Maysie-locks

Maysen had her hair cut today. This was a hard decision for her. She weighed the pro's and con's. There were so many pro's. The only con she could come up with was she likes the way her hair looks long. She had enough hair to donate to 'locks of love'. We also got a $5 discount for donating, so her hair cut was $10. Here are some before pictures.

During pictures

After pictures

I think the short hair will be a nice change for her. She is going to love combing it in the morning! In other news . . . Maysen's next reading bowl competition is tomorrow! I am more nervous than she is. Only the first place team moves on. Maysen's team is SO good! They have had a great year. This has been such an exciting experience for our family. Wish her luck!

I'm Wired to My Computer

I'm wired to my computer. I'm made out of computerized parts.

My mouth is a disc drive & I'm memorized "The arts".

My mind just thinks documents & there's chords clutched in my brain.

I daydream sorting files & recycling bins' my drain.

I have a built in "On" button to see if I'm awake.

I'm an automatic computer screen, I play myself all day!

I have wires strapped to my head. I hope it won't get tugged.

'Cause I'll be my parents' personal slave! So I'm gonna keep it plugged.

I like having a keyboard with my heard all digital.

With my VERY OWN chair & my body all miserable.

That's b/c at school, I always answer late.

& that's b/c there's a program I can't erase that slowly loads

"Brain Loading. Please Wait"

--Stockton Smith

Nothing

It has been a pretty relaxing day here. Maysen had Reading Bowl practice, other than that we didn't leave the house. Maysen's achievement days was cancelled because the weather was pretty bad. I guess the tornado sirens were going off. Mike is now driving home in the bad weather. It will be nice when he gets here. That is all.

Not Ready to Give Up the Crib

For the record, I am not ready for Preston to move out of his crib. I will lose so much freedom when that happens. I remember when Stockton was first out of his crib. It was torture for at least two years! This afternoon, I went to get Preston after his nap. He jumped so high and did a nose dive out of his crib. I don't think he realized what he had done, because I was right there to catch him, but it got me worried. I don't think we have much time left. Maysen was Preston's age when we moved her to a bed. Although Maysen never gave us trouble. Preston was so cute when I put him down tonight. He was stalling. He had turned on his Mario music, his stars, he had his three animals and two blankets, but he wouldn't lay down. Finally I said, "Preston, mommy's head is really hurting and I want to go to bed, but I can't until you lay down." He said, "Okay" and laid down right away. Love him!

In other news, Mike is gone on a two day trip with the Young Men. I hope no bad dudes read my blog. They went to North Carolina to go snowboarding. Mike said it is all man made snow. The hill is all brown with snow on one part of it. He said it feels like sand. I think they are having a good time, there is only three runs there...hopefully they aren't getting bored yet.

The end.

Blah, Blah

Here are the pictures from Stockton's 9 year old photo shoot. I think the first one says it all. I love the pictures and think they turned out great.
I think this next one is my favorite.

What a cute boy I have.

Speaking of cute boys, I had quite a good laugh when I heard Mike taking Preston up to his nap this afternoon. Preston didn't want to go and was crying, "No nap!" Mike said, "I know you don't want to take a nap. Blah, blah." I thought it was so funny. Sometimes it must be hard to be the fourth child.

Homemade Bread

Yum.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! How fun to have a Valentine's Day on a Saturday. We have had a nice, relaxing day with nowhere to go. Love those days!

We let the kids enjoy the chocolate fountain. When I say kids, I mean Maysen, Stockton & Jorja. Preston was not invited! He had just had a bath when we decided to do the fountain, and I had no intentions of giving him another one!
Jorja could hardly wait, she was so excited! It lived up to her expectations.

Maysen & Stockton enjoyed as well, although Maysen did not like the chocolate. That is because this time we made it super delicious. We put the hot fudge sauce that Jorja and Mike like to make in the fountain. YUMMY! Poor Maysen, her taste buds were just not put on right.

Mike is now cooking Japanese food for dinner. We love going to the Japanese cook-in-fronts (as the Hardy's call them). Mike loves experimenting with cooking and decided he could do just as well. I don't doubt that for a second!
Well, I'm off to more eating! Then we are going to watch Friday Night Lights! I love that show!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Banana Splits

I finally got a copy of some pictures taken from Stockton's reading bowl in January. This is my favorite one. I am so proud of how hard Stockton worked. His memory is amazing!

Today the 3rd grade had their banana split party. They earned a part of a banana split for mastering different multiplication facts. The bowl was 2, the spoon was 10, etc. Stockton earned all of his pieces but elected not to have whipped cream or a cherry. He has passed every timed test he has been given . . . even in division. The weather was perfect for the party. Nice to have a bowl full of ice cream on such a warm day.

