He's 7!

Landon turned 7 on Monday. First of all, can't believe I have a seven year old! That is crazy! Nothing makes you feel old (or "way too young to have a 7 year old *gasp*" - that's what I hear from just about every cashier at every store who happens to ask about my kids) like your kids growing up.

But I love it. Landon is my biggest buddy. I love when he comes home from school and tells me about his day. He still loves to snuggle in my bed in the mornings and get his back scratched. I love the way he takes care of Austin and Isaac (most of the time!). He's just a genuinely great kid.
We had a whole weekend of fun to celebrate Land-o's birthday. It started with a Football party. Landon's been planning this party since the "Turkey Bowl" this Thanksgiving. He wanted to divide into teams and have two coaches and.... on and on. I was thinking, nice, I do cake and pizza, the kids play football: easy-breezy party. But our plans got rained out and I had to scramble to find some football-esque activities that were okay for indoors. The party turned out great, despite being trapped inside (we even found a way to do the pinata inside).

This is the invitation:
The kids decorated sugar cookie footballs, played games, opened presents, and went to town ripping apart a giant football pinata. Landon LOVED it.

Monday we went to Denver to the Museum of Science and History. It was great. We met some of our Dental School friends, Chris and Andrea (they were in town visiting their families), at the museum and went to lunch with them too. Awesome to see them. We just picked up right where we left off, even a year later.

The museum is quite the experience. The kids especially liked the Space Odyssey exhibit and the schpeal on dinosaur poop a museum worker gave them; they thought it was pretty cool to hold petrified dino-poop!

Lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. Kids were starving but Cameron and Chris did a great job entertaining.

And off to the Lego store for a birthday shopping spree. Landon was in HEAVEN in this store. We kept it a surprise and kept joking about where we were taking him. I really think he almost cried when we started dragging him into the Hello Kitty store! But soon he saw the Lego sign and knew. He ran right in and started jumping up and down. Austin was bummed we didn't go to Build-A-Bear (on your Birthday, okay?). But he came around and ended up with a couple little things too. After this set of Legos we made him a deal that he has to play with the one's he has - it's time to start taking all those star wars ships apart and making a giant space-garbage truck or something. He is getting better at using his imagination but he'd still rather follow exact directions, and we're running out of space for all his creations that he won't take apart.

Birthdays are pretty fun when you're a kid, eh? Well, this one was fun for the rest of us too. And Landon, I love ya!

Things that Make you go, "hmmm?"

Austin almost always has a song on his lips. It's common in this house to hear, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "ABC's" or "I am a Child of God" sung at the top of his lungs {often while jumping off the bed or running laps through the kitchen}. Sometimes he sings quietly while working on legos or perler beads.

The last couple of days, though, his song choices have left me fearing for his teen-age years and a little confused because his two favorites could NOT be more different from each other.

This is the song he's been singing while coloring: "A Ragin' Cajin Lunitic from Brunswick...ah... Kansas Princess...ahh... A country girllllllll!" {click here and press 'preview She's Country' if you want to hear some of it} This song could not be more country.

He begs to listen to this in the car and then runs around singing it. "Boom Boom Pow, yeah yeah Boom Boom Pow boom boom yeah" {click here and press 'preview Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas' if you're interested} this song is what? pop with techno twist? I don't know.

How you could LOVE "Ragin' Cajin" and Black Eyed Peas with the same intensity, I don't know that either. Maybe it's the beat.

Baby, You're All Grown Up

It happened to Landon and Austin and I was bound and determined not to let it happen to Isaac but it did. My baby turned into a little boy. It seems to happen over night. Somewhere between 12 and 18 months, they go from sweet snugly babies to independent, "I wanna do it myself" boys.

Luckily, this boy has two big brothers to keep up with and show him the way. He is turning into a wonderful big boy. And he's still got enough baby in him to be just right!

