The Smith's Holiday Tradition...or Curse?

(Christmas 2005)

.

.

Every year, someone in our family manages to wind up in the hospital during the holiday season... Last year, it was Chris with his ankle surgery, the year before it was Ella with respiratory issues, 2005 was when Ella was born premature... Anyways, you get the idea, it's been going on for probably ten years now...

This year we have been doing pretty good (other than me going to the doctor for what I thought was pink eye). We were even trying to figure out ways to use up our health reserve account before the end of the year.

Well, Christmas day the kids were out playing in the snow with the sleds that Santa had brought, and things were going well... until Sierra shuffled in, saying that Solei had broken her arm while snowboarding down the street. After seeing her crooked arm, Chris ran her to the ER and they spent most of the night there with Solei knocked out while the doctors put her bones back together. She came home pretty groggy and uncomfortable, poor girl. So much for the after-school snowboarding lessons she signed up for...

Anyways... Christmas in the hospital -- it's becoming our biggest family tradition.

Party Pooped!

What a few weeks it has been, busy busy busy...

I forgot to mention last week that we went to a little Christmas dessert party across the street, our neighbors wanted to get some of the newer families together to meet each other, although we outnumbered them all by far...

I know I mentioned before that I had been doing a lot of baking, so I decided to share with our new friends and neighbors. I found some nice glass dishes for a dollar and dressed them up with fudge, banana bread, candy cane sugar cookies and lemon snowballs. It took me most of the week getting them all made and passed out but I enjoyed meeting new neighbors and sharing with friends. The kids weren't too happy that I was giving so much away, but they got their fair share of treats too.

Ella had her birthday on Tuesday, she is thoroughly 3 now. We didn't plan anything fancy, just your run-of-the-mill birthday party. With all the baking I've been doing lately, I took the easy route and bought a bundt cake from Sams. While I was gone shopping, Sierra took charge of wrapping presents and decorating, which she did perfectly I must say. Poor Ella though... she really wanted to open her presents that morning, but Mom was mean and made her wait for Dad to come home.

That night, Chris informed me that we were going to dinner at the Jones the next day, which was news to me... so I called and asked what to bring, hoping it would be something I could throw together last minute -- drinks and ambrosia, easy enough. Brother Jones is famous in these parts for his ribs and he gave us a bottle of his secret recipe dry rub to take home. The Okere's and the Carrillos were both there too, so we had plenty of kids to entertain themselves. It was a fun night; the kids didn't want to leave the party even though Santa was coming...

Sooo.... On to the big day... Christmas... we heard the kids wake up at 7:00, but Santa has a rule that they can't come out till 8:00. Their stockings are hung in their rooms so they can look through them while they are waiting (can I just say; that is one of the best ideas we've had... I really enjoy the extra few minutes of sleep!). The girls sleep upstairs but the boys are down, which was a little different for us in coordinating the big "ready, set, go!" Well, the floodgates broke on "go" and everyone found their piles immediately... except for Ella, who kept wandering around and "wow"ing everyone elses stuff. She eventually realized that there was a pile for her too. I must have been good also because there were even a few things for me! Santa was sneaky! After we cleaned out from under all the rubble, we all settled into the laziness of the day... I took some last-minute cookies to the nieghbors, dad took a much-needed nap, the girls made gingerbread houses and then the kids headed out to play in the snow...

You would think we were all partied out by then, but no, we had to host one of our own...the day after Christmas we had the Faerbers and Carillos over for a game night, I think we ended up with about 22 people because some of the kids invited their friends too. Chris turned on the tunes and everyone was dancing around (Linda teaches dance classes, she is really good). I just opted to take the photos and avoid making a fool out of myself... Eventually we settled on a few games; Apples to Apples and Hearts were the main picks. I figured it was a good trial run for us, since we are hosting the youth New Years party at our house too.

Saturday, the Hammari's invited us to go sledding at a little park up the street. The hill wasn't very big, but it was enough to have fun. I even got out my snowboard and took a few runs down the "chute" -- hardly worth the effort to buckle in each time, but it felt good to have a board back on my feet. Sierra even tried it a few times and she was doing pretty well. We need to get on some real slopes one of these days... Ella got a new Christmas dress, Santa found it on clearance at Sam's for $7! Santa loves a good deal...

