Decorating for Christmas

The day after my big shopping spree, I decided to spend the whole day at home putting up Christmas.  Normally I do most of the decorating by myself and then let the kids do the tree as an FHE activity.  This year I thought it would be fun if we all helped.  They boys had all taken a turn helping with lights outside so I figured this would be perfect.  It started off well with enthusiastic kids, my favorite Christmas candle and lovely music in the back ground.  Well, it only went down hill from there.  The boys went to work outside with the lights.  One boy helping... wonderful.  Three boys helping... disaster.  I realized this when the crying started because littler boys were being hit with staples that big boys were shooting at them.  There was "playful" pushing and poking going on which also resulted in boys crying.  The girls were busy inside pulling everything out as quickly as possible while yelling "where does this go??"  I encouraged them to slow down, we would figure it out.  Using all the patience I could muster we found places for most things.  Whitley and Stephen were having a hard time getting the lights on the tree to work so I stepped in only to find out they had unplugged almost everything.  I had no idea what went where.  My arms were only slightly scratched up as I dug and replugged each cord till it finally all worked.  Dalin spent much of the day in tears because he was too little to do the important things and a big "fail" at anything else he tried, such as putting up garland outside. Then when I wouldn't let him put the star on our 9 ft tree, he lost it.  Oh brother.  I was slowly loosing it.  I had definitely done my share of controlled yelling, and was trying really hard to be kind when I told them to not shoot staples at each other AGAIN,  but I was failing quickly.

It all went down the drain in the same 10 min when Stephen said I needed to hot glue my crystal mistletoe because some of the "greenery" had come off. He also commented that I was lucky it wasn't broken cuz he almost dropped it. That's how the greenery came out.  I was lucky????  Right after I glued it for him, I came out to see Rhett digging in my my $40 candle with a spatula.  That was it.  Controlled yelling was now gone. Turns out, he was trying to relight it and it tipped over spilling wax all over the floor and wall.  He was scraping it up and putting it back in.  He ran off crying while I yelled apologies for yelling at him.  I cleaned up the mess and announced  "for today, Christmas is over."  I forced them all to help clean up the mess we had created, sweep and vacuum and called it a day.  I'm pretty sure they were all grateful.  The lights are not quite finished, my big tree isn't decorated and I still have a few bins of odds and ends.  Next year, we go back to the old plan.  I was feeling more like a Grizzwald today rather than in It's a Wonderful Life.  I'm sure I'll get to the point of laughter, but today wasn't really it. We'll try again tomorrow... when they are all at school. Ü

Little Mermaid

The kids were in the play The Little Mermaid a couple of weeks ago.  Rhett, Stephen and Whitley were the only ones in this one.  The others are doing Glee with me in a couple of weeks.  Actually, Whitley is the lead in Glee, but Molly pulled her into Mermaid the week before the show.  Rhett was a sailor/waiter.  Not too much action in this one, but he's still cute as ever.  Stephen was Grimsby, Prince Eric's assistant so he had a pretty big role.  Whitley was pulled in as a waitress/ princess.  This wasn't my favorite show, but the costumes and scenery were amazing!!  And of course, I always love to watch my kids on stage. 

Black Friday (Thursday)

I was super grouchy starting out this year.  I hate the early deals and I was super tired by the end of the day. I left for the 8 pm Wal Mart deals about 7:30pm.  The lady had previously told me that nothing would be available for grabbing until 8.  Not.  I walked into the store to find oodles of people standing around with carts stacked full of stuff.  That did not help my mood any.  Stephen and Nick both came with me this year so we went to work trying to find the things on my list.  To my surprise, we were able to find everything.  I had put them at the end of the line (in the back of the store) to wait while I gathered the final things.  The clock finally struck 8 and 10 min later we hadn't moved an inch.  I decided to go see what it was like at the front of the line.  When I worked my way to the front I found that this line only fed into one register!!  Are you kidding me??  There were several other lines that only had like 6 people in it.  I got into one and called Nick to tell him to bring our stuff up front.  Now, we weren't there early enough to get a cart and we had some big stuff so we were all just carrying everything.  After about 5 minute of waiting, I notice the guy in front of me was missing.  I sent Nick to go see where he went.   A little bit over, we find him in even a shorter line. So we followed.  We were out of there less than 10 min later.  Sweet!

