Funny Bone

Summer is coming to an end

The Smitty's have survived

And

By Smitty's

I mostly mean

Me

Swimming on Monday and Wednesday mornings

BEFORE work

Basketball Tuesday and Thursday evenings

AFTER work

AND

Swim meets on Saturday mornings

Basketball on Saturday mid-mornings/afternoons

I am one tired Mama

And

James is one tired Dad

And

Calista is one happy girl

Basketball was our first experience with a team sport

Calista's cardiologist FINALLY cleared her to

 Play this year

She is a "baller" in our neighborhood park

However, the games she is famous for are

Horse and Around the World

The thing we learned the most was

She LOVES defense

Even when she was playing offense

James and I would laugh in the stands

Not because she was funny, but

Because the look on her face when she would

Elbow the heck out of the person she was guarding

Was priceless

Calista's mean face is one we will

NEVER forget

She would do this elbow move again and again 

Even on offense

She would also get very mad

When James and I would yell for her

From the stands

So mad in fact a couple of times

She stopped elbowing

Looked directly at us,

Took her mouth guard out

AND

Mouthed "BE QUIET!"

She also did this once to Raylyn while
She was standing on the free throw line
Some people may see this as sassy

I see this as Moxie
What's a girl without Moxie
Boring

Her team was terrifc

She has grown up with most of the kids

I loved watching them play their hearts out

I am sure Calista will figure out

Offense and Defense by the time
High School BBall rolls around

Here are some of my favorite pictures of

The 2010 Sundevil Season

We LOVE you Coach Loftis!

Klickitat Street

Oh Ramona Quimby I have always loved you

I was really excited when Calista Smith Age 8 began to love you too

I love how you go against the stream and still play make believe

Those are my favorite kinds of girls.....

Tonight I surprised Cali girl with Ramona and Beezus with one of her BFF's Jenna

We stocked up on $1 candy from Walgreens and we were off

We had a very elegant dinner at my friend Wendy's, kids meals all around

We were the only ones in the theater at first so of course a game had to be played

My ONLY rule was if any other person were to step foot into the theater

They had to sit down and be respectable young ladies

They agreed and took off bare foot

I do believe their game involved a rabbit who was a vampire, a princess, and a wizard

I am really not sure how those characters fit together

I do know there was a lot of running and giggling involved

I hung out with my Boston Baked Beans

The movie was great, everything we expected from Ramona

We decided it was a combination of several books

A terrifical night with my favorite kind of girls

Anarchy!!!!!!!

Mr. Smitty is away for work in Jacksonville, FL meeting the new group he is supervising.

He misses us I am sure of it......he has been sending me pictures such as these:

Really is there just ONE alligator that you can't feed????

You can feed ALL the others but just the ONE?????

Tonight he took a dinner cruise on a yacht and got to see alligators, dolphins, and manatee's, NICE!

So Calista and I decided it is ANARCHY in our house until he returns.....

Well maybe not anarchy per say.....just Girls Gone Wild.....

Well maybe not Girls Gone Wild per say.....just pure Mama and Cali girl fun.

Soon school will start and the schedule will be this:

Mama up at 6 and showers and stumbles around for a bit

Cali up at 6:30 (after Mama tries several times to awake her from her slumber, it goes like this, "Cali girl time to get up." or "Rise and shine Skoochie." or "Blue-Eyed Girl time for our day to begin." or "Up and at 'em George McFadden." or the ever popular "Calista we are late, time to get up honey hurry hurry hurry!!!!")

Mama feeds Cali and reminds her to please not be grumpy it will ruin her day (at least 18 times Cali needs to be reminded, she is not a morning person)

Mama reminds Cali to please brush her teeth with tooth paste at least 27 times

Mama and Cali discuss what outfit Cali will be wearing and sometimes have a disagreement about it....I mean why can't she wear a mini and a tank to school with knee socks???

