I'm Better, You're Better, I'm Best

Smith: "Rosey is the cutest baby at our house. Laine is the silliest. I am the smartest. Dad is the muscley-est. And Mom. You're the....you're the cookiest."

Thank you Smith. For me, that's the ultimate.

Hill of Funness (& the Tar Pits)

Tar pits were great, but so was the hill!

She's Here!

Rosey Romney
August 3, 2009

Graydon and Jenni came down and stayed to play with the kids and meet the babe. Thanks guys!

(And this time, he did not seem to care that she was a girl and not Flash!)

July

While we waited for the baby to come....

Smith learned to swim, played with friends,

went to the car show at Lacy Park,

beached it up,

and we were tuckered out at the end of each day!

National Geographic

A few weeks ago, Smith got a new toy bow and arrow. For the next few days, he became an Indian. He did not wear a shirt, carried the bow everywhere, wore the quiver over his shoulder, and attached a sheath to his belt with a toy hunting knife. That week, we went to the library and found a few kids books about Indians. When I came home and thumbed through one of them, I saw some depictions of early Native American women that were a bit too realistic for a five-year-old. I showed Whitley the picture and said, "This book might have to go back. It's a bit too National Geographic for Smith."

Flash forward a few weeks later, when Poppie and Geeps were in town and Poppie was helping Smith get ready for bed. She picked up one of his new library Native American books to read to him. When she showed him which book it was, Smith asked, "Poppie, we can't read that book. It's, um....what's another word for naked?" Poppie, a little confused, began to come up with any synonym she could for the word naked: nude, bare, no clothes, nudies-tudies, scantily clad, etc., when Smith yelled, "Oh yeah! Geographic! We can't read that book it is just too geographic!"

Everything but Pie

Smith: "Hey Mom. We get to have lunch at Knotts Berry today."

Mom: "Yep. And you'll get to eat their biscuits with yummy jam and maybe some Boysenberry Cobbler for dessert."

Smith: "What? I don't want to eat Poison-berry anything! Maybe I should eat at home."

Summer at the Cabin

There's always fun to be had at the cabin. Smith braved the hill on his dirt bike,

rode horses,

was nice to his sister,

still might have a little crush on Aunt Jenni,

ate tons of S'mores (and C'ello's),

had his cousin Chase up for a sleepover and lots of exploring,

hiked with Geeps,

and his way prego Mom.
(Also played lots of Wii with Aunt Merrill and Uncle DUG).
Hopefully we'll get to go back soon!

Is That All?

While eating dinner at the cabin tonight:

Smith: "Mom. How come Dad decided to marry you?"

Mom: "Cause I'm the coolest?"

Smith: "No. It's because you like the color green."

Mom: (Speechless)

Smith: "And you married Dad because he likes red."

Of Course You Do

Smith: "Hey Mom. Could you play Indy on the Wii with me?"

Mom: "Uh, No. I don't know how."

Smith: "Yes you do. You said you played when you were little."

Mom: "Smith that was Mario Bros. Wii was not around when I was little."

Later on....

Mom: "Okay, time to say prayers."

Smith: "Mom. Were prayers invented when you were little?"

Mom: "Yeah."

Smith: "Oh. Stink. I wish they were invented after I was little."

Diarrhea of the Mouth?

It has been a long day of Smith. I LOVE the kid, but he literally has not stopped talking since he came home from school at noon. He has loads of ideas running through that little head of his and has let me know every single one. He talks while eating; going to the bathroom; playing with toys; playing a computer game; slipping down the slip and slide; sitting in time-out; riding his bike; looking at books, etc., etc., etc. He can say a prayer and hold a separate conversation ALL AT THE SAME TIME! As I'm trying to write this post he asks me, in one breath:

"Mom. Hey Mom! What speaks louder than actions? Do you know? Well, I do. Fire engines. Really loud ones. You could hear them all the way to Belgium. Hey, then Oma and Apa could hear them too! See, louder than actions. Mom. My eyes don't hurt anymore. I'm almost done with my chicken. . . ."

Sometimes this quality is quite endearing and can fill a dull day with a million fun things to do and talk about and imagine. For some reason, today is not one of those, but we'll keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Juice anyone?