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

It's been another snow filled week... perfect weather for skiing, but we have too much work to do before Christmas comes. It's sheer torture, I tell ya.

One thing about Duluth I find interesting; the roads are actually easier to drive on after it snows because the snow fills in all the potholes! Of course, I am half joking, but only half...

Solei finished her science project this week; she planted some seeds and talked to them to see if that would help them grow... So all these little dirt cups have been invading my kitchen counter the last few weeks -- not the most appetizing sight, but it's for a good cause... Grow flowers, grow! Take no heed that it is below zero outside, it is springtime in the kitchen...

A few days ago Sierra and I accomplished a secret Christmas delivery, I can't say much more than that because then it wouldn't be a secret now, would it? :) We had fun together, trying to be sneaky and make our getaway in knee-deep snow, hoping we wouldn't get caught. We were regular criminals!! :)

I think we have about 2 feet of snow now, more in some parts. I had to scrape it off the trampoline because it was drooping something fierce, I thought the springs might snap. The snow even comes up to our front window...

I took the kids outside with our tube sleds and pulled them around, Kina even helped. It took her a while to catch on, but she gave us a few good pulls down the hill (It was new snow and not slippery enough to slide unaided).

We then ventured through knee deep snow over to the pond. To my amazement it was not frozen over yet, just slushy... Now, how is that possible when the temperature has been below freezing for the past month??? I guess we won't be ice skating on that for a while. There are places to skate all over town though; at the school, at the park... hockey is the big sport here. Anyways, it was a fun little jaunt -- chilly, but fun. Thank goodness for hot chocolate.

A Clarification

OK, I guess I should clear something up, since we have had so many comments on it... Chris is just the secretary to the bishopric, not a counselor or anything... I guess he says he is not officially a member of the bishopric. I always thought secretaries were part of the presidencies so therefore he was part of the bishopric, but he says that's not the case... I don't know who is right, but either way, he still had to bring the quiche... :)

Baby, It's Cold Outside

SNOW!!!!!

I love snow. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure I won't be saying that in a few months, but right now, I am loving it. There's about a foot of the powdery stuff out there now and it's still falling. Chris got an early Christmas present on Friday when we heard there was a foot of snow on the way, and after a visitor drove into the ditch while backing out of our driveway...

.

Church was cancelled today because of the blizzard... I guess that's reasonable, considering that our stake includes the NORTH POLE!!! I'm not kidding, I thought they were joking when I heard that but everyone insists it is true... don't ask me how -- so I guess that means we get the REAL Santa at our ward party! :)

.

Speaking of ward parties, yesterday was ours. I was a bit skeptical about it being a breakfast party but it turned out to be a blast. Since I am in the primary, I was assigned to make 2 dozen cookies, and since Chris is in the bishopric, he was assigned 2 quiches... which makes for a busy morning in the kitchen! They had breakfast, cookie decorating, a sing-along, and of course, Santa...

We also brought our porcelain nativity set to display among the others there. Sandy Bacon (who happens to be my "cousin" through marriage --my aunt Pam is her aunt Pam -- imagine that -- she grew up visiting the same cousins as I did!) saw the nativity set, and she freaked out, apparently she has been looking for that exact set for 6 years and hasn't found it. I told her that Chris's mom is the one who makes them and she was in seventh heaven when I gave her the phone humber. It's funny how fate works. :)

,

Then last night was Greg Bacon's birthday so we went out with about 5 or 6 other couples to dinner and then to their house -- they have an amazing home, the walls look like they were sculpted out of stone, and it's one of those old, turn of the century homes with all the intriguing architectural nuances... I followed Sandy on the tour again even though I've been through it before.

When we were looking at houses, we didn't look at many really old houses like that, mostly because we didn't want to have to deal with repairs and problems with plumbing, etc.... but the jokes on us... I was taking a shower when suddenly the toilet started talking...bloop, blurp, blaburp...so I jumped out and woke Chris up... sure enough, all the toilets were backed up, and the floor drain in the mud room was seeping sewage...not good. So we called a plumber and $400 later we are good to go again.

.

It's still snowing... Chris is out "mowing" it.

