The Clark Family Fun

I love consignment stores! I always find real treasures! Like brand new Hanna Anderson long sleeve shirt for Eli for $2.99 or a lovely princess dress for our baby girl 1st B day photo shot for $3.99. Love it! Love it! And the best of all is that I always get a million kisses from Eli for his new clothes! There is nothing better than a thankful child!

The best of Sofia! Check out the expression on her face when she saw Eli's little airplane taking off! Love it! It's a beaver in case you wonder!?!

OK. You get to see the Olympics since they are happening almost in your backyard. We picked Saturday after the opening ceremony. It was cold, windy and rainy day. We took a sky train from Surrey to downtown Vancouver and walked up to the waterfront to see the torch. It was fun. We had a lunch there and drove home.It was too cold. No lines at the border! The Czechs got one gold and two bronze medals so far. The speed skater Sablikova got gold! She is from our little town!!! and she is a tiny little thing! Compare to the Dutch "monsters"

Spring is here! Tulips are coming out. Crocuses and trees are blooming! And the calender says it's Febuary! We have spent lots of time outside biking, walking, gardening, and playing on playgrounds. Check out my wesite at the end of this week at www.lilianabeautycare.com We surely have put lots of time into it. Sofia is turning one on Saturday! She is not walking yet she is just "knee walking". So precious!

We made our annual trip to Vancouver last week and it was a lot of fun! Eli was absolutely excited about the number of pillows in a hotel room and yes - the elevator! I love shopping and dining in Portland! we took the kids twice to a restaurant. THE HIGGINS in downtown was great, maybe a little too fancy for our kids (candles, white tableclothes and everyone in suits and ties) Eli wasn't quite seccessful with his request of a burger but we still had fun. The other night we tried Peruvian restaurant Andina. It was dynamic, live and the food was absolutely delicious! Sofia sat for over two hours in a high chair chewing on a lamb bone and blueberries while her parents and her brother indulged in variaty of tapas and great lamb. We finished with a lime cheese cake and ginger ice cream. Apart from fine dining we walked, shopped, visited a museum, played on a playgroung and lost few pounds in a gym.So much fun!

We have had pretty sweet week with lots of cooking and baking. My friend Nicole and I threw a baby shower for our pastor's wife. She is having a girl and she likes elephants. So we made elephant cookies, elephant cards, elephant this and elephant that. Elephants everywhere. The party turned out good. I have never seen so much pink in my life. It truly was nice to get home and see my "blue" boys and "yellow" girl.;-) Apart from elephant activities I have been experiencing with Julia Child's recipes and found out that I used about 3 lbs of butter and a quart of cream this week! Check out the layer of butter Elijas put on his tiny piece of bread by himself. Our little Sofia is so charming! We still cannot tell the color of her eyes. They almost look greenish to me. What do you think?

So how are we doing here in Lynden? The new year started with some pretty warm and rainy weather. 50 degrees is more like spring than winter. We have been able to walk quite often with the kids. Tim even pulled out a grill last weekend for some "pink" burgers (that's the way I like them) but Eli insisted on "blue" ones since he is a boy. "Pink is for girls" he said. Sofia is growing fast. She started stacking toys, puting things in and out, on and off and she has six beautiful teeth. She bites apples now. Her favourite word is "dada" of course. She sure is a daddy's girl. Elijas is a charming little man. He sure has a lot of things to say and most of them are pretty funny. Mostly he just repeats what he hears from us with a really serious look like: "Don't you think is too cold here!?" etc. I hope everybody is doing just fine.

I cannot believe 2010 is here! We have been truly blessed in 2009. I would like to praise and thank the Lord for what He has done! Tim and I spent the New Year's Eve at home with the kids playing games and reading books - namely Peter Rabbit all over again and again;-)New Year's Day was relaxing as well with more of Peter Rabbit. It was raining all day long.I have some New Year's resolutions though. Share Jesus and learn how to de-bone a duck. Don't laugh. Love you all. Happy New Year!

I had to put some more Christmas pics on. Enjoy! We have been having wonderful weather here in Pacific Northwest. Bright blue sky, 40 degrees and sunny. We went for nice walks with the kids. The second posted pic is from a coastal trail in Fairhaven, Bellingham. Can you see the mountains in back? So beautiful!

We had a beautiful, peaceful and relaxing Christmas Day! Just us, the kids and an 18lbs turkey. Eli enjoyed all his gifts and Sofia had a blast chewing on all the ribbons, paper and toys (only Eli's, of course). We praise and thank the Lord for our beautiful children! We love them dearly. I found an interesting recipe for a turkey in an old book I bought in a library (50 cents - I couldn't leave it there). We stuffed the bird with a mixture of apples, walnuts, eggs, sourdough bread, milk and herbs and wrapped the turkey in bacon. It was good! Very juicy! Mashed potatos, gravy, green salad, green beans and blue corn bread and butter, butter and more butter. Check out the pics.

Tim turned 29! We had a plan to go for a brunch with the kids but he had to work on Saturday. Bummer! Eli and I made this delicious flourless chocolate cake! One lbs of chocolate, 10 eggs and 2 sticks of butter. What can go wrong?!? It was good. Julia Child would approve!

Our church put up a little Christmas program this year. Eli and his friends Zach, Owen, Tyson sang in a choir. Eli had to learn two songs. We had been listening and practicing every day for few weeks before the show (execpt for two weeks when we lost the CD - it was under the passanger seat in the car- accident?). It was fun. The program turned out great. They were so cute and so hilarious. Notice expecially Tyson standing on Eli's left side. He didn' say (forget about singing) a single word during either rehearsals and show. He didn't even ring his bell. I guess his brother Zach (the loudest one) sang for him. Check it out.

How is everybody doing? We are so excited about this blog! I hope you are too! Life is good. We have been enjoying little bit of snow here in Lynden. Elijas is excited about Christmas. Everywhere we go Eli gets a candy cane. He is thrilled about that and wonders why is everybody giving him " a choking hazard" ( a name we use for candy)?!? Sofia is beautiful and steals everybody's heart. We love them both dearly. Merry Christmas everybody! Enjoy Jesus!