Future Star?

He may be the smallest kid out there but Smiley has always loved playing basketball.

Always.

His team has yet to discover his passion for the game and tends to throw the ball over his head to get to other team mates. Once they realize how much he loves basketball and what a good little (no pun intended) player he is, I'm sure Smiley will have his hands on the ball much more often.

Today started out with some great warm-ups.

Smiley kept up a fast pace on the court.

He had a few opportunities to handle the ball and was a team player making sure to pass to others.

It was one of those games where you kept checking the score every few seconds. I was almost tempted to become a nail-biter. Almost.

They have had some tough losses this season but today the team worked hard and pulled off a winning score.

Good job Smiley!

Growing Up

Ever since meeting Smiley almost 3 years ago we have been working with him on his language skills. At two years old we could not understand a single word he was saying. Not one. His words were garbled and unintelligible. He has come a long way since then although he still likes to use his nonsense language every chance he gets. There are still times when he says things that we have no clue what he is saying.

Yesterday when we came home from church I almost fell off my chair when he was eating his lunch and clearly said "At Primary we didn't sing the temple song." He always calls it "Crymary". I think my older boys consider Crymary a good name for it because all the singing makes them want to cry. Plus they always complain about how long it is so I tell them to go grab a mop and wipe up their tears (just kidding - I don't really say that - I just think it.)

So Smiley is growing up...kind of... now I need to find a way to keep him in bed when the babysitting is watching him.

Easter Fun

How many Easter Hunts can one family squeeze in in a day??? Our family managed 8.

The Easter Bunny visited our home while we slept and left some fun things for the boys.


Then we drove over to Grandma C's. Hunt #2 was for Smiley's age group. He did fairly well with mom dragging him along (his legs are little so he needed some assistance to go faster) Hey!!! the point is to win right???


Hunt #3 was for Giggles and Wannabe's age group. Giggles is really fast and faster still when it comes to egg hunts. He needs NO HELP from mom.




Hunt #4 was for Sheriff's age group and by this time mom was really getting competitive and was pointing out to Sheriff where the eggs were. Poor kid was getting turned around as he would go for one egg and I would shout to him to go somewhere else. Settle down mom!!!


Hunt #5 was for everyone... adults included. My total egg count for this hunt... one. Yep! One. I'm not the only disappointed soul however....




Hunt #6 was actually a treasure hunt with clues devised by my in-laws that had us running all over the place. Lots of fun and one of the clues even made fun of Brett backing into the basketball pole at his grandma's which had everyone laughing... except Brett of course.

Hunt #7 was at Grandma G's and was for all the kids.


Hunt #8 was also at Grandma G's and was for everyone. This is the hunt where everyone hopes to find lots of GOLDEN EGGS because they have lots of cash in them. I made up for my pathetic showing in Hunt #5 and came away with 4 golden eggs. Yeah mom!!!

Of course the best part is not the candy, the money, or the loads of chocolate.... the best part is spending time with family.




We are also grateful that Giggles is still alive after his attempt to make everyone laugh by putting his leg over the balcony at Grandma C's. No one found it funny as it would have resulted in a long fall to the concrete below. Giggles was not giggling when he got in trouble from his dad. (thankfully I was getting food plates ready for kids... I think I would have died of a heart attack if I had witnessed it).


At lunch today I put green marshmallow Peeps on the boys plates as a treat and told them that they had to "eat their Peeps last". I got a few snickers out of that comment and Smiley said "we pee on the toilet". Every time one of the boys talked about the Peeps on their plate Smiley would snap his head around to me wondering why no one was getting in trouble for saying "peeps" and he would say "no!!! we pee on the toilet".

Later today we watched The Lamb of God video with the boys and talked about Jesus. The boys were riveted to the video and I think watching it helped them to understand a little more what the Savior did for us and that he lives again.

It has been a wonderful weekend. Hope you had a great one too!

For the Record

I don't think it is really necessary to confess at this point that I am not very good at color coordinating because really... anyone who knows me or frankly who has seen me... or even glanced at me would tell you this. Sadly, this curse has extended to my children by virtue of the fact that as their mother it is my responsibility to choose their clothes.

I'm sure at some future point as happens with all parents when children accuse their parents of messing them up in one way or another they will be able to add onto the pile of accusations their lack of color coordination.

I cannot, however, take credit for dressing Smiley in the following outfit...


He is solely responsible for the horrible sweater and vest combination and after I stopped laughing I changed him into something less hideous (even I recognized it was bad).

But after I thought about it I was rather concerned... his choice of clothing could still be my fault... I thought back to what I was wearing just the other night...blue jammie pants, a pink shirt and a red hoodie. The pink shirt was part of my outfit I had been wearing during the day, but it was getting close to bedtime so I threw on the closest jammie pants available which were cream and blue but it was chilly in the house and I needed something warm for my arms so I grabbed the closest hoodie which was red. So can you really blame Smiley for his lack of fashion sense when his mom is all about comfort???

Poor kid.

A Brief Pause

If you had noticed my post has not changed for a number of days and I'm sorry I have not had a chance to blog hop the last week or so. I think I am experiencing blogging withdrawal symptoms. I really don't have time now to post and feel guilty as I listen to the sounds of my husband scrubbing the shower in the boys bathroom. It doesn't sound like it is going well - he just remembered that the shower head is broken - hahaha!!! wait... darn it!!! my sister is on her way tomorrow... better get that fixed!!! add that to my list and my guilt for blogging when I should be doing other things to prepare for her arrival.