Mama and Cali leave at 7:30 and go straight to Bucks

Mama and Cali sit in the SMES parking lot usually singing songs on the radio

Mama drives up to the gate at 7:50 and her happy singing girl gets out

Mama goes to work and takes her lunch at 2:30

Mama goes for her second Bucks run and then straight to SMES and picks up her girl

Mama stands outside waiting for Cali (who is normally the last kid out) while she sweats her b**bs off

Cali girl gets out of school and says she had a good day no matter what

When we finally get to the car, she breaks down what REALLY happened

Which kids are mad at each other and what teacher may have been mean

Mama drops Cali off at Nana's

Mama makes it back to work at 3:30

Mama gets off at 5 and picks up her girl

Mama and Cali do homework together

Mama makes dinner (sometimes Daddy makes dinner)

Cali takes a shower

Cali reads and/or plays

Mama tucks her girl in

Mama goes to bed

Then it all starts over the next morning.......

Sometimes you need a little Anarchy!

Last night we had cereal and turkey bacon for dinner and stayed up late watching Tivo'd shows

WILD

Tonight Calista made dinner all by herself

Garlic, Fresh Mozzarella, Feta, Oregano, Alfredo White Wine Sauce (that she made), and Chicken

All on a Honey Wheat Crust

She had fun making it, however, she said she didn't get to the "taste level" she wanted

TASTE LEVEL???? She is 9!

She was going for the California Pizza Kitchen frozen Garlic Chicken pizza "taste level" she had at Raylyn's house this weekend.

She cracks me up.

I ate two pieces, the taste level was just fine for me.

We took a break while the pizza was cooking to go outside and dance in the rain.

While spinning I hit the curb and fell against our car.....I am graceful what can I say.

Calista thought she was going to pee her pants because she was laughing so hard.

We were both wearing our glasses so by the time we ran back to the door we couldn't see a thing because they were covered with rain drops.

Good times.

Then we moved on to facial peels, deep conditioning, and pedi's

My Blue-Eyed Girl looked amazing even with the facial mask on and sun burnt eyes...

I looked like this

Sorry dudes, I am taken......

The pedi's turned out great.

I don't do pedi's anywhere but home.

I don't like people to look at or touch my feet.

Calista doesn't count, she can look and touch and she did amazing.

I did her toes, I don't think I am as good at the drawing pen as she is.

Our feet look exactly the same, mine are the pink toes with blue and yellow hearts....

Then we got to peel the masks off and Calista thought it was gross because we looked like snakes and she loved it.

While we did all of that Sookie and Martini did this:

Sookie misses James and barks all night

Calista and I miss him too

We have been wearing his shirts to bed to smell him

He comes home Thursday......

Tomorrow I am surprising my Blue-Eyed Cook with Romona and Beezus for a "late night" movie

7 PM on a week night!

We are taking Jenna with us to have another girl to go wild with.

Peace Out.....

Mama Smitty

To Infinity and Beyond.....

James and I got married 10 years ago today

It wasn't a dream wedding

It wasn't a dream honeymoon

It wasn't perfect at all

BUT

It was fantasmical to James and myself.

That my friends is all that matters.

Lots of silly things happend 10 years ago today

We laughed because that is all we could do

Laugh and hold on to each other.

I have heard a crazy wedding = a great marriage full of happiness

I didn't even make that up!

I love him

He is mine

I am his

I like it that way

I love him because every time we travel

he makes sure there is a Starbucks near by for my Green Tea

I love him because he is an amazing daddy

I love him because he can make me laugh at the drop of a hat

I love him because I can make him laugh at anything

I love him because he has a freckle on his lip

I love his gray blue eyes

I love that he loves that I love being a Mama

I love him because he loves me with no eyebrows drawn on

I love him because he is big and makes me feel tiny

I love him because I can say out of the blue "Catch me!" and run accross the kitchen and jump like I am an ice skater and

he does catch me and raises me above his head like we are performing at the Olympics

I love that even though this Olympic routine isn't his favorite activity he will do it over and over until I am happy and can't stop laughing

I love him because he still thinks I am hot

I love him because he his hot

I love him because I told him not to buy me flowers this year

like he has for the past 9 years,

to please save the money for our trip to Vegas

He bought me my favorite perfume instead, Daisy

which is technically a flower....just not flowers.

I love him because what he posted on my FB wall today because he knew I would laugh:

‎"10 years ago I mumbled our wedding vows and made words up because I couldn't understand our spanish speaking pastor. We laughed the whole time as he stared at us like we were crazy. The on our honeymoon the air conditioner broke in our room, we got attacked by a centipede and I had to break into our hotel room with a n...ail because we locked ourselves out we were naked. May not sound perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The ten years in between haven't perfect by some standards I guess, but I can say I wouldn't go back and change anything. I love you and happy 10th my love."

