Just a little something

 So, in order to give everyone something to read and to hopefully jump start the blog again, I copied this over from my blog. (Giggles=Katy, Kicks=Jayson) (Also, I'm just so proud of my boy, so I have to brag anywhere I can!)


For Christmas this year, Giggles received a chalk/white board, complete with chalk, a dry erase marker, an eraser, and alphabet/number magnets. I thought it was the coolest thing I'd seen in a long time and I was so excited to give it to her. She was excited to receive it and played with it a lot at first. Not really the magnets, just the chalk board or the white board or both. When we got home from Vegas and I put the magnets on the fridge, Giggles almost forgot all about them. Oh, she's fiddle with them occasionally, but they weren't enough to really grab her attention. 

Kicks, on the other hand, has gone nuts over them. I swear he lives in the kitchen these days, squatting in front of the refrigerator, endlessly taking them down and putting them back up. At first, he ignored the letters for the most part, preferring to play exclusively with the numbers. He'd been doing this for a few days before I realized something. Kicks was arranging the numbers correctly. It wasn't some random thing to him. He would take them down one at a time and place them carefully on the floor, until he had them all lined up, nice and neat. Then he would put them back. He put them back on the fridge backwards, but still in the correct order, never wrong. When I first saw them lined up on the floor, I assumed Giggles had done it. But after watching a while, I realized it was Kicks all along. Keep in mind, Kicks just barely turned two.

He's gone on now to correct himself. He now puts the numbers is the correct order going forwards 1-9, usually with the 0 tacked onto the end. When he mastered this, he started with the letters. We had the letters lined up in order in about three rows. He started with the last row (the easiest for him to reach) and learned to put them in order. He followed the same pattern, lining them up on the floor, then transferring them backwards to the fridge until eventually he put them in the correct order going forwards. He can do R-Z now. I have no doubt he would learn the rest as well, except that the magnets have been scattered some since then and we've lost the B and the D. I haven't had the desire to put them all back up and search for the missing letters, so he contents himself with the numbers and the last row of letters. All I know is, my boy is a genius!

Re: This and That

Interesting, Jenafer! Nothing like a surprise big change in the ward leadership to get everyone on their toes. It's always a little scary, though, when the stake presidency is gazing over the congregation, fishing...

We just divided our stake in two, but we knew it was coming--they even read a letter from our stake presidency two weeks ago informing us of this fact (although rumor told us about the split far in advance--in November, actually). No big suprises, but it's always fun to see what is going to happen. We're in the old stake, so it means very little to us, except they did add three blocks to our ward.

I got nothing out of the main session of conference today, except the boundary changes. Such is life when your husband is in the stake choir. But they did sing a gorgeous version of "If You Could Hie To Kolob" as the closing hymn. So there was that.

And your mint chocolate cake sounded divine. Hope it tasted as good as it sounded to me.

This and That

So, today I talked to the bishop. I asked him if we could move the choir performance from the second Sunday to the third, since we don't have practice on Fast Sunday. That wasn't a problem. Then I told him that choir wasn't going to be able to perform at all unless we gt more people to come to practice. The last two weeks we have gotten a grand total of three people to a practice. The bishop frowned and said, "We've got to do better than that. I'll announce it again today." Then he totally spaced it and no announcement went out. Apparently, however, he did remember in time to give a big choir plug during priesthood. That was good. Today I had five men and three women show up for practice, twice as many as I've gotten since Christmas. We might be able to preform on schedule after all.

We are always early to church. This has not always been the case in our marriage. Jeff was raised to think that as long as you slid into the pew before the bishop actually started talking you were on time. I have often explained over the years that I just can't do that. We were late if we weren't there a half hour early. Eventually this translated into us being about fifteen minutes early. Mostly that was because when I was called as a Sunbeam teacher I insisted on being at least that early so I could get my classroom set up for class and it just stuck at that point. Once I was called to be the organist, I started to insist on the half hour model again. The one time I let him talk me into being 'late' the bishop came up and actually asked that I provide twenty minutes of prelude. Now that we are the first ward in the building at 8:00 am we have actually turned on the lights in the chapel when we arrived a few times. Today we got there and there were two people already in the chapel. I put up the numbers for the hymns and started playing the organ. After about ten minutes the bishop came in and sat down. He was joined by the high council member for our ward, but that's not terribly unusual. Then the Stake President came in and sat on the stand next to the bishop. This also didn't mean much to me as the Stake President's ward is also in our building and he's often around on Sunday. Then the rest of the Stake Presidency showed up and they all sat down on the speaker's side of the stand. Now I was paying attention. As we had had our Ward Conference two weeks ago this was unusual. I was expecting something to happen. I think any of us would be expecting something in this case. Then opening exercised started. The bishop released a few people, extend a few callings and turned the time over to our High Council member stood and informed us of the release of various stake callings including the entire Young Women's presidency, then we had the sacrament. After that Lillian and I went down to sit with everyone else and I asked Jeff, "What's going on?"

