Well, week six is more than half over and I am just now posting week five. Ah, well, we are busy around here

January 29- Yeah, laundry, not all that exciting, but I do a lot of it around here. It seems like I can rarely catch up. By the time i get laundry put away there is another load to wash.

January 30- My grandparents got the girls a fish awhile back. His name is Nemo, pretty much every fish is named Nemo if you ask J and L. They LOVE this fish, it is crazy. They get so excited to see Nemo every time! They haven’t been over to Gran and Gramp’s house as much since I am home right now, so they have gone through withdrawal. This was an exciting visit for them.

January 31- The weather was wonderful today! We played outside after Ally came to pick up Aiden. These two are (usually) such good buddies!

February 1- Another beautiful day and we took advantage of it! Jillian drew herself on the driveway. How adorable is that?! Her first self portrait. I love it!

February 2- L had her 18 month check up, we were a little late since she is 19 months. We were a little busy is December Of course we had to check out the fish at the doctor’s office. One thing I don’t understand is why they decided to put the fish tank on the sick child side of the waiting area. Did they not think all the healthy children would want to see the fish?

February 3- I absolutely love these three girls!!! And I love this photo. Two smiling faces and one rather contemplative one. Big sisters adore their little sister. Don’t they look so proud to be sitting next to her?

February 4- My best friend Kristine came home for the weekend and we had the opportunity to get together. I always enjoy my time with her! She is such a sweet person. We went to Target, shopped around a bit and then sat and chatted in the cafe. It was a wonderful start to my Saturday!

January 22- Sweet M wore this super cute sweater dress to church. All three girls wore dresses today. It is fun to dress up a bit

January 23- New wall decor for the kitchen! The wall had been bare for a few weeks. Now it feels much better and warmer in the kitchen. I spent part of the morning making the prints on either side of the photo collage. The printing out was easy, securely attaching the ribbon to the frame, not as easy as I thought it would be. Not to mention there were three lovely girlies to care for while attempting some craftiness.

January 24- J didn’t take a nap today. She was pleasant, so no nap was needed. While sisters slept, we had some fun with play-doh, coloring and cutting.

January 25- We were playing before bedtime and I was able to snap a few pics of all the girls on the iPhone.

January 26- Rough morning at the Clarke house! J spent the morning with Nana, and I was very grateful that was already set up when L woke up sick. Multiple throwing up, changing clothes (both hers and mine) and a bath was needed. By afternoon she was feeling better and more herself.

January 27- Dinosaur lunch! Mr. Aiden was over to play this morning and for lunch we decided to have PBandJ dinosaurs. They are always a hit!

January 28- Finally decorated our little mail boxes. I have high hopes that we will use these. There is one for each family member and the hope is to leave notes for one another and the girls can make things for each other and mommy and daddy

Ta-da! Here is week three:

January 15: Storytime with Daddy. We had a meeting at church in the evening, girls were still up when we got home. Joe and I had dinner, girls had a snack, and then bedtime routine was in full swing.

January 16: J and L watching the change swirl around the coin drop at Dairy Queen. We were able to meet my mom, brother and grandparents for lunch.

January 17: Photo shoot time! I dressed the girls up and attempted to take some photos. I had a beautiful amount of sun coming through the windows and the girls were cooperating, and then BAM! camera battery dies But I did capture this gem. The next time the sun in shining beautifully into our living room, you better believe there will be another dress up, photo shoot time!

January 18: L LOVES her counting bears! Much time is spent dumping out, putting them in and pouring into different containers.

January 19: J so sweetly “read” to M after bath time. M was looking at the book, making J very proud of herself. J is such a wonderful big sister.

January 20: Busy day! Aiden was over in the morning. Then, we had some other friends come to visit. They are friends from the church I attended growing up, so I’ve known them quite awhile. My friend Sarah has a daughter the same age as J. It was fun to catch up. L was rolling around in the floor and the end result, some CRAZY hair!

January 21: FONDUE! What a nice evening with awesome friends! The kids had their moments and it was a bit stressful at times, but all in all, it was a good time. Another get together is in order before too long.

Alas, I have put together the photos of week two. I didn’t take as many photos last week, which feels weird, this week will be better.

January 8- I spent part of the day making art display boards to display the wonderful masterpieces from our girlies.

January 9- Snuggles with sweet M.

January 10- Playing ‘Ants in the Pants’ with Daddy (or as J calls it ‘Pants in the Pants’)

January 11- J all dressed up for dinner. She is really into being a princess lately.

January 12- We spent our morning with our friend Aiden. It was a joy to have him over and watch them play together. What a silly, fun little guy he is!

January 13- Lazy Saturday, the girls didn’t change out of their pjs. I had a little fun with the multi lens app on my phone. I am disappointed that that was the only photo from that day.

January 14- I spend time editing photos- here is a view of the computer screen and all the folders of photos we have! It is such fun capturing our moments. I am so glad we have as many photos as we do to look back and cherish our memories.

Recently I have ventured out with all three girls. It is a bit of a process to get everyone in the van and then once we arrive at our destination, to get everyone out and situated (most of the time in a shopping cart). We have tried a few different methods to shopping cart seating and will soon find the one the works best-often it depends on the store and their carts. Anyway, I have been surprised at how many people have offered to help me! I don’t think I appear as if I am struggling a ton, I think I have run into some genuinely nice folks. I am encouraged by this.

I haven’t always needed the help, but a couple times I was very grateful for an extra hand out to the van. Especially the other day as I left the check out lane with two carts-one with kids and one with the things we bought, because I was NOT leaving the store without dog food and having to make another trip at a later time. So picture this-a cart full of kids, one in the carseat in the front and two in the back, and another cart with a few bags and a 48 pound bag a dog food, yes, it’s ok to think I am a little nuts I was pushing the kids and pulling the other cart, maybe I am a little nuts, no, I’d like to think more adventurous. Anyway, a nice lady pushed the cart with our stuff to the van, and for that I am grateful. I hope to be able to offer assistance to others when they are in need. This simple act has left an impression-pay it forward-spread joy, care, compassion.

Happy 2012! We had a good 2011, especially since we ended it with the birth of our third daughter. 2011 was filled with much joy, some challenges and struggles, but also a lot of growth. I can fondly look back on 2011 and also look forward to 2012.

I was tired of our old blog look, so I am trying to freshen it up. We’ll see what happens. Here it is, new color scheme and since it is 2am, this is how it will stay for now. What the blog really needs is some catchy title-I’ll work on that, or better yet, I’ll have Joe work on that, he is better at that than I am. 

I hope to post more this year. We got in a rut last year, posting here and there, perhaps on average once a month. It is a matter of finding time, and with three kiddos that time is hard to find unless it is 2 in the morning. However, like I mentioned in a previous post, no need to stress over the blog. I don’t really know who reads it anyway and or if anyone really cares all that much about reading it. 

One thing I will be posting is Project 365 (this year 366 since it is a leap year). I will choose a picture a day and by the end of 2012 we will have a picture to represent each day of the year. It has already been tough on some days to decide which picture to choose, but I am up for this fun challenge and think it will be fun to look back on. Check back for that post tomorrow, as it is my plan to post a weeks worth of the project at a time so that I don’t have to post daily. 

Again, HAPPY 2012! Enjoy it!

It is already part way through November! Thanksgiving will be here before we know it, then baby three, then Christmas (hopefully in that order). I keep meaning to post more, but it just isn’t happening. I don’t like spending time in front of the computer these days. There is too much to do, more important stuff. I want to edit pictures, post our activities, keep things updated, but I realize that it is simply important that my family has those memories to look back on, and if I don’t get things posted, oh well. With that said, we’ll see when the next post happens, I am not putting pressure on myself.

Until next time, enjoy this nice fall scape taken while my friends Melissa, Trish and I ventured around on a surrey in Indianapolis around the canal (a story for another post).

                                                                      …God is really cool. His creation is beautiful…

A few weekends ago, Clarkes and Vollers went to Bauman Orchard for their Fall Festival. It was GREAT! We went on a hayride-twice!, saw some animals and briefly explored the hay maze, got a tour of the apple sorting/packing and where they make cider, had some lunch, bought some cider, and just enjoyed hanging out together.

We have been having lots of fun around here! The girls and I have been enjoying a couple mornings a week with Ally and Aiden doing homeschool. We are focused on playing and learning together. Ally has many fun things all planned out, she’s great! The kids don’t always want to do what is planned, but we try to get in an activity or two and just let them play. Just playing is so important. The kids get along well and are exploring, creating, and being imaginative.

We have done many apple things-going apple picking, painting with apples, making apple bread, apple tree crafts, making apple cinnamon play dough. We have done also just fun Fall stuff-taking walks at the park and around the block (Finally, after all the rain we had!), talking about leaves, exploring in the creek, jumping in the leaves (the kids weren’t big fans-surprising, I know!), making salt dough pumpkins, going to the pumpkin patch. I really should be writing down more of what we have been doing, Jillian and Lynnsey have been having so much fun! Fortunately, I have lots of pictures to remind us of our fun!

                                                                                                                    …more posts to come…

We had a lovely time picking apples with Ally and Aiden this week. I had never picked apples before, or at least I don’t recall ever doing so. I have certainly been to apple orchards for fall festivals and such, but have not actually picked apples while there.  So, this was a first for me and the girlies. It was a cloudy day to start, but the sun peaked through just as we finished picking. I must say, the apples are DELICIOUS! I am totally all about picking apples now, so much for buying them at the store, it is definitely worth the little drive to Bauman Orchard. Though, I did find out that Buehlars gets their apples from them, which is cool, but picking them yourself is fun and costs less.

The girls had a good time. Both ate an apple while we ventured along picking. It was quite amusing watching Lynnsey eat an apple. It was such a tiny one, not much bigger than her palm and she sure did gnaw on it for quite awhile.  Jillian also ate her first whole apple,  pervious to this day they have always been cut up with no skin on them. Go, little girlies! Aiden showed his strength pulling Jillian along in the wagon, it was cute and I am glad Ally got a video of  it. 

Apple picking with friends = a good time for all- and lots of pictures