Smiths invade the Nativity

Our church had their Christmas party earlier in the month. As the Yeti full of 6 VERY-believing kids pulled into a parking spot I stared right ahead of me.....in the fuzzy church nursery window.....and pretty-darn-clear-as-day, there was Santa. Iris yelled, "there's Santa, BUT HE HAS BROWN HAIR!!!!" Apparently we pulled right by the room where Santa was changing and before he put his wig on. Great.

"Of COURSE he has brown hair Iris" I said, "because that's not the REAL Santa. The real one is too busy making your toys! But this one delivers the messages to him."

*please let that work, please let that work*

So here's the really-brown-haired-fake-messenger Santa with some of the kids.

I love it when they get on the lap and mention something that you  have never heard of before in your life.....Thanks Aleeya! Kellyn (who is OBSESSED with "Ho-Ho" wouldn't sit on him. She wouldn't even tell him what she wanted, she just whispered "Merry Kissmas". Everly was SCARED to death!!!!! Which it wouldn't be Christmas without ONE of my kids screaming about getting near Santa.

This party was on a Friday night. On Wednesday the woman in charge called and asked my family to do her a favor for the party. But before she said, "I'm assuming every Christmas Eve your family acts out the nativity, right?"  "Um, no. We READ it, but my family isn't really the acting and always-cooperating type" "Oh, but still, can your family read and act out the Nativity for the end of the dinner activity. We wanted things to end on a spiritual note."

First of all, if wanting to end ANYTHING on a "spiritual note" my family shouldn't be who you ask. Secondly, I knew FULL WELL I would get an all-out revolt from my family, starting with my husband. But lastly, this poor lady had her hands SUPER full and clearly needed someone to step in and help.

So I said yes and told her she asked the right Smith, because Brooks would've flat out said no or gotten out of it somehow. "No he wouldn't have. Brooks ALWAYS is so helpful"

"Trust me on this one, he would've said no. But I've said yes, so we will do it. It might not be pretty but we will try"

When I told Brooks the "Exciting News" I knew I would get the, "Why didn't you tell her no? I would have" response I expected. I also got some resistence from the older two. Emerson was ALL excited to be whatever (which is why I assigned him two roles) as well as the other kids.

Thursday was full of flag football so it was basically a hour on Friday we had as a family to figure it all out, rip up some sheets and cut some pillow cases.

When I assigned parts and saw our "run through" it FINALLY dawned on me why she asked my family. It wasn't because of our talent or our obvious reverence for sacred things (as young kids tend to have).......it was because we were the only family that had enough people to fill all the roles!!!!!

After bribing with QT slushies after, I finally had a full dressed-up Nativity cast. Some are a little less thrilled then others....

Angels ready to go on stage.

Joseph, Mary and the donkey ready to go on stage.

And the sheep, NOT ready to go on stage. The lady who asked us walked in to see if we were ready and Everly ran right to her as if she would be rescued.....

I was actually the narrator and stood in front reading. Brooks was like, "HOW did the person who said YES to this and grew UP liking drama and dressing up get stuck being the narrator while the rest of us are dressed up?!?!?" It was simple gender assignment.....we needed a male shepherd so he was that and I was narrating. When you're the director, you can make those decisions. Now QUIET back stage!

First one to come out was Joseph.....with his bathrobe opening so his skelton shirt and rain boots were visible and his head dress falling off.....but hey, he was smiling

Then instead of Mary stuffing the baby up her dress (as practiced) Mary just came in on the donkey like this, and the donkey put the baby in the manger. Isn't that how the story goes anyway?

Then entered the (HANDSOME) shepherd and his sheep......that kept trying to escape.

"And lo, an angel of the Lord appeared until them saying......"

No matter Mary was more interested in her tongue but hey at least the sheep was now still.

Then a multitude of angels (in the form of Iris) were SUPPOSED to come and never did. The first angel grabbed her and brought her out so they could recite, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good" "God" "NO, it says GOOD" "GOODwill toward men"

By the time the (arguing) angels left Mary and Joseph were losing interest and needing to rest. Then again, birthing a baby IS hard work.

Then came the three wise guys....... I mean wise men (thanks to Burger King crowns) bringing gifts. Maybe Mary DID need kleenex with hormones and all, so Bronson's gift seemed practical enough to me.

