Just a little Something

Apparently, Hillary did a post about a week ago, so make sure you read that too! It is right after this one (sorry for any overlap).

First, I suppose I should tell you that we are having another baby.  It is going to be a boy – which I won’t lie makes me pretty excited he is due on April 21st. Also, interestingly enough, he will be born in my 30th year, just like I was born in my father’s 30th year who was born in grandpa’s 30th year. Kinda neat (obviously I have thought about this way too much . . . did I mention I was excited?).

Law School is going well. I am officially half-way done I took my last final of this semester yesterday (which, consequently is why I have time to write this today). I can’t wait to be finished though, it is pretty grueling and between Hillary and me we are now in our 4th year of law school.  

Anyway, we drove up to Massachusetts for thanksgiving, we drove up on Weds stayed Thurs and Friday and drove back on Sat.  We wanted to see Rachel’s new baby Devin and we also got to see my parents so that was a good thing. The drive up there was long – we left at 4am and got up there at about 7pm. Of course we did stop in New York City to see the statue of Liberty on our way – and that was pretty cool – Awesome, actually. But, then we got lost in New York City – also awesome, but in a different sort of way. . . We ended up driving through SoHo, Manhattan, the Bronx, Englewood, and who knows where else – it was crazy. I think we almost died about a hundred times (ok not really, but it was intense).

We had great time at Rachel’s house though, Claire loves playing with Jaelyn and Jordan, it reminds me of playing with my cousins when I was kid (especially Dan and Sarah).  Avery spent most of the time running away from DeSean who repeatedly tried to hug her. Every time he tried to hug her, Avery would run away and say “I need my space DeSean!” Ah- the wisdom of a two year old.

So short story. Claire comes home from school the other day and we are eating dinner.

Claire says: “Dad why hasn’t an elf come to our house?”

Will: “What? an elf? why would an elf come to our house?

Claire: “Yeah, an elf. One came to Cooper’s (little boy in her class) house and another one came to Chandler’s house (little girl in class).”

Will: “Well good for them, what kind of elf?”

Claire: “Well, when you are good one of Santa’s elves comes and hides in your house.”

Will: “Obviously, there’s your problem.”

At this point Hillary Chimes in: “You know, it’s the elf on the shelf thing.”

Will: “Elf on the shelf thing? What is that?”

Claire: “Well, he just comes when you’re good and stays at your house.”

Will: “Why would he want to do that?”

Hillary: “You know, Santa sends an elf to watch whether you are being good or not and every night he goes to the north pole and reports to Santa and then moves to a different spot in the house – and the kids have to find him each day.”

Will: “for reals, who comes up with this stuff? How about you just be good so you don’t get a kick in the pantalones (that’s Spanish for pants).

Claire: “no, Mom, that’s not right.”

Hillary: “no? ok so where does the elf come from?”

Claire: “She comes for the North Pole when you are good and then lives with you.”

Will: “so now it’s a she.”

Claire: “of course. Boys get boy elves and girls get girls elves.”

Will: “Of course.”

Claire: “Yeah, they just come when you are good and then they live with you. Santa sends them. So when is an elf going to come to our house?”

Will: “It’s not. We don’t believe in slav...er...indentured servitude” (I was going to slavery, but Hillary has challenged me to try an be a little less offensive . . . especially now that we live in the South...) I then continued: "Besides, why would an elf want to come live with us? All of its family is in the North Pole. How would you like it if we just shipped you to Canada one day while we stayed here?”

Hillary: “yeah wouldn't you miss us and get lonely?”

Will: “doesn't sound like a very nice thing to do to the elf, I think he….excuse me….she….should get to stay in the North Pole with their family, don’t you Claire?

Claire: “Well, how would you like it if you were just stuck in Santa’s workshop all day working?”

Will: “BOOM. Claire layin’ the smack down. Good point Claire. You make a good point. But, an elf still isn’t coming to our house.”

Claire: “Awww…why not?”

Will: “Because you have to be good, and you haven’t finished your dinner. Now eat your food.”

Anyway, I imagine we’ll end up getting an elf now – capitalism at its best, get the kids involved and you’re pretty much sunk. But maybe she’ll forget about it. 

Hope everyone is doing well. Here are some pics of the kiddos.

A four leaf Clover! What!

Opening Birthday Presents

Katie and Red Katie all dressed up

Happy Thanks-birthday!

Hello friends!

