Summer is here!

YIPEE!!! Can you hear me screaming?? I have been out of school for over a week now- while the beginning of my break started off pretty rough and emotional (something to be discussed at a later time, not ready to talk about it yet.)-- it has quickly turned into a wonderful time! :) Why? Well, because there is no more alarms to wake me up, no more tests to give, no more students complaining about why math sucks, no more rushing to finish IEP's before a deadline....it is pure bliss. Waking up only when I hear Janie Ann scream, "MOMMMAA!" and returning to the bed so that she can watch a little bit of the iPad every morning, enjoying swimming at Memaw's (for 5 days straight), taking a day break to lounge around the house, only to wake up the next day to join some friends at Frog Legs and swim with them in the neighborhood pool (and for me to make a GRAND entrance into the pool!). It is nice, very nice. Seth's garden is producing like crazy- currently we have 70 quarts of green beans that he has canned- that is not including the ones he is currently canning, gave away or we have eaten! We have squash overflowing in the freezer and we are starting to have tomatoes produce (even though I don't like them), our blueberry plant is ripe and ready to be picked- we have turned into those people that I said I would never be! :) And I'm LOVING it! 

I'm thinking about purchasing one of those rugs that you see on cruise ships that will tell you what day it is (of course, we would have to switch them out)- but during the summer with no routine- I have no idea what today is! Granted- on Monday Seth will begin teaching drivers education for 4 weeks, so we will have to get into some form of routine...

I hope to keep the blog more up-to date now that I have nothing else to do (but have fun), but I'm not making any promises! I also have to figure out how to link my phone/instagram pictures to my blog so that I can upload pictures. (I also need to pull out my nice camera and actually use it!). 

HAPPY SUMMER everyone! 

Summer??

I'm pretty sure I sound like every other teacher out there right now, but I'm so ready for summer I can hardly stand it! We have 9 days until we, teachers, are DONE! One of those is a work-day, so I won't mind it too much, but I will still have to get up and go- so that is why I include it! Tomorrow is the 9th grade field day- I also have a meeting at 8am, I have to schedule approx. 8 more meetings to be held within that 9 day time period! Stressed and exhausted doesn't even begin to describe how I am feeling. I am thankful that I work with some awesome people who are going to help with those meetings! :) So, maybe after we get out for summer I will have time to upload pictures and actually blog about important stuff!!

Wow, can we say slacker?

I have not given any time to the blog lately...a lot has happened in the last few weeks, hopefully I can get it all covered!

Last week was our spring break and my mom came home to visit with us! My mom arrived on Wednesday of the previous week and stayed through the Wednesday of our spring break. We had a wonderful time and we were able to enjoy some time at the beach! Janie, mom and I left on Friday after school and headed straight to PCB! Janie Ann LOVED the beach and the swimming pool! The pool was a little cool for me, ok a LOT, especially in the morning time, but by mid-afternoon it warmed up enough for us to enjoy it. The ocean was also cold, but not bad enough that we couldn't enjoy a walk down the beach! I didn't take many pictures while at the beach, but we will be going back soon!

Also during spring break Janie Ann went to her first dentist appointment with Dr. Keri Miller! She did AWESOME! It is a pediatric dentistry and they take the kids back without the parents- I was worried that Janie would cry, but who am I kidding, my child will go with anyone!! She went right on back without even turning back to look at us! It took about 20 minutes and they brought her back out, with a bag of goodies and a new shirt! She was then able to take us on a tour of where they cleaned her teeth and she showed us the chair she sat in, the glasses she wore and what they did! She was a champ! Let's just hope she will still love the dentist on May 10th when we have to return to get a cavity filled... yep, my baby has a cavity! We thought we were doing good in the teeth department because we never let her sleep with a sippy cup and always tried to keep her teeth clean! But, it happened and now we just have to get it fixed!

Another fun activity that we have started taking Janie Ann to is Frog Legs in Auburn. It is a huge building with inflatables. Janie Ann LOVES it! (And that might be an understatement!) Now, she request that we go to Frog Legs every weekend, and thanks to a wonderful friend and avid doll collector- she has been requesting some Lala Loopsy dolls. (Yes, that was totally random and related to this paragraph is no way!!)!

