Spotlight on Duncan...

I have decided that I will spotlight a child a week until I have this next one. My children have been especially difficult lately(probably due to the upcoming changes in our family). This is a way for you all to get to know them a little better but especially for me to pay special attention to all the fun little details about them. Here we go!!

Name: Duncan Patrick Smith

Birth date: June 29, 2004 Weight at birth: 7lbs. 8oz. Height at birth:18 1/2in.

Age: 4 Hair Color: Red Eye color: Blue Favorite color: Green

Favorite Animal: Zebra

Favorite Food: Broccoli(especially with hollandaise), Turkey sandwiches, pizza, Macaroni and Cheese, Pastrami and swiss sandwiches, Chinese food

Favorite Drink(s): water and juice Favorite Candy: Starbursts, Dum Dums, & Swedish fish

Favorite Toys: Mega Bloks, Fish with fishing pole, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Bubbles, Animals, and Dinosaurs

Favorite Activities: Playing outside with his friends, Watching movies and eating popcorn, Coloring/Drawing, Reading books, Riding his bike, Eating, Washing dishes with Mommy(or so he says, haha)

Favorite Books: Monsters Inc. and Pirates Don't Change Diapers

Favorite Things to Snuggle: Blanket(that mommy sewed by hand), Baby, Zebra

Favorite Shows: Go Diego Go, Little Einsteins, Wow Wow Wubzy, The Simpsons

Favorite Movies: Monsters Inc., Monster House, the Shrek movies

Fears: Spiders and High mountains

Favorite Holiday(s): Christmas, Halloween, Easter

(yes, another toilet picture, but he is so good at posing!)

He is good at: The Wii in general. He beats us at everything. I know, these talents will go a long way in life. Helping with the kids and the house. He is very responsible and makes sure no one is doing something they shouldn't. He is good at dental hygiene. He always tells people he loves them. He is good at kisses(he even kissed his neighborhood girlfriend!). He adores his little sister and is very good at taking care of her. He is a fantastic sandwich maker. He is very good at singing and is an accomplished song writer. His most famous song is: "If You Can Try and Do It." The lyrics are: If you can try and do it. If you can try and do it, what I say. I hope that you can do it. I hope that you can do it, by yourself!

A Belated Anniversary Blog/Tag I made up...

Well, I had my anniversary a week ago Saturday. My husband stopped at the store on his way home from work and went straight into the kitchen. He was doing some stuff. I went in there and he was cutting a bunch of roses putting them in vases. There were probably two dozen total, very lovely. I said, "Oh how nice! What did you do that for?" Then he handed me a card and said, "I figured you'd forget." Yeah, I seriously forgot. I seem to every year. I will remember the days until, but never the day of. He said that it's nice that he can surprise me each year, haha. I suppose I am more like the man in that respect. Haha.

photo by Jennie(Stum) Sleight

I thought, perhaps I should do a little anniversary blog post.

Ten Happy Anniversary Things:
1. How did we meet?: We met at a church dating activity.
2. What was your ice breaker?: He was working at a mortuary and my grandmother had recently died . I told him I knew a little bit about that type of stuff, haha.
3. First date and what did you do?: August 3, 2002 I told him to take me to the church dance and that we were going to hang out for a while before and go to dinner. I paid, since I was being so manly. We went to Fazoli's before the dance then had a walk at the Promenade until 2 am. Don't tell my parents, they were out of town at the time and didn't know I was out past curfew. Mom, I promise all we did was hold hands!
4. Who kissed who first?: I kissed him. I told him that I thought I should kiss him. So I did.
5. Who asked who to marry?: He asked me to marry him. He had a trail of rose petals leading to a candlelit dinner of chinese at my brother's and his wife's apartment. I thought we were interrupting them in the middle of something(if you know what I mean, bow chicka bow wow!) because they were no where to be seen and I was under the impression that we were doing a double date that night. I was very surprised.
6.What do you love about him?best physical feature? personality?: Physically I have always loved his eyes. They are so warm and sweet. They just make me feel comfortable. I love his willingness to serve and help others in anyway. He has always given of his time to help friends and family, no matter what, how stressful or how long it takes. He is a very affectionate and loving father. His children adore him. I love that he can fix anything, whether it be cars or plumbing or anything really. He can always make me smile and laugh no matter how grouchy I am. I love that he puts up with my emotions during pregnancy, haha. He better though. I don't get in this state without a bit of his help, or the mailman's, I can't remember which it was this time.
7. Wedding date and where?: July 19, 2003 and the Denver, Colorado Temple
8. Why did you get married?: I fell in love with him. I knew without a single doubt that he was the one I was supposed to marry and I couldn't imagine life or eternity without him. I know, it sounds corny and yes, it is corny.
9. How many love babies do you have?: Almost 4. Duncan born June 29, 2004. Liam born December 5, 2005. Gwendolyn born March 30, 2007. Rosaline(Rah-zah-lyn) due August 26, 2008.
10. Do you love each other more, less or just as much as you did the day you got married?: I don't always feel I love him more, but I do, haha. Even with all the ups and downs we have had I love him more and more and feel closer to him through the trials we face.