Since Will is busily preparing for his exams, I thought I would take a moment to keep you all updated on recent events and to (most importantly) share pictures. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year with Rachel and Walter in their new home in Massachusetts. Will's parents also came out. It was nice to see everyone. Claire disappeared for the duration of the visit to play with her older girl cousins, and Avery could be heard making appropriate boundaries with DeShaun, also 2, who just wanted to hug her and hold her hand. (She was frequently heard saying, "No!", "Don't!", and "I need my space!") It was pretty comical really. Sometimes she would play with him, but most of the time she spent avoiding him. Now that we are home, of course, she can't stop talking about him. Ah, the fickle 2 yr. old.  

Before Thanksgiving, Avery had her birthday on the 25th so she is now officially 2. I am relieved that she has reached this milestone, so I can truthfully say she is 2 to strangers that ask. She is tall for her age and speaks fairly well, so I have had the burden (it's awful really :) of either explaining why she doesn't look X number of months or how she is almost 2. Hopefully, the explanations are over for at least a month or two.

Anyway, Avery had a great birthday. She doesn't quite have all the birthday traditions in order, but the thing she does know about is the candles. Every time we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she would simply say, "candles", usually followed by something like "blow them out."

Claire tried to get her excited for cake and presents, but until she really discovered what 'cake' and 'presents' meant, candles were the reason for any excitement. Now, of course, she sees the roll of wrapping paper and says, "I know what this is for!" and proceeds to unroll it, searching for the gift inside.

Claire was so excited for her sister's birthday that she let her teachers, her class, and her bus driver know that it was her little sister's birthday. She was also patient and helpful in coaching Avery in proper gift unwrapping technique. What a sweet sister she was! And it is always interesting how Avery's birthday gifts help to refine Claire's Christmas list. :)

Well, I think that is all for now. I have included several pictures of Avery's birthday below. Unfortunately, we got very few of Thanksgiving, but just imagine us for 13 hours in the car, interrupted by 2 days of gorging ourselves, and 13 hours back. See? Now you have all the mental pictures you need. :)

Special shout-out to our neighbor and friend who recommended a more reasonably priced mechanic so we could get our car fixed in the nick of time (and for a fraction of the price!). Thanks Lauren!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We missed all we couldn't be with and wish you all a Happy Holiday season.

Halloween: Claire the Princess and Avery the Fairy.

Avery vs. the candles. The candles never had a chance.

Hugging the pillow/blanket gift from Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Ahhh ....fall

Hiya Folks!

Since Will has started school this semester and I have assumed a more primary-caregiver role, I figure it’s my turn to write on the ol’ blog. We’ve been pretty busy this semester, but it has been fun. The leaves are changing, the weather is cooling down and Halloween is upon us. Hey, there is even a Hurricane to mark the season (Heeelllloooo Sandy!).

Claire is back in the same preschool she was in last year, but with mostly different kids, many of which are closer to her age. When I ask her about it she reports what they learned about that day, if “Mr. Monkey” (the teachers’ puppet) came to visit, and who she “hangs around with.” She is doing great and makes me laugh daily with her hilarious use of vocabulary.

This evening for instance, we were carving pumpkins and her remarks included the following:

“Eeeewwww! The guts are disgusting! I don’t think I want to get anymore guts out.”

“Mom, can I wash my hands yet?” (followed by more ews.)

And, when she was finished cleaning it out,

“Goodbye guts, hello carving!”

Later, when we let her carve her own face (she insisted), she would say things like

“Aren’t you impressive with me, Mom?”

“Aren’t you impressive with me, Dad?”

“I’m impressed with you, Mom.”

and

“I’m so very clever”

“Carving pumpkins is the best thing ever” (she seemed to forget the disgusting guts.)

Needless to say she was very pleased with her pumpkin and she actually worked very hard on it. She wanted help digging the guts out, but once it was carving time she insisted on being the only artist. I was impressed with how well it turned out, and how she stuck with it, she stayed at the table long after Will and I had finished.

