Henry's Birthday!

Henry turned four years old the day before we headed to Arizona. The timing of December just didn't really work out for us this year. So we started celebrating the Saturday before by letting Henry open half his presents and then going to a movie with a friend of his choice. I felt bad about him opening all his presents and then just leaving the next day. This change in plans actually worked out really well for everyone involved.

Henry got to choose which presents he opened on Saturday and the highlights were a tiny remote control car and Angry Bird underwear both from Gramma and Grandpa. He put on the undies right away.

We braved going out to the movies even though we were all a little under the weather. Poor Maya! She was Henry's friend of choice for the event and we actually all had a good time watching Despicable Me 2, munching on popcorn and licking lollipops.

Henry also got a haircut. I just thought this was funny with him playing on his phone.

The day before Henry's birthday we went and fed the ducks all our old bread ends. It was beautiful weather and the ducks were starving.

Oh yeah, Henry loves to snack on the bread while we feed the ducks so I always make sure and bring a few slices that aren't stale for him to enjoy.

One of the big hits from Henry's gifts was this marble game. I bought it on a whim at a consignment sale and Henry loves it, much more than the legos I thought would be his favorite. Who knows when it comes to kids what they will love?

I loved this little shot of Henry laying on the ground, batman undies peeking out and cute yellow socks. He is getting so big and its pictures like this that really show what a big boy he is becoming.

On his birthday, his preschool was celebrating with their christmas party so I was able to come in and bring cupcakes. Henry wanted chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. He did all the sprinkles. Everyone sang while he blew out his candle. Most kids just ate their frosting.

After the birthday party, the kids put on a mini concert donning Santa hats and scarves. They sang well and then handed out presents to their parents. I'll have to put up a picture later of what they made.

After preschool, we went to the doctor to find out what we were having, Henry got to play lots of Angry Bird Star Wars and we finished the night with dinner at Old McDonald's (his choice), ice cream and driving around to look at Christmas lights. Hopefully he had a good day. I think he did.

Group Shot, Photoshop Style

During our photoshoot, I really loved this background. A lovely brick wall covered in lush greenery. Well what happens when your favorite backdrop gets no successful pictures? You photoshop the head of your son on to the picture in which you look the best. I am pretty proud of this accomplishment. Hooray for learning new skills. And I printed one to see if you can tell and you can't!

Snowflakes on Canvas

This December I tried to do some festive projects with Henry. Just like his mom, he loves doing crafts. One thing I saw on pinterest was a snowflake on canvas. I had some old canvasses stored away and thought Henry would like doing the project. I saw that they made simple snowflakes using painter's tape but we used freezer paper instead. It was easy to cut out intricate flakes using the paper and we only had a small bit of trouble ironing it to the canvas. I would say that a larger/thicker design works better. 

We painted the canvasses white first, ironed the paper on next and then Henry painted over the paper with a medley of blues. 

They turned out okay. We added glue and glitter to the finished project to make them shiny. 

Not bad for costing zero dollars and filling an afternoon. 

I just loved this series of photos as I tried to get a picture of Henry with the art in his room. This is what life is like with a four year old. 

Oh Henry!

Clark Family PIctures 2013

Since I didn't get around to Christmas cards this year or even putting together a Christmas picture to post online, I thought I would share these today.

Merry Christmas everyone!

We lucked out that our favorite photographer Chelsea's husband got a job right here in Athens so she could take our family pics again this year. (And we're excited to have one of our fav families around too) She did a great job as always and we enjoyed a fun afternoon in the chilly autumn air at UGA's founder's garden. Henry only had a few meltdowns including one about not being able to chase and catch a squirrel. Geesh. Thanks again Chelsea.

And I think I am 16 weeks pregnant in these shots, something like that.

Zippy Continues...

Since I have been pretty low energy, most of the time Zippy just moves around the house hiding in new places. But every once in awhile, he pulled some pranks, left treats and fun surprises.
One night, Zippy replaced all of our stokcings with Henry's underwear. Henry thought this was hilarious!

Of course, a claw picture!

