The Smith Family Adventures

We had a wonderful Easter yesterday. We started new family traditions, we took Elias on his first (two) Easter egg hunts, we attended a nice Easter worship service at our church, we had a fun dinner with family, and it was a beautiful day to add to it all! Here is our Easter in pictures (I didn’t have the camera with me everywhere obviously, but here is what I captured of the day):

Elias found his Easter basket almost as soon as he woke up. He was excited to pull out the books, the bubbles, sun hat, and other treasures inside.

One of our new family Easter traditions is to read the resurrection story as a family. We got this story of the empty tomb to start out.

After reading the Easter story, Elias went on his first egg hunt. Elias found a few eggs right away.

Elias liked opening each egg as he found it instead of putting them in his basket. But then he got upset when we wouldn't let him eat the crackers or chocolates inside. I think we hid too many eggs too....there are still "unfound" eggs almost 48 hours later because he lost interest. Oh well. He had fun with the ones he did find.

After the egg hunt at home, we ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast (another new Easter tradition) and got ready for church. Elias got to participate in his second Easter egg hunt in the woods behind St. Bart's.

He's almost got it!

Elias liked playing in the woods better than finding eggs. It was hard for me not to pick them up for him. But I'm sure there will be plenty of years for him to run around grabbing eggs by the handful. Yesterday, he just enjoyed himself.

Our family on Easter.

Then, Elias got to play in the nursery while Nathan and I attended the worship service.

When we got home, I had to bake a pie for Easter dinner later in the day. Nathan took Elias outside to play and enjoy the sunshine. He also allowed him to get dirt and grass stains. Boys will be boys.

Elias also got to try out his new bubble machine.

After putting the pie in the oven, I went outside to join the boys. I love watching Elias play on the bridge in the wetlands. Especially in this cute suit jacket.

Ok...time for lunch and a nap! It's been a big day so far!

In the evening, we hosted an Easter dinner at our house. Elias got to play with Grandpa and Grandma Bartle, Uncle Scott and Auntie Kristy, Great Uncle Jim and Great Auntie Jeani, and Grandma Smith. This morning he enjoyed playing with the dump truck Grandma Smith brought for him.

Overall it was a wonderful Easter.

When I was a little girl, I would sometimes get sad because I would realize that when I became the Mommy, there would be no one to hide Easter eggs for me to find on Easter morning. It must have been my Mom’s best kept secret, though, that it is actually more fun to fill and hide the Easter eggs than to hunt for them.

Nathan and I just finished filling some plastic eggs with stickers, goldfish crackers, pom-poms, and yes, a few chocolates. Then we went around our living room “hiding” them. I was giddy with the anticipation of watching Elias find them. I am so excited to see his little pointer finger sticking out to show us what he sees. I can’t wait to watch his eyes sparkle with delight as he finds a treasure inside each one. I’m sure there will be pictures to post of Elias’ first Easter egg hunt soon!

Now that Elias is 18 months old, there are a lot more opportunities open to him for classes through the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District. (Of course it’s nothing compared to the three year olds…but that will come soon enough). I asked Nathan for some input on what to sign Elias up for this season. Nathan wanted Elias to take a tumbling class.  The closest thing I could find was a kindergym class. Today was our first one. Unfortunately, Elias is cutting his first canine tooth right now…so he was a tad bit grumpy. At the beginning of class, Elias seemed a bit concerned about the bouncyness of the mats and mostly just fussed if I didn’t hold him. I was a bit worried when he wouldn’t try anything….but then I found the ball pit in the back corner of the room. The kids were supposed to walk across a balance beam that was about waist high on an adult, then jump off of it into the ball pit. Elias wanted to play with the balls very badly. His first time across the balance beam was not very successful. He kept stepping off of it because he wanted me to hold him and because he wasn’t watching where he was going. I had to support all of his weight. But when we reached the end and he got to jump in the ball pit, he was a very happy camper. When his turn was over, he raced back around to the beginning and wanted to try again. By his fourth trip across the balance beam, Elias was able to walk across himself while just holding on to one of my fingers with each of his hands. We did that balance beam and ball pit about twenty times. Elias opened up a bit after that and had some fun…but I’m still looking forward to next week when he (hopefully) won’t be feeling teething pain anymore.

