Happy Halloween

Tonight I was standing in the kitchen covering Kyle's leftover birthday cake. I could hear Kyle and the kids in the bedroom. All three of them were in our bed-the kids were jumping and wrestling with Kyle. He didn't know I was listening to them. I heard Kyle say to them, "When you guys were born, I didn't know how much I would love you."

I mean, really, does life get any sweeter than that?

Then my moment was ruined ten minutes later when Slade ran into the living room and slapped Finley on the top of the head. Kyle spanked him and everyone cried. It was time to call it a day.

Flashback Friday

Pics are from last October-I can't believe it was a whole year ago! Happy Halloween Birthday to my husband who is the big 3-1!!!! He's 21 at heart!

Out with the Old.......

So you all know that I am extremely sentimental these days. It's a flaw in my personality seeing that it causes me much grief. I have discovered that I can manage to be sad about most things that involve putting away "baby" things. And yes, I have sunk to a new low of letting a diaper bag get the best of me! Yes, you heard it right-the pink paisley diaper bag had to be retired. I was so very sad to put in out of it's misery. My sister bought it for me when I had Finley and it had a brilliant life span of two years and two months. Gosh it was a great bag, but had seen better days. The plastic was torn on the edges, the inside was stained all sorts of colors, and it smelled of old crackers. Is there some reason why I'm acting as though it was alive? Not sure what's wrong with me there-bare with me. I had to just chunk it actually. Like, seriously, I put it in a garbage bag and took it to the dumpster so I wouldn't think about climbing into the dumpster to rescue it. In honor of the pink paisley bag, or PPB as I will now refer to it, I purchased a new "big girl" bag and had it monogrammed and everything. It also has a matching zip pouch for the little goodies-combs, rubber bands, Tylenol, etc. It is a great bag, smaller than the PPB, but that's what I wanted. I needed to downsize. I am happy with the cute little bag-it makes my heart happy. But what makes me even happier is to know that it has little pockets on each side that deeply resemble bottle holders. Oh, that tickles my heart. Yes, I will be putting sippy cups and Capri Suns in there, but I can pretend it's for a bottle for my sentimental pleasure. I mean, maybe I might need to put Campbell's, baby Well's, or baby Youngblood's bottle in there one day, right? It could happen. I vow to never write about PPB again. I will only have the pics of it on blog and in my heart. And most of all, to all my readers and friends, I promise to never blog about a darn bag again! Jeeeezzzzz, PA-THE-TIC.

PS-Cheers to those extra special cellophaned, silver foil star wrapped, Sprite canned, stale popcorned, plastic happy-mealed sunglasses, Kindergarten Halloween goodie bags. Right T and J???????

For Jerilyn

I'm posting my beadwork for my friend, Jerilyn. Aren't you proud of me for the photos? These are some of my favs. My friend Angela got me started on beading. I personally think I have too many irons in the fire, as my mom would say. I really don't need another craft, but this is really fun. And unlike scrapbooking, you actually can finish and have a beautiful little trinket to wear. I don't know if everyone is like this, but I just have craftiness that I have to let out. I sometimes just feel like I need to make something or craft something. Not that I'm all that wonderful at it, but I like to play with stuff!!! I know that sounds weird to non-crafters. I just wish I had a way to make a living at it. Way to go Jessica at Funky Finds. What a cool job!!! Everyone should check out her site-it's on my favorite blogs. A few necklaces are by Angela and a few are mine. We share our stuff and bead away on the days we can keep our kiddos occupied. I love the name bracelet. Brandi had Angela make it for my bday and I have a necklace, too. People love them when I'm out and about, and I already have an order for two of them. I can't wait to get the little blocks in so I can make one! Aren't they cute!!!

