My latest project

Playing at the Lake

All packed up and ready to go! We have food, fishing poles, life jackets, floaties, the boys' puppies, and sandals! No tennis shoes allowed!

The first time the boys got in the water it was a little hairy but they got the hang of it pretty quickly. This was their first time really swimming this summer. I missed getting a picture of both of them in the water...I was afraid to turn my back on them. (I am too easily distracted.) On day one, I stayed in the water with them the whole time but on day two I was able to sit on the dock while they swam. Jasmine spent a lot of time in the water too (Also missed that picture). She was hilarious - she really does love to swim!

Both boys fishing. They didn't have hooks, just these rubber weights to make the lines heavy enough to cast easily. Nolen has the hang of it, but Max just drops it in over the water. They both kept really them in and saying they had caught Nemo, Dory or Marlin.

Funny story about hooks though. I bought worms with the intention of baiting hooks. I don't have a fishing license though and the more I thought about it, I don't even know if I have the guts to take a fish off of a hook if I DID catch one! I haven't ever done it! Also...I only actually baited one hook because as soon as I threw it out, Jasmine quickly went after the bobber thinking that I had thrown a ball for her! She had that thing in her mouth so fast! Luckily the hook was another 2 feet down the line and she didn't get hurt. That's all I need, two kids, a lake and a bleeding dog!

The aftermath...

I LOVE this picture of Nolen! Lately I feel like he is happiest when he is playing video games, so its really fun to see how happy he was at the end of our lake trip. He really did have a good time. He even told me he was "some my boy". I also like that Jazzy is passed out and she is using the van seat for a pillow. That doesn't look comfortable at all.


Eating ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery on our way home. Yummy!

Going to the Lakehouse

Memorial Day Weekend - kicking off summer...what a bummer to spend it alone at home. I hate that feeling so, since Ed is going to MD this weekend, I had decided to take the kids to the lakehouse all by myself. It sounded kind of boring but better than staying at home with nothing to do. Well, this morning I was feeling too lazy to pack up and go and had all but talked myself out of it. So I decided to ask Nolen if he wanted to go to the lakehouse today. He jumped up and down yelling, "Yeah! The Lakehouse!!!" So I had my answer. Time to start packing! He also decided to write this "message" he calls it. He told me, "Love starts with 'L' and what's next? 'I'?" I showed him the words "Live, Laugh, Love" that are on our wall. Then he asked how to spell "Lakehouse". What a cutie! We'll be back on Saturday night and Lisa...you're missing out but I still love you! ;-)

Peachy Keen

Nothing much is new in the Smith Family this week. We've been hanging out at home (saving gas) and doing a lot of house hunting online. Edward is leaving tomorrow to do some house hunting in person in Maryland. Wish him luck!

It is certainly summer here. We met Katie and Ellie at the park at 2pm yesterday...sort of a mistake. It was 86 degrees but it felt hotter. I guess I'm just not used to it yet. We walked down to the lake to feed the ducks. I was standing about 50 feet away from them chatting with Katie and I remember saying, "I should keep a closer eye on Max, he has a history of falling into lakes (Lake Eola in Orlando, a slough at Creamer's Field in AK) ." Sure enough, Max went in. He got back out before I even saw him but he had lake crud up to his waist. Haha! I had to laugh! Its so funny to me that only Max (knock on wood) falls into lakes. Nolen is much more cautious, but Max lives on the wild side! He was wet and dirty so that was pretty much the end of our trip to the park. I took off his shoes and socks and carried him all the way back to the van.

I would say one of the highlights of this week was going to a new fabric store in Ozark. Its actually a corner of her husband's hardware store where she sells fabric, patterns and notions. She was really sweet and I bought an Amy Butler pattern and some Amy Butler fabric. I'll post the finished product soon!

While I was working on my new project at the kitchen table, I kept smelling the bowl of peaches I had put out. Peaches are IN! I'm so happy! I think they might be my favorite fruit! They have to be just right though and these are! We went and bought a bucket of them from the farm up the road. They are like fuzzy balls of heaven! hehe.

