The Bear

Back in Winston-Salem, our friend Nate used to come over most Sundays to eat and have game-night with us. Nate surprised my kids and came down to see us on Saturday. They were SO excited.

Our old neighbors used to ask, "Who is the Bear that gave your kids a ride on the motorcycle?" :)

Remembering that, my kids each needed rides on his new motorcycle.

Aleeya sure loves Nate...................can you tell?

Iris loves Nate, but not really anything loud, moving or dangerous...........you know, like a MOTORCYCLE!

we were SHOCKED when she wanted a ride. She kinda had a half smile the whole time like she was trying to figure out if she liked it or not.

There was just ONE thing on Kellyn's mind the WHOLE time about Nate......

We're glad he took a daytrip down here.

I thought this picture was funny when I found Emerson dead asleep on the driveway. Whenever he's cold he loves to just lay on the hot driveway. I think he ended up falling asleep 3 different times this Spring Break week on the driveway.

And does any other family out there love asparagus?

This WHOLE pan was downed.......

(and there's just 4 of us that like the stuff............that's kinda embarrassing to admit!) :)

Full Court

I think I've mentioned how we live BEHIND another house.....so in order to understand this post, I figured this picture (taken from the upstairs window) would help out......here is our front yard. (that's Bruce's white  house on the right)

Our neighbors in front have sons that never use their basketball hoop, so they gave us their's. THEN, a cul-de-sac next to where we live was getting a new one, so they asked us if we wanted the older one.

UM...........YES.

So I now introduce you to..................the SMITH FAMILY FULL COURT!!!!

It's actually ridiculous how much play-time this full court has gotten this week for Spring Break. 

The PLUS side of living in someone's backyard, is that we're never chasing balls down the road or even BY the road. Win-win, right?

And speaking of winning...............(you knew it was coming, right?)

Camden and I totally took down Bronson and Emerson in the initiation game of our new full court.

(it's actually QUITE an accomplishment considering Bronson could probably beat me in his sleep)

And you know those marshmallow/cinnamon/rolls everyone makes on Easter to illustrate the whole empty tomb? Well, this picture was funny because you can tell which rolls Iris and Aleeya did......

Their little marshmallows decided to BURST out of their tombs............hahaha

It's probably not right to brag

I realize Aleeya and I have ZERO clue about the teams in college basketball, but I WILL say, that we are the ONLY ones in our house that STILL have the 2 teams in the championship still in the tournament (Kansas and Ohio State).

Infact Aleeya is kinda clueless about other sports too. Proof? Okay.

Yesterday when we were at Bronson's baseball game I asked Aleeya, "Do you see Bronson?"

"Yep, he's over there in the baseball cage dressed up in that armor."

Who cares if she doesn't know words like 'dugout' or 'catcher's gear', right? 

We're winning, that's all that matters in the end.

Miami's loss was a pretty big blow around here. But even with those lows, we still have a LOT of celebratory dancing around here too. Emerson broke out in his Gangham-style last night. 

Huh. Wow. Who knew he knew what that was? Lovely. Apparently his "education" at school has been expanded to include such sophisticated art as this:

If you can't see it click here

(that kid has some pretty loose hips!)

March Madness

 Yep, we've got our brackets hanging up in our kitchen..........it's THAT serious.

Brooks, Bronson, Camden and Emerson each filled out a bracket. Then Aleeya and I filled out out together. Since neither of us know what's going on, I just kinda let her pick which teams. She kept picking teams that just "sounded" prettier........you know, like Temple, and La Salle......(oddly enough, we're in 2nd place right now.)

I've been keeping points (one point per win) w/ a box of candy for the overall winner.

But a small box of hearts (yay for after-Valentines sales!) for the 1st and 2nd round winners.

Since we don't have a working tv, we're lucky that ncaa.com lets us watch a certain number of minutes per day of watching games. :)

But trust me, there's a LOT of stats checking when there is NOT a game on.

And because he's on a role w/ the whole winning thing from St. Patrick's Day, Emerson couldn't be happier that he was the first winner. (Camden just won the second prize today) 

Speaking of winning, Emerson just declared himself the "World Universal Champion" of pancake-eating.

After each of the kids ate about 9 pancakes, Brooks challenged the boys to see if they could eat the BIGGEST pancake. Emerson took it on, and won.

I'm just sitting back and enjoying all the entertainment w/ the whole March Madness thing.

And SPEAKING of entertainment.........here is one of my favorite entertainers.

Kellyn overload

Ready for the Kellyn update?