On to Target.  Chelsey had gone to KMart for me and there was one item she wasn't able to get that was also at Target so we thought we would try.  The line was literally around the store to the back.  I was pretty hopeless at this point and was trying to see if I could buy it online.  No luck. I did try at home get stuff online, but nothing was showing up so I didn't want to take any chances.  Now they were all sold out.  We waited anyway since we had till midnight till our next stop and it was only 9.  

Once in, I didn't see any purpose for a cart so I used my sweet football moves to maneuver around those people jammed up with carts until  I finally reached the toy department.  Score!!  They still had them.  In the meantime, Stephen was over digging $5 jammies out of the bin for the little ones.  We were checked out and done less than 10 min after we got in.  

Over to Kohl's.  I had dropped Nick off in line there before we went to Target.  He was about 15th in line.  I got a pad and pillow that was left in the van and laid myself down for a little snooze since we still had over 2 hours till opening.  That didn't really work since people like to talk while waiting, lol.  My friends Jenny and Melanie showed up not much later so we went over the ads and tried to do all the math of what we needed and how much Kohl's cash we could earn.  The time passed quickly and it wasn't even very cold.  A few people got nasty as the time got close and new people tried to edge there way to the front of the line.  We all  went our assigned ways to get the goods while Nick got a place in line right by the registers.  Again, we did the grab and go method not taking time for any extra shopping.  Jenny couldn't find what she was looking for and almost got stuck waiting in the back of the line.  We got her out just in time and all was well.  I was home in bed by 1 am.  

Mom texted me just before 7 to see what the plan was.  I called Jenny and we were back out the door by 7:30.  We went to Kohl's to do some actual shopping and use our coupons.  I had 3 $10 off coupons to use.  I had used one the night before and was going to use my other two this morning.  When I was checking out, I realized they were missing.  I searched my entire person, even went back out to the car.. nothing.  I reconciled myself by the fact that I had earned $30 Koh's cash that I wouldn't have had I had the coupons.  When I pulled out my card to pay, there were my coupons.  I decided I would use them later in the day, there was still something I wanted, but needed to check with Mom.  

We headed for Ihop to meet Mom and Tracie for our annual Black Friday breakfast.  From there we all jumped in the same car and headed out for a day of shopping.  Turns out we had to take Stephen with us because Glade didn't have a key to let him into Mom's house.  He's great though so it was OK.  We hit another Kohl's to use my last coupon that expired at 1 pm.  The lines there were around to the back of the store.  No way was I waiting in that line.  Our Kohl's was like a normal shopping day!  But my coupon would expire before I could get to another one.  Grrrr.  We hit Sally's, Old Navy, Deseret Book, Kirklands, and Harkins.  By now we were all hitting the wall and wanting a nap.  Jenny took Stephen home and I stayed at Mom's because Tracie and I had made plans for a date in a couple of hours.  Mom and I both laid down for a short snooze. 

About an hour later, she and I headed to another Kohl's.  I still had one coupon to use.  I decided to just ask if they would let me use the expired one since I was at the store but the line was too long.  She said she didn't think it actually expired and said I would be fine.  I used it to buy pj pants for Stephen and ended up paying $1.86 for them.  I gave the other to Mom that she used for a couple of toys for the little ones.  After the lady scanned the coupon, she handed it back to us.  I told her I thought it was a one time use thing and she said she didn't know that, but just keep it anyway.  Then she said the total and I knew something wasn't right.  I looked at the screen and she had scanned the coupon twice.  There were 2 $10 discounts.  Being honest, I point it out and she hmmm's a little and then says there's no way to fix it so it was just our lucky day!  

Tracie had cancelled our date, but Jenny had confirmed they could come so we ended the night by going to a new little Mexican place close to home.  I was home and in bed by about 8 pm.  My house was trashed, Thanksgiving dinner was exactly where I left it 24 hours before only 2 more meal fixings were added to it.  I put whatever food was salvageable away and went to bed.  The price you pay.  The day was a success and most of my shopping is now finished.  I hope to stick to my plan and not do any impulse buying this year.  I'm excited to just do Christmas things the rest of the month and not worry about the spending part.  I love that I have friends and kids and a Mom that will go do all this craziness with me!!

