Gingerbread houses

After Christmas, Britt and I went clearance shopping. Britt found a Gingerbread house kit on clearance, and we decided the kids would have fun making this when they next got together. Makayla and Treyson had a blast decorating and deciding what candy to put on it. Treyson kept it, so I don't have to keep telling Makayla that she can't eat it. Thanks Britt!

Happy Birthday Clara

Clara turned 4 on the day after Christmas! I can't believe she is 4 already, it seems like not long ago that I was in the hospital with my little 4lb miracle! For her birthday, there wasn't anything else I could think of doing that she would enjoy more than going swimming. We got our family to join us at the pool for a fun afternoon and Clara had a ball just floating around and having fun. After we were all water logged (except Clara - she didn't want to get out), we headed back to our house for pizza and cake.

Merry Christmas

What a month we've had here at the Smith home! I am feeling settled in our new home, and just in time for Christmas. We spent Christmas here in Utah this year, so we did family things with them. On Christmas Eve, we spent the day at Austin's parent's home, and the kids had fun tracking where Santa was. We even called into NORAD to one of Santa's helpers, and she told us to make sure we left some carrots for the reindeer because they would need the energy to make all the deliveries. We were supposed to get together with the Okimoto family, but due to an accident by a family friend, they weren't able to make it, so we had a nice quiet evening with Austin's family. When we got home, Makayla was excited to leave some cookies, milk and carrots for Santa. She laid all the stockings out in front of the Tree, and made sure Santa's magic key was hanging on the door (because we don't have a fireplace). We then checked one more time to see where he was, and found out he had just left Florida and cousins Jakob and Erick. She decided she better get right to bed so Santa wouldn't skip our house. We had a slumber party in our room with everyone in our bed.

Clara made sure we were all up bright and early on Christmas day - 6:30 - so we went down to see what Santa brought us all. Holden got a new car seat, Makayla got a new "princess" canopy bed, and Clara got a crib (so Holden could sleep in her old one). After opening the rest of the presents under the tree, we went to Austin's aunt Jana's house for brunch, then back to his parents for the rest of the day. We just hung out most of the day, nice and relaxing. That evening, we finished opening the presents from Grandpa and Grandma. By the time we were all done, the kids were beat, so we headed home and straight to bed. It was a fun and magical couple of days!

The Stable

A couple years ago, when I was in charge of Enrichment in my ward, we did a Nativity program where we passed out the pieces to different people, they would come up and we had a little thought about each one for them to share. All of them hit home, but I don't have the space to share them all, but one that really struck me and has stuck with me is the Stable, so I thought I'd share that one with you.

The Stable

Think about Bethlehem. Think of the busy streets filled with people trying to find a place to stay for the night. Joseph and Mary have finally made it to this little Judeans town, but where can they stay?

Inside, the inn buzzed with laughter and chatter. Distant relatives who had not seen each other in years renewed family ties over bowls of hot soup and goblets of wine. They broke bread together, swapping stories of their journeys. A teenage boy strummed his lyre in the corner, and several fathers clapped their hands in time to the music.

In the rush to serve tables, the innkeeper, balancing a tray of breads and meats answered a knock at the door. A man calling himself Joseph stood outside. He and his young wife needed a room. A glance told the innkeeper the woman was heavy with child. He could barely hear himself talk with so much noise behind him, but he managed to explain that there was no room, only an empty stall in the stable out back.

Shrugging his shoulders, the innkeeper quickly apologized and went into the crowded room. Outside, Joseph stood for a moment, listening to the laughter inside. Back in the stillness of the night, Mary waited. The young couple made their way to the stable. And while music and laughter and feasting went on and on, just yards away behind the walls of the inn, the Son of God quietly entered mortality.

Sometimes the best moments of the Christmas season do not happen during the crowded parties or the rush of holiday preparations. They don't occur in the music and laughter, the camaraderie and feasting.

Special Christmas memories are those quiet moments when God unexpectedly surprises us. With Himself. With an overwhelming sense of His nearness and love.

In the midst of so much activity, so much going on, so many days in the calendar filled with appointments or parties. God seeks out the quiet heart, and speaks to us in a still small voice.

