The Clontstress Has Spoken

Olivia's bow

2010-09-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

Me: Hey Caro, what is this flower thing in your backpack?
Caro: It's Olivia's bow for you to fix....I told her you could sew.
Me: Great, let me get right on that!
I just crack up thinking about how the conversation must have gone because Caroline is so matter of fact about it all.
She didn't come home and and say, Hey Mom, could you fix this for my friend? It's just...oh yeah, I told my new friend I met last week that my mom could fix her broken bow. What is Olivia's mom thinking right now? Olivia, where is your bow? Caroline took it home with her for her mommy to fix. Won't her mommy be impressed when she sees I've repaired it with FabriTac? Hope she's not a perfectionist!

Update: This is what Olivia's mom had to say... (By the way, I don't even know Olivia or her mom, but Grammy knows Olivia's mom because she is a principal at another school!)
Olivia is such a little turkey! I asked her where her bow was and she said that her friend was taking it to her mom to fix it. I told her that I could fix it but she said that Caroline's Mom had the available tools to fix it and we didn't. I laughed and said you don't trust me, and she said that Caroline's Mom had it under control! Too funny!!

Cutest Kindergartener Ever!

2010-08-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

There were no tears this morning by anyone! Caroline was so excited, I did great and so did Daddy.

Lucky girl gets to have her Grammy working at her school. It makes me feel a lot better too!

I packed so much for lunch because she seems to eat all day at home. She didn't eat half of it!

Seriously, have you ever seen a cuter kindergartener?!

A dentist visit for two

2009-09-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

I was so nervous about taking both of the girls to the dentist by myself. Jeff ended up having the day off and was able to come with us. We had such a good time and the girls were so amazing! Caroline has grown up so much since last year at her last appointment. She let the hygienist clean her teeth and they were even able to get a few x-rays on her! Lilly required a little more ploys and tactics, typical 2 year-old that she is! You gotta love the pediatric dentist office though...so kid-friendly. The girls seemed to actually enjoy themselves while we were there and somehow each got to pick out two prizes each. Afterwards, we headed to Chick Fil A for the promised reward for being good at the dentist. I think they scored big on this one!

Caroline's Questionnaire

2009-09-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

For pre-school, Caroline had to fill in the blanks on this questionnaire. She surprised me on many of the answers! My thoughts and sometimes verbal responses are in parentheses.

My name is...Caroline

I am..4...years old (we're off to a good start)

My favorite color is... purple (really, it's not pink?)

My favorite TV show is...Spongebob (great, this makes me look like a fantastic parent!)

My favorite movie is... Grinch (Grinch?! Like, how often do we watch Grinch...are you sure
there's not something else?)...um, ok, Ice Age (that's better!)

My favorite thing to do with my mom is...go to the mall (but I may not take you there ever again
if you acted the way you did today when we went there!)

My favorite thing to do with my dad is... go out to eat (and it's a good thing because he takes you out to eat every time he has yall by himself!)

My favorite food is...beans (just beans? are you for real?)... on a tortilla (oh, ok!)

I like to play with...baby dolls, dress up, swingset

When I grow up...I want to be a momma (this one I knew, that's what she answers anytime we ask her what she wants to do when she grows up, so sweet!)

Kids say the funniest things #1

2009-08-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

I wish I had been writing down every funny thing that my girls have ever said. Then I could just sit down, read what I wrote and get a good laugh every now and then. Some of the most recent ones that I can remember off the top of my head are....

Lilly, who is now 27 months old, today says "Momma, say B"
I didn't know if I understood her correctly so I said, "say B?"
Lilly: "say B momma"
Me: "B"
Lilly: "good job momma!"
Me: "well, thanks baby"

Caroline was playing with a toy, now I can't even remember which one when I said,
"Be careful with that, it might break"
Caroline: "why, is it from China?"
Me: "uh, yeah, probably!"

Texas Bluebonnets

2009-04-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

I love the Texas bluebonnets! It's a challenge and adventure every year to find a good place that's safe to park, has a good background and is covered with bluebonnets. This year, a new customer introduced me to my new favorite bluebonnet place! Thanks so much Jennifer! The girls were minimally cooperative in my aspirations for a sister picture. Oh sure, they got all excited about dressing up and going outside to the park. But when it came down to standing still in the same place and smiling at me, that's where the enthusiasm faded. But after all that, I'm happy with the results and thrilled about the newfound bluebonnet location!

Lilly Monkey is 20 months old!

