Remember that awesome new......

nail polish my friend gave me for my birthday?................

Let me repeat that....... Remember that awesome new nail polish my friend gave ME for my birthday?

Apparently, Aleeya didn't get the memo.

Newest Smith Addition

Okay, so it's not official YET, but Brooks' brother, Gabe is getting married in July (in Orlando) to the cutest girl ever, Adriana. If you don't believe me, check these out!!!!!

Their pictures turned out AMAZING and there were many more I didn't even see, but these two are just so photogenic! If there was ever a beautiful match made in heaven, this is it.

We are sooooooo excited for it to become official.

Camden was looking at these pictures and I asked who it was, and he said, "Tio Gabe". Then I asked who the girl was and he didn't know. I said it was "Tia Adriana". He looked at her and said, "What language does she speak? Spanish or English?" I told him both. Then he smiled real big and said, "Hey, she's JUST LIKE ME!"

Look who has decided.......

TO TAKE OFF!!!!!!!!!

AND FAST!!!!

In fact, while I was uploading these she had walked right into the bathroom to play in the toilet.......over the years my ears have been trained to hear that sound a mile away!

But seriously, isn't she just the cutest?!

Sneaky Sleeper

This is how I found Camden during one of his naps last week......

Maybe I didn't clarify that when "we don't have toys in our beds", I should've said, "TOYS OR ANYTHING ELSE.......ESPECIALLY TOOLS!!!"

It's like he laid it out perfectly just to show me that he IS "the Sneak Man" (what he calls himself) and was able to get it past me.

But seriously.......pliers?!?!?!?

I leave the kids alone with Brooks for 1 hour........

And LOOK what happens!!!!

They caught this by our back yard.........

They knew they should just grab him by the tail.......this is as CLOSE as Aleeya got to him/her(?)

Then Brooks showed them to hold it RIGHT by the neck and squeeze, then wrap it around their neck. Great, huh.

Camden tried it too.

For the record.........they are NOT poisonous. We found 3 of these LAST year. I guess they (in theory) COULD bite, but no harm would happen. His name is Clark. I have and WILL not touch Clark (just ones at museums.....that's my rule)........and Brooks wants to hide it in the beds of the Preston and Mason (Brooks' friends) who are staying with us now.

Anyone want to come visit us? :)

Smarty Pantalones

I love Bronson's school. For those of you who don't know, it's a Magnet school that has an International emphasis. Bronson's classes are taught in Spanish. His 1st grade teacher is on a teaching visa from Chile. He DOES have English class/words taught from another teacher for a small part of his day. (It's supposed to be 70% pure Spanish during the day and 30% being in English.....that part including his "specials" like PE, music, art, library etc.) Anyway, this is one of those proud parenting moments when your child comes home with a perfect spelling test grade (he has a Spanish test and English test every Friday). So this isn't new, because 95% of the time he gets perfect scores, but I wanted to mention here what words he did this week:

1. centimetros

2. merengue

3. galon

4. hermano

5. hamburguesa

6. mariposa

7. blanco

8. despues

9. primero

10. rectangular

11. biblioteca

12. anaranjado

13. esfera

14. pulgadas

15. capacidad

16. zoologico

17. semillas

18. travesura

19. crisalida

20. arriba

Okay, okay so I may be missing the Spanish accents thrown in, but you get the idea. I even had to ask him what esfera and crisalida were. Great, now it starts.......the whole kid-knows-more-then-parents thing. I've already surrendered that though when it comes to animal knowledge!

All right, bragging done.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

AHHHH! I'm officially 29!

SUPER CRAZY!

I still feel like I'm 22.

I had a FANTASTIC birthday week (since we Degn kids all think our birthdays should last a whole week.....and we DRAW it out!.....and I did just that.)

My official birthday was last Wednesday. I went and got a massage that day, got a surprise Smoothie from Brooks and later that night picked up my parents for their visit.

Quick history:

When I was little we would always have a birthday dinner on the Sunday closest to our birthdays where we picked the menu. Then we had cake, presents and included in the presents was a "junk box". All of us kids saved it until the last to open because it was our favorite. It's a box of all our favorite foods......that are JUST OURS!!!! You didn't have to share. Growing up in a family of 8 kids.....well, that was HUGE. So when Mom asked what I wanted for my birthday, I said, "A Junk box and a birthday dinner".....because I haven't had EITHER since I've been married and I wanted to feel like a kid again.

History done.

Sooooooooo, on Sunday, we all chipped in and made steak, asparagus (because the store didn't have artichokes....by favorite food), fruit salad, mashed potatoes and gravy.

Then we had a white cake that was layered, but between the layers were peach and raspberry sherbet. Super yummy. With a lime/whipped cream topping.

THEN came the main event.....my junk box. Here is what I got:

(Because Iris ate my the other day)

(Fruit smoothie drinks)

Chocolate covered raisins (don't worry, they were in a bag and not just loose)

pistachios

My sister sent the biggest bag possible of Swedish fish.....yummy!

