HAPPY DUE DATE TO ME!!!

I had a doctor's appt. yesterday. Things look just fine, dilated to a 2 (which doesn't mean anything since people can be dilated at a 2 for weeks!) but it's still super "thick". Just wondering if he's saying I'm fat.......

Anyway, so I decided to celebrate by coming home and kicking my hiney so they baby won't WANT to be inside anymore. Below is the before shot of the dirt area (behind Aleeya....yes, that's my girl covered in mud) And here's the after! A weeded, 5 rowed (is that a word?) experimental garden.
When I say "experimental" it's because our normal garden with peas, tomatoes, gr. peppers, zuchinni and squash are over in the out-of-reach-of-kids area. In THIS one we've started some artichoke, watermelon (2 rows) and cantelope (2 rows) seeds inside for the past 4 weeks and finally I got around to transplanting them outside. We'll see how they do.
The funniest part was my neighbor's face while I was doing it. He's a retired doctor and probably thought I was going to fall over, give birth, then die. I imagine I looked pretty silly.
Buuuuuuuut, it didn't work. I'm thinking that I overdid it TOO much that the baby was exhausted too. So here I am, on my due date (no surprise considering 2 of mine have been late and one ON the due date), just chillin'.
But don't you worry, I have a plan for today......
#1- have some friends over for dinner (because my dinner put another girl into labor a few weeks ago)
#2- go to Brooks' softball game (or send him.....not sure what I'll feel like) tonight
Note: TWO of my labors started during Brooks' sports games and he had to leave them early......much to his shagrin.
#3- If THOSE two don't work, hope for labor during Brooks' softball game tomorrow
AND IF ALL ELSE FAILS and I'm babyless by Sunday, at least it's 5th Sunday where they send all the Primary workers into RS/Priesthood combined and I get to snuggle (okay, maybe no PDA but at least sit BY) Brooks during last hour of church.
See? There's a bright side to it all.

Wow, never thought I would see this......

I know what you're thinking..............

- WHAT?!? Seafood in Melissa's kitchen?!?!

-What?! Brooks and the boys FISHING?!?

-WHAT?!? Smith boys w/o shirts or shoes (I know that one is the biggest shocker)?!?

But it's true. Brooks took the boys to the river fishing with another Dad and his boys (who is really mountain-izing Brooks after the camping and 4-wheeling) yesterday.

The boys had the BEST time and actually caught some fish, that Joe (the other dad) is cleaning so they can all eat. The only requirement I have is that it's while I'm in the hospital or they eat/cook them at HIS house.

As you can see though, the boys couldn't have been happier.

My handsome clan!

Here we are before church. I always do Aleeya's hair RIGHT when we get to church because she pulls out the bows/elastics in the car. So here's the picture taken as they piled out of the van at the church this morning. Sorry, not a better picture of them, but there were quite a few cars driving by, etc.

I just love Bronson's hair though. You can't see it well, but he wanted to gel it and make it all "spikey" today for church. He did it himself and since I cut it yesterday, he can finally do it spikey like he wanted to.

I finally learned how to do those cork-screw curly bows too yesterday and made Aleeya's bows. She actually kept them in all of church! YAY!Sorry for the mammal shot below, but you HAVE to have a shot of yourself the week of your due date.....because it makes you feel soooooooo much better about your shape AFTER you have the baby. It's funny getting to this stage when everyone says, "Wow, you're getting ready to pop" or "You poor thing", etc. Aleeya is in front of me asking for my bracelet.........which she did all day. But hey, it made for wonderful sacrament meeting entertainment.
Happy Memorial Day everyone!!!!!!!!

Last game for soccer

The boys had their last game of soccer on Friday and they actually got trophies with their names on them! They were soooooooooo excited. Camden even snuggled his to bed. :)

Brooks and Camden playing during halftime. Camden, according to him, scored a goal and was sooooo excited! We don't need to tell him the whistle had blown a few seconds before he did though. He's had quite a few chances to score, but he either kicks it right to the goalie or Bronson will steal it away.
Bronson, on the other hand is quite a soccer player, scoring a lot......maybe a little too much. We've tried to teach him to pass it to other kids though and towards the end of the season he got better at it.

The mighty soccer team. What's funny is ALL of the kids, except one go our church and all us moms are friends. It's weird how it turned out that way.

Bronson, showing his muscles.

Camden holding a ball.

Me, holding a ball as well.....with no hands even!

Child Birth 101

So the whole Child Birth thing isn't hard to understand at all. I mean, even my KIDS know how it works. I found them the other day playing "doctor" (hey, at least they're not doing autopsies like Brooks does....THEN I would worry) to get the baby out. Here are the instructions they explained to me:

1- the doctors will sit on the blankie that is over the Mommy's belly...........(with a silly smile on their faces like, "Ha ha ha, glad WE'RE not girls")














Step #2- Open up the Mommy's belly (portrayed here by the potty seat) and take the babies out......once again with a "SUCKER"-grin on your face.



Honestly, I have NOOOOO clue where they would've gotten these ideas. I've never had a C-section or anything. But BRONSON on the other hand has another version of Child Birth and how it happens. He said (through translation, of course, so it's not word for word) that "The Mommy's belly will start to hurt because the muscles want to push the baby out. Then when they're ready, the muscles will push the baby out and it'll be an ouwie for the Mommy, but that's okay because it's special and Heavenly Father couldn't get all the boys and girls here if the Mommies didn't do that".
On the note of my STRONG stomach muscles, Bronson has been working on his and showing them off. Out of the blue he said, "And Daddy has BIG muscles on his stomach because you can see them, but Mommy has even bigger ones because she can push a baby out!" That's RIGHT ya'll! My six-pack is just disguised in my uterus.

And NO, there's no baby yet and NO he/she probably won't come for a little while. Not that things aren't ready for the baby, it's just I usually go over my due date, so don't be thinking you're going to get some cool news in the near future. We're just fine how things are and there's NO need to rush. As tired and uncomfortable as I'm getting, I just think, hey, I don't have to carry around diaper bag, carseat and Lanolin (for obvious reasons) for a little while yet. Don't get me wrong though, we have a HOUSEHOLD of people ready to snuggle this little package when the day finally arrives!

What Goalie?

Here you go Bug and Gabe, the infamous goalie shots of Camden. THEN he got into defensive position.

This was actually the first game and he's had 2 more since. Let's just say TOTAL improvement and he's actually quite agressive now and stealing the ball from Bronson (who's on his team) a lot. Honestly, compared to last year's 30 second on the field (TOTAL For the whole season), the fact that he plays every game with a big smile on his face makes me feel........okay, I'll just say it, PROUD!

My competition!

So here is my competition for Brooks' heart. Check out this princess kissing Daddy's picture on the computer screen while he's gone at work. Pathetic, if you ask me......so let's give the stats to see who wins Brooks' heart. Our bellies about about the same size and our backsides just as shapeless. So there's a tie. She eats with her mouth open and makes noises and I don't. Since that's a HUGE pet peeve of Brooks' I get a point. We both prefer not doing our hair and being in pjs. A tie. She gets longer snuggle time and hugs then I do. Her point. Her legs are hairless and toenails perfectly painted.......no comment. We BOTH put on make-up, just one of us better then the other. Tie. Brooks watches HER sleep and tries to fall asleep before I do to avoid the "loud breathing" (I think it's all in his head) Her point. We both have stains on our clothes by the time Brooks gets home. Tie. She wears less clothes then I do.....which in normal-dom marriages you MIGHT think that would be her point, but considering my whale-state, I'm thinking he's pretty grateful I favor the whole clothing thing. So, my point. I don't make him wipe after I go to the bathroom........give me about 50 years though and we may have a different story. My point. We both grunt when we bend down to pick something up. Tie. Ah-ha! I think I got her on this one........I actually scratch HIS back the right way and better then Aleeya. HA Aleeya, looks like I got you today. Keep trying babe.

When you've got it.....you've got it

Some people just have all the confidence in the world, don't they?

Emerson puts on his own undies like a champ.....see? Or maybe you see too much. But Brooks and I get the biggest kick out of this kid when he puts BRONSON'S undies on himself....backwards.....and has no clue. Check out his muscles (and his face concentrating so hard), then the back shot with him climbing our fig tree.

This kid is a stud.

Pet and not-so-wanted pet

I'm sure you can GUESS which one is the not-wanted one and it practically scared me to death. You see, I was weeding in my garden and in the corner of my eye I saw something dark and long. In my home, I didn't think anything of it......we have so many sticks, guns and toy snakes around. THEN the dark thing started moving towards me!!!!! So with all my boys there to see, I screamed like a girl and told them to run go get my neighbor. Afterall, I can claim the girls-can-scream card around here. My neighbor comes over in boots and gloves, holding a bucket and a mop. A MOP?!?! I offered my shovel, but he didn't want it. He kept trying to convince me that this snake was our "friend". I'll pick who my friends are, thank you very much.

Apparently this GARDEN SNAKE was "fully matured" and the biggest he had seen. Great. He pushed the mop on the snake and it coiled around it and he put it in the bucket. Then of course, all my kids got to touch and pet it.....even Aleeya. Seriously. Are you kidding me?
Last Saturday was the Stake Service Day and Brooks took Bronson to go clean some parks. I honestly planned on going but picking strawberries the day before wore me out. Talk about being handicapped now! Whoever says you don't get anything in return for service is DEAD WRONG. You see, my sons thinks if you go serve in your community you can come home with a turtle.....which is just what he did. Meet Holly. (She was Macky first, but after my extensive reading on these things, I found out she was a girl.....and if you you'd like to hear how I know, I'll bore you w/ the details later). Holly is actually North Carolina's state reptile and was about to be killed when Brooks grabbed her. It provided seriously a whole day's worth of entertainment and into the next day. The boys love/loved Holly. Why the past tense you ask? Well, Holly is hiding somewhere in the backyard (can't blame her) and we haven't see her for 2 days. But they DO love to dig and hide under things, so I imagine she's under a bush, cut grass pile or folage in the back corner of our lawn. Who knows......we may or may not see Holly again. But the boys now know that there's 4 girls (Aleeya, me, Sally and Holly) and 4 boys (Bronson, Camden, Emerson and Daddy) so this baby is the tie breaker in their minds.

Softball

Brooks plays in a Church softball league and the kids LOVE going to his games (however Aleeya watches it the most and follows the ball whenever it comes close to Daddy). Good thing because this is a VERY long season of games every Friday night.I let the kids grab some toys to play in the sand and OF COURSE Aleeya brings her dinosaurs (she still sleeps with her hotwheel cars). Emerson brought some animals and Camden and Bronson brought their bikes. But here's the funny thing, Camden is riding Emerson's bike here because his got ran over a year ago. He looks so ridiculous riding it because it's too small and has training wheels and Camden doesn't need them...........NOT to mention it has been run over the the wheels are bent so he has to lean the other way to balance it out.

BUT my favorite picture is of Emerson standing on his Clifford riding toy negociating with the snack shack guy to try to get some candy w/o paying for it. He's soooo funny.

Oh darn, I forgot to put the picture of Aleeya in the dugout with Brooks (eating his seeds). Everytime he's in the dugout, Aleeya runs and sits with him. SUCH SUCH SUCH a Daddy's girl. A few times she'll cry and freak out when he goes out on the field, but I think she's getting the hang of it now.