Things that make me laugh...

I know Jackson's getting into mischief when I hear the chairs being pushed out from the table, a little bit of grunting, followed by "Ta-da!" over and over.
Then I wonder what Mr. Jack has gotten into. Or I should say, what I have left on the table for him to attack. This time, it was a few paint brushes, which he kept tickling on his face and laughing.
Earlier today, we were playing with a bouncy-ball that was sending him into a giggling-frenzy.
His new favorite thing to do is turn the light on and off and look up and back at me with every switch of the light.
He says Hi (while waving) and Ball and No,no,no,no,no. As well as banana (nanana) and Thanks.

The other day, Tyler asked me where his dinosaur was. I asked him which of his many (many) dinosaurs he was talking about. And then he did this:

 and so of course, I thought he wanted this one:

 but I was wrong. Don't you see the resemblance? Two fingers, mouth open... but maybe all dinos look like that...

Yesterday we were playing outside and Tyler found a bug. I heard him smash it over and over and pretend-bug scream with each smash. And then he said in a sad, whiny voice "oh, he want his legs."

Earlier today, Tyler started telling our favorite sitter Stephanie a funny (and completely made up) story about a bug in our house. It contained lots of "last night"s and "bamorrow"s and "almost got me"s. It's funny to listen to him talk and use grown up words and expressions.

In other news, 2 MORE DAYS!! until my parents come! Wahoo! 

"Nauna and Gampa are coming and we gonna shoot Tigers ba'tuz that be fun, huh mommy?!"

Crafty friends, I need your help!

Sending Smiles is helping out a darling family who's father has a brain tumor. We are doing a Handmade Auction and I would love your help! If you'd like, make something special and donate an item or items for this auction and all the proceeds will be given to the Baumgarten Family for medical bills and treatments. If you're not crafty or don't have time to create something, come on over May 6-8 for the Auction and do some shopping!! It will be super fun, I'm so excited to see what everyone comes up with! Go here for more information on the Baumgarten Family and what you can do to help!

My Eternal Family

Our lesson for FHE tonight was on 'My Family Can Be Together Forever' from the Nursery Manuel.
We talked about Temples, played Hot & Cold until we found a picture of the temple in the hall, pretended we were a beautiful temple by making a steeple with our hands and talked about our eternal family. We talked about what we can do now to prepare to enter the temple. Tyler said he would go to church. We made finger puppets, and paper necklaces and sang a song. I think it was successful!! My favorite part was when Jackson held out his two pointer fingers for puppets and walked around the coffee table wearing "Daddy" and "Sister". My second favorite part was when we talked about our "sister named Lindsey" Evidently, she's waiting in heaven for us.
I'm grateful for my eternal family, both the one I grew up in and the one we are creating. I'm grateful that our Heavenly Father put temples on earth so that we can start to learn about Heaven and want to go there, together as a happy family!

Have you ever found one of these in your dryer?

I try to baby-proof the house, but they just keep coming back!
Haha! I love that quote. At least they're cute.

Some Fun Stuff!

I've had too many internet tabs open for the past couple days on projects I want to do. Usually I just email myself the links, but I thought some of you might love them too! I haven't browsed  U Create for awhile, and I could get stuck on that site and other links for hours!!

Homemade Wreath- Somewhat Simple

Shelf out of Closet Doors- Infarrantly Creative 

    Candlestick Holders- Drab to Fab

Ruffled Camera Strap- Crap I've Made







The Domesticated Skirt- Sew a Straight Line






Interchangeable Flip Flops-Make It and Love It


Ok, that's better!
Happy Weekend, Everyone!!

I figured it out!

Ok, I just figured out how to get my updates to pop up on your sidebar list.

Just replace this URL: http://clarkupdater.blogspot.com/ with the one you currently have saved for our family and you'll see when I've made an update. Then just click on the link to get back to our private family blog. Hope that helps!

Perfectly Perfect

All day long today, I've been thinking about my many blessings. As I was reading this blog about a family with a baby that was just born with Down syndrome, thoughts came flooding back to me from the day I was pregnant with Jackson and received a phone call from the Parkland Hospital. They told me I had some irregular testing and needed to come in for a visit and should bring my husband. I quickly looked over the pamphlets they gave me at my last appointment and read down the list of all the diseases and disorders the baby was tested for.