One day Zippy left us a gingerbread house to decorate and a stash of candies. I glued the crackers to some cardboard so it would be more sturdy. It also took forever! with the glue gun. But it was our first gingerbread house and we all had fun working on it. Steve did all the icing details and Henry loved both eating the candies and making patterns with them on the house.

We starte celebrating Henry's birthday a little early to that he would have time to play with some of his tys before leaving. He got this huge lego set that I scored at a consignment sale for $20. Zippy (Steve) had a great time constructing this huge tower to show Henry how awesome his new toys were. The tower didn't last the morning so I am glad I got this picture when I did.

Finally a repeat from last year, Zippy got fancy and cut out lots of snowflakes and hung them from the ceiling. He also made sure to leave little snippets of paper all over the floor. He is so messy!

Zippy even snuck into our luggage and will continue his antics through Christmas Eve!

oh baby baby: nesting for a little lady

19 weeks and a photoshoot crasher who made a big deal about being in the shot and then didn't even smile

I was lazy and am totally wearing maternity jeans under my dress...

• So we found out the gender a week early. Usually reserved for 20 weeks, the BIG ultrasound takes lots of fuzzy pictures to check vitals and you can also see the sex of your baby. Since we were going out of town, they let us come in early. We actually went on Henry's birthday and brought him along. He was super excited but then got bored so he played Angry Bird Star Wars on Steve's phone in the dark room. When the lady announced it was a girl he said, "I wanted it to be a boy." He still insists he wants a boy but has lent a hand in naming her by saying she should be named Kimmi. He wanted the boy to be called Henry. So there you have it, a girl! We're really excited. 
• Everything looks good on the health side and she put on quite an uncomfortable show during the ultrasound. She kept moving around and the tech had to press really hard with the camera thing. 
• Other than being sick from a cold and coughing up my lungs and blowing enough snot out of my nose that I feel like little bits of my brain are draining out too, I am doing great. I haven't been to the gym because of my cold so my body is less achy. 
• I also have two weeks off from seminary and will be clinging to whatever sleep I can get. Lots of naps are on my to-do list. 
• And Steve and I have already had a chat about making sure our daughter is well rounded, not super frilly and is given more than just princesses to look up to. I am ready for the challenge! Even while perusing Target-which is where we headed right after the doctor-I was overwhelmed by all the pink. It is going to be hard work to make sure things don't get too frilly and girly. Luckily we had a boy first so all our basic toys are gender neutral. 
• After the ultrasound is when I remember feeling like things were getting real with Henry. This is where I can start planning and figuring out how to make having another kid work. I can already see a shift in my mental attitude towards this pregnancy. Its time to start getting ready, there really is a baby in there, not just a floating blob but a little face and hands too. 
• And I am excited because I saved a big stack of sweet fabrics just in case this was a girl, I was going to get rid of them if this was a boy, so I am excited to get sewing. I also already have a quilt plan mentally saved from last time; red and white! I think it will be really sweet with touches of pink and other soft colors. And its time to rearrange the floor plan in Henry's room. And its time to dejunk! Can you tell my nesting gears are already turning? 

Dear Santa,

While we were all sick, we did rally enough energy to write Santa a letter. I did the "Dear Santa" and heart so Henry could trace them but he signed his name. He also drew a picture of Henry holding hands with Santa (top right corner). Santa is wearing the red hat and it has a white spot on the end (you can't see it but you can feel it). The blue drawing is a baseball field. I don't think there was a connection.

I prompted Henry on what he should say to Santa and this is what he came up with.

Later that day we were in Walmart and Steve was entertaining him in the toy department as I was doing some grocery shopping. He saw this huge imperial walker (star wars thing) toy and said something to the effect of. "Oh this is what I wanted for Christmas. I made a mistake!" Too late, Santa has already done all her shopping. The Millenium Falcon has been procurred.

Henry: 4 years old

As it is Henry's birthday here are some thoughts from Steve and I about our wonderful 4 year old!

