Fun with the sprinkler

This last week, it got up to 90 degrees, so we dusted off the sprinkler and got it running for the kids. Elisabeth and Charles had a lot of fun with it. Annabelle, on the other hand, kept a very safe distance.Notice our garden in the background. Scott is an excellent gardener!

Annabelle is 15 months old

Annabelle turned 15 months on Saturday. Here are some fun things about our Annabelle:

She loves to dance and play with her baby. When she dances, she either stomps her feet in place very quickly, or she'll lift one foot up, back in the air like a ballerina. Annabelle likes to go in her room, sit on the floor in her closet and try on lots of shoes. She also loves pushing babies around in strollers and playing with her siblings. She's now at the age where she can tell us with words or gestures what she does and doesn't want/like, and she does this often. We love our little Annabelle! And little, she is. Here are her statistics from our trip to the doctor today:
Weight: 19lbs. 3oz.-5%
Height: 29 1/2 inches-23%
Head Circumference: 17.5in-14%
They checked her height twice, so I think that's a fairly accurate measurement. The head circumference, on the other hand, could be off because Annabelle was super wiggly, and kept shaking her head from side to side while saying, "uh-uh" which means 'no', while the nurse was trying to take that measurement. So Annabelle is growing, and her weight percentile has gone up by 1%, so that's good. On the charts, percentile wise, she went down in height and head circumference, but I really don't think that's very accurate because of how wiggly she always is, and they usually only check the measurements once. So anyways, she's still small, though all our children have been pretty small....she's just the smallest.


She still wears some of her 3-6 month old clothing, but can also fit into 12 month attire; it's just a little baggy. She wears size 2, in baby shoes and she just looks so adorable walking around everywhere because of how little she is. It's just plain cute. She still uses her infant car seat and faces backwards, but the Doctor told me today that they're coming out with a new front-facing requirement: you have to be 2 years old now, instead of one year and twenty pounds, before you switch to front-facing. Apparently they found that children under 2 facing back, are 5 times safer than those that face forward.

Annabelle loves to eat, and she eats a lot. Here are some of her favorites(but she'll eat about anything):
hard boiled eggs, hot dogs, chicken, refried beans, black beans, pinto beans, bananas, oranges, apples, steamed veggies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, popcorn etc.

Here's a picture of Annabelle pigging out on her black beans

I'm still nursing Annabelle, though we're weaning. We're down to about one feeding every other day. I have hardly any milk left because of that, but she still wants to nurse, mostly for comfort I think. But I still want to nurse, as well. The weaning process has been harder on me, emotionally, this time around, maybe because I nursed her for longer than the others. I just love being able to comfort her and be close to her in that way. It's relaxing and peaceful for me as well, and gives me at least ten minutes of down time each time I nurse. But I think if I keep nursing her, it'll be even harder to stop later, so we're going to quit, and soon. I think we'll be all done by the end of this week.

Here are some of the words she says:(the words she says most frequently are in bold)
"tee"-teeth
"baby"
"mommy"
"daddy"
"ba"-ball, and also means she wants her water bottle; so we just need to be aware of the context. If said in kitchen, she's thirsty. If said outside, she wants the ball :)
"ea"-eat; but she usually just says, "um, um, um" when she wants to eat
"hi"
"this" and "dee" she'll say this and point to something she wants
"Beba"-Elisabeth
"nana"-banana
"uh-oh"
"Ba-bee"-bye; we think she might be saying, 'bye, baby' because that's what we say to her, but we're not sure.
"bappa"-apple
"da-doe?" said with both palms raised upwards-where'd it go?
"eh-uh" or "uh-uh" she'll say this while shaking her head- it means no, and she says it just like me.
"chee"-cheese
"sigh"-outside
"eye"
"no"-nose

Words she signs:
more, please, thank you
I think Annabelle has a fear of heights. Either that or she just doesn't like to be in motion at a height. For example, she hates going down escalators, she hates when people try and toss her up in the air(and she's so light and little that it's a temptation for many:)), she doesn't like to go down slides, and she doesn't like to swing. Our neighbors gave us their old baby swing and so I've been working with Annabelle, trying to get her to sit in it for longer periods of time, with very soft and gentle pushes. At first she sat for about 2 seconds, then we worked up to 10 seconds and then a minute. Now she'll sit in there for a couple of minutes as long as you're right in front of her, smiling the entire time and giving her words of encouragement.

