SIXTEEN?!!! Sweet! (Not "sweet" 16)

My lil' boy is now 16. He now has his very own debit card, but the driver's license will have to wait for a little while... I think that "might" happen in October or November. We'll see.

To celebrate M's b-day, on Saturday, Mr. Smith took The B-day Boy and a friend to Six Flags for a full day of COASTERS. More flags, more fun. The boys took M's new i-Pod Touch on the rides, and used the accelerometer feature to measure the g-force. Cool! 

You gotta love the looks on their faces. PRICELESS!

B-day dinner: Tri-tip, garlic mashers, and Caesar salad.

There's a very long and somewhat convoluted story behind the procurement of that "log" cake. An inept, yet kind-hearted B-R employee somehow missed the repeated request that I wanted BLUE writing on the cake, as this was for my SON. Initially the sentiment on the cake was written in PINK frosting. YIKES. I was informed that there was nothing to be done about the frosting debacle. Hmmmmmm.... I very kindly instructed the young man to go back to their decorator and have it scraped off and redone. I don't know -- pink just didn't seem like the appropriate color for my 6'3" son's cake. :-)

After much waiting, we finally got what we had originally ordered, but there was pink frosting residue on the cake. Oh, well. It made for an interesting story. Despite the difficulties with customer service, in the end, the cake was tasty. Ugly, but tasty.

Our girls enjoyed helping M celebrate his special day. :-)

Ahhhhh! Now that the birthdaze are over, we can get back to our normal routine -- at least until Nutcracker season hits.

Sdrawkcab Yadhtrib Ytrap=Backwards Birthday Party

To celebrate her 10th b-day, Millie invited four friends over for a very silly party. Ydennek, Haras, Inal, and Yendys helped to make this a most memorable event.

Which way is up? This photo looks good either way.

Is everybody smiling? I hope so!

Backwards Musical Chairs was sooo much fun!

Everybody, sing along:

You to birthday happy!

You to birthday happy!

Millie dear birthday happy!

You to birthday happy!

There are many more adorable photos from the party -- too many to share. We started out the party by giving a birthday present to each of the attendees. Next it was time for cupcakes served in an ice cream dish and an upside down sundae served on a plate with a fork. Sprinkles and toppings were on the bottom. Pizza was the next menu item, but it had to be eaten crust first. Upside down cans of 7-up added a little bubbly to the ytrap. (Thankfully, none of the cans exploded when punctured on the bottom.)

We played several games that were familiar "traditional" party games, but they were all reversed in some manner. The favorite activity to observe was backwards musical chairs. (Daddy-boy supplied the accordion music, but he didn't play the music backwards. That would have been tricky and would have required some practice.) 

M. was responsible for finding and printing out a donkey cartoon for "pin the donkey on the tail," and he most definitely chose an interesting graphic... It was somewhat graphic, but still within the "acceptable" category.  One of the party attendees summed it up by saying that the donkey was, "somewhat disturbing" in appearance. That comment made us laugh, especially since it came from a ten-year-old! My boy was proud of his creative efforts and photoshop skills, but then again, he's a little "warpulated." (Right, UJ?)

Miss Millie received LOTS of nice b-day presents, but the best gift she received is the gift of friendship from four very sweet young ladies. We were all blessed by getting to spend time with these girls. Thanks to all of you for making this a very special (AND very silly) get together.

Double Digits

Miss Millie is TEN!

Millie's most amazing bagel tree did it again! There were 17 "ripe" bagels on the tree this morning. When life gives bagels, slather on the cream cheese. Yummy! This tradition has been going on for years -- ever since a three-year-old little girl "planted" part of a bagel next to a flowering plum in hopes of creating a new strain of fruit. This will be one of those things that we will keep as a tradition until #3 Smithling moves out. Maybe we'll keep it up even after she's gone. That is one prolific tree. Surprisingly, there was a breast cancer awareness bagel on the tree this year. Asiago, Plain, Choc. Chip, and Cinnamon Crunch bagels were all present, accounted for, toasted, and eaten.

Now for "other" birthday silliness: Due to the birthday girl's past infatuation with the word poop and poop-related topics, Big. Bro. has been promising Millie (for the past 10 or 11 months) that he was going to make her a kitty litter cake for her 10th b-day. Although the interest in "poop" has long since passed, a promise is a promise. Or a threat is a threat? Poopy Birthday! The boy kept his "oath," and he even got a hand, or two, from Liesey and Jenny. 

Bartholomew and Jemima did NOT assist with the project, contrary to how it might appear. Those are microwaved Tootsie Rolls® that have been lovingly crafted into authentic looking shapes. GAG!

Millie was thankful that the cake was served to family only. She was fearful that M. would make this cake for her upcoming party in an effort to embarrass her in front of her friends.

Two b-days down, one more to go... 

Many hands make light work. 

Bart was relatively unimpressed with this litter box, or perhaps he was disgusted with the untidy condition. He walked as far away from the box as was possible, which is a good thing since it was made for human consumption. The "cake" tasted much better than it looked; however, we will not make one again. Once is definitely enough.

Fourteen

Look who had a birthday! Liesey Lou is now 14. YIKES!

She's a well-balanced girl...

