Clinton's Rodeo Daze...

Mr. Clinton was invited to come spend time with the cowboys and rodeo queens of the DNCFR at the Special Rodeo. Saturday was the last day of the rodeo and before all of the general public came they close off Holt Arena for the Special kids and let them ride a horse, play on some pretend bulls, and learn how to throw a lasso. Clinton was realy nervous about riding a horse. But, I have to say, that as soon as he caught sight of his Rodeo Queen he forgot all about his nerves. ;)
Here he is looking cute as can be in his western wear...

Cara was sad that she couldn't go in with him to ride the horses, but she was so excited for him afterward.

Watching the cowboys...

His little "Wrangler Butt" :)

Here's his Rodeo Queen, she took him all over and gushed over how cute and sweet he was. The people there were so genuinely happy to be able to hang out with these kids. It was so fun to see them all running around and trying new things.

Cara literally ran away from Clint into the arena to get her picture with the "rodeo princess." She was quite pleased herself.

His tough Cowboy face.

Afterward Cara got her face painted. She had a lot of fun after all, even if she didn't get to ride the horses.

Clinton ended up being asked to open the Rodeo later on in the day. They do a segment that spotlights the Special Rodeo program and Clint and Clinton got to ride out in the DNCFR truck and wave to the crowd. There were only 3 other kids that got to do this with them and Clinton was pretty proud of himself and VERY excited. He kept saying, "That was a cool day today, mom. I got to go to the Rodeo!!"

He really is the cutest cowboy ever!! :)

Cara's Storytime...

A few weeks ago, instead of reading from a book at bedtime, I told my kids about an "Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly..." :
"There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly! I guess she'll die...
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider! That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! *tickling kids*
-She swallowed the spider to catch the fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly! I guess she'll die..." Ect..ect...
Well, they ate it up! Since then they ask me to tell it over and over and now Cara has decided that she will tell US the stories at bedtime.
They're very entertaining (especially her facial expressions) and often vary between the Old Lady story, a prayer, and pure imagination... here's a couple of vids of Cara at bedtime...

Here's another more original one...


Yes- she's an imaginative gal. Somehow that story seems to echo the events that took place earlier that day... ;)
And the "I told her 3 times!" - Yeah...ahem... wonder where she heard that from???

UPDATE!!!

