Handsome Helper

Oliver is a cutie... and he has to be.  Heavenly Father must have known that his handsome little face and sweet spirit would keep him safe.  No other kid in my house is nearly as crazy, adventurous, daring, and opinionated as this feisty 2 year old.  He definitely keeps me on my toes.  I have had to take him off the stove (thankfully he hadn't turned it on), and off the counter where he was playing with knives.  On two separate occasions, I have had to chase him down the street while I was literally only wearing a towel (don't ask).  I have almost lost him, several times, both at the house when he some how got out, and while we are venturing out of the house, at places like the library or museums and parks.  I'm lucky he is still here, not harmed, not lost, and pretty much just happy.  He really does like to test his limits.

But, he is always wonderful.  He loves to help me.  He loves giving me hugs and kisses and telling me he loves me.  He is the first to thank me for making dinner, for taking him fun places, for playing with him.  He is just so full of love.

And after he plays hard... he sleeps hard.

I love my Red Headed Booty Shaker.

So, I got Older

It's the time of year again...  The time were I wake up and find out that I'm older than I was the day before.  I magically get just a little older.  The odometer ticks up.  Instead of being 30, I'm officially *in* my 30's.  It's funny how that sounds, because I really don't feel any older than 20.  My husband likes to remind me, however, that I am getting old!  (Of course, he will also be 7 years older).  I'm grateful for a wonderful husband who makes me want to be a better person, gives me the strength to do hard things, and loves me unconditionally.  I'm definitely blessed.

To celebrate my birthday, I met up with a good friend from college (Jennifer Traynor), and her 3 fun loving kiddos.  We haven't seen them since Preston was born.  It was good to get together.  We went to the newly remodeled and renamed I.d.e.a. Museum in downtown Mesa.  It was fun.  It would have been even more fun if the exhibit were open (it opens Friday).  They have changed it to be even more hands on, which I love.  We got to do some crafts:

 Dance in a lazer dome that makes noises when you move:

 Draw with Ipads (my kids never get to play with computers, so this was a treat):

 Go camping in a black light room:

 And play dress up:

 Happy Birthday to me!

After the museum and naps, my good friend, Amy, offered to take the older kids so I could have some fun time without them.  Brandon got off work early and we went to Bahama Bucks, then people watched for a while.  It was fun.  Then we got the kids, ate dinner, sang "Happy Birthday" and ate some lemon brownies.  It was good old fashion fun!  I love my family!

Week of Fish

Last week was FISH WEEK at the Smithson house.  I have decided to divide the summer up into subjects. We started the summer with fish because the kids would be taking swim lessons and spending a lot of time in the water.  I thought that we could learn about other water creatures.  We started with the trip to the fish hatchery and fishing as I already mentioned.  Here is a picture of Melanie trying to get a run away fish (He jumped right out of the bucket... silly guy!)  

 Swim lessons started on Tuesday.  The kids got a good start on swimming this summer.  I'm really excited about how well they have done already.  Last year, their lessons didn't start until the summer was almost over.

 We read a lot of books about sea creatures.  Oliver wanted to get books on Clown Fish.  Noelle wanted to read about Sea Horses.  We also got books with whales and jelly fish.  We have learned a lot of fun facts this week.  We have also done some projects.  On one afternoon, we painted with forks.

 Another day, we played with bubbles... because, why not?

 Thanks to some coupons we had, we took a field trip to the Sea Life - Arizona.  It was fun to see some of the animals up close after learning so many things about them.

 They even got to touch some!

 Sea Turtles and Sharks!

 Sea horses are really cool.  Fun fact, they don't use their tail to swim... they just it to hold onto things!

 Later, we used our fork paint pictures to cut out sea animals and make our own aquariums.

 Noelle's Aquarium.

 Melanie's Aquarium.  (Oliver made one too, but it's not pictured)

 Melanie even wrote a book about Clown Fish (a non-fiction book).  She did a great job with the facts and the illustrations.  I love it!

It has been a fun week of fish!

Fishing on Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, our family took a trip to the Fish Hatchery!  It was a fun family trip.  Oliver LOVED seeing the fish splash around in the water.

Then we went to Rancho Tonto and did some of what we call "Lazy Man Fishing".  Lazy man fishing doesn't involve bringing anything except ourselves and a cooler of ice.  They provide everything else, and the fish are practically jumping from their private pond and into your bucket.  Which is fun, but also means the fishing part is fast (You pay per fish and if you caught it, you bought it.)  We had planned for that though.  Rancho Tonto has a big grassy area and a Ramada equipped with nice grills that "fisher-folk" are allowed to use.  We brought up chicken and some yummy sides and BBQ'd.  It was fun.  Here are some pictures from our adventure.

After spending several hours there, we headed to Payson, played at a park (the girls did some ice blocking), had dinner, and then headed home.  It was such a wonderful day trip!  I only wish I had pictures from the ice blocking.  Melanie has already started begging for us to go back to Payson for more ice and hill fun.