My Oh My ... How Time Flies!

(ABOVE: Katie's AWESOME cake made by her Aunt June!)

(ABOVE: Happy 2nd Birthday Katie Bug!)
(ABOVE: My Sweet Girl on the swing at Hannah's house!)

(ABOVE: Baby Charlotte sleeping in the swing at Hannah's house)

(ABOVE: Jason after a 'few' beers!)

(ABOVE: Savannah, Alanna, Jaden, Sydney and Kendra at the Bon Fire!)

(ABOVE: Food Shot ~ Jolene's Cookie Salad - YUM!)

(ABOVE: Food Shot ~ My Half Eaten Taco Dip - YUM!)

(ABOVE: A Table FULL OF GLUTTON!)

(ABOVE: Food Shot ~ Red Velvet Cake Balls - YUM!)

(ABOVE: A Food Shot - wine and green beans anyone!)

(ABOVE: Me and Katie - we got her a Tinkerbell Cake)

(ABOVE: Katie opening part of her Birthday Gift - A Brand New Pinky the Dog!)

(ABOVE: A pool full of kids ... Slater, Phoenix, Jaden, Kendra and Savannah - soon after Katie, Alanna, Hannah and Sydney all joined in!)

(ABOVE: Our neighbor and GREAT friend Jenny holding Charlotte for the 1st time - she is afraid of tiny baby's so she holds them when they aren't so rubbery she says! HA!)

(ABOVE: Charlotte happy to be outside @ Track and Field Day)

(ABOVE: Jaden during the Water Ball Race!)

(ABOVE: Jaden eating Ice Cream at Dairy Queen after Field Day)

(ABOVE: Jolene and Charlotte @ Olive Garden)

(ABOVE: Don't know why - Just a picture of me!)

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Well it sure is hard to believe that it has been over a week since I posted an update. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to it just seems as though the week and weekend FLEW by right in front of my eyes!!! Hate it when that happens. So what has happened since last Wednesday … well I left work early that day and picked Charlotte up from day care. She and I then headed to Jaden’s school for Track and Field Day. I was a windy (50mph) day with temperatures in the high 90’s so it was a bit warm out. I kept Charlotte in her stroller with the canopy up on her car seat and stroller to keep the wind gust off of her while I watched Jaden run around like a maniac – you wouldn’t even know she had a broken arm. She ran a relay race, did bocce ball, did a water ball relay and then ran with a chicken between her legs. It was fun to watch. She participated in everything but the sac race and tug of war. After Track and Field we headed to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. Once we got home we called up her friend and she came over and swam the afternoon away. It was a fun day for all of us!

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Thursday I was woken up by a phone call from daycare – my provider was sick with the stomach bug so Jason stayed home with Charlotte and Jaden went to school. I had Friday off to clean the house for the Big Party Saturday so Charlotte stayed home with me that day too. I spent Friday morning cleaning the entire house – dusting, bleaching, scrubbing and spraying every surface I could find. Then Charlotte and I headed to Olive Garden to meet Jolene for lunch. It was a yummy lunch and as always Charlotte LOVED being out and about – as long as she was taken OUT of her car seat – she LOATHES that car seat!!! After lunch we headed downtown to Coastal Seafood’s to pick up our fresh clams for the party and then ran to pick up part of Katie’s birthday present. Then we rushed to pick Jaden up from school before everyone was gone – there is construction ALL over Minneapolis and St. Paul that it was virtually impossible to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time!! Once I picked up Jaden we headed to Wal Mart to shop for the party food and supplies. It seemed like a VERY long day and by the end of it Jaden was swimming, Charlotte was sleeping and I was drinking a glass of wine!!! I decided to make most of the food Friday to avoid a disaster Saturday so by the end of the night I had my 7 layer Taco Dip made, the Beef, Chicken, Shrimp and Sausage were all marinated and simmering in the crock pot. The green beans were all cut and in a bowl. The Red Velvet Cake was made and ready to be mixed with frosting for the cake balls. The clams were living out there last day in the fridge and I was ready for bed!!

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Saturday was our 11th Annual Memorial Saturday Party!! We also had swimming lessons that morning so we started the day out pretty busy. The only thing we had to do before the party was cook the green beans, clean and cut up the taters for Baked taters, soak the clams and get the garlic mixture ready to steam them with and roll up the eggs roll wrappers with the jalapeno cream cheese mix for the Texas egg rolls and make the velvet cake balls! We were ready by the time the first people arrived around 3:30 or so … then the night consisted of lots of eating, swimming, talking and drinking … it was a blast but poor Charlotte has decided that napping isn’t any fun during the day so by 7:00 at night she is exhausted … my mother in law put her to bed around 8 and she slept until 8:30 Sunday morning! Obviously she was tired. We all had a great time though and Jaden enjoyed having SO many girlfriends over to play and swim!~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sunday was spent cleaning up the house and yard and recovering form the night (by recovering I mean Jason!!!) A few of our friends slept over so we spent the morning hanging out for a bit and then we got cleaned up ourselves, started laundry and then headed to buy a new Water Softener – oh what FUN! We also headed to the Hobby Shop and Candle Store to get the rest of Katie’s Birthday present and for me to buy some more soy wax beads! It was a nice down day and Jaden spent more time swimming – plus we bought her a slushie maker so she hung out with Alanna making slushies!

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Monday was Katie’s 2nd Birthday Party so we headed over there around 3:00 – Jaden played with Hannah while Charlotte fell asleep in the swing outside … it was a great party with LOTS more good food!! I can’t believe my God Daughter is 2 years old already! I hope Charlotte doesn’t grow up while I blink!!!

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So as you can tell by my EXCESSIVE blabbing we had busy weekend! But as always it was a blast … oh and CHARLOTTE new: She finally rolled over the other day – I didn’t get to see her do it but Jaden did – it was pretty exciting for Jaden! She was proud that she was the 1st person to see her sister roll over. PLUS we started Sweet Potatoes on Tuesday – you would have thought I was feeding her lemon juice by the look on her face but once I mixed it in her cereal she was pretty happy with it! My how fast they grow!!!

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I Hope you all had a Happy and Safe Memorial Day weekend! I will stop by and visit soon … Until then – Have a GREAT Thursday!

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Love ~ The Clark Family of Four ~ Rebekah, Jason, Jaden and Baby Charlotte