You Better Watch Out

I could hear the beginnings of a fight coming from the other room between Lincoln and Ella. I waited as I usually do to see if I would need to intervene or if things would resolve on there own. I hear Ella say,

"Oh, Link, we have to stop fighting, Santa might be watching.

We have to be good so he will bring us presents."

Link responds, "yeah, presents."

And that was that.

Good to see they've got that down.

Merry Christmas!

From left to right: Joshua Smart, Lincoln Jones, Layla Smart,

Ella Jones, Carson Smart, Logan Jones

Also shown: John Smart (holding Josh), me on the piano, and Larry Smart (holding Logan)

Nativity

Recent FHE reenactment of the story of Christ's birth (thank you, Brittney). I've included partial Bible narration for those who need a refresher or just like to hear the story.

"And Joseph also went up from Galilee...unto the city of David...to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. While they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

Carson & Macy

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night."

Lincoln, Paul, & Addelyn

"And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid."

Ella

Logan - sheep

"And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger."

Lincoln

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem...there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem...Lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. "

Amanda, Polly, & Layla

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him."

The Cast & Crew

Enteraining to say the least.

The "Perfect" Tree

We went Christmas tree hunting on Saturday. Rule #1 in tree hunting is don't take the easy path because you won't find a tree...it's where everyone else has already been. However, when you have 3 little kids who all look like the kid from "The Christmas Story" and have a hard time putting one foot in front of the other, the easy path is what it has to be. We ended up walking a long ways and then going to where we should have in the first place, straight up the mountain, before we found any sort of decent tree. Even so, we had to settle and our tree just isn't quite as beautiful as it was last year. Really, though, once a tree has lights and decorations, how can it not be beautiful, especially with the "pretty" cluster of decorations kids tend to do. You know what I'm talking about...7-8 christmas bulbs on a small branch that struggles to support just one small bulb. On top of that, our "perfect" tree is a little lopsided with its distribution of branches and has tipped over twice now, decorations and all. I think we have the problem solved now and hopefully will have no more broken bulbs scattered over the living room floor.

I love Christmas! Really, I do, I'm not being sarcastic. I love Christmas!

Knock Knock

Lincoln's new joke which he came up with on his own:

"Knock, Knock"

Who's there?

"Doke"

Joke, who?

"Lincoln Nax Dones (Lincoln Max Jones)"

It's hilarious. (note sarcasm)

Imagine

Ella.
Lincoln.
A smooth wood laminate floor.
Logan in high chair which glides easily along floor.

I'm clearing the table from lunch and come back in to find Ella standing on one end of the dining room holding Logan's hand and Lincoln on the other end of the dining room. Lincoln calls out, "Red Rover, Red Rover, pass Logan right over. Ella proceeds to push Logan across the dining room over to Lincoln's side and hurries back to her side and it continues in the same fashion from there.

Logan was loving his life.

I was laughing.

What's New?

I've been trying to come up with something to put on my blog for a few days now, but have had a hard time deciding anything was worth posting. So how about just a few things that are new in our lives.

1 - Logan is almost crawling - up on hands and knees but not quite figuring it out yet.

2 - Ella and Lincoln have become master game players - namely Red Rover and Duck Duck Goose.

3 - I have started doing Biggest Loser Workout DVDs with some friends. It's very entertaining to watch 3 mommies get together and try to hold the plank position for more than 30 seconds.

4 - I want to say something new about Jeremy, but I honestly can't think of anything. Oh...he joined Facebook if anyone is interested.

Okay, that was lame, but I felt like I needed to do something.

A Toast

Yeah, the third post today, I know, but this just happened

and it made me laugh. Lincoln and Ella asked for sippies,

which I provided, and then they sat down at their little table.

They looked at each other, raised their sippies in the air, and

while pumping their sippies up and down, called out in unison.

"Hip, hip, hooray, the super readers saved the day, "

bringing their sippies together on the last word. According to Ella

this has become a ritual for them when enjoying a drink together.

11 Days Later

So since Lincoln walked off with my camera Halloween afternoon and I didn't find it until just recently, this is my Halloween post and these are all the pictures I have. Better than last year...I don't think I have one picture. Ah well, maybe next year.

Here are the kids trick-or-treating downtown.