 (Pictures of the adventure follow)

As for Avery, she is very adventurous and pretty mischievous. I remember Claire being curious at Avery’s age, but nothing like Avery. She is a pretty fast crawler these days and crawls around the house wreaking havoc in every room. Kitchen: she pulls things out of the dishwasher nearly as fast as I put them in there. Bathroom: I usually let her play in the bath toy cupboard when I am doing my hair, and she has gotten very good at emptying that cupboard in 2 seconds flat. This is particularly dangerous if we forget to pick up (for the hundredth time) before bed and someone inevitably stumbles or stubs their toe on an item. Bedroom: she is just tall enough to reach (on her tippy toes) the papers and books on her Dad’s bedside table. She seems to relish scattering them several times daily. She also likes to empty her sister’s child size craft table several times a day. She keeps us very busy chasing her around the house.

Also, I am a little unclear how it started, but I think somewhere along the line we have ended up rhyming “Baby” with “Waby”  and the “Waby” part stuck. As a result, we usually end up chasing her around the house, yelling “Waby!”, trying to pick up after her. I’m am sure the neighbors are wondering about us. But hey, they vacuum at 9 p.m., so who are they to judge?  

Avery has a sweet smile and she is very cute about her preferences. We are always greeted with a yelp and a speed crawl to the door when we return home. And, the other day before I went to school she teared up when she saw the babysitter because she realized that I was leaving.

The cutest thing she does right now is growl when I say or show her a lion. She also really enjoys clapping. We got family pictures taken last weekend and this is the only way the staff could get her to smile.

Well, I think that is all the news for now. Will and I are trying to juggle school and the kids this semester, and so far there have been no major disasters. We have been very blessed. We are getting ready to hunker down for exams, and looking forward to the holidays when we can visit all of our beloved friends and family.

Happy Halloween y’all!

Our little speed crawler

Claire on her first day of school this year

One of my favorite jammy pics of all time.

Subtle, right?

The finished product from tonight. Claire’s is the far right. 

Avery Laughing

I'm feeling a little on the lazy side lately and so I have no stories this time, but I have had this video of Avery laughing that I have been meaning to post for about three weeks or so I decided that I would put the video up. Here it is.

Apparently watching me and Claire play catch was hilarious to Avery. And I suppose I must admit it did have its hilarious moments...like me attempting to make a stretching catch and almost falling over, Claire trying to catch the ball with her face...and other such silly happenings.

Here are a few pictures of the girls too. 

Birthdays, Recollections and Naps.

So it’s been what almost three months since I last posted a blog? Woops. So much for the every week goal back when I started this thing… but then again did anyone really think that would last long? It is sort of like when I tell Hillary “I’m totally going to start working out every day,” I know that is false. She knows that is false. In fact, it is to the point now that even Claire knows it is false.  But don’t you worry this time will be different. I am recommitting – to exercising that is. The blog is pretty much a loss, I think once every three months is a reasonable expectation. Then I don’t have to feel guilty about not posting…and yes, I do feel guilty…well sometimes anyway…but it passes.  

Yesterday was my birthday. Birthdays always make me think about the past and I tend to get a little nostalgic. I have a friend who frequently posts what he calls “hazy recollections” and I had a few of those yesterday.  Here is one of them.

“A Hazy Recollection”

It is summertime, (or at least I remember it being summer and since this is my recollection I will decide on the “hazy” parts). This is after “the summer of whiffle ball” and also after “The summer of Nintendo 64 Goldeneye,” but before “the summer of halo.”  Me, Travis, Tyler and Dan are at Tyler and Travis’s home and we are bored stiff.  So we invent a game. It involves a green semi-squishy ball made out some sort of plastic compound about the size of a large cantaloupe that we found in TnT’s garage. We split into two teams and marked out the playing area. The area consisted of the driveway and roughly equal strips of grass on either side of the driveway. Each team occupied one of the areas of grass and the game consisted of trying to throw the ball across the driveway and getting it to hit the ground on the other team’s side.  If you succeeded you got one point. I think games usually went to 7, maybe 11. Win by two. We invented all sorts of rules to go along with it. But most of those are pretty “hazy” now. Like I think if the other team caught the ball you threw then your team lost a point. But if the ball hit one of the people on the other team and then hit the ground you got two points. If the ball hit the driveway then it was free game for either team. If a thrown ball hit someone then went out of bounds one point was awarded.

There were probably more rules and I probably got some of the ones I mentioned wrong. But for at least, I would say two months, we were crazy about that game.  We played it constantly. It was intense. There were amazing throws that bounced off the house or the basketball hoop. Ones that looped in the air or had weird spin applied to them that made the ball move in erratic ways, ones that used the wind (which was always blowing in IF) to throw off the other team.  Wondrous saves were made by lunging leaps and spectacular dives. Balls were snatched out of the air mere inches, no centimeters, from the ground. Glory was ours for the taking and take we did, as only young boys of summer can.

