I promise.........

I really DO feed my child

Really.

And even though Calvin is only 3 or 4 weeks older then Iris, they still look about the same size.

Right?

We just added 2 more to our clan for the Labor Day weekend, Calvin and Annie.

Aleeya LOVES Annie

AND the fact that Annie shares her pajamas with her.

AND the fact that she has someone else to.....well.......

pull "Aleeya stunts" with.

But, if Annie and Cal want to come to a fun home, this is it.

I mean, really. We know how to show some kids a good time by.......

TAKING THEM WITH US TO CLEAN THE CHURCH!!!!

Yes, the most fun outing while babysitting award goes to us.

(Thanks to all those that made it possible by voting for us)

The girls were in charge of picking up trash in the hallway.

And then these go-getters just took it upon themselves to take over the serenading responsibilities.

What would we have done without THAT?!?!

Camden and Emerson were in charge of vacumning out the benches.

And yes, it IS a dirty job, so Emerson is fully justified in wearing those gloves.

Don't be fooled by this next shot, Bronson wasn't as thrilled as he looks to be doing this.

Then we DESPERATELY needed someone to take on the tedious task of

taking nursery toy inventory.

Someone's gotta do it, right?

I didn't even GET a picture of Iris' most top secret and most important job of all.

But she was in charge of taking all the door stops and hiding them in REALLY top secret places, and if I TOLD you where she hid them (as if I know)

she would have to kill you..........or at least give you some of her slobbery open mouth kisses.

But don't you think for a SECOND that our fun weekend with Annie and Cal is over.

No sir-ee.

As SOON as they wake up from their naps (yes, all 7 are down)

we're going to play

WEED-LOVE-TO-WEED.

It's actually more fun then it sounds.......for me anyway.

Oh, and if anyone of you wants to join our fun weekend, come on over!

A possible job opportunity

I'm definitely not in the market for a job (because I already have the best one),

but if I WERE, I think I have thought of the BEST and most profitable one for me.....

I would join the police

(but would hopefully have a better highlight then the following officer)

Not as an officer, mind you, but as their "sniffer",

because truly, I believe my nose can find, smell, and track down ANYTHING at this point.

The ONLY problem is, I would only be able to do it in 9 month stretches of time.

Or if NOT the police, maybe just individual job assignments.

For example, Iris likes to take ALL her diapers to the trash for me.

In fact, she INSISTS. 9 times out of 10 the diaper makes it to the trash, but every once and a while she gets distracted....by let's say, a pair of shoes on the ground she wants me to put on.

Within 30 minutes (after the diaper has penetrated the surrounding air)

I would be able to find the exact location or at least ROOM of the diaper, no matter WHAT the contents are.

My nose is pretty incredible.

Unfortunately, it didn't serve me well today, because with extra smelling powers, comes incredible super-powered tasting abilities!!!!

And my absolute LEAST favorite taste in the WHOLE wide world when I'm pregnant is this:

When it comes to these darn Glucose tests, I'm truly a baby.

I start gagging and shivering as I plug my nose in the office trying to CHOKE that thing down.

(At least I gave the nurses entertainment)

And then you feel WORSE once it's IN your belly!

I had to drink mine at 7:15 a.m. this morning.........have I mentioned it's not my favorite drink,

let alone RIGHT when I wake up?!?

Oh well, I did it, suffered through the hour and blood being drawn and then downed some "real" food on the way home.

Can I just say, by FAR the WORST appt. of pregnancy......bleh.

My weight, blood pressure, measuring, baby's heart beat are all fine. But they DID say

(for the first time ever in all my pregnancies) that my

IRON is a little low and that I was probably feeling a little less energy and more tired lately.

I wanted to say, "HELLO?!?! Have you NOT read my blog?! I just STARTED feeling great with all my energy back!!!!"

But I didn't. I took the samples they gave me, vowed again to myself to remember to take my prenatal vitamins (which I THINK I forgot this first week of school since my morning rituals have changed), THOUGHT (key word) about eating more meat, and knew I wouldn't ever pick up the prescription they called in.

On a different note, preschool starts tomorrow, and I start teaching.

New group, new year,

we'll see what it brings............

I am NOT okay with this

THESE TWO.........yes, these very two HANDSOME boys

started school today.

I woke them up at 6, they showered, got ready, grabbed their backpacks and just left with Brooks...............

and took a little piece of my heart (and tears) with them.

Bronson is excited for school to start.

