Flashback Friday

After having my memory jogged from one of my fellow blogger friends-thanks, Amy H.!-I remembered that I, too, once participated in Flashback Friday with my old photos. This is difficult for me to do for two reasons. 1.) I do not presently have a scanner to scan any of my old photos and 2.)I had my hard drive crash and lost lots of my older pics that I had saved from several years back. So I am going to do a different Flashback Friday today just for the fun of it. I like to call it......Compare & Contrast. Yeah, that sounds good.

Anywhoo, I got to looking at one of four baby pics of myself that I once scanned and happened to have in my photos. And I found something quite funny. You see, my children all favor one another. And as babies, they look almost identical in some pics. Most people call Gunnar, baby Slade. And to me he looks like Finley's baby pics more, but then again, they all three look the same. But if I had to say one thing, I would say they look like little Smarts. Kyle cannot deny these children. They are Smarts. But....................then I found these two pics to compare.


Gunnar at three months. And......................................................................................................................




Chey-Anne at three months (at least I think it was three months bc I see a Christmas plate in the background and I was born in September-am I right, mom?) I think he has a little of his momma in him, too. It made my heart happy. Afterall, I did all the barfing for nine months and then had my womb cut open-I should get to bask in some of the glory, right!?!

Oh, and if you don't agree and think he's pure Smart, then just keep it on the downlow. I want to have my momma moment tonight.

I Do, Kinda

Well, Finley got married. In a pretend kind of way. Thank goodness because I can't even think about that business. I'm way too young. Oh, I mean Finley is way too young.

At her preschool they do a whole unit on family and wrap it up with a pretend wedding. Kinda weird, I know, but they've done it for years. Evidently Finley's dance teacher was in the wedding when she was at Sugar & Spice Preschool so we are following tradition I suppose. And it's funny, actually, because Slade was the groom when he went to preschool here. They even interviewed him on the news and I have a copy of his interview.

It's really pretty cute and everyone dresses up. The actual wedding lasts about five minutes but the getting ready for the wedding-well that's another story. Then they end up eating some cake and punch, which I'm sure is the highlight of the whole thing.

I think the groom is wondering what he just got himself into. Yep, she's high maintenance. Sorry, Dude. P.S. She likes shoes.

Ice Breaker???

I can't tell you how long that patch of glassy looking ice has been in the parking lot of Finley's church school. But I can tell you that my Nike tennis shoes do not possess any kind of traction and I'm awfully sore..........

I can't tell you how many times I talk on my iPhone each day. But I can tell you that iPhones can survive falls if the fall-ee holds on tight..........

And I can't tell you how many parents got a "America's Funniest Home Video-Like" show this morning. But I can tell you this sister can get back up on her feet as quick as lightening..........even if it hurt ; )

Too Tired Sunday

I really am too tired to post anything. Kyle left to go out of town early Friday morning and didn't get home till this afternoon. Soooooo, I had lots of kiddos on my own! Brandi was even out of town. I cannot believe I had three kids by myself. Oh, yea, I forgot....they are MY own kids! Ha! Anyways, we managed just fine and pretty much didn't leave the house-only to get food and a quick run to Hastings for the new Pioneer Woman book. I need to hit the hay because I can barely keep my eyes open! I will leave with just a few things on my mind.........

1. I came to the realization tonight that I really could care less about the Super Bowl. Sorry, I know that is un-American, but I soooo prefer college football.

2. I am super jazzed, NOT, that my new stomach doctor is scoping my stomach tomorrow. Yes, this is my second scope. Yes, my stomach still hurts 5 out of 7 days of the week. Yes, I'm dreading it like the plague.

3. I really do enjoy the cold weather, but this wet/snow/ice/severe cold is starting to get a little old. Especially when it hits my family right smack in the pocketbook. Hello, weather, did you not get the memo? It's time to pick up your snow clouds and go back where you came from. Sincerely, The Smart's

4. Did you know a chihuahua can stay in your bathroom an unlimited amount of days when the temperature outdoors is below 15* at night. Fun times.

5. It is possible to read Pioneer Woman's new book in one day. It's that cute of a story.

6. Hopefully this new template will help people to see the comment bar. The old one was too close to the same color of the background and some people couldn't find it.

And that's all I got to say about that........

The Orange Ball

We've hung up the football cleats and pads. Slade just joined a team on the LCAA basketball league. Kyle is helping coach the team with another dad from Slade's school. He may not be the quickest player on the team but he's definitely the tallest!!!