He shrugged and leaned over, "Maybe they are just fishing." His expression if they are just looking at the members and waiting for inspiration to strike about a particular calling.

The youth speaker finished speaking and the musical number performed. Then the bishop turned the time over to President Ray. He released our first and second councilors and called our old second councilor to first and a new second councilor was called.

Looking back I wasn't terribly surprised. While it doesn't necessarily mean being released, the first councilors wife has recently been diagnosed with Valley Fever which has a six to twelve month recovery time and two children under eight. He was needed at home.

After church I baked a cake and got ready for choir and then had choir. After everyone left, the little girls started to watch "Olivia" on NickJr. I was fussing in the kitchen finishing up a few things for dinner when Olivia said something. She said, "Little brothers should NEVER be taller than big sisters." While I understand the context of this line, it caused me to laugh a little hysterically. My own little brothers have been taller than me for close to twenty years! The bypassed me before they even hit puberty. Besides, doesn't Olivia know that little brothers almost always end up taller than big sisters? Not that that was the point, but I'm just saying.

Birth Statistics

Mema had all her children in 3596 days, from LaDale to Telima.

Jenafer had all her children in 3223 days, from Benjamin to Lillian.

Keryn had five of her children in 2467 days, from Ezra to Ralphette (assuming she comes on her due date of July 28, 2010).

Amy had all of her children in 1335 days, from Skyler to Arabella.

Caren had all of her children in 544 days, from Adam to Kip. (Speedy woman!)

Telima had three of her children in 1119 days, from Katy to Brooke.

Child who was the "baby" of the family for the smallest amount of time: Jenafer, 456 days. (LaDale is a close runner-up, at 494 days. Next closest is Ezra, at 519 days.)

Child who was the "baby" for the longest time, without actually being the youngest: Samuel, 1075 days. (Heather is the runner up at 993 days.)

Interesting tidbit: Mema had her second-to-last child 2521 days after her first, and Jenafer had her second-to-last child 2532 days after her first.

And then there is the graph: (click to make it bigger)

This is what happens when you get two sisters together with seven children on a gloomy January morning. Just so you've been warned.

Pine Wood Derby

To all who are thinking thoughts of the Pine Wood Derby this year:

As the Webelos leader in our Cub Scout Pack, I am very much involved in this years Pine Wood Derby, which will take place tonight. As I do not have any boys preparing a car as a cub scout I will have no interest in who will win and who does not win. But I did have an idea in making a car just for the fun of it. I was able to acquire a kit as we had several extras and, with Adam's help, was able to put my thoughts into a real pine wood derby car. I checked my car in for the official weigh in but I did not add any graphite to the wheels and I know that my car in very much under-weight. I do this because I don't want my car to win. If I were to make a car that I hoped would win, then we would have a problem with other Dad's wanting to add cars to the mix. Already having nearly 20 cars in the lineup we just can't have any more. So I don't care if my car is raced at all. It is there for all to see.

What, you may ask yourself, was I so interested in doing that I really wanted to make a 'losing' car? I added LED lights to the front and to the back that actually light up when an added switch is turned 'on'. Maybe next year I will make a car with lights AND sound. All it takes isa few smashed toys that sound good already and add those parts to the car. I am having so much fun.

I promise to take pictures and add at least one of them here. Love you all. SKT

Kids at Play

Adam has a best friend from school that rides his bus. This is great as he had never before had a friend that he has repeatedly asked to come over to play. That being said he does not want to play at his friends house. The one time he did play at his friends house, AJ kept asking Adam to go upstairs to see his toys in his room. Adam did not want to leave the comfort of Mom and Kip who were downstairs talking to AJ's parents. Thus AJ comes to our house. We have decided that Adam needs to go play at AJ's house before AJ is allowed over at our house again. I'm not sure if we will hold to that but it is worth a try to get Adam to realize that he CAN have fun without Mom and Dad while playing at AJ's house. The last time AJ came over, he and his Dad brought cookies and drinks to share with Adam and Kip. It is sooooo great. AJ's parents seem to have the same feelings about kid's safety and Caren and I do.