2009-02-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

Every morning, Caroline and Lilly have a bowl of dry cereal (yum, health food!) sitting in their chairs that Grammy made them and watch some PBS shows...usually Elmo & Curious George. Lilly was agreeable enough to let daddy practice using our umbrella flash while she ate her cereal. I love the look on her face and her monkey pajamas that uncle Daniel got her for Christmas.

Lilly is holding one of her two "mamies" while in her TV chair.

She loves her babies and usually has to have at least one out every day. She carries them around, sleeps with them, pushes them in the stroller or shopping cart and feeds them their bottles.

She's blowing her kazoo at Caroline's family birthday party in Oklahoma, a couple of days after Christmas.

Lilly is a very happy girl! She can just wander around and babble and sing to herself for a long time, playing with whatever she can find. She is growing up so fast already. She has an opinion on what shoes she wants to wear. She still doesn't have a very varied or healthy diet. She refuses most vegetables and meat. She does like fruit, but other than that, she'd prefer to have crackers, cookies, marshmallows and her beloved milk! She asks for gum all the time, since Caroline is allowed to chew it. I've given it to her a few times and she swallows it every time, so we're stopping that for a while! Lilly is a sweet girl and has a very easy-going personality (most of the time!) Of course when she doesn't get her way or has an altercation with her big sister, she has a crazy-loud shrill scream that has earned her the nickname "Old Yeller" by her loving Boom-paw! I love the way Lilly snuggles up to me when I hold her. She wraps her arm behind my neck and plays with my hair and it's so sweet! We can't get enough of this girl...we just hope she doesn't grow up too soon!

Happy New Year 2009!

2009-01-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty relaxing and low-key New Year's Eve this year.
We went over to Jason and Audra's house, played Wii and just let the kids play and have fun!

Enjoying the beaters after mama made dips to take over to the party!

Jacob and Caroline boxing on the Wii. Jacob knocked her out! He's very competitive!

Caroline loved the sparklers...she had never done them before! Both the girls stayed up past midnight, that's a first!

Christmas in Oklahoma

2008-12-29T21:42:00.000-08:00

Jeff and Caroline blow out the candles on their Dora birthday cake. Caroline is 4 and Jeff will be 34 in January!

It snowed for like 10 minutes, so the girls had to get all bundled up and go outside to play in the snow!

The kids were getting a little restless in waiting for presents opening time, so we had a little production of the Christmas story. I was the narrator (Luke 2), Zach, the only boy, was Joseph, Caroline was Mary, riding on the donkey, Kallie (hey, she chose it!) and Bennette was the beautiful angel. Lilly was supposed to be a shepherd so she crawled along the floor behind the donkey!

Homa Grammy making Christmas cookies with the girls.

Lilly thinks she's getting the hang of opening presents now, we've been doing it for three days straight!

Caroline is so excited about everything she opens!

Bennette and Caroline playing with their new Princess Barbie dolls. Bennette got Ariel and Caroline got Jasmine. They're running around (hehe!) and singing "Under the Sea!"

19 Months old tomorrow

2008-12-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

My little Lilly. I can't believe she's so big now. I was holding her last night, telling her how little she used to be (8 lb 9 oz, haha!) And now, at her 18 month old appointment, she was 32 inches tall and 25 pounds & 3 ounces! I really love, love, love her at this age. She's such entertainment...always learning something new and doing something funny. She likes to color with crayons, markers, pens, anything. Her babies probably her favorite though. She holds them, loves on them, gives them bottles and pacifiers and covers them with blankets. She has two blankets of her own that she calls "mamie". I think she's copying her sister who has a lambie! She loves to play outside and requests to swing almost every day. It's not uncommon to see her wear several different pairs of shoes in one day. She especially likes sneaking into Caroline's closet to get out some of her princess shoes to clip-clop around in. Food... she's not a big fan of anything healthy I'm making or trying to get her to eat. But she's never seen a cookie or cracker she didn't like. Cheese and watermelon are probably her most favorite foods though if given a choice. This girl talks all the time, although you may not know it if she doesn't know you very well. She can be very serious and clingy to momma if there's strangers around. Here's a list of all her words (the ones I can remember!)...bath, walk, shoes, sock, poo-poo, please, thank you, cereal, yummy, bowl, shooey, no, mine, see, Chloe (for both of our dogs), milk, cookie, cracker, teeth, eyes, why (this is my favorite because I don't think she should know what it means yet but she always uses it in the right context!), yeah, yah!, baby, mommy, daddy, Elmo, bubbles, hi, nose, toe, hold me, uh-oh, whoah, sorry, & ball

Christmas Jammies

2008-12-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted the girls to have matching jammies for Christmas. I say always...it's only their 2nd Christmas together! They indulged me by trying them on and even smiling for a picture by the fireplace!