This evening Elias had an eventful evening as well. After going swimming and having a very fussy bath (again…due to teething) Elias got to see grandpa and grandma Bartle. They brought over his Easter basket early! Elias was very excited to see them. He got some new play-doh (perfect timing! ours is getting pretty dried out) a toy train, and some chocolate chips. When it was time for bed, Elias was sad to see them go. After we shut the door he kept saying “buh-bye” for a really long time, and he kept pulling on the door handle to try and go outside. We thought it would have warmed Grandpa and Grandma’s hearts if they could have seen it. After some tylenol and his bedtime routine, Elias is sleeping.

I recently joined the North Beaverton MOMS club. I had been wanting to join something like it, but didn’t know it existed until I read about it in the blog of a friend. I joined last month, and as part of the MOMS club, I also joined a play group. I want to have more interaction with other moms, but I also want Elias to have more playmates. Because I stay home with him, he doesn’t get the same kind of interaction with other kids as kids who go to daycare do. Plus it’s all just fun.

Today we had our first play group meeting. I think Elias had a lot of fun. The kids played well together/next to each other. Here’s to a fun future with our new play group!

One of the items on our Smith Family Spring Bucket List was to bake Easter cookies. I dug through my cookie cutters and picked out a few I thought went well with Easter. We decided to let Elias decorate the cookies. I knew it would be a messy adventure, but thought it was worth it to let him have the experience. He did love it! But there is only one word to describe the mess…sprinklemania. Elias actually used up every sprinkle we have…it’s probably a good thing. Most of those sprinkles were purchased near the beginning of our marriage…so almost six years! Here is the sprinklemania saga told in pictures:

Step One: Making the dough. Elias likes to watch the mixer spin.

My boys excited for cookies! I made the dough, and we are playing together while it chills:

Some of the cookies I rolled and cut. They are ready to go in the oven!

The beginning of sprinklemania!

More sprinkles! More sprinkles!

“Uh Oh! I think a few ended up on the floor, Mom.”

Finishing Touches

Taste testing the sweet goodness!

In recent months I have been slowly starting to be more concerned with our family’s emergency preparedness. So we have flashlights, a portable rechargeable radio, a first aid kit, a fire ladder, and a few other items. My next big things will be to stockpile 3 days of food and water (and diapers). We’re on our way to preparedness.

Last weekend at the Portland Water Walk I became aware of the potential need for emergency toilets. In a large earthquake, sewer and water service may be disrupted, leaving no recourse for nature’s call except, well, nature. However, a group called Phlush had an info booth at the walk with instructions to make the Christchurch Twin emergency toilet. It is so named because of the earthquake which struck Christchurch, New Zealand recently. So I decided to make my own.

The premise is simple:

• Two 5-gallon buckets, with lids
• One for pee (which can be emptied safely outdoors as-needed)
• One for poop (which can be layered with sawdust or coffee chaff after each use)
• A toilet seat

I have acquired the buckets, and got some coffee chaff for free at the walk, so all I need now is a toilet seat. Seats for 5-gallon buckets are for sale, but I’m trying to find one in the area before resorting to an online purchase and shipping fee. Let me know if you know where to find one locally. Otherwise I may consider adapting a cheap standard toilet seat to fit on a bucket. Fun stuff!

I wanted to take Elias for a fun activity today. We hadn’t been to the zoo in awhile so I thought we should go there…but the weather is miserable. We probably could have had the place to ourselves if we had gone, but we opted for an indoor option instead. I took Elias swimming! It was the first time he got to try out his new swimsuit and rash guard for this season, and even better, Grandma Smith got to come swimming too since it is spring break and she has the week off from work.

