Family Fun

I love having my (free) subscription to the Family Fun Magazine. There are so many fun ideas in those magazines. We got our new magazine a few days ago and together, the girls and I, went through the entire thing and "dog-eared" the crafts or activities we wanted to try (which was pretty much the entire magazine, minus the ads).
Well, this morning we were eating breakfast and Melanie was complaining because she wanted it to be Spring. Spring is her favorite season because everything is blooming and there are flowers everywhere (including in our tree). I told her that fall was my favorite season because we spend all summer waiting for the weather to cool down, and fall is when that happens. It's so nice to finally open the doors and windows, and to play outside. She still insisted that spring was better because of the flowers. So I told her that here in Arizona we could plant flowers in the fall too. Well, that started something. She wanted to plant... and she wanted to plant NOW! She literally followed me around the house this morning with her broken watering can insisting that we go to the store and get flowers right now... and that I fix her watering can... and pretty much didn't understand that I'd prefer to wait until we had daddy to help us.

Then I remembered there was a planting idea in the Family Fun magazine. A "Terrific Terrarium". This is a fun idea where you get pretty much plant an "Eco system" in a container. the kids can even put little toys, rocks, and/or moss in it to make it extra special. So, I show her the picture and ask if she wanted to make an indoor garden. Of course she did. And Of course we couldn't do all this until after we went to the store. We had to hit up 3 stores, Micheal's (for the container and creature), Petsmart for the gravel and activated carbon, and Home depot for the soil and plant. Luckily, I literally live right next to a shopping center that contains all three, right next to each other. We got everything but the plant first, and then headed to Home depot. The very nice employee tried to help me find a plant small enough, but there was literally nothing. So I showed him the magazine (yes, I brought it with me) and we discussed seeds. That's the route we finally decided on.

We got home and put the whole thing together.

Noelle is not pictured, but she helped put the soil in the terrarium as well!
So, right now, the giraffe is all alone, but eventually there will a something growing in there with him. (hopefully!)

Sigh. That made Melanie much happier. But, then she started playing princesses and I remembered this fun crown from Tangled that was in the magazine. So... Here you go.
Do you sense Noelle attitude in this picture? Wow! And people think only red heads are feisty.

Eventually I got a more pleasant face from her. :)

I can't wait to try out the other activities we have picked out.

Teddy Bear of the Week: All About Melanie

Melanie is "Teddy Bear of the Week" at school this week. She got to make a poster all about her which she will take tomorrow, and on Friday she will get to share her favorite snack (she is still debating between chocolate chip cookies or "delectable cupcakes".) We just finished her posted and I think she did a WONDERFUL job (with a little assistance from her mom). Here it is:

You can tell she was very excited about it. (And after I took this picture, she asks "Can we play with it now?" Umm... ha ha.... no! I put it in a safe place until class tomorrow).

In coming up with the ideas for the poster, I asked Melanie a bunch of "favorite" questions. We couldn't fit everything on the poster, but I still want to share her favorites:

Favorite Color: Red (she says it's because her hair is red. She modified this while making the poster to be "red and pink")

Favorite Food: Tator Tot Casserole

Favorite Ice cream: Chocolate

Favorite Movie: Tarzan (This one still confuses Brandon and me, since we don't actually own Tarzan... but she HAS been asking the Great Pumpkin to bring her the movie for Halloween).

Favorite Song: Ariel's song in Little Mermaid

Favorite Family Activity: Playing Games

Favorite Thing to do with Dad: Catching Fish

Favorite Thing to do with Mom: Science Experiments and Listening to Music

Favorite Thing to do with Noelle: Play Dress Up

Favorite Princess: Cinderella

Favorite Books: The Little Mermaid (also caught me off guard. We borrowed this book from the library, and to be honest, the ending was disturbing. It's not the Disney Version)

Favorite Season: Spring (she is literally counting down for Spring again).

Favorite Holiday: Easter

Favorite Letter: M

Favorite Letter: 3

Favorite Animal: Elephant (I had a great idea of how to put this on the poster, making an elephant out of her hand print, but I didn't have room. We'll have to do that art project later).

Loves to Play with her Sister!

Loves to do Science Experiments

Favorite Experiment: Making a Volcano.

Welcome to the Circus!

I am so spoiled. My sister in law, Amilee, threw me a beautiful baby shower this morning. I am seriously so lucky and so grateful. It was so much fun. She picked "Welcome to the Circus" for the theme, and it was very clever. All the Smithson's are so talented (and clever) when it comes to planning and decorating for parties. I'm hoping that it will rub off on me someday (well, it's almost been 8 years since I joined the family, and so far, I haven't gotten any better). On each of the tables, she had little gum ball machines, some animal crackers, and a fun cup full of little mustaches. It was super cute, and a huge hit with the kids (which you can see from these pictures)

Check out these cute decorations. It's that awesome? I love it! There is also a popcorn machine next to the table that I didn't get a picture of.

