Saturday, September 23

Poppa and JuJu are here! (Day one)

Poppa and JuJu arrived safely in from Alabama late last night. The kids are SO EXCITED!!!! We played and visited and talked all morning, then when it was time for Kaebrie to go down for her nap, we left Daddy here working on tomorrows sermon and off we went on our first adventure!
Here are our WAR EAGLE adventure buddies!!

92 miles away, just past Twin Falls was the historic Shoshone Falls. This is the worst time of year for the amount of water, (May and June are the best) but it was still really pretty!
This little fall was on the drive down into the canyon.



Tiffer LOVED it! Had to stop him from doing to much climbing!




The above was a self-portrait done by Collin. Below, is a picture of him taking a picture of himself!
It was a long drive, spending about 4 hours in the car for maybe an hours worth of being at the falls, but the weather was so nice and the scenery so gorgeous, that it was worth it!!!!!!!!

Friday, September 22

F-15 Fighter Jet Day!

This was a fun day!
I was asked if I would do family pictures for the "Wild Boars", which is the fighter wing that flies the F-15's here on base and the one that Sam is assigned to. I said yes, a little nervous about what I was getting into, especially when I got the schedule this week and it was from 9 am - 5:30 pm. LONG DAY!
We started a few minutes late because my scaffolding rack was leaking hydrolic fluid and wouldn't raise, but they got another one and we had no more problems!
This was a REAL plane, but it was referred to today as a STATIC plane, meaning they had padlocked the ejection seat lever, removed all the fuel and covered a few buttons inside to make it COMPLETELY safe! The families were allowed to sit IN the plane and stand on the scaffolding behind it, where you can see the staircase, I was on the one in front so I was eye-level with them. I lost count how many times I climbed up and down that thing!
IT WAS SO COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Had jackets and gloves on this morning and didn't think I would make it. The wind was brutal, heard one of the pilots say 25 knots.



Sam brought the kiddos over about 9:45, and all were excited but Tiff. He DID NOT want to go up those stairs, so he is gripping me so hard in these pictures it hurts!!!! Notice the other jets in the background and the mountians!



Since Christopher wouldn't stay up there without me, here is one of Daddy and the other 3. Collin was SO EXCITED to sit in a real cockpit!
Here is one next to the BOAR mascot. The sun was just to bright for Collin's eyes.
All day long the jets took offf. I was able to join a group of retired pilots on my lunch break and walk out to the flighline right NEXT to the runway and watch 15 of them take off in a row. LOUD! But they provided ear plugs. I could feel the heat from the engines!!!!!! Couldn't believe they let us get so close!

Here is Mommy in the plane! It was SMALL in there. Only room for your legs, SURROUNDED by buttons and knobs all over the place.

I ended up doing 30 families and had a ball!!
The best picture of the day ended up being of a couple who didn't have any children yet, but had a HUGE brown dog. The dog sat in the cockpit, they stood behind him, and they all 3 wore Christmas hats. In one of the pictures, it looks like the dog is smiling! I know there will be a contest one day where I can enter that picture!

That is it for now. I am TIRED! But a good tired! Sam and the big 2 are at the airport right now picking up his parents, so we are looking forward to a fun week! There will be LOTS more pictures to post I am sure! Good-night!

Thursday, September 21

FCA Bowling

Sunday night we took the FCA group bowling instead of meeting here. It was fun! Some of the guys didn't care about their score, but were having a competition to see how FAST the ball went! The electronic score board also shows the speed of the ball which was kind of neat. I think the winning "SPEED" was 26.2 mph. Trust me, those balls were flying! You almost felt sorry for those poor pins! :-)




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Saturday, September 16

Kaitlynn and AnnaBrooke went to a kid's festival at the Youth Center with Tabitha and Madison, and when they came home, here is what they looked like! AnnaBrooke painted hers herself!
All the Barfield girls were here while their little sister was being born. SaraKate arrived around 8 pm~ Posted by Picasa

Sunday, September 10

The many faces of Kaebrie!

Now that it is one week PAST her birthday, she is finally "snot free" and it was time to take her birthday picture! So, here she is!! I had ALMOST forgotten how difficult it was trying to get a 2 year old to sit still and look pretty! We never did get a "fantastic" shot, but all of these are PURE Kaebrie!!
ENJOY!




Saturday, September 9

Big Girl Bed!

