SOLVED

I thought I was going crazy. For the last week or so, every time I entered our main floor guest bathroom, I could smell the most awful stench. And everytime I would get out the bleach wipes and wipe the place down. It never helped and the smell was not only staying, but getting worse by the day. Finally I had had enough. It was making me gag to even have the bathroom door open! For the bazillionth time, I scrubbed down the bathroom, wiped out the cabinet beneath the sink and mopped up the floor. Little Ben was "helping" me and when I left for a minute to put the cleaning supplies away, I heard him say, "Eggs, mom! Eggs!" "What?!" I hollered back at him from the kitchen. "Eggs, mom," he said again, "Come see." Sure enough, as soon as I rounded the corner to enter the bathroom I saw them. Eggs. Dyed easter eggs, to be exact. Easter was April 2nd. Today was April 27th. What the?! These lovely, little creations had been stored by little mister you-know-who in the tiny drawer that is hidden behind the bathroom door when it is open. I had never closed the door when I was cleaning-heaven knows it needed to air out-but Ben must have closed the door, seen the drawer and then remembered his secret stash. The eggs had actually rotted themselves, pretty dye and all, to the bottom of the drawer! It actually took me longer to explain to Ben why he could absolutely not keep his eggs than it did to clean up the stinky mess. Soon our bathroom was back to smelling fresh and clean...for about five minutes...!

BUNNY

After months of waiting, Ben was FINALLY able to bring his valentine bunny picture home from preschool today. When I asked him to tell me about it, he said, "This bunny is to my Grandpa. He will see his ears and all of this (motioning to the body.) Will he like it, yes or no? He will LOVE it. He will shoot it. I KNOW he is going to! With his gun. He's going to KILL this bunny! I will get out my bat and scare my Grandpa. Then Grandpa will be nice to the bunny. Then the bunny can hop fast into my house and sleep in my bedroom really fast. I love this little bunny. (Petting the cottonball tail.) I am going to keep it."

CRAYONS

Ben and I needed a project this morning and these little crayon hearts were perfect!!

BANK OF AMERICA

Today was national "Bring your Child to Work Day" and the kids were so excited to spend the day with Chris. Nick couldn't get his blazer on fast enough, Olivia couldn't figure out "what the big deal was" and didn't want to do her hair....

They spent the morning touring the bank, meeting people, checking out Dad's office and eating donuts. They liked helping Chris' assistant laminate things and Olivia cleaned up his messy desk for him.

For lunch they went to a "spicy chicken wing place" that had all kinds of fun things for the child professionals. There was even a Grey-horned Owl visiting! How did they know my son is an owl lover? According to Nick, "This owl was flying and got hit by a train. So he lost one eye and he had to be rescued by the animal rescue people. The owl could turn his neck all the way around!" Chris said that when it was time to head back to the office, he couldn't find Nick anywhere. Anywhere, that is, until he found the owl and there was Nick, engaged in a deep conversation with the owl trainer!

Originally, the plan was that I would pick them up after lunch. But they all were having such a great time together, that they just came home with Chris after work...who knew they could handle a full work day? They can't wait to go back and see Daddy at work again soon!

Below is a write-up Olivia did about her dad's work:

"Are you board of school? Come to Bank of America! Endless fun for all...great food places, perfect area for hide and seek, and always a view to down below! Tons of nice people like my father Christopher Smith and his friend, Preetie. You get to wear snazzy clothes! You get a decent time for lunch and a good amount of money on payday! I say you say we all say come to the Bank of America!"

Makes the place out to sound like the circus, doesn't she? Who knew a bank could be such a wild place!

Liv informed me, very quietly of course, that "Dad doesn't really do much work. He just plays on his computer most of the time...."

YARD

We have been dying to get at our yard and do some work on it! This weekend, Chris redid the flower beds on both sides of the front door. They are fairly good sized and had bushes in them that looked as if I gardener on crack had planted them. Poor spacing, mishapen, bare spots, you name it. He did a bunch of transplanting from elsewhere in the yard and then picked up a few new things and planted them, too. It looks so much better! Everything is in shock and a little withered right now, but by next spring it will be just beautiful!

The boys were happy to occupy Chris' transplant holes!

We also got started on clearing the property line so our fence can be installed. The back of our yard has a huge overgrown hedge and several trees that are going to need to come out so Chris and one of our neighbors  worked on clearing that while I cleaned up the flower beds. It is amazing how much nicer it looks, just having all the dead winter stuff gone! 

We were very pleased with our work and ready to do some more....I think this big yard is going to be an ongoing project! Unfortunately, Chris is on his own now. I resigned after I had a horrible reaction to the poiso ivy that I had (unknowingly) been up close and personal with it when I was clearing what I thought were weedy vines. I couldn't even identify it, let alone have any idea what it could actually do to a person! I took this picture about a week into it:

My arms continued to blister and swell until I couldn't bend my wrists or elbows anymore and the infection was so bad it was literally oozing out of my skin and soaking through my shirts! Totally sick. It was just about the grossest thing I have ever seen in my life. It finally cleared up after a couple of weeks and two or three rounds of medication, leaving me with multiple scars on both arms that make me look like I cut myself! I tell ya, I never gave old poison ivy much thought but that stuff is no joke!

