Christmas Newsletter

(I truly prefer to send this through the mail, but it was a crazy December with me being called as Young Women's President and Dave being in Spain for a week. So not everything that I wanted to do got done. Anyway, here is the digital version of our newsletter complete with two family pictures.)

Smith Christmas Letter 2009

WINTER
We (“we” of course meaning “Jamie”) spent the first few months this year keeping our home of 5 years spotless for showings to potential buyers. In March, we sold the house and started packing up our stuff to move into a new house in South Jordan, Utah.

SPRING
By April, we were finally ready to move into our new house. Jamie, as usual, amazed our volunteer movers with her packing skills that allowed them to unload the 24-foot moving truck in 50 minutes. One impressed neighbor commented, “This is the move by which all future moves will be judged.”

SUMMER
This summer, Dave was asked to serve as a Cub-Master, which he has thoroughly enjoyed. Later, the Phillips family joined us for a visit to Lagoon where Molly tried out several roller coasters, proving that she is braver at age 7 than her dad was at age 12. We also visited the Smiths in Virginia where we took our first Washington DC river tour and where Elliot had his first tractor ride at the experienced hands of his paternal grandfather. Molly and Jill fell in love with their grandma’s Young Riders program, and still talk about how much they love her horses. In a highly irregular turn of events, Jamie did not get pregnant this summer.

FALL
At the start of the new school year, Elliot started pre-school, Jill started 1^st grade, and Molly started 3^rd grade. Dave decided to leave his employment of 5 years to join a startup company called Live Wire Test Labs, where he hopes to get insanely rich and save the world. (Note: Dave’s new job is about 1 mile away from our old house. Go figure!)

WINTER
This winter, Jamie was asked to serve as Young Women’s president in our ward, a role she accepted with both trepidation and excitement. To decorate the new house with Christmas lights, Dave defied death by climbing onto the lower roof, but is waiting to hang the higher lights until the Senate passes the health care bill. He also spent a week having fun and doing some work in Spain.

KID QUOTES
Our children have said some funny things, which were too hilarious to keep to ourselves.

Molly, the financial analyst, commented, “Four quarters is better than a dollar because it makes more noise.”

Elliot, the philosopher, asked, “Mom, what does it look like when you are dancing and it’s not the potty dance?”

Molly, the historian, after studying the Aztecs commented, “The Aztecs wanted a lot of blood to sacrifice for their gods. It would have been easier if they had a Red Cross.”

We asked the kids, “Who’s smarter, Mommy or Daddy?” Jill responded, “Daddy.” We asked why. She answered, “Because he can roughhouse us.”

Molly, the linguist, mused, “I wish there was a Christmas Adam the day before Christmas Eve.”

Molly, while eating a dinner she didn’t like said, “I’m not a picky eater, or else I wouldn’t be eating this.”

At Thanksgiving we asked, “Elliot, what are you grateful for?” Elliot answered, “Cookies and smashed potatoes.”

Molly asked, “How many feet are in a mile?” Jamie answered “5280.” Amazed, Jill responded “No one could ever count that high!”

Pretty much everything Anna says is funny, due to her cute baby voice, intonation, and pronunciation. She can make us all do anything she wants!

We hope your year has been wonderful and we love you all!

Dave & Jamie Smith and co.

Learning about Japan

We have been studying Japan this week. We learned about the civil war period and some of the great warlords, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa. I had never heard of them until now. Tokugawa encouraged the Samurai to put down their swords and sumo wrestle instead. So we watched some youtube videos of sumo wrestling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ1wnbNIUrc&feature=PlayList&p=334FBF2379C73995&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=45

Elliot immediately decided to be a sumo wrestler. We have been wrestling for days.
The girls were pretty grossed out by the sumo outfit. They wanted to try Japanese kimonos instead.

Then we tried to make a miniature Japanese Zen garden.
Turns out flour is not a very good substitute for sand. Oh well, we had fun, right?
Now I think it's time to go get some sushi!

Thankful Blog

I am grateful for my children and husband. They are so wonderful and weird at the same time.