Zac is the best copy-cat around. If the other boys are doing it so is he. I'm pretty sure he thinks he's at least four years old. Nothing stands in the way of doing what his big bros do. For example, tonight after I sent Landon up to take his bath while I cleaned up dinner I heard a splish splash rucous followed by, "Mom!!" {Landon} and then a little louder, "MOM. he he ha ha" {Isaac}. I went up to see Landon in the tub trying to get Isaac, fully clothed and drenched, out of it. That's how it is at our house: If Landon and/or Austin are doing it so is Isaac.

Like when Austin becomes Spidey, Isaac has to be mini-Spidey. And as long as Austin is the black Spider Man he loves to have his little sidekick around. The two of them could dress up like this, do their "moves" and summersaults, all day if I'd let them, and occasionaly I do.

And when we're at the park. Austin has to have at least one "underdog" on the swings every time. So, guess who else screams, "undog" too? Yes, this little dude will not take, "you're too little" for an answer.

Isaac recently discovered the joy of coloring. Every day we get out the crayons and the books and color a page. He even asks for tape so I can tape the paper to the table (it doesn't slide around that way). This kid is all about what he wants to do when he wants to do it. Just enough stubborn in him that when he harnesses it as a grown-up people might say, "he really stands up for what he thinks is right." Just enough stubborn in him as a 20 month old to make a mom grateful for nap time!

This kid who follows me around and un-does what I've just done, always getting into mischief, driving his brothers crazy with his copy-cat ways. This little guy who sticks his head between my legs while I'm making dinner and says, "wuv wo!" The boy that opens his mouth HUGE in imitation of my yawn and laughs like crazy everytime. The kid that waves and yells, "bye bye. Byyyye" to everyone we pass in the grocery store (and almost always gets the "he's so cute" look as they wave back). This is the kid that the big boys love to hug and swing around and tell him, "dance Isaac, dance" just to watch how silly he can be. This is my kid but I think there will always be a part of him that's still my baby. Oh, I just love him!

He turned 18 months in March but here's the stats:

weight 26 pounds 35th %

height 34.25 inches 80th%

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Mom/Grandma Smed, We love love love you!

The reason's why:

Landon, "because she gives me hugs."

Austin, "because she takes me to the store and gives me treats, and because she lets me sleep in Alina's bunk bed."

Me, "because I always know that at least my Mom is on my side. When the chips are down, especially, you lift me up. You let me talk your head off on the phone even you're busy. You have done so much for me and I'm grateful for it. You are an example to me. I love you."

Dear Grandma Perigo, We love love love you!

The reasons why:

Kyla, "because she is nice and she does everything for everyone."

Landon, "she lets me sleep at her house."

Austin, "because the same thing as Landon said... I mean because it's the grandma in the red house."

Today {and everyday} we love our moms and grandmas. Thanks for the support and just being you.

My Kiddos have been celebrating Mother's Day for three days now, thanks to their teachers.

My Landon. I just love him! His class had a "Mother's Day Tea" on Friday. When I got there Landon greeted me at the door with a hand-made corsage. He escorted me to my seat and, after we played a game, served me some refreshments. We watched a video that showed each kid telling why they loved their moms. Landon said, "because she makes me dinner...um, I think." I asked him later what he meant and he said, "I love that you make me dinner but sometimes I don't like what you make." (at least hes honest!) Just before singing us "Skid-a-Marinky-Dink", The class went around the room reading their Mom's the placemat poems they had written. When Landon got to the end of his poem he got a little teary-eyed and gave me a H-U-G-E hug. I had to wipe a tear away, myself after that. It was one of those "tender" moments. This kid makes me so happy....

.... and so does this one. Austin's preschool had a Mother's/Father's Day celebration too. The class entertained us with "The Gingerbread Man" and "The Three Little Pigs" along with some cute songs. Austin was hamming it up. He's tricky because sometimes he can be so shy but other times he LOVES to be the center of attention.

It was hillarious when he gave me my Mother's Day present. He pulled a recipe card holder (hand-painted, of course!) out of the bag and, proud as could be, said, "I got you an ingredient!! Can we make it?!" He is just so cute. Sometimes I can't help but stop what I'm doing to give him a hug because he's so cute. He also made me a little book, with the help of his teacher, and my favorite page is this one. When I asked him about it he said, "your so old. (60) and you're not fat (9 pounds)."

