Here comes the SUN!

TWO WORDS PEOPLE....SUN and POOL. Need I say more? I think the pictures will do most of the talking but a three day getaway with friends to St. George was absolutely what the doctor ordered. If you really want to be jealous and get all the nitty gritty you can watch the slide show.

What's wrong here?

Apparently someone did not get the memo that it is now SPRING. As we speak it currently looks like this outside. (Yes, those are snowflakes on my grass on April 24th, 2008). Meanwhile I am inside packing this.
I'M SO DONE WITH THE COLD! Headed south to find some SUN. See ya soon!

Mommy Tag

Typically, what time do you wake up? 7:30am to my Hope alarm. I usually try to convince her to crawl in bed with me and watch cartoons until the rest of them wake up around 7:45.
On a good night, when are your kids in bed? 8:00-8:30pm. Although when Troy is out of town and I'm playing the single mom it's more like 7:30 pm.
How long have you been a mommy? Six years
How old were you when you became a mommy? 24
What is your favorite kids T.V. show/movie? Let's see. At the moment both of them like the cartoon WordWorld, Hallee loves Brady Bunch reruns, and both love the movie Enchanted and Elf (yes we are still watching a Christmas movie four months later).
What is your least favorite kids T.V. show? Reading Rainbow. Can't stand it but both Hope and Hallee still like to watch it.
What is your favorite chore? Um, I'm pretty sure favorite and chore do NOT belong in the same sentence together.
What is your favorite meal to cook? Spaghetti. It's quick and easy and NO one complains.
What is your kids favorite meal? Spaghetti or any type of pasta.
What is the meal you cook the most often? Boboli Navajo tacos
What is your favorite thing your husband does for your kids? Wrestle time. It's just something I can't get into. He will spend hours wrestling with them and they love every second of it. The only draw back is that Hope tells people that her dad likes to "beat her up." I am waiting for Child Services to show up at my door anyday now.
What are five things that make you smile as a mom? 1. Seeing Caymbree's face light up when I get her up from a nap. 2) Watching Hallee's thoughtfulness with her friends. 3) Seeing Hope and Hallee play like they are best friends 4) Listening to Hopes cute little voice and exaggerated antics. 5) Unexpected loves from the kids
If you could take your kids anywhere, where would it be? Disney World! There is just something about watching them walk around in total awe and wonder.
When was the last time you went out without your kids? Amazingly I went out twice last week without them. Once, on a date night with Troy and my family to see the Civil War production and then again for a girls night out.
What is your favorite activity to do with your kids? Special family fun nights. Activities that we don't do everyday but reserve for special outings. Things like going to the zoo, Chuck-E-cheese, swimming, bounce park, and so on.
Name one thing you said you would never do as a mom. Say "because I said so." (And yes, I have said it a time or two), and drive a mini-van. Just can't do it.
What is your favorite quality that your mom has? I love that she gives 110% to everything she does. Whether it is in her church callings or planning a party she goes all out.
What is your advice for a new mom? Don't sweat the small stuff! and enjoy every second of it.
What is your scariest or most heartbreaking moment as a mom? Hmm, not sure. Probably the time we took our 18 month old Hallee to the Emergency room with a temperature of 106. They couldn't believe she wasn't having seizures and thought she might have meningitis. As it turns out it was just Roseola.
What is your most joyful moment of being a mom? The moment they handed me each and everyone of my three precious girls.
When was the last time you were told, 'I love you' by one of your kids? Everyday. Hallee, as she leaves for school and again when she goes to sleep and Hope has a daily ritual of saying, "mom, use wanna know how much I luv you?" Then she procedes to circle her arm over and over again until she is too tired to go on. One time she loved me a whole three minutes worth!

ALRIGHT, TAG EVERYONE. This is a fun one and really puts life back into perspective.

Semi-Annual Girls Weekend

HIGHLIGHTS OF A WONDERFUL WEEKEND....

We started our weekend off bright and early Friday morning at the Scrapbook Expo. There were great deals but you had to be willing to wait in lines, lines and more lines.
Adree had a shopping list for the entire town of Neola. I guess that's what happens when you live out in the country. When one goes to the "big city" you send your list :)
I think we have laughed more about this picture than anything else on the trip. I bought this cute "pumpkin" sign at the scrapbook expo (random, I know) but when we decided to document the occasion with a picture grandma proudly displayed the sign. We will forever be confused about when and where we were because of this sign.
The new age of scrapbooking. My mom, Rachel (sister-in-law), and I have all gone digital so all we needed was our laptops. In the past we have hauled boxes and boxes and boxes of supplies up three floors to our room so it was kind of nice this year. Adree and Kristie (other sister-in-law) still do paper. We also celebrated my mom's birthday and got her the cutest MICHE purse. These things are awesome! They have interchangeable covers so in a matter of seconds you look like you have an entirely new purse. Happy Birthday Mom!
And then, the shopping! For our winter girls weekend we have such an agenda to get all the Christmas shopping done so it was so nice to just be able to shop for ourselves.

