Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I have only two words for you.

CLOSING. TOMORROW.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Leaving Pauls Valley was such a hard thing to do. We secretly hope that everyone we know and love there will find a reason to move to Shawnee.

Exhibit A: Brandi, who is graduating from ECU with a nursing degree in less than two weeks, was in Shawnee for a 2nd interview at the Unity Health Center ER this evening. She stopped by to see us after the interview.

We're totally excited about the possibility of her getting a job and moving here to be with us.

Miles is especially excited.

He thinks Brandi is major fun.

He was actually saying "cheese" when I took this.

I don't think I taught him that.

Pretty sure it was Elmo.

Monday, April 27, 2009

We had hoped to close on our house today.

We didn't. We're now hoping for Wednesday.

The baby is due Sunday.

This could be a big week.

****

I watched Britton put together Miles' Kawasaki 4-wheeler the other night. It reminded me of this...

This is the baby swing he put together before Miles was born. I wasn't much help. Looks complicated.

Though the 4-wheeler was not quite as complicated, he's getting much better at contraption assembly.

He's got some better help these days too.

Stay tuned for video of the first Kawasaki ride. That is if I can get my hubby to remember to bring a fire wire cable home from the office so that I can get the footage off the camera. (Don't forget honey!)

Sunday, April 26, 2009

So, Mike Morgan, Gary England and all the other Oklahoma weather guys agree....

It could be an interesting night.

Just go ahead and forget about watching Celebrity Apprentice, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition, The Amazing Race or whatever it is you watch.

But I have to admit, I don't really care about the television programming. I'm nervous about having to take shelter.

My husband and folks-in-law have already got out a gag, rope, and handcuffs, swearing they're going to make me go in the cellar if necessary.

This photo was taken by my lovely husband, shortly after the argument we had in the yard about the whole thing.

(PS - Doesn't my hair look lovely? It's the pre-tornado wind... Oh, and I'm looking a little pasty too... And pregnant. Who let him take a picture of me anyway? And why did I think it was a good idea to put it on my blog?)

Who honestly thinks a claustrophobic, 39 week pregnant woman - who can hardly breathe as it is - should be forced into a cellar with a 2 year old, 3 grown adults and a border collie?

I'm not going to do it.

I'll take my chances with the tornado.

It's going to have to be an F5 (that's tornado speak for BIG) to move my huge, gigantic, pregnant body anyway.

Helen Hunt wasn't scared of any tornado in the awesomely accurate and completely realistic depiction of Oklahoma weather in the 1996 film "Twister".


I'm also reminded of a rather hilarious SNL skit from years ago where Tim Meadows was a smack talkin' weatherman. In the skit he says something like "if a tornado comes after me, I just look up at it and say 'b#@&$, make me a sandwich!'". (I looked everywhere for it...couldn't be found. Does anyone else remember it?)

And well, I'm not scared either....




Maybe I am a little scared.

But just a little.

OK.

I'll go.

But only if this is across the pasture from me.

And, can I get a bottle of wine please?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

So, as you probably know by now, Miles turned 2 last Thursday. Britton turns 30 today. And over the weekend we had a double birthday party at the train depot in Pauls Valley. Britton was surprised by his party... He only expected a few people for Miles. In addition to those folks, most of his old youth group was able to be there to harass him for being old. It was a good day.

When planning Miles' birthday party over the last couple of weeks, I met some opposition when deciding whether or not to purchase engineer hats. I figured, what's a party without party favors? And what's a "traaaaaaaaaaaain" party without train engineer hats?

OPPOSED: Britton.
REASON: Because I waited a bit too late, I was going to have to pay double to ship them from Orientaltrading.com.

I understood where he was coming from. I'm a tight-wad too.

But, I'm also smart and thrifty. And maybe a bit hard-headed. I don't know if that played into this story, but it could be important for you to know in the future.

So I Googled "Oriental Trading coupon". And believe it or not, I found a coupon code that made the additional shipping a wash.

WINNER: Faith.
REASON: Because I'm awesome.

I think the extra effort and cash spent on the hats was most definitely worth it...

Don't you?

Monday, April 20, 2009

I know of one little boy who had an awesome birthday party on Sunday afternoon.

Actually, two little boys.

Well, maybe he's not so little anymore.

But they're both cute. At least I think so...

And, I know of a momma who is absolutely, positively, still worn out from all of it. So, more birthday blogs later.

Nighty Nite!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Had a full and exciting day with a 2 year old birthday boy. I am seriously BEAT.

After playing all morning, we had lunch in Seminole with Aunt Rachel at Lunch & Such. I put Miles in the car at 12:00pm. By 12:08pm he was crashed out in the backseat and I had to drive around forever so he'd at least get a bit of a nap today.

PS - That's the finished train pillow.

So I found myself looking for flowers to photograph while he slept. 'Bout the only colorful things I could find were these Indian Paintbrushes (well, without going into people's yards... that might have freaked them out).

Wish you could have seen me laying on my side in the ditch to get this pic. All my favorite photographers suggest new and different angles when photographing landscapes and flowers. Well, they're obviously not 37.8 weeks pregnant. I'll do "new and different angles" just as soon as possible people.

