Mud, Fish, Spring?

As I write this post it is snowing. What a crazy state that we all live in. I love the snow, but I admit I am ready for some warm weather and Spring. Here and there you can see hints of Spring just waiting to pop out: the mud that appears in my driveway; the beginning of fishing season tomorrow; daffodils in the store; and even the beginning of seedlings. Yet in all of this preparation for Spring we still have at least 3 feet of snow on the ground. As you anxiously await the season feel free to help it along with a few of my tips (I admit some are stolen from things my mom actually made us do as kids)

1. To help those huge plowed snow piles disappear get out a rake and some shovels and start spreading it around.

2. If you own one, use your blowdryer on all those areas of your yard the sun never seems to reach.

3. Use your portable space heater outside, or better yet crank your woodstove and open all of your windows and doors.

4. get out a shovel and dig the snow off of your flower beds and bushes to help the plants warm up earlier.

5. Finally, crank your speakers while playing Vivaldi's Spring portion of the Four Seasons, make sure the entire neighborhood can hear you.

Please feel free to use these suggestions anytime you would like. I have not protected them under law, but speaking of law if you get arrested while trying any of these, do NOT come running to me.
Enjoy your mud season everyone and feel free to add your own suggestions to my list.

Fish casting lessons off of the deck. By the time the ice melts and they actually go fishing Elijah will be a pro.

Like a Deer...

Amanda has tagged me, and I cannot tell you how much I feel like a deer.

I have come to the conclusion that this is something that someone created to make some people's blogs interesting. They were probably thinking of people like me when they made up this game. Anyway, here are the rules, and then I will list my 7 facts.

*Link to the person that tagged you.
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
*Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
*Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

1. As a child my family lived in a conversion van and traveled across the country for a long summer
2. I have been to Winter Carnival in Quebec
3. I got married during Spring Break in College
4. I designed and contracted out the building of my own home
5. I have given birth on my kitchen floor
6. I have had a job where I tagged deer
7. I have canoed parts of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway... twice.

So there you have it. 7 facts that most of you already know about me. Here are the only people that I know on Blogspot...
Alison
Christina


On a side note; Here is a picture of the drawing that Tyler and Elijah made to announce the new baby to the grandparents. We mailed each of them a copy.

(Don't laugh at Tyler's artistic ability)

Elijah's Announcement

You may want to watch this a couple of times, since Elijah is too cute. It really isn't much of a surprise to anyone who knows us.

Happy 1st Birthday Andrew!

Andrew's birthday seems to sneak right up on us. As you know we just celebrated Eli's birthday on Tuesday, and just four days later we have another celebration for Andrew's birthday. The difference, of course, being that Andrew is turning 1 this year and not 4. As a result we had a huge birthday bash for the youngest Smith boy, and he loved it. All in all we had about 30 people at our celebration that lasted 3 hours. Between cake eating, present opening, and lots of great fruit and pasta; I would say the party could not have gone better.

Andrew getting ready to blow out his first birthday candle ever!

Like most 1 year olds, Andrew doesn't quite understand unwrapping gifts. But he loves all of the great toys, and the people watching him.

My mom and dad got Andrew and Elijah a wagon as a joint birthday gift. Every person under the age of 6 loved this gift. Well, Alison actually rode in it too, so I guess that means everyone at the party loved this gift. Now we really can't wait for Spring so we can take the new wagon out for a ride.

Happy Birthday Elijah!

On 18 March 2008 our oldest son Elijah turned 4. He is now an official preschooler. I don't really know what that means except that I should probably consider making his educational schedule more consistent and reliable. Other than that, life for Elijah is not much different from being three. He still has to put the silverware away, set the table, pick up his toys, and learn what being the big brother is all about. Little by little he seems to be grasping the idea that he is the oldest boy. His job is to watch, protect, and teach the younger boys about life in our home. I know that that is my job, but Elijah is learning it in a big brother sort of way; he is the protector of his siblings. That job will never change for him, because he will always be the oldest. Right now he seems so old to me I cannot imagine him being any older than what he is right now.

On Tuesday we had the grandparents over for dinner to celebrate Elijah being born. Here are some pictures of our fun night together opening gifts, eating tacos, and lots of chocolate cake!

