Doing Time

Yesterday was an interesting afternoon! The boys went down for their nap real well and I thought they were sleeping. After a few hours I heard Caleb say he needed to go potty so I go up to put the ladder back up on the bed. I open the door to find "cave murals" all over the walls, the bed and the toy box. Talk about seeing red!! After letting Caleb go potty, we had a BIG discussion about not drawing on the walls, along with a certain form of punishment. I was going to run to Walmart to get the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (which I highly recommend if you have kids!), but realized that the kids love to go there. So we waiting till Matt got home (second round of talks and punishment) before heading out to get it. Needless to say we made them clean up the walls. Caleb got real tired and all I could say was "Well maybe next time you won't draw on the walls". Ian did some, but he didn't have the strength to do a lot. So no more spider-men around here for a week and the confiscation of all writing and coloring utensils permanently. Only supervised coloring will be done. The funny thing is- there were no crayons to be found in their room after I discovered the mess. Later I found 2 small, piece of corn sized, crayons that cause the destruction. It is the little things that get you! :)

*There are no pictures of the clean up- I figured that would take away from the seriousness of the work!

Which Super Hero are You?

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 65% The Flash 65% Robin 60% Catwoman 60% Supergirl 55% Wonder Woman 50% Green Lantern 50% Spider-Man 45% Iron Man 35% Hulk 25% Batman 10%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

This past weekend, Matt was trying to get several guys over to play ball. But since it was raining, we had to scratch that. We ended up having the Davis family and the Lewis family over. It was so much fun. We hadn't seen Phil and Indie since they stopped by on a visit through AR like 2 years ago. Their daughters are so pretty and fun. I'm not sure if they would like me posting their names so we will call them E and M. M is about 4 month younger than Caleb but is way taller. She got her certainly has her Dads height. E is about 2 months older than Riley. She has the sweetest smile. The kids had a blast playing with each other. In the Pictures (sorry that one is sideways) that is Ian and M with their arms around each other. Later on Mike and Ann Lewis stopped by and we got to see their baby girl. A is about 3 months old and is such a cutie! She was full of smiles. It was so nice to get to visit with Indie and Ann. Indie and I were suite mates at HU. Phil, Indie, Matt and I all pretty much hung out with the same people. Ann and I were in Chio's together. Matt and Mike had been roommates for a while. Some of you might know Mike as the Jesus painter. They live about 20 min away while Phil and Indie are about 10. I am so excited to have them near by and hopefully we can get together more often.

Bob and Larry/ Old Friends

I had heard on the radio that Bob and Larry would be at the grand opening for the Life Way at the Providence Shopping Center. So we loaded up the cold kids (they were playing in the snow) and drove on down to see if we could get our picture with them. Sure enough there were TONS of people waiting (in a very small Life Way I might add) but we got to see them up close. The boys were really excited, but as you can tell from the picture, Riley was not about to stay anywhere near them. Amidst the craziness of the store Matt and I got to see some of our friends from HU. Matt actually found them while searching for a runaway Caleb ( who got in major trouble for leaving his side!) The Tomlinsons were also there and so we tried to find a little corner to chat. I have to say we were really excited to see them. We have been trying to find them since moving here. Their children are adorable and so sweet. We are hoping to get to do a lot of things with them. They live in Mt. Juliet ( like 10 min from our house). It will be so nice to have some friends near by.

Snow Day #2

I didn't get any pictures from our first snow day as it melted too quick. But we were on our way to Life Way and I decided to snap some pictures. The kids love the snow and had fun making snowballs and hitting Daddy's truck with them. We figured that was a better option that nailing each other. Riley was not to sure of it at first, but then found the little icicles on the truck and that seemed to make her happy.

A few weekends ago we went to my parents to help cut down some trees. By the time we got there dad had them down, but he and Matt hauled them out of the woods and then set them up to dry for firewood. We chopped some up and loaded up our truck to take home. The boys had a blast riding in the trailer and then helping Papa load all the wood up. There was an abandoned squirrels nest in one that they boys loved looking at.

Waiting for a beautiful day

I was getting pretty discouraged the other day with trying to find a playground for the kids. I had driven around and had only seen school playgrounds, which you can't use during the day. So I finally googled playgrounds in our area and there is the neatest one about 10 min from our house. It is located in the Charlie Daniels Park. There are pavilions for picnics, and volleyball, tennis and basketball courts along with a community center. The design reminds me of the Red Caboose Park in Bellevue, TN and Kids Kingdom in Columbia, TN. We decided to go check it out on Friday evening. It was getting dark and was cool so we didn't stay too long, but the kids had a blast. There is a regular big kid play area, but towards the back is the toddler area. They have "shrunken" all the big kid equipment. They had a ton of fun and were not happy to leave. But that will be a place we will be visiting quite often when it gets warmer.

