Highlights of Twenty Eleven

*Geddy gave up his binky, learned to sleep in a big boy bed, and potty trained!

*Tonee gave birth to a very large 9 lb 10 oz sweet baby girl, Jennsen Smoot.

*Jennsen got the hang of breastfeeding after about 6 weeks and breastfeeding turns out to be one of the coolest experiences of Tonee's life.

*Tonee lost all 50 pounds (!!!!) of baby weight.

*Brennan (has almost) closed on the sale of his mom's house.

*Brennan gained more patience with parenting and spends lots of quality time with Geddy (especially at bedtime).

*Geddy learned his address and his birthday.

*Geddy played in the dirt almost every day in the summer, and grew a wonderful vegetable garden.

*Jennsen started crawling and saying bu, bu, bu and da, da, da.

*Brennan grew his locks out, and Tonee lopped hers off.

*Brennan is mistaken for Jesus at least once a week.

*Tonee learned how to manage two kids, and even managed to take Geddy on many fun outings this summer.

*Geddy obsesses over dinosaurs, learns the names and features of many of them, and wants to save his money so he can go to school to become a paleontologist.

*Geddy gives Jennsen more soft (and rough) love than Brennan and Tonee know what to do with! :)

*Tonee sprains her ankle very badly and is forced to quit her volleyball league. The ankle stays swollen for more than 6 weeks!!!

*Geddy helps Tonee peel tomatoes, make cookies, and knead dough in the kitchen!

WISHING YOU THE VERY BEST FOR AN ADVENTUROUS AND FABULOUS

2012!!!

Love,

Brennan, Tonee, Geddy, Jennsen Smoot

Here We Go

Jennsen turned 8 months old on December 15 and also started officially crawling on that same day! Now she's already whining and crawling after me when I go into a different room. Today she managed to pull off some carpet pieces and chew on them (Geddy's bed sits on carpet squares that she can pick at). She also found Geddy's lunch crumbs under the table. Yum! Oh what joys. . . really! I caught her under the table and it was a blast from the past! I remember Geddy crawling under the table too! Why do these little precious babies have to grow up so fast?!?!? I am trying to soak up Jennsen's babyhood as best I can, but I still feel it slipping away from me far too fast!

Jennsen at 8 months

Geddy at 8.5 months

The Dinosaur Cake

t



As with last year, really the only thing Geddy wanted for his birthday was a cake! This year was a dino cake, last year was a Thomas the Train cake. I am sure you can understand then why once he woke up he didn't move more than 2 feet from his cake or take his eyes of his cake. It was really sweet! Also before he got another wave of presents today he told me he had "plenty" of presents and he didn't want "any more." (Earlier in the week he had already opened a present from Nana Smoot and Great Gma Judy).

Geddy had a wonderful day. The day started off with a grand adventure to McDonalds Playland - compliments of Grammy. I know this might not seem like a big deal to many of you, but you have to understand that on this, his THIRD birthday, it was the FIRST time he had ever been to a McDonalds Playland. He was in heaven! He was all sweaty from playing so hard and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I think we will have to make it back more often, so I can thoroughly enjoy myself- ha ha ha!

Then later in the afternoon Gpa Johnson came for a visit. Geddy loved his plastic dinosaurs and dinosaur box (that turns into a playmat) that Gpa brought.

Later that night we ate dinner and then DOVE head first into the scrum-diddly-umptious cake. I can only speak for myself, but I could hardly focus on dinner, knowing chocolate cake awaited me. I think Geddy felt the same way. Now I am sick with cake, but feeling the joys of a wonderful day!!!

Thank you to all the Grandparents for showering us with gifts and love.

P.S. Geddy already "donated" all this cars to the DI to make room for the millions of dinosaurs! (tehehe, no really he did!)

Happy Birthday Buddy

My little man turns 3 today. I've never thought of myself as a good father; I still don't know what I'm doing most of the time, but this guy makes it so easy. He cleans up his toys on his own, he's very loving, he has a big smile and even a bigger heart, it only took him 24 hours to potty train, and he's my best friend. It took several years and 4 in vitro attempts to get him here, but he was worth the wait and effort a million fold. Thank you for being you, Geddy. Happy birthday buddy. Love daddy

My Favorite Thing that came out of Geddy's Mouth Today

I was returning the shopping cart and apparently Geddy thought I was going to leave him in it. When I lifted him out I told him that I would never leave him, that I love him very much. He said “I suddenly like you Mama.” Funny kid!

Triceratops and his Egg

Happy Halloween!

Geddy is OBSESSED with dinosaurs, so it was only appropriate that he be a dino for Halloween and that Jennsen be a pink dino egg.

Jennsen 6 Months

Jennsen is our lively, loud, beautiful 6 month old baby girl. She's a wonderful princess! She was born QUITE large (9 lbs 11 oz if you don't remember :), but she seems to be more on the average end of things now. By average, I mean that she is no longer in the 95% for her height and weight. She weighs in at 17 lbs 4.5 oz, and is 27.2 inches long, with a head circumference of 42.7 cm. In comparison to Geddy at 6 months, she is more than a pound heavier and an inch taller.

On this night, she only finished half of her sweet potatoes, until brother saved the day and got her to clean her bowl!