So, now that I have gotten that out of the way. Here is a story about Claire, which is what you all read this thing for anyway.

So the other day Hillary and I are sitting in the front room. It is a lazy Sunday afternoon and I am dozing on the couch. Claire is in her room which shares a wall with the front room.

Hillary says to me “Hey you napping over there?”

I reply: “Sure am.”

To which Claire, who has suddenly appeared in the front room apparently solely for the purpose of adding to the conversation, forcefully interjects: “I don’t want to take a nap. I hate naps.”

Me: “I love naps.”

Hillary: “Me too.”

Claire: “I just hate them.”

Me: “Why do you hate naps?”

Claire: “obviously, just cause you have to sleep.” (she recently mastered the word obviously and likes to use it when every she can)

Me: “But, sleep is what makes naps so great.”

Claire: “Nope. I hate sleep. It makes me bored.”

Me: “So you hate naps because they are boring?”

Claire: “Obviously.”

Me: “Well no one said you had to take one…”

Claire: “Oh, well ok, but I just hate them.”

She then leaves and returns to her room just as suddenly as she appeared. 

Claire reading Avery the Friend magazine

On Claire's Birthday

Claire "graduating" from preschool

Pictures and Stuff

So, I've started saying things to Avery in my "I'm speaking to the baby to get her to smile voice." That alone is probably humorous enough. But there is more. Anyway, the things I say are usually just nonsense, you know typical baby talk stuff - googoogaga, lalala, yippielo, and other noises you might hear from a parrot or songbird who has nasal congestion.  Of course if Hillary is around I usually try to say a least one thing that is inappropriate- you know something like "I don't care about the very poor" or "I do have concerns about women in front-line combat...because of...[their]...emotions" or "I promise to have a moon colony of Americans by 2020" or "[let those silly people] cling to guns or religion." 

But one of my favorite phrases is to say "who's a beautiful baby?-dramatic pause for effect- Avery is!" It's my favorite because it gets the best results...which really isn't surprising, is there honestly a girl out there that doesn't like being told she is beautiful? 

Anyway, a while back I noticed that Claire was starting to get a little jealous, again not really surprising, is there honestly a girl out there that doesn't get jealous when she hears someone telling another girl she is beautiful? Exactly. So, to rectify the situation I've started saying to Claire: "who's a beautiful big girl? -pause for dramatic effect - Claire is!" She loves it, for reasons already mentioned. 

Well, the other day after I had said "who's a beautiful baby - Avery is!" and then right after "who's a beautiful big girl?- Claire is!" Without missing a beat Claire looked at me and exclaimed "Who's a beautiful old man? - pause for dramatic effect - Daddy is!"  


Apparently I must have looked a little jealous. I loved it...which, of course, is not surprising, is there honestly a dad out there that doesn't like being told he is beautiful by his 3yr old daughter? (even if she calls him an old man in the same sentence...)

Hope everyone is doing great. Here are some pictures of the girls. 

Claire's First Email

So, Claire got on the computer the other day and I asked her what she was doing her reply: "Just checking my email, but I can't find one with my name on it."

After that she insisted on having an email with her name on it so we got her an email account that we send her sesame street videos and what not and I help her check it every other day or so. Well, a few days back she told Hillary she wanted to send me an email so Hillary acted as her scribe and this is a copy and paste of what I got in my inbox:

Dad,

We are going to send you something new. We had brought you something. And, we want you to check it on your computer. And, it's really nice to give you it. So, we are going to show it to you. And, we're going to be so happy to do it. So, we're going to do it right now.

Can we do it? Please? Please? so, Please?

"oh, okay"

Yay! Yay!

So, its such a kindful thing to do. So, we are going to offer you so we can do it. And show us that we can do it everyday. So, we are going to sent you and email, so you can check it on your computer. Okay?

So, Please, please, please can we do it?

So, we are going to check it for you. So, Avery likes that idea. And she said yes and no. And she can imagine she can do it when she's a big girl.

If you can imagine she can climb or she can be happy and choose the right.

Or she can be a baby or she can grow up and be me.

Please can we let her grow up? Please, please, please?

Or we can do something else.

That we can do it! On every search, they searched and searched. For every Dad, they searched and searched for where you were.