,

Last weekend it came down pretty good, a good six inches or so. which really added to the Christmas spirit as we ventured forth on our first Christmas tree hunt. We discovered a forest up north where you pay $8 for each tree you cut, and they serve you free hot chocolate and cookies at the end. After marching through the woods a while, we found our tree... no angelic singing or sunbeams bursting down on it, but it wasn't completely Charlie Brownish either. After the kids all had a turn with the saw and the tree "timberrrrrred", Chris hauled all 15 feet of it back to the car and we stopped at the campfire for hot chocolate. Driving home with our radio full of Christmas songs and snow covering the lanes, I felt as if we were traveling through one of those "Ideals" magazines from my childhood days, a good old fashioned time.





So, another tradition has been added to our holiday repertoire; old fashioned tree hunting. Our fake tree is not abandoned though, it's upstairs for the kids to decorate as they may, but the real one is mine, all mine.....



Last Sunday night we went to the Faerbers for dinner, it was like Thanksgiving all over again... turkey, potatoes, stuffing... the whole works! We brought the rolls, ambrosia salad, and pies. Chris "volunteered" me into performing one of my spontaneous creations on the piano... I get so nervous improvising in front of people and even at home it sometimes takes me a minute to get lost in the song, to the point where it just seems to create itself. Brother Faerber is an amazing pianist though, he's got some fast fingers! Sister Faerber plays too, so between our two families, we could probably play some fantastic duets! :) I do love the piano.


Did I mention I love the snow too?



Speaking of the piano though, the kids started their first lessons here, their teacher is incredible! She was so sweet with Caden; I was a little worried about him and his "can't sit stilledness", but she was extremely patient... she didn't interrupt him when he wanted to bang on the drum a little longer (and louder) than he probably should have, or take extra time coloring in his "rainbow" (...it's a long story). He really had fun, which is a big deal because he absolutely did not want to take piano lessons the day before. I feel so blessed to have found her.


The kids had their school concert on Friday, I went to the 1:00 showing. The theme was "Seasons Greetings from around the world" -- how PC is that? They actually did do some traditional Christmas songs though, it was good.

Sierra is in the second row just right of center

Caden is in the front row on the right... next to the big head.

And, just for fun, here's a little bit of Solei's creative handiwork.... I suspect karma is paying me back for spray painting the landlord's dog green in my college days...

Please Pass the Potatoes

So another Thanksgiving has come and gone, there was a lot to be thankful for this year, as usual. We are grateful to all be together again, have a beautiful new home and new friends, to have the gospel in our lives, to have a husband and father who provides well and works hard, and last but not least --no trips to the hospital lately (knock on wood).

On the morning of Turkey Day, I made egg nog pancakes, which is becoming a tradition, and Chris met up with a bunch of men from church (and Sisiter Faerber -- You go girl!!!) and played football at the UMD stadium. Since then, I've heard many rave reviews about his football abilities, although his ankles have been paying for it the last two days now...

.

Our plans for dinner were to go to the Jones' house with some other families for a pot luck Thanksgiving, but the day before, Ella came down with a nasty cough... so... I called our friends to cancel, pulled our emergency Turkey out of the freezer, and made a last minute trip to the store. Much to my amazement, I actually pulled off a pretty impressive Thanksgiving all on my own. Everything was from scratch except the cranberry sauce (I like the canned stuff) and the Jell-O cheesecake that Solei had requested. I even made Chris's favorite - old fashioned banana cream pie -- you know, the kind you have to stir for an hour till it bubbles. With no double oven, I debated on how to cook the turkey, potato casserole, rolls and pies all at once, so I tried something new: the crock pot. With a handful of herbs and spices, some olive oil, and 8 hours of simmering, we had a juicy, tender turkey that was the most delicious I've ever made. I felt like a true woman! Of course, I did have some little helpers along the way; Sierra peeled the potatoes and Chris mashed them (great job too, they were perfect!), Solei helped with dishes and the two little ones stirred the ambrosia salad. It was a great joint effort.

The layout - nothing fancy, but it's all good

The turkey - nothing pretty, but very yummy!

