Turning 8

On Saturday Chase turned 8!   It's always bitter sweet for me celebrating another birthday.  It's such a fun day but I always feel like time is going by to quickly and I want to slow it down.  The birthday boy was greeted with a doorway surprise,

followed by breakfast in bed.  Somehow these breakfasts in bed always end up being eaten in my bed.  He thought he wanted the same thing the girls had this year for their birthdays.   Chocolate milk, chocolate chip pancakes and bacon.  However he didn't finish any of it...in fact about one bite of each.  He did enjoy opening his cards that had arrived earlier in the week and watching cartoons waiting for someone else to wake up.

He had a really hard time picking anything he wanted this year.  He said he "had pretty much everything he wanted already".  Although so sweet to hear that, it makes it VERY difficult to find something to buy him.  A few days before his birthday he decided he wanted a Lego castle.  His face showed me he was excited when his first peek showed he got just what he wanted.

 He was excited to get building.

 And this is what most of the day looked like...building.  Ever wondered what over 1,000 Lego's looks like covering your floor?  I never have to wonder this again.  Sadi also added to the building (you can see her pink Lego's in the background).

We played a few games I made up which the kids always get excited about.  We played Lego memory using cups to make it appear like a large Lego block.

 We raced to roll an eight in eight minutes to build a Lego tower.

 We played Lego suck using the birthday boy's age.  We each had 8 minutes to move as many Lego's off our plate using only a straw.

 And we played Lego toss.

The idea was to stand eight feet away from the giant Lego's and toss them in to see who could make the most points (although I'm pretty sure my little cheaters inched closer and closer to win).

 Later we went out for dinner.  Chase chose Pizza factory and picked us a super spicy pizza...jalapeno and sausage.  Whew....it was spicy!  Can you tell this boy loved it?

Matt had to work so we did cake a bit earlier.  Chase is pretty simple when it comes to sweets.  To be honest I don't think he likes them very much.  He wanted white cake with white icing.  Simple.

 Making a wish...

 The cake was delicious, and even the birthday boy ate it all.

After cake we settled in and watched the movie Epic.  Another fun birthday, and hopefully a fun year to come being 8!

Guest Speaker

Last week Kelsey was one of the guest speakers at the induction of the National Junior Honor Society at the middle school.  She has been in Honor society for 4 years and held an officer position for 2 of those 4.  Her and her friend Taylor both gave great speeches.

I was really impressed with her speech (especially since she whipped it out about 2 hrs. before she gave it, so like her).  The theme was past, present, and future.  Here is an excerpt from her speech:

As a senior in high school my past had its ups and downs, my present has its ups and downs, and most likely my future will as well but everyone goes through this so don't feel alone.  As NJHS inductees and to the parents, if you wish to take something away from my speech I want you to each know that your past does not define you, so do not dwell on it.  Learn from your mistakes and grow, because that is what great leaders do.  We learn from not only our mistakes, but others too.  It is in your best interest if you have the ability to take what you've learned from the past and apply it to your present and future.  Strive to go above and beyond what is expected.  Learn to lend a hand and to love to lead.  To carry a passion of serving others in your schooling years and well beyond is a an incredible characteristic.  The feeling you get to help those around you is such and amazing reward. 

 

It was a great night, and rewarding to watch Kelsey speaking if front of a crowd with confidence.



Labor Day Weekend

We had a nice Labor Day Weekend, it felt somewhat like Memorial day for me anyway with the events we attended.  We were able to visit "The Wall" up in Virginia City.  The wall is a moving replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall.  It is 80 percent of the size of the actual memorial in Washington.

It was pretty cool, and a bit humbling to see all of those names up on the wall.  Chase thought maybe we knew one of the Smith's names that was among the names...one of many, many.  I did see a Chapman?

After visiting the wall we headed across the street where there was a civil war re-enactment going on for the weekend.  We visited both the union and confederate camps.  We met some reenactors who were REALLY into their parts including a mountain man with one tooth.

Matt was appalled at our lack of History knowledge.  I think he was a bit annoyed with all the people who thought the South should have won.  Kelsey did find one camp setup that she did know about...well kind of. 

Virgina City had a parade on Monday which included many veterans, but their focus this year was on all the men who were behind the scenes fighting.

 There were many generals, confederates, and lots of union workers.

Following the parade a gunfight broke out between the North and the South...it was a fight for Virginia City.  They used real black powder, and as you can imagine it was very loud.  Sadi is not a fan of loud noises and was huddled behind us on the verge of tears.

We assured her it was just pretend, but when the announcer started yelling about who was shot and the reenactors started falling the ground she was beside herself calling us liars.

It was kind of fun to watch (minus the terrified 6 year old) and a fun way to educate the kids a little bit. 

SIX!!

Yesterday was Sadi's Sixth birthday...I CANNOT believe it.  I think I am still going to call her five.  The morning began early, well earlier than I expected.  She is usually a late sleeper and so I was surprised when she got up before 7.  She loved her doorway surprise and thinks it should stay up forever.

We had to wait for Daddy to get home from work (he was working the graveyard shift) for her breakfast in bed.  It somehow turned into her breakfast in our bed :)  She was very specific about what she was to be served: chocolate chip pancakes with bacon and chocolate milk.  She enjoyed her breakfast and opened her birthday cards and even took a few phone calls while in bed.

