Holy Moly!

*Making some play doh masterpieces*
*These she goes ... *

*Go Jaden Go*

*Charlotte, coloring with her puppy*

*Jaden - LOVES to swim*

*Miss Charlotte ~ 2 Years Old*

*Jaden and her new doll - Kanani - from Nan and Pop*

*Jaden snowmobiling with the neighbors*

*Charlotte going for a walk*

*Future's SO Bright*

I sure have been gone a LONG LONG time ... I checked in with some of the blogs I loved and was surprised to see some stopped blogging ... others have added to their families ... others are pregnant ... and the children have all grown so very much! I have decided (AGAIN!) that I will make it a point to blog at least once a week to keep my family and friends updated with what we're doing and what the kids are up to!

Speaking of kids - Jaden just turned NINE years old this past Saturday! Can't believe she is 9 and Charlotte is 2 already! Jaden celebrated her day at the Mall of America's American Girl Store with 4 of her friends ... then we had a party at the house followed by a sleepover with 6 of her friends! It was chaos - crazy - painful and fun all wrapped in to one day ... I will probably never have a sleepover again until Charlotte asks for one ... Jaden is doing great in school and is still swimming on the South Metro Storm Swim Team ... she is off for a month for break and then starts right back up again in April! She has been in 2 additional swim meets since last year and at one point improved her times by 20 seconds. In one race she came in 3rd overall out of 40 girls who raced! Jason and I are so proud of her and all she has accomplished! She is a really great kid! She spends whatever free time she has by doing arts and crafts - playing with Charlotte and her friends ... she is a busy bee though! Hard to keep up with!

Miss Charlotte is also a busy bee these days! We finally had her ear tubes put in January 3rd and it has been amazing to watch her speech progress! She went from saying only 5 words to saying well over 100 in just 3 months! It is so fun to watch her learn new things! She is obsessed with drawing these days and draws all sorts of things - she also knows her shapes and most of her colors! We do struggle with one shape - that is a square - she calls it cheese - she is obsessed with CHEESE! She woould eat it until she burst if we let her!! She spends most of her days playing with her friends since my home daycare is up and running. She has a lot of fun with the biggers kids in my care and even calls them by their names. She makes me laugh all the time! We are looking forward to the snow EVENTUALLY melting here in Minneapolis - it has been a record snowfall year - ICK! And by now we are beyond sick of it! We need to get outside to play!!

Other than the girls we are chugging along as normal here - My Childcare - Bekah's Bumblebees is up and running and 2/5 days a week I have 6 kids - the other 3 days I have 4. Currently I have 2 babies, a toddler and 3 preschoolers (and Jaden too). It is a busy life and I have to say one of the hardest jobs I have ever done but I am loving it - something amazing about having the ability to teach children new things ... I am so happy I decided to do this! Well I will leave you all with some recent photos of the girls! They are growing and getting so big ... time needs to slow down! Hope everyone out there in blogger land is well! 'See' you all soon!

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

Okay - I am seriously a slacker ... Happy Birthday Aunt Niki

Jaden with her friend Sydney at the beach
A screaming Charlotte

Uh-Oh ... looks like Jaden left her bedroom door open ...

Jaden with a play-doh masterpiece

Charlotte coloring in the driveway

Jaden hanging around at the park!

Jaden eating some ice cream at the KOA Playground

Little Miss Charlotte

A sleepy Charlotte in front of the campfire

YUMMY cotton candy ice cream

Charlotte & Mommy

Jaden at the KOA Playground

Waterslide fun at Jolene and Jeff's House

Charlotte coloring

Jaden - all ready for school!

Jaden - on a tractor ride!

Chef Charlotte!

Happy Birthday Aunt Niki! We Love and Miss YOU!

Surprise - she managed to find yet another stick!

Jaden playing in the leaves!

Charlotte's 1 girl band!

Big Blue eyes!

For My Sister ...

~ Charlotte flying high with some help from daddy ~
~ Charlotte showing off her skills - can any of you do this? Not me ~

~ I redid the landscaping around our mailboxes ... ~

~ I also tore out a dead shrub and put this in its place ~

~ Some bathtime hair experimenting ~

~ Jaden with her eggs ad basket on Easter ~

~ My Girls ~

~ Charlotte playing with her basket on Easter ~

~ Jaden getting ready to color Easter Eggs ~

~ Miss Charlotte eating some goldfish while Jaden colors eggs ~

~ Jaden spinning around at the park ~

~ Charlotte hanging around at the park ~

~ Charlotte enjoying some frozen yogurt at Jaden's party ~

~ Jaden with all her friends at her Birthday Party ~

~ Yeah Yeah Yeah - Future's So BRIGHT ~

Since she is one of the few family members NOT on Facebook I am updating my blog for her so she can see pictures of the girls ... of course everyone is welcome to stop on by and see them too! Hope you are all well and enjoying Spring! Spring has certainly SPRUNG here in Minnesota and we've had 6 weeks of amazing weather! Today is sunny and 70 ... tomorrow 75!! We've kept ourselves busy doing lots of yardwork, tree trimming and mulching, flower planting and landscape editting - this weekend we are building our Salsa Garden - a 4'x8' garden plump full of tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro, garlic and jalapenos - can NOT wait to start jarring some salsa again! YUMMMY! Other than that we are chugging along. Jaden has about 6 more weeks left until school is out and she can not be more excited! Charlotte is her usual self - playing all day and playing hard! She had her 15 month checkup yesterday with 3 shots - weighed 23lbs and was 31" long - 65th percentile for all - so I've got myself a fairly average kid! She makes me smile everyday - and sometimes pull my hair out too! But it has been so worth it to stay home with her and to be here in the morning with Jaden and here as soon as she gets home at the end of the day. I enjoy having dinner made, house cleaned and lunches prepared - yes I am loving this whole Domestication thing! As far as the daycare goes - I have one final step happening Friday - Fire Marshall Inspection on the house and then the licensors can come on out and do the safety check and I will be ready to open my doors. I have decided to take the summer off and open up in September for the back to school crowd. We are heading to NY in June for 2 weeks to celebrate my nephew Zachary's HS Graduation and of course to see lots of family and friends!! Should be a great summer ... hope everyone is well!

Love ~ The Clark Family of Four ~ Rebekah, Jason, Jaden & Miss Charlotte

Jaden's 8 and we're having a PARTY!

~ Charlotte got herself some new sneaker - Twinkle Toes! ~
~ Playing outside in the nice weather ~

~ Jaden with George at dinner ~

~ Charlotte, not feeling great at Jaden's birthday dinner ~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JADEN - LOVE YOU!

Well so much for my failed New Year's Resolution - blogging more often! Yeah, I suck I guess huh? I can tell by my lack of comments that I suck! I am working on it ... you'd think sitting here at home would allow me MORE time to blog but apparantly this stay at home gig is harder than my office job! Ha Ha!

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There isn't much new around here except that a certain Girl turned 8 recentyl! Yup, Jaden is officially 8 years old which made her VERY happy ... she is no legal she said ... yup, legal to ride in the car with OUT a booster seat! She is very happy about that! We celebrated her day by going to Red Robin for dinner, unfortunately Charlotte, Jason and I all got infected with the Norwalk Virus from contaminated food - yeah GROSS - so Miss Charlotte was feeling crummy and couldn't keep anything down ... Jaden was spared since she managed to sleep at a friends that night so she didn't consume the pizza the rest of us did - GROSS! Charlotte was crabby but Jaden enjoyed her dinner with Grandma, Heather and Savannah! She also got to take Curious George home from school that weekend so he came to dinner too!

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Tomorrow is her birthday party - we're heading to a local hotel to swim and spend the night ... we've got 30 people coming so it should be a wonderful time! She is very excited and now that Charlotte is feeling better - minus the cold she now has - it should be a fun time. Tonight I have a bachelorette party to go to for Heather - cowboy theme - God help me - I am a CITY GIRL so I headed to Goodwill to get a plaid shirt, a jean jacket and some boots - all for just 20 bucks ... should be a fun time though!

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Other than all that we finally got the last bit of snow melted around here - we've had 5 days of 65 degree weather ... it has been SO WONDERFUL to be outside - Charlotte has had a blast walking all around, picking up sticks, leaves and rocks ... a great end to winter officially! Today is back to a normal temp but sounds like 50's will return next week! Jaden is off all next week so that will be perfect - maybe we'll head to Como Zoo or the Children's Museaum! Lot's to do!

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My daycare licensing is on the Fast Track thanks to my reference letters being sent in already and the background check clearing. Alls that I have left is my CPR and 1st Aid class which is next Saturday ... after that I can send my certification copies in with the $50 fee and hopefully they will head out to the house to do a safety check .. YIPPIE! I am hoping that I get my paper license by the middle of April - that would give me all of May and 1/2 of June to prepare and get some children enrolled! I am so excited! Anyone out there in my area need daycare?

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Well I hope all of you out there in Blogger Land are enjoying Spring ... I will stop by and visit RIGHT NOW!

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Love ~ The Clark Family of Four ~ Rebekah, Jason, Jaden & Miss Charlotte