Carson -ghost, Ella - Tinkerbell, Lincoln - Tom (think Tom & Jerry), and Layla - bat

Logan - Jerry (Again, think Tom & Jerry)

All I can say about this picture is I'm sorry, Logan, it's all I have.

Autumn Time

Finally found my camera...here are some pictures of the fun we have had in our leaves.

Ella - working hard and playing hard.

Fun with cousins Kylie and Keenan (hope I spelled those right?)

Ladies and Gentlemen

All day Lincoln and Ella have been taking turns presenting each other. In their loudest circus announcer voices they call out,

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, presenting Ella/Lincoln."

The said child then performs a small trick such as jumping in the air, twirling in a circle, or a high karate kick.

They were doing this when Jeremy got home from work and he asked Ella where they learned how to do that.

"Um, from Bud Light."

Eh? Say what? We were stumped for a few minutes...until she repeated herself.

"From Bugs Light." (Bug's Life - Disney Movie)

Ahhhh. That makes a little more sense.

My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things lately. The list changes with time, but I'm especially loving these right now.

1 - Huge piles of leaves (and I mean HUGE thanks to the giant Poplar and other trees that grace our front yard.)

2 - Lincoln's new laugh...a deep throaty chuckle that gets me and Jeremy going every time.

3 - Jeremy completing projects around the house, most recently downstairs bathroom door and pantry in the kitchen.

4 - Bike rides.

5 - Leftover Halloween candy. I'm loving this one a lot more than I should be.

6 - Ella's "hipster" walk. That's what I call it. When she happens to be dressed only in her underwear she pulls out this walk where her hips are swinging, her hands are pointing, and her looks says, "Oh yeah, look at me, I've got it."

7 - Good friends.

8 - Logan's motorboat mouth...nonstop...often followed by a very high pitched squeal so you really know he's enjoying himself.

9 - Homemade rolls. Always one of my favorite things.

10 - Motivating sisters who make me go running, which is desperately needed due to #5.

Close to my heart

So you think you are over something, ie., not crying when talking about my mom's cancer (love you mom!) as I haven't done so in a very long time. I had the heart pounding feeling that I needed to share something in Relief Society yesterday and was totally trying to talk myself out of it because I kind of had the feeling that I would get choked up and I hate doing that in front of people. I wasn't strong enough to withstand the feeling so shared some things with the relief society and, of course, cried. Some things are just always close to your heart and your tear ducts, I guess. Anyway, if any of you are like me, if you are at that choked up point and are trying to get it under control, if anyone shows sympathy or talks about it at all, it only makes it worse. So let's just say I was making a mad dash out of Relief Society the moment we said amen. I'm sure the rest of the ward was wondering about the crazy tall lady speed walking towards the nursery with tears in her eyes. Okay...maybe it wasn't that bad.

Ella says

the other day as if coming to an important realization...

"Mom, sometimes I like to talk to myself."

Don't we all.

Pretty

Getting ready for church yesterday, Ella was all ready to go except for doing her hair. I was also just finishing getting ready myself and she looked up at me and told me I looked beautiful. (How sweet, thank you.) She then went into our bedroom, looked in the mirror, and burst into tears. She was so sad, big tears rolling down her face. We had no idea what was wrong and Jeremy quickly ran to her to see what she needed.

Her reply, "I'm not pretty like mommmmmyyyyyy (huge sob)."

Oh dear! We reassured her she was beautiful and tried to help her calm down. It took at least 10 minutes and when she finally did she wanted her hair done just like mine. This has to be saddest, best compliment I've ever received. Ella, you are beautiful (inside and out)!!!

Fired

The other day while in the car Ella overheard someone on the radio talking about getting fired from their job. She asked what "fired" was. We had a long conversation about what it means to be fired, why someone would get fired, how to avoid getting fired, etc.

Today she and Lincoln came in and were bugging me a little bit as I was trying to work. I asked them to please go play with their toys so I could do my work.

She says, "Mom, will you get fired?"

I say, "I just need to concentrate and work hard and its easier if you guys play in the other room."

She pauses for a moment, then says, "Come on Lincoln, let's go play."

*&#@$%

Lincoln's new song which he sings constantly throughout the day:

"Focka, Focka, Focka.
(other gibberish, I can't quite make out)
Focka, Focka Focka."

It's slightly embarrassing when we are in any sort of public place.
I'm just glad there was no church yesterday, or he would have
taught his nursery mates a fun new word.

