Smith Family: February 2009

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

My Better Half

OK, I know this is a little late for Valentines, but I've been thinking a lot lately about my hubby, and how he balances me out in so many ways.

I tend to flop from one extreme to the other in life, but I married someone whose consistency keeps me level headed -- when I'm overly hyped-up about something, he brings me back to reality, when I'm overly bummed out, he pulls me back on my feet. I've never met someone who is so even-keeled and hardworking...do I really deserve him? Me-- who has never held a "real-world" job for more than 6 months, whose big accomplishments are simple things like cleaning out the fridge or getting the kids to piano lessons on time... yet he always claims that he is the lucky one.

Anyways, I just wanted to express my gratitude to him and say how proud I am to be Mrs. Chris Smith, undeserving as I am.

I love you, hon.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Ladies Night Out!

I love our ward, it really is like a big family, without the sibling rivalry.

I got an email last week inviting all the women for a "ladies night out", so Friday night found me kid-free, in a theater full of sisters laughing our heads off at the movie "New in Town". Coincidentally, it happens to be about a girl (Renee Zellwiger) who moves to Minnesota. Many of us had originated from other places so we could relate to the culture shock she went through, and we all left with a hankerin' for tapioca and scrappin'.

After the movie, we popped in to a Mexican restaurant -- which is a rare find this far north. There must have been about 25 of us -- that poor chef! It was no surprise that they got our bills wrong and charged me for someone else's guacamole... I can't imagine trying to keep all that straight!

Some of the women were from the other ward (they had split right before we moved here) so I met a few new faces. One of them spilled the beans that it was her birthday, so the waiters brought out the sombrero and fried ice cream... I was debating whether or not to admit it was my birthday too...that ice cream did look good! Alas, being full to the brim, I chose to keep quiet and avoid the sombrero. Ladies night out was enough celebration for me!

Thanks to my friend Crystal, I had the above photos to post (my camera is still missing). You can't really see me in the dinner one since I was toward the back, but in the movie theater photo, I am the fifth one down in the front row (white coat).

Thursday, February 5, 2009

It's My Potty and I'll Cry if I Want to...

What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Me? I would probably go to the store and slap down a dollar...maybe two, if I really had the hankerin'. Anything more effort than that... I'll just take the ice cream sandwich please.

Now that we've got that straight, let's get on with business.

Potty training.

Yes, I know, this is way overdue... but she is my last, and I guess something in me hasn't been quite ready for her to be a "big girl" just yet.

Or maybe I'm just lazy...

I ran out of diapers on Wednesday, and wasn't in the mood to traipse across town to Sam's Club, hauling away another two-ton box of diapers (everywhere else is just too expensive for my penny pinching fingers)... so we are done.

Well... trying, at least...

Ella: "It doesn't work, mom."

Me: "It will-- just stay on the potty a little longer, sweetie."

We will get there.

I need to go shopping for more potty treats...and hopefully overcome the temptation to buy more diapers at Sam's.

Maybe a Klondike Bar would be good right about now.

The Mind of a Child...

When Solei was a toddler, she found some bark that was lying at the base of a tree and said in disgust, “Ooooooh! Tree poo-poo!”

When the girls were little, we were taking a walk with the dog who was bombarding Sierra with her friendly but slobbery kisses. Frustrated, our sweet little Sierra yelled out “NO KINA, I'M NOT YOUR ICE CREAM CONE!”

Telling Ella how to crawl, Caden explained “But I’m four, so I crawl standing up.”

I was sitting with Caden one day and I told him that the couch used to be a cow (it is leather), and I said (half jokingly) “did you know that cows turn into couches?” To which he replied, “No they don’t, they turn into pies!”

Watching the Tabernacle choir sing during conference, Solei (who was 8 yrs old at the time) said that they should sing “Do as I’m Doing” (with all the motions, I’m sure).

We put in an underground fence for the dog and Caden (age 5) saw us burying the wire. We then put up little white flags to mark where it was. A few days later he went outside and turned on the hose. When I saw him, I asked him to turn off the water. He looked at me questioningly and asked, “Until when? Until the fence grows?” He thought it needed watering!

Taron (2) looked at the varicose veins on grandmas legs and said, “owy... lightning!”

When Caden was 5, he would ask if he could go play with his friend in the morning, and I would sometimes reply, "No, it's too early". Well one day he finally asked me "can we not play on 'too early's? Can we play on 'one early'?"

Sierra told me one night that when she was little, she used to think the word “couch” came from the word “cow”, and that our couch had a cow inside (partially true since it is leather). She would try to sit down carefully so it would not run away. She thought the wood parts inside were it’s bones and the black pegs on the bottom were the feet.

Sometimes Taron (age 2) would find dog poop and say “Eew! Dog poop!” and then proceed to stomp on it as if it were a bug.

Caden (age 5) and I were talking about the sounds letters make and he asked if I knew what the sleepy letter was. I replied that I didn’t and he said, “It’s the Z... when you go to sleep then the Z’s come out of your head. And there’s a big round white thing too but it’s invisible. Maybe he had been reading too many comic books...

Sierra (age 8) made a Halloween card for her friend and wrote ENSTINE (meaning Einstein) on it, I thought it was an odd thing to put on a Halloween card so I asked if she knew who Einstein was and she said "Isn't he the guy who made Frankenstein?"

Caden (age 5) asked if it was a ghost who said the sacrament prayer because he couldn’t see anyone at the podium but he could hear the voice.

When Taron was 2 he would always respond to an “I love you” with “Much”.

Taron (3) woke up one morning, started to play and when I asked him if he wanted a pancake, he said, “Oh yeah, I was supposed to be hungry!”

Dad was singing “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam” and Taron said “Jesus likes sunbeans, they’re delicious!”

I was teaching Taron (5) how to read, and came upon the word "loose". I told him, "the two O's say "oo" and the E is silent. Slowly and deliberately, he sounded it out........"Loooosssilent".

Caden had been learning to tell time in school and was asking me about the big hand vs. the little hand on the clock. Apparently Taron was listening somewhat because he held up his right hand and asked "is this the big hand?"

Ella (4) came up to me with some of my reading glasses and said "Mom, when I put glasses on, I still don't know how to read!"

At a restaurant, Ella was impatiently waiting for her food and, looking for the waitress, she asked "when is the human coming back?"

One morning I said, "Ella, come look! There's a wild turkey in the backyard!"
Ella (excitedly): "Can we kill it?!?"
What kind of daughter am I raising???

Ella mistook another guy for Chris and was about to follow him to his car, but soon realized her mistake and said, "I was about to follow the 'not dad'".

Smith Family