OZARKS

On Friday afternoon about 2:00pm, Chris called and wanted to know if I wanted to go camping. The weekend weather was going to be beautiful and he volunteered to take care of "everything" so of course I said, "Yes!" He was home in an hour or so and we were just getting things in the car when the kids came home from school. They were immediately excited, wanting to know what was going on. We threw them in the car with the rest of the gear and off we headed to the Ozarks! Here is our happy travel guide, ready to explore!

It took us a little longer than expected to get to our destination, and we had a little trouble finding a campsite in the dark, but we made it and we had a great night together. We'd had dinner at Pizza Hut on our way so as soon as Dad got the fire going, the kids broke out the marshmallows. Oooh, there are few things in life as good as a S'more.....

Just as it always is when we are camping, the night was long and cold and hard. But the kids loved every minute of it. When dawn came we were outta that tent and on our way to explore the lake. We took the fishing poles and enjoyed the quiet early morning by the water. It was perfect!

Throwin' rocks

"Look, Charlie, like this!"

When it started to warm up, we headed back to camp for a (second) breakfast and to pack things up. The kids loved every minute of our time out there in the trees. (The ticks loved us, too....who knew that SIX of them would come home with us?!) I hope we can do a little more camping now that they are getting bigger. Time goes so slowly and it is amazing how we can almost escape from life, just by setting up a tent!

HAIRCUT

I have to apologize to my boys for this post. Chances are that it will be years before they can forgive me and I completely understand. See,  I had been meaning to get their haircut for a few weeks but just never quite got it done. Until Easter Sunday evening. I had seen enough of the shaggy dogs and took matters into my own, untrained, hands. This was my first mistake, actually thinking for one second that I could cut their hair into something nice and presentable. I had forgotten about the time years ago when I convinced my high-school aged brother to let me cut his hair and he was ridiculed by what he calls "a retard" and had to wear a hat for 6 weeks. Anywho, I couldn't find Chris' clippers but knew that we had another set of clippers for the dog (I know, I know) that were hardly used and I figured they were close enough. Second mistake: I know zip about clippers... people, dog, or otherwise. I went to work on those boys out on the front porch for the world to see. At first everything seemed fine and then all of a sudden, things went terribly wrong. (See photos.) Chris begged me to stop but I couldn't. I thought I could fix them. I just kept at them until there was nothing left to do but stop. And wait patiently for Great Clips to open in the morning so I could order two buzz cuts, S.T.A.T. In the meantime, we renamed the boys Shane and Robby and laughed our guts out everytime we looked at them. Momma dun good, eh boys? No really, I want you guys to know that I was crying on the inside, too, because of my foolishness. And I paid for it the next day when I had to trapse you out into public and admit to the strange lady at the haircut place what had happened to you. The buzz cuts, although I have never been a fan, did wonders for you both and now we have the summer to let things grow out. I really am so sorry. And you have my word that I will never, ever come near you with anything more than hairgel. Promise.

EASTER PHOTOS

When my sister Steph was here over Easter, she took these great pictures of the kids in the backyard. They all turned out cute! And I love that Nick and I were able to have a few special photos just of us:

EASTER WEEKEND

My sister and brother-in-law flew in from Dallas to spend Easter weekend with us and we had so much fun! They started off the visit by donning each of the kids with a Dallas Cowboys jersey, which they all absolutely LOVED! 

Gangstas

On Saturday morning we dyed easter eggs, then went to lunch and checked out all the fun Easter activities that were going on in our outdoor shopping center. The kids held a real live Easter Bunny and Nick loved the little pot-bellied pigs! Later on, Olivia and Steph and I made our favorite Easter treat ever:

These little nests rank right up there with the deviled eggs and whole black olives! They are delicious! We even got Uncle Thad to try them and that man doesn't eat anything mysterious. That night the kids stayed with a babysitter and the four of us went out for a dinner. It was so fun just hanging out with them. I wish they lived closer so we could do it more often.

We got home just in time to help the kids get the Easter Bunny's snack ready and tuck them in bed. 

We stayed up way too late talking and morning always comes early when there is candy involved! We were up at the crack of dawn, following  jelly bean trails to the hidden baskets. 

The kids were nibbling on Peeps and for the longest time could not figure out where the bunny had hidden their eggs! Finally someone saw one out in the backyard and they all dashed outside to find their candy.

 Easter brunch, then church and Easter dinner and the day seemed to be over so fast. We had a relaxing afternoon together before taking Steph and Thad to the airport. It was sad to see them go! Please come visit us again soon! 

Lovin' Uncle Thad and his iphone....