I have to tell you this before I end my post. This morning my brother-in-law brought Campbell over. My sister is in California till Friday for her work, so he's having to step up and be Mr. Mom. Campbell has been sick so it hasn't been a breeze so far but we are all managing. Thank goodness I talked Nana into coming and helping me this week. Now, Shane is a typical first time daddy. Nervous about the usual things, doesn't always know what to do when she cries, pukes, etc. but he does try his best. He does well with her considering that he's alone all week with a nine month old. I don't think Kyle could do it-he'd probably call in my mom for help. But I have to tell you that I was so impressed this morning. He shows up with Campbell in her Halloween shirt, candy corn pants, and socks-and it all matched. But best of all he has a black clippy in her hair!!! Isn't that hysterical. I mean how many daddys would take the time to put in a clippy. I thought that was adorable.

Feliz Navidad

Just call me the stocking queen! I have had a few requests to see my little stockings I whipped up and Jerilyn keeps getting on to me when I don't post with photos. So here you have it. Here are the three that are finished and you'll just have to wait to see Finleys!!! I hope I've put some pressure on myself to finish hers since you all know about it!

Flashback Friday

Yes, I'm a bit early for Friday-2 1/2 hours to be exact, but who's counting. These are some of my very favorite 1st birthday pics of Finley. We were at Devil's River-her actual birthday always falls on this trip, so we have a little celebration there, too. She looks so much like Slade did when he was this age. She actually has some fat on her-look at the chubby arms. The cake pan you see is very old. It was my great grandmother's which makes it Finley's great, great. We have a tradition that Nana makes us all a mini birthday cake in that antique pan. It has to be Nana's homemade yummy chocolate cake. She puts a bit of coffee in the icing, which I think is a great little secret. She was such a sweet, happy baby. I love her crinkled nose when her face is covered in cake!!! This picture was taken 15 months ago, and it seems like it has been years since she was that small. To anyone reading this with your first baby or one on the way, take my advice. Soak it up-every smile, nose crinkle, drool drip, sweet laugh. They grow so very fast and in the blink of an eye, they'll be 2 1/2 and working the portable DVD player or in Kindergarten and wearing colored hair gel because it's wild hair day. The time is so very precious. It's the best time of your life.

Hodge Podge Blog

Let's see. What shall I blog tonight? Hmmmmm. I made four necklaces today with my friend, Ang. I love to say Ang because Kyle thinks it is so funny. Angela will call and leave me a message on the answering machine and say, "Hey, this is Ang!" Evidently that just tickles Kyle for her to say Ang. He's a nut. What else. Finley is on the mend but still snotty. I know you couldn't sleep tonight without knowing my child's mucus factor. I'll move on. Slade learned his five lines of poetry for his "Memorization Monday" lesson. We were singing it tonight in opera voices and everyone thought that was funny. What can I say, it doesn't take much to entertain the Smart's.

Ok, I know a great story to tell. Where do I start this. Paige is a girl on my blog that is from Iraan. She has three sweet little girls. I hope she doesn't mind me posting this. Hey Paige! Ok, so follow me. Her mom is a teacher in Iraan and she actually taught first grade when I was in first grade, but I had Miss Shultz. Beside the point I know, but you know how small town people are. Anyways, Paige's mom, Mrs. Sigmon, had her knee operated on a few weeks ago. From what I understand, it wasn't a replacement, but they worked on things and cleaned away cartilage and such. Today my mom saw Mrs. Sigmon and was telling me the story she told her. So picture this-she's waking up in her room after surgery and sort of starts to think about which knee is hurting. She flips the sheet back and looks at her freshly operated knee. Yep, there is one knee all bandaged up and the other knee is marked "This One" with a big X on it. They did the WRONG knee. Needless to say, she is getting the "right one" done tomorrow - free of charge I might add. See people, these things so happen to people you really know. Can you imagine??? I hope when Paige reads this, I got all the major details in the story. But I thought that was worth a blog. I also have a funny tidbit about Mrs. Sigmon. When I was in first grade, she was pregnant with her son. I vividly remember that we all got to send her a list of names that we wanted her to name her baby. I picked Jonathan. I just knew she would love that name. And do you know what, they named him Cade!!!! I cannot believe I remember that, but I do like it was yesterday. Everyone say a little prayer tonight for Mrs. Sigmon and her surgery, and I'll forgive her for not picking my baby name, haha!!!