Finally!! I'm such a slacker, I know... but here's a few little tidbits from the past couple of months (besides Christmas):
1. First of all, and in addition to school, motherhood, ect... being my reasons for not posting- I've apparently lost my brand new memory card. Yes. It sucks. And I really hate to be one of those moms that blames her kids for every lost or broken thing...but, I'm starting to think there's no other explanation. Not in my camera. Not in my computer. SO- I know that I am not the one responsible. The investigation continues...
2. I do have some pictures, I have a much smaller memory card that I've been using, but when I do find the other, there will be much more to add to, so I will do it all then.
3. OK- so starting back where I left off- Right before Christmas Clint's uncle Murray passed away. It was a sudden thing and he was way to young to have left his wife and kids. Very hard for them. They decided to have a funeral up here (they live in AZ) but Murray always wanted to be buried in Blackfoot, so we went to the funeral home there. The service was beautiful and just as everyone was gathering into the Chapel for the main service, Cara turned her face into my chest and proceeded to puke all over herself, myself, and our dress clothes. Yeah. It wasn't a little bit of puke either. My family tried to talk me into staying, we wondered if she had just choked or something, but I decided I didn't want a re-enactment during the already emotionally racked talks. Smart. As soon as I got her and Clinton into the car to drive back to Pocatello, she began again- and continued to throw up every 5 minutes or so from Blackfoot. I swear, that was one of the longest drives in my adult life. The stomach Flu then passed through every member of our family through the week of Christmas. Miraculously enough- no one was severely effected on Christmas Day.
4. Clinton is now addicted to Alvin and the Chipmunks. It happened sometime in December, we're not sure yet, but it's looking like he may need to attend rehab.
5. I started school back up this semester and I'm really liking it. I'm currently taking a Motor Development class, Behavioral Psychology, and an Autism course. All pretty interesting, and I love that these classes don't just teach me about things I will need to know, but I can apply them into my life now. Always a plus. ;)
6. Just as Clinton is addicted to the Chipmunks, Cara is quite possibly addicted to Prayer. I know, I've never heard of anyone addicted to prayer either- maybe because addictions tend to be destructive- and there's no way that prayer could be that. She is wise beyond her years in knowing when persons or situations need intervention by prayer. It really brings a sweet spirit to conflict or stress and it's just plain awesome that she's so aware at the tender age of 4. I pray that she always turns to prayer when she feels upset or wants to help others.
7. Clint's job is officially over this week, and although it's been a good job, I can't say that I will miss him working nights. It's started to wear on me more recently and I can't wait to have him home for a bit. I've missed my pookie.
8. Clinton has been deemed the official ball boy for his cousin, Colton's team. Clinton went to watch one of Colton's practices and the coaches said he was such a fan and brought so much energy to the team they asked if he could join them. They had him a jersey made- even gave him # 1, and make him attend all of the practices and join in with the much older, taller boys. I can see how wonderful those boys are and how much they accept him as a part of their team and it's awakened some of the faith I had lost in Humanity. I thank the Lord for people who are as understanding and generous as that team. Go Predators!!!
9. On the same "Clinton note"- he has been testing at a 3 on his IRIs. (At grade level) he does need help with some of it, but he is in the top percentage of his class as far as letter recognition and sounds go. I went to his IEP meeting yesterday and his teachers are labeling him as "Charismatic." I couldn't agree more. And HE knows it. He can really work them over- I had to explain some of his tricks, such as "I don't know *big smile, innocent eyes* to get out of doing work, and all of the "What?" questions to get attention. He'll ask "what" 50, 000 times to keep a conversation going. People play along because, well, they think he really can't hear and he's unbelievably cute- so they just keep going... ;)
10. And with our wonderful blessing of a tax return, we are planning a trip to Oregon to stay in a yurt (like a permanent tent) about 1/4 mile from the ocean. I can't wait. We had no vacation last summer and I'm so thankful to have something to look forward to. I dream of sitting back, watching my kids acquire sand in places they don't want it, and soaking up the sound and smell of the forest and ocean. It will be the reason I get through the semester.
11. Also, as a treat for Clint and I on our 10th anniversary, we are going to the Blue October concert in Salt Lake. This is another perk for us this year- and we haven't been out together for way too long, so we both can't wait. Hopefully this will help ease the pain of not being able to go on a cruise for our 10th like we had hoped. Maybe our 15th... :)
That's about it. When I find that stinkin card I will get more pictures up...wish me luck!!

Christmas 2008

I'm finally getting Christmas stuff up! It's been a long process of loading baj-illions of pictures off of my camera, attempting to organize them and then posting. :) We had a wonderful Christmas this year, I think it was the most meaningful ever for us as a family. We had a lot of hardships, but it truly made us thankful for everything we have and most of all for our wonderful family!!


Jeff and Anita came over on Christmas Eve and had dinner with us. Jeff was very patient and got some family shots... ;)

Then we read stories and said bedtime prayers...

And the kids tried to sneak a peek for reindeer and Santa...

Christmas Morning...

Happy as punch!!!

Christmas kisses for each other!

Shredding...


Here's a little clip of the kids showing off their stuff...

She really wanted a Sleeping Beauty!

When Clinton opened this, he literally stopped opening ALL gifts. I asked him, "Do you think we should wait until tomorrow to open the rest since you like this one so much?" He said- "yes." I was shocked!! I started laughing and told him I was just teasing, and that he could keep opening presents...but I really think he wasn't interested anymore... A + on that gift Santa!!

She was so happy to get a cell phone and purse!

And a truck like Dad's...

And these are some of our family Christmas party pics from 2008...

Here's the Corrington Christmas party- Cara was terribly sick with the stomach flu that day so she and I missed it- I nearly threw myself on the floor in a fit! I LOVE this party- it's one of my favorite parts of the season. Clint and Clinty went and had a ball!!

> Here's the Klingler Christmas Party... lots of fun- Santa came and saw all of the kids and surprised them with little gifts...

der=0> Chill-axin...

Santa with Cara and Logee

Grandpa and Santa
My dad wrote stories for the kids and had books made- I LOVED this gift!!

The car/scooters grandpa got the kids...

Derrick giving me a push on the scooters...he almost killed me!

Doug gets his turn...

We had such a great Christmas season with friends and family!! It was the perfect time with the kids- they are at the best age for Santa and all of the wonder that comes with Christmas. It was one of the most memorable Christmases ever.

Almost to New Year!

