Banana Split Breakfast

Before you gasp in horror and wonder if I have really lost it...let me just say that it's lots healthier than it sounds!Molly found this recipe in a kids magazine and it was a smash hit. Here's the recipe:

1. Slice one banana in half lengthwise (we had to cut them in half again because our bowls weren't long enough).

2. Add two or three hearty spoonfuls of yogurt. Two yogurt containers were enough for my 4 kids.

3. Top with cereal. We wanted to use granola, but we were all out, so we used cornflakes.

4. Finish off with berries. We didn't have any fresh berries, so we used frozen ones (I microwaved them).

It was a very hearty breakfast, my kids didn't ask for a snack until 5 mins before lunchtime. Success!

I want to be the Weiner!

I have two friends whose blogs I drool over. They are both AMAZING photographers. But you don't have to take my word for it, check them out yourselves at:

http://meganknorpp.blogspot.com/

and

http://whimsicalconcoctions.blogspot.com/
or
http://moondoggiephotography.blogspot.com/

Bring your bibs, cause you'll be drooling too! I promise.

Anyway, they have started a new photography class and I really, really want to go! And they are giving a way a scholarship, which I really, really want to win. In the immortal, whiney words of (What About) Bob, "Gimme, gimme, gimme! I need, I need, I need!"

You might want to go to their workshop too. You can learn more about it, and vote for me to be the scholarship winner by going to:

http://joy-ography.blogspot.com/2010/01/joyography-workshop-scholarship.html

Just in case you need more incentive to vote for me, here is a picture I recently took:


You don't want my children to grow up thinking that's how they look, do you?!?

That's what I thought! Now go to their website and check it out. (Don't forget to mention how needy and deserving I am!)

Pretty, pretty, please with sugar on top!
Jamie

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! :)