Telling it like it is

I will be honest.  I hate this time of year.  Yeah, so negative right?  Well, it is always such a let down for me after Christmas. What I really miss in January is my family!  For two blissful weeks in December I get to spend time with my favorite people whenever I want and then – poof – they all disappear off to their various states and activities not to be seen again for 4-6 months.  I know, I am a whiner.  Everyone misses their family after the Holidays, I should get over it.

The other reason January isn’t for me is that I am not into New Year’s resolutions.  Although, I did make one last year to loose 10 pounds and I was able to accomplish that.  But I gained five pounds last month since Scott and I gave up running because of the cold (okay, we were too busy eating and partying with family)…a weird stubborn part of me wants to refuse to start running again until February.  That makes it seem less like a New Year’s resolution.  Since it isn’t one. 

The other part of January that stinks is that it is so long.  What I meant to say is that I don’t like the part where Scott has to start school again.  Life is so much nicer when he doesn’t have to be gone so often and be bogged down with homework.  There is so much more stress in our lives when he is in school.

Okay, here it is: a combined confession and, ahem, resolution. 

Confession:  Our old habit was for Stephen roll out of bed, turn on the TV and vegetate the entire morning.  He did play with toys as well, kind of as a side thing but yes, that’s right, I let my four year old rot his brains watching PBS Kids and Disney Channel for hours on end every day.  I depended on that TV to sedate him so he would stop bugging me and let me get stuff done around the house.  This has been a huge issue since he was about two.  Yes, it is very sad but true.  Just so you know, Boston does not have any interest in watching TV.

Resolution:  Kick. The. TV. Habit. To. The. Curb.

So far, it has been very hard for me.  We hide the remote and when Stephen asks for it first thing in the morning, I tell him to go play with his toys.  There is often whining…from both of us (though mine is mostly inside my head).  Although there is more bored whining around here, but there has also been more brain stretching, (MUCH) more tower building, more screaming and wrestling among brothers, more trips to the park,  more play dough, painting, more trips to Grandma’s house to play in the yard, and more bike ridding.  And more messes.  A LOT more messes. 

Are we perfect?  Absolutely not!  Do we revert?  YES.  But I will tell you my first success story:  I let Stephen watch ONE TV show while I was in the shower the other day and I could hear that the TV was still on when I got out so I called out for him to turn it off.  When I came out of my room, the TV was off and he was playing in his room.  I was so PROUD of my boy!  Seriously, it is bringing tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

I think TV has its place.  (Everything Stephen knows – which is a lot - about letters and numbers he learned almost entirely from watching PBS Kids).  We are still going to watch TV at my house but way, way, way less!  (The other day we had ZERO hours!  Woot Woot!)  I think that kids need to learn to turn it off for themselves and learn to pick and choose what they want to watch instead of vegetating mindlessly for hours.  They also need to learn how to walk away or turn it off when something is inappropriate.  This isn’t an issue for us YET since Stephen only knows the existence of three channels but it will be soon.  I do not think elimination of it altogether is an option in today’s world.  If he doesn’t watch it here at our house it will be at a friend’s house.  If he already has good habits in place (only formed by practicing at home), he will have a much easier time resisting the bad stuff.

One other resolution:  Reserve pacifier use for naps and bedtime only.  Boston calls it his “fire” which is adorably pronounced “fyeor.”

Shoot.  This one is almost harder than the TV thing.  Boston is not so thrilled with this one but mostly it has been hard for Mommy and Daddy.  We like the ease and convenience of putting in the plug when the little one gets feisty.  I never knew what a noisy child Boston was until we gave up the pacifier during the day.  Goodness.  He jabbers and jabbers and makes (incredibly loud) monkey and other animal noises.  His vocabulary has increased dramatically and he even sings some songs.  Not all the noises are happy however and sometimes he gets stuck in a crying “rut” for long periods of time and so we go to “time out,” which for him is sitting in the crib with his pacifier.  After a few minutes I ask if he is ready to come out and he knows that he has to put his “fire” on the ledge first.  It works like a charm!  Yeah, I don’t think “fire” going away permanently anytime soon.  Maybe next year….

So there you have it: the Smith Family, just telling it like it is in the New Year.

Christmas

Santa came… (did you know he likes Dr. Pepper???)

 

Still a little sleepy but looking pleased.

 

Boston, has figured out that Christmas is pretty sweet.

 

Stephen is a Christmas morning pro and is looking mighty pleased with his Nerf dart gun.

 

Mini boxes of sugar cereal are one of Santa’s favorite Christmas morning treats to leave in the stockings.

 

Later at Grandma Quist’s house Stephen opened one of his favorite gifts – a nutcracker.  The crumbles you see in front are the (already shelled) peanuts that nutcracker mashed up.  Pretty powerful right??  For some reason Stephen loves nutcrackers and every time we saw one in the store this year (and last year) he wanted to play with them so clever Grandma Quist gave him one of his very own!

My two adorable boys ready for bed after a long, fabulous day.  They are sporting the new Toy Story PJs they received from Grandma Smith.  Doesn’t Boston look ridiculously cute in those “man” pajamas?

 

We are so blessed to live near both of our parents.  Our boys get a very close relationship with both of their Grandparents.  This also means that the boys are beyond spoiled on Christmas!  We had a blast with our own little Christmas celebration at home and then bouncing around between Grandparents’ houses the rest of the day.  We even managed to squeeze in a much needed afternoon nap.  Christmas day was truly a jewel!  We love all of our wonderful family and had so much fun celebrating with you!

And the stockings were hung

Can you fall asleep while repeatedly listening to “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer?”  He must have pushed that button over and over for at least fifteen minutes.  I was doing dishes.  When the song finally stopped I came out to check on him and this is what I found.

 

   

 

Our halls, decked.

 

I call this my Silver and Gold table.

 

My friend, Ashley, and I made these wreaths one day early in the month.  I love having a wreath to hang since I have never had one of any kind!

 

 

Windows are decked too.

 

 

I made this sign (thanks to Scott’s Aunt Paula for the vinyl lettering!)…maybe I got a leetle carried away with the glitter and I am not sure I love the huge size and general “loudness” of the whole thing  but it does the job.  Obviously the stockings are homemade.  My favorite thing about them is their small size.  It makes it easy for Santa to fill them!

 

Our “Santa Shelf.”  The Tupperware plate and mug on the left will be put to use tonight.  That is the set my family used when we were all little to leave Santa his treats.  Somehow last year it came into my possession.  No, I didn’t steal it, my Mom gave it to me.  I love that I have this and it is a very kid friendly set!

 

Our sad little tree…before you are confused, let me explain that it is four feet tall and at probably 20 years old.  It is currently perched on top of an end table, squished between our couches.  That is why it looks like a million gifts are there but really they are just piled up because there is not really room on that table.  There is a whole sections of lights on the bottom that don’t light up anymore.  I think Santa may swap out the lights tonight so the tree is all sparkly in the morning.  This situation reminds me of something…

“Santy Claus, why,

“Why, are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?

But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick

He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!

“Why, my sweet little tot,” the fake Santy Claus lied,

“There’s a light on this tree that won’t light on one side.

“So I’m taking it home to my workshop, my dear.

“I’ll fix it up there.  Then I’ll bring it back here.”

I hope when Santy Claus brings the tree back it is suddenly 6-7 feet tall, pre-lit and has a magnificent star tree topper.  Maybe?

Merry Christmas!

Family Pictures

I am one lucky girl!  I entered a blog giveaway and won a free family photo session from an adorable girl named Kelsea Elwood!  Her photography business is called Simply You Photography and she has done some really cute work.  She has already worked on a few of our family photos and shared them on facebook – I LOVE how they turned out!  Thank you Kelsea!

Uhhhh, Thanksgiving and a Surprise Visit

Who has time to blog anymore?  Anyone? Anyone?  Obviously, not me.  Here I am just getting to Thanksgiving!

We had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving.  Just for the day, our little family went up to Safford to enjoy turkey with his Grandma and Grandpa Thatcher and the rest of his mom’s family.  We had a fun time reconnecting with everyone up there.

The most notable part of that week was my little sister, Chery’s visit.  She is attending BYU and had fed my family a story that she was unable to find a ride home for Thanksgiving.  About a week before Thanksgiving she called me and let me in on the secret that she had at least five different people that she could come home with and that she was going to surprise our family.  She showed up on the doorstep on Monday night – the surprise was a huge success – tears from Mom and Celsea and huge grins from my Dad.  We got to have her around for a whole week and it was so much fun!  (I am counting down the days until she and my brother, Allen, come home for Christmas break).  The boys had a great time reconnecting with their lesser-known aunt.

Chery, Boston, and the stuffed beagle practicing their music.  (Chery is a dual music/education major – yeah, she is talented)

 

Both people in this picture are adorable!

 

We also did some “Black Friday” shopping in the afternoon, though we refused to wait in the two hour long line at Kohl’s. You can see that Celsea is still going strong in this picture, but my boys are DONE!

 

Temple Groundbreaking Ceremony

Clear back in November I had the opportunity to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Gilbert, Arizona Temple.  It was a very hot and sunny day.  The next day at church, you could tell who was present at the ceremony by the burned left ear and neck!  I went with my sister, Celsea, and my Dad.  My mom was singing in the choir.  Scott and the boys dropped us off right at the entrance so we didn’t have to worry about parking.  It was a formal and yet kind of informal affair.  Thousands (at least five thousand) of people were milling around everywhere.  You could walk right up to the front and snap pictures next to the artist rendering of what the temple would look like.  There were news cameras and helicopters around too.  It was a cool experience to be there though the heat was really distracting.

The big empty dirt field.


Celsea and I – self portrait near the spot where they broke ground.


Can you see off to the left?  That is the painting of what the temple is supposed to look like.


Here is a better picture of the temple.


My cute Mommy on the stand.

Sunday

I tripped over the microphone cord while conducting Junior Primary today.  I fell hard onto my knees.  Church carpeting is not luxurious or soft.  In fact, I would much sooner compare it to sand paper.  Of course, I had to play it cool and responded to the concerned questions “are you okay?” with “yeah!” and a big forced smile.  (Watering eyes and shaking hands.)  I avoided looking at my smarting knee for a few minutes hoping that nobody would see my weakness.  Finally I peeked a glance:

 Sorry for the gross white leg picture.

Then, to add insult to injury, I was asked to speak in church the Sunday after Christmas.  Scott won’t be speaking with me, I am speaking in my Primary President capacity. 

 

Sigh, at least I didn’t fall in front of Senior Primary.  They would have laughed at me.  As it was, most of Junior probably didn’t even notice what happened.