Well, it was time. I could not put it off any longer. Kaebrie could have stayed in the bed awhile longer, but the crib was FALLING APART! The crib looks better in the picture then it does in real life. One leg broke a few months ago, and if you really look, you can tell it is crooked! And truth be told, the sides are being held up by high-weight fishing line.
Now before you ask why this crib is in such bad shape, you need to know the truth, that crib was MY crib! Yep, 36 years ago my 5 pound 3 ounce self was placed in that brand new crib! Most of those teeth marks are mine! Then my sister, Jacquie, slept in it and added her teeth marks. Then it was packed away for a long time, and put back together at my parent's house when the grandchildren came! All 5 grandchildren have slept in that crib! I acquired the crib permanently when Christopher was 2 months old. So it is the only crib he and Kaebrie have ever had.
It was almost sad taking it down today. This was the LAST time we will take down a crib for a LONG time! We won't have a crib again until the grandchildren come visit!!! How strange a thought is THAT!!!!! It was also sad knowing THIS crib wouldn't be put back up. It served its purpose and then some (I think my mom would agree it got its moneys worth).
On the top of each corner are those round balls, I unscrewed each and kept all 4. They are in the cedar chest. Sam kept the railings to incorporate into a playhouse he wants to build in the backyard for the kids. So, in a way, the old special crib will live on!!!!!!!
So, here is a picture of Kaebrie in the crib just seconds before I cut the fishing line with scissors!
And less then an hour later, with the new big girl bed all set up!!!!!!!

8 years ago I was shopping in an antique mall with Sam's mom and we saw that bed. I LOVED IT! But I did not buy it. I just thought sixty dollars was to much money. But for a week, I couldn't get that bed out of my mind. So, the next weekend we went back, and it was still there! The railings all fold flat, it has the stamp of an old ship name on the side, and I have always wondered where it came from. It did seem a bit flimsy, but now ALL the children have used this bed from ages 2-4. I know I got my moneys worth from this bed! Doesn't she look so happy????????????
Well, when it was time to go to bed, she did NOT look happy!!!!! She was the first of the siblings to have a TOTAL freak-out; crying and screaming and wailing! (Normally, she RUNS to her bed to go night night, she NEVER fusses about going to bed). I finally got her calmed down, layed her down with her special sleep friends and blanket, she put her 2 fingers in her mouth, and off to lullabye land she went.
My baby is growing up! I wonder why we don't remember the LASTS of everything? But I will remember the LAST time I had a baby in a crib! Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, September 6

School Days!

Time for yet another school year for the Smith house. I find it hard to believe that we are entering into our FIFTH year of homeschooling! Truth be told, there are days where I wonder what in the world am I doing, am I NUTS!?!?! But, truth also be told, I absolutely love it. Seeing them learn, being in total control of when and how and what they learn, adjusting to their speed and interests, being able to be flexible, seeing the benefits of how close they are with each other, ect ect, I wouldn't trade it!

Here is our new SECOND grader!! Kaitlynn's subjects this year are:
Bible
3rd grade math
Spelling
Grammar
Handwriting
Reading
Piano lessons
Soccer


Here is our new FOURTH grader, (with his cute little helper) :-)
Collin's subjects are:
Bible
6th grade math
Grammar
Spelling
Reading
Handwriting
Paragraph Editing
Science
History
Latin 2
Spanish 1
Piano (theory, composition, and piano lessons)
Current Events
Playing Roller Blade Hockey

We are starting Christopher on some pre-school stuff. He LOVES to write his letters! Kaebrie LOVES to join in at the table and color in her books (or color in their books if they leave their books or notebooks unsupervised).

We are looking forward to learning a LOT this year, and taking a LOT of fun and exciting field trips!

We will keep you posted!

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Tuesday, September 5

Fixing up the house!

Well, we have been here a year already! WOW!! That is also about the time frame it takes me to want to change some things up! So, my main project this time was the dining room. As you can see from the below picture, the family room and dining room are all open together. Makes for a larger looking space, which is a GOOD thing, but as you can see, THERE IS CARPET UNDER THE TABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This has driven me INSANE since the first meal we ate here. Every time something spills, gets knocked over, gets stepped into the carpet, I get FURIOUS at having to scrub the carpet. SO, "if something causes you to sin, PLUCK IT OUT!!!!". So we did!
BYE BYE CARPET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is Sam PULLING IT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was singing for joy!
HARDWOOD FLOORS under it????????? Who in there right mind covers up HARDWOOD floors with CARPET under the kitchen table?????????
ALL DONE! Only took about 2 hours.
The next night I painted. Had to LIVEN it up a bit!!! This was the same blue in our dining room in Louisville. Makes me feel all homey! :-)
Since we weren't blogging when we moved here, here are some pictures from last summer of the rooms we did right after we got here. Here is Kaebrie's room BEFORE:
And after!
This is Christopher's room BEFORE:
And AFTER!
This is the entry way. HOW UGLY!!!!
Now you can't miss it! :-)
Only a few more rooms I can tackle next time I get the urge to change! The bulldozers are just going to LOVE mowing down this place after we leave!