We've been so crazed with happenings this month, and I've had great intentions to write, but haven't had the time to gather everything together (including my brain) long enough to get it done. :( The kids had a pretty good Christmas, although throughout the week we all had a large helping of Stomach Flu. Bleh. Cara began the binge when she threw up all over me at Clint's uncle's funeral. I took her home and had a constant string of sickness spanning from the 20th until today. It's not a 24 hour flu, but rather a 3 to 4 day thing- very unpleasant, so she had hers, Clinton got his on Christmas Eve and Dad and I got our share on Thursday night. We were thankful that Clinton's stomach seemed pretty calm while we opened presents and they were both EAGERLY anticipating Santa this year. We had a great Christmas overall with wonderful memories with our kids and our families. We are very blessed.
I promise to get caught up as soon as I get well enough to make my brain work. ;)

Banquet Night...

I recently had the ISU Band banquet night (Dec. 1st) to celebrate the season with the band. It was such a fun year and I was really bummed when I found out Clint was working that night and wouldn't be able to go with me. I wasn't going to go at all- it's a semi-formal affair and it just didn't seem that fun without a date, but I got to thinking about taking Mr.Clinton as my date after he'd had so much fun at the last game. I am SO happy I did, we went out and bought him a new little suit and dressed up for each other! He was absolutely delicious in his new outfit and possibly the cutest date ever! Definitely the most enthusiastic date ever- he kept telling me (while we were getting ready) "Mom, I'm SO Exi-ged to go to dinner with you!" He was "exi-ged" - He talked about it all day! And even though he didn't really care for the dinner that much, he only had maybe a few licks of lasagna and bread, he was thrilled to watch the slide show of the band and the video of one of our performances from the year. - When it came time for me to go up and accept the leadership award for rifles, he cheered out "YEAH MOM!! Good job doin Colorguard and Rifles!!!!!" Everybody loved it! He was the biggest fan of the ISU Band there. It was such a great memory for us and so fun to be able to spend that time together. He is the funnest, cutest, most enthusiastic boy I've ever known. I love watching him grow into a man- I'm just happy I got the FIRST date with him! ;)

Update..

Ok- this weekend was AWESOME! After a long week of teaching preschool, finishing up the last of guard, and midterms (Ahhhh!) - I was rewarded! Friday, after I turned in my portfolio, I literally raced to get to the theatre for Twilight, Jodie met me there, and we took it in together. I really liked it- it was so great to see such a fun series turned into film. I enjoyed it so much, I'm taking the hubbs with me today to watch it again. :)

Then, Clint surprised me by taking the day off Saturday so he and the kids could come to the last game/show. Since I'm not sure if I'll do it again next year, it was possibly my last one ever and I was pretty bummed when he was scheduled to work. - But, he begged his boss and traded a favor so that he could come. It was so fun- not only did we just have an utterly goofy time together- but ISU won! It went into overtime and they snuck in a touchdown at the end- purely awesome. It was the perfect end to a rough season. I'm really going to miss seeing my friends from the team every week- 3 times a week, really - but it will be nice to have a little extra time to myself with the kids.

Sunday was great too- got ready for church (which went surprisingly well)- our home teachers came over afterward, and then we finished off the day with a thrown together dinner of BBQ lil' smokies, baked potatoes with broccoli, ham and cheese sauce (I know, we're creative, especially on Sundays)- then Clint watched Willow with Cara while Clinton slept and I read- which I've had NO time for the past couple of weeks, so it was really gratifying.

Like I said, a great weekend! Laid back, fun, goofy, happy and rewarding. I'm SO thankful Clint made the effort to get to the game- it really meant a lot to me and helped ease my frustration from missing my husband.

And here's a few other shots of random things happening in between all that I just mentioned-

After all of my planning for Cara's preschool kids this week, Cara's really taken to pretending to have school and teaching- she decided she was going to have her own preschool with her own animal students. She set them up at the table and proceeded to hand out homework and read books to them, her pig got a "tummy ache" and had to go lay down, pretty soon all of her students were "tired" so she carried them to bed. What an awesome teacher!

Clinton getting a BIG lift from dad and loving every second of it! Laughter was widespread through the house with that one- Clinty's laugh is very infectious ;)

Thankful for Cara...

I've been wanting to do this for awhile now, but now that Thanksgiving is fast approaching- I thought it was the perfect time. My kids are growing up so fast, changing, and doing and saying new things everyday. And while sometimes time feels like it is standing still, I have learned that kids grow up too fast and soon these days will all be a distant memory.