AWHC

Fall Harvest Festival

American West Heritage Center

Pony Rides

Ella's pony's name was Tinkerbell...you can

imagine the joy that brought her.

Face Painting

We tried to get Lincoln to go with an Aggie 'A'

but he insisted on the stars.

Wagon Ride + Nose Picking = All Around Good Time

Hay Jumping

Ride 'em Cowboy!

We'll definitely go again next year.

LoLo

So I've noticed that I hardly mention Logan in my posts. The older kids get mentioned a lot, but he sometimes is overlooked, so I thought I would dedicate a post to LoLo.

What he looks like:

• blonde hair - not much on the back and sides, but a fair amount on top.
• large, round blue eyes
• beautiful, pouty red lips

What he's good at:

• making motorboat sounds with his lips
• getting baby food all over everything around him
• laughing and smiling at Ella and Lincoln

What he likes:

• exersaucer
• being outside
• getting his diaper changed

Why I love him:

• he grabs my shoulders and buries his face in my neck when he's happy to see me
• he wants me to hold him...all of the time (maybe not the right category for this one, but it makes me feel loved)
• he's mine

Questions

Ella is full of never-ending questions. Here are a few recent lines of questioning:

Where do tears come from...from water?
Did you cry when you were a baby?
Did people think you were a boy baby? (eh?)

Where did the dinosaurs go?
How did they die?
Will they scare us when we go to heaven?

Who will I marry?
What will my last name be?
Can I marry Lincoln?

Getting Bigger Part 2

Ella just now at the dinner table:

"Mom, you have a big bum. It's getting reaalllly big! You growed a lot."

Are we noticing a theme here?

I promise I don't sit there and talk about my posterior in front of her.

I'm not sure where this is coming from.

Getting Bigger

An observation of Ella's the other day as she sat on the potty:

"Mom, my bum is getting sooooooooooo BIG!"

hmmmm? where does that put the rest of us?

Super Dad

A conversation with Ella last night:

"Mom, mom, daddy found my key."

"Really, the key to your treasure box."

"Yeah," (jumping up and down in excitement), "he found it behind my table."

"That's great, Ella, I'm so glad he found it."

"Yeah, because he's Super Dad."

Note: I asked Jeremy later if he had been planting thoughts into her head about being Super Dad and apparently he hasn't. She just knows a Super Dad when she sees one.

Big Kids

My kids got themselves ready while I fed Logan this morning. I especially loved Ella's barretts on her shirt, Lincoln's barretts in his hair, and Lincoln's tie with the polo shirt...very suave.

Preschool

Ella started preschool with Grandma Jones a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to document it. She absolutely loves it. She goes once a week and each time I pick her up she is so excited to show me the papers and other items she has brought home in her backpack. The first day of preschool, she insisted on wearing the "school clothes" that Grandma Jones had bought her and I had to convince her the next week that we could wear different clothes to preschool not just the same outfit every time. Preschool is clear out in Millville, which from our house is about a 20 minute drive, so Lincoln, Logan, and I usually head to the grocery store and then hit a park while we wait for Ella to be done. I'm not sure what we will do in the winter to kill those 2 hours, probably more shopping...if Lincoln and Logan can stand it.

Forever

Yes, I know, it's been forever since I last posted. We've been crazy busy working on our house, putting in new wood laminate flooring, baseboards, sheetrocking kitchen, painting, trim work, etc. Jer and I work until at least 11:00 each night on it, sometimes even until 1:00 or later. I've become quite the fan of the late night radio show, Coast to Coast with George Noory. Anyone familiar? It's hilarious... especially when I'm high on oil-based paint fumes. Hoping to finish up this huge project on Saturday and then I'll post some pictures and get caught up on the rest of my life.

Mmmm, cereal

Lately, when I am feeding Logan his rice cereal, Ella will come up with her mouth open wide and say, "Mmmm, mom, can I have some?" I will then attempt to give her some and she will run away laughing, thinking it is hilarious Lincoln then will come up, "Mmm, mom, have some?" I will again attempt to give him some and he runs away giggling. What a fun game, they thought, that is until this morning when I was faster than they were and they both ended up with a mouthful of rice cereal. Mmmmm, delicious.