This is Camden's, "They rejoiced with exceeding great joy" face when they came in and saw the babe lying in a manger......kinda neglected by its parents whose bedtime it was WELL past at this point.

The End

Best part is, we sealed the deal to never be asked to do ANYTHING with a  "spiritual tone" again. 

So yay for that.

Christmas Parties

I LOVE parties!!! Especially parties where it's just the adults!!!!

So when Brooks told me his work was having a party at his boss' house, I couldn't WAIT. Brooks didn't want to go and was probably hoping I wouldn't feel healthy enough to go. :)

This would ALSO be my FIRST time meeting all his co-workers and them meeting me! (The sickly prego lady that all of them had been praying for, I guess, and sticking me on their church prayer lists)

Here we are, ready to go! (16 weeks prego here)

I had a blast, and the food was SUPER. (It was katered) I even ALMOST won the whole game of Scattergories with everyone but lost by one point! Arg. Besides me mentioning our boys liking to make pee-circles in the snow, I think the night was a success. 

(Sometimes I wonder if I should be allowed in public!)

The next party I couldn't wait to go to was my friend's Ugly Sweater/White Elephant Party on December 23rd. 

There were also going to be BIGTIME prizes for the sweater winners and games.

I had found some normal sweaters at Goodwill at the first of December. (apparently a prego belly grows a TON in three weeks and mine ended up being kinda short by the party, but I just threw a shirt under it)

EVERYONE at the party were HUGE Clemson fans, so the ugliest thing to THEM would probably be someone showing up in their biggest state rivals team colors/sweater. So that's what I made for Brooks. 

Go Gamecocks?

(Brooks is SUCH a good sport. He HATES dressing up and it was the itchiest wool sweater ever. Not to mention he had a fever and chills and had been feeling awful at work all day. BUT he knew how badly I wanted to go so he didn't even suggest not going.)

Since I HAVE something no one else at the party had, I decided to use my belly to my advantage and create this:

18 weeks and HUUUUUUUUGE now.

(the belly just came out of no where and "popped right out".....or at least that's what I hear EVERY DAY from ANYONE with a MOUTH!)

We didn't end up winning any sweater awards, but heck, it was still fun to try to create them. (and sneak the elf out of the house w/o the kids knowing and attaching it to my shirt and covering him up.....it was like a spy mission!)

There were quite a few games though....and I told Brooks we WOULD go home with a winning prize. I thought we had it too when we made it to the finals against another couple for throwing Reese's and Brooks catching them in his mouth......but we LOST!

My prego-light-headedness is to blame for me losing my lead in the "sucking" game. I lost by a few M&Ms. Unbelievable.

Apparently, I'm not a champion in the candy cane moving department either.

I could just FEEL each loss go through our fingers over and over again.

I even resorted to using my teeth in this game and STILL came out prize-less!

Pretty sure I also pulled a ligament trying to shake the "junk"/bells out of my trunk. #loser

Brooks FINALLY came through for us though when he and his friend won the reindeer game thanks to Brooks' master balloon-speed-blowing-up skills!

The men

Women

If there's ONE thing I get really into, it's a white elephant gift exchange. (nothing over $5-ish bucks) I LOVE thinking of something creative or anything that might bring a smile. Since there was two of us, he had to bring two gifts to give. 

Here was the first one:

If you haven't heard of "Poo-pourri" (or seen their commercial!!!) then I guess it wouldn't be funny. :)

Earlier in the week I saw a friend post something that she had gotten from a work gift exchange. As SOON as I saw it, I showed Brooks and said, "THAT is what I want to make for our other gift! Now you just have to teach me how to use a drill gun."

I guess those were the magic words because my husband ALSO thought it was funny but more importantly he likes using his drill gun. 

So I found a shelf ($4) at Goodwill and a baby doll. ($1)

Brooks made the whole thing for me!!!!!! (I love him) and then I sanded it at the end.

Here's the shelf we made!

hahahaha

The couple who received the gift is actually the only people who would ACTUALLY put this up in their house. He said he can't wait to hang his keys on a thumbs up sign everyday.

BWHAHAHA.

Tryouts and Lessons Learned

Trying out for anything can be scary. In November Bronson tried out for the middle school basketball team and Emerson tried out for chorus.

