They close down streets in the village for booths and shops and food...

The boys got their faces painted:

a shark and

a pumpkin...

I had a $20 budget and the bill was burning a hole in my pocket but I knew I had to find something awesome, so I held out until the last street...

Then I found a booth full of wooden toys- rubber band guns, daggers, swords and I knew it was meant to be :)

Tyler decided on a $8 sword called "white knight". I knew it would be child abuse if we only bought one... Jackson needs something to defend himself with, so we got two... a couple minutes later their friend Olivia had to join the fun:

It's Been Awhile... Tyler Funnies

I found his super cape that Grandma Judy made when I was searching for the boys' winter hats. When I asked Tyler if he wanted to wear it, he said, is it real?

I said, "yup"

"You mean it'll make me fly?"

Oh I get it now... "No, but it'll make you run really fast!"

I see him running down the hall...

He makes a funny face and says, "It's not working. It needs new batteries."

Lately when he says he wants something at the store or in a commercial, I say, "Maybe for Christmas"

One day he saw a commercial for something he wanted and said, "I want that for Christmas. I want everything for Christmas." Oh boy.

One morning Tyler was hiding under Jackson's bed sucking on Jackson's binky. I pulled him out and his knee scraped the bottom of the bed. No blood and just a tiny scratch, he said, "Ow, you hurt me really hard. I need 3 bandaids. 3!"

On the way home from my cousin's soccer game, which we had tons of fun at, I said to tyler, "was that fun, or what?" He smiled and said, "that was what!"

Olvera Street in L.A.

Mondays are Jeff's day off, and my Grandparents from Sacramento were in town for a couple days, so we decided to take the Metrolink into L.A. and visit Olvera Street. They've got all sorts of Mexican-style shops and restaurants.

The train ride was a success!

It took about an hour, and the boys enjoyed walking around (upstairs and downstairs) and not having to be buckled in!

I really enjoyed the time visiting with my grandparents!

Jackson got a bus-- he has perfected saying the word BUS... we took a train and his favorite part, was the bus! :)

L.A. Fair in September

Growing up, whenever we used to tell my parents, "That's not fair!" My dad would always say, "Fair-time only comes in September." Well, September came and we had to go to the fair!

While taking this picture, my mom kept yelling "Kirsti, you're a boy, you're a boy!!" She wanted me to switch places with Jackson, but I was holding him up with one hand so I yelled back, "Dad's a cow, just take it already!"

We enjoyed feeding the animals, until they started attacking us...

this one was getting frisky with me and Tyler was terrified!

Then we had Dr. Bob's ice cream (a famous local treat!) Jackson stole my cone after a few minutes

...and was covered in strawberry sorbet

Tyler got to ride the pony ride. he was really excited. He told me that "Grandma told me it was a little horse. But it's not little. Silly grandma!"

The {not} little pony ride

Fake tractor ride!

We had a hard time getting the boys out of this place. It was super fun!

They had a really cool animatronic dinosaur exhibit. Tyler was fascinated and terrified all at the same time. This dinos' neck would move back and forth. While I was taking this picture, Tyler would not turn to look at the camera. He said, "Don't let the monsters get me Grandma!" and wouldn't take his eyes of them!

My dad said I took too many pictures. :)

We also saw part of the Bodies exhibit, which was really cool too!! Saw my old high school biology teacher who had us dissecting dead cats and looking at cadavers. It was cool.
We really had a blast!

Silly Jackson

We've recently discovered that our little Jackson has quite the sense of humor. Even without saying sentences yet, he cracks us up all the time. He can say a billion words and uses them at the funniest times. Today after dinner, I grabbed him to take him to the bathroom to wash his hands. He yelled "Bye, bye, bampa!" for the 20 seconds he was away from him. Then he ran back up to him and said, "Hi Bampa!" like he hadn't seen him in years!! Silly guy!

It's moments like this that remind me how lucky we are to be here and that my boys know their grandparents.

Just a couple funny places Jackson has been when I had a camera handy. He is always putting things on his head, like his dinner bowl or diaper, and crawls into the funniest places.

Anytime he sees bare skin, he has to buzz it. Be careful what you flash him :) Ond day, he buzzed my dad's leg.

If you tell him to say cheese, he makes this face. This is when he is happy. If you tell him to be happy, he chants the word "happy" over and over. Or if he's in a bad mood, he says, "uh-uh"

And he dances to any music at all, even hymns :)