What's Yours Is Mine!!

Elijah playing with his toys Easter morning, perfectly happy and content!!

Oohh, what does Noah have over there, it looks pretty cool. I think I'll wander over and check out what he has.

What he has looks better than what I have. I made my move, but he blocked me out.

This is a really dirty look. Maybe if I look mean enough, my brother will give me his toys. It doesn't seem to be working.

Four Children!!

Here are our Easter Morning shots. Getting four children to actually look at the camera...an impossible task.

Day Before Easter Fun!!

Some pics of the Smith's having a fun day.

Clara would be the girl in the peach shirt. She squeezed the life out of the day. This was about the only view we had of her all day. She had a good day with friends and participated FULLY in our church treasure hunt. By the end of the day she was helping paint faces.

Hannah had it made in the shade for her Easter Egg Hunt. They saved a ton of eggs for the 5th grade and there were about 15 participants. She had eggs in her hood, her pockets and her bag was FULL.

Noah wasn't too sure about the idea of having his face painted. Once he did gave in to the pressure he was quite proud of his Easter Egg on his face.

Elijah Had a Great Day!!!

Our family attended the Treasure Hunt at our church this year. It was fun albeit freezing!! Here's some pics of Elijah enjoying himself. I'm not so sure the bunny is his favorite. He did think hunting eggs was pretty cool though.

Boys Are Different Than Girls!!

I continue to learn that boys are different than girls!! Today Noah asked if he could go play in the garage for a bit and I said sure. Elijah was asleep. It was raining outside. I thought "Yeah a little peace and quiet". A bit later Noah came inside and said he wasn't feeling so well. After questioning him to make sure he wasn't sick, I sent him off to bed for rest time.
A little while later, David went out for his daily trip to Kroger. When he came home and brought the groceries in...He asked "Who has been in the garage?" As I followed David to the garage, I thought "Oh, no, what did Noah do?" The evidence loomed before me. My sweet innocent, little boy experienced his first bout with grafitti. He had taken the spray paint and painted several places. Luckily Smokey, the cat is still gray, not painted white and our van was not in the garage.
We sat down with our little hoodlum and began to discuss this. He said "It looked like fun when Daddy did it." (David and Clara had painted a frame the day before.) When we began to get to the nitty gritty of what the consequences would be. A bright smile came to his face and he said, "But, I found my fishing pole." Nice diversionary tactic. We again turned the conversation back to the consequences and he said, "But I found my buckets." Again, diversionary tactic.
At this point we are about to bust out laughing when Elijah, who was innocently hitting his golf ball, just happened to whack the snot out of it. It hit the wall behind where I was sitting, then zinged over to the other wall and landed in the kitchen. BOYS, BOYS, BOYS!!

Jump'in and Climb'in

Here's some pics of the kids spending their hard earned money for a few minutes of fun. Usually we say no to such excess, but we surprised the kids by saying yes. They did have a really good time!!

Clara in Action

Clara has been quite busy the last few weeks. She has played in two soccer tournaments. She has one more scheduled this spring which happens to fall the weekend of her birthday. This is a great shot of her in action taken by her daddy!!

Bartlett 98 at Stones River Shootout Tournament

Clara's soccer team played in a tournament in Nashville, TN last weekend. This is half-time from their first game. They normally play 8 vs 8 and for this tournament they played 6 vs 6. The first half was a little rough. It had been a while since they played 6v6 and a while since the coaches had coached 6v6. The team waits patiently during half time, while the coaches huddle to develop a strategy. The girls lost their first game. They won their second game. They made it to the semi-finals where they lost, but they fought hard!!! We're real proud of them.

Girls will be girls!!

This is the team in between games at the hotel while at the Stones River Tournament. They were in total girl mode...getting their nails done. Thanks to Molly's mom, India who coordinated this fun event. She ran an excellent nail salon with the perfect colors of red, white and blue...team colors, team spirit. This was a fabulous bonding experience for the players and for the families. This is their second season playing together and it is fun to see them developing into a sweet little team.

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha

Lest Hannah become like Jan Brady and say Marsha, Marsha, Marsha (Clara, Clara, Clara)..I thought I would post a cute picture of her. She had an EXCELLENT time at the tournament. She got a chance to spend time with two of her friends, Sophie and Katie. She is becoming such an amazing young woman. Last night we watched the movie "One Night With A King" and as soon as it was over she read the entire book of Esther. Next year Hannah will begin homeschooling. We gave her the first assignment...compare and contrast the movie with the biblical account. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with in her report.