Girls night and garage sales

Once the boys left for their camp out Friday, we had a girls night out. Here's how our night went:
1. Library- we checked out a few movies and books
2. Arctic Circle- we ate dinner here and then Annabelle and Elisabeth played on the indoor play equipment they have and afterwords we each got our own little courtesy ice cream cone. It was Annabelle's first ice cream cone to herself and she LOVED it!
3. Kohl's- I got a $10 gift card in the mail from Kohl's to use on anything that is at least $10. Since Elisabeth's birthday is next month, I told her she could pick something out for her birthday and we'd use that card to go towards the gift. She picked out a pretty dress(of course! She LOVES dresses and wears them almost every day. It's a good thing she has tons to choose from), that was normally $22, on sale for $11, and with the gift card we ended up paying $1.07 total. I love getting a good deal.
4. Put Annabelle to bed
5. Painted Elisabeth's finger nails and toe nails
6. Made marshmallow popcorn
7. Watched one of our library movies: Curly Top with Shirley Temple
8. Went upstairs to bed-Elisabeth slept in my room in a sleeping bag on the floor. Before we went to bed we read and wrote in our journals together.

The next morning, Robin(my sister-in-law) called and said she found a water bath for canning at a garage sale for $2 and wanted to know if I still needed one. I did, thank you Robin! It was about 10am now and me and the girls had already mowed the lawn and got dressed for the day, so we decided to check out some local garage sales. We were able to get Elisabeth and Charles some clothes, a 14 inch bike with training wheels, a little baby stroller for Annabelle to push, a book, puzzle, and cars/dump trucks for Charles. All together we spent under $10. I had been keeping my eye out for a bike because Elisabeth will out grow hers by next year, so I was happy to find this. It's a boy bike, but our outdoor toys are not gender specific; the kids ride and use what ever is their size for their age. So next year, Charlie will probably be riding a pink bike :). Or I may end up spray painting them all silver or blue; or any color that's versatile. Oh, and Elisabeth was able to find two ballerina outfits. They fit perfect and are in excellent condition. The only problem is we're having a hard time convincing her that she should wear other clothes during the day and only wear her ballerina outfit when it's time to do ballet or play dress-up. Hopefully, in a few days, she'll be over the excitement of it all, and go back to wearing normal clothes, for most of the day.

In the pictures below, she has layered another ballerina skirt underneath

I had so much fun spending time with the girls and getting some one-on-one time with Elisabeth. We did this last year as well, and I'm sure it'll be something we look forward to every year.

New tent and Father and Son outing

Thursday, this last week, our new tent arrived at our door. Our little two man, a-framed tent was just too small for the family so we decided to upgrade to an 8 man tent. We found one on Costco online for a really good deal with shipping included. I already have a double-high, queen sized air mattress, so I think we're about set for camping this summer.
Friday night was our ward's Father and Son's camp out. Scott and Charlie went and were able to test out the new tent. They had a fun time eating hot dogs, roasting marshmallows, and hanging out with the other men from church.

Charlie holding the bag of Cheetos he picked out at Peterson's Market Place

It was a little chilly in the morning. Charles wouldn't get out of the tent until the fire was going; smart kid.

The Music Man

I saw The Music Man with Robert Preston once, before I was married. But, thinking back, I couldn't really remember anything about it. Then in conference not long ago, President Monson mentioned that this was one of his favorite musicals; so I decided to put on hold it at the library. But what came in, was something different than the one I'd seen, it was a newer, and a little shorter, version with Matthew Broderick. But still very good. I enjoyed it very much and ended up checking out the older version with Robert Preston that same week. A month or so later, Scott's parents gave me an e-gift card to Target.com for my b-day, so I bought the Matthew Broderick version and the older soundtrack. We listen to the cd all the time! The kids love it too, and they each have a favorite song that they like to listen to over and over again. I would still like to get the Robert Preston version, because he is SO good, but I'll wait a little while. So anyways, if you haven't seen it, or it's been awhile, you should definitely check it out because it's a great musical! And thanks Grandma and Grandpa Smith for the gift! We all love it!

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the movie:

"The idle brain is the devil's playground"-Harold Hill

"You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays."-Harold Hill

"You watch your phraseology!"-Mayor Shinn

"Now, George!" -Mrs. Shinn
"Not one poop out of you, Madame!"-Mayor Shinn
"[turning to Zaneeta] I think he means "peep"! "-Mrs. Shinn

Mother's Day

We forgot to take pictures on Mother's Day, so I forgot to blog about it. And I know this is a little late now, but since this is our family photo journal, I want to have a record of the day. Saturday, the day before Mother's Day, Scott asked me what I would like to eat for breakfast and dinner Sunday. I found the recipes for the meals that I wanted, and then Scott took the kids grocery shopping. Sunday morning I ate cinnamon rolls in bed(that was something extra that I hadn't requested.), and got homemade pictures of flowers from the kids(with some help from Scott). A couple of hours later we had pancakes with all our favorite toppings: blueberries, vanilla syrup, whipped cream, peaches etc. It was delicious! For dinner we ate Chicken con Queso, which is a chicken dish with doritos, green onion, diced chiles and evaported milk. It's very yummy. We also had rice and black beans.