Elliot, who made and entire suit of armor out of 25 Walmart bags.
Anna, who used herself as the canvas.
Molly, who thought daddy would look better with pigtails.
And Jill, who made a mustache out of her cheese sandwich.
And I am thankful for my husband too, even if at times he dresses like a little girl. (By which I mean in little girl's clothing.)
I am just so blessed. :)

One other thing I am grateful for is my new indoor, retractable clothesline. (16.99 from stacksandstacks.com).
This thing is cool! One side screws into the wall,
and the other side is held up by two little hooks on the opposite wall. It has 60 feet of clothesline (5 rows at 12 ft each) and so far it seems very sturdy. This is going to be great for all those wet winter gloves, scarves, and snowpants!
Wait, am I actually blogging about a clothesline? You thought my hubby and kids were weird. Turns out I am the real oddball in the group! Hahahahah the joke's on me.

Happy Turkey Day.

Pretty Hairdos

Molly and Jill have been doing some very fancy things with hair lately. Very Fancy Nancy-ish if you know that children's book.

Jill has taken a normal head-band and decorated it with lots of flowery hairclips...
to make Anna look like a fairy-princess.
It turned out so well she had to make one just like it for herself too.
(Notice how Anna has her hands in her pockets. She has recently discovered them and thinks it is very exciting to use them.)

Molly used her creativity on Daddy instead. He desperately needs a haircut, consequently his hair is long enough to do in pig-tails (just like we do Anna's hair!)
Sooooo cuuuuute!

A Day at Our House

I saw this in a magazine for homeschoolers and I got a kick out of it. I think this is a pretty typical day for us.

6:30 Jamie gets up and exercises. Elliot and Anna sit on the couch and watch.
7:30 Everybody gets dressed and ready for the day.
Children make beds, do laundry.
Jamie does hairdos for the girls and Dave starts breakfast.
8:00 Breakfast, family scripture time, clean-up.
8:40 Jamie starts making bread.
Kids sort their laundry.
9:00 Molly practices piano.
Jamie, Jill, Elliot, Anna fold clean towels and washcloths and put them away.
9:30 Molly is off to piano lessons.
Kids start a short movie.
Jamie takes a facebook break.
9:45 Jamie and Jill do a reading lesson.
10:00 Jamie cleans powder room, (washes hands thoroughly) makes bread dough into loaves.
10:15 Molly is home from her lesson, time to start homeschool.
Each kid has a poem they are memorizing.
This week we are studying Jamestown and John Smith and Pocahontas, so we read a few short books about Jamestown then a chapter from our book "The Double Life of Pocahontas" (it is gripping!).
12:00 Time for the kids to clean up the family room while Jamie makes lunch.
12:45 Lunch clean-up.
1:00 Molly and Jill work on math, handwriting, grammar, and math facts memorization.
Jamie, Elliot, and Anna do stories and nap-time.
2:15 Jamie is groggy so she takes a 15 min blog break. I checked out AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com, PeopleOfWalmart.com and my email.
2:30 Jamie reviews schoolwork with Molly and Jill and we correct any mistakes.
2:55 Jamie quickly wakes up Elliot and Anna and we head out the door for...
3:00 Visiting Teaching at Erika's house. (She's my visiting teacher, but we do it at her house cause she has all the fun toys and snacks.)
5:00 Molly stays to play with Matthew.
Jill goes to Eliza's house.
Jamie, Elliot, and Anna come home.
They watch a movie (I know, two in one day, but they were both really short and I needed them to stay put!) while I vacuum and mop the main floor.
6:10 Email break.
6:20 Dinner is served. (I forgot to mention it earlier, but I made it in the crock-pot this morning.)
6:45 Dave and the kids clean up dinner.
Jamie tidies up the basement while brushing her teeth.
7:00 Jamie heads to the church for Young Women's.
Dave bathes all the children, reads them stories, and puts them to bed.
7:30 Jamie brings all the Young Women back to the house for a game night and yummy snacks.
9:00 The Young Women go home and Jamie cleans up the kitchen.
9:15 Dave and Jamie watch Monk while Jamie works on tying a quilt.
10:15 We brush our teeth, read our scriptures, and go to bed.