I know a lot more has happened, but my mind is extremely foggy right now and so I'm going to post this, so you will have something to read and now that I'm alive! :) On another note- before I go- I have entered Janie Ann into the PARENT'S Magazine Cover contest- please go vote for her! She is currently in the weekly contest- voting ends April 22!

http://photos.parents.com/parents-cover-contest-2012/16/2012/

Possible buisness??

I have been making invitations for friends and our Church's baby showers for a while now- saving them as PDF and having them printed at a local shop in Auburn. I have now completed 3 invitations for friends and they have all seemed extremely pleased with the results. I'm thinking about possibly just charging $10-$20, depending on what you want,  and I will design/edit the invite or whatever you want and I can email them to you and you can have them printed wherever you would like.

Again- this is just an idea that I have been thinking about doing...and I'm not even sure how many read this blog, but if you read- what do you think?? Here is an example of an invite that I have done (of course, information changed)

So, if you would be interested- PLEASE let me know! :) You can leave a comment here or you can email me at tsjaclark@gmail.com !!

Ramblings

Well, it has been a while, again... I thought once I graduated from my master's program at Auburn University I would have more time to blog, but I don't! On Tuesday and Thursday I attend Zumba for an hour, then I enjoy my time with Seth and Janie Ann! She has changed SO MUCH over the past 3 months- her communication skills have GREATLY increased (she has always been a talker, but now she provides a lot of details), her personality is really shining through and I just don't want to take the time to sit down and type- I'm scared I will miss something! So, tonight she is already asleep and so I decided it would be a great time for a blog update!

Let's start with the biggest news...Janie Ann is POTTY TRAINED!! YIPPY!! She only wears diapers at nap time and night time! She will occasionally have an accident, but its only because she waits until the last minute to go potty and she will be at the potty pulling down her panties and start to tee-tee. It took one weekend- we would set the tee-tee timer for every 20 minutes and at least try to potty- of course we would then do a crazy dance when she would successfully potty and cheer and clap for her, so that helped out, but by Sunday she was able to tell us when she needed to potty! I was one proud momma! We had attempted the potty training a few times before, but I don't think she was ready, this time she was ready! While I didn't think about it when I wanted her trained- going out in public with a toddler that just has to check out every public restroom- public restrooms are disgusting! It really grosses me out having to sit her on those potties, I've tried holding her over the potty, but that didn't turn out like I planned for it to! Any suggestions?? I don't let her hold onto the potty- the potty covers always slide from under her hiney when I sit her down, so it doesn't work...

Moving on... Janie Ann has really started to enjoy watching movies, but not your typical princess movies, no...her favorites right now? The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Cat in the Hat and my favorite one...Harry and the Henderson's! We try to watch all the Disney movies that she has, but none of them keep her attention like Harry! Oh, she does like The Lion King, especially the part where Pumba and Timon poots...yes, so much for my pretty, pretty princess little girl, I have a tomboy on my hands who likes anything gross, but I wouldn't trade her for the world!! But, another thing Janie Ann has started doing is going through her clothes periodically throughout the day and changing- nightmare for me #1- because her furniture isn't bolted to the walls! She has already pulled her nightstand on top of her- I'm praying we can get the furniture mounted before something big falls on her! #2- I already hate washing clothes and when she changes 1 million times throughout the day, that increase my laundry load! Although it is extremely cute to see exactly what she has picked out to wear- usually when I notice her she says, "I so pretty momma," with a HUGE grin on her face!

Well, I guess that is all for tonight- hopefully I will update more sooner rather than later! Super Bowl tomorrow- we will have a few friends over, hopefully I can remember to take pictures and maybe have a post about that!

Long time, no post

Yes- it has been FOREVER since I have updated the blog! A lot has happened since then...graduation, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a trip to Reno! Currently we are in Reno- having a BLAST! I have TONS of pictures- hopefully I will be able to upload a random selection and update with the pictures...so lets see what uploads correctly! :)



 Christmas cookies with MeMaw! Every Christmas Eve we start off the morning with a community breakfast, then all of the Clark grand kids/niece's all go MeMaw's house and bake cookies for Santa Claus! They also make reindeer food!You can't tell in this picture, but all the grand kids have matching PJ's, which is something Seth and I started buying for our niece and nephew-when there was only 2 of them...now there is 6 and we still continue the tradition!

 Putting out cookies for Santa! She LOVED preparing for him to come, but did not like the idea of Santa Claus coming to her house! My favorite quote from the holiday season was, "Santa not bring me presents, Daddy buy me presents."