As we were getting ready in the changing room, Elias enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with me behind the curtain. He also made sure to parade himself a little. He got many “hellos”, smiles, and “how cutes” from some of the older ladies in there. After his mission to be noticed was accomplished, he wanted to go check out the showers, but I captured him just in time, and started changing him into his swim diaper and swim suit. Just then Grandma Smith showed up and he said, “hi,” in that cute voice of his. He then commented on Grandma’s “hat” (A swim cap).

Elias had lots of fun in the pool. There was a lot going on so there was a lot for him to take in (including a life guarding class!). He enjoyed the classic games such as motor boat, motor boat, and he loved watching us blow bubbles. We played with balls and noodles and rings. I dunked him once. He even did not protest while I floated him on his back! (Although he maintained a death grip on my hair…but that’s ok for now.)

All in all a very fun morning out.

Elias is lucky to be able to see two of his uncles quite often. Uncle Greg got home last night from Arizona. It’s his first trip home since he started his new job as a helicopter tour pilot at the Grand Canyon. When we arrived to hang out this morning, Elias looked a bit leery of Uncle Greg at first…(Uncle Greg had some spectacular morning hair and looked like he had woken up not long before we arrived.) But within a few seconds, Elias was excitedly pointing to the pictures of Uncle Greg on the wall showing that he recognized who he really was underneath the morning-ness.

Then commenced playtime. Elias was tossed and carried and bounced and blasted off like a rocket in fits of giggles…only stopping long enough to say and sign “more, more.” Poor Uncle Greg got tired…but maybe it will give Daddy a break for a few days.

Watching Elias with different members of our family is so much fun. It’s so wonderful to see how he interacts with everyone in a different but special way. Grandpa Bartle is the only one he plays the special ball-chase game with, and with Grandma Bartle he does the Wheels on the Bus book/song and the recycling (it sounds weird, I know…you just have to be there). With Grandma Smith he does puzzles and emphasizes drinking water. Each Uncle and Auntie has something special too. He finds something fun and different about each person.

Tonight he’ll get to see Uncle Scott and Auntie Kristy, so more fun will soon commence!

This morning Nathan and I were privileged to walk in the Portland Walk for Water. More on that another time, though. This post is about the great ant massacre, which happened later in the day. When we got home from the water walk, we put Elias down for a nap. After he woke up, I got an afternoon snack prepped for him, and got his water bottle out of the diaper bag. As we were sitting down to the table, I noticed an ant crawling on his water bottle.

At first I thought it was a little weird…and a little gross…but then I thought to myself…”Where there is one ant, there are usually more ants.”

So I went to check the diaper bag for more ants. There were tons of them! Of course in the couple hours since we had gotten home, they had spread out a little. Luckily, they hadn’t spread too far yet. Just in our entryway. We moved all the ant contaminated stuff to the bathroom, and I furiously started vacuuming ants (and I’ll admit a bit of dirt) around the entryway. There were probably at least 100 of them.

In cleaning out the diaper bag, I found one tiny piece of pretzel…maybe an eighth of a mini twist pretzel….in a side pocket. Elias hasn’t even eaten pretzels for months since his doctor told us they are choking hazards. One stinking tiny six month old piece of pretzel! How could that have caused so much trouble?

After a long ant massacre on my part (Nathan was trying to distract Elias…he was a bit disturbed by my slightly crazed behavior) we decided to take a break and head to the park for the last bit of warmth and daylight. Lots of fun ensued, but when we got home, there were still a steady trickle of ants coming from the diaper bag. Nathan is trying to convince me that this is not the end of the world…and I know it is not…but I’m just paranoid that they will find the kitchen.

I’ve only found a couple in the last hour or so…so hopefully we are nearing the end of this great ant massacre. Only time will tell.