Gingerbread Man

Yesterday our lovely neighbor brought over some holiday cookies and they were delish! We decided to let Clark try a little bit of the Gingerbread man... and he loved it!



what's this thing?


Oh wait, this is good. must.sit.down.

100 words

Seems like having 5 minutes to guess the 100 most popular words in the english language would be more than enough time, right? Well, I must not be much of a mental giant today since my score was 37 on my first try. Ha! What can you guys get, no cheating?!

Top 100 words

Santa was hitting the sauce-

Today we went to the Galleria to take pictures with Santa, round two- and the poor guy was struggling. We wanted to get a picture of all 3 Maheu kids with Clark for Grandpa Maheu in California, but of course things never seem to work out the way we plan... Plus, we really think Santa might have been drunk. He actually PASSED OUT between children. Even the guys taking the pictures were laughing about it. They had to bring him water to sober, i mean wake him up. I tried to snap a picture of it, but didn't have the right angle. He looks grumpy enough though- poor kids probably think Santa is such a loser!

Clark and Perry were holding hands before the pictures! Clark seems to think girls have cooties already- and he can keep thinking that until high school. Ha.


As you can see Perry wanted NOTHING to do with the big drunk man-


I mean seriously, look at this guy's face!


Clark had a BLAST on Santa's lap this time around.


Ah yes, our new favorite thing Clark is doing. Hitting. Hitting when he's excited, hitting when he doesn't get what he wants- hitting all the time. Love toddlerhood. As you can see Rich was super thrilled. He even hit two kids at Gymboree the other day and we had to leave. Not cool. We have no clue where he got this behavior from and we're doing our best to teach him it's wrong. From what I've heard it's just a stage he'll grow out of, but this is one time he can't grow fast enough, we'll be glad when this phase has passed.

Nicolle & Brian's Engagement Party

Saturday night was Nicolle and Brian's engagement party, and what a party it was! I've got to say besides my wedding, I'm not sure I've helped plan quite an event. One of Brian's friends from church offered up her stunning home, think "The Great Gatsby." Seriously, this home was built in 1904 by the same architect that designed the Basicilla... An old oil tycoon had it built to entertain people for the 1904 World's Fair. I can't even imagine the history and people who have walked the beautiful inlaid floors. There was even a secret passageway through a library bookshelf! I didn't take too many pictures, but you can see how ornate and amazing everything is! Too fun. It was the perfect setting to celebrate the engagement of this classic couple. Nicolle is one of my best friends in the world and she is marrying "the nicest guy ever" as my Dad likes to call him. I can't wait for their wedding, hopefully I won't be too huge by then- I might scare some guests out on the dance floor :) It will still be fantastic!

A visit to Mr. Clause

After Clark woke up from his afternoon nap we took him to see Santa- Here's a sneak peek picture, I'm way too tired and lazy to go scan the official one in :) It's funny though- he pretty much has the same expression on his face this year as he did last.

Happy Haircut, again!

Today we took Clark to get his happy haircut- as you can see from this first picture he was in desperate need!



Again, not too fond of the scissors but he didn't act up one bit.


Very curious as to what the hair dryer does- we of course don't blow dry his hair at home!

Momma Maheu

Today officially marks the one year point when I haven't seen or spoken to my mom. I can't believe a whole year has passed already. I used to not go a day or two without talking to her and could never imagine how hard it would be to lose that. It has been hard. Hard in a way I never thought, but I have made it through this year. I was thinking today about all that has happened in this past year- how proud she would be of her growing grandchildren, and the grandbaby she hasn't met yet (and ours that she will never get to meet either.) How I have missed being able to call her with the big news, and small news and everything in between. It doesn't seem fair that she's not here anymore, but I have to tell myself we have had a lifetime of amazing memories with her, and I'm actually lucky to have had such a wonderful mom- even if it was for shorter than I wanted. And, I was reminded today how many wonderful caring people I have in my life. People that thought enough to call, text and let me know they were thinking of my family. We have been blessed in so many ways, it makes the really tough days bearable in some strange way.

I love you mom, and miss you each and every day. I hope you are looking down on your growing family with peace and love and can enjoy all our small and large moments. There has been such a gap in our lives now that you're gone and I can't wait to see you again someday!

Look how adorable she was!


I loved riding the carousel with my mom and always looked forward to being able to ride it with my own child. And, I love that Clark likes it as well- I think of her every time we take him on one.


Seriously, what woman would don a pink wig and head to a drag show with their daughter for their bachelorette party- and have a good time!

I'm so lucky my mom was able to be there when Clark was born. I know it gave her great peace to see her children happily settled down and starting families.

One of the last big things she did was plan my dad's surprise 60th birthday- and we all had SO much fun.

My mom LOVED California. So much she never wanted to come back to the midwest. I think she was a California girl at heart. I love this picture of my mom and dad enjoying their lives in the way they always wanted to- in a way their worked SO hard to do.

Happy Birthday Great Gram!!!!!!

It seems like just yesterday we were all singing happy birthday to Grandma at our wedding as she turned a cool 90 years old! Well, three years later at 93 it seems like nothing has changed, she's still the amazing strong woman we all know and love. We miss you so much Gram and can't wait to come down for a visit- 10 more days!!!! Wish we were there today to celebrate with you, but we'll see you soon. Clark misses his Great Gram too and can't wait to snuggle her!

Boys Weekend

This weekend is officially boys weekend. I am in Chicago visiting Rebecca and Franklyn and Rich and Clark are flying solo in STL. So I thought in honor of boys weekend I would post two recent pictures of them playing together (and one oldie but goodie!) It's not a shock to anyone that Rich likes video games. Actually I'm not sure if like is the right word :) Of course Clark wants to do EVERYTHING just like his Daddy, so here are two pictures of my boys playing Rock Band together and Lloyd is front center like always. And then I couldn't help but repost the picture of them playing Mario Kart, it seriously cracks me up everytime I see it. Thanks for my weekend boys, love you guys!

Three Years

WELL, yesterday we celebrated our three year anniversary, with a nice casual date night out. We were planning on heading to Chicago this weekend to celebrate at the place it all went down, but I'm just to tired and we don't have it in us. But, it seems like just yesterday we were exchanging vows and celebrating. Now we have a nice little family and one on the way. We have really been blessed these three years and appreciate everybody in our lives that has helped make it this fun and loving!

We had a little moment last night though. It was about 7:15 as we were leaving the house and a nice light snow started to fall. We realized at that exact moment three years ago we were standing in a similar snowfall outside of the Park Hyatt taking some pictures and enjoying our first few moments as a married couple. It was just perfect.

And here we are yesterday, all 3.5 of us- look how HUGE my belly is already!

And a shot from our 2nd anniversary, look at how small little Clark was there :)

Hanging at the Maheu's

First of all, sorry there are no Thanksgiving pictures to post- Clark looked adorable that day (you'll have to take my work on that one) but I was either throwing up or laying down trying not to throw up so sadly, no pictures were taken. I'm not sure if my constant nausea/horrid head cold finally culminated or if I had a stomach bug, but thankfully I am feeling much better. Still not able to eat much, but as long as I'm holding down fluids I can't complain!

SO, on Sunday we went over to the Maheu household to celebrate Miles' birthday (his 4th party I believe :) and I was feeling "myself" again so of course that means pictures to show- Miles is just about the luckiest kid on the planet, but he has no idea how lucky he is- Grandpa Maheu and Patti got him just about the coolest present a 6 year old could want. I know I drooled over them as a child and was desperately jealous of any kid who had one... come to think of it, I think I'm jealous of Miles. Ha! Seriously though, he walked downstairs to find his very own Ford truck(eco-friendly electric :) in the garage, with his own garage door opener and everything! Maybe in 10 years when he turns 16 those electric cars and trucks will be the preferred mode of transportation, and he'll just upgrade in size. Fingers crossed.

I'm impressed- Clark can already hold his own with his big cousins!





Now, as Marc pointed out tonight Clark looks like he just got done working under the hood with his white T and frazzled hair. Too funny. (He did have a cute sweater on, but it was warm in the Maheu living room and Rich stripped him down.)



I have a feeling this won't be the last time all 4 kids are in this thing!





Every new car needs to be fully inspected-



But seriously, who needs awesome electric trucks when you have a dishwasher to play with?!?!

Clark had to get a Christmas picture with Grandpa since he won't see him over the Holidays. We'll all miss you!!!

Miles turned 6

On the 24th of November our Nephew Miles turned 6. It really seems like he was born yesterday and I can't believe how fast time has flown by. He's already so big, going to kindergarden and being a great big brother (and big cousin!) Here are some 6 year pictures I took of him- We love you big boy!

And of course Clark had to get in on the action. I know you're loving my kitchen "studio" hahaha.