During the day Scott wouldn't let me help do anything. Anytime I would come in the kitchen and try and help with dinner preparations or cleanup he would kindly ask me to go sit down and relax(this was kind of a hard thing for me to do because I'm used to being busy from sunup to sundown). Later that evening, once the kids were in bed, he gave me a pedicure, minus the polish; so basically a foot scrub and rub. He also offered to give me a back massage, but I like to lay on my tummy to have those, and since I'm weaning Annbelle(which means I have extra milk in there that will come out at the slightest touch), I thought we should probably hold off on that for awhile. Anyways, I have such a sweet husband. Thank you for a wonderful day, Scott!

Ballet video

Yesterday me and the kids were having some free time. Elisabeth turned on her princess cd and then the kids began to dance. They dance fairly often so that wasn't a surprise but what was interesting was the way in which they danced. They usually dance side by side, each doing their own spins and twirls and jumps. But today they were dancing together: Charles was helping Elisabeth spin like a good ballerino should do :)! It was very cute/funny/entertaining. Here's a short clip of our ballerina and her ballerino :).

Raleigh, North Carolina

Here's a journal of the events from our trip:

1. The kids enjoyed watching Grandma and Grandpa's movies. Here Elisabeth is sitting on the couch with the big exercise ball watching a movie.
2. Annabelle enjoyed spending time with the baby she brought, and Grandma and Grandpa's cats. All the kids loved playing with their cats, Bianca and Little Foot. Little Foot would let the kids pet him and would follow them around, but Bianca on the other hand, ran away whenever they tried to get close. Annabelle was funny to watch with the cats because she would grab their tails, poke their eyes, or just walk up to a cat with both hands out and give it a firm push while screeching with delight. Little Foot didn't seem to mind too much, but I wouldn't allow her to do it much either, before I intervened and made her pet him softly. One time Annabelle fell over on the concrete and began to cry and Little Foot quickly went over and stood by her side. I thought that was very sweet. I'm not a cat lover by any means, but being around Little Foot made me like cats a little more.

Little Foot and Charlie

3.Thursday night we went to a minor league baseball game. I don't remember the name of the team but I believe the mascot was a catfish? Don't quote me on that. We had fun sitting on the bleachers and walking around. The kids saw this pirate(not sure if he was some sort of mascot either) and wanted to meet him. I'm not really a fan of watching sports, so I don't really remember what happened or who won, but I do remember some of the players theme songs that came on when they were up to bat. One of the players had a cute country song that played each time and some of the others had some fun dance tunes. I think I enjoyed the music the most. In fact, while we were walking back to our car to leave, I asked Scott, "Would you still enjoy watching sports games if they didn't play music?" He said, yes, and that many times there isn't music playing. I thought that was interesting. We had a fun time together with the family.
4. Friday, the day before Kelley's wedding, all the girls got pedicures at a nail salon, even Elisabeth. They painted flowers on Elisabeth's big toes and her thumbs(they painted her fingernails, too), which she thought was very cool. It was so relaxing sitting in a massage chair while someone rubbed my feet!

5. Saturday was the wedding and reception. Kelley was beautiful, Jericho was handsome, the music was good, the cake was great and the food was delicious! There was a big swimming pool at the reception, which kept us busy. We kept Annabelle close because if she wasn't trying to walk in the pool, she was trying to eat dirt(she LOVES dirt and will eat A LOT of it, if left to her own will and pleasure). And we tried to keep Charlie close too, but there were a lot of people there and he's so fast and sneaky! When he'd get away from us, he would run to the pool and put his hand inside, reaching for a rubber duck that was in there. I'm glad he didn't fall in! The reception house had a large playground area that the kids found after awhile and loved!

Take note of the pretty pink corsage on my shirt
Here Annabelle is playing with and eating some of the pretty pink flower she recently tore apartEach of the cakes was a different flavor which was a big hit.

6. Krissy and I went running every day(minus Saturday and Sunday), around the neighborhood. It was beautiful. All the greenery made me miss my old home in Washington. Just gorgeous.
My favorite thing about the trip was being able to stay the night with family because once the kids went to sleep, we were able to visit and play games. We're so grateful we were able to go out for the wedding and spend time with our family.

