Sleeping Beauties

I walked in to check on Sarah Kate before I sent to bed for the night, and this is what I found. In case you can not read her eye mask, it says "High Maintenance". Which of course is totally her!
I know it is hard to find her among all of her stuffed animals. Believe it or not, she thinks we should go to Build a bear every time a coupon comes to the house. It is hard to see her baby that she is cuddling under the blanket.
I went into Corey's room and this is the sight that I found. I guess Corey had covered him up and he decided that is where he should stay. I was happy with not having the dog between Buzz and I all night.
I guess you could say ben had a rough day. It is a shame he is so unloved!! Sweet dreams.......

On route for a paper

God forbid Corey give me a smile and you would never know he was happy to begin his paper route today...but he was. The workingman delivers local papers on Thursday afternoons.
He will deliver around 95 papers each week and make about 15.00-20.00 a month . Trust me, He has about 100.00 spent already before he ever makes it on the things he wants to purchase.
I told him that as soon as he gets his first check, he can open a savings account and get a bank card. That excites him! I did however explain that he must have money in the account to use the card. Yes, I thought is a good idea to teach him that at an early age.

Well, one week down, four more before he gets a check!!

Ice Cream anyone??????

Saturday night was the nicest evening we have had weather-wise in a while so we took advantage of it and walked up town for ice cream. Graeter's ice cream is the best thing since sliced bread so we thought that we would enjoy a nice long walk and some great ice cream.
Sarah Kate has discovered Black Raspberry Chocolate chip and you can tell from this picture that she enjoyed it! Everyone we spoke to on the way home got a chuckle out of her eating this ice cream because she wore as much as she ate.
Another great thing about the walk is the view. We love Grove City because of what we call "downtown". It is away from all the fast food and businesses of the town. It has all of the charm of a small town. On Friday nights, you can get ice cream and listen to bands playing in the summer. They have activities for all the kids. And the best family owned restaurants...got to get Lilly's rolls..YUM!! We also have summer farmers markets on the weekend and throughout the fall. It's great cause you can walk up and always find someone you know to chat with.
Corey is much more restrained! He went all out and got chocolate ice cream!!! So adventurous!!If you are ever in central ohio, you have to get this ice cream..IT IS THE BEST!!! Don't worry, Dad, you'll be here soon enough

It's coming to the end of the year...

Well, only 8 more days of school and you can tell not only by the change in the weather, but in the actions of the kids. Here are the four amigos walking to school. Corey is in 4th, Kylie in 3rd, Noah in 2nd and of course Sarah Kate is in 1st. Corey will be leaving them next year for Park Street, but Jack across the street will begin kindergarten so lose one..gain one...
Here they are running to school because they are so excited to be there...NOT!! Poor SK in her flip-flops! but you know the diva has to look good!
This is Ella Grace walking into preschool with her friends and Miss Julia. She only has two more days and then she is done. I have been so proud of her this year. I have seen her confidence grow and that in itself warms my heart. She'll be just fine Anita!
And then that leaves poor Ben at home by himself. When Ella leaves for school, she wraps him up in her blankets so he won't cry for her (she says). I think he likes the piece and quiet but that is between you and I. But he does love all the kids! We keep telling him that Pappy will be here soon...he's waiting on you dad!!!

Fun with Family

This weekend was a blast for everyone! Uncle Chris, Aunt Jen & Lindsay came from Maryland to visit! And if you are wondering, no, Codey stayed home! They came in Friday nght and we the weather cooperated and we were able to grill out and spend the whole evening outside. As you can see, Uncle Chris made himself at home in the hammock!
Buzz loved teasing the kids all night so there was lots of wrestling and chasing through the yard all evening! I am not sure if Lindsay made it to the garbage can or not!! The corn hole game, tether ball and badmitton set sure came in handy!! Remind me to not wear flip flops the next time I play with buzz!! And to let Corey be his partner!!
Three kids went through a whole bag of marshmellows in a few hours. How they never puked, I will never know. Aunt Jenn helped Sarah Kate roast about a dozen of those things! It is wonderful to have a fire pit in your yard. The evenings are still cool so a nice fire is so much fun.
Here are the girls together. They are 6 weeks apart in age and it breaks my heart that they are only together a few times a year. I know, be greatful for the time you do have! Next time, the get together is at their house and we are so stoked about getting to go their pace and tour D.C. with uncle Chris!! (so long as he does not drive!! that is a whole different blog!)Thanks guys for a great time!!

