Science Center Photo Treasure Hunt

My Mom recently gave us a membership to the local science museum. We have been three times and we plan on going several more times; it is really a fun place. I do worry that the kids will start saying, "been there, done that, not interested," so this last visit I took close-up photos of the things that we see there. The above is my attempt at making our own photo treasure hunt. Some of them are easy and a few are pretty hard. Hopefully it will get my kids seeing things that they may have missed and add some fun along the way. I will let you know how it turns out.

The roses

A picture of the roses Andrew gave me as requested by Shelley.

The Melting Pot

Tonight Andrew and I went out on a date to celebrate our anniversary. We haven't gone out on a date without the kids for a long time because babysitters are just too costly. Now that my mom lives close by us, we were able to ask her to babysit at the grandma rate(lots of hugs and kisses from the kids which was paid in full). So at 5:30 we began our date.

Andrew and I decided that we would eat at The Melting Pot, a chain restaurant that specializes in fondue. It is a bit pricey but with the special discount on the babysitting, we were able to splurge a little bit. We decided on the four course dinner and it was all fabulous, especially the dessert, mmmmm. One of the things that I loved about the restaurant was that the booths are very private (I could not see any customers from where I sat). This made it feel more romantic/cozy which was the perfect atmosphere for our date. It lasted about 2.5 hours and Andrew and I had a great time. We arrived home at 9:30 with our two youngest asleep and the other two were snuggling with Gigi. Ella was a delight according to all, which was an unexpected surprise. Same time, same place next year?

PS-Andrew wrote me a beautful love note, gave me a dozen gorgeous pinkish orange roses, and I will be getting a new door for my office/hobby room. He spoils me!

11 years and 4 kids later . . .

Today, Andrew and I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary. (Happy Anniversary Honey!) The photo above is our engagement picture. I don't have any wedding photos on my computer so this will have to do.

In honor of our anniversary, I would like to give you list of why our marriage is so successful.

Andrew does all of the outside chores and loves it.
Andrew does the laundry, including the folding.
Andrew gives me plenty of time for myself (bookclub, cooking, crafting, shopping, etc).
Andrew gets the kids ready for Church on Sunday and helps with bedtime routines.
Andrew does what I ask without complaining and without much delay, if any.
Andrew supports me in whatever I do, even if he thinks it's nutty.
Andrew eats the meals I make and never complains, even if he has grounds to do so.
Andrew takes care of the kids in the middle of the night(i.e. when they are sick, when they have bad dreams, etc) so that I can get my sleep.
Andrew lets me control the thermostat.
Andrew will go to the grocery store if I don't feel like it.
Andrew bought me a van when he really didn't want one (the Corvettes were right next to the minivans, how cruel!).
Andrew gives me flowers, buys me jewelry, and loves to surprise me.


Seriously, how hard could it be to love a guy like that? Andrew is the reason we have been happily married for 11 years and counting. Love him!

Pretty Good

Today I took the kids to the science museum in the area. Our friends, the Judds, came along. Their son, Charlie, is turning 7 this week. On the way in the entrance Brianna said "Boy, I'm good" (in relation to what I don't know). Charlie quickly said, "Brianna you're not good, you are pretty good because you are pretty and you're good." His mom and I had a cute chuckle. A little too smooth for 7 years old though don't you think?

What a busy weekend!

Hello all! I am so looking forward to tomorrow and just resting. We have been so busy playing and working HARD! Friday night was all about playing. It was girl's night out with Brianna, myself, and my mom. We went out to dinner at an Asian restuarant and then we saw the movie Nancy Drew. We all loved the movie and had lots of laughs. Personally I wouldn't mind Brianna wanting to be a little bit like her. We didn't get home until 10 at night, but Brianna sure enjoyed feeling a little bit more grown up.

Today was all about working hard. One of the things on my to do list was to organize the garage so that we could get at least one car in it. With the weather heating up it would be so nice not to have the car so hot when we get in it. Plus I really need to be able to find things that were hiding in the garage. When I woke up at 8 I discovered that Andrew had cleared out everything from the garage so that we could sort it and organize. I love this guy! Andrew is really a hard worker and he loves getting up on a Saturday mornings and getting stuff done.

For the next 9 hours we sorted, organized, cleaned and tossed stuff out. Then we put in a pegboard system for Andrew's workshop, put hooks in the ceiling rafters to hang bikes, installed many other tool organizers, and put together a shelf. We still need more shelves and a workbench table but that was enough to get us started. It was definitely hard work but the end results were so worth it. I can fit my 'new' van in the garage, I found Brianna's missing doll, and Andrew can find all of his tools (well at least the ones that are the pegboard right now). We have completed about 90% of the job and it feels so good. The neighbors told us though that we were organizing much too soon after getting here.

It is fun to see our to-do list shrinking. What's left now is hanging up pictures, cleaning out the attic spaces, putting shelves in the attic, and putting away the rest of the stuff in boxes on the attic shelves. Then we will officially be unpacked! Finally!

Welcome to our new blog home!

Welcome to our new blog home! About 10 months ago I started the blog homespunsparkles.blogspot.com. I started it for a friend, Devanie, who has been blogging for a long time and asked me to set one up. I never really thought that I would share the site with anyone besides her. When I realized how easy it was to use the blog, I began to use it more and I started sharing it with others . Well it has become a huge hit. I love that our friends and family can keep up with what is going on with our lives and 'watch' our kids grow up. However, I don't like having to explain 'homespunsparkles' and watching Andrew roll his eyes everytime he shares the web address. So now we have a new blog home with a new name, chosen by both Andrew and myself. It is smithdiaries.blogspot.com. Bookmark it and check back often. You can still see all of our old posts at homespunsparkles.blogspot.com by clicking the link on the right.