Turkey Trot

Usually we get a picture of all of us before the race starts but this year we were a little scrambled so we got pretty much nothing.   I happened to get this one pic of Katy and Rhett getting ready for the one mile though.  Rhett used this for his warm up before the 10K (six miles).  Crazy.  When it was all done, I asked her how she did and she says "good!".   I asked if she ran it all and she said no, she had walked some.  Then when I talked to Rhett, he filled me in on the rest of the story... She ran about a third and then cried the rest of the way cuz she didn't want to go anymore.  Little Stinker.  She had been begging me all week not to make her run.  She had even asked "do I have to run my whole life??"

Bo, Whitley and Grandma did the two mile.  Poor Bo.  As we were waiting to start, I notice his shoes.  Both of his big toes are completely sticking out of his shoes.  I should pay more attention, he still ran anyway. They don't time the two mile so we don't know how he did time wise.  He is always excited and says his holes are because he runs too fast.

Then it was time for the big one.  I have trained, but just can't seem to get a lot better.  No longevity.  So I was aiming for at least 1:04, would be super happy with 1:02.  Glade, Stephen, Rhett, Brooklyn, Dalin and I all ran the 10K.  Nick had to work that day so he was off the hook.  It was exceptionally hot this day as well.  Stupid AZ.  Anyway, we finished like this:

Rhett  44:39 tenth in his division and he beat the turkey!
Dalin  58:46  eighth in his division,  the little stink beat me!  The last time we ran, he couldn't even keep up.  He did awesome!
Laurie  1:01:12  I beat 1:02!!  I was so happy, I think it's even barely better than last year.  I'm not complaining at all ♥
Glade  1:02:30  I started by texting him "enjoy your buttkicking"  He needs a little edge to get him motivated.Ü
Stephen  1:26:44  I'm pretty sure this was his best time since he was 12.  Maybe his crossfit training is paying off.
Brooklyn 1:35:52  We thought she would be a bit faster because of her cross country training, but she said she was having foot pain the whole time.  I love that she just keeps trying.

We always see lots of friends there and love this tradition for our Thanksgiving.  As always, we stuck around till the end and ended up with a free turkey for the most family members.

Thanksgiving

I don't have a single picture of this one.  This year was a little different than usual.  For some reason, the Smith Christmas was filled with drama.  That's so not like our family, but in the end all was well.  We had it the Wednesday before like we always do.  Normally we have it in the Inter Stake Center, but it was getting A/C (yeah!) so we had it outside at the park nearby. The weather was nice for us so it worked out well.

The days previous to that we had had a girl stay with us for a few days who was having problems at home.  That's a whole nother story, but because of that, we were a little late for dinner.  Funny story.  I had gone to my Mom's to decorate her house for Christmas so I was gone most of that day.  I called home to ask the kids to peel the potatoes I needed to take to dinner.  When I got home, they had been chopping them and the biggest pot I have was nearly full plus there was still a huge pile of peeled potatoes on the table.  I just couldn't figure this out!  I always to a 10 lb bag and it fits perfectly into my pot.  Finally a comment was made to clear up my confusion.  They had peeled ALL the potatoes.  35 lbs!!  Oh my.  I guess I wasn't clear about just doing one of the bags I had gotten. We cooked what was in the pot and left the rest for our dinner the next day.   Since we were late to dinner, they hardly even got eaten.  Good thing my kids love potatoes!!

The next morning we got up bright and early for the Turkey Trot.  After, we came home and got right on making dinner.  We had given our turkey to the boy scouts to cook in a pit the night before so that was already done.  Whew!  Now it was just the sides.  We cooked the rest of the potatoes, but only used about a third of them and ended up throwing the rest away.  Good thing they were only 88 cents a bag!  I was so tired by the time we got everything ready.  The Williams family was joining us again and it was about time for their arrival.  Jana called and said they would be a little late... Nap time!  I got a whopping 20 min to lay in my bed and take a break.  Mom, in the meantime, was handling things in the kitchen.  When Glade went to carve the turkey, it was still totally raw!  Oh no.. 20 people and no turkey.  We had a ham, but that was it.  Luckily it was just enough and now we all had room for dessert!