Well, my little girl is sick. Even when she TRIES to smile she still has that sick/tired/pathetic look.

 She doesn't really take a binki anymore (sniffle), but at least she has a good substitute. 

She LOVES her first two fingers on her left hand. They calm her down IMMEDIATELY.

And she sleeps with them in too. Sometimes we hear her sucking sounds outside the door and I love it.

 Along with sucking her fingers, when she is NOT wearing her sleeper, or when I change her bum she sucks her toes.

 For the last few weeks she has started to get up on all fours and rock.

 Then she flips her right hand upside, leans back, aaaaaaaaaaaand..........

 she THROWS herself forward towards whatever she is trying to grab.

I told Brooks how I was NOT happy about this, and I DO NOT (LIKE REALLY DO NOT) want a mobile baby yet. He asked why, (as only a dad-who-works-all-day would say) and I told him that she's completely skipping one of my FAVORITE baby stages......the sit up, smile and not move stage.

I love it.

I explained that she wasn't even SITTING UP YET!!!!

Then Aleeya sat her up like this. 

Welp, guess she IS sitting up. And how long has this been going on?!?!

 However she still prefers rocking on her fours.......this time I caught her. She gave me a look like she was doing something pretty sneaky and that I didn't want her to do........(she's right!!!!)

 Yea, I don't think she cares.

So I guess I better hurry and stick her on her bum more often so I can enjoy this while I can......

St Paddy's Day

I HATE it that I didn't get a picture of all of us decked out in green (I mean DECKED OUT!!!) for church on Sunday. But considering I was the only one taking them to church (Brooks was working, and thankfully in GREEN scrubs so no one could pinch him) it's understandable. Let me just say, we looked awesome.

On Monday we did the traditional St. Patrick's Jellybean Race. 

I've done this EVERY St. Patrick's day since I can remember. So of COURSE I love it how excited my kids get about this (really silly, if you think about it) tradition.

Kellyn was serious about her finish line judge duty. Nothing got by her.

Rules (in case you didn't know):

-push jelly bean WITH YOUR NOSE from start to finish

-hands behind your back (we let Aleeya on down use their hands on the floor)

-no putting it in your mouth, pushing it w/ your forehead, or eye cavity-type cheating

(I would know, when I was little I used to get it wedged under my glasses and ended up winning most years)

-Winner gets to chose where we eat for dinner (and since a family our size doesn't go OUT to eat much and actually INSIDE a restaurant, it's a big treat around here)

Brooks and I started the race. And since we don't really count in the running of picking where we eat, it was kind of a warm-up to the main event. Neither of us saw it like that though, because we're pretty competitive And since I've beat HIM the past 2 years in a row, I wanted to keep that on going.

Aaaaaaaaaaand, I won. This above picture was when Brooks cheated and just whacked it w/ his hand over the finish line because he was behind so bad. I didn't notice and thanks to my observant little Aleeya, she told on him and I reclaimed the bragging rights.

Next was Bronson and Camden

And let me explain something............BEFORE the race they were all talking about where they would pick if they won. Bronson and Emerson wanted to try this new BBQ place here that had a buffet loaded w/ ribs/wings/southern BBQ/beans, etc. Camden and Aleeya both really wanted Golden Corral (we're high class, I know). I assumed we'd be going to Golden Corral because Camden usually beast Bronson (unless he cheats and gets disqualified). Which funny enough, he actually DID start pushing it w/ his forehead so we made them restart the race.

Bronson won.

Which Camden didn't handle too well.

I asked him why he was SO mad and he said he "didn't want to go to the BBQ place because I HATE PROTEIN!!!!" (all the meat)

And on THAT happy note, the next heat started up........Emerson vs. Aleeya. Emerson couldn't use his hands and Aleeya could so I thought i would actually be an even race. Camden told Aleeya she HAD to win or we would have to eat BBQ.

But Aleeya just kept on backing under the bed.....

So Emerson won.

Once again, another sore loser over the loss of going to Golden Corral. (Camden was also still disappointed as you can imagine.)

And for entertainment value, we let these 2 go at it. After waiting 3 minutes for them to actually get 3 inches we just started clapping "YAY!!!" and told them to eat their jellybeans. They were pretty pleased with themselves.

CHAMPIONSHIP HEAT!!!!! 

(last year Emerson won, so he was ready to reclaim his title)

And he did.