You see... she is painting a huge part of my upstairs. I just can't wait! I have been living in chaos for some time now and it will be soooo nice to have it over with.

I don't know that I will enjoy it for long however, because we have been house hunting the last few weeks. Smiley and I went for a drive the other day to look at houses and before racing back to get him ready for pre-school we saw some horses in a field. I couldn't resist stopping for just a moment - it looked so beautiful. I only had my point and shoot with me but I did my best. I think horses are beautiful and Smiley quietly waved hello to them so as not to scare them.



After our brief interlude it was back in the car to race home, get ready for school, tackle my laundry room disaster (Smiley was down to his last shirt and pair of underwear), pick up kids from their off-track activity, get Giggles from school and spend 4 more hours with a real estate agent looking at prospective homes.

Maybe if I can hold that mental picture of the serenity of that field and the horses in my mind I can make it through the insane business of this week. My fingers are crossed.

Well, must close... tomorrow is Smiley's birthday and pancakes are on the agenda for breakfast as is going to the Draper temple open house so it will be an early morning.

Random Act of Kindness

Don't you just love when someone does something kind unexpectedly like hold the door open for you when your hands are full, let you in when you are driving and you are in a hurry, do the dishes when you didn't ask them to, or in our case give you a gift in Target.

Smiley and I were shopping in Target and while I pushed him through the store in the cart we talked, I tickled him and Smiley kept telling me Spiderman was lurking around every clothing rack or t-shirt display. This then turned into Smiley and I pretending to be Spiderman and Venom spraying each other with our pretend webs from our hands and "catching" each other. This went on all the way up to the check out stand. There was only one lady in front of us buying some items. I "caught" Venom and told him I put him in jail and he couldn't get out. He continued to "spray" me with his webs though. He's persistent and busted out of my reinforced jail anyways.

I had to pause and pay for my items included my Milky Way that Venom wanted for himself but Spiderman insisted was for for him (me) after all Venom has a treat bag at home that Aunt April and Grandma G. replenish often with their packages (that's not a hint by the way... the treat bag is plenty full).

On our way to the exit, the woman who had been in line in front of us took a toy out of her bag and handed it to Smiley and said "I got this for you."

Smiley gave an appropriate gasp of adoration for this Ben 10 toy called Brain Storm and he was so enthralled it took a couple of prompts to get the thank you out.

She introduced herself as Cherish. Well Cherish, we will cherish this random act of kindness. THANK YOU!!!

Funk

No I'm not referring to funky music or funky feet ( although with 4 boys and a husband there are plenty of funky feet and other funky smells to go around).

My blog post has not changed for a few days because I, myself, have been in a funk. Blame it on the weather, blame it on the fact that every night I go to bed depressed that another day has passed without having sewn an inch on a pile of quilts calling out to me to be completed. Why won't you finish us????? And if I DO find a few precious minutes I'm so dang tired from all the running around or other daily mom things that I don't have the energy to sew. Or you can blame my funk on my dread of my hubby going out of town AGAIN. -sigh-.

So I was in need of some photo therapy today and took Smiley into our backyard for a few brief minutes because I loved the way the fence looked so dark while it is damp. I couldn't take too long because our gourmet dinner was cooking on the stove (Chef Borardee).

Smiley was obliging with some serious poses ...





and of course he comes by his blog namesake honestly for when I asked him to smile...

The Love of Music

The love of a good beat sometimes forces our body to move. You just can't stay still.

Last summer on one of our Lake Powell trips the little boys were driving us insane on the drive home (what's so unusual about that???) so we told them that they had to close their eyes and take a "nap". Brett turned on an ABBA cd for us to listen to. I just happened to turn around and almost busted out laughing when I saw that instead of napping, Smiley was moving to the music. He did, however, keep his eyes closed in compliance for the napping rule (at least until the second song came on at which point I caught him opening his eyes .... busted!!!). This video clip was during the first song.

Still, he had his dad in tears he was laughing so hard. I'm so glad my camcorder was at hand to catch this moment.

Pretty As A Princess

When you have 4 boys and a husband you often feel overwhelmed with with the testosterone in the house and the fighting, boy games, trucks, cars, Yu Gi Oh this, Pokemon that, Bakugan battles etc. etc.  There are no Barbies, no necklaces (well that's not entirely true... Grandma got them shark tooth necklaces from Kauai)  no My Little Pony or Strawberry Shortcake, no cute skirts or socks to dress them in, no cute princess dress-up clothes or tiaras, wands, wings, purses or bracelets to wear... sigh. 

So when we went to my brother-in-law's house after his baby boy's blessing and saw an ADORABLE princess chair I JUST COULDN'T HELP MYSELF!!!!!  

Needless to say Smiley did argue with me about sitting in it at first... "but it's a princess chair!!"  

me:  "I know.  just sit down"

Smiley "but it's a PRINCESS chair!!!!!"

me:  "I know.  just sit down."

I won.  And he even smiled.

And don't we all have to build up a good stock-pile of blackmail pictures of our kids anyways??