I have NO clue where they found the oh so delicious artichoke.

Only-in-Utah-chocolate-covered-cinnamon bears

Mamao. (Or a big papaya)....but mine looked better. It was HUGE, dark orange and the MOST flavorful one I've had since living in Brazil. I had an ulcer in Brazil and the doctor told me to eat one of these each morning for breakfast (rough huh...) and it just took me back to those days!!!

My junk box ROCKED.

Not only THAT, but Brooks got me tickets to the U.S. National Figure Skating Championship for me and my sister to go next January!!!!!! I can't wait....but obviously, I'm going to have to.

But that's not all. I've got the best friends ever.

-My friend Amanda dropped by some REAL fruit leather (one of my FAVS!!)

-Andrea brought me nail polish and strawberries/brown sugar/cream dessert

-a few of my friends surprised me with breakfast and TONS of lotion and hand soap (does that mean I have to wash my kids' hands now?)

-Ann made me a CUTE pin to wear

-and I JUST drove in my driveway from FOUR stores looking for electric blankets (with 4 kids) and was a little pooped and my friend Rachel (who just had a baby and doesn't need to be thinking of me right now) had left some BUBBLY (A&W rootbeer), Skittles, NIPS and a rockin' poem to go with it all! (I know you're all thinking I posted Nips as my favorite thing right before my birthday as part of an evil plan to get some........which you would be wrong..........but whatever effect it had, I'm GRATEFUL)

It was a pretty awesome birthday.........week.

Check out who's 4!!!!

I took this picture because I think it's the funniest one.......

but first, let me explain. I let my kids invite who they want to their parties and usually put a number limit on it (and the whole family comes along too). Since my Dad was doing a magic show I let him invite 4 friends/families and these are the friends he picked:

He LOVES "Mr. Spencer" and wanted to make sure he came! :)

Here's some pictures from the magic show. (Yes, Aleeya IS in pjs, but her aunt just sent them to her and she wore them almost everyday since we opened it.)

And his cake. He wanted a RAINBOW cake like we saw on my friend's HSF blog so the cake has a TON of colors for the batter. He was SUPER excited and LOVED it, and that's saying a lot because he doesn't usually care for cake. (After grabbing the dinosaurs off, we all just looked at each other and said, "Who needs presents now?!?!" He was perfectly happy with the dinosaurs!)

How did my baby boy grow up so fast?!?!??

The Visit....that my kids have WAITED and WAITED for....

And they were NOT disappointed, because there was a lot of this:

And this.........

And definitely more of this.......

isn't that all that kids want anyway?

ZOO ACTION

I just HAVE to start with the BEST picture ever!!!!!

Isn't that just the best one of Aleeya and my Dad??!?!

Aleeya LOVED riding the lion at the Asheboro Zoo. I still can't believe it but we spent 6 hours there!!!!! The kids were great.

(painting with water............MY KIND OF PAINT!)

Fishing for tadpoles.....um......bear style. (I made sure this was our last stop in the zoo for obvious reasons.)

We had a blast.

The Kevinator

I'm sure you can tell by the pictures how excited Emerson was about Kevin, the pinata (from "Up"). Infact, I couldn't keep him AWAY from him.

I even found him snuggled up next to him the day before the party. I was actually SHOCKED he made it to the party in one piece.

Look at the smug/content look that kid has on his face.

I'll post pictures later of the party and my parents' visit, but while I had a quick moment, I thought I would hurry and post a couple of the pinata that SOUNDED like a great idea but ended up taking a little more jimmy-rigging to make it turn out. (as in taping the neck to the wall so it could dry straight while attaching the head........I could go on and on of the tricks I had to pull in making this happen..........but none of that really mattered after I saw the look on his face when he first saw it!) Totally worth it all.

Kevin

THIS is what Emerson wants for his pinata for his party this weekend.....................wish me luck.

Perfect

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

The kids woke up to their Easter baskets and I asked Aleeya who gave it to her and she said, "WENDY!!!!!" The reason I tell you this is because Wendy gives her EVERYTHING. We went over to their house on Easter for lunch/Conference and Wendy gave her even more things.

Here is Aleeya showing off the socks Wendy made for her with beads that make sounds when she walks/jumps (she loves them) and also Wendy showing Aleeya where all the eggs are for the egg hunt.

The Terrys were there too. It was soooo fun. The boys played in the creek while we watched Aleeya follow Wendy around and ate. The kids were EXHAUSTED by the time we left.......

do you need proof? Here it is.

(Yep, that IS my baby girl covered in chocolate, happy and asleep on the car way home)

On Saturday while listening conference I freezer cooked...... for the whole month! Aleeya even helped out cutting the mushrooms. :) Don't you just love her Dora bandaids on her knees. That girl is ALWAYS falling down!

