Celebrating Savannah's Birthday!

Today we went to Chuck-e-cheese
to celebrate Savannah's birthday.
She is so sweet. She asked me to
make her cake this year instead of
ordering one. So, this is what I came up
with. Nothing fancy, but let me tell you,
when she saw those sprinkles (she helped
me put them on), she was so excited and
when she saw the cinderella figures so was
even more excited. I love how something
so simple can make a child happy. I just
want to hang on to that moment. She just
gave me a big hug and smile and told me
how much she loves me.

This is Teagan, Porter (my nephew), Savannah
Caleb and Landon. They had a great time and
we were so glad that Travis and Porter could
join us.

Savannah on the slide, she picked out what she
wanted to wear to her party today.

Here are my sweet children, Teagan, Caleb
Landon and Savannah. They all had a great time.

My Quarterback

Caleb decided to play flag football this year. He
loves it! He and his good friend Tyler are the
quarterbacks. They both do such a great job.
I love that he has a good time.

Caleb making a pass. They have
plays that they "run" and I am
impressed that they all have
them memorized and do them
well.

VP Debate

Ok, did anyone else watch the VP debate last night? I thought it was pretty good. I don't normally get into that stuff. But, since the race seems to be one of the most important ones since I have been allowed to vote, I took the time to watch. Anyway, I was very happy with Governor Palin. I thought she did a wonderful job connecting with everyday people. She is so real, she could be my neighbor. I love it, it seems so different from what we are used to from Washington and it's a breath of fresh air.

My oldest and my youngest

Caleb (8) loves playing with Landon, chasing him
around and making him laugh. This is Landon
blowing me a kiss. Caleb was sitting in this chair
and Landon climbed up next to him. He likes to
do whatever the "big boys" are doing.

Caleb, Landon (19 mos) and tigger buddy!

These two look A Lot alike. When Caleb was
Landon's age, he looked very similar. However,
sometimes Landon looks like Teagan's old pictures.

Cuddling up to little brother, they call him
"little" or "little Lando". Landon is trying to be
silly and making faces at me.

Teagan's lizzardy

Teagan found this little guy in our front yard
on his way home from school last week. He
named him lizardy.

Teagan is so good at catching lizards.
Is quick and has fun taking care of
them. He was sad when we told him
we would have to let him go, he is so
little we thought he needed to find his
own food. So, that night when I went
to take him outside. I realized that I
had cleaned the kitchen (Teagan had
put him in a plastic cup). I felt so
bad because I was pretty sure he went
down the drain. I was in huge trouble
with Teagan. He was so mad at me.


The next day...I saw the little guy
crawling on our kitchen floor.
Nothing short of a miracle that he
didn't go down the drain or get
stepped on. (My eyes are trained
for creepy crawlies in my house).

Teagan was so happy when he came
home from school and I told him the
news. This is Teagan holding him.
He let him go after saying "goodbye".

Photos of my family

Preschool starts

On a much prettier note....here is
my sweet savannah. She is all
ready for her first day of her 4-yr
old preschool class. She decided to
grow some this summer...she finally
got some legs so I had to get a picture
of them.

She is so sweet, a beautiful smile and a great
contagious laugh. If she knows I'm sad about
something she likes to give me hugs and kisses
and asks me if I feel better. She loves to read
and play with her best friend and her brothers.

This is one of my favorites because you can
really see her beautiful eyes and smile. Oh,
and she also grew some hair this summer.
Those beautiful gold locks started really growing
around 3 1/2 years old...yes!

Here is Savannah outside her preschool with
her best friend. They cannot get enough of
each other....every day they want to play
before and after school. They have a great time
together.

Wolf Spider

Ok, anyone who lives in Arizona has probably
seen one of these nasty wolf spiders. Tom
tells me they are "good" spiders (I didn't know
there was such a thing)...they kill crickets and
scorpions (well, that is a good thing). But if you
have ever stepped on one in the shower, you
know they are nasty. No, they don't hurt you
but they are definitly one of the uglyist things I
have ever seen.

So, Tom tells me to grab the camera and come
see the biggest spider he has seen in a long time.
This wolf has a backload full of babies...yes, the
entire back is covered in baby wolf spiders, how
lovely. Did I mention this is in my front yard.

Oh, did I also mention, Tom doesn't kill these.
If they get in the house, he captures them and
lets them go outside...what a nice guy. Don't
tell him, but if I catch them inside (or out for
that matter), I kill them (usually without
hesitation). Anyway, this was our friday night
entertainment...the Mazyks and the Randall
girls also got to see this lovely spider up close.
I'm sure they will sleep well tonight.

Monsoon Season

It's true Monsoon season is officially a season now!
This was a morning rain before school. Tom had
been trimming the bushes in the backyard and
the kids found the perfect use for them....a tree-
house. I loved it! It kept them busy and they
loved playing outside in the rain. Last night was
the most awesome monsoom storm I have ever
seen in the entire time I've been in AZ. It was
amazing...thunder and lightening for hours literally
non-stop. The streaks of lightening form cloud to
cloud and down to the ground were amazing,
terrifying and beautiful. I didn't have my camera
so I don't have any pictures. I hope someone
took some pictures.

Teagan, Savannah and Caleb did a lot of work
to get these branches up on the fort. The worked
well together.

Landon enjoyed watching them work from down
below. He loves the camera and is really into
the cheesy grin whenever he see me pull out the
camera. Oh, the paci...he'll be saying goodbye to
that in the next couple of weeks. So sad, more
for us then for him.

Savannah also working on her famous cheesy
grin. I keep asking her to smile naturally but
so far not getting much other then the cheese...

Pack meeting

This is Caleb and his Den at their Pack meeting.
He is loving Scouts and has already earned his
Wolf badge. He worked hard and wouldn't stop
asking my to help hit get it done. He was very
motivated and did a great job.



This is T.B, Caleb, J.H. and M.S. (names with-
held). His leaders are behind them. We love
them, they do great work!

Opps!!

Ok, not sure how it happened, but accidentally deleted all of my blogspot links yesterday...so I tried to put some on that I remembered or could find. If you have a blog address please send it to me again, so I can get it linked back up to mine. Thanks so much!!

First day of school

Caleb was a bit anxious but had a great smile and went without complaint. Then he came home on the bus with nothing but positive things to say about his first day. Yea!!

Teagan's a trooper, not much complaining from him about returning to school. He was excited and went without any problems. He also arrived home with great things to say about his first day.

This is Teagan in line with his class. I can't believe he is in first grade already.

Smithson Reunion 2008

Tom and Caleb shooting at the gravel pit. The boys loved this!

Smithson Reunion 2008

Landon loved playing outside. He and Tom are in the fort that the Ray kids and our kids built during fall break last year, yes it was still there and they love to make the "walls" of the fort better each time we go.

Teagan (6), Caeden (5), Austin (3) - they found lots of fun bugs to play with and "take care of".

Savannah and Tom enjoying a ride on the Rays ATV

Teagan & Tom - shooting at the gravel pit