Curly Q

BEFORE:
Sarah Kate decided that she wanted to put rollers in her hair. She has not had curls in her hair since I cut them off at two. She thought it would be fun to roll them in and see what she got! She wanted to walk around the neighborhod last night with them in her hair!!
AFTER:

Well, she awoke to these curls this morning! She said, "momma, I have puffy hair". All I could think of was , welcome to the 80's!! She loved it though! She believes she is such a fashion diva so I am sure she will show them to all and love the attention that they will create for her!!

take me out to the ball game

Baseball has begun and tonight was Corey's first game. His team is the Mets and he was so excited to finally get started after being delayed a week cause of weather. This is him on first base..waiting to be brought in.
All of Corey's off season hard work has paid off and he is the starting pitcher. He is so pumped about that cause he loves to pitch. He is good at first base as well cause he is a "south paw".
His stats for tonights game were great. He was 4 for 4 at bat....struck out 6 kids in the first two innings...(he only pitched 2 to give another player a try).He has not worn his glasses for three weeks and we think maybe he was having such issues last season cause of his glasses. He could not hit the side of a barn and was swinging too early. Maybe it was time the glasses went in the drawer! That is his buddy Nick on first base!!
This is Corey with the game ball. After each game,a player is awarded the ball for a great play or contribution to the game. Coach Scott is great about handing out praise when it is earned and I am thankful for a coach like that.

Happy Mother's Day

Well, Happy Mother's Day!! Buzz took pictures of me and all my kids. Of course, Ben is my favorite kid. He loves me all the time...eats everything I give him and never talks back!!
This is me and sissy before church. She is so excited about having her hair grow long and dressing up. She thinks she is much older than 6. All weekend, she has been making me homemade cards and hiding things around the house for me to find as "presents"!!
This is me and my little Buzz! He is becoming such a young man and it blows my mind. Good thing I have heels on cause he is almost as tall as me otherwise! He as well brought me home flowers with a homemade card.
My three pumpkins together! My gift today was for them all to get along and no fighting and so far...they have pulled it off! But the night is not over yet!!
Hope everyone had a great mother's day.......

$.23 Pizza!!

Well everyone...this is my .23 pizza that I ordered and and was told to pick up an hour later. Upon picking it up, I had to wait another 30 minutes for because it was completely out of control.

Let me start at the beginning. My friend Chris called. That is not always the best way to start a story because who knows what direction it will take when she is involved. Anywho...PaPa Johns was selling pizzas for .23 today because they "ticked off" every Cleveland Cavs fan in the state when PaPa Johns called Lebron James a crybaby. So, she thought we should call for a pizza so we could have it for dinner tonight.

We both tried calling and I finally got through to the automated service in which I was on hold for 20 minutes. I finally was able to order my pizza and hers, but we could not pick up each others pizza so we both had to go pick up. When we got to the store, there were 18 people in line TO ORDER. We were not allowed to jump the line and pay and wait..OH NO, we had to stand in line and wait for others to pay and then pay for ours and WAIT SOME MORE!!

I am not digging how this made up for calling LeBron a crybaby, but hey...it is .23 pizza. For those of you who not know...his number is 23,hence why the pizza cost .23!Yes...this is my life!! Once again...one of my crazy peeps!!

My Crazy Peeps!

Have you ever had those people in your life that are completely insane?? Well, lucky for me, I have many and I would not know what I would do without any of them.

First of all, let me tell you about my friend Chris. SHE IS CRAZY!!! Not a little bit....ALOT! On a daily basis, this woman will tell me something and I just have to shake my head and go "oh no she didn't". She is the person that I call and say" This is all about me" and then I vent and she actually listens until I am done. Now that is a friend!! I can call her anytime and she is there.