It actually SURPRISED me that Emerson wanted to do chorus but when he told me he tried out and made it, I thought, "Yes, I will pick you up from school on all your practice-after-school days. Good for you!" Anyone who has the nerve to try out with the option of NOT getting picked gets two huge thumbs up from me.

Emerson takes things seriously when given a task. So I wasn't surprised when they gave him a CD to all the Christmas songs that he played it and played it aaaaaaaand PLAYED it.

I wasn't given much detail on the program. Just that he was an army guy and I had to buy him camo stuff. I showed up that night to see this cute little army guy take his role quite seriously.

Chorus is made up of 4th and 5th graders, which meant Emerson was smaller and right smack on the front row. He knew EVERY word to the songs. Then he would look back and start traffic-ing people down and up the bleachers when it was there parts.

What's funny is that he had lines and all to memorize but they were all said by the 4 army guys together. I could hear Emerson's voice loud and clear though. He was on stage for hardly ANY time but DEFINITELY took it seriously. (short little one third from left)

At the end I introduced myself to the choir director as Emerson's mom (sometimes I hesitate to do that......it might not ALWAYS be a good thing, you know.....) and she smiled and said, "Emerson was the FIRST person to know ALL the words to the songs and his lines." 

No. surprise. there.

As I mentioned Bronson had basketball try-outs as well. It's something he's waited basically his whole life to do. You can't play here until 7th grade and it's on a 7th and 8th grade COMBINED team.

It was a three-day long try out period. On Monday, the first day, Bronson took an extra bag with his basketball clothes and shoes in. These KDs (Kevin Durrant shoes) are the shoes he saved up for last year to buy. I would be embarrassed if I told you how much he spent on them, but he loved them. Anyway, during the school day he had left his bag in the locker room during gym time and someone stole his shoes out of the bag. Bronson called me after school asking me to hurry and take him to buy new shoes but then he would miss practice and DEFINITELY not make the team. The poor kid was really shook up about it and I felt so bad for him.

The try out went okay for him though even w/o his nice shoes. He had people tell him all the time how he would definitely make the team and how he kept "breaking their ankles", etc. He felt pretty confident about the whole thing.

That night he and Brooks went and bought shoes with the money Bronson was saving up for new ones. We had a friend one time tell us what he told his son about buying super-fancy-name-brand ANYTHING. He told his boy,
"I'll buy the shoes, you buy the COOL."
Meaning, I will spend as much as I was going to spend on new shoes ANYWAY, but if you want a certain brand/kind that is MORE then that, they you can spend your money on the "Cool".

So that's what they did. We bought him shoes and Bronson bought the cool. Cool in the form of bright orange high tops. :)

Anyway, the second day of try-outs went well. While I waited for him to come out I saw all the other kids walk out and realized a few things: 

1) there is a BIG difference in body size between a 7th and an 8th grader

2) there is a BIG difference in the size of a Caucasian 7th grader and another 7th grader.

Now I'm not racist or anything but certain races mature a little faster than others. So when someone is already shaving and have definition in their arms and chest, they kiiiiiiiinda look a little different then my boy. And then I start wondering if he really WILL make the team!

 Everyone assured him at practice he would. HE knew he was in the top 8 7th graders (only 8 were being picked from 7th grade), and definitely one of the better dribblers. But I was still worried.

WHY are try-outs so much worse on PARENTS THEN THE KID?!?!?!

The last day when coach sat down one-on-one with each kid to tell them their "fate" I waited outside all nervous. I KNEW this meant everything to him and I just didn't want him disappointed.

I saw him walking down the hallway toward my van and when he saw me, he smiled. 

I immediately was reassured.

Bronson gets in the car and I asked, "So did you make it?"

"Nope."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Then why were you smiling?"

"Because I'm one of the two team managers!!!"

*pause*

"Well.....that's GREAT! Congrats!" (I think?) "What will you be in charge of?"

Anyway, we talked and talked and apparently the team had too many guards trying out (which is the position Bronson's size would play) but coach liked him and wanted him as team manager. He would get to go to all the practices and practice most of the time with them, clean up cones, etc., come to games and sit on the bench in their cool shirts and "pump the team up". Never setting foot on the court during a real game but involved in every other aspect.

I couldn't help but sit back and just be amazed. There I was, all worried and disappointed at the news and my boy obviously would've rather MADE the team, but was content and looking forward to the alternative challenge instead. What an attribute that will be beneficial to him all his life!!!

