a post before the new year

before 2009 passed us by i wanted to assure all of our blog readers, if there still are any, that we are still around and there is a wonderful explanation for the LONG silence in this online chronicle of our life.

first here are some glimpses into the past month or so...

a field trip to the pumpkin patch with wilhelm's school.

On our way to Baltimore for Thanksgiving we stopped in Pittsburgh, PA, and visited with our friend Shannon, a loyal blog reader, & enjoyed a downtown Spanish eatery.Thanksgiving dressing making in Baltimore with gran po. Wilhelm is getting the hang of it already.Having so much fun on the way there we stopped in Pittsburgh again on the way back and had the famous Primanti Bros. sandwich with Shannon, along with some quality, family pool time at our hotel.

Christmas Eve was incredibly exciting for Mr. Wilhelm Clarke. Since we are still hanging out in my parent's guest room we celebrated Christmas night at there house and instead of cookies left Santa bon bons (my mom was sick prior to Christmas so there was no time to bake fresh cookies, sorry Santa!).
Christmas morning was amazing this year. Santa brought Wilhelm a LARGE cardboard rocket that he can decorate himself and a remote control car. It was so joyful to see his excitement this holiday season. The only downfall, the masses of gifts that i now have to figure out something to do with!Our Christmas morning picture at Daddy Will and Gran's added another face this year, Ava Belle. And as usual this is the best snap shot we could capture with the cousins.

And lastly the explanation for the MAJOR break in blog post. Looking above you can guess, hopefully, what the news is (Alan typically doesn't lay hands on my stomach in pictures), we are expecting eargle #2. as i write today i'm about 4 1/2 months along, expecting an end of May delivery. the first few weeks/months were quite rough this time around with LOTS of sickness and i didn't feel like doing much of anything, except for what i had to do. the blog got a backseat to everything, but now we are in the upswing of the pregnancy and starting a new year so i'm re-energized. in the next few weeks there is a 3rd birthday, a trip to chicago, and of course finding out the gender of baby #2 on 01.07.10. Look forward to sharing with you our happenings. Before I loose the opportunity I had to post this. By far this is one of my favorite pics of 2009. Pictured is Nick the Gnome, the youngest son of our friends Joe & Jen in Chicago, on Halloween (no they don't regularly dress him like a garden decoration). He was woken from a nap to show off his costume and his mom snapped this beauty of a pic for everyones enjoyment. Thanks for the laugh Jen!

Here's wishing you and yours a bright 2010!