Fun with the Fulks!!

Our friends the Fulks, from Ohio came over for a visit during their spring break. The kids had an absolute blast. I'm not sure what they are doing in this photo, but I think they look like the future top five on American Idol, minus the Sanjaya mohawk of course.

Clara and Sydney dressed in multiple outfits throughout the course of the evening. They were definite fashion divas!!

Noah and Dillon enjoyed being BOYS!! They had so much fun and the highlight of their evening was who could burp the loudest.

These sweet girls are growing up so fast!! We're glad the Fulks came for a visit and look forward to our next time together!!

Hot Springs View

Two weekends ago I went away with six ladies for some rest and relaxation. This is the view from my lounge chair beside the lake. It was such nourishment for my soul. I love being outside enjoying God's creation. Time alone was great. But more amazing was my time with these amazing women... we shared our hearts, our lives, our past and our present with one another. My favorite part was the laughter. We laughed until it hurt. We are all ready to do it again.

Vomit Viper Strikes!!

Yes, it is 2:17 am and I am blogging. The Vomit Viper has struck our home with a vengenance. Currently, David and Hannah have been struck, but I anticipate more. So, while I'm cleaning up vomit I'm asking myself this question. "Why does the Vomit Viper seem to strike when my life is already so out of control?" In the last six weeks we've had two weeks of illness (fever related), two soccer tournaments (one in town and one out of town), a ladies retreat for me, spring break. My laundry is piled high. My house needs a good cleaning. My brain is on overload. And, I'm cleaning up throw up at 2:00 in the am. On a positive note....this illness did not prevent either of our trips out of town. Wednesday is not one of my scheduled work days. I'm not sick, yet. We are not all in one hotel room on vacation (Two years ago in Colorado we were struck with "the plague" one right after the other. We were ALL sick with one bathroom within a twelve hour time frame. It was not pretty!!)

A verse that has been speaking volumes to me is "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way." The phrase "at all times in every way" trips me up a bit. That seems so out there. But, how I long for peace in the middle of the chaos, whatever the chaos of the day or moment might be. And, it is Jesus Himself that gives the peace. I can't manufacture it. I can't fake it. Instead I'm oftentimes the creator of chaos in my life.

So my preparations for Easter this year may look a little different. With a can of lysol and a vat of laundry detergent, I will fix my eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of my faith. I will let the Prince of Peace invade my heart so that he may do His work in me.

Elijah's First Night in a Big Boy Bed!!

We were so excited to move Elijah into a BIG BOY BED!! Here's a picture of him in his big boy bed. Isn't it sweet? What it does not convey is that it took us THREE Hours to get him to go to sleep. There was MUCH weeping and gnashing of teeth. Finally, exhausted, he fell asleep. That was his first night in his big boy bed and his LAST...at least for now. Noah has been enjoying it in the meantime. I know, I know we are in charge...but we are also tired.

Sports Zone

Our home is sports zone tonight. Noah had his first T-ball practice. David is one of the twelve assistant coaches. He said Noah did a great job!! At the same time, on the other side of town, Clara had a soccer game. This is when one car presents a challenge. But, thanks to Molly's mom, India, we made it to the game and had lots of fun. Although, it was a hard fought game, Clara's team lost 0-1. Hannah spent her night watching the Memphis Tigers play Texas A & M. Go Tigers!!

When was the last time I had this much fun?

Sometimes I get so caught up in my daily "resposibilities" that I forget to have fun. This picture of Clara makes me want to play. This weekend I'm going away with several friends to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We are leaving behind the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, the poopy butts, the work stresses, etc. We have no set agenda, but we have many plans. Personally, I'm looking forward to some play time with my friends. I'm looking forward to some alone time with my God. To say I'm excited is an understatement. My smile is almost as big as Clara's.

Grinding the Coffee!!

It was 5:45 am this morning and I had just stumbled out of bed, dusted the sleep out of my eyes, reached into the cabinet to pull out the coffee grinder, and began to grind the coffee. Then, a little bullet comes running from the bedroom...Noah with eyes still closed in sleep wanted to grind the coffee. (He has this thing where he likes to push the button on the coffee grinder. And, he gets kind of upset when I get up before him and grind the coffee.) So, he pushes the button on the coffee grinder and goes back to bed.

I thought it was a little bizzare. Then, his enthusiasm for grinding that coffee made me ask myself the question. What in my life causes me to leap out of bed and go running? Lately, not much. My desire is that I would approach my time with God in that way. So, I have been challenged by a five-year old who just can't miss the excitement of grinding coffee.