I'm gonna try to feature both of them in their own posts about every 6 months or so and list some of the things that are important to them and what they've learned.

So, I'm going to begin this time with Cara. I am oozing with things to write about- this girl is very entertaining... so here goes...

The girl is obsessed with folding. Folding, folding, folding- she folds everything that can possibly be folded. Whenever I do laundry, she has to at least get all of the washcloths and towels, otherwise I'm in serious trouble. Here's her with her batch of laundry that she folded all on her own- I was very impressed, I didn't have to redo any of it.

Along those same folding lines-she loves to give presents from around the house, matter of fact, that is ALL she's done this morning. She finds random items from around the house, wraps them in baby wipes and gives them to various members of the family. This morning alone, I've unwrapped about 20 gifts, most of them Halloween candy. She'd rather wrap it and give it away than eat it. She also wraps her small stuffed animals in wipes ("blankets"), makes pillows out of wipes, and puts them to bed in an empty Kleenex box. Her favorite stuffed animal is a beanie baby pig that she carries around in its "wipe" blankets. This pig is always cared for, even if she's busy, she'll find someone to watch it or hold it, usually me, or she'll put him to bed in his box.

Bedtime is a whole other issue... the girl LOVES to get ready for bed. She puts more effort into getting ready for bed than getting ready for the whole day. Lately, she has to have nightgowns- jammie pants will not do. It must be nightgowns because she has to wear her dress-up shoes also. (It's a fight to get her to take the shoes off for bed- she wants to sleep in them.) To go along with the shoes, she needs necklaces, smelly lotion, and lipstick. Mind you, I do NOT condone this behavior, it has become a battle at bedtimes, usually because I just want the kids to get in to their jammies and go to sleep as quickly as possible- of course, this NEVER happens. Bedtime is a long drawn out process of helping me feed the dogs, baths, jammies, reading, prayers (calling dad), ect... and now- Cara getting completely made over before sleep. Somehow, even when I'm watching her and saying- "no lipstick"- she sneaks into my make-up bag and finds some. I'm starting to believe she has a secret hoard of it somewhere....

She's very academic and artistic. I'm thrilled that both sided of the spectrum seem to merge so effortlessly for her. She loves to read, write, count, say ABC's - and find "ABC'S" everywhere. She writes really well, she's been writing her name on all of my mail lately- and is an excellent colorer. She stays within the lines and has done this for over a year now, but she really gets particular about what colors she uses and where those colors go on the page. She goes into a conniption fit if anyone colors over her pictures or tears them, not that I blame her- she spends countless hours on all of them. She loves art. Pictures, paintings, music, singing (I'm always bursting with pride when she knows the words to my favorite songs- it's purely awesome)- books, decorating, and creating. She makes awesome little pictures and hangs them on the fridge or "gifts" them out to people.

Writing her name on my mail...
A picture of Clinty (can you see the glasses??) So cute...

And her orange pony- she's very proud of this one...

She's also very concerned about my personal happiness. Whenever I'm even slightly annoyed at ANYTHING, she says "OH! I will give you a heart!" And then blows me a kiss. She's smart- it works every time. Who could resist that?
She's also my cuddler child. She'd hang out and watch movies all day with me (if we ever had enough time for that!)- And not little kiddie movies, either, although she does love all of the typical 4 year old favorites, but she LOVES Harry Potter! L-O-V-E-S. She still calls him Heavenly Pother. I've coached her endlessly about it being HARRY- but, I've recently given up. Apparently her image of Heavenly Father is a twelve year old boy with round glasses and a magic wand. She loves the spells and potions and gets really irritated at Voldemort when he kills Cedric. - That's never a good 10 minutes. - She watches movies exceptionally well- she has ever since she was really young. Her attention span has always been marvelled at. ;) She stands at the kitchen sink and tries to mix up her own "potions." Clint teases her and tells her to drink them and that maybe she'll turn into a cat if she does. - I'm happy to say she doesn't drink them- I'd throw a fit if she did, because they usually consist of water, soap- hand and dish soap- and whatever kind of food she can reach from the counter. I know, gross. I've seen some scary stuff. But, I can never get mad- it's just too cute. ;)

She's sweet, compassionate, patient, loving, imaginative, warm, helpful, girly, funny, mature, motherly, smart, lovable little girl and I truly hope she always has the love for her family that she has now.

You're wonderful CARA! I'll always be so thankful to have you as my daughter! I love ya!