Cookies

Maysen loves sugar cookies. She made hearts to bring to her class tomorrow. She is so proud of them. I am glad that she is old enough to frost them by herself. I don't like frosting cookies. My girls love it. I told Jorja I would make a plate of cookies for her teacher, but I ran out of time. Woopsie.

In other news, we fed the missionaries today . . . the hamburgers were delicious!

That is all . . .

Temple Day

We went to the temple today. It was very nice. I love having Mike home in the middle of the day. My friend, April, watched Preston. It was actually temple playgroup, but I was the only one who was able to go this week. I did notice that I need to get my recommend renewed before John & Cassie's wedding or I will be left out in the cold. The Atlanta Temple is going to be closed in a few months for remodeling. It will be closed for a year and a half. That will make Birmingham, Alabama our closest temple. Not looking forward to that.

We have Cameron Lott sleeping over tonight. His mom goes in for surgery tomorrow. Stockton loves having him here. Well, all the kids do, but he's sleeping in Stockton's room right now so he is the most happy.

That is about all that happened today. Pretty good day.

Finish this Poem about Barack Obama

February is Black History Month. Stockton came home with a paper on Ruby Bridges that he had to fix. The teacher didn't think he put forth his best effort. He had to fill out a paper about what he knew, what he wanted to know, and what he learned. Stockton's paper looked like this. Know: everything, Want to know: nothing, Learned: more everything. When I talked to Stockton about it he said, "I hate learning about Ruby Bridges. We watch the same movie EVERY year!"

In other Black History news, every day at school, they have a child read information about a famous black person on the intercom. Today, Stockton was supposed to read about Barack Obama. Miss Spencer asked him if he would write his own poem instead. Here it is:

On the islands of Hawaii in 1961, young Barack Obama's life had only just begun.
He grew to be a lawyer and helped others in his town.
He proved that you could go far even if your skin was brown.
He ran to be the President as a Democratic man.
With a message full of hope and a chant of "YES WE CAN!"
He's now our country's leader, at 47 years of age.
He's writing a new chapter and starting a new page.
As the 44th President of these independent lands,
Barack Obama holds the future of our country in his hands.

Yep, he just wrote that this morning. Mike and I kept trying to get him to use our version for his last two lines. We thought it should be:

He's our 44th President, he let everybody know it
With our economy in trouble, let's hope he doesn't blow it!

Now the challenge to you is: write your own ending to this poem...
You may now begin.

Legacy

Today at Family Home Evening we watched Legacy. I was a little worried because the movie is an hour, but we thought it would be good for the kids to see. Stockton had a lot of questions. It's hard for kids to understand the persecution that their ancestors faced. We then talked about how many blessings we do have and how easy our lives are compared to theirs. 3rd grade isn't so bad now, is it? We also talked to the kids about how they will have trials that will be just as hard as their ancestors, but most likely they won't have to walk across the country. We discussed what trials we have today that our ancestors didn't face. All in all, it was a pretty good Family Home Evening. I will now leave with a picture of my Legacy. Preston always manages to find the chocolate milk powder . . . This time mixed with goldfish. Yummy!

Long Day

Today has been a really long day for me. I have been so tired lately. I went to bed early yesterday, but am still so tired. I got frustrated during church. I am taking a family history class. I was on the new.familysearch website, which is pretty cool by the way. Anyway, I accidentally gave my great-great-great grandma herself as her mother. That probably doesn't make any sense. I was told I could undo anything I did wrong. When I asked how, they said they had to look it up. My one friend was really trying, but I was getting so frustrated that I just had to stop. Hopefully Mike can fix what I did. Sorry if I messed up everyone's family tree. (It was on the Millburn side by the way).

Anyway, after church we had choir practice and a baptism. The baptism was great and I'm so glad I was able to attend. At the baptism, Mike found out he needed to do splits with the missionaries. He has been gone for a long time now, I hope he's okay.

Earlier today I was doing the dishes when the phone rang. Someone wanted to schedule the building. The kids had been playing charades, but they now started fighting. I tried to get them to quiet down so I could hear, but that didn't go well. I was so frustrated I sent the kids to bed early (only 15 minutes) and had a huge fight with Maysen. I felt so bad later, I was cuddling with her talking when I realized that Preston was up to no good. He had started playing with the water on the fridge and the entire floor was now covered in water.

In conclusion, today was a long day. Hopefully tomorrow will be much smoother.

We're Number Two!

Maysen's team competed in the regional Reading Bowl today. Some of the questions were HARD! Maysen's team did great! They won every round except one. One round the score was 90 - 10. I wish we would have videoed that round. Maysen answered three in a row super quick. Our team came in 2nd place. We lost by 20 points. (Each question is worth 10 points, so we lost by 2). The 3rd place team was 100 points behind us, so Maysen's team did really good! Come to find out, the team we lost to was stacked with 6th graders. This is a 4th and 5th grade competition. One kid had a mustache, so when our coach was trying to explain them, she called them the mustache team. Pretty funny. Anyway, the top two teams move on to the next regional competition. We compete in two weeks! We're so excited! Although Rachel will be making her way back to California by then, so she won't be able to watch our kids...that's a bummer. Also, the competition is a Saturday after we have an entire week off of school. I hope some key players aren't on vacation!