She was taking a bit too long and Daddy was starting to doze off so we hurried her to open her presents before he had to take over the bed.  She was excited to find out what was in those presents and of course being Sadi made sure to add "That's okay if you didn't get me the one I really wanted" after she had unwrapped everything.

 She did get the Monster High play set she has been insistent on and some new monster high dolls (apparently not the right one) and clothes for her dolls, and a new shirt.

Of course it was Ruff Ruff's birthday too.  Anyone who really know Sadi knows she has this favorite puppy that has a birthday literally every single day.  Which she celebrates almost daily.  He was not forgotten on this birthday and was given a special gift as well.

 She was content just playing all day with her new dolls and house.

She and Chase played almost the entire day with the monsters.  Kelsey and I even joined in throughout the day. 

Although we all tired before her, she was content to just play by herself.  She has the funniest personality when she is playing, and I often find myself eaves dropping just for a good laugh.

She had wanted to go out to dinner but since Daddy had a such a weird work week we decided to just eat at home so he could be there too.  Her choice was chicken nuggets...

After dinner we played a few games.  Having a monster themed birthday made it pretty easy to make up some games.  Sadi has really been trying to learn how to blow a bubble with gum, so we played "ghost pop".  We had 6 minutes (#of birthday girl) to blow the biggest ghost. 

I have to say this is funnier than you think.  Take a piece of hubba bubba and try it yourself.  We had a few ghostly sightings.

Next up was Mummy model.  The monster high ghouls are really into fashion so we partnered up and had 6 minutes to mummy our model.  I was Sadi's model, she was pretty proud of her creation.

 Chase was Kelsey's model. 

Sadi was my model and I was going for a bride but then she demanded I wrap her face so she ended up looking kind of ninja like.

Kelsey was Chase's model and well...she's a good sport.  I'm still not sure what the piece draping her head is all about.

The last game was bones in the graveyard.   I had dismembered a skeleton for each person and planted it out back in the sand.  Each person had to find all 6 missing parts and re-assemble their skeleton bringing in only one piece at a time.  Sadi kicked butt and was done before anyone else was even close.

 After games we had some monster cake!

 I still can't believe she is six years old.  She has definitely made life more interesting for all of us and we love our little girl.

Today she was off to celebrate her birthday with her classmates.  Her new teacher asked that she didn't bring a treat to share but rather a favorite book to donate to the class library.  I LOVE this idea.  Although I wish we had more time to find her favorite book(I hate not having a bookstore) we settled on Splat the Cat which is also a fun book.  She's excited to be the first birthday in the class!

Happy Birthday Sadi!

Passing Through

This past weekend my brother and his family came by for a visit on their way home from vacation.  It's always fun when someone passes by our town but was really fun to see them since they have never been out here before.  His daughters are just the cutest (and sweetest). 

Left to right top:  Kelsey, Bailee, Karsyn

Bottom:  Sadi and Emmrey

It's been a long time since I have got to just visit with them, and it was nice to catch up...even if it was a short visit.  The kids had a fun time playing together and it made me wish we lived closer to family.  Sadly we see them so little my kids couldn't remember who was who although Chase loved playing with "what's her name again?".

I have so many good memories of growing up with Mark.....getting paid to answer those phone calls from the school so he didn't get in trouble for ditching, late night sundae's from Wendy's, sleeping out in the backyard, and lots of other good times.  He hasn't changed from the fun brother but is now a fun husband and Dad.

Thanks Smith's for stopping in for a visit, we welcome you anytime!

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school for my kids.  I wanted to try something different for the first day of school pictures, and thought when I took these outside in the sun they looked really good...when I downloaded them I was not thrilled...oh well.  Kelsey started her Senior year...really!?  She is still a baby. 

Chase started 3rd grade.  The night before school as we were laying out every one's first day outfit Chase decided his new clothes were not going to cut it.  He insisted he needed to dress "really nice" for the first day because everyone looked nice the first day(apparently new clothes don't meet the standard).  So at 9 p.m. I was doing laundry to wash this button down shirt he was sure was the right choice.  Then I get this silly cool face in every picture!

My little Sadi....first grader!  She knew exactly what she was wearing.  When we went school shopping it HAD to be a dress (this girl loves dresses).  She chose well, and looked so big made me teary eyed.

 The kids were really excited and all got up early and could not wait to get to school.  Lunches packed...

 Backpacks ready....

Off we went!  This year Chase and Sadi both got new teachers...I mean completely new to teaching.  Chase's teacher is Ms. Yentzen.  She has a southern drawl which I love, and we are excited to get to know her.

Sadi's teacher is Miss Pluta.  She seems really adventurous and fun and I think Sadi is going to have a great year!

After school we had our back to school dinner and got to hear all about every one's day.  We didn't hear much about Sadi's day, as soon as I picked her up and asked her what she did, she said "I forgot".

 Even Matt enjoyed our cafeteria style dinner...poking fun I think.  He like shuffling through the "line" and asking if he could sit at our table.

 I let the kids write something about their day which was fun to read.  Chase raved about how fun his teacher was.  He said they played games all day.  Sadi wrote she did 1 to 100, and Kelsey wrote she finally got a top locker...and she already hates Pre-Calculus.

 After dinner it was time for homework......

My homework!  Blah!  50 plus pages this year....anyone else think this year there were WAY more than last year?  Seriously 3 kids paperwork took me over 2 hours!