Clark chooses favorite parent!

Fun with Hair!

Abby kindly let me do her hair this morning. It turned out awesome!!!
Why don't I do this more often? Oh yah, because we don't want to wake up an hour early!

Halloween 2008

Halloween has been tons of fun so far, but we're not even done yet!

We did totally LOVE the warm weather last night - the first time in Colorado we've been trick-or-treating without hats and mittens! Yay!

Here are some pictures:


All of the kiddos before school on Halloween:


Abby is a "Punk Rock Girl"


Clark is "Superbaby" (of course!)


Jason is "Spiderman"


Zander is "Superman" - love that hair curl!


Superman found Superwoman!

First day of school! Abby's in 2nd grade, and Zander's in Kindergarten.

Clark in the Playpen

Clark liked his playpen, and he liked smashing his face on the side. Hehe!

My Favorite 30th Birthday Present

This is the best thing I got for my 30th birthday -
Cheesecake and a Lie!

Aquarium with Adam's family

Some summer updates:

We had a blast at Denver's aquarium with Adam and his family.

Why are my kids so crazy?

Superbaby tried to fly -- AGAIN!

This kid just wants to fly!

I was trying to get some pictures and video of Clark's name-appropriate Halloween costume, and he would not stay on the couch! He really wanted the camera, and he was willing to dive off the couch to get to me! He's fine. And I apologize if my shriek startles you!

Clark's head looks so much better now! It's almost completely normal again - babies sure heal quick! I'm trying to get over my guilt for not preventing the accident, but luckily there's no longer a big red mark to constantly remind me. And I think Clark still loves me. He's such a happy kid!

Superbaby tried to fly.

I know the picture looks bad, but he's really just fine.

We have sadly discovered that Clark the Superbaby can't really fly. His car seat was on the stroller. I hit a bump. The carseat flipped off the stroller, and he landed face first onto a HOT black asphalt sidewalk. The red part is a mild burn. He's so fair-skinned that it looks so red! Luckily he was strapped into his seat, so he only got a couple of tiny scrapes on his forehead and not even a bruise, so far. Boy was he mad, and boy was momma freaking out!

It happened as we were walking into the YMCA, so fortunately I took him straight to the head lifeguard to get him checked out. She is such a professional. She checked him all out, got him an icepack and held him while I tried to calm down. I was afraid I'd drop him or that he was mad at me. (Sounds silly now.)

So here you can see the imprint of the HOT bumpy asphalt sidewalk burned onto his poor little forehead. Poor baby! Worst mom ever!

Herbie Cake

Zander's Herbie cake that his daddy made him for his birthday! Cool! Yummy too!

Clark performing for the camera. He's 5 months here.
He only made this sad face for one day (all day!),
so I'm really glad I caught it on camera!

For Zander's 5th birthday, he got a pet fish!

His name is Flippy.

Breaking Dawn Countdown

If you know what this is...
then you know how anxious and excited I am!!

Get this widget!

Snip snip!

Haircut time!

We has a fabulous haircutting party yesterday. My cousin Kristen - an amazing hair pro, and my friend Christina came over and much insanity ensued. Tubes of hair color, miles of aluminum foil, paintbrushes, and scissors flew through the air. Six bubble-blowing kids kids ran underfoot, and a couple of strange metal-headed aliens were even spotted. The chaos resulted in two rather awesome new hairstyles! Thanks Kristen!

Zander's Preschool Graduation

Zander's Preschool Graduation was so cute! Ms. K did a great job with it. Every kid got to say their favorite thing about preschool. Zander's was "choice time" where they get to choose from a variety of activities. They sang a couple of songs, got their diplomas, and then had snacks. It was really fun. Now it's time for Kindergarten!

Name that Baby!!

Here's a fun game!

Guess who's who!

(click on the image to see a larger version)

Clark rolls over!

Look who performs so well for the camera! So willing to take direction and deliver!

Academy Award material?

Clark is almost 5 months old!

Little Clark is almost 5 months old now. He is still such a sweetie! He's quite a flirt, always smiling at the ladies. Is it just me or is his hair getting lighter? All the new hair is coming in white! We've never had such a light-haired kiddo. Maybe it'll be red!

He's about 19 pounds, and 25 inches. What a beast! (But Zander was bigger!)

He figured out how to roll over this week, and he likes to sing with me. It's so cute the way he keeps up a conversation. He'll listen while you talk, and then when you stop, he starts jabbering. What advanced communication skills! I'll try to get some video of him rolling over or talking.

Mother's Day craft time!

Grandma Annie and Grandpa Vance were in town over Mother's Day, so I made sure the kids made her a card. I actually took out the camera and took a picture of the fun! Too bad I didn't have the camera out at any other time during their visit!

It was great to have them here. Dad had a business convention about 30 minutes away, and Mom got to come with him. I went to pick her up in the mornings, we played all day, and we took her home at night. We got to see Dad a little bit too. For Mother's Day, we got a babysitter, and Dad treated the grown-ups to dinner at Pappadeaux, one of my favorite restaurants ever! Crawfish bisque.... mmm..... It was really great to have them over, and I didn't even make Dad do any home improvements! He really has gotten this place in good shape over the years. It is always fun when my parents visit, and I can't wait to see them again.