I'm working on the stocking. I did five snowflakes. We still have a ways to go, but it's gonna be cute. We had a guy come and give us an estimate for windows in Finley's room. It is so cold in her room and the one's she has are evidently made of tissue paper. If anyone would like to donate to the window replacement cause, please contact me from the hours of 8am to 5pm or call your local City Bank locations. All donations are tax deductible. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell this little tidbit to Pam. You see, Pam always thinks it's so funny that I can find someone from somewhere that I know everywhere I go. We'll tonight, the guy that gave us the window estimate of course knows someone I do. His daughter is married to Terry Smith's (Cooper Central Office) son. Terry is also the aunt of my really good friend, Shana. Small world.

I leave you with the joke of the night. Two lions broke loose from the zoo and were eating a clown. One lion said to the other......"Does this taste funny to you?"

Happy Tuesday

Iwould like to start today by giving my good friend, Beth, a big fat congrats!! She will be having her first baby this May. I am soooooo excited and can't wait to have a shower for her. I love any excuse to have a get-together. She broke the news in a really neat way, too. A few of us went over to her house on Thursday to watch Grey's Anatomy, and she told us that she would do desert. We had filled our plates, and she came out and told us to look what she had for desert for us. To my and Andy's greatest satisfaction, it was a plate full of yummy petifors! We were going on and on about how much we loved petifors, etc. Pathetic, I know, that there is such excitement about cake. But she just stood there holding the plate. I was looking and thinking about the little cakes. I asked her why they had little feet on them. Yes, it finally struck me and I screamed, "Are you pregnant?" I had to jump up and down, hug, and cry a minute. The little feet where fat little feet, and they were pink, blue, yellow, and green. Beth thought they were too fat for baby feet, but it did the job. Such a neat surprise. I can't wait to look at her registry. I have this obsession of looking at people's registries for some reason. Another strange quirk of myself. So now I can be looking forward to Beth's baby and my best friend, Shauna, who is due in May as well. Four words of advice for my dear Beth-Sleep While You Can!!!!!!!

On another note, my poor baby has been so sick today. Finley has a really bad little cold/sore throat/sinus junk/bad cough. We were up most of the night last night and she had to go to the doctor this afternoon. She sounds terrible. I hope the meds kick in and she comes around tomorrow. I feel delirious tonight. I'm hoping for some good sleep and praying that the Benadryl will work it's magic so she can get some rest. I accomplished quite a feat today with Miss Campbell. After crying it out, she slept 2 hours and 5 minutes. I was giddy! I know it is probably a fluke seeing that she usually only will sleep 20-25 minutes at a time, but I'll take a two hour nap any day. Cross your fingers and your toes for me for tomorrow's nap time. My sister leaves for California for work on Sunday and will be gone till Friday and I'm just praying that Finley isn't contagious. I shutter to think about keeping her sick, with no momma here. Poor Shane-that would do him in!!!!

I'm am working on Finley's Christmas stocking tonight. It just came in the mail and I'm jazzed! With a little luck, I will finally have all of our stockings done and ready to hang on the mantle this year. Kyle and Slade have had theirs several years now, but mine has been a work-in-progress. I finally finished it and have it at the store being monogrammed. I am going to work like crazy and get hers done by Thanksgiving so I can hang all four of them and we can be one big happy stocking family. They are felt and sequins-pretty darn cute. I'll post a pic of them all. I'm quite proud, seeing that I'm not a seamstress at all. I'm determined. I'm going to post a picture from last Christmas to get you in the holiday spirit. After all, it's only a little more than two months away!!!!! Have you done any of your shopping yet? Yeah, me neither.