We finally ate around 4:00 -- late for Thanksgiving, I know, but on such short notice, that's how it goes. After our bellies were full, we passed the Thanksgiving hot potato around the table, expressing what we were grateful for, until Chris mashed the potato (it wasn't very hot anymore) and declared the game over. All in all, it was a good family day.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. Monday night we had family night at the library again. I took Tuesday off as a "sick day" -- well, as much as a mom is allowed to at least -- skipped pilates, did minimal cleaning and served leftovers.

We started our Christmas shopping this weekend. It was a little depressing -- it being the day after Thanksgiving and Sam's Club was practically empty... same with the mall. Target was faring a little better, but not much. Kmart had about 3 cars in their parking lot. Sure, it was later in the day when we went, but in Payson I struggled to find a parking spot at Walmart anytime during the holidays... Maybe this is normal for Duluth, I don't know. There are less kids to shop for around here. I hope that is why, but I don't think so. On the positive side, maybe the poor economy will be a good thing, people can get back to the real spirit of Christmas, not all the commercialized hype. Personally I am tired of it all... I told Chris that I hate it when commercials say stuff like "you deserve a break", or "go ahead, you've earned it" -- they don't know me from Adam, how can they say I deserve something? It just annoys me, I guess.

Yesterday, Sister Faerber offered to take Sierra to go see the movie "Bolt"with Marissa. While she was gone, Chris and I organized the garage. We listed our crib, dresser, ping pong table and mattress on Craigs list for free and within a couple hours, they were all gone. Brother Scott came and took our washer and dryer -- they just adopted 8 kids all at once, so they are going to need them! We probably could have made some money if we had sold it all, but we were just glad to get rid of it at this point-- no basement to store it.

Our Budding Artist

Yesterday Ella walked up to Chris and said "Here, Daddy, I drew a picture of you." Chris looked at the paper in her hands and said "No... you couldn't have drawn that!" But Ella kept insisting that she had...

I vouched for her, saying, "She does draw pretty well; the first time she picked up a pencil she held it perfectly, like she had been drawing all her life."

Chris still didn't believe the picture had come from her (she is only two), Perhaps she had found one of Taron's drawings and was just claiming it as her own... so I told her to bring me the crayon she had used. Sure enough, it was green just like the drawing. We asked her to do another one, and it came out pretty similar to her original.

Here is a scan of the original...

Then today, she came up to me and said, "Mommy, I drew a picture of you." I looked at it and burst out laughing... I guess I have been a little stressed lately...

.

.

.

Back in Action

OK, I found my camera now, so to make up for that last blog, here we go:

Who says men can't multitask? I walk in the room and he's playing Hearts, Chess, and watching a basketball game all at the same time...

And don't you just love the way kids sleep?

And how they look when they've just woken up?

And how they wake you up early on Saturday morning by playing wally ball behind your bedroom?

Life As We Know It -- With No Camera

I skipped my blog last week, there just wasn't much exciting to write about. This week has been pretty much the same. Plus, I can't find my camera again, so there are no photos. I will try to make this as interesting as possible, but I can only do so much with what I've got.... :)

Solei has done a few fun activities with Young Women's lately; they went on a coast guard boat for the grand tour and Solei almost fell in Lake Superior while getting off the boat. Then last weekend they went to a concert at the DECC by the lake. One of the leaders is in the choir so she got a good deal on tickets.

We've had a bit of snow lately, one day I took Taron and Ella out when we had about an inch or so. It wasn't the kind of snow that was good for much, but we made the best snowballs we could and threw them up for Kina to catch. She was having a blast; her jaws would make this funny "CHOMP!", and then she would bark like crazy... I was laughing my head off. Oh, why did I have to be so camera-less?

Marissa Faerber spent the night with Sierra on Friday and I took the three girls to the Christmas parade downtown -- Marissa and I opted to watch from the car for the second half of the parade since her toes were going numb from the cold. The temperature was somewhere in the teens that night... I noticed the only dancers who were dressed in leotards were the flame twirlers... brr...