New basketball goal for his birthday-check!

New orange ball for Christmas-check!

Purple Wizards basketball shirt-check! Hello basketball experience, goodbye Saturdays! Let the games begin!

Coolest Dessert Ever!

Wow, two posts in one day. What's the occasion, you ask? Well, it's a snow day and 6 degrees. No school. Baby G is napping and I'm in my pajamas still after lunch. I still have on my glasses and I'm eating black olives out of the can. It's just a fun day like that.

Glass Jello Blocks. So COOL! You can find them over at Our Best Bites blog. These are so fun, adults even want to eat them. They are super easy, but do take some serious time. Like two days worth. But they are E-Z!

Pick your four fav flavors of Jello. 1 cup of boiling water to one package of Jello. Spray your bowls with cooking spray, pour it in and chill-for at least 8 hrs or overnight like I did.

Now cut the Jello into cubes if you can stop your four-year-old from eating all the red ones.

It is so pretty and looks like this. Don't forget to spray this pan either. I forgot and had to pour all the cubes out and spray it. Shoot.

Now if you are like my friend, Beth, you might want to make them look like this. She lines up Sharpies. But if you're like me, you will just chunk them all in the dish in a messy-like way.

Isn't it pretty!?! It's like art....in a casserole dish.

Then you take 2 envelopes of plain Gelatine and mix with 1/2 cup cool water and let it sit for 4 minutes or so. Then add 1 1/2 cups boiling water and stir. Add the sweetened condensed milk and whisk it. Let it get to room temp.

Like this.

So easy, even a small girl can do it.

And a baby. Ok, so maybe he just sat and watched. But it was really easy.

Then pour the mixture over the cubes and push down the floaters so it is smooth on top. Chill another 8 hrs or overnight like I did. At this point, you will probably have more Jello cubes than we did. Finley ate a bunch. I ate a few. Gunnar didn't eat any. (Note to self-make extra Jello nextime!)

Then cut them into rectangles and they will look like this.

They look so neat.

The colors you pick can match the holiday. This piece just happened to look patriotic. You could do red/green for xmas, orange/purple for Halloween, etc. You get the point. Hey, if it was a snow day like today, you could do pure white. But then again, that wouldn't be very pretty. You wouldn't have any Jello cubes to eat. You wouldn't have art.

Is it just me or does it remind you of soap? So go make this treat because it's fun and it will remind you of being a kid. Now, back to my snow day. Oh my, the olive can is 3/4 empty. Put down the olives and walk away........

Gunnar is 3 Months!

My sweet boy turned three months old on the 27th. Man, how time flies! Where have I heard that before?!? Well, at least I know to cherish every tired moment because he will not be a baby long.

Mr. G is a big dude! He weighed 18 pounds with a wet diaper and clothes on about a week & a half ago. Yes, I repeat, eighteen pounds. So we figure he weighs about 17ish pounds naked. Good grief! And why are my arms not more muscular, well, probably because my back hurts!!! So this child is growing like a weed and looking like a mighty oak! Ha! We might have two line-backers and one smallish cheerleader on our hands. We shall see.

What can I tell you about G. I would say his top priority is to be held. All the time. Before he eats. After he eats. Morning. Noon. Night. He is a big spoiled brat of a baby. But he's just so darn cute. I have let him cry at times, but he is so pitiful. I don't think I need to start training on him just yet. Right!?! Kyle thinks otherwise.

G loves to smile at people, especially those with dark hair. We don't know why that is. His biggest smiling time is first thing in the morning. Sometimes it's at 6 in the morning. He loves for Finley to talk to him. He is starting to pay attention to cartoons-he watched Sesame Street with Finley the other morning for a while. He really likes to take a bath-it's very calming to him. He is holding his head up really well so I think it's time to start propping him up in a super saucer and such. He usually takes a good long nap in the morning and if not then, than right around lunch. He's a big cat napper, too. But nobody can accuse him of sleeping all night, that's for sure! I wouldn't know what it was like to have a baby boy that slept all night.

All in all, he is coming along just fine. It's amazing how pleasant one baby can be without their belly hurting! Oh, and I forgot-he's wearing size 2 diapers but could very well wear the 3's I have in the garage and 3-6 mo or 6 mo clothes. Ya'll don't make fun of my boy for being so skinny......