Mattress Magic!!

The kids came up with a couple of fun uses for a mattress. The first usage I don't have a pic of, because I was too much in shock. The mattess was leaning against the wall by the stairs, upright. Clara took shoelaces and tied them together to make a rock climbing harness and tied to to the staircase. Then, she proceeded to climb the mattress much like a rock wall. No one was hurt!! But I stopped it pretty quickly.

The second usage was a slide. Elijah and Noah thought this was really cool. The girls found out it worked better with sleeping bags. (Thank goodness they didn't slide down the stairs in the sleeping bag this time...our friends Dane and Brian introduced my girls to that a couple of years ago. We have been intentionally NOT letting boys learn that trick).

Spring break was fun!! I'm glad it's over, though.

Having Fun in the Sun!!!

Clara had fun with her friend Reagan during Spring Break. These two girls are just alike. You would not believe what they come up with together. While the girls were playing in the sprinkler, I went to lunch with some friends and left David "in charge". When I get home, I noticed what looked like a MUD PIT in the back yard. I decided to investigate. Much to my chagrin, I rounded the corner and peered onto the back porch. There were four girls (Hannah and Clara, Reagan and her little sister Ellie) COVERED in mud. They had mud from head to toe. David, my laid back man, said "they were having fun".

The Challenge!!

My friend Kim has issued a challenge to post for seven straight days and I decided to jump in with both feet. I figured it would be good for me to get into the habit. Plus, there are many pics to share. We've had a good week in our house and have been quite productive. Actually, my husband has been the most productive!!! He was off all week long. And, while his list of things he wanted to complete, didn't get finished (it was a mile long), he did get so much done. My job all week was to keep the boys out of the way. Two days it was easy...I took them to school while I worked.

His first project was to paint Hannah's room. She helped paint one wall and had so much fun hanging out with her daddy late at night being productive. Her room looks so nice. It is such a Hannah color. She loves blue and all of the sudden lime green.

We have one project in her room that is still in process. Her granddaddy built a desk while in High School shop and he recently put a new top on it, spiffyed it up and brought it to her. The desk was primed and ready to paint. This is an heirloom piece and I didn't want to ruin it with my lack of skills. So, yesterday I took the desk to my friend Chantel (www.chantelsoriginals.com) and she is going to refinish the desk with an artist's touch. I am so excited to see the finished product. I'll post a pic when it's done.

My Insanity!!

Now I'll share my insane moment last Saturday while Hannah was sleeping off her lock-in. My friend Michelle and I decided to go to a consignment sale early Saturday morning. For me there was really not that much there, so I suggested we go to Goodwill. The day before I had bought a $48 pair of jeans at the mall that rang up $3.99. Yes, I did a happy dance. Anyway I was in the mood for BARGAINS. So we went to the Bargain Barn of Goodwill. The Bargain Barn is where they clean out the stuff from Goodwill.

The Bargain Barn is a subculture that I really had not fully experienced. You walk in the door and everything is piled together in bins. Well the clothes are in different bins, but they are all mixed together men's, women's, children's, winter, summer...you get the point. Pretty much you have to dig through stuff and I mean dig. So, me and Michelle began our quest for the perfect treasures. I noticed a crowd gathered at one bin..and by a crowd, I mean an absolute frenzy. I asked my friend what that was all about and she explained that it was a new bin that was just brought out with new stuff (well it was still old junk). So, I ambled over to check it out. As I was leisurely looking through the stuff, one lady kept butting in front of me. I really thought she would knock me down. I'm thinking...this is junk for crying out loud.

The insanity is that we spent THREE HOURS digging through this junk. It was so much fun and quite addicting I might add. Let me share my treasures...I got 26 articles of clothing, 15 books, two picture frames, four bowls, 1 messenger backpack, 2 purses, and 1 set of dinosaur toys (Noah loves them). The grand total? $25.00!!! It was truly insane, but what is more insane is that I might just do it again sometime!!

Hannah's 1st Lock-in

Hannah attended her first lock-in last week at the church. Her basketball team from church had loads of fun and stayed up until 5:45 am. After breakfast, they came home and Hannah promptly fell asleep on the couch where she slept until 4:00 pm. The roof could have collapsed. Personally, I'm approaching 40 and I think lock-ins are for the slightly insane. For those of you who might be wondering if I chaperoned...the answer is NO. This SANE 39 year-old woman slept in her nice comfortable bed!!! Then, I got up and did an incredibly insane thing, but I'll save that for another post.

Observation

I noticed something interesting today. When I mention the word cleaning all of my children seem to disappear. They literally scatter like a dandelion in the wind. Actually, now I have a good tactic when I want alone time. All I have to say is hey guys, let's get some cleaning done. Then, I could sit down an read a magazine. It's a plan!!

It's a Lifestyle!!

Okay, so here's the day to be honest. I'm really tired of all this healthy eating, exercising and such. It's quite frankly for the birds. It has been almost one year since I "began" the quest to be healthy. There have been days/weeks of victory and days/weeks of defeat. This week I went to the gym and realized when I left that I should have just stayed home!! My mind was preoccupied and really I did not want to lift a single weight. However, I got an "E" for effort that day.
However, I am thankful for motivation that comes from friends to keep on keeping on. My friend Renee is a great source of motivation. Who knew our conversations would be about what rate we ran on the treadmill, what incline we use, etc. A year ago that was greek to me. Also, this morning another friend Amber gave me motivation as I read her blog. Neither of these ladies live in the same town as I do, but they are on my "get your butt in gear team". My neighbor and friend Susan is part of my local "get your butt in gear team". I'm really proud of her. She began the quest with me and she recently ran her fastest mile....pretty cool. She also ran her first 5K this year. She motivates me and challenges me.
One of my greatest motivators are my children and they don't even really know it. They don't ever say "Did you work out today?". They don't ever even talk about eating healthy or exercising. Well, Clara does because she is reading the complete guide to soccer and the chapter on eating has really interested her. Really, when I am on the treadmill and about to give up, I think about Clara. She kicks some royal tail on the soccer field. She runs fast and does it for a long time. If my eight year old can press in , so can I. My children motivate me because I want to play with them in the days and years to come.
What I realize in all my musings is that without motivation I would still be sitting on the couch eating bon bons. Also, relationships are so important in this process. So, today I resolve anew to continue my quest for physical health.
The truth is my quest to be healthy involves more than just the physical. "1 Timothy 4:8--For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things holding promise for both the present life and for the life to come. My greatest Motivator is the one who created me. My desire is to be all He created me to be. It is for Him and His glory.
Okay, so I'm done whining now..I'm going to the gym!!

The twelve days of sickness

The Smith's are on day twelve of sickness. I guess that's what happens when you have more than 1.8 children. Maybe I could write a song "The Twelve Days of Sickness". On the first day of sickness my true love gave to me a fever of 103. On the second day of sickness my true love gave to me two trips to Wal Greens. On the third day of sickness my true love gave to me three wakenings in the night. On the fourth day of sickness my true love gave to me four snuggles in my lap . On the fifth day of sickness my true love gave to me five "great big whines". Okay, so I won't go through all twelve days, because I DO NOT really want to re-live them. Maybe I could conclude...On the twelth day of sickness my TRUE LOVE gave to me twelve doses of patience. God has been a source of strength, comfort and help in the middle of all this sickness.

It really is a beautiful day today and while one child was sick on the couch, two were PLEASED to play in the yard. By the way...today IS the official day my boys became BOYS. They woke up LOUD. They spent the morning wrestling. They played chase at Bible Study. They fought over a ball. They played with dump trucks. Elijah concluded his time outside (unwillingly I might add) because I told him not to throw dirt at his brother and he did not agree. He disobeys and smiles about it....We are in Big Trouble with that one!!

I am counting down the days to the weekend away I have planned with some friends. We are headed to a lake house in Arkansas...thank you to all our husbands, parents and children who are letting us go play. There is no telling what havoc we will wreak.

Not So Full of Life Today!!

Clara is not so full of life today. She has a fever and is down for the count. She is the last child to get this particular illness. Unfortunately she has to miss her soccer game tonight. I also have a fever, but my temperature is normal. I have SPRING FEVER!!! The outside is calling my name. We hope to have some decent weather for spring break next week. Today I'm disinfecting our whole house!!

I love this Pic!

This picture was taken by my friend Jill. who lives in Russia. She visited this fall and the "girls" went away for a couple of days. This pic captures Clara's personality to a T. She is full of life.

Elijah Lands The Big Fish!

Sidebar Updates

Just in case anyone is wondering, the answer is no. It doesn't take us THAT long to read books....and we don't listen to the same music day after day after day. We simply hadn't updated the sidebar in a while to show what's current at Chateau Smith. We'll make a better effort to do a bit more of that. For now, we'd recommend Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster as a good read and the Facing the Giants: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack as an excellent addition to your music library! Enjoy...