Post Script--it is interesting as I review our day, how much time we have to spend on 1. Laundry, 2. Cleaning up. That's life with kids I guess! :)

A look inside Molly's head

I recently found the following two papers lying around the house. I think my child might be a genius. :)

p.s. I cropped the infinity page. I am pretty sure she is planning to add more zeros when she has more time.

It doesn't have to be only at Christmas

One cool thing about money is how good it feels to give it away to someone who needs it more than you. I have found that it provides much more pleasure than anything I could buy for the sole purpose of pleasing myself.

Taking care of the poor is the Sunday School lesson for this week and there were some really cool scriptures.

D&C 42:30-31 And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken. And inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me...

D&C 44:6 Behold, I say unto you, that ye must visit the poor and the needy and administer to their relief, that they may be kept until all things may be done according to my law which ye have received. Amen.

D&C 52:40 And remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple.

D&C 56:16 Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls; and this shall be your lamentation in the day of visitation, and of judgment, and of indignation: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved!

D&C 88:123 See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires

D&C 104:18 Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment.

(Check it out, if you just read all of those, you got your Sunday School reading done!)

I recently received this video in the mail from a charity I like called Smile Train. I was so impressed with it that I had my whole family watch it for Family Home Evening. We had a great discussion about what God wants us to do with our resources. I really want my kids to grow up to be givers, so I am glad to use any opportunity to open their eyes to the needs of others.

I wanted to share it with all of you because I want you to think about donating to them too (no pressure or anything! ;)

Now go check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CamEXQ8x72c

You can get the full 40 minute video for free from this website:

www.smiletrain.org

Let me know what you think about it.

More Jilly Art

I am not a Halloween person. So my kids are really disappointed that I haven't done any decorating for Halloween. They decided to make their own decorations and tape them to the house. Molly wouldn't let Jill cut these out and hang them outside because she said they were too cute. (I kind of agree with Molls, these are some pretty cute witches!)

Here's how their decorations look taped to the house. (They are those little white things next to the windows...)

Lego Tower

Anna was asleep and Molly and Jill were riding bikes. Elliot and I had some good quality one-on-one time. We decided to build a lego tower even taller than Elliot.
And then we had to knock it over.
That didn't wreck it up enough so Elliot had to sit on it.
Good times.

Protecting my babies

I read this statistic in the September 2009 issue of Parents Magazine:

For every hour of adult content that kids ages 6-8 watched over a
two-day period, their chances of having sex as young adolescents increased by 33 percent.

This study came from the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston. I would like to read the full study.

These are my babies. I worry constantly about giving them a leg up in this promiscuous society. I want them to be happy and have good marriages. I think I will continue along the current path of being extremely protective of what they watch. Some people believe that they have to be exposed to it to be able to deal with it. I agree. It's just that I think the older they are when they are exposed, the better. I want my children to be sensitive, not desensitized.

What do you think?

I Miss Danny

I wrote a very long and sort of whiney blog post about how much I miss the Murray Library (and how much I dislike South Jordan Library). But then I thought you would all be bored with it. It had no pictures and it had alot of angst.

What it all comes down to is this: Would I be crazy to drive 1/2 an hour each (once a week) to go to a really amazing library where people were nice to me and the fines were low?


Anna and I await your answers.

Overheard

Dave "Elliot, why are you completely naked?"

Elliot "Because I don't have my clothes on."

Octo-Moms

(warning--long post)

For the past 8 days, we have had 8 children under 8 in our home.

Crazy.

But soooo fun!

Our friends the Rude family came to visit us last Saturday night. Our kids were so excited that they waited on the corner of our street, so that they would see the mini-van coming the second that it entered our neighborhood. When the Rudes finally pulled up, our children were disappointed that the patriarch of the family, "Uncle Ted", was not coming until later in the week. (He was forced to remain in their home state of Arizonia fighting scorpions until Wednesday.)