It’s hard to believe that Henry is already 4 years old. The past year has been a blur and as I think about our little guy I can’t help but think about how much joy he brings to our lives. Of course, being Henry’s daddy at times isn’t the easiest thing. Whether I’m telling him to do something for the 6^th, 7^th, 8^th time, trying to wrangle him into his pajamas, or really wishing he would play by himself, it can be tough. But, when I look back at his insistent calls to “Daddy, look at this” or “Can I play on your phone” I can’t help but smile. Henry is a sweet, innocent boy. The thing I’ve probably enjoyed most this past year is seeing him grow emotionally. He loves to cuddle, give hugs and kisses, and spend time with his mommy and daddy every chance he gets. He loves to read stories with us, play games, and go on “adventures”. I’m extremely grateful for him in my life.

My favorite thing about Henry these days is his enthusiasm. Everything he wants to do he wants to do it "right now." Let's eat candy right now. Let's read this right now. And while sometimes this can be a pain, enthusiasm combined with determination can be exhausting, you can't deny his zest for life. He truly makes everything exciting even more so. Simple things like holiday preparations and even just FHE are met with delight. One of my favorite memories of the year was getting ready for Halloween. We had so much fun turning him into a werewolf, he loved everything about it. The hair, the makeup, the fake teeth and fierce growling. Something so simple became this huge joyful event.

As hard as it is sometimes, he truly does bring so much joy to our lives. I'm so grateful to be his mom. And yes, I am an emotional wreck (pregnancy+cold) and I am crying while I type this. Okay now off to party like I'm 4 years old.

All pictures from post are from our family picture photoshoot, they are fun peeks into the many faces of Henry.

giveaway winner...

And the giveaway winner is NATALIE! I will contact you to get your info. Thanks everyone for entering and sorry I am way behind on posting the winner.

I have been super busy being sick. A nasty cough, cold has camped out in our place. Everyone is hacking away in varying degrees of misery. Luckily we are on the mend just in time to be out of energy for the holidays. Geesh.

Being pregnant and sick is especially sucky as you can't take any medicine. No drug induced sleeps here. My remedy arsenal has shrunk to sleeping--yeah right!--and drinking water and washing my hands.

But on a positive note, I also was super busy doing two successful holiday craft shows! It kind of ruined my last two weekends socially but monetarily it was worth it.

More later as we find out the gender of the baby and celebrate a certain little boy's 4th birthday tomorrow!

Have a good one and stay away from sick people if you are pregnant, trust me.

bexcaliber: Holiday Market

Last weekend I rocked it out at the Indie South Fair craft show and tonight and tomorrow I will be keeping warm at this Holiday Market. Its outside and will be chilly but I am excited to be part of such a fun show. Its my first time! If you're in the area, stop in and see me.

Also tomorrow is the last day to enter the giveaway. If you haven't noticed, there are only 7 entries so your chances are pretty good.

bexcaliber giveaway: poinsettia pillow

Since it is right smack dab in the middle of the season, it is time for a giveaway! I'm excited to offer one lucky reader a poinsettia pillow cover just like this one right here. ^^^^^^^

All you have to do is like my facebook page and leave a comment here telling me you did it.
Find bexcaliber on facebook here.

Go like my page and come leave a comment.

Don't have facebook? That's okay. Pin my giveaway picture to pinterest and leave a comment here and then you'll be entered too.

Or do both and then you have two chances.

Giveaway closes Friday Dec 13th at 5 PM EST. 

 And here is a gem that my mom sent me after my original poinsettia post. This pillow was my first poinsettia attempt years ago as a Christmas present to my mom. I remember embroidering the petals on Christmas Eve in a mad rush to finish in time. The buttons are glued on. Oh how far you can come. Its nice to know my mom still cherishes it enough to bring it out each year.

crafting: Hand Print Wreath Pillow Cover

 This year for Christmas I wanted to send the grandparents something made for them by Henry. I saw a project that peaked my interest in a magazine. It was a hand print wreath wall hanging. I think they printed them on white handkerchiefs and hung them in windows. Of course, I would turn it into a pillow cover. So much easier for me.

 I traced a large bowl with a pencil in the middle of my fabric and had Henry create the wreath with his hand. I was worried about him being able to do this without it being a disaster but he loved doing it and thought the paint tickled. We painted his hand with a foam brush and used acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium. Once the green was dry, he added red berries with his finger.

After everything was dry, I appliqued this wool felt bow on and I think it really adds to the overall look.

 The last step was having Henry sign his name on the back using red sharpie. He only got a little distracted with a small dot-to-dot drawing before finishing his name. Tis' the spirit of a 3 year old. I wrote "Merry Christmas! 2013" at the bottom in green for posterity's sake.

And they have been received with lots of enthusiasm by the grandparents so if you need a gift, this one is sure to be a winner.

Click through to my website for full tutorial and bow template pattern.

oh baby baby: glossy haired maniac

So here I am at 17 weeks. All my pictures were horribly overexposed so I had to fudge with some fancy photo editing tricks to make the most of my best shot. As luck would have it the only one with good lighting would be the one where I look the worst. I have to say I actually like this picture as I think my face looks nice and thin which is not always the case these days.

I know I have been pretty candid here on the blog. Some of you have commented to me or on here how you like it. Others might think its strange. Why be so open about all this stuff? Its something I have given a lot of thought in the past few weeks. And here is what I came up with as far as reasoning goes (although I hardly feel I need to explain myself on my own blog...)

Being pregnant is a wondrous time. Its both miserable and miraculous. You can feel so incredibly close to those you love around you or incredibly alone and isolated. You are constantly in flux and being thrown for a loop. And each pregnancy for each woman is different. I am experiencing so many new things with this pregnancy that never even came up with my first one. I write here what I am going through because there is comfort in sharing. Not only is it a release for me to express what I am going through but it opens up a dialogue for sharing with others. After my last post, I received a phone call from a friend who admitted that when she is pregnant she, too is so irritable her husband calls her Satan's Sister. Her confession immediately made me feel like I wasn't the only person who is out of control emotionally. Its nice to know that someone else only wants to eat Totinos pizzas and similtaneously adores and hates their kid.

So I will continue to share and hopefully it will help someone else not feel so insane even if that person is just me.

• Week 15 brought calm to my face. (knock on wood...) My zits are on vacation! Just in time for Thanksgiving and our family pictures. 
• As mentioned above, I am totally in love with Henry these days. Sometimes I just look at him and his cute face and am overwhelmed by how much I love the kid he is becoming. And then the next minute I am so frustrated and annoyed by him. I feel almost manic. Luckily he won't remember any of this. 
• One lame thing about being pregnant is your exhaustion can just sneak up on you. The other day we were watching the UGA football game. It was halftime and Steve left the room for a minute. I fell asleep on the couch. It was 8:45 pm. Yes, I went to bed and slept all night. 
• This pregnancy has brought me way more discomfort than my last one. Last time I was able to make it almost the whole ten months without aching and general uncomfortableness. Well I am already sore. The term is called "abdominal achiness" but it feels like my uterus is trying to detach and free itself from my body. All of my abs hurt and it is strong enough to be not ignored. At first I thought it was caused by my foolishness in trying to do a plank after months of no ab training. Well it wasn't. Apparently it is my second-time-pregnant-weakened abs, ligaments and tendons being unable to support my growing gut like last time. Totally normal. Totally sucky. Nothing I can do about it except surround myself with pillows that will support my body when I fail to do it on my own.
• Another awesome pregnancy side effect is insane hunger. The other day we went out to dinner at a new restaurant Cook Out. We got baskets of burgers and fries and onion rings. Henry got a hot dog. Well you better believe I demolished my whole meal plus Steve's half uneaten cheeseburger. Shameless. I wasn't even grossly full. No regrets. 
• Because of my erratic energy, I have had to readjust my usual Monday Do Everything Day. Now I spread out laundry, grocery shopping and such throughout the week. Much more manageable. I still find an excuse not to clean my bathrooms though...
• One silver lining is definitely glossy, thick hair and long, strong nails. Hooray for excesses of protein. 

And we get to find out what we're having in two weeks! Steve wants a girl. I want a boy but I feel like its a girl. Only time will tell...

Come back tomorrow for a fun Christmas gift idea and no more talking about babies and bellies.

Henry: Almost 4 years old...

I haven't done a post about Henry lately and he has been a super busy guy. Here are some of the things our almost 4 year old has been up to.