I WISH I would've gotten his dancing on video. He is the MOST excited winner when he wins 

(and also the most EMOTIONAL loser when he loses)

Smith Family 2013 JELLYBEAN RACE WINNER

(I love his little bent thumb.....he's had it since he was a baby)

Camden who had a baseball game, was STILL sulking and repeating over and over again, 

"I HATE PROTEIN AND MEAT!"

In a BIG turn of events, Camden's game was cancelled (rain) and Aleeya paid Emerson a quarter if he would pick Golden Corral............so he took the quarter (that was easy) and we were off to Golden Corral.

It was so fun and yummy there (don't judge, I love that place). And the kids were so well behaved which always eases my anxiety when we go out. 

Wish I had a picture of them w/ their plates loaded w/ all of their favorite things. Emerson w/ his spaghetti, pizza and ketchup all combined......Bronson w/ his seafood/steak/shrimp......Aleeya with her mac-n-cheese and fruit.....me w/ my potroast/carrots/potatoes and Camden? Well, let's just say Camden's did NOT have any protein and meat on it.............that is, unless cotton candy all of a sudden is being made w/ protein now days. ;)

What a week....

Last week was pretty busy but it was all so worth it.

We went up to our home in Winston Salem to get it all ready to rent out again. I thought it would be a day's worth of cleaning, but the renter's left it kinda trashed. The kids LOVED "camping" out downstairs all together (only room w/ carpet), playing w/ old friends, getting out of school for 2 days...... but didn't like all the child labor we made them do. However, I'm pleased to say we got the house cleaned, yard mulched, planted, mowed, 8 garbage can fulls of leaves removed and all the trash and junk the renters left behind OUT. NOT to mention the 6 house showings we did.

BUT YAY because we found some renters!!!! We're THRILLED with who we have living in our home now.....like a said, a lot of work, but worth it. We're SO glad we don't have to pay 2 house payments!

Then on Saturday was my "Stress and Time Management" presentation thingy. I had all those "spiritual" and thought-provoking thoughts on my handout so  Brooks said I needed the display to be more fun.....more "me". (oh yea, he told me this the night before at 10pm.........how's THAT for time management?!?!)

I made a few posters and one I probably got a little carried away with...........because by the time I finished, Brooks was fast asleep. But if I was going to make something more "me" there's really only one thing to do.........make it rhyme. NOTHING makes me smile more then a good rhyme (I'm one of "those" people that don't think a poem is a poem unless it rhymes. And I cringe when music lyrics don't rhyme either!!!)

I decided I would give a few quick tips that all rhyme with the word "Stress". 

When I showed Brooks the poster in the morning he busted up laughing...........not from my tips, but BECAUSE I MISSPELLED THE FIRST WORD!!!!!!! (and it TOTALLY changed the meaning!!!)

Here's how it was originally.......and then later I printed up a new paper that said "Assess your Stress"

Whoops.

Brooks took the boys to their opening day of baseball and to help with HIS stress management, I volunteered to take ROYCE with me to my thing since I heard there was a childcare. Welp, there wasn't. So Royce made a REALLY good object lesson on "stress management" for all those coming to my booth.

 I ended up leaving early so I could catch the end of Emerson's game (I missed Bronson's).

Isn't my little Oriole so cute?!?!? (with his little twin)

And my handsome "A". 

And look what was brought over last night..........can you guess who it's from? ;)

Thou Shall Not Judge

It's actually a lesson we ALL need help with.....like OVER and OVER again.

But 2 days ago when I received a bag of my favorite chocolates wrapped in a newspaper w/ this paper attached to it, it reminded me just one more time..........."Thou shall not judge"

When I saw the paper, I knew immediately who it was from because he always signs his papers like this.

Let me backtrack a little.

When we moved to here it was........well.......challenging to say the least.

Brooks had to work back in our old town for a month, while I was here in this cochroach-invested, filthy-never-been-lived-in-for-2-years house, pregnant and w/ 6 antsy kids and a dog.

My neighbors came over and introduced themselves and they were nice. 

One man, who lives right next door to us walked out, smiled and introduced himself as "Bruce" in this BOOMING voice (think the voice from heaven in the movies). He had a long Father-Time-like beard and really one of those men you would probably steer clear of if you were walking down the street. Bruce was nice but then said, "Keep your dog inside or in the backyard because I don't want her scaring my cats".

"Okay"......easy enough, right? But we actually spent a LOT of time outside because I didn't want to be IN my house and plus our air conditioner didn't work. My dog stuck close to me because she didn't know what think of this place either!!! 