Family Christmas Picture

2008-12-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

Caroline posing in Santa's chair at Cook Children's, where I work. We thought that would be a good indoors place to get a family picture to use for Christmas cards. The family picture is always an adventure because, for the third year in a row, we've taken the picture ourselves! We try to get the girls to smile at the camera with no person behind it to get their attention. Then, you never really know if you got a good shot until you get home and upload the pictures!

Sweet Lilly is hard to get to sit or even stand still for a picture, much less smile. She's a pretty independent little thing. I love this picture because you can see the reflection of her and the whole atrium of the hospital (which looks like a castle) in the shiny ball next to her on the tree.

Outdoors, the girls ran wild while we sat and waited to try to get a picture. With the slow shutter speed, Caroline appears translucent and has no legs!

Lilly in November

2008-11-30T15:01:00.000-08:00

Bless her heart, fell right asleep during dinner.

She can look so serious a lot of times, very hard to get to smile for a picture. But she always wants to see the picture after it's taken..."see, see" she yells!

I love it when she will actually smile for a picture!

Daddy took them to the park on a day I was working to try to get some good pictures.

Caroline in November

2008-11-29T15:07:00.000-08:00

Caroline is a real poser now. She loves to be in pictures. She's always cocking her head to the side or trying to lean in with someone else to look sweet.

Not sure what this is, she said it was her doggy face. I don't know!

She's almost easy now to get to take a picture, just now as Lilly is moving into that hard age!

Sporting her new domino necklace..."it's a nomino" she told everyone who commented on it.

September 2nd, first day of Wee School

2008-09-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

Caroline has her new lunchbox all ready for the first day of Wee School. Going to new preschool with all new teachers and friends, she was a little apprehensive this morning. "I don't want to go to school!" That's not a good thing to hear on the first day!

Lilly is contributing to the morning chaos by repeatedly taking off one shoe! But those dimples and curls are too cute!

Raggedy Ann was a gift from Homa Grammy who came to visit this weekend with Papa. Caroline had to take her in the car with her on the way to school.

Outrigger Island, VBS 08

2008-08-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

Caroline had a great time in VBS this year. She is really growing up. Her class rotated to different sessions like Missions and Recreation. She loves the music and we still play the CD in the car ALL the time! Lilly had fun too, getting to do her own crafts and ride in the Bye Bye Buggy everyday! I was the nurse-ographer again this year. I took care of all the bumps and scrapes, headaches and rashes! And when I wasn't busy doing that, I got to take lots of pictures!

August 2008

2008-08-19T10:07:00.000-07:00

Family movie night with popcorn. You can see Lilly sharing her popcorn with Cooper!

Daddy and his girls, playing crazy on the bed!

Rainy Day in August

2008-08-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a rainy week in August in Texas. I got the girls all dressed up in their rain boots to enjoy the coolness of the wet patio!

Caroline & Mr. David

2008-05-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

This week we lost someone very special to our family, Caroline's Sunday School teacher, Mr. David. She loved that Mr. David so much! Caroline can be very hard for some people to win over due to her initial shyness. But Mr. David (and Mrs. Kim too!) greeted her at the door every Sunday morning, so excited to see her at church. They just loved on all those kids in her class as they taught them about Jesus every week. And for that, no one could help but love him back!

These pictures were taken on Halloween 2007 at Birchman's Trunk R Treat. I love these pictures (I've blogged them before) because it's the only time Caroline smiled the whole night! She was a little bit overwhelmed with all of the costumes and people and wouldn’t even talk to anyone. Until she saw Mr. David. When she saw him and he squatted down to talk to her, she had the biggest grin on her face!

The other night when I was uploading these pictures to print, Caroline saw them and very matter-of-factly said, “That’s Mr. David…he’s not coming to our class anymore. He went to Heaven to be with Jesus.” And very sympathetically I said, “Oh, I know honey. Does that make you sad?” And very bluntly she replied, “No.” A little surprised, I thought, “how weird that she’s not sad.” Then, the more I thought about it, in her 3 year old faith, she must be happy for him that he gets to go to Heaven and be with Jesus! And that’s not a sad thing at all! So then I said, “I guess Mommy is just sad that she will miss him so much, will you miss him?” Caroline, slowly pondering and nodding her head: “Yeah"

A Dancing Cowgirl Butterfly Luau Princess

2008-03-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

Caro loves to dress up. It was bedtime tonight and she headed into her room and put together this ensemble herself from her dress up box! All pink...princess crown, butterfly wings, Hawaiian lei, cowgirl boots, purse and swirl around skirt. I said, "you can't wear your crown and boots to bed" and she said "no, I need to be pretty, princesses are pretty!" Oh and the purse. It's something that drives me crazy but I laugh almost every time she does it. She packs one or more (tonight it was two) of her zillion purses full of stuff...plastic food, lipgloss, all her jewelry, bouncy balls, slinkies and whatever else she can fit in there. Then she brings it to me to zip it closed because it's so full she can't zip it herself! Maybe she's a packrat like me. Or she just knows, you never know when you might need something!