After dinner, I got right on going through my ads for late night shopping.  The others gathered for a game in the living room.  I felt bad I didn't participate, but Black Friday (Thursday) shopping is kinda a big deal.  Everyone parted ways about 7:30, including me heading out for my first shopping destination.  I'm not in love with the way shopping has turned out, kinda rushes my Thanksgiving dinner a little.

Halloween

I hate trying to catch up, but here is what our Halloween was in a nutshell.  Went to school and visited the kids classes and helped at parties, then went to trunk or treat that night. Nothing too exciting to report, but here are the pictures.

Bo's Christmas List

I always ask my kids to make their Christmas Lists early so I can start looking for deals.   A couple of weeks ago I asked them to work on it, so they all pulled out the big toy ad that came in the paper and started writing. I hate these lists.  They only write whatever cool thing they see, not what they have been actually wanting.  So a week or so later, I ask them to write one without an ad.  Yesterday Bo did his.  I think it might be the cutest list I can remember.  Let me preface by saying I decided to implement a new gift giving policy this year. I tend to go overboard for Christmas so I wanted to try to fix that.  I told the kids they were getting 3 gifts from me: something they wanted, something they needed and something I think they needed/wanted.  Then of course whatever Santa chooses to bring.  I knew this would stress me a little since I impulse buy a lot of their gifts.  You know, something that was a really good deal I may not have gotten otherwise.  With that in mind, notice what Bo wants/needs.


Bo's Christmas List
need=any sonic game
want=skylanders
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.more giants for skylanders giants.
2.cards of any kind    
3.My Brothers To Be Nice
4.pillow pet
5.lego harbor
6.nano speed
7.furbie
8.any skylander
9.new blanket
10.dancing elmo                  

I guess at age 7 a sonic game must feel like a need, lol.  And how about "my brothers to be nice".  How sweet and yet sad at the same time.  I just love this kid.  You can be sure his brothers will get to have a peek at his list before we mail it off to the North Pole. ♥            

State Cross Country Meet

The State Cross Country Meet was this past Saturday in Goodyear.  That's an hour's drive from where we live.  Mom and I headed out early in the morning to get there before Rhett raced at 8:30.  I was a little worried about him because the first thing he said was that he knew he wouldn't do that well since there were so many more school here this time.  I encouraged him to leave nothing left.  This was his last race and he needed to run harder than he has ever run.  He did just that.  I couldn't have been more proud.  He finished 25th out of over 80 kids and had a PR of 20:20.  He is not typically a strong finisher, but this day... he was amazing.  I couldn't believe it when I saw him coming down the homestretch.  I don't think I've ever seen him run that hard before.  What an awesome ending.  Our team finished 3rd as a team.

Brooklyn also ran the same day.  She had a PR as well at 17:34 for a mile and a half.  I know that's slow, but for her, she finished 3 minutes faster than she had been.  A whole minute just from last week.  She was actually sweating and flushed.  I was so proud of her as well!  The JR High girls took 2nd losing first by only one point.  Super great day at the races!!

Presidential Election

We had a Presidential election last week and Whitley was able to vote for the first time.  I know it looks like a picture of me, but it's only because I'm not skilled at taking self portraits so Whitley held the phone and was worried about getting the 'vote' sign in and almost cut herself out.   It was fun to all go vote together.

This is the first time ever that one of the candidates was LDS, or Mormon.  It was really an exciting time to have someone who actually shares your beliefs and values be in a position to actually make a difference.  It also brought a lot of attention to the church, which I think turned out to be a good thing.  People don't always know what we are about and this gave an opportunity to share our beliefs publicly.  Unfortunately our country is in a serious state of disillusion in thinking that it's a good thing for our government to control us.  It's very scary to think what our future holds here in America.  Fortunately there have been plenty of prophecies that tell us what we can expect and where to look for guidance.  I don't like the outcome of the election but I also know there's a plan and that my only real responsibility is to take care of my family and teach them the best I know how.