I thought, "This kid is gonna be fine".

In life and any disaapointment...... he is going to be fine.

Sneaky Sleepers and Sassy Stylin'

Christmas is over and I WILL catch up on my blog this week! And while I'm home from church today because of two girls with lovely rashes all over their faces, I figured now is as good a time as any, right?

My kids love to sleep together.  I only let them when it's NOT a school night though. Royce always asks me, "Is it a school night?" so he can know if he can sleep with a brother or sister.

It's actually super sweet.

And I love checking on them at nights.

This night was just the three girls in Aleeya's bed. They didn't want Royce with them that night because he had a lot to drink for dinner......and........well........I'll just leave it at that.

There is ONE bed we don't let them co-sleep in, and it's Everly's crib. (I know, I've NEVER had a baby in a crib still at this age. Usually they are kicked out at 15 months for the next baby, so apparently she's kinda spoiled still).

One night when I went to go check on them sleeping Royce's door was locked.

Never. a. good. sign.

When I unlocked his door, I found him IN Everly's crib and obviously making him just riiiiiiight comfortable in it. Not worrying about what position Everly has to be in to accomodate him or anything.

The next morning we told him he couldn't climb in her bed at night. 1)because she's a BABY and the crib is small and 2) because the crib is really on it's leg anyway. Apparently 8 babies going through it can be rough on something?

Well, true to form, Royce did NOT listen and once again I found the door locked, with him in her bed.

I will admit, my heart warmed a little. Because he just loves her so much.

I wasn't the only thing that was warmed though.......poor Everly was the victim of sleeping with Royce after a night of a lot of drinking on his part.......and her head wasn't in the right spot either.

And I'm adding this picture just because........

everyone deserves a smile.

I really SHOULD be still taking pictures of Aleeya everyday when she goes to school now, but I forget and do my best to pretend that whatever she puts on it normal. (I let her pick whatever she wants to wear every day) But she wears high heels or pumps to school EVERYDAY except Wednesdays, when she has gym. 

Her teacher always tells me Aleeya's outfits brings a smile to her face all the time.

This picture Brooks took before her hair was done. Apparently she went all sporty with pretty shoes? But what I like about this picture is it sums up our mornings pretty well. Kids on counter, scriptures still out from early-morning-scripture-reading, me in my bathrobe cooking breakfast. Yep....this is us, every morning.

I'm not sure why she was so angry this morning at me and crying. Your guess is as good as mine. (However it MIGHT because when I asked her to brush her teeth. Or that the boys beat her outside so she couldn't get on first. Or maybe I just looked at her? You never know nowadays)

BUT, she CAN pull off zebra high heels and jeans with the best of them.

It kinda goes from getting notes from her saying I'm the "BEST mom in the whole world" and she loves me more then anything!.....to getting notes like this passed to me during church.

#iloveeveryoneexceptmom

The estrogen force is great in this house.

Royce is 5

With a birthday being at the FIRST of a month, RIGHT after Thanksgiving when you don't feel on top of your game ANYWAY.....well, it can really sneak up on ya. So on Thursday of the week of his birthday (on Saturday, Dec. 5th), I remembered his birthday. And it should probably be celebrated.....

I quickly texted some of the moms of his friends and started on an easy piñata shape that we could pull off fast. It works because Legos happen to be his favorite thing anyway.

I also let him paint the whole thing too. He was in heaven!

His black Lego piñata turned out perfect and he was thrilled.

Brooks was actually working that day, which I knew when I planned it, but I WASN'T planning on feeling so awful that day. One of the worst days in a while.....which is where my ULTRA-likes-to-be-in-charge Emerson (aka- "party planner" and "traffic controller") came in REAL handy. Intact, I didn't even ASK him, he just ASSUMES he's in charge I guess.

Here he is running the whole "Run-around-the-house-with-weapons-making-ninja-noises" game. And calling kids out when they aren't following the "rules".....the he kept making up as the game went along.

Everyone at the table for pizza and oranges.

For Royce's presents, he happened to get weapons from all three of his friends. LOTS of them. 

I went to go throw the wrapping paper away.

When I came back in Emerson had all the weapons on the couch spread out and everyone was in a line ready for their turn to pick which weapon they could play with.