Here is the team before competition started. They were all staring into the sun, so we told them to close their eyes and open on three. Diereshe is cheating with sunglasses. The team all received snazzy new shirts that say Reading Bowl Champions on the front with their name on the back.

They're ready!
We are so proud of them! What a great time this has been!
Nice work Maysen! We're SO proud of you!!!

Marie Mania

Marie is so stinkin' cute! My family is head-over-heals for her. She smiles ALL THE TIME. Except a few minutes ago when I took her from Rachel. She started wailing. Guess she knew I wasn't going to feed her. Rachel has spent the day sewing covers for the tent trailer. They look great! Mike loves giving Rachel projects.

Stockton and Marie
Preston took this picture of Marie.

Too bad Rachel and Marie leave tomorrow. They won't be able to visit us again. They start driving back to California on Friday. Maybe Brett will let us keep them a little while longer. They can meet up with him on Friday! One problem . . . Brett doesn't like to share his girls.

In the News

Maysen's Reading Bowl team was in the newspaper today. She competes in the regional competition on Saturday. Good luck Maysen! Rachel is amazing and drove here from Alabama, she is here with us now! She is going to watch the kids so Mike and I can be with Maysen. Thanks a million Rachel!!!

Stop Growing Preston!

Maysen and Stockton got a package in the mail from Skye and Larkin. Skye gave Stockton a Super Magnet set. I haven't let him open it yet, but he'll have fun with that. Maysen got a Webkinz owl that she is thrilled with. She named him Dusk. Thank you Christen! Sorry you had such trouble with e-bay!

I don't know why Preston has had such a fascination with counter tops and tables lately. Today, he started dancing like crazy on our counter. So, Maysen jumps up and dances with him. What loons.

Poor exhausted dancers.

Preston is so sweet. Even when he is throwing a gigantic fit. Like when I tried to get him out of the car after scouts. Mike was at bishopric meeting and it was past everyone's bedtime. Preston wanted something out of the car, but I have no idea. I was changing his clothes and I just couldn't help but smile and say, "Preston, I'm really going to miss this when you grow up." I know I will. The kids are just growing up way too fast. After 30 minutes of screaming, he finally calmed down and I held him as we listened to Mario music. I just want to keep him little. It won't be too long until I can't hold him anymore. Preston gives the best squeezes. I hope even when he is grown he will squeeze me like that. I love it when he says, "Ju-ju Mommy" - that is how he says I love you Mommy. One night, he said Ju-ju mommy at least 30 times. It was so sweet. I love you Preston! Stop growing up!

Reflections

The winners for the Reflections contest were announced. All three of our kids earned a ribbon. They worked very hard on their projects.

Maysen received an Honorable Mention (4th place). She made a beaded dragon awhile ago that she entered. We put it in the top of a pop bottle because we were worried the dragon would get lost.

Here is a close up picture of her dragon.
Jorja won 3rd place with her drawing of a snowman. She loves to draw snowmen.
Stockton worked so hard on his Reflections project. It paid off with a first place ribbon! He was so proud.

I posted a video of his project down below.

And because Preston doesn't want to be forgotten, here is a picture of him. He takes his riding car everywhere. I turned around and he was on the table riding it. I had Maysen run and get the camera while I stood by ready to make a diving catch. Luckily that wasn't needed. But come on, Preston! What are you thinking? I even took pictures of the fit he through when we took the car off the table...but they didn't turn out that cute.

Groundhog Day

This morning I walked into the school with the kids. I chatted with the media specialist and ran to the store. When I got home, this is what I found. Preston said with the sweetest voice, "Hi Mommy." The photos weren't able to completely capture the mess...but I gave it a shot.

While I was busy cleaning up Preston's chocolate milk fiasco, he got ahold of the camera. This time he figured out how to take pictures. He would laugh hysterically when the flash would go off. He took over 20 pictures. Here is a sample:

When I finally managed to sneak the camera away, Preston was so mad! Until Mike gave him an Altoid. Nothing calms Preston down like an Altoid.

40 Years

My mom and dad were married 40 years ago today. I wish they could celebrate together. What a great life they had! They had been married 27 years when my mom died. I can't believe she has been gone that long. I sure do miss her. She would be so proud of all my brothers and the choices they have made in their lives. I know she would have enjoyed getting to know Christen, Rachel and now Cassie. (No, I didn't forget Ange . . . my mom knew Ange and would have loved being her mother-in-law).

I like this picture. My parents were always so happy together.

This is their engagement picture. They look so young!

Happy anniversary Dad! We love you!!!