North Carolina!

The day before the kids' spring break officially began, we packed up the van (sans the dog) and headed down to North Carolina to help Dave's dad finish moving from his house into his new apartment.  Even though the movers had taken all of his big furniture and gotten the apartment mostly moved in and livable, there was still a LOT of stuff at the house that needed to be gone through, divided up, and packed into moving trucks.  Yes, trucks.  The New York Clark family had one 16 foot moving truck to load, the Idaho Clark family had their own similar moving truck to fill up.  And boy, did we fill those up!!  

The first couple of days, we went through the house and took stock of what needed to be done.  The men spent an entire day going through the garage, tools, and stored boxes from the attic and dividing up all the fun new saws and such.  Meredith and I spent hours sitting on the floor with dozens of pieces of silver gleaming so brightly, I think we wore sunglasses most of the time.  

Our kids were all AMAZING through this entire process.  Over the course of the week we were there, they were left to their own devices for long stretches of time and not once did they complain.  We were mindful that they needed to get out of the house some and play, so we hooked up the hose for them (thankfully it was warm enough for that) and we took them on hikes/walks around the area, especially to feed the goats, always a fun time.  

At the close of the week, we were all exhausted, but we had such a good time all being together.  It is hard to get us all in the same zip code very often, but the cousins love it and we value that time together as a family.

First excursion to feed the goats.  Odin immediately loved the laser tag game, carried one with him for the first 48 hours.  

Odin:  hat ready, laser tag engaged!!!

Caleb and Odin loved having someone the same exact age and gender to play with.  New Star Wars lego sets helped ease the burden of being ignored by their parents!

Lin and Meredith, definitely a rare photo.  Loved spending so much time with her!!

In one of the closets, we found three old fur coats.  I promised not to post these on Facebook, but never about the blog.  So, pimp #1........

......disco pimp #2......  :)

Some of the many pieces of silver that we went through.  This is my new tea set, for when Michelle Obama comes over.

Molly with the genie lantern.  I think Meredith took this one to Idaho.

More boy cousin shots.  They each have their capes, masks, swords strapped on, and laser tag guns.  Ready for action!!!!

CFJ 1st grade spring performance

Molly's 1st grade put on a wonderful performance this spring, all about bugs!!  The entire show was written by her music teacher and the kids were extremely grown up and knew all of their lines through both the talking parts and the singing parts.  Molly was a generic bug, but she did have a couple of speaking parts.   Was so much fun to watch!!

Union Endicott Spring String Concert

Potter participated in the Union Endicott school district Spring String Concert.  Sadly, there were so many children on the stage and I was pretty near the back of the auditorium, that you cannot actually see Potter. He is on the left,  a few kids back.  At one point, I think I got a glimpse of his bow and his shirt.  They did a truly amazing job, this is not your typical 6th grade orchestra.  

.........and......SURPRISE!!

This post is about EmmaWright.  She does not like to have her picture taken at our house apparently, so this is a picture of her from last summer.  Just fyi.

So the long weekend when Molly was here visiting was punctuated (with an exclamation mark no less) by Emma's surprise Friday night arrival!!!!  She worked hard all week to get stupid L2 stuff done so that she could hang with us all weekend.  The kids pretty much pummeled her upon arrival!  We all ended up going to the Pancake Breakfast together at UPK (we took up a whole table) and eating all of the bacon there.  Mmmmmm!!!!  We then went to the new micro brew pub in Binghamton for lunchy snacks and beer for Emma and Dave.  'Lin, you'll really like this beer.  If you don't like any beer, *this* is the beer you'll like', says Emma.  It sucked.  We all enjoyed some cocktails together, a yummy dinner, and movie time with the kids later that night.   Emma and I spent Sunday morning on a really good long walk together, something I love doing with her and that Mollyariotti seems to be vehemently opposed to.   Looking forward to seeing her again soon, probably over the summer break.  

Molly comes to visit

Mollyariotti came for a visit right before Easter.  Had been a while since we had seen her and she fell right back into place at our house.

See?  She is right in place in Molly's loft bed, with all the kids too!!  I think they were all up there for like 2 hours.

Molly and Potter playing a violin duet.  They did this many times over the weekend, it was such fun to watch and listen!

And, that sums up her cocktail hour every night.........

Caleb's gymnastics demo

On March 17th, Caleb had his second gymnastics demo.  Now that he is in the boy's class, one of the events they work on are the rings.   He really loves this event, as he does all of gymnastics in general.  

Caleb swinging on the rings

Pulling into his upside-down form

Part of his floor routine - the bridge

Getting his award - I mean, isn't he just the cutest kid??

Father Daughter Dance

Molly's elementary school hosts a Father-Daughter Ball every winter.  Molly was very excited to shop for her dress and dress shoes with a heel!  Dave even bought a new tie and dress shirt for the occasion.  From what I've heard about that night, it was an awesome time and Dave may have busted a few moves.  I'll have to hunt around for anyone who has video of that!!

Molly dressed up and ready to go!

Dave and his beautiful date!

This is what they look like in real life!!!

Cute kids

Just a few pics of some cutie pie kids...

My kids and Cameron over at Wendy's apartment.  

Molly and Cameron (he is about 11 months old here)

First day of ice cream at Smarty's....pretty sure this was in mid March.  Who would have thought that?

Field trip with UPK to Consol's Family Kitchen

This year, one of Caleb's classmates has a parent that works at Consol's restaurant, so we were able to work out a field trip there to make pizzas!!  It is an awesome trip to make, some kids have never made their own pizzas before, and everyone leaves full :)

Ignoring my finger (?) - Caleb starts off by drawing what his pizza will look like when it is out of the oven

Squishing the dough

Over-exaggerating his moves

Sauce spreading went smoothly

Wondering if anyone is watching him start to take the whole container of cheese

Victorious with a pound of cheese

Finished product!

One day of sledding this winter!

This was quite possibly the LAMEST winter ever!!!  We had virtually no snow, we had exactly zero snow days and only one delay day for school.  Fortunately for the kids, the one day that we had a significant (read: 4 inches) amount of snow was on a weekend.   I was feeling poorly that day, so I didn't go sledding, sadly that meant I missed my chance for snow fun for the whole winter.  Dave bundled up the kids and the sleds and headed over to the berm.  The kids reported to me upon arriving home 'Mom, you could still see *grass* on the hill.'  I mean, that is just wrong.  Wrong, wrong, wrong. They had a fun time anyway, and came home to hot chocolate with peppermint and marshmallows!!!

Headed out with one of the new sleds from Santa

Whooshing down the hill!!

Ready to ride

Molly's new room

Right after the holiday craziness was over, Dave took on his big project for the BU break - totally redoing the playroom downstairs for Molly's new bedroom.  Molly selected a beautiful lavender color for the walls, and then Dave and I decided that it would be too much purple on the walls.  We decided to put a chair rail around the room to break up the color.  I must say that Dave did a masterful job of that and it is truly amazing!!  It makes the room look more grown up, and it will also work well in many years when it isn't Molly's bedroom anymore. 

To save floor space, Dave built Molly a loft bed.  It is totally wicked!!!  She has long wanted one and this room was quite suited to having one.  Dave drew up all of the plans and constructed the entire bed on site!  When we ever have to take it out, it will need to be at least partially disassembled!!   Also to make use of the space more efficiently, Molly's desk now lives under her bed.  This leaves room for her dresser, a bookshelf, and toys that she likes to keep out to play with.  The room is the envy of her brothers, who I think wish they had something like this as well.  Being the only girl has its privileges!!!

After the room is painted, the chair rail is up, and the bed and ladder and put together.

Molly just testing it out to make sure it is weight bearing!

Wow, it must be weight bearing with all three of them up there!!!

Molly's desk, with her new desk lamp installed on the underside of the bed frame - super idea!

First night in the new bed!!!!

Caleb was having a little trouble letting go of his roommate, so he had a sleepover in Molly's new room for the first couple of nights.

Starting up again.....soon!

Yes, I have heard from several different friends and family that the blog isn't what it used to be.  The sad part is, we have been very busy, there are lots of pictures to post, and I even got a new camera at Christmas.  We (read: I) am so busy most of my days, by the time it is evening, I just want to collapse.   BUT, I will be getting my act together soon.  Check back.  I promise!!

Molly is Citizen of the Month

Molly was chosen by her teacher, Mrs. Appel, as Citizen of the Month for first grade.  Very proud of my girl!

Molly with the other first grade citizens in front of the student body

A more posed group photo

Molly at home with her certificate!

The rest of Christmas morning

Now the frenzy of unwrapping the presents....

The kids got Nerf Lazer (yes with a 'z') Tag from Santa and let me tell you what a huge hit that has been in our household.  No bullets to pick up, no eyes getting shot out.  Dave and I have played this with them too.  I am such a lousy shot, I always die first!!!

The kids also got a new sled from Santa, an inflatable tube.  Since we don't seem to be having winter this year, it still sits in the package.

Kate and Rob got Molly a new leotard (competitive style) and a new pair of shorts that have 'S' for Supergirl.  She *loved* her new clothes.....

.....as you can tell in this picture.  I'm not sure who seems happier!

Granddad with his new digital picture frame - he had it up and running later that day!

Kate and Rob with their personalized calendar.  Those are just about the best gift ever!!  (I got one too!)

Let's Go Mets!!!!  In the man cave for sure!!!

Opening their personalized, Mommy-made tent kit.  It has been used many times in the basement already!

Nothing but pure Lego joy!

And Lego love for this guy too!!

Her new dress from Granddad, which she wore later that day.

What the living room looked like at the height of crazy....

A panoramic picture.  This one turned out pretty well.  (Did I mention I got a new camera for Christmas?  Most of the pictures are taken on the new camera, only the early stocking ones are with the old one.  Thanks Dave, it is a fun new toy!)