There was this Red Supra that sped by... it only had 3 hubcaps. And the hood was burnt a little. The windows were down, but it was a lady with gray hair.
There was this denim shirt that went by. It was stretched to the maximum on the shoulders, and wrinkled where it was tucked in, one time long ago. It was some guy at the gas station.
I heard some cowboy boots and turned to look. Worn black snakeskin... massive feet. Somebody else.
A flash of silver hair, the crunch of an apple. The smell of computers. Somebody else.
And every time my heart skips a beat and I think- you! But it's somebody else.
And I guess you aren't coming back. Heaven must be pretty good.

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My dad died 7 years ago today. He was 6'3 and 280 on a light day. He had curly black and silver hair, and dark brown eyes, and a very tickly mustache. He was a giant of a man, literally and figuratively. He was no saint, in fact, he was a rascal. I wish you all could have met him.

I gotta tell you... if I were voting, my Blake Lewis would be in real trouble after that utopian anthem. If that sentence makes no sense to you, just skip right on over it.

Yesterday Toby drank Brynn's reflux medicine. I called Poison Control. While I was on the phone, he was climbing the baby gate and hitting himself in the head with the swing and eating choking hazards. But it all turned out all right.

So today I am going to Walmart with all these mini-Clarks and getting a prescription. If I don't come back, at least I died happy.

If you know Daniel Mathews, you should check this out... maybe he needs prayer.

Daniel's myspace

You know, I'm a reasonable person. And I can run on 2 or 3 hours sleep for a couple days... but the crash is coming. I had a pretty minor crash last night. Just tired. And frustrated. So my mom came this morning for 2 hours, and I slept. And then Toby took a nap, and I slept. And then Toby woke up and screamed for CPS and I slept. Well, really he would just give a big shout-out " Yo mom! I'm awake now!" "Yo mom! Come get me or somebody's getting FIRED!" "Yo CPS! I got a wet diaper and a sleeping mom!" and so on. And then he would sing for a while, and talk to himself, and then start threatening lawsuits. All said and done, I got 3 or 4 hours last night and the same today. So I'm feeling a little better.
And then, when I got up, my American Idol tape was magically on the porch! Good times.

Tonight I might go on a date by myself. Maybe to the Marriot and catch some zzzzzs. Or Target. (minus the zs)

Sheesh, what a morning. This may be the latest non-crisis blog I've ever done.
Just general mayhem and such... and a little plastic Ipod from McDonalds that plays a 10 second song. Over and over and over and... you get the point. And then I was writing a blog and the power went out. So I took a nap.

They found a new planet, did you see that? They think it may be able to support human life. Maybe Al Gore will go. But Rush says if it has oil, the libs won't go... Rush is the best. He really is.
Current conditions: a plate full of PBJs and some CocaCola for me and water for the gents. Good times.

Marnin, marnin.

More later. I'm cleaning up the house like a headless housekeeper chicken.

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Read Richy's Blog today. It's really beautiful.

okay, really. more later.

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LATER
Well... I wouldn't normally be so industrious when good mommies should be napping. But Richy's grandmother was coming to visit and it was her first time to see the house. And if it wasn't clean, Richy would beat me. Well. Actually he would probably just take off his headphones and sigh a little. But, man. You don't want that to happen.

So it was relatively clean, and viking grannys viking mama met Brynn, and was charmed by Toby and R2 and so forth.
Now Toby is sleeping and Brynn is fighting sleep and R2 and I are hanging out by the oven waiting for the corndogs to finish.

Ok, the corndogs are done. So that's all you get. Read the comments for an awesome sentence by anonymous.

This is real time, folks.... when the camera shakes, it's because Richy was laughing so hard.


an epic battle for control of the brownie batter...


Yesterday was Brynn's first trip to church. It was pretty funny trying to balance Toby, who is scared of the nursery, and Brynn. What a good problem. And then the church picnic... check the outfit-

In case anybody was offended by the hand sanitizer or the no holding policy, let me 'splain. (Splaining takes too long, let me sum up), she's not even as big as a newborn yet. One little germ could put her back in the hospital. So there you go.

Anyhoo, fun was had by all. Also this weekend we went to the park, which is where the ice cream video is from. (some kind of grammatical wierdness there..) I'll probably post some pix from that on my picture blog later. L8r.