He has the same teacher as last year now that she moved up to 2nd grade and we couldn't be more thrilled........either could she when she called to tell us.

Camden has Bronson's old kindergarten teacher for HIS first year in school!

(we are REALLY liked this sweet Columbian lady when she was Bronson's teacher)

(look at his nervous little foot stance! He's so sweet!)

He'll do fantastic in school, I know, but he HAS been a little nervous.

I think we FINALLY put his nerves behind him when he said before Back-to-School night how EVERYONE will know each other and already have friends.

It wasn't until THEN that we discovered that HE thought the SAME kids that were in Bronson's kindergarten class will be in his, and that he would be the only new one and everyone would already have their friends.

But seriously, WHO wouldn't want to be friends with the "Sneak Man". I mean really!!!!

When we went to back-to-school night it was CLEAR they were all just as nervous as he was, but Camden didn't even LOOK it as he just sat in the lazyboy-like chair looking at books the whole time.

Yes, I KNOW I will see them at 3:45, but I'll be thinking about them all day.

Brooks took them out to breakfast today and drove them to school, and I can't help but sit here and think,

Will Bronson walk Camden to his class? (to think of him walking through the halls by himself makes me long to be there EVERY second) Will Camden remember where his class is? Does he remember that I packed his snack and lunch? Does he know our phone number is written on his back pack? Will he make the bus for the way home? (Bronson never was put on HIS on the first day of kindergarten!!!!)

Thankfully, I KNOW Bronson will look at for him and I didn't have that luxury the first time sending a child to school. But still..........

I guess I'll just have to wait to see how it goes. I know it will be fine.

Yes. I know it will be.

It will be.

Right? Right.

What am I thinking?!?

Of course it will.

WELCOME BACK

I would like to introduce you to someone who has been missing for a while.

Well, since April, and I and my WHOLE family have kind of missed her.

Like. A lot.

She decided to make her appearance a few weeks back and looks like is here to stay.

Introducing................Me.

Words can't EXPRESS how GOOD it feels to have me back.

I have my energy, my umph, my optimism, my desire to get stuff done, my drive

and heck, I even FREEZER cooked this week a ton of meals.

Man, is it good to be back.

I was beginning to think "Me" wasn't going to be "Me" anymore and never come back and that I was just going to be tired-getting-stuff-done-by-my-chinny-chin-chin Mom for the rest of my life!!!!!

(Because really, had "ME" not been back, I seriously wouldn't have loaded the kids in the car and driven ANYWHERE for a few days by myself............

OR climbed the desk to play hide-n-seek for that matter! :) )

Bring it, Smithling number 6, I'm TOTALLY ready (and excited) for ya.

My Spur of the Moment Trip

Last week started and I KNEW it was the last full week before school started.

Sooooooooo, if I was to EVER get to go see our Aunt in Nashville, last week was the week.

So even though Brooks couldn't get off work and go with us, WHO CARES, I'm an adult, right?

But first let me start off with 3 pictures from the FIRST of the week.

This.......is.........me

Brooks just thought he was soooooooooo funny taking a picture of me hiding up on the desk during a mean game of Hide-n-Seek for Family Home Evening.

He was laughing the whole time he was taking it.

Princess Iris has learned to color and LOVES coloring on coloring books.

Infact, she does her insistent grunts to let you KNOW that's what she wants to do and now.

This picture was taken and while she was posing her book was taken right out from under her hands and she STILL didn't notice. :)

And just because this was so sweet, I HAD to take a picture of Bronson "dancing" with Iris to music. You can SEE how much she loves her brothers.

Back to my trip.

Tuesday afternoon I loaded the 5 little-ins in the car and we took off!

(Iris travel update: she actually did great.....until the last 30 minutes, when she was screaming but that was fine because it was one of the biggest rainstorms I've been in so it was so loud we couldn't hear her scream anyway.)

We stopped mid-trip to crash on our friend's floor in the town we used to live, and continued the last 5 hours of the trip the next day.

Before we got to the hotel, we stopped here:

This won't surprise any of you, I know, but the kids LOVED doing this digestive system slide OVER AND OVER again, because when you came out the bottom, it made a sort of.......

well, you know, "digestive" sound that makes kids roll with laughter.

Here was our germ/gun shoot out. It was the "good guys" against the "bad guys".

Bronson and I were on the "bad guys" and we TOTALLY beat the others. (yes, I take great pride in beating a room of kids)

GO PATHOGENS!!!