The giants searched on top of the water. For the deep,deep of it.

But Avery would like that.

That's all I would like to say.

We're done writing.

Love,

Ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccclairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre



Hillary let Claire type her name.

Anyway it made me laugh. Especially the part about the giants.

Hope everyone had a great Holiday season! 

The New Edition

I know it really should be "The New Addition" instead of "The New Edition" because we are adding another member to the family not just editing and re-releasing a currently existent one...but sometimes it certainly feels like a do over. Like a Claire redux or something similar. Especially when you are awake in the middle of the night waiting for your kid to poo so they (and then you) can fall asleep and your like "oh yeah, this does stink." (no pun intended...well maybe it was intended...).

On the flip side though there really is nothing more wondrous than a newborn. Especially when they smile at you.

Avery Lyn Smith was born Nov. 25th she weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 21 1/4 inches.

Halloween

October is over. Seems like it just got here and now it is already a week gone. Who knew. Well I have included pictures of Claire in her Halloween costume and playing dress up at the end. Assuming you haven't already, you may now stop reading and skip to the pictures.

Claire loved Halloween. Her preschool had a party, the ward had a party and our apartment complex had a party. She now loves parties. However, her fear of the witch in Snow White is now forever cemented in her psyche. Let me explain.

So, for whatever reason, Claire has always been terrified of the old lady in Snow White who gives Ms.White the apple. I say "for whatever reason" like there isn't a good reason for her to be afraid of the old hag. This is obviously false. Anyone who has seen Snow White, especially recently, recognizes that the old witch in Snow White is pretty much the face of fear. She still unnerves me. (I say "unnerves" like it means something other than scares. Obviously this is false.) Anyway, the point is Claire has watched Snow White once, and has strenuously objected to watching it again. Grounds for her objections shortly following her first viewing go like this:

Me: "do you want to watch a movie?"

Claire: "I sure do. But not the old lady movie"  (she calls the witch the old lady)

Me, pretending like all good dads do that I don't know what she is talking about in order to tease her a little then says: "Do you want to watch Snow White?"

Claire: "Snow White is just nice. But not the old lady." (She is always very careful to distinguish that Snow White is nice and the Old Lady is not.) 

Me, still feigning fatherly ignorance: So do you want to watch Snow White?

Claire: Uhm. No. I just don't.

It's been over a year since she saw Snow White but she still flatly refuses to see it. She simply states: "The Old Lady is too scary." She has no problem with any of the other villains in her movies, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (who I think is just as "unnerving" if not more so than the Old Lady on Snow White), Jafar from Aladdin, Scar or the Hyenas from the Lion King, Mother Gothel from Tangled, That Voodo guy from The Princess and the Frog, none of them really scare her. She just says "they're not nice." But the old Lady from Snow White. That's serious business. Point is, of all the things in her world she is probably the most afraid of that Old Lady from Snow White. 

So, we go to our ward party. And guess who sits down across from us. Yep. you guessed it. The Old Lady from Snow White. A couple in our ward had dressed up as Snow White (her) and the Old Lady complete with an apple (him). But he wasn't just dressed up. Oh no, these are serious Halloween folks, he had the full make up. He really looked like the witch. Long chin, long nose, wart, the whole nine yards. Claire was terrified. She got one look at him when he sat down and froze. Petrified. Literally. We tried to explain to her that it wasn't really the Old Lady and that it was just Mason's dad (Mason is their little boy who is Claire's age) but she wasn't buying it. Then, seeing she was so scared, the guy tried to reassure Claire and started to talk to her saying, he wasn't really the Old Lady and that his apple wasn't really poisoned. 

I'm pretty sure all Claire heard was "Old Lady" and "poisoned apple," because she started to tremble visibly. 

After a few minuets we finally convinced her that she didn't need to be scared. But when her friend came over to say hi the first thing Claire said was: "Mason's dad is the Old Lady. You should stay away. Don't eat his apple." And she made sure to give him a wide berth as she walked around the gym.

She talked about it for the next week. When we went trick or treating she wouldn't go to their apartment. 

In other news. Claire also had her first atomic fire ball. It was pretty much everything you would imagine it to be. 

I told her not to. She did it anyway. She freaked out. Spit it into her hand. Tried to convince me to eat it. Then threw it away. It really was hilarious. But mostly it was her facial expressions that sealed the deal. Where is instant movie when you need it?