Secondly, you have my polish friend Anita. She is the type of person that you say,"Are you really a school teacher??" This girl has some crazy stories and it is something EVERYDAY!! no lie! But they are the kind of stories that get you through the day..ya know?!?! But once again, I can call her anytime and she is there.

Third, You have my Stacie. She is the person in my life that tells me..."It's gonna be ok". You know how Christina and Meredith are each others person on Grey's???Well, Stacie is my person as well. My Nascar loving...Grey's loving and oh yes...elephant ear loving friend! Buzz will never forgive her for introducing me to Grey's!! Once again...I can call anytime....

Fourth, you have Kara. She and I share a great love.....The Colts!! anyone who has a poster of Peyton...excuse me..My Peyton in their garage..is ok with me. She is the person who sweats with me at the Y and encourages me to be healthy not for anyone but myself and I love her for it. Once again...all I need to do is call.

There are many others, but I can not list them all, who have been so wonderful to me since I'v moved here. Misty...Alison (gosh I miss you)...Jill...Liane....Lindsay. My thanks for being who you are.

So I guess moving to Ohio has not been all that bad. I do miss my girls in Florida and of course, people like Lori who I grew up with and do not get to see nearly enough. But God has blessed me with so many friends and placed people in my life who do nothing but enrich it and make me greatful for who I am and where He has led my life.

Anyone else feel as lucky as I do with the peeps you have?????

Sarah Kate's Writing Celebration

Tonight Sarah Kate invited us to her classroom for a writing celcbration. Each student had to pick a subject (an animal), do research on it,draw a picture and then present their information to the class and their parents.
This is her reading her "report" to everyone. She had to go first and I was surprised at how well she did. She is so not shy( wonder who she gets it from??). She got all dressed up and smiled her biggest smile.

This is Mrs. Lykins, her teacher and her friend Sam. Sam did his report on King Cobras while SK did hers on Owls. Sam is much more nervous than SK. He is the cutest thing ever!! He would make great son-in-law material in about 20 years!! Good family too!!
This is them after the presentation showing off their work! She is already giving him "the nudge"!! Keeping him "in line"!! I guess woman have to do that at every age!!

Tastefully Simple is tastefully wonderful!!

A friend from church had a Tastefully Simple party two Fridays ago. Yes, I know it is hard to believe that with all the cooking I do, I had never been to one of these parties. Let me tell you...I loved it. The black bean and corn salsa was the best I have ever had! I loved everything about the product. It really sells itself!

Well, as you all know, I am on A Relay for Life team and in order to boost my efforts, I am having a Tastefully Simple party on Friday, June 6th. Instead of me getting product, the proceeds will go to relay! I am so greatful that Kim is willing to do this because alot of companies do not realize how much they can help others by doing things such as this.

So, if you are close by, keep the date open so you can drop by, sit on the patio and enjoy some good food and fellowship. If not and you would like to check out the product, the email address is:www.tastfullysimple.com/web/kclark1. If you do group orders with some friends, she will put everyone one in order to split shipping. Just let her know that it is for my booking. I really want to reach my goal for Relay!!

Speaking of black bean and corn salsa...Happy cinco de mayo!!!

Taking Chances

It is always hard to take chances. The worry of the unknown. The worry of things that may never happen. Just plain worry. We all do it. Deaspite the fact that it is a sin. We can't always help ourselves.

Buzz got on working with UPS when we moved here. It never developed into a full time position. He got another job that paid well, but his schedule is horrible and not always family friendly. He interviewed today with UPS and was offerred a job. It is not guarenteed full time after the summer season, but we are praying it will be. Life does not guarentee you anything. Life is about taking chances and praying that it all works out in the end. My prayer is that everything we have been through has happened because we needed to get to this point.

I am asking all of you to pray for this situation. We believe that God has opened this door (so easily) to less complicate our lives and bring our family back to evening dinners together and weekends for fellowship and for Buzz to get back to church EVERY week with his family.

Please pray for us........I'll keep you updated.....