We celebrated #2 Smithling's special day by going to the dance studio so our resident ballerina could take her regularly scheduled ballet technique/pointe and tap classes. She didn't tell anyone at the studio that it was her birthday, as she didn't want it to be a big deal. We finally got to eat the "by request" homemade chicken pot pie birthday dinner some time after 8PM. It was tasty! AJ joined in on the festivities, so it was a party indeed. :-) 

Pot pie was followed by a Snickers "Blizzard" cake from DQ. We were already stuffed, but we found more room for dessert. 

Oh, and there were a few presents thrown in for good measure. Aside from receiving $ and gift cards galore, the b-day girl was also given a lovely cross pendant and a jigsaw puzzle from Millie, piano sheet music (Pride and Prejudice Soundtrack) from her big bro., a shawl/wrap, a dance warm-up jumpsuit, and beautiful earrings.

One September birthday down, two to go...

Back-to-school B-B-Q

We welcomed our newest Raleigh Court neighbors to the 'hood AND got the new school year started off right by having a back-to-school bash at the end of our court. There were 28 people in attendance. If we counted correctly, 10 of the 15 households were represented. We had three barbecues fired up, so there was no shortage of food.

After dinner, and lively conversation, we enjoyed watching a movie (Nim's Island) on the Freeman Garage Door Drive-in/Driveway Theatre. How could I forget to mention the shaved ice & popcorn offered for free at the concession stand?!

The men of Raleigh Court grilled 'burgers & dogs for the gathering.
What is it about men & fire?

The girls had fun wearing their Hannah Montana wigs. We found these at Justice for 79 cents, so how could we refuse? They definitely have that "rock star" look goin' on.

Talk about a "rock star" look... Boys will be boys!

We even had expert fly swatting coverage going on to protect & preserve the tasty salads & side dishes from unwanted "guests."

Everyone pitched in to make the evening happen, so it was a very easy & low-stress gathering. We are blessed to be surrounded by sooo many wonderful folks. What's incredible is that this all came together with only one day to plan & organize everything. (What would we do without Costco?!) The neighbors all agreed that we will have to do a progressive dinner this fall, but perhaps we will need more than one day to pull that one off...

It's time for pencils, books, (the teacher's dirty looks?), and our annual 1st-day-of-school photos!

And so it begins... another year of The Smith Christian Academy "officially" started today. The Smithlings have done a few classes throughout the summer to keep up to speed with some of their subjects, and they started learning French a few weeks ago. M. cracked the books last week, so he has a bit of a jump start on the girls.

Here are the traditional back-to-school poses:

The on-the-floor shot is one we have done once/year since Millie was a few months old. I have "promised" (or threatened?) the kids we will continue to do this pose until they are fully grown!

The Smithling stairsteps...

Oh, if only we were this happy every day of school...

Bartholomew looks as if he's on the verge of speech. I wonder what he would say if he could articulate his true sentiments. :-) Here's one possible option: "I am NOT a-mewsed, Millie!"

M. will be meeting with a counselor at Sierra College later this week to find out what classes he can enroll in this fall. (Classes begin in late August.) We hope to find a couple of FUN options for him to add to his homeschool classes of: English/Lit., U.S. History, Physics, and French. Liesey and Millie are also taking French this year, so I guess I will need to join them in the learning process. I want to be able to respond, "Oui!" when asked, "Parlez-vous français?" Another incentive for learning a new foreign language alongside the kids is that I certainly do not want the Smithlings to be able to discuss things "behind my back" in front of me -- or something like that!

Analiese is taking Hebrew History, Science, Geometry, English/Lit., Health, and Geography this year. Miss Millie has the usual 5th grade classes.

We're off and running. Only 179 more days to go! (But who's counting?)

Painting at Petroglyph

The girls and I spent a few hours being creative this morning. We painted a purse, a cupcake, and a covered butter dish at "Petroglyph Ceramic Lounge." Millie had received a gift certificate to Petroglyph for her 8th b-day, but had never used it -- until now. That's nearly two years of waiting!!! We invited Big Bro. along; however, he politely declined. We did see several men there painting pieces of pottery with their daughters, so M. would not have been the only guy present. :-) The finished products will be fresh from the kiln on Wed. night, so we will be eager to see how things turned out. We had soooo much fun -- we will definitely do this activity again. Hey, who knows? Perhaps M. will actually decide to go with us the next time we get in touch with our artsy side. :-)

I am including a slideshow of the backyard project, from start to finish. Well, the project is not quite finished yet, as we have to add lighting & plants (lots of plants!), but at least you will be able to see the finished patio. We started working on the demolition in May, and it has taken three months to get to this point. Our next major project will be adding a walkway & many more plants in the side yard. We have plans drawn up to make it look like an English garden. We won't be able to plant anything until September, so perhaps we will have a little breather before the next phase begins. I doubt it!

Independence Day 2008

Despite a few showers and overcast skies, we enjoyed a spectacular afternoon/evening with our "T" relatives and Washington/Oregon friends. The food was tasty, and the fireworks display was "stunning." Our son is becoming quite the pyrotechnical expert; however, I'm still not sure if we got quite enough BANG for our buck! I'm pretty sure that I saw a lot of $ going up, up, up in a puff of smoke... Cha-ching!

I'll have my cake & eat it, too!

No, I didn't eat the whole thing -- just a slice! And it was tasty, too. We celebrated my b-day by taking a road trip to Vancouver, WA.

I received several nice gifts (two cookbooks, a Brighton necklace, a beautiful brown blouse, and chrome exhaust tips for the Audi) and enjoyed a lovely day with my family -- immediate & extended. Every day should be that much fun!!!!!