photo by Jennie(Stum) Sleight

Awwww! Wasn't that so sweet? I am now tagging all the married people who read this. Especially Val, Jennie, Hannah, Julianne, JM, Anne, Holly, Jeanette, Denise, Wendi, Lori. Brittany, Dawnelle and any other married friends of mine. Oh, and just for some corny weird fun, do the questions in your wedding colors(you know you want to JM!).

The Story of the Three Little Pigs, as told by Duncan and Liam...

My boys decided last night that they would put on a performance of The Three Little Pigs for the night's entertainment. Sadly, I did not have my camera while there were doing this and decided to just enjoy myself. I did, however, take a few re-enactment photos of the cast members and their expressions just for this.


Cast:
Pig 1(straw house) played by Duncan
Pig 2(stick house) played by Duncan
Pig 3(brick house) played by Duncan
Big Bad Wolf played by Liam
Straw house played by Oversized chair
Stick house played by Love seat
Brick house played by Couch


We begin our story with the first little pig having recently finished building his house of straw. The Big Bad Wolf approaches.

Big Bad Wolf: "Little pig, little pig! You let me come in!"
Pig 1: "Not at the hairs by the chinny chin chins!!"


Big Bad Wolf: "Then I huff and blow yours house!" (he proceeds to blow very hard).
Pig 1: "Aaaaaaah! My house!"

The first little pig runs off(in horror and fear) to his brother's house of sticks. The Wolf approaches the second little pig's house with his brother inside(oddly enough they have become one entity, one pig made of two).(The little girl in the house is merely a prop. She is a chair in the house.)

Big Bad Wolf: "A pig! You let me come in!"
Pigs 1&2: "Not at the hairs by the chinny chin chins!"
Big Bad Wolf: "Then I huff and puff and blow yours house!!"(he blows especially hard this time, since these are sticks and all).
Pigs 1&2: "No!! Not my house! Aaaaah!"

Big Bad Wolf: "Ha ha ha! I got yours house pig!"

The two pigs run off together to their brother's house. There they combine their three bodies and miraculously become one pig entity. It is a space saver, since it's harder to fit three pigs into one house. The Big Bad Wolf approaches the third little pig's house of bricks.


Big Bad Wolf: "Pigs! You let me come in! Now!"
Pigs 1, 2&3: "Not at the hairs by the chinny chin chins!"
Big Bad Wolf: "Then I will huff and blow yours house! Okay?!"(the wolf blows even harder than the last time).
Big Bad Wolf: "Ha ha ha! I blow yours house!"
Pigs 1,2&3: "No you didn't, Liam! You can't blow a brick house! It's too hard!"
Big Bad Wolf: "Oh man! I can't do it!"( walks away hanging his head in shame, for he has failed and is overwhelmed by the pains of defeat).

Pigs 1,2&3: "Ha ha! You didn't blow our house!"(the pigs, in one entity, rejoice at their new found victory).

The End

Thankful for the toilets...

Children are so observant. Many of us teach our children about Heavenly Father and about all he does for us. We keep it simple for their sake, as it is a lot for little ones to take in. We tell them how certain things are possible because Heavenly Father makes it possible and we should thank him for even the little things, like being able to play with your friends that day and having fun. We, as adults, sometimes take for granted the little things. For example: toilets. Heavenly Father didn't come and mold the toilet and hook it up for us, but he made it possible by blessing someone with the knowledge and ability to come up with something like that. So, it was really all his idea.

