Early Christmas.....

Christmas has come a little early for Brooke. She wanted a little dog. ( I guess because 2 big dogs, 2 horses, 1 donkey, 1 snake and 3 goats were not enough to take care of..) But the crazier part was we agreed with her. So we now are the proud owners of a Boston Terrier named Willie. He is awsome and what do you know, Brooke can get up early now for school, get homework done faster and even want to go to bed on time( willie sleeps with her).

Pajaro Dunes

A couple of weeks ago we rented a beach house and stayed at Pajaro Dunes. It was a great time with my parents. I love the ocean. It was so relaxing and the beach makes for unlimited hours of entertainment for the kids. It was a perfect weekend and I am hoping to get back there soon.

Homework

Homework....

After the kids are home from school for a little while we sit down to do homework. It always seems to be one of our more chaotic times of the day. Today as I was working with Brooke, Malcolm and Hayden were suppose to be quietly doing their work. Well... didn't exactly work out that way. I think we went downhill from here. Good thing they have a until Friday to complete it.

Mya's First Day of Preschool

I forgot to take the normal first day of school pictures of Brooke going into 5th grade, Malcolm into 2nd grade and Hayden in Kindergarten. Yes, I blew it!!! So to try and redeem myself yesterday I took the camera AND remembered to use it as Mya started preschool. I was not prepared to see her cute little face say to me, "Bye, have a good day mom!" So choking back tears I said the same back to her and quickly got into my car and cried myself all the way to work. I can't believe how fast they seem to be growing up!!!

Hayden's First "Real" Trailride....

I can't believe that I somehow let the whole month of August get away from me....Oh, yes I can. I bought a horse trailer a couple weeks ago with a friend of mine and it has been super fun!! So this last weekend I took Hayden out on her first official trail ride. We went to this great spot in Penryn, where the trails are easily marked and its only about 1 1/2 hour ride. She did awsome!! She loaded her pony up in the trailer, and helped me get his saddle on and even had a lemonade and fruit snacks packed in her saddle bag. (You can't go on a ride without a some snacks) It was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to taking a ride around Folsom Lake this weekend!!

The Never Ending Animals........

Malcolm with his cornsnake

Hayden found a frog, which she decided needed a Barbie pool



Mya, not wanting to be left out found a "rollie pollie"

So after 16 days camping, I have spent the last 3 days trying to unpack and clean. It is going to take me a couple more days before its done, but the trip was well worth the work. Soon, I will post some of my favorite pictures from the trip. I couldn't resist posting these tonight. This afternoon as I am trying to continue to get my chores done my house is strangely quiet. Since that is almost never a good sign I decided to see where everyone was. What I found made me crack up, because truly here at the Claders the amount of animals that one can find is endless!!!

Hanging out with my parents

Bedtime & Summer

During the school year the kids couldn't wait for Friday nights. They loved to grab all the blankets and make beds on the floor together. Sleeping together, on the floor, in the same room is their favorite thing to do. So.... ever since school ended its like Friday night every night!!!

Last Day of School

A family day around the house

We decided to spend Memorial Day at home getting a few things done. Oh, and when I say we, I really mean Drew. He did all the hard "manual" labor, as for me, I just had fun keeping the kids busy and taking pictures. We had a great day doing a little bit of everything!!

State Scientist Day

Today I went on a field trip with Brooke's 4th grade class to the State Capitol for the State Scientist Fair. It was a lot of fun. The kids got to do a lot of hands on experiments and a lot of waiting in lines!! There were hundreds of people and many different schools. So at first when I got my list of only 3 kids to watch I thought, this will be easy, well I was glad to only have 3 to track in the crowds.

Way to Go Brooke!!

Brooke has worked really hard this year in school and she was super proud to come home with an A on her last math chapter test!! We are both looking forward to summer!

Indiana Jones

Malcolm has been saving money from working around the house and doing "extra" chores on the weekend.... and tonight he finally had enough money to buy the Indiana Jones Whip. He was so excited! I loved the big smile on his face. He has been wearing that vest and hat for weeks now and asks that we call him "Indiana" So far, Mya is the only one who does :) Although the whip has only been in our house a couple of hours, I have to ask mysef, "Why do I buy another toy that makes noise!"

A Great Cla-Vin Snow Day!

Recipe for FUN....
1.Combine 2 families(Claders and Vincents) and 7 kids.... Well 9 if you add Drew and Jerrett
2.Take one beautiful Saturday and mix in the kids.
3. Add some sunshine and 8 feet of snow-white snow.
4. Marinate in 1-part sledding and 1-part snowball fights.
5. Then sun-bake until cheeks are rosy red.
6. Enjoy with cookies and fruit snacks.

Drew And Jerrett preparing toboggan run.

Our two hot snow bunnies catching some air on the sled ramp.



















BV and Hayden testing their wings!!
























2 little dudes mid-air.
P.S. Landing not so graceful








Another great air!!

Big kids havin' fun

Some little Hollywood chick showed up too.























BFFs chillin NBD .. so OMG don't be a H8R
BTW OMG = oh my GOSH!

Action Shots.......................

Going Home now.... L8R!!!

Ken and Drew trying to dig our truck out

Mya having a great time in the snow

The Clader, Overby and Anderson Kids

Better Late Than Never.....
So, I am a little behind in keeping up with the postings. But here we start again in Feburary, we just had our annual Clader gathering last weekend up in Soda Springs. There were 8 adults and 11 kids, and a snowstorm that dumped 3 feet of snow. I think the pictures tell it all! I will post some more later.