Wyatt and John

We got to have Wyatt for a couple of hours Saturday night. He was so cute and fun. He and John ended up linking arms. I was so glad to have them together for a while. John is 14 weeks in this picture and Wyatt is about 18 weeks.

Happy Birthday Mom and Uncle Jim!

I'm sorry this is a terrible picture. We had family over for a bbq on Saturday to celebrate my mom's birthday and my Uncle Jim's birthday. We put 48 candles on their cake, it was AWESOME! It reminded me of family parties that we had when I was a kid. It was really nice for us all to be together.

Silver Dollar Fair

On Friday night my parents and I took my kids to the Silver Dollar Fair. I LOVE the fair. It's one of my favorite Chico things! We started off this trip with the Shark exhibit. They had two nurse sharks and two lemon sharks. They were young ones and they had them in a big tank. A diver got into the tank with the sharks and danced with them. It was crazy. Ryan was terrified at first. Macky put his arm around him and helped him feel better. It was so sweet.
Macky tried out this Spiderman thingy. It had a trampoline on the bottom and then he had to climb through to the top. He actually fell a couple of layers one time. I about had a heart attack! He thought it was great. Then there's a big slide to get back down. Then we hit the ponies. Maddie and Ryan have been talking about this all year, ever since they went last year. Maddie remembered the name of her horse from last year - crazy! Her horse this year was named Lolly and Ryan's was Patty. They were very happy on their horses.


After the ponies, we were all starving and needed a rest. Grandpa Gary bought us a whole pizza! Believe it or not - we ate the whole thing! I nursed John right out in the open (with my cover, of course). That was not my favorite part, but necessary. After eating, the kids got quarters from Grandpa and went to see the monkey. Macky didn't want anything to do with it, but Maddie and Ryan had a great time.

After the monkey we hit some rides. Mac and I went on a roller coaster. It was awesome, we screamed our heads off. Then we got some treats. Finally we headed to see the animals. Maddie's buddy's brother had a lamb that we wanted to check out and the cutest baby pigs. By the time we had gone through to see the animals, John was wiped out and sound asleep. Grandma Susie is magic!

I can't wait for the fair next year!!

Cal Fire

Cal Fire came to Ryan's preschool today. He got to see a fire truck and learn about fire safety. He loves the hat that they gave him. He was only willing to take this picture as long as I put it on my blog, and he wouldn't smile. It was so funny! You just gotta love Ryan!

Padres vs. Athletics

Last night Macky's baseball team (Athletics) played Chandler's baseball team (Padres). We really had lots of fun. Maddie and Ryan played with Jaycee, which made my life easier. I thought it was especially cute when Chandler made it to third base and Macky was the third baseman. They were talking and telling each other good job, etc. What good boys! After Chandler came over to tell Macky good game. It was a real pleasure to watch them and to see what good sportsmen they are. Macky got a hit, it ended up foul, but he was very excited to get a piece of that ball. I believe that the Padres won in the end, Chandler making the winning run. Maddie, Ryan, and Jaycee were spoiled with candy from Grandpa Gary and John enjoyed a nice nap on Grandma Susie's shoulder. What a nice summer evening.

Invader!

I was watching the kids swimming in the pool yesterday when all of a sudden they started screaming. I jumped up only to see a GIGANTIC frog swimming in our pool. I thought the kids were screaming in fear, but they were freaking out because they were worried that the frog might die. After I had assured them that it was fine, I went to get the pool net. No, I wasn't going to touch that thing with my bare hands! So I got the net and scooped it out of the pool. Now what... Well, I flung it over the fence into the bushes in our front yard. I about screamed myself at that point. I hate critters. Yuck! I needed Luke to come over and take care of it for me!! He got the last one out of the pool... Hopefully he'll be here if there's a next time.

Maddie's Choir Performance

John's First Swim

The Smith boys all went swimming tonight. The temperature was about 101 degrees, I think. It was definitely a good evening to swim. John loves his bath so much, that we were excited to see how he would do in the water. He did just fine.

Alex's Baptism

Last night Maddie, John and I drove to Sacramento to see our Crowthers. Maddie was so excited to sleep in a hotel. She thought the Travelodge was SOO fancy. Poor girl. I've got to take her some place nice! Anyway, we got up this morning and got ready and went to see Alex get baptized. All of the cousins were so jazzed. It was a fun group to be with. Alex has really grown up and was so happy! He kept saying, "I feel happy." We all went to the Crowther's new home after the service and ate lunch. Yum! Alex had to hurry away to play baseball, so the party was short. I'm so glad that we could get down there to celebrate with them.

Maddie's Last Ready, Set, Sing Practice

Maddie had her last singing rehearsal of this school year this week. They handed out certificates to the first year girls. I tried to take a nice picture, but I was holding John and this is the best I could do! She is looking forward to being in the prep choir next year. This has been such a nice program for her. The ladies in charge are super nice and fun and fill her up with great music!

Macky's Big Trip to Grass Valley

Mac got to go on a special field trip yesterday to a ropes course in Grass Valley. He drove down with his buddies and had a great time. He was so excited about it, he woke up before 6 am yesterday! His teacher took these great pictures. I picked him up from school yesterday and I got him to talk about it, it was so great. I got more than one word answers!! This is definitely one he'll remember.

First Pool Party of 2009!