And the last little bit I wanted to post...we have more surprises blooming in our yard. Since we have moved in we've had winter sunflowers, spider lilies, daffodils, grape hyacinth, azaleas, two kinds of jasmine, roses, crocuses, blackberries (just a few), and a big red flower that I don't even remember the name of right now!

But this week we've added hydrangeas, day lilies, and gardenias which was my favorite flower when I was little. We always had a gardenia bush in our yard and it would bloom the sweetest smelling big white flowers. The bush we have in our back yard is a little different from that one. Its taller and less dense but still so fun to see gardenias appear right before our eyes! We will certainly miss this yard when we leave...but I won't miss the water oaks and their leaves in fall and winter! Sheesh!

Swimming pools in the front yard, hydrangeas and peaches...summer has arrived...I just hope we can stay cool without unintentionally jumping into any more lakes!

Pub Table

Top Ten News Items that Haven't Been Blogged Yet

1. I've started working on the chair again.
2. I sewed an adorable girl's outfit last week.
   
   
3. Nolen has opened all the races on Mario Kart...and I have started limiting his time on the Wii (finally).
   
4. Edward gave me a SWEET camera for Mother's Day! I love it!
   
5. The baby bird didn't make it. Later that day, he jumped out of his nest but we don't know why. :-(
   
6. Edward has finished both of his spring classes at UA! Hooray!
   
7. My permanent retainer that I've had for 15 years fell out on Saturday night! I'm kind of glad because I've wanted to get rid of it but dentists won't take it out...they always say, "Your teeth will move." But we had steak for dinner and so I was flossing my teeth afterwards - even under my retainer and it popped out of one side! I went to Edward and he pulled it right out! Now the backs of my teeth feel gross because there is still glue there that I can't get off!
8. Edward found out on Friday that his separation date from the Army will be August 13th! That is good news...especially when you read number 9.*
   
9. Edward accepted a job at J.F. Taylor in Maryland! The company works on the new Chinook simulator. Ed hopes to use his knowledge of programming in conjunction with his knowledge of Army Aviation to help improve Army aircraft simulation.
   
10. And...since Edward accepted a job in Maryland, we'll be moving to Maryland some time in July! I think we're both nervous and excited! Its a great opportunity for him to be offered this job and the area looks beautiful. I've come to love Alabama but its time to move on again. And I think Maryland will make a better travel destination for friends and family to come visit! It might be further but I think it will be more exciting! hehe

* If it wasn't for #9, #8 would be making us really nervous right about now. I'm really proud of Edward. He worked his butt off to find a job and I think it has paid off!

A Lazy Weekend with the Family

I took this Friday night...we were all crowded around my new camera watching a movie of the kids. I looked over my shoulder and saw my three boys looking so sweet that I turned the camera on us! I think its a cute picture!

Saturday morning cartoons!

Fun at Landmark Park

Edward had to take a final exam on Saturday so the boys and I decided to get out of the house and take a trip to Dothan. We went to Landmark Park first. It didn't take long for the kids to get way too hot...there is no shade at the playground and it just seems to be hotter there than our Enterprise park.


We found a nice boardwalk through the woods which felt much better. The boys didn't want to go at first but they ended up having fun.


And we saw a snake exhibit there. The boys had fun watching them.

After the park we went to Brusters for some ice cream. Yum! We don't do things like this often so the boys know its a special treat!

Today we got out of the house again but stayed in E'prise. I loaded up the kids and their bikes and we went to the park. This trail is great for the boys to ride on. Its a little hilly but they can handle it. It took A LOT of convincing to get them to START riding their bikes. But once they believed that they would be ok, they had a lot of fun and did a great job!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

This is the bag I made for my mom and for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. Its a denim bag lined with thick interfacing and green cotton fabric. Each flower is a mini photo frame to hold pictures! I need to work on the design of this part some more, but the pictures are removable (if you're very careful!) so they can be updated as the kids or grandkids grow! And I have to give credit to the ladies at the Singer shop in town for helping me figure out how to finish the inside of a circle without having raw edges!!!