We met with a very nice lady who told us we had 1/162 chance that this baby had Down syndrome. Women my age with normal testing would have 1/4400 chance, so they deemed it high risk. We could choose to get an amniocentesis or not, but that would be the only way to know for sure before the baby was born. I don't love needles and I always thought I'd be against risking the baby in any way, but after praying and fasting about it, we knew that I should have the test.

It would be two weeks until we got the results and I wish I could say I wasn't an emotional basket-case during that time. But I was. I began the mourning process in hopes that when I did find out, I'd be out of tears and ready to be optimistic and excited for our journey with a baby who had down syndrome. I felt like it would be an honor to be a parent to such a special child; one that would be ours forever, without doubt. But thoughts of how hard it would be and what he would miss out on, always lurked and made Jeff and I very sad.

It was two weeks later on a Thursday when we found out, I remember it very clearly. I was standing in the kitchen when my phone rang. I knew it was the hospital before I answered. It was the nice lady who visited with us before. I was happy to hear her voice and for the wondering to be over. I just wanted to know and then I could deal with it, either way. I remember being very calm as she told me that our baby did not have Down syndrome. I'm sure she could hear the relief in my voice as I told her, "Thank you so much" and it wasn't until she told me "Congratulations" that I started crying. I hung up and turned right to Jeff and told him our baby is ok. We hugged for a long time on our kitchen floor.

I remember our prayer that night, thanking our Heavenly Father that our baby was healthy. We try to include that in every prayer we make, and I'm sure we always will. Because of this experience I don't take for granted for one second how blessed we are to have two children who are healthy and safe.

Jeff and I haven't told anyone about this except our parents and a couple people who we served with at church at that time, but today I felt very strongly to share my experience. I had many peaceful moments where the Lord gave me strong answers. The first was to do the testing. Looking back I'm so grateful that answer was so clear because it saved me a lot of heartache and anxiety, if I had to wonder for another 5 months. Another strong feeling I got was to be ready. With this prompting, I thought it meant for sure he had the disorder, but now I know it had to do with his delivery. I'm so glad that I was spiritually prepared at the time or it would have been even harder for me to recover from that. The greatest inspiration I received during this difficult time is that we are all special. That the spirit that would be sent to me would be ours and he would be perfect. I'm grateful for those answers, that didn't give me a yes or a no, but gave me the promptings I needed to stay strong and know that the Lord has a greater plan for all of us. That we are sent down at the right time and to the right parents. I'm grateful to be a mother and a wife and I find so much joy from those callings as a woman.

The Dreaded- Going Private

So sorry, but I have to go private. I've had 2 COMMENTS from some guy in India. If you don't know us, why are you looking at our blog? Let alone commenting. Just wondering. It's one thing to pop on a blog and stay for a minute, but come on. That just makes me uncomfortable.

So, if you know me and I know you, and you are viewing my blog, you should feel special :)

I'll set up an account so that you can get updates on your sidebar if you have a list... once I figure out how to do that. Until then, I'll rest easy knowing that the man in India isn't planning an attack on my family to steal one of my children that he thinks is "cute".

Sending Smiles

I've had this idea running around in my brain for awhile now. It started with an inspired thought-one day it hit me and throughout the process, all the pieces have come together perfectly.

A long time ago, I made a commitment to use my time and talents to help others. This is one way I am able to do that. It's called Sending Smiles...

We are a group of women who send gifts to people in need. People who are trying their best to live a good life, but are having hardships along the way. We send them care packages in hope that they may realize how many people care about them, and our hope is that it will make them smile.

With the launch of our new blog, we are doing a couple Giveaways! Go here for details on how to enter and how to help. There are 2 great women we are featuring right now. Both of them I have met through the blogging world from my swap group and who have had struggles with infertility and adoption. My co-host is Christine of We Are All Mothers, who has also been a blessing in my life!

It's amazing how when our goal is to help others, we are in turn blessed as well! I am excited for this journey and can't wait to see the result of sharing our smiles!