Flashback Friday

In honor of my new blog friend and fellow classroom mother, Tracy, I have taken this cute little title of hers and decided to do my own flashback. Here's a pic that totally grabs my little heart!!! It's October 2006. Slade is 3 and Finley is 3 months. Finley looks like a boy and doesn't have much more hair than she does today, haha! Slade looks so small. He really did have a neck, but apparently not in this pic! Aren't they just precious, though. Oh how I long for those days, sniff sniff!

Free Advice Taken Here

I am presently taking advice from ANYONE. My dear little niece that I keep every day evidently takes after her mother and will not sleep. She is about to be 9 months old and maybe sleeps 35 minutes altogether the entire day I have her. Auntie is at wits end. Please help! Do I let her cry it out at nap? She has to be tired-she's an infant. And if she does go to sleep, the minute I put her down, she pops up and stands in the crib and cries. Dotsy-where are you???? Maybe I don't have the magic touch, or maybe I should just charge her mother more due to a non-sleeping clause in my contract!

Mom of the Year Award

We had a bad morning here at the Smart house yesterday with a little incident. It was hectic-we were all trying to get ready for Slade's soccer game, and Mom and Nana were here, too. Let me set the scene. We needed to hurry and get breakfast, go check Brandi's dogs that I was sitting for the weekend, it was pouring rain outside, trying to find umbrellas to take to the game, locate the Off so we didn't get eaten alive, round up the lawn chairs, fill Slade's water bottle, etc.

I was working on getting Finley ready. I usually brush her teeth and then put her hair in piggies and curl the ends. I have a double sink in my bathroom and I had her standing at the left side. I was brushing her teeth and she was standing up. In a matter of maybe 2 seconds, I rinsed her brush out and she starting jumping. She jumped twice, fell back into the other sink on the right, and fell back into it right onto the curling iron. Yes-in 4 seconds total. I jerked her off the sink before she even knew it was burning her. It was too late-it was burned white already. I ran to the kitchen and put it under cold water. She was screaming-it was awful. Kyle started screaming at me that is was my fault the curling iron was on. (typical man) I was crying and shaking as I was trying to put the cold aloe vera from my fringe. It burned about a two inch span across the back of her right elbow. I just hope it doesn't scar her. I feel so bad-you know how awful a burn feels. She did really good all day with it and we just kept it clean. Today is looks a little less dramatic. Maybe it won't be so bad and will heal up since she is so little. I don't get the Mom of the Year Award today. I feel horrible.

The game went on without anymore mishaps, and Slade did manage to make his first goal of the season-hurray!! They got beat, but they played really hard. The other team was quick and our little ones were awfully tired. It just sprinkled a bit during the game-thank you, Jennifer, for the umbrella. BTW-one of the mom's at the game saw Finley's arm and I was telling her the story. She said her best friend is a nurse and she told her the next time you get burned to immediately put bleach on a cloth and hold it onto the burn. It supposedly takes the burn out and it heals quicker. Not sure if I have the guts to try that, but let me know if anyone else has heard if that working.

Tag - You're It!

Tag is a common game that comes and goes. I know I have not accumulated many blog friends, so I'll try to tag at least 4 or 5 folks. Maybe they'll answer. Wish me luck. You should do the same. Let's make it fun!

RULES:
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write 6 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 0-6 people at the end of your post.
4. Pass on the tag.

Here are my 6 random facts


1. I got my first set of braces on my bottom teeth when I was 28 years old and was pregnant with Finley. It was absolutely miserable because I could only take Tylenol since I was expecting, and every time they tightened them I cried! It hurt so bad-I really needed some Advil for the pain. I once left school I was so miserable and made them cut the wire. The ortho thought I was overly sensitive because of the extra blood you accumulate when your pregnant. They are straight now, but I can't say I'd do it again.

2. I collect Fiestaware. I have cabinets of it and have most of the retired colors. My husband told me I cannot purchase anymore because we've run out of space for it. I love all the neat colors!

