Thursday, October 18, 2012

Sam I Am

I absolutely adore this little guy!  He is getting to be so much fun. His little personality is starting to shine through! He loves to laugh, and he squeals with delight when you play little games with him.  He is so content and happy as long as he is fed and gets his sleep.  My biggest and really only complaint is the spit-up, because boy can he spit up!  But even then, who could be mad at a face like this??  Seriously.


Sam is a such a great eater. He gets so excited to see the food coming that he sticks his legs straight out, stiff as can be, and opens up wide...just like a little bird. Hilarious! 


And in case anybody is wondering, Bumbo chairs are not completely fool-proof.  When Sam sees something he wants, he arches his back and dives.  He has actually dived right out of the chair a time or two.  Is that determination I am seeing??  Hmmm, I guess he will fit right in around here.


We LOVE you little Sam I Am!! 



Thursday, September 27, 2012

Grocery Shopping. Oh the Fun

Beware fellow Smith's shoppers. 
Do not be fooled by their angelic little faces.
Because lurking just beneath those sweet smiles is trouble.  And I do mean trouble!

In case you were wondering, those cute little shopping carts can easily be transformed into bumper cars.  Just ask Will and Ben.  They know.  They tested them out.




This picture of Will is a bit more accurate.  It shows the little devil inside!
Like I said....BEWARE!


After several time outs, they began to calm down, and quit running over innocent shoppers.  Their time outs consisted of finding the nearest corner where they could stand, face to the corner.  Then I count....or in this case, Will asked if he could count.  I said that would be fine.  It went something like this.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 24, and 1, and BLASTOFF! 

There was a moment when Will felt he had been SERIOUSLY wronged.  He threw himself to the ground and rolled around screaming.  That is until he almost got run over by a man in a wheelchair.  That quieted him down a bit.  

It was gross.  Have you ever looked closely at grocery store floors?  Well, neither have I.  But I can imagine they are disgusting.  But I guess that's the price you pay for throwing tantrums!
 


Friday, September 14, 2012

Summer Paint Project

Summer was coming to an end.  The garage was driving me CRAZY!  Disgusting would be an understatement.  I had two able-bodied boys who would be returning to school shortly.  It was now or never.
Scott and Josh were given the job of painting the garage and putting epoxy on the floor of the garage.  But plans changed, as they often do.  Brek took Josh to Canada with him, which left Scott doing the garage alone. 
Then Syd enters the equation.  Syd wants to earn money.  She promises to work very hard and help Scott until the garage is completely finished.  (And she did work very hard all week!)
Day 1:  Take everything out of the garage....EVERYTHING.  Even the shelves and freezers.  Sort through everything.  We had a DI pile, a garbage pile, a pile to be taken to the land, a pile to go to Brek's work.  Basically there were piles everywhere!  Late that night we finally finished distributing the piles.
Day 2:  Paint.  At least that's what they were supposed to do.  I had to run several errands.  When I came home I found a garage covered in spackling.  And I do mean covered!  Scott and Syd had been filling holes.  Apparently it was a day project just prepping the garage for paint.
Day 3:  Paint.  For reals this time.  Scott had some other responsibilities, so the painting project all of a sudden involved me.  Pretty soon Maddy had joined us, and then Will came out to join in the fun.






Some jobs are best done in diapers only, if you know what I mean!



Will started out being pretty careful, but soon things got a little out of control.  It wasn't long until we had to ban him from the paint.  Sydney decided it would be fun to paint Will for a change...you know, take a break from the monotony of walls.



Sam took lots of naps.  But even he wanted to be a part of the action.  He observed the organized chaos from his perch in the Bumbo chair. 


Day 3 (continued):  After a long day of painting, we were still not finished.  The floor had to be prepped.  All debris had to be scraped off, the floor had to be scrubbed clean, and then acid washed.  Luckily Scott was back to join in the action.  
Day 4:  Paint the garage floor with epoxy.  Very specific instructions were given as to stirring and applying.  We had one hour to apply the epoxy.  Syd, Scott, and I were quite the team.  Very efficient.  And the finished product was fantastic!  
FINALLY, after a couple days of letting everything dry, we were able to move back into our garage. 
After a week of sporting the garage sale look, we were finally finished.  The neighbors shouted and cheered!  And so did we!




Monday, September 3, 2012

Goodnight Prayers


Prayers with Will the other night went something like this.

Me (helping):  I'm thankful for my family
Will (repeating):  Thankful for my family
Me:  I'm thankful for our home
Will:  Thankful for our home
Me:  Help me to be a missionary
Will:  Help me to be a missionary
Me:  Help me to be kind
Will:  Help me to be kind....Hey!!!  Stop that Ben!!  (He then proceeded to pounce on Ben and punch him)

Hmmm...Well, that was super effective!

This little guy provides us with continual laughter all day long.  He makes us all smile.  He is so funny!  It is very safe to say that we all adore him.  And by we I mean, me, the kids, the kids' friends, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, cousins.  You name it!  He is FULL of life and personality.  We love you Will!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Back To School





Amazingly, it is now the beginning of another school year!!  The older my kids get, the faster time seems to fly.  Scott is a junior (he only has two year left!).  Josh is now at the high school with Scott.  He is a freshman....a very tall freshman.  I think he has grown a foot in the last year!  Syd is starting junior high this year (7th grade).  Maddy is in 5th grade, and Luke is in 2nd.  And I get to have Ben, Will, and Sam home with me.  No matter how sad everyone is that summer is over, there is always a bit of excitement in the air on the morning of the first day of school.  My kids know the drill.  Get ready, then head out to the front porch for pictures. With Scott in his fancy attire, and Josh in his "wooly" outfit, they were bound to be awesome!


  




  THE BOYS




 THE GIRLS (plus Will and Sam)



Attempts to take a picture of just the girls!

                                                                                          

    Check out Scott's "shnazzy" outfit!  The first day of school is picture day for high schoolers.  Scott and his friends decided to look sharp on top and be comfy on the bottom.  NICE!




THE "LITTLE" BOYS
I could stare at them all day!  They make me smile! 
  











Sunday, August 5, 2012

Dress-Up

Today Syd came walking into my room and said, "You know how you always wanted a little girl mom?  Well....."

And in walked Will.   

 Or was it Will? 

 Maybe Will-amina? 


Lucky for the girls, Will is a very willing guinea pig.  In fact, he is more than happy to extend his fingernails for a pretty polish to be applied.  But he then retorts, "I not a sissy girl!"  Funny boy.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Sam I Am

It has been a long time.  Life has been so crazy and I decided there was just not room in my life for blogging.  But I have been thinking, and thinking....AND thinking that maybe I should try blogging again.  Because the bottom line is, I keep a better record of my family when I blog.  Sad, but true.  So here goes!  Much has happened in the last couple of years, but I think I will start with this...  


Sam is the newest member of our family.  He is now (almost) 6 months old.  He is SUCH a good baby.  He always has smiles for whoever he sees.  He sleeps so good, and is so content.  And he will snuggle!  When he gets tired, he nestles his little head right below my chin.  Ohhhh, I love him so much! 
It is amazing to watch the effect a baby has on people.  Total strangers will stop to admire and smile at Sam.  He brings out the best in everyone! 
Welcome to our family little Sam.  Let me warn you now... it is a bit crazy at times.  But I can promise you that we will have lots of fun, share our love of the gospel with you, share our love of music with you (even though your brothers and sisters may warn you this is NO fun), and we will love you tremendously.