Brent, Benson, Bryce! The Triple Threat

I slept over at Kelly's this weekend to help out with the boys. Bryce is such an angel! He's so tiny that when I was holding him I was afraid to breathe! Kelly couldn't relate - this is her biggest child yet, weighing in at 5 lbs 13 oz at birth. Of course I took tons of pictures. Here are a few...

This one's just heartbreaking, but still, somehow, irresistably adorable.

I finally got to see the legendary Larry Boy costume that Brent always talks about. It's really very ingenious!

Brent has a new assortment of funny faces...

What a great weekend!

Bryce Scott Clark

On Saturday we went to see the newest member of the Clark clan. He's so cute! And tiny. We could only look at him through the window, but Kelly held him up for us to see.


I think Benson was still a little bewildered by the whole situation at this point.

Saturday was Benson's birthday and Brent's was a couple of weeks ago, so dad brought the birthday book to read to them.

The boys found plenty of ways to entertain themselves at the hospital. Brent tried out new variations on his classic blankie-gone-Larry-Boy-cape, while Benson explored the cupboards and experimented with the buttons on mommy's bed.

I am so excited for Kelly and Kyle and their new addition to their growing family!

Notes

I was reading this article for my multicultural education class that examines the teaching strategies exercized by a first-year minority teacher. I thought it was an interesting take on LDS teachers. Emphasis added :)

"Carlos's religious convictions, however, contain a basis for grounding a pedagogy of equity in his ontological commitments. Specifically, Carlos religious beliefs include a doctrine called eternal progression (The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 132: 22). According to this doctrine, each individual is a radically unique soul engaged in a process of eternal evolution toward a divine status. One can hardly imagine a pedagogy more consistent with this idea than one stressing equitable treatment of each student because of his or her unique and unbounded potential."

Multicultural Education, Fall 2004 by Mayes, Clifford, Montero, Fidel, Cutri, Ramona Maile

"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Matthew 22:39

I've been thinking about this scripture a lot lately. I think there are two commandments in it. Love others, but also, just as important, love yourself. Not in a vain or prideful way, but in recognition of your individual worth and divine heritage. You are, after all, a child of God. I am convinced that you cannot fully love others until you fully love yourself. You cannot see the divine potential in others until you see the divine potential in yourself. You cannot see others as God sees them until you see yourself as God sees you. Just a thought.

WHY ME???

I love this picture! It's on the desktop of my computer and it de-stresses me every time I see it.

You're nerd is showing...

This is what my roommate's boyfriend says every time we strike up a conversation about the role of phonemic awareness in litercy development (with admiration, being a self-admitted nerd himself). And yes, it's true, I have finally embraced my inner nerd, and I'm not afraid to let her show! I may not be cool, and I may not be conforming, but the truth is, I'm passionate about what I'm studying! So the next time I'm silent for a while and you ask me what I'm thinking about, don't be surprised if I tell you I was trying to find practical applications of constructivism in a classroom environment founded on behaviorist theories. And if I start analyzing your picture books for elements of plot, character, voice, and theme, just smile and nod. Let's be honest, we all have plenty of nerd bottled up inside of us, so why not all be nerds together?!

Today I am so grateful for so many things I don't think I can narrow it down to a reasonable list. I heard a prophet of the Lord speak tonight, I have the most amazing family ever, I have the most amazing roommates ever, I learned so much in church today, I had so much fun playing with friends last night, I Love my classes and am excited to spend the rest of my life studying and doing my passion, I got to go to the temple on Friday...I could go on. And then there's something that doesn't quite fit into a list, something inexpressibly sweet. This week has been insane. I had problems registering for my classes, and then once I got in them I was overwhelmed realizing how busy this semester will be, I found out that I have some big decisions to make sooner than I expected, and I'm trying to adjust to some changes that I just don't want to make! And yet these past couple of days I have been overwhelmed, not by my crazy life, but by the peace, comfort, reassurance, and guidance of the spirit. Sometimes it seems that the hardest times bring with them the greatest joy, and that has definitely been true this week. I guess what I'm really trying to say is, I know everything will work out. I don't know how, I don't even know where I will be six months down the road, but I know that the Lord is in charge and He will take care of me. That's what I'm grateful for today.

I Love Luci!

Queen Katie, May I...

The official crowning...

Queen Katie!

Dad decided she didn't have enough light shining on her, so we had to wait for him to change the light bulb.

Everybody's lined up and ready to play.

The game featured questions such as:

• What is Katie's true hair color?
• What is Katie's favorite genre of music?
• What are the names of Katie's future children?
• In high school, Katie had a crush, alternately, on one of two guys who happened to be twin brothers. What were their names and which one did she go to Prom with?

Tucker looks so smug...

This is Shawn's "One alligator crawl" Step.

How did all these people get ahead of me?

King Josh!

Happy birthday Katie!

What clean nephews I have!

Christmas!!!

Santa brought sleds for the girls to help them enjoy their new home in Utah! But they're such California girls they weren't sure what to do with them. When Ricky asked them what they were Emma said, "surf boards!"
Ricky asked Emma what color her sled was and she said, very enthusiastically, "blue! My favorite color!" Then he asked Rachel and she replied, just as enthusiastically, "orange! Not my favorite color!"

Sam gave Dylan these some special kind of sword for Christmas. I'm not really sure why it was so special, but Cody sure had fun with it!

This is always one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Every year dad sits down with whoever wants to listen and takes requests. Emma and Rachel thought it was so funny when he had to bend notes that he started bending all the notes. They thought it was hilarious!

Christmas Eve

Kelly put together a Christmas pageant for us to do on Christmas Eve. It was great! I don't think we've had one since the Woodland Hills house, and I'm glad we're starting it again. First dad read the Christmas story from Luke 2 (I love hearing my dad read the Christmas story) while we acted it out. Kelly was Mary because she's great with child anyway. Emma made a terrific angel, with wrapping paper wings. Brent even tried being an angel, Rachel said he was a "boy angel". Then Ricky read a narration in between songs. Shelly and Katie had a duet, Becky and Drew sang a hymn in Portuguese, and dad, of course, played his harmonica.




It was wonderful, but with a family this size there's bound to be a few glitches. Dad and I had the stomach flu all day, Afton started throwing up half way through, Benson tore off Emma's angel wings and she was inconsolable for the rest of the story, and Brent didn't really like being a "boy angel". Still though, we had fun. A big family may cause chaos, but I wouldn't want it any other way.



That night Ricky and the girls made a gingerbread house. I think Ricky was more into it than they were. They just wanted to eat the candy.