So that meant on Sunday it was kids against parents (in church) but even though our odds were down, 3 to 8, parents still won with a combination of never-ending-snack-bag and rotating-toy-magic. Sunday afternoon we took 8 children, 4 water bottles, 3 adults, 3 strollers, 1 scooter and 1 bike on a walk to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera...
So you'll just have to imagine us in the foreground, looking slightly polygamous.

Monday we took the kids to the splash pool at the end of the street. Being out of the habit, we also forgot the camera that day.

Tuesday we had a bike and stroller parade on our street, then had popsicles.We also went a cool "spider web" park near the lake. Again, I forgot the camera, but I didn't forget any of the children, so cut me some slack!

On Wednesday, Very-Well-Bethy (the mother of the Rude clan) and I took the brood to the Children's Museum at the Gateway. Everybody had lots of fun. (Just for clarification, the Rude children are all very close in age to our own children. But their parents were smarter. Rather than going to the trouble of giving them hard-to-remember names, they simply gave them numbers. These are in Spanish of course, because the Rudes are from Arizonia, where Spanish is the official language.)
Anna drove the police car. Her Rude compliment, Quatro playing in the ball pit.Tres Rude went shopping while her Smith counterpart, Elliot, prepared for dinner.Dos Rude stayed at the water table with the pirate boat for the entire hour we were there.
Jill gave the younger kids a ride.Molly worked the construction area with her friend Uno. Uno also tried out the rock wall.
Then, in order to make the Rudes feel more at home, we went and had a picnic in a park full of homeless people.

Even though we are their best friends in the whole wide world, the Rudes didn't come to Utah only to visit us. They also had a wedding Thursday morning. Each night after putting the octuplets to bed, Very-Well-Bethy and I would make truffles. These were to be party favors for the wedding guests.
V-W-Bethy's job was Production of Truffles, and my job was Quality Control. I tasted each and every truffle to make sure it was good enough to serve. Sometimes it was tough. Especially on the 200th truffle, but we pushed through the pain in order to reach Truffle-Makers Nirvana. (The state in which you are at one with the truffle).
Wednesday night, after the arrival of Uncle Ted, all four adults packaged the truffles in lovey-dovey boxes.
We decided that we now had the expertise to form a company to make and sell truffles. We could call it Truffabulous or Truffantastic. Then we looked over and saw this:
It was then that we knew that too many truffles can actually cause irreversible brain damage, so we vowed to never speak of them again.

On Friday we found the older girls doing makeup in order to make a movie.
Anna apparently found her way into the makeup too.

Saturday, Very-Well-Bethy and I hit the yard sale circuit leaving the men in charge of all 8 children. For 3 hours. We were a little afraid to come home--wondering what we would find. But we shouldn't have been. The Husbands exceeded our wildest (truffle induced) fantasies. They took the children to a small beach on Oquirrh Lake (sorry no photos), then brought them home, bathed them, fed them, and cleaned the kitchen.
We instantly had to engage in wanton carnality to show the menfolk our appreciation (sorry no photos).

Saturday night we went on a double date. Yes, as crazy as it sounds we left all the children in the hands of two intrepid 14 year olds. We were headed to the Roof for dinner, but on the way tried to pick up two other ladies off the side of the road (Dave had a taste of polygamy for those few days before Uncle Ted arrived, and he liked it!)
Actually we were really trying to be helpful to what appeared to be two stranded ladies with their little boys walking along the side of 90th South in 100 degree heat. We gave them a ride to the grocery store, but apparently we freaked them out, because they called someone else to give them a ride home.
We finally arrived at the Roof (fashionably late). We actually came for the view, but it turned out that the food was pretty good too.
And the desserts were amazing.
We think we may have gained a little weight at dinner, but it was worth it.
We are glad that we were able to have such a fun week with the Rudes.
Thanks for coming to visit guys!!!

Post Script
The Rudes left early Sunday morning. But apparently not before they had time to prank us by hiding Magic Shell and little notes all over our house. So far we have found 12 bottles. We are planning to put all this Magic Shell into our year's supply of food storage.

P.P.S. Here are a couple videos the kids made: