I have such cute kids!

At Jonah's school, the teacher 'highlights' each child as their birthday approaches. The birthday kid is sent home with a project... a hanging mobile for the class to see. This mobile consists of a picture either drawn by the child or an actual picture that is pasted on. Alongside this mobile are the child's 'favorites'. And in case you were wondering... here are Jonah's favorites:

Food: Pizza

Sport: Soccer

Book: Where the Wild Things Are

And last, but not least, the last one was 'People'. So I asked Jonah who his favorite person was. And without hesitation, his answer was... "Naomi".

Naomi's First Solids

For a while there, we thought Naomi's first solids were going to be tissue, paper or anything else she could get her little hands on. Instead, she opted for the rice cereal spoon fed to her by Mommy...

Surprisingly, she didn't pull any bad faces. I think it's because she'll eat just about anything! She finished half of the cereal before she got bored with it. Later, we gave her banana 'stars' that quickly dissolve. And those also seemed to come with ease for her. Stay tuned next week as we introduce a different flavor... maybe then she'll pull a different face???

5 going on 15

Believe it or not, Jonah is another year older! Yes, 5 is the big number.

His birthday party was a hit. We had friends join us at Brasstun's Family Entertainment Center near our house in Murray. The kids threw on their bowling shoes and bowled a mean game... received 6 tokens each for the arcade... had pizza & soft drinks... watched Jonah open presents... and, of course, birthday cake to finish off the party.

His big ticket present was his Gary Fisher bicycle given to him by Nana. And he absolutely loves it! He definitely made it look cool with his red helmet covered in flames.

He now knows he'll be in Kindergarten this year and is looking forward to it!

Meet the Grandparents

Naomi was finally able to meet her great-Grandparents in Arizona...

This would be her first airplane ride... and she was absolutely wonderful. I always get nervous when it comes to traveling with the kids. But just like her brother, Naomi did wonderfully and things went smoothly.

Grandpa-Great & Nana-Great were able to enjoy the grandkids & great-grandkids for the weekend, courtesy of Nana (Ethan's Mom). This was their Christmas present... sure beats a tie or sweater! It was a big group, but that also meant big fun. The weather in Arizona was in the mid-70's. It gave me Spring Fever, but I also know it's only February...

Jonah enjoyed Randy's company (Ethan's cousin) the most. He was basically his shadow. It's always funny to me how Jonah is partial to 'older' kids. And Naomi loved Grandpa-Great's oxygen tubes... to her, he came with toys!

We hope to see them again soon. Just like the rest of our family, we never get to see them enough and there never is enough time...

Checkers, anyone???

Jonah learned a new game... checkers. While Mommy & Papa were away for the weekend, Uncle Zach decided to teach Jonah how to play checkers. Checkers is actually for ages 7 and up, but not if you're Jonah! He's actually pretty good. He thinks out his moves and makes comments like... "I'm coming after you Ricky Bobby" (from Talledega Nights) when he's on the move after being 'kinged' and reaching the end of the board.

So next time you're at the house, be prepared to be beaten by an almost 5 year old at Checkers! And if you get sick of playing Checkers, he's really good at Uno, too!

Have you seen it???

Yes, I'm talking about the trailer to the new Transformers movie. A live-action movie... none of this animated crap! Michael Bay (Armageddon) & Steven Spielberg have teamed up together to make what looks like an amazing movie. It's funny... I didn't think I'd be as excited as Jonah is, but this is my generation. Thanks to my brother James, I remember the old school Transformers. In fact, Jonah reminds me alot of James. He knows EVERY single Transformers name and whether or not they are an Autobot or Decepticon. In fact, if there was a Transformers trivia contest he'd win at the young ripe age of 4! His sound effects are amazing, too. I sometimes think there is a Transformer transforming in my own living room... until I see Jonah moving around.

If you're interested, go to www.transformersmovie.com and click on the trailers.

See you in the theaters on July 4th 2007!!!

He's outta control!!!

Okay, not really... but kinda.

Jonah has been going to Snowbird every Thursday for the past two Thursdays. Last Thursday was his first day on the mountain. He started on Chickadee (the bunny/learning hill) in the morning and then the instructor decided he was ready for the 'big' hill in the afternoon. First off, I'll start with the conditions. This was the last big storm Salt Lake received... cloudy, foggy and snowing all day. Some would call us crazy, but he's got to understand that skiing isn't going to be easy. There will be days like this... miserable, cold and wet. I know, sounds harsh but we have to learn this some time, right? Okay, to be honest we just wanted him to be up there. And it just happened to work out that he could get into a lesson that day. Thursdays seem to be the day that he can go without disrupting Mountain School. And I say it like that because he does the lessons free of charge (yes, we tip the instructor... we're not THAT cheap!) when there's room in the ski school classes.

Anyhow, he loved it. Okay, maybe not LOVED it, but he said he had fun. He expressed to me that there was some 'deep powder' that was really fun falling into. See... I knew there was a plus to the snowy and miserable conditions! And he also told me the 'big mountain' chairlifts are fun as well.

Last year he was running the slalom course on the bunny hill and practically beating me! No more edgie-wedgie for him either. So look out people... there's another crazy Smith on the slopes!!!