Happy 31 Jeffery

Here's my one and only picture of Jef'f's actual birthday. He worked all day, so I'm so glad that we celebrated so much over the weekend. Tyler reminded me that we needed to get poppers for daddy's big day.

I just love this guy:

Yellow pants (from fertilizing) and all!

Two Little Boys on Easter Sunday:

Grandmas and Grandpas: No need to print these off (cuz I know you want to!) You just may be receiving a special copy on Mother's Day. Just saying.

Easter Hunt

I really thought Jackson would enjoy his very first Easter egg hunt. But, he was in a horrible mood!

He sat on the ground and just ate the goldfish and fruit snacks out of 3 eggs...

And looked at me so devilishly if I tried to take his picture

Luckily Tyler enjoyed every second of it and he picked up the slack and got 2 basket's worth!

And was this excited every time he found one.

Even if it was on the grass, supposed to be Jacksons.

Or if we told him there might be a blue on in that tree right there.

Basket #1 and...

Basket #2. Courtesy of Jackson Clark.

Rocket Launch!

In between Conference Sessions, we went to Celebration Park to launch the rocket I got for Jeff. (I did some of my shopping for him at Hobby Lobby and was absolutely tickled that I could shop for him while I shopped for fabric, art supplies and decorations--)

Here are the boys. Cute, cute!

Jack's classic look. I. am. so. not. going. to. smile. for. you. right. now. mom.

What could be cuter than this picture above?

This one. I just love my boys. Especially when one of them drops their drawers...

HA! In the middle of the park.

Whatever. I had to pee mom! (really he's yelling at me to take him to the park)

I love this picture. I should include the close up of me and Ty. I'm squinting my whole face wondering if I'm going to get my skin burned off and Tyler's holding his ears. (we must both have anxiety issues.)

And Jeff ran to get it!

Jeff's Birthday Celebrations

We started Jeff's Birthday Bash on Friday with a Surprise BBQ! My parents ordered it for him so his friend helped me pick it up and I surprised him by telling him there was a snake in the driveway. I'm a horrible liar, but Tyler kept looking around for the snake! Finally, Jeff walked out and smiled!

I took a picture and Jeff said Zoom in! Of course, here's our dinner Rib-Eye stakes, up close and personal!

This is the cake I made him! I asked Tyler if we should make Daddy a soccer ball or a baseball hat and he said, "or a spider!" So, spider it is...

With pudding guts in the middle! It was mighty tasty! I love my Betty Crocker bake'n'fill pans!

A New Look for Kirstikoo!

I'm so excited to present my new banner and web design for kirstikoo!

Created by the lovely Jenna at q.a. design

Go snag my new button for your blog {it works now} and become a follower if you want.

I just posted about a fundraiser I'm doing for Relay for Life. Be a part of this great cause!

April Fools!

I've seen recipes for these meatloaf cupcakes and have always wanted to try them. I decided April 1st would be the perfect time since Jeff's birthday is on Monday and we are already celebrating early this weekend. I brought them out before dinner, telling Jeff that Tyler's been wanting to sing to him all day. We sang and Jeff kept looking at me like I was crazy, I'm sure I had a goofy look on my face :)

He told me he was on a diet and cannot eat cupcakes for dinner, to that I was prepared (I knew he'd say that) and said it was a special wheat recipe and wouldn't be high in calories... He dipped his finger in the frosting and licked it... and then looked at me again... I started laughing and yelled "APRIL FOOLS!"

It was delicious! I used Grandma Clark's ground beef with sausage recipe, which is always good and with mashed potatoes on top, it was perfect! Plus, they only took about 25 mins to cook instead of over an hour.

Tyler ate his JUST like a cupcake, "frosting" first and the whole thing with his fingers. I'm glad I got to do something on this very weird holiday!

Spring Swap Fun!

I got my spring swap package today!! So excited. I LOVE doing these!

I made a quilted table runner with fun bright colors and flowers and put together easter baskets for my partner's kids. My camera was broken when I sent it off, so I don't have pictures, but I'll update it when she posts it on the Seasonal Swaperoos Blog!

I love having seasonal decor!