Well hope everyone else had a great Halloween! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving. Hopefully we will have our new baby by then as well. (I can't imagine what it will be like if we haven't she is due on the 20th...)

Claire sporting her dress ups from Aunt Rachel 

Dresses ups from Granny.

Claire the Bee.

Some Things and Such

So here we are. October is upon us in all of its fall glory. Claire is excited for Halloween (she is going to be a bee) and I am excited that the humidity has largely passed...and for candy. Let's not kid ourselves. Halloween is all about guilt free candy. We have to get candy because it's for the kids - and then we have to help them eat their candy because it isn't healthy for them to eat all that candy themselves...so, again - for the kids. It's beautiful.

Claire started preschool last month. She just LOVED it. and yes that needed to be capitalized and the superfluousness period needed to be added, because that is exactly how she said it. After her first day I picked her up and said "did you like preschool?" She replied: "I just LOVED it." And that is pretty much been the state of things since. She goes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12:30 to 2:30. Everyday that is not a school day is, by her judgment, dismal. A necessary evil that must be endured until the joyous freedom of school returns.

Ok. That is not an entirely accurate rendering of the situation. She feels the same way about nursery as she does about preschool. So, any day that doesn't include school or nursery is by default bound to be destitute of joy. Let me illustrate.

Typical Monday, Friday, or Saturday morning conversation with Claire. This is pretty much exactly what happens every time. It's automatic. Constant. Unchangeable in its regularity. Like morning in general - you know when you happen to wake up 10 or so minutes earlier than usual and you start wishing desperately that morning will not come today and you can just luxuriate in your sheets instead. But, alas, your hope is wasted against powers beyond your control - it will happen and your luxuriating quickly turns to languishing.

It is 7:06am and she bounds into our room. She goes to Hillary's side of the bed which is farthest from the door. She has learned not to come to my side of the bed first thing in the morning for reasons we shall not discuss at this particular time. She announces her first words of the day: "I need to go potty." This statement is about 98% certain. 60-70% of the time Hillary usually says something like "go ahead and go then sweetie" or "do you need help?" or some other caring phrase. It's hard to know for certain though because she is usually drowned out by my boisterous and possibly semi-critical/sarcastic retort which, while varies in the precise language, usually goes something to the tune of: "well, don't just stand there, GO!" This statement is about 65% certain. It often interchanges with statements like "well, GO!" "GO THEN" and other such phrases.

She then goes potty. Usually in the toilet.

Then she washes her hands. Then she starts doing who knows what in the bathroom but it usually involves running water in the sink, splashing noises, singing, laughing, little exclamations of "oopsies" or uh-oh" and finally comes to climatic crescendo with a boisterous rumbling by me of "Claire, stop messing around and get the heck out of the bathroom." This statement is 100% certain.

She then comes back into our room and announces: "It's morning-time sleepy heads!" "It's time for school!"
To which I say: "It's (insert appropriate day of Monday, Fri, or Sat) you don't have school today."
Claire, absolutely dismayed at the prospect of a day of no school: Awhhhh. But I just want to go to school.
Grumpy morning Will: Too bad.
Hillary: It's ok Claire, you can go to school tomorrow.
Cliare, in the tones of one whose only joy in life has just been dashed upon the rocky shore of reality: Awhh. I just want to go today.
Hillary: Do you want breakfast?
Claire, resigned to her eternal state of misery and woe: No, just school.
Hillary: How about cheerios?
Claire, suddenly cured of her endless sorrow and exulting in the light of a new dawn: I can have cheerios? OK!

Anyway, she likes school and seems to be doing fairly well. I'm sure there will be more posts about her and school in the future.

In other news. One of the women Hillary goes to school with had a party for their one year old son a week or two back and rented out a family farm fun center thing. Basically it is a farm that has a bunch of fun things for kids to do...as if seeing the animals wasn't exciting enough. They give donkey rides, hay rides, do face painting have a little corn maze, a haunted forest and a little playground area. It was fun. Claire loved the hay ride and the donkey ride.

Other stuff has happened and I was going to write about those things - most notably I changed the rotors and brakes on the jeep (which was a joyous occasion for all...as only someone who has worked with a Smith male when things aren't going "the way they should" can truly appreciate)- but I think I will sleep instead.

Here are some pictures of Claire from the last month:

Claire's first day of school! I actually remembered to take a picture.

Claire riding the donkey at the kid farm. 