Keryn,
I'm am sorry to hear about the little ranting that I hope helped you feel a little better. We have another little boy who rides the bus with Adam but in 1st grade whose parents do not take care of there kids, AT ALL. This little boy is seen walking the streets by himself at the age of 6. He keeps wanting Adam to come over and play but we will not allow it as we know the parents would not care what happened to the kids. Pretty sad really. Another reason we are glad Adam has AJ.

Love you all. SKT

Neighborhood children

The situation:

Ezra and Mercy have some friends that live five houses away, and they come over all the time to play. My kids will go over to their house, sometimes, too, but I'd say that 70% of the time is spent playing in our house or outside of our house. This is okay, in principle, because I would rather have my kids here with their friends than elsewhere. In practice, it sometimes creates problems.

These little friends are good kids, so I don't have a problem with their influence. And goodness knows my children make big enough messes on their own, so the joint mess isn't a problem, either.

But what am I to think when Justin (he's the same age as Ezra) tells me that they can't play at his house today because his mom is taking a nap? This happens probably 4 times out of 5. Once he even told me that his mom told him to go play at Ezra's house and not to come home for at least an hour.

The child is six, so I have to take everything he says with a grain of salt. Maybe Mom told him that he couldn't play on the Wii (or something) for the next hour, so he might as well go play with Ezra. Or maybe she told him ONCE that she was going to take a nap, so please don't bring Ezra and Mercy back with him.

But sometimes I feel like I'm providing free babysitting, and it bothers me a little. When they are all playing outside, I feel much less "burdened", but when they are in house, it gets crazy and I have to mediate and soothe and intervene and remind. It's not relaxing. I sure don't want to punish my children or her children by sending them home all the time. But I won't lie, when Justin tells me his mom is napping, sometimes I feel like just sending them home. Isn't that terrible?

(Less annoying is the fact that they ALWAYS want something to eat while they are here. I've decided to deal with that by simply saying "no", unless it's snack time for my kids, too. Then we'll break out the graham crackers or whatever. They also really love the ice and water dispenser, which is occasionally trouble because nobody remembers whose cup is whose.)

Okay, while I've been venting here, Justin and Alyssa asked for something to eat. I said, "No, sorry, it's almost dinner." Justin then went into the kitchen and stared at the crackers while telling Ezra "he just couldn't help it, he was so hungry". At which point, I said, "Then I guess it is time to go home, if you are that hungry." So they gathered their coats and toys and went home.

Now Ezra is mad at me, because he didn't want them to go home yet.

Update

Thanks for asking Telima!! During week 2, I didn't lose anything, but I didn't gain anything either. Shauna tells me week 2 is like that. As of the beginning of week three, though (weeks are Saturday to Saturday), I've lost two more pounds- so it's looking better!!!

My program is as follows- exercise as many days as I can- about 20 minutes with the 30 Day Shred video my roommate talked me into buying ($9.00 at Walmart). I am trying for 4 days a week. So far I've hit three days on week 1 and four on week 2.

Mostly, it's watching what I am eating. I log food onto the Calorie Counter web site which helps me realize what I am eating. That definitely helps because it gets me thinking about what I am going to eat because I know I will have to log it before I even begin eating. The program also has a log activity part. Based on those two things, the program give me a projected target date in which I will have lost my 20 pounds. If I see that day get farther away, I up my workouts and lower my calorie intake. It's useful.

Anyway, that's my program- made up though it is, it seems to be working!!

Love you all and I love your blog Telima, even though you haven't written anything yet today.

New Years Resolution

In keeping with LaDale's New Year's resolution, I have one of my own. And I also need help with it. Don't worry. It won't be hard. I've decided to start a blog about our family. I've called it Sweet Peas - Tales from the Smith Family. The thing is, I know me. And I know that I won't write in it if I don't have someone checking up on me. Because you are my family, I trust you more than just about anyone else. My goal is to write in it every week day, giving myself Saturday and Sunday off, starting tomorrow. Mostly it will be about our family and the every day things that I find amusing or important that happen in our lives - a sort of journal of our family life. And I want to be good at it. So, please check up on me. You don't have to read it every day, but as long as I know someone is reading it and expecting me to update, I will. Thank you guys so much! Love you all!