The best parties are the ones that come together on the fly, like yesterday's. It was hot, so I called around and got the cousins to come over after school. It was so fun. I can't wait for summer! I must get more water guns though!!

John is 12 Weeks Old

John hit 12 weeks yesterday. He had his first afternoon by the pool. Time really has flow by. He's such a sweet little boy. He is still on the cranky side, but we'll keep him! I took him to the doctor's last week to confirm that his ear infection had cleared up, and he weighed a whopping 14 pounds 10 ounces. Watch out!

Children's Choir of Chico Spring Performance

Maddie had her final performance of this school year with her choir on Saturday. She sang several songs and had a great time. She loved getting flowers and treats after her show. I think that was her favorite part. I collected tickets at the door, so we were there early (not late!). My family and I sat on the front row! She is excited to do another year with the choir.

Ryan's Fourth Birthday Party with Friends

Saturday turned out to be ridiculously crazy! We started our day with a Lightning McQueen birthday party for Ryan. He had some buddies over and we painted cars, played red light green light, watched Cars, smacked a pinata, enjoyed cupcakes, and opened presents. It was a very busy hour and a half. Whew! Ryan is growing up, it's hard to believe he's already 4. His latest skill is to write the letter "R." He is a puzzle master and now works on puzzles with 60 pieces. I can't wait to see what he grows into this year!

Grandparents Day

Last Friday (May 8th) we enjoyed grandparents day. Grampie Bob, Grandpa Gary and Grandma Susie were all able to come. We started off the day in Maddie's classroom. Her class did a series of small plays. She was in two. She was a racoon (as in the picture), and a field mouse. Her plays happened to be on at the same time as Macky's class performance, so I missed Maddie's. Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler stayed with Maddie and caught it all on video. She did a fantastic job!Maddie is still best friends with Madison. We just love her. I'm so glad that they have been in the same class again. Maddie loves her teacher Mrs. Gobba. She has had a great year with her.
Mac has had a great year as well. He has really made astounding leaps in reading. Mrs. Granicher has a knack for helping him find the right book. I was able to help out this year in both classrooms and really enjoyed it. I was sorry to have to stop! I miss doing spelling with Granicher's kids.
Macky's class joined with several others to put on a square dancing show. It was awesome! They were able to dance in a square, circle, and line! The even had the parents jump in and dance too! I was helping John, so thankfully Alicia pulled Mac into the circle with her. It was so funny to watch him. He complained about having to dance with the girls for a month, but when he was out there, I could tell that he was having fun! I couldn't believe they had so many more boys than girls! Usually it's the other way around.



Friday was a special day at Ryan's school as well. It was Teddy Bear Picnic Day. Since I was busy with Grandparent's Day, Aunt Patti said she's go along with Ryan. He was so excited! He took his teddy bear and lunch box to school. Patti met him there at noon and brought him some lunch. They ate lunch together and listened to the story of the Three Bears. Thank goodness we live in Chico, otherwise I never would have had all of my bases covered!

Macky at Bat

Since we are spending so much time on the ball field lately, I thought I should put in a photo of Mac at bat. He is really enjoying the baseball games, practice is another story... This is a photo from last week. He ended up walking to first, then to second, then to third, and running home. He was so excited to get to run. I wish I had gotten a photo of that!

Black Bath

So I put the kids in the bath tub. I thought I could clean up a bit while they were playing. The baby was in his bouncy seat having a lovely time. Then I hear, "Oh man Ryan, Mommy's going to be so mad!" Giggle, giggle. Then, "Yeah, I know." Giggle, giggle. "Mommy's going to be so mad." Then I walk in on this:
Note: Many have asked, "How did Ryan turn the bath water black?" We have those bath fizzies made by Crayola. You are supposed to put one in at a time and get a nice color, like red or yellow. Ryan dumped then entire container, hence black.

Ryan's Fourth Birthday

Yesterday was Ryan's fourth birthday! We have been partying since last Friday and I don't see any signs for stopping anytime soon! Our tradition is to open presents as soon as they kids wake up. So, Ryan got to open his birthday gifts first thing. He was so excited. The only thing that could get him out the door was play group! We packed up the cupcakes and dropped him off. Apparently the cupcakes were a big hit. All of the children got to blow out a candle on their cupcake. Then last night we went to Round Table for Ryan's favorite dinner. He didn't actually eat much, he was too busy playing games with his siblings and cousins. Whew! I tried my best to make a race car cake. Ryan was happy! For his friends party this weekend, I'm going to stick to cupcakes.

Happy 33rd Birthday Spencer!

For Spencer's birthday this year I wanted to do something special.  He works so hard all of the time, he needed a celebration!  So, I set up a murder mystery dinner.  Spencer was the one murdered and I was the host.  We gave parts our to our friends who got into their characters!  We had so much fun acting out the parts and trying to figure out who did it.  While playing the game, we ate yummy kabobs barbecued by Spencer.  For desert, Delayne made Spencer's favorite cake with raspberries on top.  Yum!  We ended off the evening by watching classic home movies of Spencer from when he was a kid.  Hilarious.  This is one we'll remember!

One Red Bead toward the Bear

Macky earned the first red bead toward his Bear Badge for Cub Scouts last week at the Blue and Gold Dinner. It was a cowboy theme. We played a fun guessing game and ate hot dogs and beans. Macky had to do three achievements to earn his red bead. I think he has to earn three more before he gets his badge. I'm sure we'll ramp it up this summer. Good job Macky!