Burke is 2. Like it or not!

I pick not.  

But it's not up to me, so I have to suck it up.  :(

Burke was born on 11-06-09 at 11:06am.  

I knew I was having him the night before, but did not tell anyone.  My c-section was scheduled for the following Friday, but he was ready. 

So was I.

This is what two years will do...

We had a little Elmo party for him on Saturday night.  He helped Daddy spiff up the house that day!  What a great little dude!

Burke was blessed enough to have G'ma Blue here for his big day!  Poor G'pa had to stay home!  :(  My big kids all have a "movie" chair.  So Teri decided Burke needed one too!  She found this black one at Big Lot's!  Sweet!  And boy does he know that it is HIS!  ({insert high pitched scream of "mine" here!}

He is o.b.s.e.s.s.e.d. with motorcycles right now, so he got several of them in all sizes, shapes and colors.  He loves all of them!  

What?  A big one???  Sweet!!!! 

He liked blowing spitting out his candles this year!  Remember last year and the pushing the cake away debacle?  LOL! 

He's 2.

He's loud.

He's loved.

Nuff said....

All Hallows.....

We had another wonderful Halloween this year!  Also lucky enough to have Bailey with us to help with the carving on Sunday!  

A wonderful time was had by all!  My goal was to get the kids in bed by 8:30 and I did!  

{So I treated myself to a pedicure today!}

HOLLA!

Nanny McPhee VS Natalie

And the winner is??????????

Natalie!!!!!!!!!!

We have been battling Nat's "Nanny McPhee" teeth for weeks now.  I'm not a yank them out kinda mom.  I've had friends offer....but I felt too bad for Nat.  

But durning the shenanigans of Saturday morning chores Burke bumped her in the mouth with his elbow really hard.  The craziest one fell right out.  But it left on lone catty whom-pus tooth.  SO I YANKED IT!  Then screamed at the top of my lungs!!  And gagged a little!  

Now the battle has begun.  Taylor thinks it's totally "not fair" that she lost both her teeth on Trunk or Treat day.  Nat tried to make it better by saying she might lose both of hers on Christmas.  One can hope right??  

Fire Station #3

Graden's class was able to visit our local fire station on Tuesday!  I missed this field trip with the girls because I had gone back to work at Key Bank.  So I was thrilled to be able to go this time!  Jason even took the morning off to go with us as well.  

For the longest time when you would ask what Graden wanted to be when he grew up he would say "a fire truck!"  I'm sure this was his way of telling us a fire man.....I hope!  So this trip filled his face with joy!  He was thrilled, listened so well, and was just happy to be there!

Fire Station #3 is the one on Locust Grove just past Ustick.  When you call 911 for an emergency it will be this station that responds.  It will be Captain Tyler Rountree and his fellow fire fighters that will come to your aide.  Their door is always open, and treat are always welcome!  

Corn Angels and Midget Pumpkins

Linder Farms, we thank you again.  I had the privilege of going on another field trip with Someday Preschool. 

It's was super chili, so I am very thankful my sister had a blanket in her car so I could wrap Burke up.  This was the longest he has let me hold in in forever!  I loved every minute of it!  

Graden ditched me as soon as we got there.  I had to wrangle him in for this one picture together!  I am glad he is independent though.  I have never really had a "clingy" child.  They have all been willing to venture off on their own and explore.  

Burke picked a pumpkin that was just his size.  He must have been really worried about the "you must be able to carry your own pumpkin" rule.  

Fearless~

Sweet Butterfly Class

On his own Graden started making corn angels.  It was rather cute.  Before we knew most of the kids were lying down trying to make them!  

Thanks for stopping by!  We are all doing well.  We are fully blessed, loving each other, growing up, slowing down, hanging on, and always laughing.  

Alphabet soup

Nattie has a tooth that is hanging on for dear life.  It's seriously grossing me out.  

Jason and I decided that it is about time that Graden start wearing a white shirt and tie to church.  The black polo with skulls is cool and all but.......  ;)

When you have had a tough day at church fulfilling all your duties, you need some R&R.  

Cause staying in the nursery for the ENTIRE 2 hours and playing with your friends is REALLY hard work!  I guess there is a first time for everything!  

Ding.....Dong.....Ditched.....

{Please sing to the tune of Popcorn Popping in your head!......or out loud.....it's up to you. I like it out loud!}

Thank you CB for ditching such a delightful gift on my door step.  Just for the record, CB is NOT Chase Browne as my kids so hopefully thought it was!  That would have been a huge ding dong ditch from California!  :)

"Gooder than ever!!!"

I have never been the best about watching General Conference.  As a youth, it was a "free" card for me. No church.  :)  I was really looking forward to GC this month!  I was excited to hear President Monson, and find out where the new temples are going to be built!

