The Smith Family Adventures

Last week we had our second family night. We’ve decided to try two a month because that is a realistic goal and it is often enough that it will feel like a memorable tradition for the boys. During dinner, I asked Elias what he wanted to do for family night. At first, he said that we do the jenga dominoes for family night. (That is what we did the first time). I thought it was funny that he thought we had to do jenga every time, but didn’t argue. A few minutes later, though, Elias declared that he wanted to do an Easter egg hunt. After recovering from a bit of a surprise (we haven’t gotten out Easter eggs for months) I told him it sounded like a fun idea.

We got down the basket of Easter eggs, we hid them, we found them, and we opened them all up, using our imaginations to tell each other what was inside. The boys had a blast…so we did it all over again…and again.

I would have never guessed that our family night would be spent doing an Easter egg hunt. And if you had told me that is what we would do I probably would not have looked forward to it to be honest. But in the midst of it, it was fun because we were together, and that is what matters.

Yesterday as I was putting some clothes away in my closet, Elias came to join me. He noticed Daddy’s ties all hanging neatly, and asked if he could wear one. I tried to convince him to wait because he could wear one to church today. He wasn’t satisfied with that, though, and I ended up getting him a tie to wear.

When we had the tie on, he stated that he would like to wear it with his astronaut costume. I thought it was a pretty interesting idea so I helped him get on his astronaut costume. Of course by this time, Simon wanted in on the fun. He tried on about six different hats before settling on one.

They paraded downstairs to show Daddy their costumes. What fun!

Elias has a marble track set that he received as a gift a little over a year ago. Ever since he got it, he has loved sending the marbles down the tracks. However, either Nathan or I had to build it for him. Elias would try to assemble his own tracks, but did not understand how to connect the pieces so that the marble would have one continuous track. I watched many of his friends have the same problem when they played together.

Recently, though, Elias is really making a big jump in this area. He plays with his marble track almost every day during quiet time. He builds a track, sends the marbles down a couple of times, and then disassembles it to build a new one. Maybe practice makes perfect or perhaps he’s just made a developmental leap. Elias is getting really good at creating marble tracks.

Check this one out from this afternoon:

It’s complex and creative, and it works – 100%! He was very proud and wanted to show me how it worked. Here he is putting some marbles down the track. I think he is looking at me like: “Mom! Are you still taking pictures?”

I’ve been wanting a smoothie maker, and for Christmas, my mom provided. I’ve been enjoying delicious smoothies made from real fruits a couple of times a week since then.

On a related note, (you’ll see how it relates soon, I promise!), Elias has really gotten into Curious George lately. He draws pictures of monkeys and distributes them to friends and family christened with special messages. He got a Curious George movie in his stocking, and has been enjoying a few episodes here and there. One of his favorites is an episode where George and the man with the yellow hat get a juicer. George proceeds to experiment with the juicer and tries to replicate a juice he had tasted at a farmers market.

Out of the blue yesterday, Elias asked me if we had a juicer. I replied….”sort of…yes,” thinking of my smoothie maker. It took me a few seconds to connect the fact that he probably wanted to do what George had done in the movie. Today he asked me if he could make some juice. I told him he could after Simon’s nap. As soon as we got in the door from preschool he went to the fridge and started unloading fruits. I still made him wait until after Simon’s nap, but he was very excited.

Elias picked out all of the fruits for his “juice.” He tried to put a whole apple in, but I told him we needed to peel and cut it up a bit. Then he chose strawberries, banana, blueberries and raspberries from our fridge.

Next he covered his ears as we mixed it all up. He kept saying he wanted to drink it. I was hopeful but never really expected him to go through with it. Elias is a very unadventurous eater, and refuses every beverage except water. It’s not such a bad thing because he doesn’t drink sugary juices or sodas or hot chocolate. But in this case, I would have liked him to try it.

In the end, Elias did not try the smoothie “juice.” It was very tasty though. I may have to let him make me smoothies more often! You can see in the picture that he is nervous. I think he thought I would force him to try it.

Elias has recently developed an interest in writing letters to our sponsored children. Annibel is one of the kids we sponsor. We’ve been talking about her more often because she is the newest. Elias asked me if I could write down his words. He drew her a picture, and then asked me to write her this message:

To Annibel From Elias. I am four. I want to meet you. Thank you for meeting me in the Lord.

I’m not exactly sure what he meant, but I am proud that he is developing an interest in children around the world.

Since yesterday was Epiphany, we had a mini celebration. We don’t do a lot for the twelve days of Christmas or epiphany in our house, but I want our boys to know and understand what they are and mean. We talked a lot about the wise men throughout the day, and about giving. I also presented the boys with a gift.

My friend is an Usbourne representative, and I had ordered a couple of things from her. I got Elias a North American Atlas puzzle book, and Simon a set of construction mini books. They were instant hits.

I am part of a Bunco group that meets on the first Wednesday of each month so today was the day. We usually all bring something to eat or drink with us, and today I decided to make some biscuits. The boys, of course, wanted to help.

You’d think with three people instead of one things would go a lot faster. I guess it depends on the people. Baking the biscuits took about three times longer than if I did it myself, but the boys had fun and felt like they were doing something meaningful so it was worth it.