I thought I would do an update on the kids since it has been awhile. So here you go!



Riley is doing well. He is learning to talk and would be a pro at it by now if her brothers would let her! Every time Matt and I try to teach her words, Caleb and Ian chime in for her. I am sure one day she will surprise us all and just start talking in sentences. :) She is still very petite for her age. We go for her 15 month check up on Friday and I am excited to see what % she is for her height. She was in the 20th % but the last time she had dropped to the 9th %. But she is such a joy to be around. She loves to blow kisses and climb the stairs. She is getting better at going down, but still catches her feet up and slides down them at times. She loves to be ready to, and will pick the same book over and over again. There are several I can now recite from memory. She loves going to class at church. She heads on in and sits down to wait for the singing to begin.


Ian is doing real well. We have started potty training again. He was doing real good a few months back, but then decided he didn't want to go anymore. So we are starting over and trying a different reward system. We are going to get Spider-man stickers to put on a chart. I have yet to figure out how we will do the reward system yet, but hopefully this will get us back on track. He is also working real hard on growing his imagination. The things that he comes up with and do just crack us up. He loves acting out his own "episodes". He is still our sensitive boy, but he is learning how to "fight back". We went to a gun show this weekend that my dad and uncle were participating in and they had a rock wall that the Army guys had set up. Ian just met the weight limit and he had so much fun. I wish I had gotten pictures- but we couldn't take one in. :) Ian loves his Bible class. He knows the starting work routine and will remind the teacher if she forgets.



Caleb is getting to big. He has become a little man. He is curious about everything and has the memory of an elephant. You can tell him something and a week or 2 later he can tell it to you word for word. He is really looking forward to school next year. He loves being mommy's helper and when daddy is not here- he takes care of us. While we were at the gun show, he also got to climb up the rock wall. Had there not be others waiting then he would have done it all day. I can see he and Ian being very big outdoors men- which is just fine with us. He loves going to Bible class and has so much fun singing to us. We have a praise and worship Cd that is for kids. Every time we get in the car we turn it on and he will sing at the top of his lungs. Even when he is at home, you will hear him singing songs from the cd or from Church. He will start playing Soccer in the next few months. I know he is so happy to be playing sports. In the fall we are going to sign him up for flag football.

Don't you just love it?

Don't you just love it when you get random comments on a post even with the word verification on??? So you then know that it is an actual person and not some random program. Some times I think they are funny, but some can be down right mean. I ended up deleting one because the person was griping at me that I had commented on a friends blog that I was happy that I had been in a hospital with my first child's birth that resulted in a quick c-section- rather than having a natural birth (like I had wanted). My friend and I had discussed it at length and we were never mean or hateful about it. Apparently this stranger felt that I had done myself an injustice because my ignorance in laboring techniques caused me to endanger myself and my unborn child. :) I am all for everyone having a choice in how they deliver- to each her own! I just though it was hysterical that I would be critiqued on it!

* I just found out that who ever this is has also gone onto other blogs and left information or critiques about birthing. Apparently she got my site from someone else's list and might have left comments on any of the links from my site. If so- I am really sorry. I am looking into a way that I can keep our site safe.

Long Time

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted. We have been pretty busy around here. The kids and I just got back from puppy/kitty sitting for my parents and Uncle. They should be getting home any minute from NY. They got Grandma and Grandpa moved in with out any glitches. Unfortunately Grandpa was none too happy and let everyone know it! But it will just take time for him to get use to it. The nurses are great and really made mom and Gerry feel better. They say it usually takes about 2-3 weeks for new residents to adjust. The kids had a blast with the pets. Caleb and Rosie hung out and Ian and Riley shared Mocha. The cats are not huge fans of kids, so they hid most of the time till the kids went down. They I got all the lovin' (and fuzzy cat hair!!)
We have finally organized some rooms and I am putting the finishing touches on Riley's room and the boys room tomorrow. Then I can start hanging pictures around the house and tackle our room. I will get the pictures downloaded from the camera and get some up here tonight or tomorrow- cause I KNOW you are all starving for pictures of these beautiful darlings!!

Happy Valentines Day!