Claire enjoying her Ice Cream cone after her and I took a walk one day.

More ice cream.

The Last Three Months

Wow. Is it really already almost the end of August? I swear it was just the first part of June a couple of weeks ago. Well I guess the old saying is true “time flies when you’re having fun.” A lot has happened since I wrote last. Since you know it was May or something…when I last wrote…but that really isn’t important. What is important is that since then lots of things have happened. And I mean lots…I mean right? Sheesh, almost three month’s worth of stuff.

Regrettably, however, most of those things are quite droll and boring.

Stuff like sleeping which probably accounted for at least 20% of the time since the last time I wrote. Eating/sitting around/talking probably covered another 15% not to mention all the movies/TV/Books I read which probably covers another 10-15% which brings us right up to about 50% of the time that has passed. Then there is all other mundane things…brushing my teeth, getting dressed, taking Claire potty, taking myself potty, taking out the trash…you know all that stuff. So, I figure after you factor in all that - we are only looking at about 30% of the time in which something truly remarkable could happen. And don’t you worry plenty of things did happen. I’m just only going to talk about two. Not because other things didn’t happen, (because they did, you know stuff like traveling back in time for eight minute periods to save Chicago from a nuclear terrorist attack and saving hundreds of people on a commuter train, and stuff…(if you are thinking…hey that sounds like the movie Source Code…well they had to get the idea from somewhere. Right? Well I’m just sayin’.)

The first thing that happened to us over the last three months that is worthy of mention is that we went to Bojangles. Now, if you are like me the first thing you think of when you hear Bojangles is the old Nitty Gritty Dirt Band remake of the song Mr. Bojangles about Bill Bojangles the tap dancer in the 30’s….you know…let me clear me throat…

“I knew a man Bojangles who danced for you in worn out shoes…he jumped so high, jumped so high and he lightly touched down …Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles …dance”

Or something like that.

Anyway, obviously we are not talking about that particular Bojangles we are talking about the “Famous Chicken and Biscuits” fast food Bojangles with the catchy TV commercial slogan “Hey, Its Bo Time.” Apparently, Bojangles is like the Mecca of fried chicken and biscuits here in the south. Well maybe not THE Mecca, I mean not only is that politically incorrect to say it isn’t entirely accurate as there is technically only one Mecca and there are lots, (like over 500, I just checked on Wikipedia) of Bojangles…so probably more like the Southern Baptist Church of fried chicken…just to be fair. Anyway. It’s a big deal here. An example of how big a deal. Well let’s just say Hillary mentioned at school once that she hadn’t been to Bojangles before and people stopped talking to her for a week. Literally. It is that huge of a deal. (ok they didn’t stop talking to her for a week but they did look at her like she was from another planet (aka the mountain west)). When people did start talking to her again (which was really only about 5 seconds later) she was informed that she HAD to go to Bojangels. To which Hillary responded “isn’t it just like KFC?” And that is actually when everyone stopped talking to her for a week.

Well we went. Finally. Back in may. And well it was truly a noteworthy experience. And here, like they say down here in the south “is ow it ’ll ent dwn.” (how it all went down).

Well we pull up. I think, “hum this looks like a KFC to me…the sell Fried Chicken in a Bucket and it’s fast food…yep…pretty much KFC. However, as soon as we walk in the door I immediately realize that this place is definitely not a KFC. How do I know? No white people. When we walked in, the way the heads whipped around in there -whoosh- it was like the most curious/strangest looking thing in the world had just walked in the door. We might as well have been Sarah Palin. Everyone looked at us with this sort of expectant “well, looky here, look what the cat dragged in, lets watch and see what crazy thing they are going to do next” sort of look. Well we went up to the counter to order. That’s what we did.

As we approach the counter we try to read the menu, but mostly we are trying to overcome our obvious and decidedly un-cool western whiteness. When we get to the cashier the lady behind the counter finds us such a curios and amusing sight that she actually lets out a little laugh while she says “what y’all want?”

We have no idea. We have never been here before. And we are still trying to overcome our whiteness. So, Hillary, trying to by a few more moments for us “to look at the menu” says “well, we’ve never been here before…what all do you have?” At this point the cashier looks at us, tries to hold back her laughter. Fails. Laughs, does a half eye roll that says “white people” then says “uhm, CHICKEN.” Hillary, trying to remain calm, says “right, but I mean what’s good? Can you suggest something?” The cashier is just flabbergasted by this question starts laughing and calls out to her manager, and says: “hey, these people want to know what is good here” but her tone means: “hey, you gotta come check these clueless white folks out..They are hilarious”

So he wanders over looks at us. Looks at the cashier that is now laughing outright, tries to hide an amused smirk and says “most people get the chicken and biscuits.” I say we will get two of those and a kids chicken strips meal with milk. The cashier who is still laughing says “white or chocolate” I say, and I’m fully self conscious of the irony here, “white.”

Laughing Cashier (LC): What sides do you want?

Hillary: What do you have?

Disbelieving LC that is obviously thinking to herself did this white girl really just ask me that again: Fries, and whatever else is listed on the sign up there.

Hillary Clam as a summer morning: Well I don’t know, what do you think Will?

Totally Self Aware of his whiteness and flustered Will: I don’t care, who cares, just say something. We’ll get the fries.

Cashier: That’ll be $15.47

I pay and we move down the counter. Meanwhile the manager is getting our meals ready and putting them on the tray. He fills up two large drinks and puts them on the tray and I say to Hillary “I don’t remember telling anyone what we wanted to drink.”

Hillary replies, “that’s because we didn’t”

Frantically I look at the menu again, and sure enough it says “Free Ice Tea with every meal order.” Oh great I think here we go again.

Will to Hillary: “They gave us tea”

Hillary: “hum, that’s not going to work”

Hillary to manager: “excuse me sir, hum, can we get different drinks?”

Manager with bemused look on his face: “hum, I guess…what do you want?”

Hillary: “do you have lemonade?”

Manager: “Nope”

Hillary: “Water is fine then.”

Manager, with totally entertained cashier now listening in: “No water either. Just Tea and soda”

Will: “how about Sprite”

Manager: “hum, no…”

Hillary: “What do you have?”

Insert burst of laughter from eavesdropping cashier.

Manager barely containing his mirth: “Sierra Mist”

Will: “Perfect. We’ll take it”

We get our food. And go to the napkins and condiment table. No ketchup. There is hot sauce, but no ketchup. I look around. Other people have ketchup. But I can’t see any on the condiment table. So I say to Hillary “hey, where is the ketchup?”

Hillary: “I don’t know, other people have ketchup should I go ask?”

Will: “nope. Let’s not give them any more amusement then we need to. Let’s just go sit down.”

We sit down. Everyone is looking at us out of the corner of their eye. I start softly singing the song from Sesame Street “one of these is not like the other; one of these doesn’t belong…”

Hillary: “It’s Bo Time!”

The other thing that we did over the last three months that was noteworthy is we went to Idaho/Utah to visit friends and family. As always it was a blast. There are actually too many fun things to list but aside from just seeing and talking to everyone which we always enjoy here are a few highlights more or less in the order they occurred:

Brooklyn’s birthday party

The “Treehouse” in ogden

Playing “NBA Jam” with Derek and Amy and later Lael and Elise

Going to see “Rio”

Camping with the Griffins at “the property”

Being scared of the two moose (moosen? Meese? Moxen? Mooses?) that came within 10 yards of our campfire while at “the property.”

Keeping Mom and Dad Griffin up past their bedtimes

The Farm (aka the Taylor’s)

Hamburgers with the Plicka’s

Teasing Ericka and Peter

Bowling with the Petersons

Seeing Mack and Lacey's ridiculously awesome backyard. oh yeah, and talking to Mack while there :)

Going to West Yellowstone and seeing “Dirty rotten scoundrels”

Jordan’s water party

Seeing Tyler and Tashie

Going to Yellowstone Park with Granny and Papa

Visiting with Travis and Brandi…Kambrie is huge! And adorable!

Talking with/Teasing Robert

Fireworks at the Marquits for the 24^th

Breakfast with Lael and Elise

Wackie Six

Camping at Redfish with Smiths and Great Grandpa Baird

Fishing (Claire caught her first Fish)

Going to Great Grandma Smith’s on Sunday

There were actually a lot of other things as well but since I have been writing this post for over an hour now, I think I am going to stop with what I have listed. I will only add that we are extremely grateful to all those that hosted us, let us eat your food, made us meals, gave us everything we needed and generally ensured that we had a smashing good time.

Bunch of random Pics and stuff from last three months:

This one is of Claire and her Friend dancing at a blue grass show we went to last week