This is for the birds...

This morning, Edward and I were in our room listening to the birds. There used to be a finch that would land on a bush right by our window and wake us up quite loudly! He doesn't come around much anymore, but today we heard more of a squawking sound than a chirp so I opened the window and we looked to see what was going on. We saw two cardinals (mom and dad) trying to fend off a chipmunk from their nest! Chip or Dale you ask? This was no Disney chipmunk! This guy was looking for breakfast! It went on for about five full minutes, eventually knocking one baby bird from the nest and the other baby jumped out. I couldn't take it anymore. I went outside to try to scare the chipmunk away. He didn't show his face. Mom and Dad kept landing on nearby trees but wouldn't come back while I was there. Ed came out and he picked up one of the babies with a couple of paper plates and put him back in the nest. The other baby was too badly injured to save :-( so Edward put him out behind our fence. This is the second time we've had birds make a nest near our house. The first time was in a geranium on our porch in Orlando.

The baby bird on the ground.

Sweet little baby bird on his rescue transport.

Baby bird safely back in his nest, waiting for mom and dad.

Male cardinals are so hard to get a picture of. He landed in the grass while I was sitting outside but he flew away again before I could get a picture.

Filch It Friday

--Stolen from Abby's blog...I love this! It explains why my house is such a mess, but my children are very happy!

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up we learn to our sorrow,
so quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep,
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.
-Wallace Family Hallway, Circa 1977

Mother's Day Tea Part Two...

Today was the Mother's Day Tea in Nolen' class at the Byrd Nest. It was very nice. We had snacks and then the kids did a great job singing songs for us. They even "choreographed" one song to bring us our presents at the end of each verse. It was very cute. Ms. Tracy does a lot of good work with them. I just wish Nolen liked it better and didn't seem so shy there. I'll have to work harder on that next year in Kindergarten. Ms. Tracy also read us all a story called "Someday". Poor Ms. Tracy was in tears by the end of it. It was a very sweet story about hoping all of these great things for your kids and hoping that someday they know what its like to love a child like we love them.

Do you like the beautiful crown Nolen made for me?

This afternoon I decided to tackle the dreaded task of cleaning the van. I think this is one of my least favorite things to do but today it was kind of fun. I set up the pool for the kids and they helped me off and on and ate popsicles. It was fun but tiring. I was beat after that and Max is napping right now. I should wake him up or else he'll be up later than Edward and me again! By the way, this is the pool we took from someone's trash in the neighborhood last fall. haha! Its working really well for us. The boys are just about too big for it but it will do until the real pool opens!

Mother's Day Tea at the Byrd Nest

Today was the Mother's Day Tea in Max's class at preschool. Nolen's class will have their tea on Friday. It was very nice. We all had snack together and then the kids sang songs for us. Max was being such a ham. I ASSUME he is not that way every day, but who knows. He would not stand still while they were singing. He just kept jumping around in circles.


Falling down after ring around the rosey.

Here is Max getting ready to wipe his squished up bumble bee on his teacher Ms. Malea (who is adorable by the way). Its a cute song. The whole class runs around and wipes the squished bumble bee on each other. Max made sure to touch EVERY person in the room...Mom's included. What a goof!

Happy Birthday Nolen!

Yesterday was Nolen's BIG DAY! He started it by playing some Wii, of course! After his favorite breakfast, blueberry pancakes, he got dressed, and was ready to open presents. Thank you to everyone who sent things. Nolen loved opening his fun cards and gifts. Max was very good about it - probably because he had a few of his own things to open - Thanks Aunt Dale and Aunt Cynthia! When he finished unwrapping and checking out his new bike, he immediately went back to playing Wii. I'm going to have to go back to a chart and limit his time with it again. Poor kid - he is going to hate it. :-( But sometimes Moms know best. Maybe we'll make Ed be in charge of it! hehe!