Our final adventure was eating at the Cheesecake Factory. With notorious wait times of up to three and four hours we decided to go at 2pm to avoid the lines. Ya, right. Even at two in the afternoon we had to sit out in a windstorm for over an hour before we got in.

I don't know that I have ever seen Rachael as excited as when the buzzer finally went off.

We finally got in! Now on to the next task....reading through 23 pages of menu items!

And in the middle of it all....A picture text from Troy showing me our little Caymbree finally crawling. I had to fight the tears. I am SO not ready for this.

Hallee's date night out

About a month ago we started noticing some changes in Hallee. My sweet, tender happy little girl started acting out a little and just seemed to be frustrated all the time. She started to whine about everything and even started talking back a bit. Troy and I decided that maybe we needed to be more consistent with the marble jar and give her a good incentive to work towards. With the marble jar the kids earn a marble for good behavior, using good manners, helping out around the house and so forth. They lose marbles for the opposite behaviors. We decided that Hallee needed more one-on-one attention and so the reward would be a date night out with mom or dad. Well, she filled her jar and we started coming up with ideas for our night out. Her request.....a pedicure with mom! At first I was a little hesitant but the more I thought about it the more excited I got. So last night Hallee and I headed out for a little R&R :)

We had a blast! She had a grin from ear to ear the ENTIRE time and the girls at the salon made such a fuss over her. They had to prop her up with two pillows just so her feet would reach the water but it was so cute. We read magazines and picked out all the stars from High School Musical and American Idol, talked about school, dancing and friends. Afterwards we went and got root beer floats and hit a few shops.

I know, I know a pedicure for a six year old sounds a little indulgent but ya know what ...it was worth EVERY penny.

Learning to say "YES"

"THE JOY OF MOTHERHOOD COMES IN MOMENTS. DON'T RUSH PAST THOSE FLEETING MOMENTS."

How I actually heard these inspiring words of Elder M. Russell Ballard is nothing short of a miracle. It was the last half of General Conference, the kids were bored, tired and hungry and I was just about to lose it. And yet, somehow the Lord hit the pause button just long enough for me to hear what I needed to hear. I started thinking about how many times I skip over those "moments" because I am too busy or too tired to even notice them. Case and point - THE SOCK PUPPETS....

Last week it was Hallee's turn to do Family Home Evening. She decided that for our activity she wanted to make sock puppets. Thoughts started running through my head and I started giving her every reason why we shouldn't make sock puppets. "I don't know if we have any socks that would work, what would we use for hair, I don't know where the needle and thread are right now"..... blah blah blah. Meanwhile, Troy has gone upstairs, grabbed the "craft box", glue and a couple of his socks and is back ready to begin. What a wonderful example he is! Why is it that "YES" seems so easy for him? He is notorious for letting them jump on the bed and the couches, building forts out of the cushions, sliding down the stairs on pillows, and so forth. So why is it that my initial reaction always starts with the letter "N"?


Fast forward a few days. Hope, Hallee and a friend are bored again and looking for something to do. So trying to be a "fun" mom I suggest a nail parlor. The original plan included me painting their nails but they quickly decided otherwise. They wanted to paint their own of course. I could feel the "NO" bug quickly coming on but I suppressed it and let them go for it. Then I realized that their paint job included varied colors and textures on multiple surfaces for Hope and once again I had to fight the "No" bug from emerging. The control freak in me was dying to think that I was going to send Hallee off to school with every other finger nail a different color but Elder Ballards words struck once again.

So I swallowed my pride (or whatever it is) and let them do what they wanted. Perhaps people who saw them that day wondered what kind of mother would let their children do that to themselves but maybe, just maybe, they heard Elder Ballards talk and knew just WHAT kind of a mother would. :)

American Idol

Alright, time to change up the playlist. This time in tribute to my favorite show of the moment - AMERICAN IDOL. Without TiVO, Tuesday nights are sacred around here. There are not many shows out there that can appeal to such a broad range of people and I love that I can sit down and watch it with my grandparents, parents and the kiddos and we all can enjoy it. This year I'm going with the "Davids". David Archuleta as my first choice with David Cook sparking some interest.

As for my all time favorite idol...that's a tough one. I know I've said it before but Clay Aiken really is at the top of my list. I loved his voice. Carrie Underwood probably comes in second and Kelly Clarkson and Chris Daughtry tie for third.

So whose your pick for this season? Who is your all time favorite Idol? Or are you just one of those idol haters (he he)?