Mitt Romney and his wife

Honor Roll

Bo and Katy were both on the honor roll at school this quarter.  Katy was actually on the Principal's List and Bo on the honor roll.  Bo will make Principal's List next time though!  Terrible phone pics, but at least it's something. Ü

Taxi Please

I wish I had time to blog all my activities every day.  But let me just give you a summation of my last two weeks.

Run
work
drive
drive
drive
drive
drive
sleep
repeat

This week was tech week for my kids doing Little Mermaid,which means every night of the week rehearsals.  Add to that the fact that Brooklyn has decided to try out for basketball and their practices are from 5 -7 in the evenings and that Nick worked almost every night last week and you can basically deduct that I spent all my evenings driving people around.  It made me REALLY grouchy.  I haven't even mentioned the church activities and home duties that were also intermingled.

My running is frustrating.  I ran 5 miles, 3x this week and I just can't seem to get faster.  And it's not easier.  I have one more week of training before the turkey trot.  I'm definitely not beating my last year's time.

The play was cute, costumes like nothing I've ever seen. Whitley got thrown in at the last minute and she was so happy to get to participate.  She's awesome.

So proud of Brooklyn for trying out for basketball.  She gets up and runs cross country every morning and then does basketball tryouts for two hours in the evening.  I really hope they let her be on the team.  It's so good for her.

Hoping for a less busy week ahead but not looking promising.  Already have three things on Tuesday that I'm supposed to do but can't.  Glee is only 3 weeks away so we are about to hit our every night of the week rehearsals as well.  Can't believe Thanksgiving is next week!!

Kid Stuff

Katy has a problem eating dinner the first time.  She likes nothing and lets us know about it while she whines as she sits at the table. Eventually she will agree to eat it and ask for a "warm up".  You only get one of those.  As we were driving somewhere after dinner and talking about how she does that, I commented to her that she should just eat it the first time because she always ends up eating it and usually even liking it.  She sighed and in a very bored voice she says "Yah... that's how I roll."

As I was saying prayers with Bo and Katy, Katy went first and when she was done, Bo says "Katy, I really like the way you added those adjectives!"  I asked him which ones, wondering if he even knew what he was talking about.  He replies "kind and gracious".  Little smarty pants.  Maybe HE will be my English kid!

Love

This past week I have gotten to witness very true and unashamed love from my sweet little Bo.  He's always been a lovey kid, gives lots of hug, no surprises there.  But this week it occurred to me that he is 7 and his innocence will probably soon be thwarted by not so sweet other 7 year olds.

Bo was playing a game online that he and his friend like to connect to so they can play together.  They had a little chat window open with things like "we rock" and "wee wee", it was very sweet.  Then I told him he had to get off and come eat dinner.  He wrote to his friend and told him the news, even including that we were having pizza for dinner.  Then Bo typed "I love you Wyatt".  To which Wyatt replied "ok".  How sweet is that.  I know it probably sounds weird to people who aren't used to it, but he was completely genuine and wanted his friend to know it.  He's already been told by one friend that boys don't hug.  Sad.

While at his Halloween party in his class, he came right over and jumped up on my lap.  He didn't give a single thought to what his friends might think.  Nope, just sat there and played with my hair.  Even when I just poked my head in to give him his lunch the other day, I didn't leave without a big hug and kiss from him.  I'm just coming to the heartbreaking reality that my time is limited in this capacity.  However, my big boys are still very affectionate with me.  Stephen never leaves me without a hug or kiss on the cheek.  Rhett has no problem coming over to me after a meet where all his friends are and putting his head on my shoulder or hugging me.  Dalin too.  I'm so blessed to have boys who still love their mommy.  I'll even include Nick, who used to walk on the opposite side of the campus if I was any where in sight, is much better and might walk within talking distance.

I'm just sad to realize how quickly they get big and how these sweet moments are about to be my past.  I have to admit though, that having a big boy, one that is now taller than you, give you a hug and say " love you momma" is pretty sweet too. ♥