Two

Lincoln turned 2 on Saturday. We had a family birthday party for him and wow! he brought in some serious loot, more than any 2-year-old really needs. I made him his favorite dinner, spaghetti, and then he asked for a fishy (Nemo, I assume) birthday cake, so I did what I could. I'm no artist. He did great opening all his presents and never once seemed overwhelmed.

Lincoln blowing out his candles.

Ella dresses up all the time in her princess and fairy costumes. Lincoln loves to play with her and so usually ends up wearing Ella's pink supergirl outfit. We decided we better get him a costume of his own to dress up in, hence the batman costume. When Jeremy put it on him after all the guests had left, he ended up wearing it for about an hour and a half. I think I'll miss seeing him in the pink cape.

Lincoln and his loot: batman costume, shirt, workbench, megablocks, toy puppy, glue markers, cool waterbottle exactly like aunt Michelle's, backpack/suitcase, smarties, toy truck, soccer ball (he slept with it that night), Mr. Potato Head.

One word...spoiled. Okay, two words...spoiled, happy!

Happy Birthday

We celebrated Jeremy's 31st birthday last night. Wow, 31, doesn't look a day over 30. :) I'm not helping his self confidence any when I stick my foot in my mouth like I did the other night while watching the Olympics and told him that he just didn't have a swimmer's body. I tried to cover, but the foot just kept going further in. I attempted a make up for it the night after by telling him that he had more of a gymnasts body. Ehh, make me stop.

Ella was intent on making everyone a party hat for Jeremy's birthday and was even set on us wearing costumes, which somehow she forgot about by the time Jeremy got home (sigh of relief). She decorated a beautiful party hat (or is that dunce hat) for each of us. The kids picked out a present to give their dad at the store earlier. Ella chose to give him a toy gun that shoots these flying disks in the air and Lincoln chose to give him a toy 4-wheeler. He loved them, as did they.

Birthday Boy!

Our attempts at a family picture.

The rest.

Bees

Life this past week has been normal - insanely busy. We cleaned apartments for Jeremy's parents Wednesday through Saturday. We'd spend 5 or more hours a day cleaning up gross college student living and then come home to our own messy house and have no desire to clean it. Let's just say by Sunday morning my house stunk from dirty dishes and there wasn't a clean pair of underwear to be found. (Too much information, I know.)

My kids were angels. They were so great during the apartment cleaning. They would just play on the lawn or follow me around and jump on couch cushions. Of course, the bags of candy bars and donuts provided by Grandma didn't hurt matters any. They are so cute tagging around with each other, always together, making up games, only occasionally scratching and biting.

I now know Lincoln's enemy in this world...BEES. He has been stung 4 times already this summer. I can't even remember getting stung 4 times in my life. Poor kid. I'm afraid he's developing quite the fear of bees now...can you blame him?

Future Olympian

Don't you just love the olympics? Jeremy and I are way into them. Jeremy is a very loud cheerer, especially for Michael Phelps, but it is so exciting, who wouldn't be? Logan surprised us with an athletic skill of his own last night. I laid him on the bed on his back and then sat down behind him a few feet away. He watched me and then purposely rolled over and then tucked his legs up under him and scooted forward with his cheek pressed against the mattress until he reached me and could bury his head into my leg. He got just as loud of cheers as Michael Phelps.

Scooters, scooters, everywhere

A few weeks ago my dad found one of his great deals where we could get scooters really cheap if we mass ordered them. So here we are a few weeks later with 14 scooters delivered to my dad's house. His garage looked like a bike shop as all the guys worked on charging the batteries, installing the mirrors and windshields, and pumping up the tires. Jeremy was the most persistent and got his running the very night they arrived. He illegally drove it home and to work the next day. I was pretty excited to drive the scooter myself so John and I went and took the written motorcycle test so that we would at least have our learner's permits. Yesterday after dinner I went outside to test out the scooter, never really having driven one, on a quiet road by our house. Unfortunately, the first thing I had to do was get it off the dang double kickstand, no easy feet. As I followed Jeremy's instructions of pushing it forward off the kickstand, I was not ready for the weight of the scooter (or maybe it was lack of muscle) and it fell on its side. So, yes, I am officially the first one to wreck one of the scooters and the first one to get an injury (small, bleeding scrape on my shin). Jeremy was obviously not too impressed and wondered aloud if I really could handle driving.

Of course I can.

Anyway, look out for large groups of red, blue, silver, and black scooters, I could be one of them.

