The Smith Family Adventures

This weekend was my Dad’s birthday. We chose to celebrate by packing up the whole Bartle/Smith clan and heading over to Sunriver for the long weekend. With everyone living in one house, it was cozy and fun. A bit of snow provided some extra fun for Elias…but mostly he just loved being able to interact with everyone all the time. He mostly went back and forth between Grandpa and Grandma. Occasionally he wanted to play with Uncle Greg, Uncle Scott, or Auntie Kristy. Don’t worry…he’d come to Nathan or I as well…if he needed a diaper change….just kidding. It was nice to have so many extra hands, though. I normally don’t get to have so much relaxation!

Anyway, Friday morning Elias and I rode down with my parents and Uncle Greg. Nathan had to stay and work. When we got there, the driveway was packed with snow! So we unpacked, and headed out to play/shovel.

Elias helping Grandpa shovel the driveway.

Grandma and Elias playing in the snow.

Elias loved walking around and sledding, but he did sit in the snow a few times.

Elias loved being pulled on the sled. He kept asking for more and more. Once his cheeks got so pink, though, we took him inside.

Kristy and Scott arrived Friday evening. Then on Saturday, we did a lot more playing! We walked to the park, and played around the house some more. We had to shovel enough driveway for two cars to fit! We celebrated my Dad’s birthday with a steak dinner. Then, Nathan finally arrived safely around 7 pm. He had gone to a reunion reception for Multnomah.

Shoveling was a whole family effort.

Uncle Scott pulls Elias on the sled.

Uncles Scott and Greg prove that you are never too old for the tire swing.

Elias loved playing on the slide.

Elias also loved sitting on the big merry-go-round with Uncle Greg.

Sunday was Grandpa’s actual birthday. We played in the snow a bit more, and went to look around the village mall. Kristy and Scott had to head home, but the rest of us had Monday off! There’s nothing quite like a relaxing weekend with family. It’s so fun to watch Elias interacting with his grandparents and uncles/aunties.

Elias' footprints were so cute. They were so small and close together. You can see most of Nathan's bootprint in the upper left corner for a comparison.

Here is a family shot.

On a sled run with Grandpa. You can't really tell from the picture, but they were moving while I snapped the shot!

We had quite a full weekend here in the Smith household! On Saturday morning, Grandma Smith came over to play with Elias while Nathan and I went to volunteer at the Oregon Food Bank. I had put this on our winter bucket list because I felt like it was something I should do. I was curious about how the food bank worked, and thought helping out would be good especially around the holidays. Well…I procrastinated a bit on signing up for a volunteer shift, but we had until March 1st to complete our bucket list so I think I still did fine. I asked Nathan if he wanted to join me, and he said “yes” so we headed off to begin.

Working at the food bank held some surprises, some joy, and some sadness. We ended up working in the perishable repack room. It was 50 degrees in there…but they had warned us so I had a warm coat…it was my hands that got frozen! We (along with all of the other volunteers) repackaged 7980 pounds of frozen green beans. That’s a lot of beans! It felt good to be helping out, but sad that there is so much need. We found out that Oregon is in the top three states for hunger in the country. I knew there was hunger…but in the top three? What is wrong with our society?

Anyway, when we came home, Grandma Smith took us out for a yummy lunch. Elias enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich. He had stopped eating those…but we figured that he ate the one at Applebee’s because it was cut into two large triangle wedges instead of small strips as we were doing. What do you know…when we tried it at home he eats it again! Who knew that the shape of the sandwich mattered? I guess with picky eaters it could be anything.

Saturday evening was spent in some lovely company! A couple from our church, Hilary and Chuck, came over for dinner. We had fun chatting. Elias eventually warmed up to Chuck enough to climb on his lap! But we figured his uncles haven’t roughed him up enough because when Chuck held him suspended upside down, Elias got a bit upset. Don’t worry…he warmed back up when Chuck played plah-doh with him. Hilary and I got to bake some cookies.

Sunday morning was also busy because I was the lead teacher for Sunday School, and we were in charge of the coffee hour after the service. Both went well. And even better news….Elias is slowly but surely becoming accustomed to the nursery. He barely even cried when Nathan dropped him off…He seems to be warming up to the nursery attendants (two very nice young women) and he is developing an attachment to the nursery toys. That always helps.

Sunday afternoon and evening, Elias got to spend some time with Grandpa and Grandma Bartle and Uncle Greg. Nathan and I got to go on a special Valentine’s date. We went to see a movie, and then out to a quiet dinner where there was no mess or squirmy toddlers to worry about.

We had a lot of fun this weekend, but realized that we spent a lot of time away from our son. Sometimes it’s good to get some personal time…but I think the next chance we get we’ll do something special with just the three of us.

Elias trying to figure out the jingle bells

Elias is feeling better today. Yay! He is still not tip top shape. In fact, he is sleep-coughing right now during his nap. 🙁 But at least I have seen lots of smiles so far today, and he is not crying most of the day like yesterday.

This morning Elias got out his shakers and jingle bells. I started singing some nursery rhymes, Bible songs, and other kid favorites such as “Old MacDonald” He shook his shakers and the jingle bells as I sang. We had our own little jam session. Every time I stopped singing, he’d tell me, “more, more.” Of course, when I went to get the camera he stopped shaking the instruments…oh well. It was a precious memory.

Elias has a fever. 102.4….well it was 102.4 before the Tylenol. I don’t know what happened. He felt a little warm last night and this morning, but I thought it was a mild teething fever since he is cutting two molars on top, and the bottoms are starting to swell. But when I picked him up from nap time, he was just like a little heater. There were no other symptoms at all. The poor little guy just stared at me with his glassy eyes. He did perk up after a little water and crackers, but was still very obviously sick…and he went to bed an hour earlier than normal. We are praying he gets healthy soon. We’ll see how tonight goes…I may be up a lot.

Elias was starting to resist brushing his teeth, so I decided to see if I could get him interested again by letting him brush mine. Well…it worked. He thought it was fun for about two seconds…then he wanted to use my toothbrush in his own mouth. While that would not be the most horrible thing in the world…I’d really like to just keep separate toothbrushes. So what to do? I started brushing my teeth at the same time he did. He loves it! He imitates my movements, and rinses at the same time I do. Sometimes he doesn’t even want to stop! Yesterday evening, I asked Nathan if he wanted to brush his teeth too. Here we are having some fun.