Oh, and on the flight home we had a layover in Chicago, and once we got on our next plane to Utah, we realized we left our case of 12 dvd's on the last plane! We filed a lost and found report once we got to SLC and they said they'd call if they found it. They didn't call that night, so I called Chicago in the morning. A very kind woman told me the next three destinations the plane took before coming back to Chicago. She also sent each of those airports a notice with my phone number. An hour later I got a call from the airport in VA saying they found our dvd's and that I needed to send them my fed ex account number and they'd ship it to me. Well it turns out they overnighted it which ended up costing us over $40...but hey, it was less than replacing all 12 dvd's...that would have cost over $100. So anyways, we've learned our lesson: always check all seat back pockets before you leave the plane, and if you do leave something, make sure they don't overnight it. :)

For Mom

Mother Dear

by Elisa Garnica Smith

You rocked me in your arms, in the morning and at night,

Which probably made it hard to think clear.

Your sleep was sacrificed, and money was sometimes tight,

Oh, how I love you, mother dear.

You have several children; each interested in different things,

Which meant life was very busy for many a year.

But, still, you taught us what was most important: the joy and comfort the gospel brings,

Oh, how I love you, mother dear.

Your kids are all grown up and have children of their own,

And I find now, more than ever, I want you near.

But we live far apart, though I can still get advice over the phone,

Oh, how I love you, mother dear.

I’m so grateful for you, Mom, and the lessons that you’ve taught,

You’ve lived an exemplary life, and are one that I revere.

You're positive and uplifting; a harder worker I know not.

Oh, how I love you, mother dear.

Happy Mother's Day to Rojean and Angela and all women everywhere!

Me and Mom last November

Mom's five kids:

Becca and a tired little boy

Just before we went to NC, Becca flew out for a wedding reception, and we got to visit with her for a little bit. So here we are together, just before I took her to the airport. I look extremely pale next to her....or fair, you can take your pick :).
Later that day, Charlie fell asleep for the night, in his high chair, while eating his dinner. He hasn't done this since he was a little baby. Since the grandparents were visiting, we let the kids stay up later than normal so they could play with everyone, and Charlie doesn't sleep in, ever. He's our 650am alarm clock, every morning. But after several days of late nights and early mornings, he was all tuckered out by 530pm. Oh, but if I'm remembering correctly, when I laid him down in his bed, he was startled awake, jumped up and then ran around the house like a little energizer bunny for a little while before he went back to sleep. Have I mentioned before that I love to watch my children sleep? Sometimes, at the end of the day, while I'm watching them(in particular, Charles because he's our most energetic and busy child) slumber, I think to myself, 'could this peaceful little angel be my same wild and crazy little boy?' It's definitely one of the joys of parenthood: watching a little one sleep so peacefully. It's comforting some how. I love being a mom.

LDStorymakers conference and a reception

Alright, well, we're back from our trip to NC so I'll be playing catch up over the next few days.

Two Saturdays ago on the 25th of April, I was able to attend the LDStorymakers conference at the Marriott hotel in Provo. I left the house at 730am and got home around 540pm and then left again around 630pm to go to a wedding reception. It was a very busy day but very fun.

The writers conference was perfect. I was able to get some really helpful information that I'll be using in the future. One of the most helpful things was when I got my first chapter critique back. 6 judges rated my work and wrote comments and suggestions which were all very insightful....not that I'll use/change everything they mentioned, partially because it'd be impossible since different judges have different opinions and you can't please everyone at the same time. But anyways, it was really good, and I was also so pleased to be able to spend some time with my old friend(and author) from Wymount, Elodia.

This was the only picture of about 300 the photographer took at storymakers conference that I was able to find with me in it...and you can't even see my face. Just my clothes. Oh well, good times. I'm sitting behind the woman in the green jacket. We're all making hearts above our heads because we were listening to the romance panelists speak.

When I got home from the writers conference, I quickly ate dinner and then Elisabeth and I got in our dresses and drove out to American Fork for a wedding reception. My friend Sam got married and I was best friends with his older sister Katherine while in Bothell, so they're entire family was like my second family, since Kath and I were inserperable. Becca, my sister, flew out for the wedding as well so it was fun to be able to see her, too. In the picture below, Katherine is the beautiful young lady standing next to me and Becca is the tan beauty in the back. Also in the picture are some other friends from Bothell that were able to make it to the reception.
Can you tell Elisabeth had the time of her life? She's very into princesses, dancing, barbie movies with handsome princes etc. and that night she was able to get all dressed up and dance the night away....while eating chocolate brownies and cake :).