'Nastics

When Carly concluded her episode of care for her physical therapy with Cook Children's, her AWESOME therapist suggested that we enroll Carly in a gymnastics class. She said that it would not only provide good, therapeutic physical activity, but it would also give her the chance to be around other children, watch them in gymnastics and then try to imitate them. She was right. And, as a bonus, Carly LOVES it!

Each class starts with trampoline time. When we first started back in September, Carly wasn't jumping - she wasn't even thinking about jumping. Now she tries so hard and is so very, very close. I imagine that it will probably happen in the next month or two.

Her friend Laine is a great example to Carly.

This girl can JUMP!...and seat-drop, and doggie jump and jump tuck...

Carly especially loves to show off her skills to Coach Nicole.

BTW- Coach Nicole needs a medal. This girl is beyond patient and so, so, so, so good with kids.

The second station is circle time. There is always a new song with instructions and also a cool prop.
Carly's attention at this station has increased tenfold since we first started.

Then there is the rope over the foam pit. Carly used to not be scared of it. Coach Nicole and I would hold on to her and swing her out over the foam pit. Her muscle tone comes in to play on this one. Currently, she can't hold herself on the rope very well. A few weeks ago, she was holding on really well on her own, so Coach Nicole sent her flying over the foam pit. You should have seen the look of terror on her face! She immediately let go and started freaking out.

Since then, I can barely get her to even touch the rope. When it comes time for her turn, she shakes her head and her little hands and says "no, no, no, no. done, done, done, done." I am not sure how to make her overcome this fear.

Laine, on the other hand, LOVES to soar over the foam pit. She just won't let go and drop in to it yet. It is so funny to watch her because when she swings out, she looks at every one of the moms to make sure we are all watching her. Then, on her third swing, we all shout at her to drop and she just grabs the rope tighter and smiles. Little stinker!

The final station is floor exercises. This station requires the most amount of work from the mommies. Here she learns the basics - out, together, out, together...

forward rolls - which she is amazing at- ...

"cartwheels"...

Bear crawls - another exercise that I have seen great improvement in over the last few months -...

The bars. Carly is not a fan. She let go once and fell on her head. Ever since then she hasn't liked them much, but she will occasionally just hang on them or TRY to flip.

And there are several other floor exercises, too. They change them up each week.

And here is Carly with a few of her gymnastics friends - E and Laine (I can use Laine's name because her mom blogs about her).

We love us some 'nastics!

Park Date

Also over the holiday break, Carly and I met up with our sweet friends K,K & their mom...K at the park.

I have decided that (unless thier mom blog sand uses thier names) I am going to refer to all of our kid friends by thier first initital. You know, for a little bit of privacy on this crazy thing we call the world wide web.

Carly loves playing wth the K twins. They live just a few streets away and are just a few months younger than she is. It is so fun to watch her get excited about playing with her friends! Especialy since she used to not like anybody except me and Freddy.

You know me - I had to take this opportunity to snap a few pics of my cutie and her cutie friends!

Suckers!

We love playing with the K twins!

Here's hoping that I can choose Carly's friends for the rest of her life based on how much I like their parents!!!!

January To-Do's

Looking back at my December To-Do's...

I tried the (skinny) Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks. It wasn't for me.

I did clean up my ipod (thanks, Charlie, for the help) and I organized my photos, but not my digital picture frame...yet.

This month's to-do's:

1. Cook a butternut squash recipe

2. Re-purpose the sugar mold I bought in Canton SEVEN years ago!

3. Re-decorate the wall/table in the entry way

4. Make a new wreath for the front door.

What are you doing this month?

The zoo is closed

Also while I was on my two-week break from work...We made plans with Rachel, Morgan and Jonah to meet up for an afternoon at the zoo. Did you know that the zoo closes at 4:00 p.m. on week days during the winter? Neither did we until about 2:30 when we were already on our way there.

So we opted for Trinity Park in Fort Worth instead. We could all rode the mini train together and then the kids played on the playground. It was a beautiful day and made for a great visit with friends.



Best Friends and their babies.





Jonah did so good on his first train ride!





We stuck the dads together. They looked kinda funny.





The Conoly's




Jonah took Carly for a ride in his truck



We had some spills...

And some near-spills...

But we all had a good time and I even managed to get a few cute pics.

After playing at the park, we headed to Pappasito's for dinner.

Jonah put the chip basket on his head.

Not to be shown up, Carly put a crayon on her head. Ha!

Side note:

After you become a mom you resign to the fact that your clothes will forever be covered in...stuff.

You never really know what all it is, do you? 

When we were leaving the restaurant, Carly grabbed Jonah's hand and they walked through the restaurant and parking lot like this . Doesn't it just melt your little heart?

And since I couldn't get Blogger to move this picture, please enjoy this picture of Jonah as a parting gift.

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas day at Freddy's parent's house.

Carly didn't get any presents.

Ha! Yeah, right. She made out like a bandit AGAIN. Third time in less than 24 hours.

Nana made Carly an adorable Mickey Mouse blanket (and also a matching pillow and a matching mini blanket for her baby doll). That blanket is her new favorite. She has to have it every night when she goes to sleep. It's a super-thick fleece blanket, so I don't know what she is going to do in a few months when the Texas summer heat hits!

Christmas with the Clark men ALWAYS includes new tools.

And this Christmas I got a special Christmas surprise.

We bought bedroom furniture for Carly's big girl room from one of Fred and Lynn's neighbors.

It was raw furniture and they painted ALL OF IT as a surprise to me. I was grateful because I wasn't sure when Freddy and I would ever get to it.

The best feature of this furniture? The under-bed storage. It is perfect for creating extra space in her small room. Now to paint the walls in her bedroom...

Carly loved all of her Christmas gifts. She was eager to get in there and test them all out.
She had quite the set up, didn't she?

Christmas is also Papa's birthday.

So after we all fill up on a super delicious Christmas Day lunch, we also get birthday cake!

This Christmas was another special one for the Clarks.

We are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who make every day of the year so special for us.

Christmas Morning

We spent Christmas morning with our Family of 3.

Santa came. Oh, boy did Santa come. Carly made out like a bandit and, as I mentioned before, she was really in to the opening of the presents this year.

I am not the best blogger, but I think that I do an adequate job of chronicling our little life. What I am horrible at is remembering to bust out the camcorder. But we didn't forget this Christmas morning!

Carly's big gift this year was her Leap Pad. It's a learning tablet for kids.

Leap Frog makes it and I LOVE Leap Frog products.

She doesn't quite understand the device, but she enjoys playing with it.

She has, however, already managed to change her username from "Carly" to "yig".

Freddy's big Gift was a very cool looking golf bag with all of the things he wanted a golf bag to have - lots of compartments, a "kickstand" as I call it and a unique color that will make his bag easily-recognizable. I did good.

Carly and I had to show off our 2011 Christmas pajamas, of course!

I had my traditional cup of coffee in my Santa coffee mug and we were off to Nana and Papa's house!

I am so blessed to have a sweet family to share my holidays with. I would tell you that I don't need another Christmas present as long as I live as long as I have my sweet family, but I won't. Because my husband would take me up on that offer.

Merry Christmas morning from the Clarks!