I love being a Mom. As cliche as it sounds it's the best thing I ever did and I wouldn't change it for anyhing. So today I'm celebrating for all the mom's I know. You are all great examples to me. Happy Mother's Day.

And on to something more {Positive}

Got a phone call today - the house is ours!! After 2 counter offers and someone else putting an offer in we are relieved and can finally start planning. We've gone from feeling like this:

to this:

Amazing what a good night's sleep and a call from the realtor can do for you!!!

Um... why?

I was just checking up on some blogs and happened to notice that on my sidebar I spelled Isaac's name wrong! What the Heck is wrong with me?! No idea. I feel like everything I do is only half done. I'm trying not to get discouraged and take one thing at a time but I am going through a "rough patch". It's always just one thing after another. Seeing my own baby's name spelled wrong on my own blog just put me over the top. What is wrong with me?!! Seriously. And for right now it just has to stay that way. No time to fix it. On to the next project: operation, blow up air mattress for Kyla (Cameron's sister and neice will be here in an hour or so. They'll be here for a week - fun times!)

The Last Two Weeks Have Been B-U-S-Y

... And Lots of Fun {and a little stress!!}

Cameron spent this past Thursday - Sunday batchin' it alone while I went to Women's Conference at BYU with some friends. What a good Dad he is and a great husband for giving me some time off. He spent all of Saturday doing this:

...except it was 30 degrees and raining all day. (this picture is from two weeks ago) Landon had two football games and pictures on Saturday. So the guys spent the day in the freezing rain. Cameron said they were covered in mud and grass by the time they got home.

The other days he had to get the kids up, fed, dressed, and out the door to the babysitters and get himself to work {a special shout-out and huge THANK YOU to my friends who babysat}

He did all the work while I had a great time with friends at BYU. We ate {way way way too much}, talked, shopped, walked {and walked!} and listened to great talks. I feel uplifted and revved up to re-commit myself to being a great mom and wife. And doing all the other things I need to do bring myself and my family closer to the Lord. It was a great fun weekend - by no means relaxing, but very fun.

{this is just before the clossing session - a great talk by L. Tom Perry}

We left for the Denver Airport at 4:00 in the morning {i got up at 3:15, ugh!} on Thursday. Just two days after coming home from Ogden. That weekend we drove to Utah Friday afternoon droped off the kids and slept. Drove to Mountain Home, Saturday. Looked at 18 houses in one day. Looked at a few more on Sunday. Drove back to Utah to pick up kids and sleep. And then Drive back to Colorado. WHIRL WIND!! We did spend a little time with these crazies:
Jared and Steph (my brother and his wife)....and we visited with Cameron's parents and mine a little. But mostly our trip was for the purpose of finding a house in Mountain Home. It was a bit of a dissapointing trip because...well, lets just say it will take some getting used to. We came home without making an offer on a house and thinking we would try Base housing. After a couple days of pondering and thinking we finally decided to go ahead and put an offer on this...
... a cute little house in a good neighborhood. We're still in negotiations so depending on how things work out this is where we will live. We are slowly making progress towards getting excited about the move. We have a long summer ahead: moving in June. Cameron figuring where he will spend July and part of August while he finishes work here. Me figuring out schools (mountain home schools or private - yeah we might go with private based on some of the research I've done on the schools there), unpacking {alone!!} staying with my family in Utah (which will be fun!) and just getting settled. That's how it goes around here: lots of "just a minutes." and "I'm almost done"'s. It seems like there is always so much "business" to take care of. But I do try do things with my kids and spend time with them. Like this:

...I took the kids horseback riding one day just before we went to Mountain Home, in between all the craziness. They had fun. It was a good break for me. Balance. That's what it's all about. And now that Isaac's awake and screaming for freedom from the crib and Austin's yelling, "MOM!! Come RIGHT now!" It's time for some more balance - no more computer for me! {for today!}