Beach Time Baby

We loved our day at the beach, actually everyone else loved their day at the beach, but I was FREEZING. It wasn't really that cold, but a little breeze was blowing, and as soon as I am a little bit cold everything starts spiraling down. Somehow I can go from being a little bit uncomfortable to chilled to the bone and the temperature is in the 70's or 80's. Being buried in the sand was my favorite and warmest part of the day. Actually, watching the kids and Dads play in the sand and water was really my favorite part...when I stopped thinking about how cold I was! Luckily my kids are warm blooded so they thought it was the perfect temperature for frolicking in the water. Max especially loved it. He could have stayed there for many more hours, if his Mom wasn't such a frozen stick in the mud! Sophie loved playing in the sand but she didn't love being buried in the sand, with sand falling in all her facial orifices. Oh, I just thought of one more reason it wasn't my favorite beach trip. I had cut my finger in a blender pretty bad (yes, a blender) a week before our trip and had it in a little splint for protection and then it was all wrapped up with stretchy tape. The doctor said not to get it wet for two weeks so I covered it with a plastic bag and wound a rubberband around my finger, which led to purple finger syndrome! Not a big deal, just another reason in addition to my hypothermia to mostly avoid the water, which is not like me and made me feel like a party pooper!

Fine Dining (!) with the Princesses

Once again Costco came through for us. We booked our Disneyland trip, including lodging and park tickets through Costco, and it came complete with a fine dining experience with the princesses. I am an admitted food snob, so I'm not sure that I would consider foods made in super mass quantities and eating on sticky tables fine dining, but watching the girls light up (and maybe the boys!) when the princesses would greet us at our table made up for it.

Disneyland...the thrill of the rides!

We seriously conquered Disneyland and California Adventures. We went on almost every ride, even the ones Max thought were lame (which were usually my favorites!), and we went on the adrenaline pumping rides countless times. I could only do California Screamin' two times before my lunch almost reappeared, but Max and Steve had no regurgitation issues. The first picture is obviously a picture of a picture, but it shows the typical response of each rider, with the exception of me...I was usually screaming. The camera caught me at a good moment! If Sophie would have been on this ride (it was the only one she was too short for) she would have had a smile plastered on her face. By the way, in this picture Maxwell is saying "whassup", not screaming! He is a true adrenaline junkie.

Disneyland...the WAIT is on!!

I am officially back in the blogging world and primarily because it's time to create my Family Yearbook, which I make from my blogs, and so I have a lot of work ahead of me because I stopped somewhere back in September! Onward ho! We surprised the kids with a Disneyland trip after school had been in session only three weeks! I'm sure that made their teachers happy...sorry, but isn't that review time anyway and I like to think that my kids are smart enough to skip review! We decided Capri would really throw a wrench in our big kid fun so we boarded her at both Grandmas houses and Aunt Jens, which was probably way more fun for her than Disneyland anyway. Then we added the Johnson Family to our entourage. We spent five nearly full days at Disneyland and had an absolute blast. This first post includes pictures of our wait time. Much of a Disneyland adventure involves waiting, and I am actually pretty good at waiting. I don't mind sitting on a bench and people watching, or chatting it up with my kids or hubby or friends or strangers in line. Our kids got pretty good at the whole waiting game too, and the Dads were usually preoccupied with fast pass strategy!

Let's Play Music

Sophie is in a fabulous music class called Let's Play Music taught by Tina Gosney, who is big part of the reason it is fabulous. It is a three year course that gives the students a music foundation and then introduces them to piano. At the end of the three years Sophie will be at an intermediate piano level. She is currently in the first semester of her second year and I am truly amazed at her progress. All the basic things, that I kind of thought were "just for fun", from the first year are all leading beautifully into her piano and singing capabilities. Each semester a new CD of songs is introduced, and this semester's collection has become a favorite of Steve and Capri as well!! Capri is going to be so prepared when it's her time to join. Maybe Miss Tina will accept her first 3 year old prodigy!!

First Day of School

As you have probably noticed, my blogging mantra is "a blog does not have to be current"! The first day of school was two months ago, but at least I'm not 10 years behind like many scrapbookers are!

Sophie started kindergarten and Max entered 3rd grade. They each have wonderful teachers this year. We were reluctant for summer to end, but excited to get back into the learning groove. I think it's because of Sophie's girlness, because I didn't follow Max around on his first day of school, but after driving the kids to school, I walked Sophie to her classroom, and could not tear myself away from looking in the little window in the door. I was proud and sentimental at the same time. I am quite sure I was the last Mom to leave!

Capri loves the full-time attention she gets for half a day. She would make a perfect only child!

Maxwell is in that stage where it's not cool to show affection to your little sister. It's okay when it's your baby sister, but not your 5 year old sister. I know he will grow out of it quickly, because he is such a lover boy, but I have to admit that this stage really annoys me. As you can see in one of the pictures below, Sophie is stretching to put her arm around Max because he wouldn't follow Dad's directions and do it himself.

Sophie made it home on the bus safe and sound and we were all there to greet her. She is truly a wonderful child to parent!

This is not the official first day of school, but sometime in the first week. Steve and I headed down to the bus stop to pick the kids up, and this is how many munchkins we ended up with. We made all kinds of stops that day! I am one of those party girls who feels pure joy in moments like this!

Smith's Are Fun!!

I have yet to meet anyone else who has a family song. I'm not sure why my Mom hasn't made any money as a professional songwriter or lyricist because the Smith Family Song is the bomb. It goes like this:

Smith's are fun.

They're full of energy.

Smith's are fun.

They're on the ball...

They're one great, big, united family.

Smith's are fun!

See what I mean! And Smith's are fun. We had lots of Smith fun this summer. Hilary and Andy were with us for a couple of months, which we always love, even if she is overly protective of her baby Norah! Chubby, adorable baby Owen was blessed, which brought us all together. We swam, we had girls lunches, we hit the Boise Farmers Market, we mourned with Lexi as she had emergency back surgery...again. And we took her to a movie a week or so after the surgery, with pillows in tow so she could lay down across the seats! We met Joe's new girlfriend, who we love. We forgot to sing our song for her, so that might seal the deal!