Followed by this:

"It was almost 10 years ago that our baby girl cali was born. I remember that evening you were lying in the hospital bed and looked so beautiful. I leaned over and kissed you and whispered my special sweet love words in your ear. I saw I tear come from each of your eyes and I thought, ya I am smooth. You were so choked ...up you couldn't talk. It was at that moment I realised my hand I was leaning on you with was firmly placed on your freshly stapled incision. Smooth. I am very lucky your into romantic comedies and not fairytales."

I love him for thinking I was the funniest girl in the world to write this on his FB wall:

"Oh my love...remember our first Valentines Day. you were so smooooth....I surprised with a weekend get away. you had me the moment you did a flip from one bed to the other....you farted and your shorts came down and you hit the opposite wall which made you fall backwards onto the bed bouncing and then falling to the ground....oh memories of my sweet LOVA and his love ritual moves ♥

 I never knew a man of your stature could be so nimble and flexible......"

I love how all of those stories were true and we still love each other

I love how I can think of a million things I love about him

I love how I can't stop saying love.....

He took his girls to dinner tonight to celebrate together as a family

 here are some pictures...I promise I will stop saying LOVE now

Okay so I lied....

I love how he hates pictures but he still lets me take a million of them.

To Infinity and Beyond

Mrs. Smitty

(and proud of it)

P.S. My camera came back to life...it's a Christmas Miracle!

Blue Ribbons and Small Miracles

Our Blue-Eyed Girl won two Blue ribbons (to match her eyes)

She was so happy and excited it was great.

We are so lucky and proud to be her parents.

She won these ribbons in the

50yd Butterfly

AND

50yd Breast Stroke

Most of the kids her age on her team shy away from these two strokes.

Not our girl, she likes to swim against the stream.

While all the other 9 year old girls dig freestyle and back stroke, she could do without.

That my friends is why she rocks.
This picture had to be taken for the Nana and immediately sent to her.

Speaking of rocking....that is what my sister from another mister may be doing at this moment.

Rocking one or both of her babies to sleep.

Steve and Cassie were blessed with a baby miracle,

Mason Alexander Eicherly.

Cassie was so amazing, she could have given birth at home by herself.

Of course, Cassie would disagree, because that is how she rolls.

Humble is her middle name.

I do believe she may have known more about what she needed than the dr.

I am so proud to be her friend.

Now that we know that he is a Mason, it is time to shop!

We love you Eicherly's!

8lbs 3oz dropped from Heaven

Ridin' Dirty.....

Mr. Smitty surprised his girls with a Cali get-away.....puppies and all!

It started out lovely.....we drove at night after a long day of work for both of us.

James snuggling with Sookie while he was driving, NICE!

Calista kept us entertained by her mad rapping skills....

Who knew she knew every word to several rap hits such as: H to the Izzo, Ridin' Dirty, Jiggity Wit It, Busta Move, Run this Town, New York, Slim Shady......

She was so cute singing all the lyrics and when the song was censored you would hear her sing BEEP.

When we asked her what Ridin' Dirty meant she said, "Well obviously it means he needs to take a shower."

Right, obviously!

Mr. Smitty and I held hands the whole way there, like we always do (please don't vomit in your mouth).

The puppies were very good in the car they loved it.

Sookie laid on Calista and my lap was Martini's safe haven. 

Part Lab part Bat maybe??? We still love her.

Yes she is a scraggle muffin, but we love her too.

We stopped more than normal for pit stops....James hates pit stops and normally only lets us stop once.

BUT we had the puppies, and Calista and I didn't mind the extra stops one bit!

Sookie didn't go to the bathroom at any of the stops, she only likes to go potty at home or at Nana's.

Calista and I had mini photo shoots at each stop...don't tell Mr. Smitty he doesn't need to know.

Calista rapped to us while we tried to fall asleep and on Saturday morning at about 4am I think all of us including the puppies finally made it to dreamland.  My stomach was already sore from laughing so hard, that kid cracks me up!

