Bird Seed

I have a new love in my life. (Don't worry I haven't replaced it with any of my old loves : ) But I am so very in love with this fabric called bird seed. I bought a yard of it a few months ago and have been struggling to figure out just what to make with it. A skirt for Gracie. A skirt for myself. An apron, or no, maybe some throw pillows for the couch. Oh the possibilities were endless and I just couldn't decide.

But I eventually figured it out when I realized that a very special little girl was turning one and I wanted to make her something that would be special to me.


Is she not the cutest little thing ever? She certainly is!



So she got my bird seed. My beloved bird seed. And I feel so good that it went to sweet little Zoe.





Happy birthday sweet girl! We had so much fun at your party today!

Festival Fun and Not So Fun Pests

Meet Gizmo. My Pop Pop's new companion. Also, the world's fasted dog. Well as Josh, Kelly and Colton would say anyway. The day Gizmo came to live at the bachelor pad (my dad's), they chased this dog around the neighborhood for nearly a half hour. You should have seen Josh running through the streets, in between houses barefoot with a large dip net. The poor dog was obviously just scared and trying to find it's way home but not to man what a start to his new life he created. Now that he's adapted, hopefully there won't be any more of those episodes. And now Gracie has added another friend to her bff list.

We took Pop Pop to the Salerno Seafood Festival which was fun, but way too crowded for my liking. I played the "can you find your kid" game at "Gracie's Place" about 10 too many times, then I declared the fun was over. Josh had taken Pop Pop around the festival while I had the privilege of keeping track of my three fast little ones in a play zone of about 100 little ones. Not fun! For me anyway.

But we did run into the cutest cousins in the world and got to play with them for a bit.

Until Fletch mortified me by nearly relieving himself in the middle of the sandbox. Thankfully I grabbed him before the stream began and had just enough time to duck behind the bounce house. Yes we created quite a few gasps and laughs that day. Which is typically as long as Fletch is there.

{isn't it neat how these two pictures are so strangely similar. They just happened to be at the same spot when I snapped their picture.}

Fletch would have rode all day if he'd been allowed to. He belongs on a farm.

I can't get over how grown up my baby is becoming. The fact that he has reached the stage where he can come ask me to ride the "horsey" or get his arm painted and pick out his desired design is amazing to me. He just seems to really get life now and it excites me to see him soaking up so much knowledge. He'll sit at the table with us occasionally and "do school" and it just gives me a sweet chill to see my three little ones all together, at the school table, growing their hearts and minds. I love it and it makes me so very proud!

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For example, just now I took a break from writing this post to go play with him. After I had spun him around to the point of complete dizziness, I said "whoa, whoa, whoa." He said "we're on the boat!" That is so crazy to me that he could make the connection of feeling "rocky" from the dizziness like we sometimes feel while on the boat. That just totally blows me away!

Gracie's mermaid and Fletcher's fish

and of course, one silly tiger

Pop Pop's always been a man of the sea, so he thoroughly enjoyed all the seafood. It was just up his alley. And he didn't want to part from the Reggae music either. He would have happily sat there all day and ate, drank, and been merry.

But it was time to go. Mama said so.

All fun days must come to an end you know. To be honest, Josh and I had our hands full. It was a lot of work. But boy did it feel good to see Pop Pop get out of the house and have a good time. After all, who wouldn't have fun hanging out with my little monkeys!

On a not so fun note, we are being invaded by pests over here at the Smith bungalow. Well you already know that snakes like to hang out here with us, but did you know that rats do too? Yup! Or maybe they're just big mice. I'm not really sure exactly what they are but I do know that we've caught two of them in our attic so far. We haven't caught any in at least a week or two so I'm hoping that's the end of those little rodents! I can't find one good stinkin' reason why God would create such a little nuisance.

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If that wasn't enough, those pesky little black ants decided to come back again.

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Oh but there's more. I wish I was done ranting about our little problems over here but I'm not.

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The worst has yet to come.

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Let's just say the pest control have become very good friends of ours.

We've been blessed (or not so much) by the presence of fleas. Yup! The many perks of dog ownership have been "laid" right before us. Inside, outside, up and down those little buggers are here, biting my little loved ones. So "mr. bug man" came by for a meeting and a spray today and gave us his word that if he can't get rid of these things, quickly, he will officially retire. Even if it means coming out everyday. Those little creatures are just down right gross!

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But oh what a pain today was. He sprayed this milky white liquid everywhere! And it left nice spots everywhere too! He promises it won't stain and will wash off, but my entire house, from the floor to 4 ft. up, is covered in white spots. Including my couch, the beds and furniture. So today consisted of stripping off and washing all bedding and wiping down all furniture but I have yet to mop. My wood floors look dull and grimy due to the stuff, but I'm worried I will stop the treatment of killing them if I mop it all away.

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But guess what? The good news is he gets to come back and do it all again in 1 week which means I get to have a repeat of today also. Yippee! How in the world did I ever get so darn lucky?

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But at least the next few words that "mr. bug man" spoke to us opened the doors to our science lesson for the day, "All About Moles". They didn't want to miss all of the fun in driving us CR.. A.. ZY!

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So we pulled out of field guides and animal encyclopedia and studied moles for a bit. And did a little measuring to see just how far 65 feet is, which is the length a mole can dig in a day. Apparently they've been making their way around our yard pretty quickly.

{Notice the dates that they put on their papers today. One said the 28th, one said the 26th. That's right. We're on our own calender around here. What day is it anyway?}

And of course we had to take advantage of the opportunity to play in the mud, so we went digging in their tunnels seeing if maybe, just maybe we could catch one ; ) Nothing better than hands on learning I say! Sorry for those of you who are thinking "Ahh! You're destroying their home!" (you know you are Kelly ; ), but they are totally destroying our sod! (I really did mean that lovingly. She's my sister in law so I get the honor of teasing her like that : )

{Can you see the tunnel?}

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And this was just the start of it. If only I had taken their "after the adventure" picture.

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Tomorrow we are off to the SF Science Museum for more science fun! It is a field trip with our school Olivet, and I'm just bringing the two oldest students in my class, so it should be lots of fun! Little Fletch does do considerably well on field trips, but sometimes it's nice when I don't have to be distracted by keeping track of him. I can fully focus on taking advantage of every learning opportunity.

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Phew, what a day!

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Wishing for pest free days in my future,

Jenna

Little Dancerellas

Gracie attended the sweetest little birthday party recently of one of her homeschool friends. It was so beautiful to see the friendships these girls have made, and that they were able to take the morning off from school to not only celebrate Sophia's 5th birthday, but to dance for Jesus. And boy did they ever! All of these girls take ballet class at various ballet schools, but they all share the same love for ballet and the same love for Jesus. It was just so very sweet!

Presidents' Hedge and Omama

We learned yesterday that we have a budding fan of politics in our home. Colton was glued to the inauguration coverage on TV. I let him go way beyond his typical TV time limit justifying that this was history in the making. If it was important for him to watch it then it was important to me to let him have this time to absorb history.
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He mentioned today after experiencing it all yesterday (on TV), that he now realizes just how truly important the president is. Obama (or Omama as Fletch says it) has a very important role to play and we are praying that God will give him the mighty wisdom that he needs to lead our country in the right direction.
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Colton focused on every word that was said during the inauguration and Gracie admitted that she kind of liked miss Aretha's hat. Since the boys laughed at it, I didn't find the need to confess that I did too.
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As we said good-bye to President Bush as he boarded the helicopter, they wanted to know where he was going. When hearing that he was returning back home to Texas, Colton pondered on that for a moment then had a very good question. Knowing that my sister in law Kelly's family lives in Texas, he wondered if it's possible that Mr. Bush is really their neighbor but in order to protect his identity he'd been living as Mr. Hedge. I promise this was generated in complete seriousness. Hmm... clever thinking C.



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And we wondered what was said in this good-bye letter from President Hedge waiting on the Oval Office desk for President Omama on his first day of work.
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We did agree however that the Bush's must have felt overwhelmed by their grand welcoming back in Texas. I can only imagine how relieved they must feel to begin a new life and to be back home.
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We even stayed up way too late to watch the complete neighborhood ball or "the ball in the 'hood" as we called it. It was quite entertaining and made
us wonder how the White House will like rockin' to the new tunes.