 Janie Ann received a microphone from Santa Claus- it was a HIT! The iPod connects to it and she can sing along to her favorite Justin Bieber song...Baby or Mistletoe, depending on her mood! Hopefully I can post a video soon.

 This picture was taken before she saw what Santa brought her- obviously morning is not our best time! Her hair is CRAZY! And this is what it looks like on most mornings!

I don't have any pictures of her and Hudson on the plane, but on Christmas day we left the house around 10:45 am headed to Alex City to pick up the Whiteard's and meet my brother and his girlfriend, Kaci, to head to the airport! We flew out of Birmingham at 4:35 to Reno, NV to spend a week with my mom! We arrived in Reno at 8:55 NV time,10:55 at home. We had a great flight- long- but great! We slept as late at the babies would let us on Monday morning and woke up ready to explore! We went to Virginia City and stopped at the lookout- it was beautiful!

 Family picture at the lookout! And, yes, normally during this time of the year this area is covered in snow and we would be wrapped up and still cold...but, it was warmer in NV than it was at home. It was kind of a bummer that there was no snow, but I don't think my nerves could have handled driving in the snow! We had a great time exploring in the beautiful weather- and because it was so pretty, we could travel without having someone experienced driving in snow to drive us around! :)

 On Tuesday we drove to Lake Tahoe- again, absolutely beautiful! So pretty and clear, of course, the water is still FREEEEZING cold!

 Gigi and Janie Ann- with the cutest beanie hat- EVER! When we arrived mom had 3 of them for her...so including the 3 we brought with us-this child had enough hats to last her for the rest of the season and hopefully at least one more winter season!

On Wednesday we went to Mt. Rose- where they are making snow so that people can ski! It is beautiful, too. Seth, Paden and Kaci all went to ski school for 90 minutes, while they were at ski school, Cole was skiing independently and Rachel and I were playing with the babies in the snow. Janie Ann watched the "Little Mule" ski school participants and so we went in to see if I could get her into the ski school, unfortunately she was still too young, but they let me rent her a pair of skis and get a ski lift ticket. I was SO PROUD I decided to do this, because it was the more precious thing I had ever seen! My mom's boyfriend, Dabo (Not his real name), has been skiing for a long time, so he came and helped us to get Janie Ann in her skis and get her set to come down the hill!

 How stinking cute?!?!

 Group picture (minus a few)

Janie Ann skiing down the hill! I was such a proud momma! There is a video posted on FaceBook. If I can figure out how to upload it here, I will! We have had a great time- this is our last night and we are all exhausted. The boys (and possibly Kaci) are going to wake up and go skiing in the morning, while I attempt to figure out how to get ALL the CRAP we packed to come out here, packed back up (along with a few extra items that were picked up at after-Christmas sales!)

Well, a little late, but we now have a TWO year old!!

Well, I said I would post on her birthday, but life got in the way! We were super busy on her actual birthday with Trick or Trunk at church and many other events! So, I'm late, but I'm still going to post all about Janie Ann!

November 2nd we went for her check-up and she weighed 31lbs and was 35 inches tall! Such a big girl! She was able to get Flu Mist at the appointment and did very well with that! Thank goodness we didn't have to do the flu shot!!! Right now she is able to carry on full conversations with us; telling us what she likes and dis-likes and what she will and won't do! She LOVES Justin Beiber and his song "Baby". She is able to spot him on a book, magazine cover or TV and whenever she sees him she stops whatever she is doing to watch/look at him! It is crazy! She LOVES cheese right! She would eat it all day, every day! Any form of cheese- slice, block, string! She also loves fruit- right now grapes are her fruit of choice. She also request yogurt and of course, cookies! She is on her way to being potty trained- some days she does better than others. She loves to read books and her favorite movies are Toy Story and Alvin and the Chipmunks. She loves to dress herself and considers herself to be a "Princess!" I asked her the other day if she was a big girl or a baby and her was, "No, I a princess, mommy!" She constantly ask to have her picture taken and whenever I pull my phone out in the car, I hear her in the back seat saying, "cheeeesssee!"

Seth and I are LOVING this stage, even though she can be a tad bit bossy! And hopefully now that I am done with written and comps (and passed)- I will have more time to make posts!!