The Huntsville Times - 6 November 2009

To start off, we've got some good news: we're expecting little Clark #5 in May of next year!  We're all excited.  The kids are all hoping for a little brother, so we'll see what happens.  I've heard several, "Are you crazy?" statements and seen a few questionable looks... "must be either Mormon or Catholic..."  To set the record straight, I'm Mormon.  And in several months there will be another little Mormon running around, terrorizing the world.  Dan has been so much fun, we just want him to have a little brother (or sister) that he'll hopefully treat with care.  Hopefully Dan hasn't learned much from Kate; who smothers him!  She pulls his cheeks, and doesn't realize that the reason he runs away is because he hates being smothered.  Though recently he's taken to fighting back.  He's learned that in some "games", the best defense is a good offense.  Back to the baby... We probably will not elect to find out the baby's gender prior to birth.  But who knows, we may cave in to the desire to take a peek!  So far, both Melissa and the baby appear to be healthy. 

Halloween was great.  No sick kiddos like last year!  At least not before the candy binge!  Melissa did a great job making the kids' costumes (as always).  Lilly was a '50s girl, dressed for a sock hop.  Morgan was a traditional Japanese princess in a kimono.  Kate was "Glinda", the good witch of the north (from the Wizard of Oz).  Dan was a monkey with a vest and fez-type hat (same costume as last year).  We went to a Halloween party at Church on Friday night.  It was a chili cook-off / Trunk-or-Treat party.  Melissa made that fabulous cheesy barley sausage soup instead of chili.  I ate about 27 bowls of it.  Really, it was more like 5, but if I had a bigger stomach, I'm sure I would have eaten more.  It's soo delicious.  I think we were introduced to it by Ben and Lesley, and it is definitely one of my favorites.  Well, Melissa won a prize for the soup.  No it wasn't a stupid certificate, she got a little decorative scarecrow.  And believe me, scare-crows are much better than stupid certificates.  Stupid certificates usually aren't worth the paper they're printed on.  Except if you're giving them to a kid.  Our kids love certiifcates.  I tell them all the time, if you behave yourself, you'll win the "daughter-of-the-week award".  Like most things, that practice will probably come back to bite me some day in a way I never could have imagined.

On Halloween, one of the local grocery stores advertised a "Monster Bash" Halloween party, with safe trick-or-treating.  Last year we walked areound the neighborhood, but many folks weren't home, and half-way through, Kate started whining about having to walk.  It was good that we had the wagon.  So we figured we'd opt for the close proximity trick-or-treating at the grocery store strip mall.  Upon arrival, there was ONE guy standing in front, dressed as Dracula, passing out three candies to each kid.  I'm positive that the other families that were arriving were thinking the same thing we were:  "This is the lamest excuse for a 'Monster Bash' we've ever been exposed to."  ONE guy.  Come on.  We could have saved our gas money and spent the time better.  Oh well, on the bright side, there was less candy for the kids to eat.

On Monday, the kids once again opted to trade-in their candy for a toy.  Melissa established that Halloween tradition a few years ago, and I love it.  A few days after Halloween, we offer to trade the kids a <$10 toy for all of their candy.  So we gave all the kids' candy to the local missionaries.  They can give it to little kids in the community... or just eat it and rot their own teeth and get fat.

We put out some fall flowers (mums) to add some color to our front planter.  Lilly and I enjoyed working together to plant them.  There's something fabulous about mulch and dirt and planting stuff.  It's just an awesome thing to do.  I recall bringing home a truck load of much and just standing by the truck to smell the mulch.  It just smells good.  I hit the jack-pot here.  Some time ago, I spotted a huge pile of mulch off the side of the road a ways.  After coveting it for some time, I decided to stop coveting it and just find out whether it was for the taking.  So I looked up property/plot maps and land-ownership records online, and called the owner (who lives in Michigan).  At first he thought I was asking if I coulod dump debris on his land, but then realized I was asking if I coul take the dumped mulch.  He said, "take it."  So I've been getting truck-beds full of it recently for use around the house & yard.

Dan celebrated his 2nd birthday and got some new boots from his 'kickin' aunts, Megan and Jojo.  Thanks girls!  He loves 'em!

The chickens a re doing well.  We're still getting 5-6 eggs a day.  The only problem is one of the Rhode Island Red hens is getting pecked.  She has a pretty bare back now as several other hens have begun pecking and eating her back feathers.  See the attached photo.  I think I'll make a set of "pants" for her (thanks for the idea Mom!)

Well that's it for now!
Josh & Co.