3. I have a picture of the doctor sewing up my uterus during my csection. I made the nurse take pictures with my camera bc Kyle was grossed out and wouldn't look. I know that is sick, but I love it. I wish I had a video of it-I think it's soooo coool! Yes, I'm strange.

4. I once busted a tube of Superglue in my eye and it glued my contact to the inside lid. It wasn't pretty but they salvaged my eye. Thank you, Lord.

5. I met Sandra Day O'Conner in New Mexico a few years ago. She was visiting the family that are neighbors to Ramma's cabin in Uppercanyon. I even have a picture with her.

6. I was baptized in the Pecos River. It was one summer at Church Camp. Really neat.


I am tagging the following people (in the hopes that they might read my blog and it will look like I have some friends):

Jessica Hood
Bethany Fields
Hollie Hendrix
Starla Warren
Crystal Amthor

Just Cute Pics!

I thought I'd show you some of my cute pics that I have taken with my new handy dandy camera! BTW-Slade is showing his lost tooth in the pic of him holding his lips.

Lost: One Tooth, Twelve Pacifiers

Hello all. I'm back in the swing of things this Monday. I started feeling "under the weather" on Wednesday and haven't felt better till today. I had my ever so trusty sinus junk with a touch of vertigo to go along with it. Supposedly my ears were not draining properly and it tends to throw off things. Gosh, I hate that feeling of being on a boat, rocking as I was trying to sleep. It's not gone, but bearable today. Anywho, enough about me. I always have some ailment I could discuss, but then you would mistake me for a 95 year old on a walker!

I got to spend lots of time on the couch and caught a few good 'ol flicks. One of my favorites was on yesterday. Can't Buy Me Love with Patrick Dempsey - aka McDreamy. Ok, so that movie was made in 1987!! Twenty years ago, and time hasn't done anything to him but make him sexy! Wheeew. He was quite the geek, but a cute geek at that. You can definitely see the potential. But really, who would have guessed. He had really good hair back then I might add. BTW, did you know if you type in "McDreamy" into your Yahoo search, it comes right up to Patrick Dempsey. That's technology for ya.

I'm excited to tell you that Finley rides her tricycle using the peddles now. She has for a while, but it just registered to me a few weeks ago that she was doing that. I was like, Wow, she can do it without scooting. She calls it her "icicle". She also sings just about every song known to children and can scale anything like a monkey still. She is trying to use the potty and the other day she came up to me and said, "Mom, let's go look!" I thought that was really cute. Who could say no to that. We have also ended an era - we no longer use our pacifier! I found one totally chewed up to the likes of Swiss cheese and put my foot down. No need to choke on that in the middle of the night. I threw it in the trash and told her she ate them all up so she didn't have any passys left. She didn't have a hard time at all that night. We've been going on a week now and she usually only asks once per day. I say, "what did you do with them?" and she says, "I chew them up!" and that seems to be the end of it. That my friends was a major issue and accomplishment in our family. She was obsessed to say the least with her passys. It was her drug of choice. Mine is food, Finley's is a pacifier. Hmmm, Finley is the skinniest one of our family. Maybe I need a pacifier? And yes, in a tiny little part of my heart I'm a little sad. It is just one step farther away from her babyhood!

Slade played his third soccer game, almost scored a goal, and did really well. He has some shoe issues that keep him occupied, but we are working through that. I have been putting him in his school tennis shoes for comfort to see if that will help. I have to tell you that he is quite the artist. I'm not just saying this because I'm his mom-I mean he really draws well. He looks at pictures and can draw them on paper. It's pretty impressive. You know my dad is a really good at drawing. And just as I speak, he just walked in from soccer practice and handed me his front tooth! The top left is gone-snaggle tooth!!!! I will stop this blog and immediately place a call to the tooth fairy. She is sometimes short on cash, if you know what I mean!!!