• To say Henry loves Christmas would be a true understatement. Above is a sample of some Christmas themed crafts from preschool. I guess the assignment explains itself but I feel like he is going to be very disappointed come Christmas morning. I knew he wanted an ipad but I had no idea he wanted a tv or a broom...
• Henry loves coins. He has a teddy bear bank and loves putting his pennies in it. Steve gave him a little red tin from a box of tea we purchased. Henry immediately transferred all his money to the tin and every once in awhile he'll pull it out and dump the coins from container to container. Right now they are in a cardboard box, the other day they were in a Piston Cup trophy and once they were in a toy pot, he said it was soup. 
• Henry was invited to Maya's 4th birthday party and was really excited to buy her a present. With his own money. We went to the $1 store and I told him he could pick out one thing. He of course wanted to get her a piggy bank and paid for it with his coins. He was so proud. At home, we put some pennies in the pig and we also bought her some playdoh to go with it. 
• Eating has not been Henry's forte these days. He will eat breakfast and lunch just fine but when it is time to eat dinner, we are struggling. I insist on him eating along with us and whatever is on the menu. You wouldn't believe how long it takes to eat two bites of chicken and a small scoop of mashed potatoes. Sigh. Hopefully this is just a phase as he used to be a really great eater and maybe he just doesn't like listening right now. 
• On a positive note, Henry has been willingly going to preschool again. For about a month he didn't want to go in alone and I had to sneak away. Sometimes it would take me 15 minutes to get out of there. Now he just walks right in. Thank goodness. 
• Henry can be heard exclaiming, "I'm sure he's going to be amazed!" whenever we have something to show Steve. 
• Henry still loves super heros and creating his own different guys. The ones that have stuck are Wet Man and Monster Man. He talks about a couple different variations of these guys every day. Wet Man is a good guy and Monster Man's brother. Their dad is Wolf Man. Wet Man can create fireballs and also waterballs to put out the fire. Sometimes Monster Man has sticky hands so he can stick to things and he always has claws. To be honest, I tend to zone out during his super hero monologues especially in the car but I do love how creative he is and how its a great exercise for his memory. 
• Steve taught Henry how to play hot and cold. One of us will hide something and then we'll tell him if he is getting warmer (closer) or colder (farther away). He also loves to be the one to hide an object and shout at us colder! or hotter!
• We have a picnic almost every day. A blanket is spread in the living room, the plates and bowls are laid out and the food is overflowing. All his friends and stufties (and sometimes Steve and I) are invited. Its one big party. 
• Henry has finally mastered wiping his nose. He even keeps a kleenex in his pocket.  Too bad he also picks his nose and eats it. One step at a time. 
• He has also learned how to open the fridge. He is particularly interested in having cold milk. When his breakfast milk starts to get warm, he says "This milk is old." and he puts it back in the fridge. Whenever he needs a drink he just goes and helps himself with whatever is in his cup. Its been very convenient after we had a talk about not standing in front of the fridge or leaving the door open. 
• As previously stated, listening is our biggest issue right now. He doesn't whine as much as he used to and he isn't really throwing a lot of tantrums, he just never listens. Simple things like parking lot safety, getting into his carseat and following basic directions are a challenge and seriously try my patience. He is at the tricky stage where he is very capable but it is just easier and faster for me to do it myself since he doesn't listen. I know he can do the shoulder straps in his carseat but it takes 10 minutes. And while I get frustrated, I try really hard to acknowledge his listening and following direction successes. At least his teachers say he listens at preschool. 
• Henry loves simple mazes. We bought a preschool aged workbook and he has already done all of the mazes. Now I draw (sad) simple ones for him and he loves doing them. Obviously, taking it to the next level would be him drawing mazes for me.

 This one is a simple maze that required only one wall jump for me to make it from the bottom to Henry at the top.

 Here we have a more complicated maze complete with fire caterpillars (from Super Mario), water hazards, big rocks, dead ends and a leaf that turns you into a fox (also from Super Mario.) The object of this maze is for me to rescue Maya from the evil bad guy, Henry.

• When asked he says his favorite thing to do right now is play Super Mario. His favorite food is still turkey sandwich. His favorite colors are black and green. His best friend is Maya. His favorite book is The Little Snowflake and his favorite song is Deck the Halls.