Dedicating Lilly Grace

2008-03-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

We had a baby dedication service at church yesterday morning. The Pastor and his wife presented us with a baby Bible, a certificate of dedication with the meaning of her name and a letter to be given to Lilly when she accepts Christ as her personal Saviour. He then prayed for all of the babies that we would be able to raise them in a godly home and that they would come to know the Lord at a young age. Grammy and Papa and Grammy and Boompaw and Great Memaw were all able to attend this special ceremony. Lilly did very well and so did Caroline who had never been in big church before! I was so happy that Lilly was able to wear a beautiful smocked dress and bonnet given to her by a friend of mine.

February 2008

2008-03-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

So, I don't keep up with blogging as well as I should! I'm just realizing that I blogged nothing of Christmas or Caroline's birthday either - maybe someday! I even have a whole wall of scrapbook supplies (in the nursery no doubt) that I managed to make 5 scrabook pages out of last year - pitiful! I get so busy doing so many things, that I don't even take pictures of everyday things. Taking pictures is such an event for Jeff and I most times now that we miss all the little things of Mondays and Tuesdays and nothing days!

Lilly is almost 10 months old. She can pull up to stand and is crawling all over the place. I left the room tonight for about 90 seconds and came back in and she had a ball of Playdough in her hand and was smacking her lips. Big sister had evidently left it on the floor of the living room when she came to chase me down!

Caroline is 3 1/4! Just look at that grin - she's always up to something. She's loving "school" and manages to stay out of trouble most of the time there! She loves to entertain her baby sister but loves to pick on her as well.

Lilly is so cuddly and squishy. I love holding that naked baby! She is eating table food now and lots of it. Sometimes she even eats more than Caroline at a meal and that is so funny to watch! Mommy's little piggy!

Caroline has been to about 5 birthday parties so far this year. It seems there is one every weekend. She is all dressed up to go to Cate's princess party in this picture. She is loving her dress up princess box she got from Grammy and Boompaw for her birthday!

I Love My Lilly!

2007-11-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

Trunk - R - Treat

2007-11-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Our church had Trunk -R- Treat for Halloween night. Both the girls were ladybugs - so cute!
Caroline was a little overwhelmed by all the people and some scary costumes.

Grammy and her ladybugs

Caro had about 5 suckers over the course of the day!

Her Sunday school teacher was the first and only to get a big smile the whole night!

Lilly slept the whole time

Halloween Cookies

2007-11-01T08:43:00.001-07:00

Caroline loves to help make cookies. What a mess we made! We still have some of the sprkinkles on our kitchen floor I think! And she put all the little pumpkin decorations on one cookie! She shared her cookies with Daddy. Lilly was hoping to get some but "she no have teeth" as her sister told her!

October 14, 2007

2007-10-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

We went to the Botanical Gardens to find some good spots for a bridal photo shoot that afternoon. I love this picture of me and Lilly! It's my favorite! We cleverly used Photoshop to get rid of a man in the background. Can't even tell can you?! It's so hard to get Caroline to smile for the camera anymore!

The Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

The playgroup went to the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound last Friday. Really, it's just a big photo-opp so the mom's can get some pictures of their kids with lots of pumpkins! Aunt Shannon and cousin Hunter took the hour long road trip with us. Lilly was fussy on the way up there and Hunter was fussy on the way back. It was so crowded when we got there and a bit hard to get good pictures but I think Caroline had a good time with the bounce house slide and her friend Sydney. Caroline got to do the hayride with Mommy and share a snow cone before we left. Sydney's mommy took her and Caroline on a long wagon ride around the pumpkin patch.