Smith: Hey Dad, can I have a drink of juice out of the cup that has that white thingy in it?

Me: What white thingy?

Smith: The white thing that stops you from drinking those things that look like nose hairs?

Me: What???

Smith: You know, when you drink orange juice, there are all those nose hairs in it? This cup stops you from drinking the nose hair things.

Me: Are you talking about pulp?

Smith: Yeah, I don't like the pulp, so I like to use the cup that blocks the pulp.

No wonder he doesn't like pulp. . . .

Say What?

(Smith and Mitchell)

Yesterday-

Smith: "Mom. My friend John is half Korean, right?"

Mom: "Yep."

Smith: "Well, I'm Spanish."

Mom: "Since when? I thought you were Caucasian....like, white?"

Smith: "Nope. I am not white. I am so Spanish."

Then today,

Smith: "Hey John. Are you Korean?"

John: "Yeah. It's the best. When food drops on the floor I can blow on it and eat it."

Smith: "Huh? Hey Mitchell, you're Spanish right?"

John: "No he's not! He's white! Duh!"

Smith: "Whatever. We're both Spanish."

Celebrity Look-alike?

Smith: "Hey Mom, when my friends come over tomorrow, we're going to play Kung Fu Panda. I'm going to be the Master (surprise, surprise), John can be Monkey, Mitchell can be the mean Tiger, and Dillon can be Crane. Oh yeah and Lainey can be Tigress. Who do you want to be?"

Mom: "I want to be the Old Turtle guy that knows everything."

Smith: "Um, Mom. How 'bout you can be Po. 'Cause he has a really big belly. Hey can you
bounce stuff off your belly too?"

Pink is for Boys Too, Right?

This shirt was Smith's pick this year, but he made sure to tell his Dad that it is okay for boys to wear pink too.

Easter Egg Hunt

Making bunny Easter bags

Smith and John

Tyler, Smith, Laine and Dillon

Since we had no idea where to go for an Easter egg hunt in our new area, Smith, our resident party animal, decided we should host one of our own. Now, we may end up doing one every year as long as I promise the Easter bunny will hide more eggs. (Noted....thank you Smith.)

What will we do without Johnnie?

"Mom! It is Summer!"

Every morning since we moved to California, Smith has asked "Is is summer yet?" We told Smith that his buddy Dane from Colorado was coming to visit California in the summertime, and as Smith never forgets ANYTHING, he has asked me on a daily basis if it is summertime yet. It was easy to forestall his excitement when the weather was cooler, but once it started to get warm, and it started to feel like it should be summer, Smith got antsy.

So, when Dane appeared on our doorstep last week, he turned to me with a puckish look and said, "Mom! It is Summer!"

Smith had a blast with Dane (and Dalton) while he was here. They played and had a sleepover and now we miss them all over again.

O'Doyle Rules!

Many of you can attest to Smith's competitiveness . . . no one is immune to Smith's ability to one-up you (child and adult alike). Smith's buddy Dillon was an easy target early this morning on the way to a birthday party. The two boys sat in the back of the car deep in conversation about important issues like birthday presents and Star Wars figures when I heard Dillon say something about the time his Mom and Dad met. I perked up my supersonic listening ears only to hear Smith's reply,

"Well, when MY Dad met MY Mom, my Dad had a lot of hair. Yeah. He had sooo much of it."

Baby Flash at Last?

Smith: "Ummm. Doctor? How do you know if it's a girl for sure?"

Doctor: "Well, I'll show you."

The doctor found the correct position on the ultra-sound again and showed Smith what was 'missing' on the baby. Proof or not, Smith was still unconvinced. On the drive home, he kept trying to come up with meanings as to why the doctor's diagnosis was way wrong. Poor guy. His dreams of having 'Flash' as a little brother have been shattered once again.

He's Hooked

Since we've been home, Smith has not stopped singing the songs from Hook; -"I'll never grow up, never grow up...." have been sung over and over and over again. He loved seeing 'little' Adam in his play, and I was so proud of Adam. You did such a great job!


And, unlike his sister Laine, he LOVED the snowmobile and sledding behind it. Unfortunately, by the time I got Lainey out there, he was frozen and ready to head in to warm up by the fire.