Hope moments vol. 3

*Oh, this one had me laughing for quite a while yesterday. While forcefully trying to convince Hope to add some peanut butter to her sandwich (instead of just butter and jelly) she kept telling me that she didn't like peanut butter. I kept telling her that she did and reminded her that she eats it by the spoonful. Finally, fed up with the discussion she stood up on her chair and yelled, "MOM. I DO NOT LIKE PEANUT BUTTER NOW STOP IT OFF!" (I think she was going for "knock it off."

*As we sat down to eat her jelly and butter sandwich (for dinner I might add) she started complaining that she wasn't hungry. I just stared at her. Her reply, " Mom, are use starring at me cause I's in BIG twuble?"

* As I walked by her I noticed her cutting pieces of paper into little bits. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I's playing with my kids." (the paper bits apparently being the "kids". "They want to be little." Then she turned to her "kids" and said, "now use got be bwave and don't whine." Then she sighed in disgust and said, "ARE USE CAUSING ME GWEEF (grief)!?"

* Tonight I was asking what everyone wanted on their rolls and when Troy didn't answer me I said, "So what's the plan Stan?" Hope thought I was talking to her and said, "Mom? Don't use remember my name? You can call me Hope or Hopers."

Oh, I love Hope.

Caymbree update

Our little miss Caymbree. Time is flying and she is growing up way too fast. It's hard to believe she is already 9 months and her first birthday is just around the corner.

Her first tooth made it's first appearance around 7 1/2 months and the second one followed a few weeks later. She is considered an "early-bloomer" around our house since Hope and Hallee didn't get their first tooth until after they were one.

She is just on the verge of crawling and while the girls like to encourage it I am secretly discouraging it. Life is so much easier when I can put her down and she is still there when I come back. I don't know if I am ready for the whole mobility thing.

As you can see I have plenty of good help around. Both of the girls love to feed Caymbree and it has actually been a HUGE help to me. She is now pretty much done with the baby food thing and just wants big people food.

At 9 months she now weighs in at 14 pounds 11 oz. THIS IS PROGRESS PEOPLE! She is just entering the stage of stranger and separation anxiety and has even tried out a few tantrums here and there. It's a good thing she is so darn cute!

Open Wide!

The dentist checking out Hallee's teeth. Her back moloars made their debut!
Once they start the movie and put the headsets on - you might as well be talking to the wall. Hope was heavily distracted by the movie ROBOTS. Where was this when I was little?

I remember looking in my childhood scrapbooks and thinking how bizarre it was that my mom took her camera with her to our dentist visits. And now...just look at me. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The girls both did great although Hallee was a little apprehensive as memories of her last appointment began to resurface. (One word - CAVITIES). But good news this time - NO CAVITIES!!! For anybody blessed with the Smith teeth these are sacred and seldom heard words. Not only were the girls and I delighted but my pocketbook was too!

Wisdom of an 11 year old babysitter

I love my babysitter. Yes, she is only 11 years old but she is far wiser, calmer and more knowledgeable than some adults I know. Last week we came home to find little Hopers sitting at the kitchen table while the babysitter gently rubbed peanut butter through her hair. As I walked in with a puzzled look she calmly said, "oh, don't worry. We had a little mishap but we are taking care of it." Hope then proceeded to tell me how she wanted to make a necklace out of her gum and as she wrapped it around her neck it "somehow" got caught in her hair. As she tried to get it unstuck she managed to spread it from ear to ear creating a tangled web of gum and hair pretty much all over the back of her head.

The babysitter then taught me a trick I did not know. If you gently massage creamy peanut butter through the gum/hair the gum will slide right out. WHO KNEW! I would have taken out the scissors and started cutting. Because there was SO much gum in her hair it took us about 25 minutes to get it out but it worked. It really worked!

What we've been up to

I know, I know, it's about time I got my blog updated. But trying to summarize three weeks worth of activities with over 150 pictures was not an easy task. Here is a quick run down. (For grandparents who want to see more you can check out the SPRING slide show soon to come).

DISCOVERY GATEWAY



To start off Hallee's spring break we took the girls to Discovery Gateway children's museum. It was SO much fun.

EASTER DRESSES




I know, the pictures aren't great but YOU try getting four girls ready for 9:00am church all by yourself. (Troy leaves for meetings at 6:30am).

EASTER EGG HUNT WITH THE COUSINS





We got together with all the cousins on the Smith side for a big Easter egg hunt in my parents back yard. It was a definite success and look....grass! Two days later it was covered in snow again.

COLORING EASTER EGGS

A definite family favorite. The last two years I have bought a kit that allows you to paint or dye your eggs which makes it a little more interesting for all of us.

And at the end of it all, a celebration of a life well lived.

(My two cute brothers are at the front).