Saturday morning I woke up to Sookie laying on top of me snuggling (this is my usual wake up) only this time while she was on me she found the window right next to us and looked outside.  It was the cutest thing ever when she realized what the world looked like in they day time, so much to explore.  Her tail never stopped wagging the whole weekend.

Saturday we spent the day at Del Mar and Carlsbad checking out their several dog beaches and comparing which was better.  Sookie wasn't sure of the water and Martini just wanted to snuggle me....

Calista was of course in Utopia....she is a dolphin at heart.

Sookie discovered she could dig in the sand (and not get in trouble) so she was the happiest dog in the world!

When Calista came up to dig with her, she was even happier!

Then Cali started a boogie boarding marathon and Sookie and Martini didn't take their eyes off of their girl the whole time.

That is Cali with her board while Sookie is watching and Cali drawing in the sand with the watchful eye of Tini.

We were there all day, Calista didn't skip a beat with her board, she was a natural.  I was so proud of her, proud to be her Mom because she rocked it!

After a LONG 8 hours on the beaches, we decided to head back to the hotel and rest a bit before heading back out....fun was had by all.

Calista discovered snails, and we made a friend, which James was scared of.

The snail made Sookie happy....she didn't want to eat it, she just liked watching it.

Later that night Calista and I had a case of the laughs and couldn't stop.

The next day we decided to go to Coronado Island for the 4th.  It started off rough....
Sure we had to park 2 miles away and carry everything I packed (which was way too much)......
Also, Sookie finally decided to go to the bathroom #2!  In front of a 2 million dollar house, while James was carrying the canopy and the cooler full of ice and drinks.
While they stopped to "drop the kids off at the pool" Cailsta dropped half of the things she was carrying.
I set everything down to help her and I left something important, MY PURSE!
I didn't realize it was gone until we finally got to the beach and we set everything down to figure out where we were going to set up.
James went back to find it and I decided I was going to be super woman and drag everything 1/2 mile down to the dog beach to help out. 
It didn't work out very well.
I found a spot set the blankets down and had Cali walk over to save it.
While I tried to drag the rest of the things through the sand I fell down because the load was too heavy.
That is when I decided to stop and wait for James.
James came back upset because my purse was GONE.
We walked over to Calista with the rest of the things and I decided to do some Nancy Drew action and find my purse.
While I was walking back to
 the scene of the crime, my Mama called James' phone VERY upset.
She said somebody had called her and said they had my purse and she was worried out of her mind...she thought I got kidnapped.
Thank goodness for honest people.
I walked back to the house and there was a very nice rich couple, their house keeper found my purse and brought it inside.
They called my Mama and then got upset because she was so upset and thought I had gotten kidnapped as well.
Thank goodness for my Mama as well!
All of that happened, but we were still together and having fun.

Calista boogie boarded....ALL day.  She loved it, loved it so much she didn't care that the water was cold and it was in the 60's outside...she also didn't want to stop.  I had to make her stop and get her warm clothes on before the fireworks.

She also got burried in the sand by her father and puppy.

Sookie still just wanted to watch at the water and not touch it.

Martini decided she was sick of sitting on my lap and loved chasing the waves.

I love it when she decides she wants to act like a dog and not a human, those moments are few and far between.

When I finally was the mean mom and made Calista change we decided to go for a walk through the fancy neighborhood and maybe find something hot to eat.

The something hot to eat was not found, but we had fun walking and dreaming about living in the fancy houses, they all look like a craft project from Hobby Lobby.

White fences, red and blue shutters and flowers everywhere.

The fireworks were amazing.

We could see all 7 shows at once.

It was great, also we were the only ones left on dog beach.

We had a private beach all to ourselves!

So, Calista and I had a photo shoot and we all ran around the beach like crazy people (and dogs).

After this picture, I am sad to say my camera died.

Calista trying to be helpful, packed a bag with my camera and an open bottle of water.

We will be having a funeral any day now.

When we woke up the next day, we all could barely walk.

Calista from the boogie boarding.

James and I felt like we were in a boot camp walking miles in the sand.

The car ride was a VERY long one on the way home, 9 hours to be exact.

We were ALL ridin' dirty, even though we showered, there was so much sand in the car, we may never be clean again.

However, we are the Smitty's and much like the Lampoon's our craziness always ends up fabulous.

xoxox

Mrs. Sparky