Think of the stable in Bethlehem. Somehow it stands serene. What a contrast to the celebrating going on in that inn. Who would have supposed? Who would have suspected? If someone had only dropped what he was doing to leave the party and go check on his donkey. If someone had only slipped away from the festivities for a moment to seek a quiet moment outside.

Just think of what they might have witnessed! Perhaps they would have seen the angels. Maybe the shepherds. And yes, even the Son of God.

Take the time this Christmas season to step outside the clamor and excitement. Visit the stable and ask God to speak to you in the quiet and serenity and stillness. He will!!!

My plan was to sit down and blog today, but I got going on the house and unpacking and stuff, and just kept going. My main floor is free of boxes, with the exception of a few in my furnitureless living room that I'm not quite sure what to do with yet. It feels so good to have all the boxes empty or downstairs for going through later. I guess, in the long run, that is what needed to be done more than my blog :)

Letter to Santa

I've sure had a long dry spell with the pictures, but honestly, I can't find my card reader to get the pictures off my camera and onto my blog. I saw this letter to santa and had to share with my mom friends. Enjoy.

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several
Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always, MOM...!

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

We've been elfed!

Hey, we just made total elves of ourselves. Check it out by clicking the link below.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1316911112

In our new home

We finally got moved into our new home. We've been here for 2 days now, and I'm loving it, except for all the boxes that are still everywhere! Slowly a few of them will disappear, but not fast enough. Hopefully I can make some headway soon so we can get the Christmas tree up before it is time to take it down!

Chipper Monkey-Buns

That is my elf name. Click here to find out what your elf name is and leave it in my comments. Have a good day.

In honor of Thanksgiving...

I'm thankful for my family - Austin, Makayla, Clara, and Holden

I'm thankful for all the rest of my family that give me support and love.

I'm thankful that despite all the ear infections and colds, we're all healthy.

I'm thankful my husband has a steady job.

I'm thankful for the experience we've had living here in Lehi, in this tiny apartment, and I'm definitely thankful that we are getting a house that we can call our own!

I'm thankful I live in a country where I'm free.

I'm thankful that even though it's miserably dreary and cold and the landscape is barren, there's the promise of spring.

I'm thankful that I'm tired because it means I have a lot of fun things to keep me busy.

I'm thankful for my parents who put up with all the things I did that my kids are now doing to me.

I'm thankful for wonderful friends that support me and give me a reason to keep this blog (since my family only reads it when I tell them to).

I'm thankful for laughter, especially the tears from your eyes, stomach hurts, peeing in your pants, snorting kind of laughter.

I'm thankful for Botox, so I no longer have to listen to Clara grind her teeth.

And I'm thankful I have a God to be thankful to!

**Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear what you are thankful for!

Finger Painting

What more fun is there in childhood than finger painting? Treyson and Makayla are finger painting and having a great time at it. They are mixing colors and started out so good to get the color they wanted, but now it is just a big picture of all the colors mixed together. I suggested they clean up their hands once the paint was all gone, and they both said "no" at the same time. There is just something about playing with the gooey stuff between your fingers and making a mess that you won't get in trouble for that is appealing. They are banging the bottles of paint against their papers to get every last drop of paint out of them. I would add pics, because they are so dang cute, but my camera is lost amongst the sea of boxes in my house. Hopefully I will find it soon :)

Botox

No, I am not that vain. It is actually for Clara. We got Botox in her jaw muscles yesterday, just to loosen them a little. Today she is not grinding her teeth, and it is wonderful! We've been trying to find a way to make her stop for quite some time now, and nobody has suggested anything for us, in fact they usually laugh because it is our problem and not hers (although I do worry about her teeth). Well, last week, we were at her rehab clinic for a follow up - not with our dr, but with a PA, and she asked if anyone had ever suggested Botox for her grinding. I was definitely intrigued by the possibility of not having to hear that sound, so she got us in right away, and it is relatively quiet in our home this morning (shouts praises here)!

Holden is 9 months

Holden had his 9 month check at the dr. this week. He is a whoppin 20lbs, 2oz. It's no wonder I'm getting some muscles in my arms. He has started playing peek-a-boo, soo big, and patty cake this week. He is such a cutie. He is trying to crawl on his hands and knees, but he gets on his hands and toes and then falls to his stomach. He is quite fast at the army crawling. His newest trick is to get up on his feet. It has to be up to something that is only about waist high, but he is loving being upright. It won't be long until he is cruising! We are still waiting for some words to come, he was saying mama, but he stopped that. The dr. thinks it is because of his double ear infection that has stopped his vocabulary, so now that he is on antibiotics, hopefully that will start up again. This kid is amazing with the things he is doing and so happy too!