Everything was just perfect.

And I am so blessed to have so many friends and family that were able to come.

I have to admit, it was really fun to open all the boy stuff. There are a lot of really cute boy clothes out there... and my friends and family have great taste! I am so excited to finally have a collection started (as I haven't bought anything yet myself). Here are a few pictures of me opening my gifts.

This bib is hilarious. Susan said she had to get me it because I'm an engineer... It is literally called the "nerd" bib. hmm... I wonder what she is implying.

These booties are a special gift to Baby Smithson from Grandma Great, and they mean a lot. All the grand and great grand children get a pair.

And this fun basket was from my Aunt Tammie. I love the basket, and all the fun things in it!

There were a lot of kids at the party, and they all seemed to have a fun time. Here are a few of the wild animals they have at the circus. :)

If there was any questions as to whether or not the food was good, these pictures of Noelle will clarify... it was WONDERFUL!

So, thank you EVERYONE that was able to come. I really, truly, appreciate it. I feel guilty asking to get me things when it's my third child, but I also truly appreciate everything that I received. It is so nice to have a collection of blue and green things started. THANK YOU!

Thank you to Amilee for organizing the entire thing. Thank you to Kathe and Gary for letting us use their house and for all the cleaning and prep work I'm sure they did before hand. Thank you to Amilee and Amber for making the wonderful food. Thank you to Litisha and Erin for helping out with everything as well. Thank you to Jen for taking pictures while I opened the presents. Thank you to Brittany for recording all the gifts for me. And thank you to my kids for playing nicely and having fun so that mom could have fun too. :) (If I missed someone that was working behind the scenes, I apologize, and THANK YOU as well!)

Badges of Fun: Badge 3, Learn Something New

We completed another of the Family Fun Badges. This one was entitled "Learn Something New". The irony of this badge is that it came literally right after I did a whole slue of science experiments with the girls. I decided not to just use one of those experiments as a "get out of jail free" card, and read all the suggestions they had for this badge.

One of the many options was called "Alphabet Fun". They suggested going into the "world" and finding the alphabet in interesting places, and taking pictures. This idea was the most exciting to me, but we just never got around to it. So, I modified the idea. We decided to use our blocks and build the letters in our names... then take pictures of those. I still plan to do the other activity, but when it's cooler out and I have a little more time. It would be neat to find the letters that spell "Smithson" and to frame them in our house.
Anyhow, here is "MELANIE"
(Melanie took most of these pictures. I took the picture of the "M" because she didn't really get the entire letter in the frame, but she did the rest. good job Melanie!
Here is our "NOELLE".

In case you are wondering, I ended up using a lot of Melanie's letters to make Noelle's name. This was because Noelle had decided that knocking down the letters before mom could take the picture was hilarious! funny girl.

So there you go. We had a lot of fun, and thanks to the Family Fun magazine, we earned our next badge!

Gone Fishin'

It's hunting season... and Brandon was drawn for elk archery season. His hunt started last weekend and gos through this next Thursday. He went last weekend, and it rained (and hailed) on him almost the entire time. We had our own "interesting" adventures here at the house (the biggest one being locked out of the house for a few hours with no hide a key, phone, etc.) So, when he came home early (Saturday night as opposed to Sunday night) and decided to do something different (that included all of us) this weekend, I was Ecstatic! (Have I mentioned that my husband is just so wonderful!).

So, instead of hunting, we did some fishing.

First we went to the fish hatchery near Christopher Creek. The girls loved checking out the fish!

Noelle insisted on walking up the steep hills all by herself. She is such a strong little girl!

They have a lot of "tanks" with fish of different sizes (ages). It was really fun to see them flipping all over!

Then we went fishing at Tonto Rancho. (where you are pretty much guaranteed to catch something)

You don't have to bring a thing. You rent the pole, gear, and get as much food as you need, for a buck! Then you fish. It's 75 cents an inch, and for an extra 50 cents, they clean and ice the fish for you (totally worth the 50 cents, if you ask me!!!)

We learned very quick that you had to be FAST to catch these guys! They were tricky! Daddy caught the first one all by himself. It as an exciting moment.

The girls loved checking the fish out!

Then they started fishing together (we only rented one pool... that was plenty)

They enjoyed group fishing... all three of them!

And finally mom got a chance (with Melanie helping me).

All together, we caught 3 fish. 2 of them were 12" long, one was 10" long.

While we were fishing, I asked Melanie what she was going to do with the fish when she caught them, and she said "eat them" (note, when we did actually eat the fish, last night, she wasn't interested after all.)

While they were cleaning the fish for us, we enjoyed the outdoors. It was a neat place, very pretty.

After fishing, we ended up cutting our trip short because my cute little red head became really sick. I'm glad that she was able to enjoy some of the trip before she became so miserable.

Thank you, Brandon, for such a fun family day! We love you!