Chloe turned 9 and mom turned, well, we won't talk about that.

Where has the time gone? I swear it feels like yesterday the day she was born. I want her to stay a kid forever, but I'm eager to see how she turns out. I had a lot of mixed feelings this birthday. Chloe is growing up way too fast.

She had a good birthday party at CCGI, which meant that I didn't have to clean up afterwards at home. She had 22 children join her, and she got a ton of awesome gifts. Among her favorites are Dad's MP3 player gift, Mom's custom made jewelry, and Harper's awesome T-shirt and bows. I was glad to see that all of the kids had a good time and that it was a stress free day for me too. I actually got to enjoy myself. Thanks to all of our friends and family for making this such a wonderful day for Chloe.

Guest Starring Chloe Clark

I periodically log into Chloe's email to dump some of the spam she gets and came across this. It made me wonder what the 1st email must have been like. I thought it was too cute not to share. Disney Channel better get on the ball!


dear disney channel.com
you still havent ansewred my question about me being a guest star.
my house number is 802-3842
my mom's cell phone number is 302-9120
my dad's cell phone number is 308-2201
colette clark

Wilbur

Just wanted to post Chloe's poem about Wilbur from Charolette's Web before we submit it for a work sample.

Wilbur
some pig
crying,fainting,swallowing
loves fern, charolette's daughters, templeton
jumping, flipping, trembling
happy, loyal
runt


I love her poem. It makes me happy.

We love home schooling.

I just can't state enough how much we love to home school. It's such a wonderful thing that we are able to do. Chloe is much more confident in math skills (she even corrects her friends and tells people that she is great at math), she knows about the line of demarcation, atoms, and what Aristotle and Plato thought of the world.

I just wanted to make this post because for science today we made a model of an atom. I thought it was an ingenious way of showing a complex idea. Our atom's nucleus is made up of the protons (green grapes) and the neutrons (purple grapes) and is surrounded by the cloud (toothpicks) in which the electrons (peas) swim in. I loved our lesson today. She really got into it. For fun we modeled a water molecule out of modeling clay. It's such an exciting adventure we are on. I feel so fortunate that Ryan provides us with the stability to be able to invest so much into our daughter.

Gaetano went into surgery today. I feel sad that he'll be out of it for a while, but glad that now he will be officially ours. I get to call the A KC tomorrow and get all of his paperwork and register his microchip with our information. YEAH! He truly is such a sweetie and Ryan allows him to break all of the rules.

For Christmas We got a Gaetano (aka Guy)

The Spears found this adorable goofball at their house during Christmas. He was so matted that our groomer had to shave him so that he could be comfortable. Little did we know.....

The Spears put an ad in the paper and posted him on Craig's list, and I took the liberty of reporting him with the SPCA. I took him to the SPCA clinic today because he is going to get neutered on the 13th and found out that he is an A KC certified miniature schnauzer. He was microchip ed but had not been registered. As far as the A KC is concerned he is an abandoned pet. Basically the owners have until the 13th to "claim" him before we are allowed, with the county's and AK C's consent, to keep him as our own. He is the sweetest thing ever. He sleeps with Ryan when he takes a siesta. We just love him and have named him Gaetano. He is seriously the BEST gift ever. He has his own kennel which he loves and has been using the doggie door since day one.

Yes we did!

Wow! What an amazing election. I am glad it's over and that we won. Chloe and I took the day off of school and spent the entire day looking at polls and having her color in her USA map both red and blue; also writing down electoral college numbers. It was a great lesson in civics. Ryan actually took her in with him to vote and she thought that was cool. Chloe, Gabe and I then headed over to the Holiday Inn and partied hearty with the Dems. It was a great night and one that we will all remember for a long time.

School is going great now that we are caught up. It's also nice that soccer is wrapping up so that we can focus on other stuff. I'm so done with soccer and the irony is that my team made it to playoffs. I'm doing my best to keep my spirits high so that I don't ruin the memory for the girls. Our end of the season party was on Saturday and it was great. I got an awesome "coach" chair that all of the girls signed. I almost cried. I'll make a great team mom next year, and if Chloe decides after that not to ever play again that would be alright.

Everything is great here and we're all healthy and happy.

I'm in love!

Ryan and I got new bikes this weekend and I'm in love. We went to Wilson's bike shop downtown and picked up two Worksman Cycles, but they are more like tanks really. These heavy duty bikes are industrial bikes made in the USA as they are ordered. My bike is white with chrome baskets in the rear and one in the front. Ryan's bike is blue and his rack is being ordered by Wilson's as we speak. Our bikes are steel and the tires are made of kevlar, which means that we'll never have a flat. We are having Wilson's look into ordering some standby generator lights, but that may not be possible; these lights are powdered by you and the standby option keeps them on while you are at stoplights. If they can't find them then we'll just have them install basic generator lights. Either way we are stoked and we are desperately trying to teach Chloe to ride her bike so that we can have family rides. I've been to Borders, Costco, and Savemart (just to name a few places) already on mine and I love it! I feel really healthy and as if I am being a good world citizen by not driving my car so much. I've gotten many complements on my bike from senior citizens and children alike.

School is going well. We are still catching up, but I'm not going to worry about it since Thanksgiving vacation will give us ample time to catch up and maybe get ahead.