Brenda, Margo , Lulu

I came upon Ella playing with her dollies. She had them all laid out on various parts of furniture around the room with a blanket over each one. She told me that they were taking naps and that Lulu, Brenda, and Margo were really tired. First time I've heard of Brenda and Margo (she knows no one by those names) and thought they were pretty sweet names for her to come up with and I told her as much.

Love

As I was working at my computer this morning, I started to hear little giggles and whispers coming down the hall. "Let's scare mommy." "Yeah, monsters." Giggle, giggle, etc. I purposely kept my eyes on the computer, but out of my peripheral vision I see two little monsters creeping into the room with their hands up like claws. Then, suddenly, "Roarrrrr." Of course I acted completely scared and surprised, screamed, and that made their day as they ran out of the room giggling with glee.

I have to say, I do love my kids.

Ella: I love her "great ideas." I love her bed- head in the morning, serious lion hair. I love her huge squinty-eyed smile that she uses to get Logan to laugh. I love her excitement about learning and doing anything new.

Lincoln: I love his bashfulness. I love his comfort position when he is a little nervous or shy (finger up nose). I love his constant mimicking of anything Ella says or does. I love his big squeezes.

Logan: I love his big blue eyes. I love his huge toothless grin (I think I could fit my fist in there). I love his cuddling.

And, of course, Jeremy: I love his "funny jokes," especially when he's in the zone. I love how he makes time to play with the kids every day, no matter how tired he is. I love him. :)

Hula Hoops

Jeremy has been working like crazy this week...seriously, I'm talking like 18 hours a day. When Ella found out he had to go to work today as well, she came up with a great idea to go play hula hoops with Grandpa Smart, a game which my dad came up with and I have tried to document below. The kids had a great time playing in the sun and water with Grandpa. Thanks, dad!
p.s. I apologize in advance for the lack of clothing. We forgot swim suits.



My baby, Logan, enjoying the show on Michelle's lap.



Water fight with Grandpa. Ella is fearless.



See pictures above. I'm still trying to figure out the whole picture posting thing, especially with collages, so they aren't where I want them to be. Note the huge diaper. Lincoln ended up wearing a pair of Michelle's underwear (sorry Michelle) pinned around him the rest of the time.

Oh, Wal-Mart

So I took the kids to storytime at North Logan Library this morning, which was delightful by the way. This is the first time we've gone since Quakers moved away. Anyhow, decided to make a "quick" stop at Wal-Mart on the way home. We cruised through the store getting the things we needed then headed to the front to check out. I couldn't find a line that had less than 4 or 5 full carts waiting in line. Long story short, after waiting in line for at least 40 minutes we made it to the front and by then Logan was screaming and Lincoln had also reached his limit of waiting patiently. Just my luck they decided to change cashiers right then, obviously I was not thrilled about that. The new cashier takes a look at my 2 kids screaming and says, "Oh you got 2 screaming now, huh?" By that point I was feeling extremely sorry for my kids and not having such happy thoughts about Wal-Mart. I replied, "Yeah, that's what happens when you have to wait in line for almost an hour." Don't be alarmed, I didn't say it rudely or anything, just kind of in a tired, get-me-out-of-here sort of way. I am starting to feel a little bad about it anyway because it really wasn't her fault. Oh, well.

My saving grace for that morning was being able to have my favorite conversation with my kids when we were home. This is something that happens at least once a day, often many more times, and both my kids do it.

Lincoln/Ella: Mommy.
Lincoln/Ella: Mommy.
Me: What?
Lincoln/Ella: Love you.

Need I say more.

Howler Monkey

Well, here goes. Thank you Katrina for helping me get set up. I'm a bit slow when it comes to computer stuff, especially when you are supposed to make it cute...yeah right. We had a fun morning with Logan waking up at 6:15 and ready to play, play, play, and then Ella walking into our room bawling 15 minutes later because she had wet the bed. So fun! I really did feel sorry for her because she felt so bad about it.

Lincoln has begun his terrible-twos, I do believe. For him this entails crying a lot for no apparent reason and making this weird howler monkey screaming grunt (can you hear it) when he is upset. Is it bad that I just do the same noise right back at him, most of the time laughing while I'm doing it. Needless to say, he learned it from Ella, so there are times when we have 3 screaming howler monkeys living in our house (myself being one of them). I wonder what the neighbors think?