(P.S. LaDale, how's it going? I cheered for you when you said you'd lost 5 pounds! That's fantastic! Have you lost any more? And what is your exercise routine? I'm curious because I would love to lose 20 pounds myself, I'm just not sure yet that I want it enough...=) Love you!)

Notice anything?

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

What do you think about this for an announcement?

I saw this on a friends post on Facebook. I had to pass it along.

The very existance of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Sing Sweet Nightingale...

(Taken with my webcam on New Year's Eve, 2009)

Cutesy overload...(shiver)

So I'm announcing my pregnancy on my blog tomorrow, at 12 weeks, and I thought to myself, "Self, I wonder what one of those "pregnancy tickers" would look like. Most of them are so cutesy I can't handle it. But surely I can find some that aren't ridiculous...right?

Some of the stuff, while not what I was looking for, is kinda fun:
My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Some of it is so...something...that I can't stand it. Don't you think an alluring picture of a slip-clad pregnant woman is a perfect addition to Momma Volcano?

Pregnancy Counter at WiddlyTinks.com

This one, no joke, is called "Barnyard Animal Pregnancy Ticker". Ummmmm...barnyard animal???
Pregnancy Tickers

Here's the only one I even remotely like:

And I don't like it very much.

And then I actually looked at the numbers, saw that I have 197 days of pregnancy left, and got depressed. So much for the tickers.

P.S. If I do end up putting a ticker/countdown, it'll look more like this:

Except without the ad on the top.

Progress

I lost 5 pounds this week!!!!

Yes, I know. Those 5 pounds will probably be the easiest I lose and I shouldn't expect that kind of continued loss every week.

So I should celebrate while I can- right!!!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!!

By the way- I hurt. My new exercise routine might kill me before I can cheer about the next five.

Love you all.

The Great Gatsby

So, this semester Benjamin has a new class. Reading. Before now they had lumped reading and English into one class, but the seventh grade is big enough this second half of the year to justify hiring a new teacher and so reading is it. Benjamin came home from school this week and said that they were going to be reading a new classic every two weeks and the first three books were "The Great Gatsby," "Animal Farm," and "Great Expectations." First up, "The Great Gatsby." Benjamin is already more then halfway through it, no surprise there, it's not a very thick book. Today he looked up at me and asked, "Who decided this thing was a classic anyway? It's boring! Nothing is happening!"

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing.

I'm with him on one thing though. Who does get to decide which books are classics? Any chance at all I can get on that committee?

PS. I know that the book titles should be underlined, but I couldn't figure out how to do it, so I did the next best thing.

PPS. We didn't read "The Great Gatsby" until tenth grade. I'm not totally sure Benjamin is ready to deal with the subject matter. Let's face it. All that they do in the whole book is drink, party and sleep around. But I'm not going to make a fuss. Benjamin is able to handle the book on a pure technical level and he and I will simply have a talk once he's finished. "Animal Farm" is another one like that. I know that he knows it's about communism, but I'm not sure he knows what communism is. I guess we'll figure it all out together.

Hello and welcome to the New Year

As always- the New Year means resolution time. Most of us have at least one. I myself have several most, of course, will not last the month, but I am determined to keep at least one.

I want to lose 20 pounds. I know, I know, everyone says, “You not fat”- No I am not, but I am overweight and NOT as healthy as I should be. So that is my goal. I am trying to be realistic- My goal is to loose that 20 pounds before my birthday- in six months!! I believe this is a totally realistic goal which is important and includes watching what I eat and regular exercise. The first won’t be TOO difficult but the second has been practically nonexistent for the past few years. ☹

To help out, I’ve signed up at the following website Calorie Counter- which is a few site I log onto and it keeps track of my data. It includes graphs of weight lose and gain- calories eaten and activity/how many calories burned (exercise). It also has links to other sites with recipes and exercises etc. There is also a place where I can add friends where we can communicate.

SOOOO- I am asking for your help as well. Please ask me about my progress- maybe not everyday, but a couple of times a month just to keep me on my toes. Also, if anyone else would like to join me, you are more than welcome to. I can add you as friends on the site and you can add me. Let me know. (Mom and I talked. Keryn- well you can try, but no matter what you do- I doubt you will be loosing any weight between now and June- July even!).

Well- I’ve been writing this blog for hours now. Shauna keeps coming in to talk and now it is after 10. I go back to school tomorrow- so I NEED to get off and SLEEP. (Which is as important as eating right and exercising- at least for me).