A Halloween Shirt from Other Grammy

2007-10-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

Caroline has two Grammys. A Grammy (in Texas) and another Grammy (in Oklahoma). And today, Oklahoma Grammy sent Halloween outfits for both of the girls. Caroline was so excited when she saw the package as I took it out of the mailbox. I said "Oh, Grammy sent you something" and she said "Ohhhh, yeah! Other grammy! I wanna go see her at her house!" And I knew she meant to go see Oklahoma Grammy! Caroline wanted to put on the bright orange shirt immediately even though she had on pink striped pants. And she even put the shirt on by herself without any help at all! It actually kind of matched the rest of the ensemble though since she had on her purple sparkle glasses and her pink sparkle flip flops. The shirt from Grammy has lots of pink and purple glitter on it! That girl is so hard to get to smile for the camera anymore. She's sick of it, I guess since I've constantly got the camera in my hands trying to get her to pose. Usually, if anything, she gives me that fake cheesy grin. Finally, I had to bribe her with the swing. I said I'd swing her if she'd give one last big smile and show me her shirt so I could send the picture to Grammy. She agreed. It was nice and pleasant outside this afternoon, in the 70s, which is a welcome change, letting us know that fall is on the way.

The Benbrook Heritage Festival

2007-10-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 6, 2007
Grammy and I took Caroline & Lilly to the Benbrook Heritage Festival at Dutch Branch Park. They had longhorns, a buffalo and horses, bounce houses (which she would not get in because they were wet), lots of food stands and other vendors. Caroline played some of the little games to win candy and a kazoo and some glow in the dark bracelets. They had facepainting at the booth for Westpark Elementary (Grammy's school) and I thought it would be fun for her to get that done. But she wanted me to go first. So, in the end, I went home with a ladybug on my cheek and she went home with nothing! She was a little bit too shy to let a stranger paint on her face! Caro looked so cute in her pink "cow boots". I love them! After dark we watched the fireworks. We were so close to them that we could feel the cardboard pieces falling and hitting us before they hit the ground - a little scary! And to top it off Blake and Shannon bought some kettle corn so Caroline got to eat some of that while she watched the fireworks.

I have a new nephew!

2007-10-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

His name is Hunter Allen and he is sooo cute. He was a bit fussy when we tried to have another photo session yesterday but we managed to get a few cute pics. And look at my sister - she is an amazing mom. I knew she would be but it's really neat just to see it happen - my little sister is a mother. And I think her boy is going to fit in nicely with the other two cutest grandkids ever! He's brought a lot of blue into our very pink lives! I like to brag that I got to be in the room when little Hunter entered this world. I think it's just because I'm a photographer but that's ok. I got to take the first pictures of this little guy and that's pretty special! My little Buckaroo he is.

The Clonts Family

2007-10-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

We're just a simple family of 4. Wow! Four, already! A mom, a dad and two adorable little girls. We don't have a family photo of all four of us because we never seem to find the time or take the time to get one done. We take lots of pictures though. We're amateur professional photographers - Jeff and I. It's fun, finding something that you love doing together - a hobby that both of us love. We didn't find this out until about 5 years into our now 7 1/2 year marriage! So, we have Caroline (she calls herself Caro) who is almost three and Lillian (we call her Lilly) who is 4 months old. Caroline is a fireball. In every way. She has this red hair that popped up out of nowhere. I mean, if we go to Walmart, I'm asked by no less than 4 old people where she gets her red hair. They look at me with my dark brown hair and can't figure it out. We can't either. We both have some aunts and cousins and other relatives with red or reddish hair but not our parents or even grandparents. Anyway, her personality is just as fiery as her hair. It's got to be HER way all the time. She is very particular about things. And she is so hilarious now that she is talking in complete, long sentences. Everything she says ends in "ok?". "You don't have to tell me no. I'm Caro. I'm a big girl, ok?" But with her passionate personality comes a very loving side that is so sweet. She absolutely loves her little sister and tends to her like a little momma. I love to see her hold Lilly's hand in the backseat of the car. She just reaches her hand into Lilly's carseat and holds her hand, no matter what she's doing otherwise - looking out the window, drinking her water, whining about not getting her way, whatever! And then there's sweet little Lilly. What did we ever do without her?! She has got to be the best baby, EVER! I'm not just saying that. Lots of people have told me that she really is the best baby. She's so laid back and agreeable with anything (except being held by Boompaw - sorry Boompaw!) She self-entertains and does not require much extra special attention. She has really fit nicely into the family since someone else already demands all of the attention! Now, if I could be guaranteed to have another baby as good as Lilly, I'd have another, and maybe another! But since there are no guarantees in life, maybe I should just stop while I'm ahead. I forgot to tell you about my sweetie husband, Jeff. He was made perfectly just for me. His nickname is Clonts which makes me the Clontstress. And the nickname just kind of stuck. Jeff is my handy around the house, computer-smart, always patient with me, optimistic, laid back schnookums! Not much to say about me...I'm a mommy and that about covers my days. I work part-time as a pediatric nurse which allows me to be almost a full-time mommy! And if I ever have time, I like photography, scrapbooking and napping! That about covers the high points of our family. There you have it, the Clontstress has spoken!