Solei spent that night at McKinnon's house (I thought her name was McKenna until I saw it on the ward list). Her family (the Jones) has season passes to Spirit Mountain and they snowboard also... maybe we will just have to buy season passes too... literally keeping up with the Joneses. :)
Chris and I have new callings at church; he is the Executive Secretary to the Bishopric and I am the Secretary for Primary. Focusing at our presidency meetings is a real challenge for me and my ADD brain...In situations like that I can usually get away with plastering on a smile and nodding once in a while and nobody can tell I am on some other planet...but now I have to take down minutes!!! I was trying extra hard this week, but I just can't seem to keep this dang brain in one place, it's like a naughty dog that runs away the second I relax my grip on the leash...

Last weekend we gave our first talks in our new ward, and Solei gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting. She spoke on paying tithing and told the story about Chris's parents having to choose between paying tithing or the house payment...they paid the tithing and his dad got a new job to pay the house payment... but isn't that always how it ends with those stories? She did a great job. :)

The kid's computer was dropped (nobody has 'fessed up yet), and now it doesn't work. It is a sad house full of children we have here... oh, the misery!!!

On Fridays I take the little ones to church for play day, they really enjoy that, and I enjoy visiting with the other moms. There are a lot of social things like that in this ward, probably ten different groups that meet (quilting, pilates, book club, etc...). I feel so blessed to be in a good ward here, we had a good ward in Iowa too.

We finally have found a piano teacher for the kids. She came highly recommended, very bright and cheery, knows her music, and only charges $10 per lesson. Plus, she is only about five blocks away... I am so excited!

Sierra has discovered that the wall behind our room makes a great wallyball wall...much to our chagrin at 7:00 on a Saturday morning...("urghhh, what's making that noise???")

We had parent teacher conferences last week... and that's all I prefer to say about that...

Well, better go, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and have a great week!

Come One, Come All, to the Smith Family Circus!

No, no trapeze artists here, but there are a few who know how to bounce off the walls pretty well...

Down by the nearest grocery store, I discovered a little library tucked behind the pizza parlor, so on Monday we spent family night picking out books and CD's. It's only open two days a week, but Monday just happens to be one of them, so it looks like this will become a tradition for us. Maybe next time we will incorporate the pizza parlor into our plans...

Tuesday was a hectic day, I went to pilates in the morning, registered and voted -- knowing my third party candidate didn't stand a chance against the big guys, but wanting to make my vote count anyways -- and then that night we had the missionaries over for dinner. If you ever need a good source of entertainment for your kids, I would highly recommend missionaries. Our kids were impressed with all their magic tricks and were as excited as a clan of monkeys greeting a banana salesman...

Ella still likes to play "Ally's house", so I snapped a photo for the memory box (Ally's house is the pantry). "Make believe" is her latest passion.

Non-imaginary friends are becoming less scarce around here, Sierra had a girl from church (Marissa) over to play on Wednesday and they went to see Madagascar 2 on Saturday. Pilates and playgroup at church have been a great opportunity for me to get to know some of the ladies, and we have had some good chats on the phone too. Around the neighborhood, I have become the official cookie delivery lady... it's just the best way to get to know everyone. Last night I took some cookies to a couple who have their own ministry in their home and we got into a very good discussion about religion and life. There was a good spirit about them and I'm sure we could learn a lot from each other. He is an ER physician and had some wonderful stories about prayer healing his patients, he was a remarkable man.

Why does fall always get me in the baking mood? Maybe it's the cold weather outside drawing me to the warmth of the oven, or the instinct to stock up on calories for hibernation... whatever it is, I have been making way too many treats lately. It's a good thing Sister Carillo is teaching us pilates...

Are they done yet, mom?

.

I love our ward here, people are very friendly and down-to-earth. I feel like the Lord wants us here so hopefully we can find lots of opportunities to serve and help others. It has been very humbling to visit with those who don't have some of the basic things that we normally take for granted -- I announced in Relief Society that I had a free washer and dryer and was surprised at how many people needed them. One of my new friends who is older than me has never had a dishwasher... I've realized that I really am so blessed -- more than I deserve.

The kids had their primary program in sacrament today... I was a little nervous for Taron...When he doesn't know a word, he often substitutes it with one he does know, which can lead to some amusing results. In their first rehearsal he was supposed to say "atonement", but it came out as "a toilet"... Fortunately, that got straightened out before the big day!

It has been great having Chris home at night again, the kids seem to get along better when he is around, and he makes life fun... I love that guy. :).