Bronson's favorite part was the astronaut simulator. He was the only one of my kids that was tall enough and heavy enough (Camden was tall enough, but 3 pounds short. I told him it was because he didn't eat a good lunch at the rest area we stopped at. The next time we ate lunch he ate a TON! tee hee)

It was funny watching him try to walk "without gravity".

Bronson said it was fine but for SOME reason it looks a little uncomfortable to me.....

I just CAN'T put my finger on it.....

Then we headed to the hotel, which the WHOLE reason the kids were excited was for the pool.

The problem was, it was raining.

So we waited a little and went out.

Then it started raining again while we were swimming........and when I mean rain, I mean

check your weather channel.com because there were FLOODS all over Nashville from that rainstorm.

The kids had the BEST time.

I DID act responsible though, that when it started lightning, we went back in.

to this........

They all took the longest HOT baths ever.

Then we enjoyed some delivery pizza action and watched 2 hours of "Man vs. Wild" on the Discovery Channel with plenty of snuggling. Truly, an ideal night for all involved.

The next day I saw my close friend from medical school and her new baby, then headed over to Aunt Debbie's house (which btw is the BEST house w/ so much to do outside)

I DO have to note that she was exhausted from running errands the day before.....one being getting the kids all presents and the BEST snacks ever. (seriously, what would I do w/o Debbie?!!?!)

We haven't seen Debbie (and fam) for 18 months! So here she is meeting Iris.

The kids swam and also played by the pond to find "pets".

(which come to find out one hour through the trip home that they snuck a frog into the car w/o me knowing, because I "would've said no".....and they were right)

The boys thought it was cool that Austin (18 yrs.) smashed in his truck the night before......

IN THAT HORRIBLE RAIN STORM

because he couldn't SEE!!!!!!

(and to think we were enjoying it so!)

It was so nice to see Debbie and see how she's being taken care of by her family and her ward there. I love it how her Relief Society didn't even send out a "notice" or organize some big effort. Individual sisters saw a need and went to action.

I admire sisters like that, who w/o saying a word, forget themselves and serve.

Insanely enough, I loaded the kids up at 5:00 (CST) on the WEST side of Nashville and headed off EAST to go home.....(I mention that because I didn't even THINK about rush hour. Sometimes, I'm a dunce.)

We got home at 1:30 AM (EST).

It was actually a great trip. The kids were fantastic on the way home, GREAT sports, and of course, with the newly fixed A/C I could actually HEAR the kids and had some pretty funny conversations.

This trip was one of my most fun trips. I loved it.

My kids are the best.

Oh Crab!

We're crab-sitting for a week.

Hermit crabs.........

which you would THINK by their names, they would like to be left alone more often........

well, the first day, they didn't get their wish.

They DO move around sometimes though and come out of their shells, and make a creepy/moving sand sound when I THINK I'm alone during naptime.

The kids couldn't be happier. Thanks Rachel for letting us watch them.

(Check out Iris standing up in her high chair, the little stinker. She LOVES the crabs too)

Then while Daddy was outside doing yardwork, he pointed out THIS to Camden

which of course, Camden caught.

Brooks ALSO pointed out another black snack to them to catch, but thankfully it wisely went back into it's hole (BY MY GARAGE!!!!!) before the kids could catch it.

(It's a wonder the snake didn't come out of the hole for the next hour though. I mean when I have shovel handles being shoved down my home, I would want to come right out!)

And it looks like this lizard (who now holds the record for the longest living lizard in the history of Smith kid catching) ALSO has a good bite on him.

Never thought I would see my boy with an earring.

And on a final note, Aleeya has made me laugh lately (not unusual, I know) but she REALLY wants to be like me. I find that the most comfortable things for me to sleep in are Brooks' basketball shorts and a t-shirt.....most of my t-shirts are sports related from Brooks (since my belly keeps growing).

Anyway, every once and while she'll look at me dressed like that and say, "I need MY basketball roupa (clothes) too!"

Then she goes off into Emerson's room and grabs what she can. This is her on Saturday.....getting ready for bed. :)

Oh, and THANKS so much for ALL of your ideas on the lunch things for my boys!!! I can't WAIT to try them all. Ya'll are the best!

My Plea for Ideas

So it's ALMOST TIME FOR SCHOOL!!!! Crazy. And I'll have TWO in school this year.

Last year I MAYBE made Bronson lunch once a week (because I LOVED eating in the cafeteria when I was younger......AND let's be honest, I was a little tired and sleep-deprived)

THIS year, I'm hoping to send lunches with both boys 4 out of the 5 days.

(I know what you're thinking.....because I'm too cheap and don't want to pay the $5 for both kids to eat each day............and yep, you'd be about 99% right)

So THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN!!!!!

I always sent a sandwich, drink and 2 sides type thing. But if you ate that almost EVERY day, it would be boring. So my idea is to sit down with the boys each month and look at the calendar and see which day of the week they want to eat at school based on what they're serving. Then we'll make up a menu of the rest of the month so I don't feel like I'm "throwing anything together".

I sat down with Bronson and another 2nd grader I was babysitting and asked for their ideas and what they would like for lunches and I lost that darn list, but here's what I can remember:

The obvious sandwiches- PB&J, ham, egg salad, grilled cheese

but like I said, that would get boring EVERY day of the week.

Bronson suggested a homemade Lunchable (as in put crackers, cheese, meat and a cookie)

I read in a magazine about these two ideas.....not sure if they're good or not:

-Pizza tortilla wrap (put cheese and meat in a tortilla, then roll up and send a container of tomato/pizza sauce to dip in)

-cook 2 toaster waffles, spread peanut butter on it, sliced pears and a little bit of honey and you have a waffle-ish sandwich

-ham wrap

-cinnamon toasted tortilla chips

So will you PLEASE PLEASE comment and leave as many other ideas as you can! I would love to have a big list to chose from w/ the kiddos.

Come on, I KNOW you have some ideas.

Share the love.

A week late, but here it is

My fun, animal-catching, full of fire, best snuggler, never-be-a-dull-moment-around 2nd born

JUST TURNED SIX!!!!!

(he was/is such a cute kid)

Crazy. Infact, I was JUST telling Brooks, "What would we do without Camden? He always gives us the best stories!" It's true, but I really like having him around too.

He wanted to paint his pinata......he wanted a green T-rex, but with spikes down his back. So maybe a t-rex/dragon mix?

He loved it......the only problem is, it has convinced Aleeya SHE wants a T-rex for her birthday. Don't worry, I have 2 months to convince her otherwise.

His actual b-day was on Monday. But his FRIENDS party was on Wednesday. So in order to make Monday special for him too, he kind of ruled the day and got to do what he wanted, pick dinner and do a fun activity at night (bowling).

For dinner he picked: cereal (my kind of kid!)

Before we went bowling he opened up the gifts from family. He LOVED getting money for Grandma and RA....(it's what he wanted) and couldn't get enough of the stuffed animals Grams and Grampy sent (he LOVES stuffed animals.....Brooks and I not so much, but ALL of their's were ruined in the flood, so truly, that's what he wanted!) and we gave him a Lego set and what he asked for.......he wanted me to make him a Taggie and thankfully I found some awesome shark material to do it. He's so grateful for it and keeps hugging me about his taggie. So cute.

The bowling though? Well, he MAYBE got 4 or 5 frames in before he forgot how we act appropriately and spent the rest of the frames in the van........until he could be happy. Which HE decided that it wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Happy Birthday to him, right?

But I betcha he won't do it again next time!

Wednesday was fun with his friends. He got a basketball hoop, this:

(which has NOW become my middle name..........Yahtzee, that is. We live and breathe Yahtzee around here now)

And this habitat.....that he absolutely LOVES

He started catching things right away for it and we EVEN went to the pet store and got a fire-bellied frog for him to put in it. His name WAS "Fuego".......was, because I guess Fuego didn't like practically getting BATHED in hand sanitizer everytime he was held. Why we spent money when I have a son perfectly capable of catching anything is still beyond me. Now it houses all the crickets that we bought to feed Fuego.

His cake, he wanted an "Oreo Cherry cake". So that's what he got.......adorned with Toy Story figurines we he of course, loved.

I still can't believe that 6 years ago (on the first day of medical school, mind you) that my Camden joined us......and will SOON be going to kindergarten! AH!!!!

Random thoughts from a random person

On a totally, completely random note:

- Brooks put down new padding under our carpet in the basement and we have yet to break down a wall, no worries though, I've got some major biceps......even though the gym and I haven't been friends lately.....or not really on good terms.

- I tried a free membership thing to Sam's Club on Saturday. Maybe it's just me, but I looked around at EVERY price and new they could be beat or matched at Aldi's or someplace and I don't have to buy a membership there. I guess I just don't understand that whole thing. To go for bulk, I can understand that, but to save money, it wouldn't do it for me. As I walked past the cereal, for example and saw this "sale" of $5 for what would be like 2 boxes of cereal, I couldn't help but think how Harris Teeter PAID me $4 to take 15 boxes of cereal off their hands earlier that morning. Granted, I DID get some 25 lb bags of flour, yeast and vanilla for a good price, but seriously, that's it. But it was worth it because we needed more of those things in our food storage.....so it wasn't a total loss.

-What is it with me having random sets of twins in my kids? These two look so much alike, but they ALL claim Iris as their favorite

- You know, sometimes when you get too caught up in what's going on with you, you get a little discouraged. I was reminded yesterday of the simple fact that if you look outside yourself and help someone out, you feel like a million bucks. Why don't I always remember that? This week I also heard from our ONLY family out here in the east, who let us LIVE with them for a summer and who spoil my kids rotten, that "Aunt Debbie" is pretty much in her last stage of lung cancer. My heart just broke. Not because I don't understand or know what happens after this life, but to be reminded of what's really important and who and what matters here in this short time on earth. I'm hoping to load the kids up and drive on over to Nashville to see her soon.

- I wasn't planning on going out during "Tax Free Weekend" here in North Carolina for school supplies, because I thought I didn't really need anything since the boys have school uniforms next year (YAY for that!), but it dawned on me, they need new boxers/briefs (my boys are pretty picky now) and socks. It was nice not to have to pay tax, but I absolutely HATE spending money on stuff like that. On outfit? Shoes? I would be fine with, but spending money on things we don't even SEE?!?! Or SHOULDN'T see (I better clarify that with my boys)...........that stinks. I did get Camden some new shoes though so that made me feel better.........not that anyone would see them outside of school people because he doesn't wear shoes much, but you get the idea.

-Our fig tree is TOTALLY producing right now, along with our raspberries. With as much as we pick everyday you would THINK we would have plenty to share, but we keep eating them to fast. Plus, it's an added bonus when the kids say, "I'm bored" and I say, "Go climb the tree and pick figs" and they get pretty excited.......2 awesome activities for the price of 1......AND it prolongs when I feed them snacks. Score.

-There was a talk yesterday in church on journal writing. It was awesome. Totally brought a new outlook to it and motivated me more.....because I'm not REALLY good at my own. I don't really consider my blog my journal, obviously, because there are definitely some personal and spiritual things I wouldn't share on here. But I DID want to pass on the best idea my sister gave me before I had my first child. She's not a scrapbooker at all, but she went and bought a spiral bound journal for each of her kids. She wrote in it while pregnant, "the birth day", and continues to do it now. I'm WAAAAY behind on scrapbooking.....infact, Aleeya just turned one in her scrapbook and Iris doesn't even have one......but I have kept up on their journals. I love reading back on the differences in pregnancies, weight gains, likes/dislikes, etc. I'll record little phrases they say, things they do, their favorites, my thoughts about them, my philosophies on anything really that I want to share with that particular child, blessings they received from their dad, etc. I'll even have family write in them when they come to visit. Brooks will also write every once and a while. I would've LOVED to know more about me as a baby/child/teenager, etc. (however, I have a pretty good idea, Aleeya is SHOWING me what I was like) So anyway, don't think of it as my advice (because I'm not the give-advice-to-everyone-anytime type of a person, I just give what works for me when asked), think of it as my sister's that I highly recommend.............Now if I could be as good in my OWN journal!

-Last but not least, the boys finished up their t-ball season today. It really was fun watching them play. Brooks finished his Spring Softball last week, and thankfully he has Fall Softball starting up this week. The kids love going to his games.

So funny!

I saw this comic on a deal blog and got a good I-know-how-she-feels laugh out of it.

(especially considering I've gotten some pretty darn good deals this week)

However, there are JUST a few things that are MORE rewarding like

-seeing Iris dance when she likes the food you're bringing her,

then quickly tell you "Gracias" when she gets it

-having your 4 year old Momma's-boy stroke your hair while you're "sleeping in"

-watching your boy read his scriptures in bed w/o asking him

-hearing my ever-singing girl sing, "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ...."

in the other room at the top of her lungs

-receiving more hugs then I thought possible in one day

(usually to avoid bedtime, but I'll take them)

And that's just ONE day! I love what I do. Seriously, best. job. ever.