*yawn*
Marnin. I remember when Toby was this age. All I blogged about was how tired I was.
I'm too tired to blog about that. Brynn was up pretty constantly last night. Everytime I would wake up and feed her and change her and swaddle her and refeed her and swaddle her and flip her on her tummy, her back, her side... the Man of God was sleeping peacefully.
When I told him how tired I was today, he said "Me, too."






Poor Richy.





Anyway. Toby is asleep and so this is my golden opportunity to catch a few winks. Peace to the peeps.
Oh, and I know what Rob and Steph are having... bet you wish you did!

I haven't mentioned the whole VTech thing... it's so awful and sad... why are we (well, I) drawn to things like this? You know? Like wanting to read the updates and see the craziness of the guy... something in human nature, I guess. But not a good thing. I have opinions, of course. But they just don't really matter.
I was blown away by Pastor Mike saying something one time, like we don't have to form an opinion on everything. We can actually just say we have no opinion. Amazing. Seems like everything I hear I form some kind of opinion about. But he's right. And it's a waste of emotional energy to go around forming opinions on tons of things I have no control or even effect over.

That being said, I still do have opinions all the time about pop culture. And my opinions are right.

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In other news, nothing. Well. Dishes and diapers and baths and falling down the stairs and laughing and crying and peanut butter and kisses. Good stuff. Lord, I'm tired!

Oh my wow. I am soooo tired.
Yesterday Brynn had a doctor's appointment at 10:15. So normally, I would leave mi casa at 10 and be there a couple minutes early. Those days are a thing of the past.
Wake up B, feed B. Clean up spitup. Feed B again. Breakfast for small people... skimpy breakfast. Scrub small people. Fight Toby out of his pjs, into his jeans. Fight Toby into his shirt. Put his shoes on 3,429 times. Check R2 out, pretty good but switch shoes as they are on "alternative" feet. Put Toby's shoes on. Wrestle twin stroller from the pantry (I know, it's that MOG), into the back of the van. Develop multiple bruises and muscle strain. Clean up spitup. Put Toby's shoes on. Scrub Toby. Fight Toby into his carseat. Buckle a chuckling R2 in. Collect Brynn, in carseat, apnea monitor, diaper bag, and purse. Deliver to van. Collect goods thrown from van into yard. Give back to Toby. Sit in drivers seat, remember everything forgotten. Take pink blanket from Toby, put back on Brynn and go back in the house. Collect insurance card, cell phone, and more masculine blanket. Back to van.

Make it to the doctor's appointment only 15 minutes late, arrange people in twin stroller. During appointment, bribe Toby with bank cards (for chewing and drum playing), his bottle (not interesting) and a book.

It makes me tired just writing it. But it was a good appointment, everything looks fine. She gained 8 ounces.

Naptime, folks. Maybe.

**WARNING: IDOL SPOILERS IN COMMENTS!**

He wanted to make sure everyone saw this, from his blog.

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Wow. I've been waiting for a huge breath of inspiration to say this, but I'll just go for it now!

THANK YOU!

That is, to everyone who's always helped us Clarks out during these difficult, yet wonderful 3 years since the twins. There has been so much consistant support... in the food department, gifts, hugs and lots of love. WOW! I feel like I, personally, have been under such a cloud of survival mode, that I've not done a great job at making my graditude known.... BUT KNOW.. it has been impacting. When you go though such severe tramua, it's easy to feel isolated and alone... 'cause everyone else looks fairly happy, and considers spilling coffee... tramua... BUT I know we have felt a blanket of love from our MCF family, relatives, and all of our friends in the USA and abroad! THANK YOU... and THANK YOU JESUS FOR ALLOWING US TO BE A PART OF SUCH A WONDERFUL FAMILY IN CHRIST! THANK YOU GOD FOR MY WONDERFUL CHILDREN YOU HAVE ALLOWED ME TO ENJOY FOR A TIME IN THIS LIFE! They have made it all worth the trial!

THANK YOU

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In other news, Brynn has a doctors appointment today to check her weight. It will be my first time to take all 3 kids out by myself. I haven't figured out how I'm going to do it yet... maybe the twin stroller??? Update later.