Yummmm

Happy Birthday Elijah!

The Life of a Stay-At-Home Mom

Life seems to get so frantic. You all know that life gets busy, it happens to you, and yes, it happens to me. Most people's first reaction when they see or hear that I have three boys is that I must be busy. But I know that they aren't referring to a busy that seems productive, you know, where you go to work for eight hours and at the end of the day you feel as though you have accomplished something. No, the image that I get when someone says that I must be busy is the image of a chicken with its head cut off. It just kind of sputters around aimlessly until it looses its steam and then lays down and gives up. Most days I admit, I am exhausted, am in need of some alone time, and feel like I accomplished nothing. The only thoughts I have are of how I messed up that day, or how I am going to mess up the evening. Last week or it may have been the week before I heard a woman say that a stay at home mom's job can be described in one word: wipe. I wipe counters, floors, faces, and bottoms. Only in my case I have to wipe Josiah's hair, arms, and belly after he eats too. Heck sometimes I have to give that kid a bath after a meal.

The feeling of having accomplished something comes seldom in a mom's life. You may think that I will get that feeling when my kids start to walk, read, or give their life to Jesus. Yes, you are right, but if you did the math to see how many days contain a breakthrough in their education or development and those days that we are trying to get the breakthrough, you would find the latter far outweighs the former. Andrew will be 1 this week, he still doesn't like standing up while holding onto the couch. He would rather hitch around the room than learn to walk. Josiah, though, doesn't call everything yellow, now it is either yellow or blue. Elijah can sort of write his name, but getting him to do it is a chore. So yes, I have a long way to go, and yes, we are all busy here at the Smith's.

As for today, I skipped schooltime because we went to Heritage Manor to visit people, and they watched a 30 minute Veggietale after lunch instead of going outside, because I wasn't up to putting them in snow pants for 15 minutes of fun; and I lost my temper with Josiah 3 times because he has decided his answer to everything is "I don't want to". So I pray that the Lord would have mercy on me, and that my children will not hold my shortcomings against me. As for goals and accomplishments... I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the faith. So I will persevere, and work my hardest as a mom so that they will desire to do the Lord's will.

The next time you see a mother with little children, and comment that she must be busy. Don't think of the headless chicken, but rather of a soldier on a long march. This soldier is persevering, because she knows that in the end there will be victory and all that monotonous activity to get there is well worth it.

How about you? Are you doing the Lord's will with your time? Are you wasting 4 hours a day watching TV and not reading your bible? This Easter consider what you should be doing to surrender your life into the King's hand.

Snowtime Fun with Friends

I love the snow in Winter. That is, as long as the date is pre-March 21st I am happy if we have snow. Of course, I am also of the mindset that as soon as the first day of Spring comes the snow should be melting and be gone in no more than 2 weeks. Anyway, we have had a lot of fun in the snow this year, so much so, that I am reminded of the snow that we used to play in when I was a kid...

This past Saturday, during the snowstorm that dropped over a foot of snow on us, we went down the road with our friend John Stuart to hike Curtis Homestead. Curtis Homestead is a fun place to go because it is similar to our woods only the trails are wider and we don't know Curtis as well. It was snowing hard and anyone who might have seen us probably thought that we were crazy to go snowshoeing with three small boys, but we were all dressed appropriately, and the kids loved it.

During February break we went sliding down the cross hill with my friend Heather Finn and her two children Alyssa, and Alexis. We were having a great time until the girls went down and crashed at the bottom of the hill. By the time that we left the girls decided they didn't like sliding, Josiah decided he would rather walk than slide, Elijah decided that he loved sliding, and Heather and I decided that we couldn't stop laughing over the sight of the girls rolling over in a high speed snow crash. Just for the record, the girls are fine, it wasn't that bad of a wipeout, they are just young.

Heather and Alexis on top of the hill.

Alyssa going down the hill all by herself (this was before the crash)

I know that at this very moment it doesn't seem like the snow will ever go away, but deep in your heart you know that it will and you will miss it. I think that it has been a wonderful Winter, and I am thankful to God for giving us a "yes" answer to our prayers for snow this year. I pray that you are thankful as well...