As a mom, I find it difficult to get my kids to watch.  I don't blame them.  We struggle through Sacrament.  But I was determined this time!  Taylor was the only one who was really into it this time.  Nat sat in our front room and listened.  I can understand that.  I have a hard time sitting and watching.  But if I am in the kitchen or working on a project (such as de-cluttering my laundry room) I can hear EVERYTHING!  Bananas I know.  So Taylor got a pad of paper and drew a picture of each speaker, and wrote their names down.  Later she came into the laundry room and said Mom:  "I feel GOODER then ever!!!.....I have like this crazy feeling in my tummy!!!"

I mustered all the strength I had not to bawl in front of her!  But I was able to tell her that she was feeling the Spirit.  And that what she was feeling is amazing!  I was so proud of her.  I guess I will get my kids one by one!  :)

My friend Cherie over at BakowBabble posted the most wonderful quotes of GC.  I loved all of the same ones!  She did a great job!  

Take a step back BOB ROSS!

We painted with none other than BOB ROSS for mutual this week.  He is the real deal Yo! This activity was right up my alley.  I love art, and painting, and don't do it often enough.  It soothes my soul.  Stacy brought 3 colors.  White, Gray and Black.  The purpose was to teach the girls that we know we are firm on things that are black and white in our lives.  Like:  Will I smoke?  It's a yes or no answer.  But what about:  Will I hang out with people that smoke?  Is that more Gray????  Maybe more for some than others.

So we followed along on a VHS tape and a 12 inch tv and painted our little hearts out!  The girls all complained that it was too hard!  Bob was going too fast!  Mine is ugly!! Look at hers!  It's way better!  Ugh!  I screwed up!!  I kept telling them that it is all about perspective.  Sometimes you have to walk away from something to see what it really is.

When I got home I posted some of these pictures on FB.  And what do you know?  They loved their pictures!  They were seeing them from afar and loved them!

Here is mine~

We are missing Claire.  She went and turned 16 on us and left for Laurels.  BOOO!

Celebrate with me!!!

I decided that this was the year I was going to take the girls down to the Women's Fitness Celebration 5K Run/Walk.  

I threatened their lives that if they complained they could not come back with me till they turn 11!!!  I think that did the trick!  I got them some fairy wings and matching tutu's and they were in heaven!  We rode the shuttle bus to the park and had a really fun time.  

As I have gotten older my anxiety has increased 10 fold.  Especially if it is out of my normal routine.  I was doing really well until the Life Flight helicopter did a fly over.  It just hit my panic button!  I was just praying it did not crash.  (I know that is terrible and morbid.  I think I have a thing called "Bad Thoughts OCD")  

The girls griped a few times but it was legit.  We waited in the same spot at the starting line for over an hour.  And mostly in the shade.  So it was chilly!  

Once we got started they were awesome!  They received several comments of how cute they were.  I could not agree more!  

Cute huh?  

Better Days.....

I know that they are ahead....I just have to keep pushing forward!

{The Story}

I have started running!  ............................................  Did that allow for enough time for you to get back in your chair????  Carrying on....

I run at night and Jason either follows me on his bike with a flashing light (for safety, not too warn people I am coming) or runs with me.

On a whim I decided to run further than normal.  I got into the subdivision behind us and a little black and white Boston Terrier runs up to me.  There were people up ahead of us and I thought it was theirs.  Turns out THEY thought it was ours.  Honestly, I think they were just happy that it was no longer their problem. For sure the dog was going to follow us.  It looked as though he had broken a run leash of some kind cause it was still attached.  The only problem was that I intended on running up to Locust Grove.  That road is busy at any hour.  Jason was afraid it would get hit so we cut through the school and back home.  We got the dog some water and I took a picture of it to post on FB.  I was actually worried that it was one of my friend Julie's dogs.  They have 2 that look similar.  I did not want to have the dog get hurt, especially if it was hers.

ANYWHO'S......  The dog was barking up a storm all evening.  Jason got out of bed at 11 and took the dog back to where we had found it.  (Not the most shining moment of character, but we were worried our neighbors around us would freak....and we could hear him over our fan...so we knew he was loud).  Our neighbor Paul saw him when we had jogged home.  So that morning I got a text from his wife Sarah saying that Paul thought it got out of our gate last night and put the dog in his backyard.  (AREYOUKIDDINGME???????)  It can run back to our house, but NOT IT'S OWN????????  Gimmie a break. So Jason goes over and gets him from their yard (cause he is royally bugging their dog) and puts him in our back yard.  This is all just till we can either find the owner on FB or Craigslist.  OR CALL THE POUND.

Later in the morning as I was getting ready to leave I glanced out to make sure all was well.  I saw that the dog got wrapped around our small picnik table so I went out to free him.  That is when I saw Cowboy (our bunny).  That dog had killed him.  K.I.L.L.E.D him.  To say that I lost my mind was an understatement.  I nearly died.  Thankfully none of my kids knew what happened.  The girls were already at school. I hysterically called Jason and screamed and bawled what had happened.  I ugly cried all the way to my friend Jacki's house.

I am just so mad.  I tried to do something good for another person and I got punched in the face. HARD.  Our whole family did.  I was so shocked at the compassion of friends.  My sister and my friend Ursula (my YW's president) offered to come and "clean things up" for me.  Seriously?  Who does that?

When the animal shelter people came to get the dog I was further traumatized when she said, "Oh, I know this dog.  We sit it about once a month!"

ARE YOU KIDDING ME AGAIN?????????????????????  I know that this entire thing is just a terrible turn of events.  But so sad none the less.  Our kids are really bummed that now we have "no pets".  Jason took care of Cowboy when he got home.  He thinks the dog broke his leg and Cowboy bled out.  Not that it helps me in any way.  I feel totally responsible for the entire thing.  STUPID!  UGH!

Moral of the story?  I'm not sure.  Will I still help stray dogs?  Probably.  Will I think things ALL the way through before I just toss something in my backyard?  Heck yes.

Thanks for your kind words on FB, and the cookies and hugs.  They mean a lot to a hurting Mommy.










   

Smith Girls 2011

My sister Megan (Second Oldest) held a huge party for her husband Matt's 40th birthday this Saturday.  Very seldom are we all together in a non-family situation.  It was funny to see people put together that their are 4 of us.  Like it's some kind of anomaly.  

Either way, we had a delightful time and I am honored to have such amazing women as my sisters~  

Julie Ann~ Megan Sue~ Jennifer Elaine~ Allison Leanne~

September 2011

Someday Preschool 2011

Graden started his last year of preschool today.  He was thrilled to go back to school.  He has felt rather lonely being stuck with me and Burke all day.  

He is attending my sister Jennifer's school again.  It was formerly known as Happy Days Preschool.  She never really dug that name.  This year she made the change to Someday Preschool.  Not because they only go to school somedays.  But that there is promise in someday.  I love it.  

We celebrated by going to McDonald's after.  Burke really hammed it up for me!  He thought he was so funny!  

Utterly Disappointed~

I received news of a friend this weekend.  She has made what I would consider and utterly bad choice.  It's shady, and dishonest, and schemey.  I would not call us good friends, but I would be there if she needed me.  At first I just thought it was so lame of what she did.  And I was a little mad.  But now I am feeling the worse out of all the feelings.  DISAPPOINTMENT.  

As a Mom I have not ever really felt this feeling till tonight at dinner.

We don't have problems behaviorally with any of our kids.  They are all sweet and delicious.  And every now and again have their sour moments.  

Tonight as we were getting ready to say the prayer I asked Burke to offer it.  He is still a beginner and gets rather distracted.  So they are short, sweet and to the point.  As I was slowly said each word for him to repeat Taylor became irritated that is was taking too long.  She sighed really loud and Jason got after her.  Then after we said amen, (from a 10 word prayer), Taylor blurted out "Great, now can we pray for reals?"  

I don't know why it hit me so hard.  But it hit Jason even harder.  She was immediately sent to her room with out eating.  Where she bawled at the top of her lungs.  Jason went up a few minutes later. I'm not sure what he said but he came down alone.  

We decided that she would eat dinner alone, after we were all done.  As Jason was up talking to her I just became overwhelmed with disappointment.  How does she think she learned to pray?  I can remember hundreds of meals where Jason and I sat patiently and listened to the girls first prayers.  

The feeling did not last long, and while she was eating alone at the bar I told her I love her.  I cannot hold a grudge against my child.  Just like Heavenly Father does not hold them against me.  I am so very thankful for that.  

I've got my hands full...

Natalie and Taylor were the EASIEST babies and toddlers.  They were content and happy and most importantly, they entertained each other.  Twins are the best! 

Graden was awesome too.  Just quiet.  He did his own thing, seldom got into mischief.  

Well, could I be lucky enough to have all my kids be that way?

This post will answer that question:

This is on top of me having to actually put our bar stools on the bar cause he pulls a HEAVY chair over and climbs up them.  It was a real shocker when Jason and I heard him turn the garbage disposal on.  

He is talking up a storm.  

His new favorite things are goger-gygles.  (motorcycles, said with and angry face)

He is smarter than smart.  

I love this freak.