WHENEVER I happened to leave Sally (my dog) outside, I would get a phone call from Bruce within 2 minutes telling me to get my dog inside.......even when she was in our own yard......because she MIGHT scare his cats who happened to ALSO be in my yard. 

Dogs have to be on a leash if they're outside and cats don't..........so in his logic, cats trumped, I guess. Plus he told us, we're just renting here and we're just temporary and they were permanent and the cats have lived here longer then we have, so they get first dibs, basically.

It was SO frustrating, because I really was quite SCARED of this man. 

On the other hand, I REALLY had my plate full at that time. And if the kids left the door open and the dog went out to pee, I was scared to death of the immediate phone call.......like he was just watching until I messed up or my dog did. 

Finally one day I came home and there was a message on my machine from Bruce, in a not-so-nice voice telling me my dog was barking outside in the backyard and I needed to let her in or something like that. I called Brooks who was 3 hours away and said I was done and I'm tired of his phone calls and that I'm creeped out.

Brooks got Bruce's number and called him up on the phone.......father-bear style.

He told me after that he was just ready to tell that guy that his cats STINK and we're tired of them climbing into our basement and up our vents and why do THEY get to roam and not our dog and leave my wife alone.........

So when he did call, Bruce immediately started letting BROOKS have it and right before Brooks was going to take his turn he had the thought (the Spirit told him) to tell Bruce "sorry" and that we would be the BEST neighbors this guy has EVER had.

Brooks was thinking "WHAT?!?!?!" but he followed the spiritual prompting that he had.

Next thing Brooks knows, BRUCE is apologizing for taking his anger at our landlord out on us, and how he was going to be OUR favorite neighbor too (a fact that Brooks HIGHLY doubted at the time.....like a LOT). He then told us stuff Brooks really didn't need to pass on to me, like how an oppossum had fallen out of our shower in our house through the ceiling and that's why he had a "newly" redone bathroom, etc. Lovely. He told us his past (which was legitimately scary) and how he found God a little late in life and he and his wife don't have children because they married late, yadda yadda. Kids are USUALLY scared of him (I don't blame them!!!) so he doesn't know how to act around them.

Fast forward 9 months and I can honestly tell you, he's our best neighbor. This "scary-looking", voice-booming man who spends his time driving around giving stuff to homeless people, whittling crosses to hand out and welding whistles for my kids. 

Remember when they came to our house for Christmas Eve? 

(he calls Royce, "Rosco" and Royce loves him)

He cried while he was here on Christmas Eve because all his family is dead and his wife's family doesn't like him so this was his only family get-together in such a long time.

Here are the girls with him after taking him a pie for his birthday in November....

Once or twice a week I'll get a text from him asking to send one of my kids over to meet him and his wife in the driveway.....they always come back with treats, crackers, pop or some surprise for them that they picked up at the store. And he ALWAYS includes a wrapped package in newspaper that says, "for Melissa" that's full of chocolate.

When we got out of town he'll leave messages wishing us a safe travel. He's home during the day, so whenever we're out playing he watches my kids. I think it's better then TV for them. Here's an example of a story he and his wife told me the other day that they laughed and laughed at. 

Ms. Kaye (his wife) said that they just LOVED watching the kids roll the trash can outside. (SICK!!!) But MY side of the story was, I saw Emerson and Aleeya laughing and pushing this trash can outside. I didn't want the trash can damaged so I went out there and told them to put it back where it was and to not play with trash (the things we say as parents!!!). Then Aleeya quickly said, "There's no one in the trash can!" Great. So I walked over and opened it up and lo and behold, there's Camden rolling around in the nasty trash can THAT HAD TRASH IN IT!!!!!! So I sent him in to take a shower.

You can see how my neighbors are entertained, right?

They love watching all our games of baseball and basketball, bubble-blowing and bike-riding. Mr. Bruce LOVES it the most when Aleeya stands up on the fence post and sings/belts her heart out every song that she knows.

To be honest, I feel safe knowing he's my neighbor. I had a door salesman that came one time and Bruce saw and walked out just to make sure I was okay. I honestly believe he would take a bullet for any of my kids and defend them with his life.

My point? This COULD HAVE been a horrible situation. It COULD HAVE been a nightmare living next to some scary and intimidating person. Had I went with my first impression of this man, this story would've probably had a different ending. But because Brooks showed love and kindness that one time it has been given back to us 100 times over.  We need to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Show love and remember that a soft answer turneth away wrath.

Plus, what would I do w/o Mr. Bruce's texts telling me what a good mom I am?!?!? ;)

We love our neighbors.