2 New Recipes

Here are 2 recipes out of the book that I told you about earlier:



Tater Tot Casserole

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 cans mixed veggies (drained) OR 1 16 oz bag frozen mixed veggies
1 can cream of mushroom OR cream of celery
1 cup milk
1 can fried onions
1 pkg frozen tater tots

Preheat oven to 350
cook and drain beef- place in 9x13 pan. spread veggies over beef. mix soup and milk together- spread over beef. sprinkle onions on top of soup mixture. Top with one layer of tater tots.
Bake 45 min serves 7


Crunchy Chicken Rolls

3 oz cream cheese softened
2 cups chopped and cooked chicken
1 tbs chives
2 tbs milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 pkg crescent rolls
1/4 c butter-melted
1/2 c herb seasoned stuffing mix

Preheat oven to 350
mix cheese, chicken, chives, milk and salt (works best if mixed with your hands). unroll crescent rolls. Each tube contains 4 rectangles. press dough along the diagonal perforation so it won't seperate. place about 1/4 c mixture in center of rectangle. Fold dough over and pinch edges closed. dip each roll in melted butter and roll id stuffing mix. Place on baking sheet and bake for 20 min. Serves 4-6

Both of these the kids liked (and us to!) Maybe your family will like them too. Enjoy!

This is where it stays

I have decided that I like this the best. So for now the background is done. I will still be adding things slowly, but I'm done fiddling for now. Hope the green isn't too bright. I thought it fit our family pretty good. Energetic, on the move and happy (unless it is close to nap or bed time!) ;) I'm hoping to get a good picture of all of us to put on here. I have a bunch to add, but, alas.....I have to figure out how to download the pictures from our new camera. That will require the kids to be asleep. So maybe sometime this weekend. I'm trying to figure out how to add pictures of books that we are reading and a few other neat things. If any of you know how to do that -let me know please!

In other News:
We are heading out to Mom and Dads this weekend. This will be our last time to see Grandpa before they leave. . They are going to be heading back to NY at the end of next week. They have gotten Grandma and Grandpa into an assisted living facility. So they will be moving him in the week after V-day. My Uncle Gerry is heading up early to try and move as much of their things out of the house to the apartment. That way Grandma and Grandpa won't be able to go back to the house and re-find all the memories. The Community said it would make the transition easier since they had not been living there anyway for a while. So hopefully all will go well.

Cookbook

I have discovered a great new cookbook. I found it at Moms Together here in Nashville. It has really great recipes that kids and adults love. So far Matt has only not liked one thing that I have made out of it. So I really wanted to share it with you! ( I may post some of our favorites on here later)


Beyond Macaroni and Cheese


Edited by: Mary Beth Lagerborg and Karen J. Parks


Published by: Zondervan

Bible Study

A while ago, I started the Patriarchs Bible study by Beth Moore. I got a little slowed down by doing another Bible study with a local church, and then with our move in November, I never got to finish the last 2 sections. (yes, only tow- I really should have made more of an effort) But as we were unpacking boxes this weekend, I found the book. So my goal this week is to re-read all the previous sections to refresh my memory, and then finish the series. Anyway, I wasn't typing all that to just let you know what a slacker I am. It was just interesting to me how I let other things get in the way of finishing that study. Other studies, duties, and more snuck in between me and that study time with God. Then I got to thinking how often that happens in my life. I can start something and soon there is something else that needs my attention at that moment, and the rest is forgotten. Could it be that my mommy memory is out the door, or is this an attack on my soul and mind that is seeking our God? I know that when I start my day with God, I do better and when I have my study time somewhere in the day, I feel better. When I don't -I find myself being short with everyone and messing up on everything. Is anyone else out there like me- or am I just plain old weird? Anyway I want to challenge all of you (and myself) to strive everyday to spend that moment with God, whether it be a long time or a short "stolen moment" to seek Him in your day. It can make a world of difference in your life and in others.

Marti

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARTI!!!!!!!

You are getting so old. ;) Wish we could be there to celebrate with you- take you to Crackle Barrel and buy you some Chicken and Dumplings. But since we are not- I hope our thoughts, prayers and wishes are enough. Oh and a phone call later today! Happy Birthday, my friend!

Fiddling

As you visit our blog over the next few days, you will see different backgrounds and such. I am trying to switch things up, but can't really get it all done in one setting- so it will take me a few days to get it where I like it (which might end up the same 'ole thing if I can't find anything else!) ;) So bear through the ugly colors and still visit us- it will all be over soon!

Prayers are answered

I am so excited right now! My grandpa and Grandma are going to be able to live together again!! My dad called Mary and they talked for a while- trying to decide what their plans were, since Uncle Gerry and Mom were trying to decide what to do about keeping Grandpa near Vera. Mary finally said that Grandma was not happy and there was nothing that she was able to do to make her happy. She agreed to allow Grandma to stay with Grandpa in an assisted living facility! Grandma and Grandpa are beside themselves with happiness. There is one just across the border in Pennsylvania (about 15 min from one of Marys daughter) and they have an opening. So right now everyone is trying to get the applications and paperwork in order to get them in. They are able to furnish the apartment themselves so that cuts down on the cost. Grandpa is having a heard time with the fact that there might not be anything left to pass on to his children. We have all told him that it is more important for everyone to have him and grandma together. But it is hard for him to see everything that he has worked for and wanting to pass down, getting sold and used for the home. Hopefully one day he will realize that we don't want the money- just his happiness. Thank you all for praying for our situation. I know God heard all of them and He was faithful in providing the options and answers we need. Sometimes it is hard for me to see the answers to my prayers or I never see them at all. I am glad that I got to see the answer to this one prayer. God chose to answer in this time and space and I think it has truly lifted the hearts of my family and reminded that prayers are answered and He is listening. I cannot thank you enough, my friends. God Bless!

How 'bout them Colts

Hats off the the Colts! It was a great game (interrupted by 3 children squealing and running around). We had fun watching and cheering. I think the best moment came when they awarded the trophy and Tony Dungy said "I'm proud to be the first African-American coach to win this, but again, more than anything, Lovie Smith and I are not only African-American but also Christian coaches, showing you can do it the Lord's way. We're more proud of that." How awesome is that! Where most teams have coaches that rule by intimidation and cursing, these two coaches show that doing it God's way can lead you further, and have a team that respects you as a coach- not fear you.

GO COLTS!!

Not sure who everyone is going for tonight. We here in the Clement household will be cheering on the Colts. Not that we have anything against "Da Bears", but I would just like to see Payton Manning win a Super Bowl. Plus our family in Indiana might disown us if we cheer differently! :)

6 years

Yesterday Matt and I celebrated 6 years of marriage! It really doesn't feel like it has been that long. Then I look at our 3 kids and think-Oh my stars!!! We have 3 kids and we've only been married 6 years. It has been a fun ride- filled with ups and downs, twists and turns- but I wouldn't have wanted to share it with anyone else. It is amazing how we have changed and grown with each other. When we first started our lives together, I had this "fairy tale' type marriage in my head. It has been a lot of changes, sacrifice on both sides and sometime disagreements, but is it worth it? You bet. I can't wait to see what the next 30 years hold for us. Happy Anniversary Matt!

Christmas Present

I got a really neat present this year from Matt and the kids. I had been wanting a new camera and had been looking around for one that was affordable and that I wanted. Well, they got me one for Christmas. So now I can shoot the boys in action with continual shots and I don't have to wait for the camera to save the picture and come back to picture-taking mode. It will be really nice when Caleb starts soccer in a month (yes...I said soccer- we are letting him try every sport!). I am pretty excited. So the next shots you will see are from the new camera. We are going to go play in the snow this afternoon so I will put those up later. I have been wanting to take some photography classes and this will also help to have the camera. Maybe one day I will become a photographer (when the kids are grown and out of the house- might be the only time I have to try!)

**OK as Aunt Marti pointed out in the comments- I only talked about taking action pictures of the boys. I left out my baby girl! I am sure I will have many moments to take her in action shots. She is sure to play sports or be on the sides cheering. So I am correcting my error: I will get to take continual shots of MY CHILDREN while they are playing sports or just having fun! ;) Thanks Marti!!

Update on Grandpa

Thank you all for your recent prayers for my family. My parents and grandpa made it back safely from NY last week. Riley and I were able to go spend a few days with Grandpa while the boys were in IN last week. He is doing OK. He is having a very difficult time as is Grandma. He keeps trying to find a way back home, and was seriously considering hitching back to NY and would have if it wasn't starting to snow. When he and Grandma talk, it is heart breaking. They really miss each other and want to be together. My mom and Gerry are trying to figure out what to do. Neither of them can stay with Grandpa full time in NY, but he refuses to go into an Assisted Living facility. Right now we are just trying to make it through a week at a time. THey are going to try and talk to a psychologist and see what they can do to make the transition easier and to keep him from slipping into depression. Grandma still thinks that they will be back together in the spring. I am unsure whether her children have told her that she will not be leaving Marys' house or if she just can't remember it. Please continue to keep them in your prayers. I have a feeling it will get more difficult before it gets easier.