Chillin' at Packs Pumpkin Patch

I love this face of hers (above). Her face is changing as she is getting older.

This is common face she was making when I pulled the camera out. It was hilarious! I promise I just fed her!

AH, life with two kids . . . is MOSTLY bliss! :)

Canning Grape Juice

This is an ode to my beloved yearly tradition of canning grape juice. Marcia, Brennan's Mom, has sold the "farm" in Farmington and is moving on! I made sure this year I picked an extra large crop of grapes in case I never have the chance to make homemade grape juice again! :( I picked two VERY large clothes baskets full of grapes (concord and green) that I am sure weighed over 50 pounds each. 100 pounds of grapes = 44 quarts of beautiful grape juice = 12 + hours canning in the kitchen!

Worms Anyone?

A young boy's favorite pastime...

My favorite thing that came out of Geddy's mouth today

Geddy is a wonderful big brother. He still is rough with Jennsen and jealous of her at times, but he also frequently is very sweet, kind, and loving. Today when Jennsen and I were coming upstairs and Geddy saw Jennsen, he said: " There you are wonderful princess."

Mom's Cabin

A few weeks ago we went to Mom's cabin. It's such a beautiful time of year, but I didn't bring my camera (these are taken with my mom's phone). I love spending time with my mom, especially in the beauty of nature...only wish we could do it more! Thank you for being so excited to build a fire and roast marshmallows, even if it was 12 noon. Maybe next year you'll get to camp in a tent with Geddy and go fishing (the things Gma wanted to do with her grandson but didn't get to do). Love ya!

...

This is a post about the ONE thing that is hard for me to throw away. This post is not a pregnancy announcement! I am not a clutter bug, why if you know me, you know that I hold on to nothing! My kid has few toys, I have few clothes, I take bags of clothes and "stuff" to the DI almost monthly, and I often find myself thinking, "oh, I have one of those....oh wait, no I don't, I got rid of it."

So even though there is no reason for me to keep my pee sticks, for the past two pregnancies I would stash them on top of my cabinet, dust them off and look at them every so often, then tuck them securely back into their secret a-top-the-cabinet spot. I even took a picture of my pee stick, so I can throw it away, right? This is Jennsen's pee stick. I took a picture of it a year ago, but I just kept it on top of the shelf, looking at it every now and then, and I COULD not drop it into the trash. I decided tonight it's finally going into the trash. I have sympathy for people that hold onto things for sentimental value, clearly this is why I was holding onto my pee sticks. I guess it's time to say goodbye to my dear pee stick. It's hard throwing it away, the line doesn't even read "positive" anymore. I know I'll get over it and if I want I can look at this picture or even better I can look at my child to remind me HOW GRATEFUL I am that I am able to have children. It's moments like these that make the chaos of children melt away into oblivion and make me wonder if these walls will ever be graced by another sweet baby.

The best way to shop at Costco . . .

A new Do

I took the plunge. Let's just be frank here . . . I HAVE NEVER LIKED my hair. It's too thick, it's too frizzy, it's too curly. Evidence: I donated 5 ponytails to locks of love . . . my hairdresser said a normal donation is 1 ponytail! Meaning one ponytail of mine is equivalent to someone else's WHOLE head of hair. Sheesh...that's a lot of hair! Anyway, I like my new do okay, but still am unsure of it. I think I like the maintenance and that it does have some style. It's weird being a girl and having this short of hair. I try not to care about the opinions of others, but the truth is, I DO. And I know that in society, short hair is not considered feminine, pretty, or sexy (not that I am trying to be sexy :) I have never gotten my confidence from my hair and now although I like it somewhat, I think I really have to have the confidence that comes from within!

Holy Cow! It's Jennsen...just kidding...it's me. Now I know why my mom always melts over Jennsen and thinks she looks just like me as a baby!

Baking Soda . . . A Thousand Uses

I dream of living a more simple life on some farm in Montana, growing my own food, living off the land and my animals (I just don't want to be dirty, hot, and sweaty all the time). I dream of buying local, all natural chicken, and organic produce. I dream of only using homemade laundry soap and slathering homemade lotion on myself and my kids. I dream of my husband eating more fruits and vegetables and giving up white bread and his MSG laden favorite foods. I dream of myself eating less sugar and shoving fistfuls of spinach into my mouth. I dream of my children only eating the fresh WHOLE WHEAT, FLAX, 25 GRAIN bread that I bake daily, and eating food from our land. Until my dreams become reality, I guess I will have to settle on the small things. **Sigh**

I have been trying "baking soda" as a deodorant for a week now, and I LOVE it! I swear it makes me sweat less and there hasn't been any detectable stink whatsoever! I just sprinkle a 1/2 tsp of baking soda into my hand and mix with one drop of essential oil (patchouli - not my fav scent, but it's what I have on hand right now) and mix into a dry paste, then spread under both arms. I have been putting it on after the shower at night and even one WHOLE day later, I am still fresh. Usually I sweat a ton, and the pits on all my shirts smell like a mix of heavily perfumed deodorant and nasty sweat, which never washes out! I smelled my church shirt today and it smelled perfectly clean, like I could even wear it again without washing it. I hope this new deodorant concoction keeps working for me. I am very happy and fresh!