more from our hike...

snacking alone

 

there were treasures discovered at every turn

 

brody said this looked like his halloween costume (a bat)

 

Ladies and Gentlemen....... I give you, The President.

 

As voted on, by the student council of Madison School, you are looking at the student body President for the 2008/2009 school year.
He was very excited.
This Presidency wraps up his years at Madison, precluded by general student council member, and Vice President last year.
We are so proud Isaiah, so proud.

Fun at the Smith house

Monday there was no school.
So, the kids (excluding Emily, who was reading her second book of the weekend), made up this game.
It consisted of running and jumping into pillows and blankets.
Good times at the Smith house.
Good times.

 

 

 

 

Fall.

I love fall. My favorite colors. My favorite weather.

 

Sunshine and cool days. Warm houses. Hot coffee. Pumpkins.
Candles. And candy corn. Yes, definitely candy corn.

 

Wide Awake

i know i spoke a while back about being in a state of waking up. like i had been in some sort of a sleep like state for too long.

much has happened.
and i am wide awake.

and longing to go back to sleep.

because sometimes the reality of truth is too much to take. too much to look on with open eyes. because sometimes i wish that i could close my eyes, and let the reality in my dreams, be the reality in my days.

this world is broken.
and seeing that for what it is, makes me want to close my eyes again.

stole this from a friend....

"Begin doing what you want to do now.
We are not living in eternity.
We have only this moment,
sparkling like a star in our hand
and melting like a snowflake..."

Francis Bacon, Sr.

--

"I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships so will our healing, and I know that grace rarely makes sense for those looking in from the outside."
-- Willie Paul Young

Technology

The boys are playing in my room...
Micah is currently hosting his Web show.
Brody is his assistant.
A Web show.
Seriously.

Football

 

Wouldn't be a fall weekend without it.
We won. 14-8.

The kissing bandit

Today when the kids got home from school, Isaiah wrote me a note (because I was on the phone), that said:
Mom, Micah was kissing a girl in the bus line.
Seriously?
When asked about it, he said, "She kissed me first."

 

It was really difficult to look into these eyes and explain how it is not okay to kiss our friends.
And no, nose kisses are not okay either.
And I don't care that she was a first grader.
Life is never boring with Micah around.

Swing!

 

car conversations changing world views

the other day in the car, when brody and i were heading off to preschool, he was pointing out letters that are in people's names. birdie drive = b for brody, and so on.

somehow we got onto talking about last names. he thought it was very cool that everyone in our family has a "S" in their name. so, he started listing off everone's name. emily smith, and you are a smith, and micah smith, and dad is a smith, and hannah smith, and isaiah smith, and then he said something that i didn't understand.
i had to ask him three or four times what he was saying.

walker smith.

he is a little boy in liberia that we sponsor.

and brody includes him in our family.

what a small, small world it just became.

Bad morning.

I vaguely remember Micah telling me he got to bring home the Author Bag as I was running out the door to take Isaiah to practice.
I remember saying, what does that mean?
And I remember Hannah saying that he got to bring home a book, to read, and then write his own story with the pens and paper in the bag. The story could just be pictures that he could explain in school.
Good.
Hannah, can you be in charge of that while I am gone? (I know, I'm a bad Mom)
She gladly agreed.

So, this morning, while I was gathering all the Author Bag supplies, so that he could take them back to school, the very next day, like he was supposed to.... while I was feeling so good about remembering all of this, I read the very small note that was attached to the notebook.

The note said.... and please send 24 snacks back with the bag the next day.
WHAT?

So, I think fast... there is a package of break apart cookies in the fridge in the garage, not sure how long they have been there, but I don't really care. I open them, and there are 12. Perfect. Cut them all in half, and threw them in the oven. 14 minutes to cook, and 16 minutes until they have to leave for the bus stop. He might be running with hot cookies, but he can handle that. So I throw them in the oven.

Then he says... yep Mom, we have 33 kids in our class.
WHAT?
The note said 24! Micah are you sure there are 33? Yes Mom.

Scratch the cookie idea.
Grab the tub of whole grain fishies.
Pull out 33 snack size ziplock bags and start pouring.
I didn't have quite enough, but upon deeper inspection, there was a couple of ziplocks of fishes in the pantry. So I threw those in. (I know, bad Mom again)

Micah still wasn't dressed, so I yelled for him to get dressed, and I am not exactly sure at this point what he wore to school. I was too busy shoving the bags of fishies into his backpack with the author bag.

But I did hear him say, as he walked out the door,
"Oh, I forgot. We do have 24 kids."

Please...

Tell me this isn't a foreshadowing of life at 15.

 

Are you kidding me? *edited below*

 

This is how the kitchen looked when I got up this morning.
For some reason I ASSUMED that the person who did this to MY kitchen, was going to clean it up.
I was wrong.
And he is out of town now, so I can't even yell at him.
So I had to clean it up.
And blog about it.
I feel better now.
*he called, and about halfway through our phone visit, he said, "Oh, and sorry I left the kitchen a mess, I fell asleep."
I said, "I forgive you, I guess, but I DID blog about it."
He said, "Well good, people will know I cook."
Uh yah, I am sure that is what they will take from this. :)

A Boy Pile

 

ghosts of the past

have you ever had one of those days, where you are going along in your life, perfectly happy, and then, BAM, out of the blue, you are reminded of a time, a place, or a person, from long ago, that maybe wasn't the best time, or place, or person?

it almost feels like you have been accosted.

so strange really.

how you can not think about something for what seems like forever, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it is there again.

yuck.

it has been a strange day.

Good news

No braces for Isaiah.
Not yet anyway.
Three teeth to extract.
But then, we wait, and PRAY that his other teeth go where they are supposed to.
And they will, I am sure of it. :)

My football players

 

 

 

 

saturday in iowa