The funny thing is, even CAMDEN sat back and listened to Emerson's rules. He even raised his hand to ask EMERSON a question!

Then Royce got his Ninjago/Lego (that did NOT turn out in the shape of a Lego, but he didn't care) ice cream cake.

He had a great party and I have no idea how it was pulled off..... actually, I do..... Emerson.

That night Royce opened up the gifts from us. 

Of course he got his junk box (that never lasts longer then 24 hours)

And a Ninjago Kai's Jet.

I love how I give a lego set and then the boys play sit together forever putting it together. Emerson usually is the Lego-builder.

The finished product. (obviously, they are brothers). I just LOVE their smiles. 

With Royce turning 5 it also means that next year he will start kindergarten! In the Spanish Immersion school the kids go to the upcoming children need to be evaluated before they can be accepted into the program.

Great.

My kid that talks ALL the time but no one can understand him is going to get evaluated and if he DOESN'T get in, then it meant he would be going to another school then the other 3 elementary aged kids next year. That didn't sound fun. 

So we really worked on his ABC's. He had them pretty good.....enough......or at least better then Iris had them for her evaluation (AND SHE GOT IN). He knew his colors. His name and he knew how to count from 1-10 without skipping numbers. He actually can count higher and does well but for SOME reason he would ALWAYS skip 10. He would go from 9 straight to 11. I knew she would have him count to 10, so before he could eat or anything we would make him count and NOT leave out 10.

On the evaluation day I had to take Kellyn and Everly with me. We walked into the room with Royce and the FIRST thing she asked him was "What's your name?"

"Woyce"

"Can you write your name here on the paper?"

*GULP*

AHHH!!!!! He CAN write his name but only after copying me do it or me telling him what letter came next. 

I sat and waited. He wrote a "R". Phew. Next came his "Y". Oh well. Then his "O". Then he stopped.

"Royce, can you write a 'C'?" *shakes his head* *me-mentally-face-palming*

"Yes, you can Royce, it's the same as Camden's name"

He writes a C

"Royce, can you write an E?" *shakes his head no*

"It's like Emerson's name". Then he writes it.

Whatever.

She had 10 yellow cubes and asked him to count them.

*please don't forget 10, please don't forget 10*

He starts counting correctly, gets to 9, hesitates, looks at the lady with his sneaky grin then says "10"

PHEW!

Then she said, "Well what color ARE these cubes?"

He shrugs his shoulders.

"Royce, do you know what color this is?" (point to the yellow cubes)

"No"

WHAAAAAAAT?!?!?! Now that is ONE thing he DOES know is his colors!!!! It's only my favorite color and we are ALWAYS using it!

Then she asked him all the other colors and he knew them. Asked him about the yellow cubes again and he shrugged his shoulders.

She moved on to number-identification. Ummmm, TOTALLY didn't work on that yet with him. She held up a flashcard of the number and asked what it was. Let's just say he got 1 and 3 right. 

It was at this point I texted Brooks and said, "Guess I will be homeschooling Royce next year..."

But he HAD to pass the color thing. She asked him AGAIN what color those darn yellow cubes were. Finally I said, "Royce, you KNOW what color that is."

Then he came over and whispered in my ear, "Lellow"

"Yes, it IS that color, why don't you tell HER that answer?!"

"Because I can't say it right."

"Just go tell her anyway"

He walked over to her, she asked what color the cubes were again and under his breath, without making eye-contact he says, "Lellow".

"Well, thank you Mrs. Smith for bringing him in, we will be in contact with you."

Suuuuuuuuure you will.

"We really do enjoy your other children at this school and see them exceling in all their grades and our challenge courses"

Yes, PLEASE remember that and that there's HOPE for Royce in his genes.

The family got a huge kick out of Royce's evaluation when I told them around the table that night. 

I now play Uno about every morning over and over with him (number recognition when we say them outloud) and we playing matching games with flashcards. Not to mention buying him that singing Leapfrog letter bus for the fridge for Christmas. We may have failed that darn evaluation but the kid will be ready when fall comes.

MUUUUUCH to our suprise, he ended up getting accepted to the Spanish immersion school with his brothers and sisters. 

I just forwarded the letter to Brooks with the words, "Miracles never cease".

He's really looking forward to riding on the "lellow bus"

Heaven help his teacher.