The Smith Family Adventures

You know those adorable yet slightly odd things your kids do? The ones that make you chuckle both at the cuteness and the weirdness at the same time? A lot of times those moments just pass by in the midst of life happening. Sometimes I remember them long enough to tell Nathan when he gets home from work. A few even stay with me long enough to get told to grandparents or friends in the days following.

Sometimes, though, I write them down just because I want to remember what life was like in the every day.

So…here are some cute yet slightly odd things my kids have done today (Christmas Day of all days!)

1. We spent all day at my parents’ house, but when we got home, the boys were overjoyed to see our kitties. Simon chased Hermione around the house with chap stick, and attempted to put it on her. Finally, she wizened up and jumped over the gate at the top of the stairs to reach safety. Simon got many many giggles from the “try to chap stick the cat” game.

2. Elias likes to tell stories. He patterns the stories he tells after ones that we read all the time. Today, he told me the story he made up called “Curious George Goes Shopping” Unfortunately, when he doesn’t know what to say, he ends up filling the space with unintelligible babble so it can sometimes be hard to follow the story. Tonight’s story went something like this:

Curious George was a good little monkey. But he was always very curious. Today he went shopping. “We need apples and strawberries and spinach and lettuce and grapes and bananas and oranges and kiwi and broccoli” said the man with the yellow hat. (A few unintelligible sentences). George picked up the fruits. “This is fun” said George. (A lot of unintelligible sentences). It was a fun day for George and the man with the yellow hat.

Merry Christmas (Eve)! My little “angels” got to participate in our Christmas pageant at church today. They both did well at the rehearsal yesterday, so I was optimistic about their performance for today. This isn’t a broadway level performance or anything, but I had high hopes that neither of my children would cry or cause a scene. Both of the boys had a lot of fun and did well. Elias sang and did the motions, and Simon sort of just followed Elias onto the stage and stood there staring. The videos are adorable, but I’m not sure about posting them on the blog because other people’s children are in them alongside mine. Pictures will have to suffice. Unfortunately, because I was filming during the pageant, I didn’t get pictures, but I did get some cute ones before and after.

Here you go:

Elias was very excited about his new handsome Christmas outfit. He posed in front of the tree before we left for church:

When we got there, the boys got into costume.

Simon did not want his picture taken. I’ve had to wake him up from naps two days in a row, and he hasn’t been a happy camper about it.

After the pageant and service, we posed for some family pictures on the altar as we do every year. This is the first year that I actually felt they turned out well.

Simon finally posed a bit at the end. Every Sunday at church, Simon tries to run up the center aisle to the altar. Nathan or I always has to chase after him so as not to disrupt the service too much. I’ll admit it would be very cute…if it were someone else’s child. Simon’s newest game even got mentioned in the sermon last week….in a positive light at least! Anyway, I guess this little guy is just happy he has finally got to be up there in the last couple of days!

I’ve been a little bit lazy on the craft front in the last few months. I’ve been super tired, and haven’t made it a priority, and as a result, the extent of my sons’ art experience has been pretty dull. Like…here is a box of broken crayons and a blank sheet of paper dull….

I knew I had to do something about this, so I planned a craft day for my moms club. I knew if I was threatened with a lot of kiddos coming over I would plan some pretty cool crafts. And that I did! We made sticker resist starry night cards, which my boys have already given away to many lucky recipients, bird seed ornaments, and sparkly snowflakes to decorate our home. The boys really had a great time.

As it turned out, very few people came to our craft day. Whether it was sicknesses going around, busy schedules around the holidays, or something else, it was a very quiet day at our house. The few who did come seemed to enjoy themselves, and my kids loved it so it was worth all the hard work anyway.

Here they are making some sparkly snowflakes:

Elias really had a blast making the bird seed ornaments. In fact, we made them three times in the last three days! We’ve had many birds enjoying them already in both our front and back yards. Here are a couple of them hanging from the trees:

I feel sad that it took the threat of other people coming over for me to get creative with my own kids. But hey…something is better than nothing. Maybe this will inspire me to be more creative in the coming weeks.

You’d think that growing up with two brothers and no sisters, nothing would surprise me when it comes to living with boys. Sometimes my two sons still surprise me, though. At lunch the other day, Elias, Simon and I were sitting peacefully at the table eating and talking about what happened at preschool. Maybe it was the fact that Simon doesn’t go to preschool and wanted to turn attention back to him. But I sort of guess that he was just being a little boy.

Our peace was interrupted all of a sudden by Simon yelling “dah!!!!” at the top of his lungs. His yell was so loud it echoed throughout the whole house. I think it was so loud it even surprised him. Once he realized the awesome power of what he had done, he yelled “dah!!!! dah!!!!!” as loud as he could again and again, and giggled after each one.

After I had recovered from my surprise, I asked Simon what in the world he was doing.

“I be loud, Mommy,” he responded.

Then he continued to alternately yell “dah,” giggle, and say “I be loud, Mommy.” Sometimes you just don’t ask….you just accept what life is like with boys.

Being one of the pickiest eaters I know growing up, I feel I don’t have much room to complain when it comes to my children being picky eaters. I certainly put my parents through the wringer. But I feel like I came out ok. While I’m not a super adventurous eater these days, I’ve expanded my horizons quite a bit in the last decade.

Elias’ picky eating takes the cake though. I had nothing on him even in my pickiest days. I’ve considered taking him to a specialist. The poor kid really has issues with food. Today, for example, he gagged and nearly barfed while trying to eat a quesadilla. And this was something he was willingly eating!

Simon has been a breeze comparatively. It’s fun, too, because he actually eats cookies and brownies and other such treats. I don’t give the boys treats very often, but it is fun to do so every once in a while. The only treat I can give Elias is M&M’s or plain old milk chocolate. Simon eats a lot of foods (not just sweets). It’s amazing how different two kids can be even when they are brothers.

This evening I was reminded that even Simon has picky times. He’s just a kid after all (and a toddler at that!) Here was our conversation shortly before dinner:

Me: Simon, do you want Italian Beef Stew or a quessadilla for dinner?

Simon: Pee-pah pee Mommy (Pizza please Mommy)

Me: I don’t have any pizza. You can choose Italian Beef Stew or a quessadilla.

Simon: Pee, Pee, Pee-pah (Please, please, pizza)

Me: No pizza. Pizza another night. I’ll give you Italian beef stew and cornbread!

Simon: Pee-pah pee Mommy pee-pah (Pizza please Mommy pizza)

I guess I can’t  blame him. Who doesn’t like pizza? He wouldn’t eat any of my Italian beef stew, but he did eat a lot of cornbread.