Back to the events of the day...

Lemonade and a "traaaaaaaain hat".

Strawberry cheesecake sno-cone.

Lots of fun at the park after dad got off work...

What kind of mother puts white pants on a little boy she's taking to the park? Go figure.

Oh, and by the way. My husband arranged for Lindsi to stop by the park on her way to Edmond and give me a killer back massage. I was in heaven. She's the best. Really.

My heroes.

While I was getting the back rub of a lifetime, Britton played hard with Miles.

I'm normally right in the big fat middle of caring for my son. Even when his daddy is around. 'Cause, well, mommies just do things differently than daddies. (better/safer/better).

Does anyone else see what is about to go wrong in this picture?

(click on pic to enlarge. did you know you could do that mom?)

It happened a couple of times. As you can tell, all I did about it was pick up my mega zoom lens and capture it from across the park. I was getting that back rub, you see. Later, I'll use these photographs to make a PowerPoint presentation for Britton on the do's and don'ts of safely playing with children the way that their mother would.

Notice anything about this one?

How about the fact that my son has just been launched off the teeter totter and my husband is cracking up laughing.

"2-year olds are tough, mom. We just dust off and get back on."

Disclaimer: I have read Wild at Heart by John Eldredge, appreciated it very much, and know that getting beat in the head with a rocking dinosaur and being thrown off the teeter totter by his father are the very fierce, passionate and wild experiences necessary to grow Miles into the man God created him to be. Blah, blah, blah. John Eldredge also said I'd react like this. I'm his mother for pete's sake.

So my little boy is 2.

I won't lie. I cried. I just couldn't help it. It's the strangest sensation of pride and joy, yet sadness and longing. I just want to bust everyday at how cute and smart and big he's getting. I also know these days will be gone all too quickly. So I pray to take in and savor every single second of this cute little kid's life.

Happy Birthday Miles!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! We got up and had a quick breakfast and Easter basket time before heading down to Pauls Valley to worship at Cornerstone.

Miles had "Speed" themed goodies.

It just turned out that way. I dunno what happened. Cars has everything to do with Easter.

We had a nice lunch at the Molleur house in PV after the church service and then headed over to Britton's sisters for a quick visit. There, we found some Easter egg coloring going on...

So of course, Britton joined in. (And of course, I whipped out my camera...)

And so did Jon, the lead singer for Midnight to Twelve. The band was in OKC Saturday night to headline an event in Bricktown for 94.7 The Buzz. Jon hitched a ride to PV for church and hung out with us a bit.

As you can see, it got pretty serious.

What I like about the M212 guys is that they're so normal. Yes, their music is loud and rockin'. Yes, sometimes they have crazy hair. Yes, they wear a lot of black. But you should have seen some of the characters that were at their show Saturday night. Really freaky looking guys. You just wonder if they're capable of coloring Easter eggs with kids.

But Jon?

By night, he's an awesomely bad rock star & front man for M212...

By day....

...well, don't let this face of innocence fool you. The Easter egg coloring party ended with an Easter egg tossing/throwing/pelting incident in the front yard. Must be something they do in California... But I'm pretty sure the Okie kids had a ball.

Also, on a purely random note, I think it's classy to use a Christmas mug to color Easter eggs...

(Just teasing, Heather!)

Miles couldn't be bothered with Easter eggs for long. There are too many animals at the Smith house. Cats, chickens and...

"Doooooog!"

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Spent a day or so in Pauls Valley this week because of a doctors appointment. I came home (to my mom's) from my appointment and found this...

Mom and Miles were sewing a pillow made of cute little train fabric and a red bandanna.

Of course, Miles loved the sewing "track". And the fact that the sewing machine sounded like a train... at least to him.

And, as always, he had his trains close by for moral support.

For some reason, I didn't get a picture of the finished product. Guess I'll have to share that with you some other time.

Enjoy the sunshine!
F.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Money saving tip of the day: GARAGE SALE

I've spent maybe $30-$35 at a few garage sales this spring. And look at the clothes that are piling up for baby girl.

I did the same thing with Miles. We lucked into one particular garage sale (when he was about 4 months old) where I got like-new clothes for about $1 each. I spent $65 and he's still wearing the clothes I stocked up on. We've hardly had to buy anything full price. He's sported Converse, Nike, Merrell, Children's Place, and Gap among others during his two years on this planet... all for a mere fraction of actual retail price.

Many of the baby girl things still have price tags on them...

And this pair of brand new Nike sandals have never been taken out of the box...

$4.00

They'll fit Miles this summer.

I would have easily spent $35 on 2 or 3 items at the mall.



This is the face of a daddy who is overwhelmed by the pink. I made him lay on the bed while I showed him every single purchase.

Maybe he's overwhelmed at how truly, outrageously awesome his wife is for embracing this opportunity to save him money. All while getting the need to shop out of her system.

Oh, and one more thing.

This is what happens when you forget to put the pile of clothes up before Miles finds them.....