Halloween, The Move & Thanksgiving...

Wow! Andre had been a very busy 17 month old!

So much has happened since our last blog...here are the highlights...

You can't live in Canton, GA and not go to The Cagle's Dairy Farm Maize. Andre had a blast jumping on this enormous "haystack" with Mimi. He even wore his creamed-corn-colored sweatshirt to blend in with his surroundings.

Andre has takin' a likin' (what? we're in the country folks!) to driving anything with a steering wheel but he especially got a kick out of "driving" this tractor at the farm.

Yippee Yee Haw!

Back at the Ranch, Andre had to play it cool in front of Canaan. The last time he recklessly drove her Barbie Jeep around he got an ear full!

They even have their pink seatbelts on. Way to be safe kids!

Halloween this year was not near as fun as last year. First of all it was raining, second Canaan was out of town and third Andre was sick. But we had to wear the adorable Elmo costume at least once to get some pictures. Andre was not in the best of moods so we call this Not-Feeling-So-Good- Elmo. We only took him to one house this year (Nanny & Paw-Paw's) and as if the day couldn't get any worse-NO ONE WAS HOME! He quickly turned in to What-The-Heck?-Elmo. &%#$!

Daddy saved the day by staging Trick-or-Treat and giving Andre some beef jerky. Just kidding! THAT would definitely be a trick...its an organic fruit snack.

Seriously thats all we have of Halloween 2009. Shortly after this picture we all got sick. Yuck.

On a happier note-

We are all moved into our new house!! and Andre LOVES it! He especially likes the park just a short walk from our front door.

Here he is enjoying the beautiful fall weather and one of his all-time favorites: the swing!

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

We've moved on from dead leaves (aka "flowers") to sticks! Give this little boy two sticks and he goes crazy wacking everything in sight. Which reminds me to ask Santa for a drum set for Andre this year....

And yes he will even try to wack his mother. Here he is chasing me with a stick!

STOP IT ANDRE!!

He's lucky to have snuck in here before I could catch him and "teach" him that it is not ok to hit your mom. My ever-growing belly prevents me from getting in this tower. :)

He knows he got one on me.....this time...

The neighborhood tennis courts are pretty much in our backyard so Daddy is excited about giving Andre lessons. You can't be named Andre, live next to a tennis court and NOT know how to swing a racquet.

Although he needs one that is more his size....another request for Santa...

In other exciting news, Andre was invited to a reptile birthday party for his buddy Jacob. He actually touched a real live snake!

Mimi nervously "helped" him touch the instead of squueezing it to death.

He tried to act like he didn't know these women but yes they are related. Its Auntie Amy and Cha-Cha!

It was a fun party!

Thanksgiving was a lot more fun Halloween. Auntie Kami got him this cute and appropriate "Feed Me" shirt and thats what we did!
We ate lunch at Nanny & Paw Paw's (they were home this time) and dinner at Mimi's.

Andre was excited to not be seated at the kids table as Mimi offered to be his high chair. Next year Andre-next year!

And this is what happens when you eat the whole turkey! :) Actually this is one of the only pictures of my belly this pregnancy. I figured we better take at least one so little "Sprite" doesn't think she's adopted!

See you at Christmas!

our lives are changing.....

There is so much going on with The Crazy Clark Crew these days...the most exciting is that Andre will be a big brother to a little SISTER! Here are the kids posing for their first picture together..He's already teasing her about being able to see her ribs... ;)

The other exciting news is that The Clarks are moving to The White House! Well- not exactly-but we are thrilled to be moving to THIS white house the 1st of November. (we just pray our house sells quickly...)

Andre and baby "Sprite" will have a huge yard to play in with lots of trees and we'll be right across the street form the playground, pool and tennis courts. Yippee!

The downside to this move is that Andre and Canaan will have to see if their love can withstand a long-distance relationship. At first Canaan didn't even want to talk about it, "talk to the bubble Andre, 'cuz I don't wanna hear it!"

They finally talked it out at the swing. If there love was meant to be-it would last. Plus their parents will be friends forever...

and there will always be playdates!

Andre wanted to go back and give her this "flower" as a gesture of his commitment to Canaan but I told him it was just a dead leaf and maybe not a good move-symbolically speaking.

Side note- Andre is loving the fall and all of the leaves on the ground. He can't pass one without picking it up and smelling it. ;)

Semi-exciting news was that Andre visited Tanglewood Farms and got to see real live animals! He wasn't abig fan of the sheep though- and neither were we-sheep are gross, folks. Take it from us. They are NOT cute, or white or soft, and their eyes are milky and disgusting. Disappointing for sure.

Yeah- Andre was ready to walk after seeing the yucky sheep, "What else have you lied to me about MOM?"

In retrospect, we could have saved the $30 and let him walk around the pumpkins. That was his favorite thing to do...

But we convinced him to go back and see the baby goats. Here, Keenan is feeding the goats (which are pretty cute by the way).

Andre is just taking it all in...

And then they attacked! Just kidding. He actually got a kick out of the baby goats. They were more his size and not ugly like the sheep.

Andre had a pretty good time at Tanglewood Farms after all. This is when we realized that his apple cider might have had a little alcohol in it...just kidding this was mid-blink. ;)

This is Andre telling his mom and dad wants to be for Halloween...

Keenan was disappointed when we went to go "meet Elmo". Upon seeing him he said, "thats not a REAL Elmo". I'm not sure if he realizes that Elmo's are extinct...anyway...







Here's a little preview of Halloween 2009...

The End of Summer!

Summer has come and (almost) gone, so Andre reflects back on "the good 'ol days" which were actually last week...



Taking a morning walk with mommy is definitely Andre's favorite way to start the day. We pick flowers from neighbor's yards when they're not looking and smell them. sniff. sniff. ah.

Sometimes Andre's Mimi comes over with new books to read. This one was hilarious! Toes! Ha! I can't stand it! hahahaha!






What better way to spend the last days of summer than with Summer herself! Andre and his friend Summer sit on the sidewalk soaking up the sunshine and selling sea shells by the shore...








My hunka-burnin-love and my chunka-burnin-love! (I'll let you decide who is who.) Andre and daddy played in the fountain at the pool!










Andre realized after a few minutes that the cement was scraping his knees so he decided that 14 months old was a good time to start walking.



Thats right folks-Andre is walking!!






Here is the proof! These turtle pants are made for walking...and thats just what they'll do...)

Super exciting news this summer was the birth of Andre's newest friend Bryce Floyd! Here is daddy and "uncle" Wendell (he's really not his uncle) and daddy holding Bryce. He hasn't held many babies so this was kind of a big deal.

And speaking of births...did you catch Andre on the news for his birthday?! He signs "more" and we rewind it over and over and over...

So now that he's famous and walking Andre has a new attitude. Here he is on his "vroom vroom" with real engine sounds, putting out the vibe.


"Hellllloooooooo Ladies!"

So to keep him in check.....

We decided to have another baby. Move over Andre there's a new kid coming to town! (in March)

Here's our little peanut in this flattering shot of my uterus. (the only picture of me in this blog I just realized)

Now he/she is the size of a lime or lemon. So we've named him Sprite. :)

Tennessee Aquarium

We've had a lot to blog about lately-because this baby keeps us on the move! Last weekend we went to Chattanooga, TN to watch daddy do an olympic distance triathlon. (1 mile swim, 26 mile bike and 6.2 mile run)

We put out a blanket on a hill by the river (where he did the swim) to cheer him on. Andre was super excited and proud of his dad!







After we saw him come in from the swim, Andre was ready to move on to the next transition.

"Put me in the stroller mom! Let's go!"


Here is Keenan starting the run portion of the race. He did an awesome job (29th out of 117) and even qualified for age group Nationals next month! Plus he won "best looking" (actually that was a personal award I gave him)







While he ran, Andre and I decided to check out downtown Chattanooga. It was really nice-lots to do while waiting for dad to cross the finish. But-by that time Andre had been up since 4:30am and it was time to nap.

And it was good thing since he had no idea what we were doing next!!!





The Aquarium!!

Andre was so impressed with the "tssshh" (fish) on the walls at the entrance we considered not paying the $45 to actually go inside. Just kidding!








And there we were. Inside the Aquarium. Immediately Andre wanted nothing to do with us. He wanted to stand right against the glass talking to the "tsshh". He was in heaven!











Apparently there was much better angle in the crouched position. This is how he spent most of the time watching the fish. He even got upset when we moved him to the next tank! Trust us Andre, there's alot more fish in the sea!

We just hoped that he ralized these were real and he wasn't just looking at the coolest TV on the planet.








I'm not sure who was more excited about seeing actual sharks-Andre or Keenan. They both look pretty mesmerized here...



Here is actual footage of Andre taunting the shark before the...well...attack. The following picture is not for the faint of heart.







SHARK ATTACK!!!!!

(he never saw it coming)

haha! no really the NEXT picture is of the shark attack. Go ahead and start singing the Jaws theme to yourself......

dunna...dunna....dunnadunna...






Scary isn't it?

But my boys are brave and Andre is once again wanting to be put down.








He did let me hold him once to see the jellytshhh.

"I'm not sure that IS a tsshhh mom!"









The Clarkheads had a great trip to Chattanooga! We'll definitely be back!

"bye, bye tshhh!"

Fourth of July at the Lake!

When we first told Andre that we were going to go on a week vacation at a lake house with Mimi and all of our family without Daddy and without Canaan-this was his reaction...

"Are you crazy mom?!"

But soon he warmed up to the idea.

If there is one thing that Andre has learned about his Mimi it is that she loves water. Whether it was the beach, a lake, a river or a pool it didn't matter-she loved them all!

Andre must have got that gene from her!

Every morning Andre got up at 6:00 am and went out on the dock with his mommy and his Mimi. (everyone else in the house slept in)

Every afternoon Andre floated in the lake with his family. It took him a few minutes to enjoy himself once he got in because we had to pretty much drop him 3 feet down from the dock to get in the lake. That was a little traumatic.

One evening "uncle" Doug (Mimi's brother) let him drive his boat! He was a natural! Occasionally he wouldn't watch where he was going (just to show off) Full speed ahead!!

When Reese got there he tried to explain to her just how fast he drove the boat, but she gave him a blank stare.

"what don't you get about super fast lightning speed Reese?!"

girls.

With all the boating, floating and conversing, Andre really worked up an appetite. Luckily, snacks were just a mommy's reach away.

Here Andre is sporting his new sandals. (Thongs, if you will.)

sun + sugary snacks = sleep

No one seemed to mind that Andre had drifted off (figuritively speaking) Looks like they weren't far from a nap themselves...

Poor Andre napped through his buddy Jacob's amazing jump off of the dock-it was at least 15 or 50 feet!

Andre thinks Jacob is real cool and he hopes to be as brave as he is one day..

Here is Auntie Amy holding Reese. There was lots of baby holding going on at the lake that week!

So Daddy ended up coming to the lake after he and mom, Mimi and Paw-Paw ran the Peachtree Road Race. He tried to tell Daddy that someone was taking a picture but neither he or Uncle Bryant looked.

Reese was still staring at him...

geez Reese!

Group shot of Andre's family at the Lake House-from left to right:

Cha-Cha, Jacob, Ray-Ray, "Max", Auntie Amy, Mimi, "Mick", Uncle Bryant, Auntie Erin, Reese, Mommy, Daddy and Andre.

Great Memories.

Andre thanked his mommy for taking him to the Lake. He had so much fun!