Go Team

This one is for Grandpa Tom and Aunt Barb & Uncle Bill. We had him dressed in these outfits on back to back days, so we had to show them off!

Makayla and her friend Treyson had a good time playing tea party the other day before school. They had cookies and water. Makayla was explaining that when you drink tea, you do the "cheers" and made me take a picture of it. They were really cute about it!

New house

Such bittersweet news - we have found a house and are moving. I'm very sad to leave our neighbors and friends, but I am even more excited to have a house of our very own! They are set to finish the house by the end of the month if not sooner, so that gives me enough time to pack and get ready to move. To see more pictures go to here. To see the floorplan, click here

Halloween

My kids had a great Halloween. I got to go to 2 Halloween parades, it was nice that they were scheduled 1hr 15 min apart, so I could make both of them. Clara looked absolutely bored at her parade, and couldn't wait to get it over with.
She was dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood - and a very cute one at that. Holden was a Dragon - very adorable, and Makayla was, of course, a princess. Makayla's friend, Treyson, was also a Dragon, and they made a cute pair. Makayla had fun trick-or-treating, but she didn't want to walk much, so it was a short night for that. We were home by 7:00 and she got to hand out candy the rest of the night. That was just as good to her, and the best part is that we didn't get too much candy, so not that much around the house for me to eat :)
Every Wednesday, before school, Makayla's friend, Treyson, comes over to play, and on Fridays, she plays at their house. About a week and a half ago, we decided to do some Easy Bakin'. Treyson and Makayla had a blast rolling, cutting out, and decorating their cookies. They were so excited that they had to take some to their bus driver, Larry, and their teacher, Mrs. Burke!

I promise, I haven't fallen off the planet, it just feels like it - my house also looks like it! Looking for a house is a long and tiring process. This week has been spent driving around most afternoons after the kids get on the bus, looking for houses that are for sale. While I am excited that we are in this phase of our life, I will be glad when we pick a home so I can return to my normal duties of mother, housekeeper, cook, laundress, etc. It seems I only get dishes in the dishwasher is when I have no more bottles for my son.

Other things I've been up to are field trips. I went to 2 different pumpkin patches, 2 different Fridays. I forgot my camera for Makayla's field trip, but we had a blast! We went to a pumpkin patch down in Orem (Pumpkinland, I think). They had a corn maze, some animals, playgrounds, and s light alley (like a spook alley, just not scary). I haven't been on a school bus for quite some time. I forgot just how noisy they can be.

I also went with Clara to Hee Haw farms. They had some animals there, Clara got got to pet a bunny and a cow. They had a corn maze there also, but in the middle of the maze, there is a giant slide (probably 6-8 hay bales high). Clara and Holden absolutely loved it!
One of Clara's favorite things there was the bin of corn. She got to get into the bin and play with all that corn. Just like her bean table, but on a much bigger scale.

They had a tractor pulling a trailer that we got to ride in. Finally, we got to go and pick out a pumpkin. Makayla was excited that we actually have pumpkins before Halloween, and I was excited that I didn't have to buy them.
I love field trips, but there is a thing as too much, and lucky me gets to go on another one next week with Clara's class again. This time they are going to the Bean Museum at BYU. Not to confuse you, it is named after someone with the last name Bean, but it is a museum of dead animals. (I was going to say stuffed, but then again that would lead you to believe it is toy animals.)

We finally got it!

In May, we ordered a walker for Clara through our insurance. I was hoping to get it this summer so she could practice with it outside on all of our sidewalks. Here it is the middle of October and we finally got it (gotta love insurance), now that it is too cold outside to use it and it is much too big to try to use it in the house (but we get to store it in our apartment). We did go outside for a few minutes this afternoon to try it out - she did quite well, but it was too cold out to stay for any length of time. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer - in the upper 60s, so maybe after her field trip, we can try it again and get some good video.

Here is the video I took. I couldn't get her to stand up, I think the sun was bothering her. It is also very windy, which you can hear in the video, so you may want to turn down the sound.

Weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Wyrouck

This past weekend, my kids had out of school, so we headed up to Blackfoot, ID to see my grandparents (my mom's parents). We had such a fun time just doing nothing. Makayla was really excited to help Grandpa rake leaves so she could jump in them. She loved the tire swing also. She told everyone that for her birthday, she wanted a house with a tree that has leaves that drop so she could jump in them and a tree swing in that tree. I guess we just need to move in with Grandma and Grandpa since that is what they have there.

We tried to go to the zoo on Friday, but when we got there we found out it is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, so we let Makayla play at the park and walked through the leaves. Makayla had a fun time collecting leaves to take home with her.

Friday night, we got out the cards and Grandpa, Grandma, and myself all played Hand and Foot. Grandma won 2 hands and Grandpa won the third by 65 points. I lost big time. It was a lot of fun though.

Saturday, my Aunt Alice stopped by to help Grandpa and Grandma. We picked up all the leaves that they raked on Friday. Alice threw Grandpa in the leaves, so we piled all the kids and Grandpa around him to get a fun picture. They had been working on Grandpas 45s (vinyl records for you yungins). He had quite a few of them. He also has 2 juke boxes that he plays them on. Boy that brought back memories of playing at their house in Pocatello. They are going to get the juke box set back up, I can't wait for my kids to have those same fun memories that we had growing up!

On Sunday, we went to my cousin Julia's for dinner. Makayla had a good time playing with her little girl Ellie that is 2 months older than her. It is good to get together with family, it gets so easy to get caught up in my own things and not think outside my little family.

My Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Eddie stopped by Sunday night as I was leaving. It was good to see them, if even for a short bit. Aunt Cheryl has always been such a fun Aunt and very supportive of what every one is doing.

I loved spending time with my Grandpa and Grandma. I just soak up the time that I get to spend with them. I never seem to get enough. They are the cutest couple. They take such good care of each other. When I am 82, I want to have that kind of a relationship with Austin!

My friend had this on her blog and I thought a few of you would get a kick out of it. I had to laugh at the things this guy was doing to make fun of the stuff we do.

Click Here

This past weekend, I realized how valuable a camera is. I have the cutest picture of Clara engraved in my brain, but I can't share it because I didn't have my camera with me. We were at my in-laws house for dinner. After we finished eating, we were just sitting at the table visiting, and Clara was sitting in her high chair watching. I looked back at her and she had her head resting in her hand with her elbow on the tray. This is something that every one of us has done at some time or another, but to see her do it was classic. She just had a look about her of "when can I get down and go play, your talk is quite boring!" I sure love my princess!

Picture of Holden

I've been playing around with Photoshop tonight and I decided to make a collage out of the pictures I got taken of Holden. I had to share because it is so darn cute. I'm going to get them printed up this week at Costco. I can't believe how cheap it is to get a print made there - $1.49 for a 8x10! Thanks Britt for taking such cute pictures of him. It made it hard to pick ones for the collage, but it sure was fun.

My Little Caterpillar

Holden has started moving all over on the floor. When my girls started moving, they would scoot backwards first, then learn to scoot forward. Holden has learned the caterpillar crawl. He gets his bum high in the air and then pushes forward. He is so cute - I've never seen another baby do this. It sure is fun to watch him get around, but that just means 2 kids that are going to be into everything soon. I've got to find some way to block off the front room from the rest of the house so that Clara and Holden's messes are contained to a small portion of the house.

As I sit through my days with my 3 kids, ages 5, 3, and 7months, I often have random thoughts that I would like to share with people. My kids wouldn't understand or wouldn't offer the support I need, so I thought I would start another blog with my ramblings. I've added a link to my sidebar, or you can click here to see just how strange I really am. I've decided to do it this way so I can keep this blog for my kids and family and have that one totally separate and more like just ramblings. Warning....you will find out the strange things that run through my head, maybe there is a reason that I don't verbalize everything that I think :)

American Fork Canyon

Can I just say first of all that I LOVE FALL!! I love the crisp morning air, the changing of the colors, school starting, caramel apples, no heat or a/c, snuggling up on the couch with a fuzzy blanket, etc. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. However, the snow we got on Saturday was a bit premature. It didn't last long, but still not welcome!