Here's the tally of what was finished:

- Chicken Carbonara x 3

- Mexican Chili x 2

- Chicken Tortilla soup

-BBQ meatballs

-Chicken Taco Bake

-Shepherd's Pie x 3 (divided into meat and veggie bags because the boys won't eat as much with the veggies mixed in)

- Upside Down Pizza x 3

-Palace Chicken x 3 (just the veggies cut up and ready)

- 2 bags cooked chicken

- cooked hamburger and sausage to throw into recipes

- 8 batches pureed strawberries to make jam when needed (we found strawberries for .99 a carton this week and got 19 cartons......that was Brooks' job, cutting up strawberries during Conference!)

- Bag of cut up strawberries for smoothies/strawberry lemonade

-Lemon chess bars individually wrapped

- 36 Saucy Mini Meatloaves (my kids LOVE them)

The only things I didn't get done that I wanted was to pre-make some deli sandwiches and PB&J sandwiches for when my parents come so we can just throw them in the lunch bag when we go to museums and the zoo this week!!!

And JUST TO SEE IF I COULD, I wanted to fit all those meals in my teeny side-by-side freezer (since many think you need a deep freezer to freezer cook) and IT FIT!!!! Of course there were already things in there, like the top shelf full of breakfast foods for Brooks in the morning, juices, cookie doughs, cheeses, etc. But I got it nice and packed! So I guess it IS do-able with out the deep freezer........but I'm just glad I don't have to!!!!!!

(and cleaning out the freezer gave me an added bonus finding that I had burritos, homemade spaghetti sauce and BBQ chicken that I had forgotten about! SWEET!)

I just couldn't help but think what a perfect weekend it was. While listening to General Conference (8 hours broken up over the weekend of listening to the church leaders, the 12 Apostles on the earth day and our Living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson) I was able to cook on Saturday, snuggle a sleeping Emerson on Sunday, share it with friends, and ponder on ways to better my life and my relationship with my Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ............like I said, perfect.

Whoops, how could I forget?!?!

AND WE DID PLENTY OF THIS TOO!!!!!!!!

Spring Break

We've had an AWESOME spring break. A few highlights:

-no having to get up early with everyone! :)

-Brooks was on call one night and the boys and I went to parks after parks, McD's for icecream and movie night! (After which Bronson said, "I LIKE Spring Break")

-Greensboro Zoo/Nature Center (see pics below)

-Sciworks Musuem

-Girl's temple trip

-Easter Egg Hunt

-and more parks

Here's Emerson and da boys sliding down the rock trail.

Bronson's new talent.................almost doing a full Chinese split.

Camden liking the moves being put on him by Ella

Aleeya, dangerously close to a smelly situation

Camden and the goat (both seem to be used to pictures by their poses)

A few of my peeps on a girl's night out/Temple Trip to Raleigh (one hour and a half away)

It was super neat going through the temple with some of my girls, and ESPECIALLY going through right before Easter weekend. You couldn't HELP but think of the true meaning.

After we went to IHOP, which was closed (BOO!), then Chick-Fil-A- closed, then ended up at Chili's where we laughed and PIGGED out and laughed some more. I got home at 1:45 am. I haven't done THAT since college. Crazy.

Here are the kids in front of our tulips opening up!!!!! I love them soooo much (oh, and I love my kids too) and they remind me of spring in all it's glory!!!

If you're wondering why they have bunny ears on, we just went and saw the Easter Bunny.....and Aleeya did just that, SAW the Easter bunny and did NOT want to go close.

Oh, did you notice our awesome chipmunk hole right by Aleeya? They put it there as part of their strategy to eat ALL my blueberries on my bushes. Sneaky little things. But this year, I will prevail......not sure how yet, but I will.

Phew!

I got what I wanted done before the sales last week and Harris Teeter's triple coupons week ended. AND since I haven't posted deal pictures for a while. Here are the ones from this week.

(for the car emergency kit)

Now this next picture could've been better, but as many of you know, I'm a muffin freak and Duncan Hines are my fav. Each of those boxes were about $1.10 each, so considering I had 7 of those boxes I did pretty well.

(I also went back later and got 5 more of the boxes of baby crackers for our food storage)

I didn't put ALL 20 packs in the picture, but you get the idea.

I was in desperate WANT for laminating sheets, so I was pretty excited about this one.

My personal fav.

I ended up ordering these coupons and the tortilla coupons on ebay so I could get more, obviously. These rice cakes are actually super bien and my kids love them. Too bad for them only 8 of them are for us now, the rest are in our food storage/72 hour kit (talk about light weight)! We've implemented a new rule around here, with the things I stock up on and get free that would be good food storage items, 80% goes to food storage and we can eat the rest now. Why you ask? Well, ever since we got 40 boxes of Special K granola bars and 40 boxes of Special K cereal in January, the kids and I have eaten a TON of it already......as in 8 boxes of granola bars left and 15 boxes of cereal! So what good is having an ever-changing food storage if we don't see it grow and get filled with more yummy things!!!!!????