Killer Whales

Abby's first science project is about Killer Whales. In first grade, they keep things very simple. Pick an animal, answer a few research questions, write one paragraph, and make something visual to show the class. I helped Abby... (or Abby helped me!) make a diorama for her visual project. I love making dioramas! I think I did do too much of the work, but it was too much fun!! She planned it with me, chose the background images to print, chose the whale images to print, and she did almost ALL of the glue and glitter! She really did do a lot of it now that I think of it. I'm just stressing that the teacher's going to get mad that it looks like mommy did all of the work. Oh well. It's just first grade, right?

She's so proud of our little ocean box, and so am I! I can't believe there's only five more days of school, and my little girl will be going into second grade! Time really flies by...

Scripture-Reading Kids

Here's a good topic for Sunday night: My kids love to read scriptures before bed. It's just so cute! Who would have thought that some little mini-humans would be such good examples to their parents. Although it might just be a bedtime postponing ploy, every night these kids demand to read scriptures before bed. They each got their own copy of the Book of Mormon for Easter, and we take turns reading a verse or two each night. Abby, my first-grader, has actually really shown great improvement in her reading skills since we started a few months ago. She started out having trouble staying with the lines, with the rather narrow columns and tiny print. But now she can get through her verses with very little help. I'm impressed with how she has learned words like Israel, brethren, and commandments. She gets them right every time now. Plus Zander seems to realize the importance of reading them. Whenever I say that it's too late to read tonight, he chimes in with the admonition that Jesus wants us to read. Then of course we have to! I know we are blessed when we read scriptures as a family, and I'm so grateful that my children are, for now, so willing to be obedient.

Sneaky Toes

Check out these little toes peeking through the blanket.
They're so cute! Hehe!

Early Mother's Day Present

I just got my Mother's Day present early:
My very own Viking Mixer! Woohoo!



















Dan's work got a new mixer, so we got their not-so-old one!
To put it to the test, Dan made my favorite Lemon Pound Cake, and then he and the kids made pizza. The pizza dough was made and kneaded in the Viking Mixer, of course, don't try that in your ordinary mixer! The kids love helping their daddy cook. Check out Jason's new haircut too.

Life with 4 kids is wild!

Here's some pictures to update you!

Wanna know what makes my day? When someone asks me if Clark is my first baby, and I say "Nope, he's my fourth." The looks I get are priceless! Most look really surprised, even shocked or bewildered. My favorite is when the person's face goes blank for a minute, while they quickly repress their initial reaction and think of something nice to say to the crazy lady with four kids.

Every one's doing very well here. Clark is still a sweet little guy. He's finally sleeping in 3-4 hour stretches at night, so momma is getting a little energy back. No sleep = no blog. Have you noticed? The big siblings still ignore him, which is all I can ask for. They don't seem to mind him at all. Daddy's a big help, especially with changing diapers and delivering a hungry baby to me in the middle of the night.

Abby had her first piano recital at school last week. Her elementary school us a fine arts school, so she gets to pick two arts electives every semester. This time she chose Piano and Puppetry. For her piano recital she played "Merrily We Roll Along." It was so cute! Abby stood up, told us what she was going to play, then got started. No stage fright here! She played very slowly, but steadily, and she was whispering the note's names as she pressed them. "E, C, D..." Way too cute! But of course I forgot the camera! I did remember the baby, the diaper bag, the stroller, and what time the piano recital was at though! But no pictures :(

New Bouncer

Clark got a new bouncer seat from one of our good friend Amy. So sweet!
























He had his two-week checkup this week and Clark's back up to his birth weight! He had dropped down to 6 lb 10 oz because he forgot how to eat for a day or two last week. But now he's 7 lb 8 oz! Grow baby grow! He also grew over an inch since he was born. He's up to 22.25 inches now.
Plus his cord finally fell off! Yay! Quite an eventful week for Superbaby.

The whole family's doing great. We've been enjoying all the visitors who have been stopping by to meet the new little one and check up on the rest of us. It's so nice to have people come by. I'm not usually so social, but I'm trying to be more so. I have another friend coming over tomorrow who cleans houses part-time. I've talked her into sharing some professional tips and tricks with me, so I can get this house into shape for my mom's visit next week.

Here's Clark in his new favorite chair:

Clark was only 2 days old when he figured out how to keep his own pacifier in. Self-soothing is a vital skill when you're kid number four!

Clark 6-10 days old

Here's Clark's official statistics:

Clark Vance Marshall
Born: December 27, 2007
Time: 4:00 pm
Weight: 7 lb. 5 oz.
Length: 21 Inches
Delivered with no drugs! Woohoo!

He's a really sweet tempered baby - lucky us! He only cries when absolutely necessary, and calms down so quickly. He is a great eater, although when he was 4 days old he seemed to forget how. His weight dropped to 6 lb 12 oz. But now he has is figured out again and is back up to 7 lbs. He's just so tiny! If you know my other kids, you know how different having a teeny tiny baby is for me. My others had doubled their weight by 2 months, even the 8 pounder - we'll see if Clark can keep up the tradition.

Dan's been home with us for a week, and he's been Super Dad! I'm a little nervous for Monday when school starts and Dan goes back to work. Four kids all by myself?? But I only have to survive for a week or so before my mom comes to visit.

Everyone's happy and healthy and loving the new little baby!

I've got a few pictures too. (Click on them for a larger version.)


Here's Jeanine and Clark:



















Abby and Clark in the hospital:
























Here's Clark at 10 days old:
























Here's Clark in his little hammock. He really seems to like it in there.