Yesterday it was a nice Sunday afternoon, so we thought we'd go see the fall colors that are in the mountains right now. We had a nice drive enjoying the crisp mountain air. Makayla insisted we get out of the car so we could look around and find 'treasures.' She came home with some colorful leaves and a few rocks. When we got home, I showed her how to do leaf rubbings - she was so excited! It was a fun thing to do together on a Sunday afternoon!

Makayla riding and Clara walking

Yesterday we were playing outside after school, and my kids had a ton of fun. Clara walked from our door, down the hall, and onto the grass, with me only holding her arm to keep her up. She was doing great picking up her feet and "stomping" as Makayla would say. We then tried it again when we had the camera out. She would have done a lot better if she wasn't laughing so hard. She is doing amazing - now if we would just get the walker that we ordered last spring, we would be in business.


Makayla was having fun outside. She is getting to be quite the skip roper. This is just a short video and she can go longer, but with the camera on, she was getting messed up.


Makayla has been practicing on her two wheeler. She is doing quite well at it, but she concentrates so much on balance that she has a hard time keeping on the sidewalk. She gets frustrated because she always ends up in the grass. She will have it in no time - she is loving the feeling of being a big girl!

Too Funny

I had to post this so I could get my daily laugh in :)

OK, it looks like I can't have it on my blog anymore, but you can see it by clicking here

Fun with my Kids!

This morning, while we were cleaning the front room so my Visiting Teacher could come, I decided to turn on the radio. There was a fun dance song on, so I started dancing with Makayla. I then picked up Clara and danced with her. We had so much fun dancing, that it was hard to stop. I need to remember to do silly things like that with my kids so often. They had a lot of fun and I truly believe it was good for Clara to move like that, because it isn't something that she can do on her own. Holden also had fun dancing with me when he woke up from his nap.

Yesterday before school, I took my kids and Makayla's friend Treyson to the Children's Museum in Salt Lake. They had so much fun playing together and running all over. The rock wall was a big hit. Makayla is really getting good at that, granted it is only about 10 feet high, but she does it well.

The helicopter was a big hit as well. Makayla and Treyson loved to be the pilots together, but then they switched and played pilot and dispatcher. Makayla loves to tell everyone that comes there with her that this used to be a real helicopter, huh mom? and that it is now broken, huh mom? and that Clara has ridden in a helicopter like this one when she is sick, huh mom?




















After playing at the Helicopter and talking them into going back inside because the babies were cold, they played newscaster. They had fun playing with the greenscreen

in the background and then seeing themselves on the TV with an image behind them. There was a green scarf that they could put on themselves and then it would make that part of their body "see through" on the TV, and they thought that was hilarious that their middle, or head, or whatever was just mysteriously gone. I love seeing the process of discovery take place. It was so great!
Every time we go, there are different blocks to play with and discover about. Some of my favorites are the Wedgits, but they didn't have those yesterday. Instead, they got to discover about gears and how they work together. There is nothing like figuring out what will work and what won't together. There were a few pieces that even baffled me and it still bugs me that I couldn't make them work!
And just another fun picture of Makayla and Treyson playing on the horse in the "farm" area.

We were getting ready to leave when another parent asked if we were staying for the elephant parade. I had not heard anything about this, but we were supposed to be leaving so the kids could catch the bus. I decided that seeing the elephant parade wasn't something that they could see every day, so we decided it would be OK if they were 10 minutes late for school and we stayed. It was the Bello the clown's birthday, so they were giving away clown noses and birthday hats. I can't believe how much fun the kids had waiting for and watching the 10 minute parade with the elephants and clowns. I forget how magical it is to see these creatures that only exist on that pages of their books. They were HUGE and I'm glad that we stayed a little longer. While I value school and all they teach there, there has to be something said for real world experiences!

What a fun day. I wouldn't have changed anything!

ramblings for the day

So, I've decided to stop cutting Clara's hair, as long as she can stop ratting the back of her hair. Sor far she's been pretty good since she's been up and mobile more. She doesn't just lay there and rub her hair back and forth. I've also started to put little pony tails on the top of her hair, with some little flower clips that a friend of ours made for her. She is so cute that I just had to share the pictures of her with them in.

On another note, we recently got Holden's 6 month pictures taken (I know we are a little late...), and I just had to share some of my favorites. My friend is just starting a photography business, and I was very pleased with the results. Here are some of my favorites: