First Day of School for My Baby Girl

This big girl had a big day today!
 
She's been looking forward to going to school all summer.

For 2 1/2 hours a day, four days a week, my children are ALL in school.

And I didn't get all weepy until I got home and walked into our messy kitchen. I said I'd clean it today.

And I will.

After I hit "publish post."

The weather's been just lovely today.

The boys rode their bikes to school.

Our primary program is in 6 days.

Ben's far away living in a hotel five days a week for the next six weeks.

I bribed CO to stop sucking her thumb and it worked.

I'm stalling?

Hmmm.

The kitchen sink I ordered from amazon arrived ten minutes ago while I was looking at pictures.

I'm forcing myself to clean the kitchen before I open the new-sink-filled package.

The kitchen's not getting any cleaner.

Here goes.

Kitchens are so stupid and I hate them and they're dumb and they never stay clean for more than a couple of minutes at a time and they're good for nothing and I hate the dishes that are still on the table because they're dirty and kitchens are stupid times infinity. (My kids would have gotten a time out for a rant like that--good thing I'm the grown-up, even though I'm not acting like it!)

What? 

Nothing!

Fine. . .

Bye.

:)

Housework and Homeschooling

Because last week was sleepover week, I have designated this week as cleaning week. My sons make no secret about their dislike of assigned jobs that start with "Clean up the. . ." and end with ". . . kitchen."  or ". . . living room." or ". . . guinea pig cage."  But today I discovered something truly wonderful.  My boys can organize stuff.  I'm pretty sure they didn't learn it from me. This morning RO organized the spices, kitchen utensils, and cake decorating items that were living temporarily on the window sill while JO organized ALL the board games downstairs.  And they enjoyed themselves immensely.  I have so many nooks and crannies that need the attention of a happy organizer or two.  I am writing a very different job list for the rest of the week. The closets, the books, the office supplies, the garage toys. . . this is going to be such fun! 

In other news, I applied for a full-time teaching position as a homeschooling teacher for our school district.  I will be monitoring homeschoolers from my home computer. The job would start in September and the posting closes tomorrow.  I am hoping for an interview and keeping my fingers crossed!

Not Another Downtown Freeway Fix

During the summer months, my husband hangs out on freeways, off-ramps, and busy city streets. He oversees construction and repairs of state roads. It's gritty and ugly work sometimes. His jobsites are often filled with smells of exhaust and hot asphalt. That's all about to change. He still has the same job for now, but he will be in quite a different environment. Some engineers have all the luck! Ben went north an hour and a half today to see his late August/early September jobsite. Aside from the fact that he'll be on a bridge and way too far removed from solid ground for my liking, I'm a little envious!

The kids and I will be visiting Daddy and his breathtaking jobsite OFTEN during this bridge repair! Can you blame us?

Summer 2011 Yellowstone Family Reunion

YELLOWSTONE SMITH FAMILY REUNION 2011
(RO took this picture, nice rainbow!)

The kids didn't mind the long drive. It might have had something to do with the new portable DVD player.  They are SO accomodating.

We had family photos, this is SO with my mom! 
Aren't they cute?

 

When three of the cousins are toddlers/babies, the "How about a quick shot of Grandma and Papa with the grandkids" idea ends up looking something like this:

 
(my four are on the left, Mom is holding Dave's, Dad's got Jamie's and Steve's, and Andrew's four are behind and on the right of Mom and Dad)


 

What JO was thinking about during family pictures
(He paid $75 for it at a yard sale):

Jamie's cute little man!

 

You'll have to tilt your head to the left for this
picture of Dave's baby, but it's worth it!

 

Silliness with cousins. 
Andrew's son is on the left, and my RO is on the right.

Tilt it again, sam! CO sporting her new glasses, swinging and smiling on this hose-swing:

Uncle Andrew wondered why SO was planking. Luckily, she's not "cool enough" to know what planking is. I think she was just tired of taking family pictures!

Wearing a green t-shirt under your nice shirt makes for a hot photo shoot, but it's worth it to JO, who was wearing "comfortable clothes" within seconds of the last picture.

Dang it, tilt one more time, okay?

Auntie Kiki was in her community's musical: "Cinderella" and the girls loved it.

 

CO even got to dance with Prince Charming after the show. After the final scene, CO whispered to me; "I'm nervous to dance with the prince, I only know how to pirouette." (if you read the last sentence and replace all the "r" sounds with "ow" sounds, that's how she said it.  And when a four year-old says a big word like "piwowowette" it is exactly as cute as you think it is.)
She's lucky to be alive, I want to just eat her up she's so delicious!

This is what Steve, Jamie, and I (and Dave for 45 minutes) spent our days doing at my parents' new home:

 

Uncle Buckethead strikes a pose.  Steve is quite an amazing guy.  He has worked so hard on my parents' house this summer.  And I love to hang out with him (I also love the wood detail over the entrance, don't you?):

 

Leftover wood flooring makes for some great puzzle pieces!

Bumper boat "after" picture. Because all flooring and no play, makes the kids wonder why it's called a "vacation."  Actually I didn't make them hang out at the construction site, my mom did a wonderful job entertaining my kids and feeding them ice cream and/or Shave Ice daily.  They went to the museum, the movie "Rio," and played and played and played!

RO takes after his uncle and namesake. He rocked the rock wall!

I hope your summer vacation is going well. Excuse me while I dream about going on a vacation to recover from my vacation.  As I type, my kids are entertaining the neighbors in the back yard.  JO is playing "Pink Panther" outside on the keyboard, CO is squealing, and I'm almost afraid to account for the rest of them, but I know digging for treasure is involved. 

It's good to be home.

Guest Post from the Birthday Boy

RO brought home his 5th grade journal at the end of the school year.  His teacher gave the students writing prompts every day and they wrote at least 13 lines a day.  Some of the prompts were "I wish I had a million dollars. . ." and "I get nervous at school when. . . "

I had to smile when I read what he wrote for the prompt: "If children were in charge of the world. . ." because I would have written something entirely different.

"If children were in charge of the world I would help in the kids' army.  I would help do world domination and I would fight to be president and I would fight to be in charge of my own continent and I would buy all the stuff I wanted and I would have my own farm and I would help anybody that needs help and I would have a big ranch so that I can have a lot of animals and stuff."

What I would have written is something like the need for 3 square candy meals a day, rollercoasters in every back yard, recess all day, and parents who do all the work.  Never though of the need to lead a kids' army intent on world domination.  Should I be worried about RO?  Happy 11th, my sweet, ambitious, army man. Perhaps you'll be riding a moose at your ranch?

Want to see a picture of the school-aged kids from May on "Crazy Hair Day?"  I thought so.

(Yes, that's sliver goo on her eyebrows.  And do you like the color of our new cabinetry in the kitchen?  It's Natural Hickory.)

Now for a picture of a rocky "sandy" world to practice ruling:

The X Factor

Thirteen years ago my husband and I were working and living in Brazil.  We stayed a short 181 days, but I learned a lot.  A blog I read titled Uganda makes me want to leave the United States again.  Every U.S. citizen should live in another country for a while.  Yeah, I said it.  Being an expatriate puts life in perspective.  I am glad I don't know what it's like to live in a country where violence is something "you'll get used to."  I am also glad the Uganda blogger is such a good writer!  I found myself reading and agreeing and loving his insights.  I also found myself wondering if eloquence is something you can learn. 

Well, I don't know if we'd be allowed to take my four children as far as Uganda or Brazil (or the Philippines--RO is half Filipino, after all).  But if it's for a few short months, maybe our parents will forgive us.  Maybe?  It would be quite a shock to my system to have expats for kids.   I would love to see how being expats would change their views of the world, of consumerism, and other ideas.  If the boys' desire to play computer games and be entertained were to vanish, I'd start packing right now.

And if I could avoid all future encounters with the boy scout program?  BONUS. No, it's not about the Pinewood Derby this time.  My oldest child is on his first scout campout tonight.

and

We aren't there. 

and 

It's no fair.

and

I miss him.

A cell phone pic of my boy who better come back alive and intact, ya hear me, scout leaders?