Doughnuts, Dust and MLK

Here's a little story from Saturday for you.
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While in the shower this morning, Josh decided to make a pit stop on his way home from church softball practice.
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Gracie comes running into the bathroom excitedly saying "look mama!" while holding up a chocolate frosted doughnut.
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me - "Oh wow. A doughnut. Is that God's perfect food? (remember my previous post?)
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She sweetly grins and shakes her head no but then follows it with a very exaggerated nod yes and says with a big smile and sing songy voice "but still, PRAISE THE LORD!"
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Oh that sweet, sweet girl of mine.
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A few minutes later, here comes Fletch prancing in the bathroom as I am rinsing out my shampoo and says "mama, see what I have?" while proudly (almost deceitfully) holding up two chocolate munchkins.
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me - "Oh, where did you get those from?"
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fletch - "the table"
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me - "But who got them for you?"
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fletch - "Santa"
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me - "Nice job covering up for daddy Fletch. Now go eat those doughnuts."
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Oh honey, how I love you. Thanks for always being a team player!
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Are you all geared up and ready for the cold? I know we are. Here's my girly in a pair of pants I made her out of a thick, cozy woman's sweater. It was so... very easy. I've been making skirts and pants out of men's and women's used shirts and sweaters quite a bit lately. I never ever spend more than $1 per top and even get them at one store for 3 for $1. Love... it! These pants remind me of something Dutch or Swedish. Gracie mostly loves them because they are so very comfy and warm and I hear she's going to be needing them in the next few days! Brr..!
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Speaking of brr..., did I tell you that it didn't rain on our camping trip? Instead I nearly froze to death. And to think Josh laughed at me for taking all... those blankets. I could of used about 30 more to be honest. I sat there all night shivering as I continued to tuck my little ones tighter, and tighter again, while trying to make sure hypothermia didn't become an issue.
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But besides that, we had an awesome night sitting under the gorgeous nightlight moon while watching all the children run and play until their heart's were content. Well, Colton's heart had to be dragged into the tent for bed but that's just so typical of him. If it were any other way, then it wouldn't have felt like home.
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In the morning most of us (I contained the little ones) cleared the path for a nature trail that's in the works.
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And if you can't tell by these pictures, we have the coolest, most fun and amazing teens at our church. When they see the Smith family coming, they immediately pick up my slack and take over for a bit giving this worn out mama a much needed break. I will forever, and ever be grateful to them for this.
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Okay, let's change the subject completely and talk about dust. I got a little overly excited on Sunday afternoon. While visiting my Pop Pop (whose now living at my Dad's) I took a moment to go up into my dad's attic (which by the way turned into a very long moment and a pile of junk treasures).
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Oh boy was I excited at what I found. Boxes and boxes of my old "valuables" or so it said in marker on the cardboard boxes. "JENNA'S TREASURES. DON'T THROW OUT!!!" So after blowing off layers of dust, my oldest and I sat up there with our flashlights taking a peak into my past. Colton must of said 20 times over again, "Man mom, you really had an awesome life!". Especially so after finding my Nintendo Entertainment System and Duck Hunt gun. Man did I have a good life and he was seeing bits and pieces of it. To him (whom I lovingly call my little junk collector) my junk = good life.
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Let's just say so... many lost memories came back into my mind. Like these things for instance...
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I know I'm not the only one who had one of these bad boys. A 90210 whopper of a button. Oh how much time I spent gazing into the eyes of these men. Sinful I was!
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And I was especially surprised to find my old sticker book. How I dearly loved and cherished this book. It certainly contained my treasures at the time. And can you believe some of the scratch and sniff stickers still had their scent. I couldn't believe it. I made Josh and the kids come smell it just so they'd believe me. It was great and it somehow made me feel not so old. My cabbage patch bubble stickers still smelled like soap just like they did in the 80's and I was excited!
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And remember these bubble stickers...
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Oh yea, they were some of my favorites.

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I can't remember what these were called but I found several of them in my box of treasures. I know that at the time, these little fold up dolls made me so very happy. Ahh... the simplicity of childhood.
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You should have seen me doing my happy dance when I put batteries in my ever so loved Speak and Spell and heard the familiar sound of the start up tune. Do, do do doot. Do do do do. Or something like that. Or maybe you should be glad you weren't there. But anyway, I was so happy to find this long lost "tool" to use for spelling practice with the kids. This game rocks! The kids and I have to use the timer to take turns on it. When I lose the game on my last turn I beg with them "oh pretty please, just one more try. I want to end my turn on a win." Somethings never change. Just blow off the dust and things settle right back in place.
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But anyway, I guess the experience of finding my favorite things from childhood which I had thought now resided in the landfill, made me more excited than I could have ever imagined. I know it certainly made me think twice when cleaning out the boys' closet today. Just please don't tell Josh that I stashed away their favorite toys which they have outgrown in the attic. Oh no, he's sure to read this.
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Oh well, moving on to MLK day. After dropping Colton off at PE this morning, I took G and F for a bike ride around the park and then to play at the playground for a bit. It wasn't until the park became invaded by a bus filled with children that I remembered there was no school today because of the special day. It's a good thing that Weekly Reader has me covered. The kids always love doing Weekly Readers, and now that Gracie's reading has nearly caught up to Colton's level, they take turns reading each section and doing the activities. What the Weekly Reader didn't tell us is what happened after his dream came true. As I told the story of his assassination as gently and briefly as I could, I looked up to find my little guy staring at me in disbelief with tear filled eyes. "But why mom? Why did a man have to do that?" He's learning that there are a lot of things in life that we may never truly understand, but I am glad that he's able to feel compassion and not be afraid to show it. And I let him know that I'm proud of him for that too. And Gracie's response, "Well, he didn't have to do that. He could have made a better choice." Yes he could have. He certainly could have.
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Also, an update on sweet Claire. She had a blood test on Friday and so far so good. They are still waiting to see if her bone marrow is working properly but her blood count was good. And as Gracie would say it, "But still, praise the Lord!"

Now go and snuggle up with those you love most. This is our brief window of opportunity to have an excuse for snuggle time. Quick, before it warms up again! Go!