Yesterday, at church, I took Duncan to use the restroom. He is sitting there and says to me, "Heavenly Father made this toilet."

"Oh really?" I said.

"Yeah, he did. That's why I can use it."

He's right though. Heavenly Father did make it possible. That's why we can use toilets. And, by golly, I am thankful for toilets!! I don't like cleaning them, but I sure have to use them a lot. Sometimes 3 times a night. Thank you sweet child in my womb. Anyway, this just reminded me how we all need to take time and notice all the little things that our children are able to, and that we should be grateful even for the toilets.

I did not take this photo. This would be more of Liam's photography. Duncan seems cool with it. He has the pose down. I haven't quite come to fully understand Liam's "gift" yet. But I will embrace it and love him nonetheless. As long as he doesn't take pictures of me on the toilet.

Mommy, I need more bubbles...

I love Liam dearly. I don't understand him and he makes me crazy, but I do love him. Today we did bubbles. Super fun for them. They have these cool bubble holders that when you tip them, will not spill the bubbles. I filled up their bubble holders, they go out to blow bubbles. Maybe ten minutes later Liam comes in to ask for more bubbles. Already? That's awfully fast to blow bubbles, plus, they are not easy to spill.
Liam: "Mommy, I need more bubbles."
Mommy: "What? Already? You probably still have more."
Duncan: "No, Mommy! He drinked them!"
Mommy: "He drank them?!"
Duncan:"Yeah!"
Liam comes to me with his bubble holder. Sure enough, the dang kid "drinked" the bubbles. The holder was empty and Liam has bubbles on his mouth and down the front of his shirt. Hey, it's better than when he attempted to suck Lime Away out of the sprayer(which was closed) at 9 months old. Bubbles are non-toxic.

Oh, Happy Birthday Duncan!!...

Something I forgot in the my last post was that my brother, Jon-Michael and his wife, Heather had a little baby boy on the 21st. His name is Bryce Russell DeShazer and he weighed a hefty 9lbs. Congratulations to them! Too bad the kid couldn't wait a couple more days to be born on my birthday! Gosh!

Sunday was Duncan's 4th birthday. I don't understand kids on their birthdays, but they are either really sweet and loving to everyone, or really selfish and asking when they can open their presents all day. Duncan was really good for the first part of the day. He was under the notion that it wasn't actually his birthday until after church. He was very sweet. He came in our room and whispered to Mark, "Daddy, there are no more sleeps until my birthday!" Then after church he started getting anxious about the whole thing, haha. Constantly after us about wrapping his presents so that he could open them and not sharing anything with anyone.

We had my friend, Clarin, over and her boyfriend. They got him a really nice gift, a Fisher Price golf set. He got a couple of inexpensive computer games, a little fishing pole with some fish, Hungry Hungry Hippos, a new baby doll. But the crowning glory of the whole evening was...the Better Batter Baseball. At least that is what we decided to call it because that is what he wanted and he can't read yet. We went to Target a few weeks ago to check out how much it was. Yeah, it was $40. As much as I love my children, I don't see a reason to spend that much on one gift for a 4 year-old. We were smart and got a lesser version of it. I know, one day he will see the pictures and say, "Mother! You lied to me?!" But I feel good about the purchase because I saved $20.

Duncan goes to open his "Better Batter Baseball" and says, "I knew I could get this! This is great!" Then when we opened the box he picked up the "batter" and went to Gwendie and said, "Look at my batter, Gwendie! It's cheap!" Little does he know...

Later on Duncan and Clarin's boyfriend, Jake, are sitting at the computer, trying out his new games. Jake decides to start singing, "Sa-tur-day, i-in the park..." Then Dunc responded quite seriously by saying, "it's Sunday, Jake." That's right, don't try to fool a 4 year-old by singing about the wrong day of the week!

Recently our little girl has learned to do a "shake it" dance. This dance starts off by a shimmy of the shoulders with a wiggle of the hips to go along with it. Well, Gwendolyn was taking care of Dunc's new baby by feeding it, holding it and giving it lots of kisses. Then things went down hill. She chucked the baby off the couch onto the floor! I let her know this was not a good thing by saying, "Gwendie, that can cause a shaken baby death!" She responded by doing her "shake it" dance. I see now that she will be very easy to discipline in the years to come.