When hubby walks by a heavy piece of tubular steel rack, accidentally knocking it towards you, don't try to catch it by letting it bounce off your knee...
Or letting it fall on your toe.
(I know it doesn't really look all that bad, but it has been nearly 2 weeks, and I still can't bend it all the way :p )
I am sure it has nothing to do with hubby's masculinity. Or how we are raising him. Or what his preferences will be when he grows up. However, and I am going to admit this on the Internet (which means everyone will know), I'm just gonna say it.... Please note the ring around his toe. That is all :)
Yes, mother dearest. Is there something the matter with my costume, as such?
Nah! Nothing could be wrong when those dimples comes out to play!
He looks like some kind of exotic Indian shaman... Thankfully, the earrings are over his ears, not through them. Like some exotic drool-y shaman... Don't pay any attention to the big wet spot on his shirt under his mouth. Yeah. That's it.... Noooooo attention.
He looks like he isn't even aware that he is wearing earrings that don't even go with his shirt! What is wrong with that kid?!?!
Its a good thing we have the beads as a constant. They really tie the whole look together.
What? Just sitting in a pile of beads and jewelry. Something wrong with that?
No dear. Nothing at all :)
Dear Blogosphere,
Oh how I have missed thee. It seems like forever (although, it actually has been almost 3 weeks) since we had to turn in the computer, then replace the hard drive (AGAIN) then reload everything (AGAIN). And yet, here thou art. Waiting. Right where I left thee. Hoping that my witty humor and cute children will come back to entertain thee. Well, wait no longer. The mastah has returned!!!
I figure I will set things off with a bang: a typical evening here in the Smith household. It is something to do with Daddy. Because, seriously, the girls aren't like this during the day. Or even on the evenings with daddy is out of town. But, when he walks in the door, man, they are crawling all over him like ants on a picnic. And, although there are definitely days when he would like to actually get into the house before being "invited" (and I use that term loosely) to wrastle, he loves every minute of it....
All the while Dylan and Kaitlyn beat out a tattoo on the Spongebob Tribal Drum of Strength, Flexibility, and Courage.
I mean, check out that face. He is gonna be a percussionist when he grows up. Heaven help us.
While Dylan is contemplating the intricacies of the purse, and which outfit would most likely compliment it the best, the girls are with their daddy. Kaitlyn, by this point, has decided she wants to "cuggle". Kari is still going full tilt wrastle though. And, I have no idea what she is doing in this picture, but I love her expression... A picture says a thousand words, right? :)
Occasionally all three get in on the action. And, I will say that Daddy is pretty amazing in that he usually knows where all three of them are, and how to play with one while protecting the others.
Then, Dylan looses interest and goes back to the purse. "See mom, the subtle color scheme would really bring out the color in your eyes."
Check out that poor kids curvy legs... 
Gotcha!
Boy's got skillz.
She flies through the air with the greatest of ease.
Sequence pictures:
Doesn't that just look like so much fun?!?!
The End :)This child, my middle child, also known as Kaitlyn, is doing better with her potty training. What made the difference? Apparently Grandma and Grandpa. After they left, she went potty in the potty and came down all sad. She said "Where's Grandpa? He didn't give me a hand pop." It took me a few minutes, and a demonstration from Kaitlyn, to figure out what it was. Apparently, going to the potty was all made worth while by a high five from Grandpa. High Five = Hand pop.
Another cute potty story (if potty stories can be considered as such): She took her daddy into the potty (she felt lonely I suppose). She proceeded to sit on the potty at which point she said "Watch this, Daddy." Then she made the face. Some of you know what I am talking about... Mostly parents. That "relaxation, concentration, proud as punch, going potty face." Yeah. That face. It is hard to describe, but when she makes that face, you know exactly what she is doing. It's a bit unnerving up close if you are, say, holding her hands so she doesn't fall into a public potty. Those of you who have been there, know what I'm talking about...
You remember me saying my children were odd? That they sleep in weird positions? Well, yeah. They do. The other night I went in to check on the kids before bed and Kaitlyn was curled up in a ball. On the floor. Either she had fallen off and not noticed, or she played on the floor until she fell asleep. And Kari. She has so many cuddle toys on her bed, there is hardly room for her. But, by far, her favorite position is the frog.
Dylan used to be a stomach sleeper. Judge me if you will, but when we were going through that whole upset stomach thing, sleeping on his stomach just about saved my life... And quite possibly his. Heavenly Father makes them cute as a natural defense to all the times they make us want to kill them :) Anyway, from stomach he went to back and wild man. I never knew what position I would find him in. Now, it seems to be:
I first found him this way when grandma and grandpa were here.
But it continued.
And, please forgive me, but I just can't help myself from taking "bum in the air pictures."
They are much too cute to be ignored.
Don't you think?
The hardest part for me, was having her carry it around, and pretend to be happy at the music she played for me, when really, I was cringing inside listening to the twanging of the rubber bands. Eh.... 
And this is the "Sister's band." Kaitlyn on the keyboard, and Kari on the key-tar... They are so good :)
I had been mercilessly trying to guilt my parents into coming and visiting me. So, when my mom finally called with a cheap flight to check the dates, I was super excited! She told me the day they wanted to fly out, how long they would be staying and then asked, "Do you have anything going on that week?" I ran into the kitchen to check the puppy dog calender I own and said, "Nope. Looks clear. But, lemme check with the hubby." Hubby picked up his phone at work and said "That week is our anniversary, but other than that, no." I responded "I know its our anniversary... Other than that.... (completely having forgotten to take that into consideration. It's a good thing he doesn't read the blog. Oh. Hi Honey...)" Turns out to have worked in our favor!
You probably couldn't tell that my backwards hat wearing, bass booming, heavy lifting, house designing husband is really a cowboy at heart. But, believe me when I tell you, he is. We found a place that took us on a 4 hour ride. And, lemme just state for the record, that while the trail was beautiful, and the horses were well behaved and companionable, if you haven't been on a horse in a while... like a really long while, maybe, just maybe, scheduling a 4 hour long horse back ride isn't the smartest thing to do. I'm just sayin'. 
*I am sitting back on my hands because I couldn't quite yet sit on my rear... Hey, saddles are hard! :/ *
Like Totally! For Sure! If only I had been older in the eighties...
My Fro totally would have gotten me places!
As I have mentioned before, we are sit-around-and-enjoy-each-others-company kinda visitors (which, by the way, I am completely fine with). While we did get to have a few adventures, and do a few cool things, not to mention gorge ourselves on food we should not have eaten all in a 1 week time period, we mostly sat around the house and did mundane, normal, day to day stuff. After all, how much can you really get to know, and enjoy your family, if you are constantly on the move, constantly out of whack, and constantly different than what you normally are? Following are a few more pictures of the week. Fun stuff we did. And, maybe, just normal stuff we did....
Grandpa and Dylan bonded. 
Mollie and Grandpa also bonded. That dog is funny. She usually picks out the person in the group who is least likely to like her, then does all she can to butter them up. In this case, it is Grandpa. And, I think even Grandpa would say ,"Well, maybe a dog isn't all bad."
They went for walks on the "gray road." Again, it was so nice to have Grandpa to go with them. Cuz then I could sit at home on my duff. And not do a single thing. It was fantastic! Have I mentioned how much fun it was to have my parent's here, not only for the company, but for the help they were... They even.... They even did the dishes 
And the diapering... I think I like Grandpa's approach better... For me anyways :)
This is Grandpa's "getting ready to drive 2.5 hours back to the airport" nap. 
Oh well. At least we know that the bonding went well for some of them ;)
