A Happy Birthday for Cienna

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We celebrated Cienna’s 2nd birthday a couple of days ago. As the fifth child, she is frequently showered with love on a daily basis…but she received extra-special attention on her birthday.

Allison gave Cienna her favorite doll. It’s a very well-used doll that Allison had received for her birthday not too long ago. The doll has pen marks all over her head and arms because apparently she felt left out when Allison and Cienna were drawing on themselves a few weeks ago. The excitement in wrapping this special gift up for Cienna was genuine. This doll is a true symbol of sisterly love…and may need to be given back to Allison come Christmas.

Kirsti made Cienna an elephant out of tape she had purchased with her own money not too long ago. She also gave away 25 cents and two pieces of her gum (Cienna passed the gum-chewing test recently and was very thrilled with Kirsti’s gift).

Diggy wrapped up his small Woody doll (which is another generous give-away considering he may ask Santa for the matching Bulls-eye horse in a few months). Later he made her a giraffe out of K-Nex and giraffe-looking fabric that, yes, he’d purchased with his own money a few weeks ago to make himself a pet giraffe.

Kenny, as a big brother of a much younger sister, couldn’t find any exciting give-aways in his stash (he’s already given away most of his “stuff” to younger siblings), so instead, he read books to Cienna, played “Happy Birthday” on his cello for her, made her cupcakes for the evening’s festivities, and sang a nice harmony to “Happy Birthday” just before she blew out her candles (which she did with great success, I might add).

Brent lingered longer at home that morning, enabling Cienna’s siblings enough time to convince her to let them open her presents for her before he left. AND he came home a bit early, enabling Cienna’s dream of riding bikes to the park to come true. Brent pulled her in the bike trailer, pushed her in a swing, walked her across a stream, and held her in his arms as only a father can do.

I awoke near Cienna and fed her that morning like I always do (yes…she is the only nursing two-year-old I’ve ever had). She loves being held on my lap. I carried Cienna around a lot and did all my chores with her like I always do. She loves being my partner. I prepared her favorite meal with black beans and avocados. The other kids were hoping for pizza, but that’s her second favorite. And I pondered and told Cienna how much I love her and how glad I am that she is part of our family…like I always do.

Life wouldn’t be the same without Cienna. She brings great joy to all of us. Our constant hope, but especially on her birthday, is to bring great joy to her, too!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful little girl!

FREE Preschool!

For the past 4 weeks (with more consistency than my shower routine), Kirsten marches with Allison (and occasionally Cienna) down to the basement every day right after morning devotional to start Preschool. She has a colorful table set up next to a bookcase full of school supplies.  (After a few days of sensing her seriousness, and after she cleaned the toys off of the nearby shelves herself, I happily handed over most of the family puzzles, letter games, coloring books, crayons, etc. and assisted Miss Smith in organizing her new classroom shelves to her liking.)

And for at least an hour, I hear my daughters singing songs, reviewing letter sounds, counting, and playing games together. The other day I saw Miss Smith take her class outside for a field trip to collect leaves in the backyard. Then they sat on the trampoline with their clipboards and colored leaf books, giggled, jumped, played duck-duck-goose, and giggled some more.  

And at the end of every day of preschool, Allison marches back up the basement stairs, announces, “I’m home from pre-cool!” and shows me the sticker her teacher gave her that day (and sometimes a coloring page or two). And even though Cienna bounces between me (who plays teacher with the boys while all of this is going on) and the preschool festivities throughout the morning, she always manages to be in on the action when stickers are passed out.   

Twice I have received written progress reports on how my girls are doing. Miss Smith wrote, “Allison is a gud stoodent. Cienna is a gud stoodent too.” And the next day, “Allison and Cienna wer olsoe good in this dae too. I love hou thae liket the games.”

And during the formal sit-down parent/teacher conference with Miss Smith, I was informed that Allison knows all of her letters and sounds quite well…except for “y” and sometimes “w,” she’s learning to sound out 3-letter words, and she can count up to 100, but needs significant help after she gets past 13. Miss Smith is a little concerned about Allison’s occasional goofy behavior, which only improves if Miss Smith promises to play “The Betsy Game” (a pretend game that lasts another hour with Mother (Kirsti), Sister (Allison), Baby Betsy (doll), and Lacy (a toy dog)) after preschool is over.     

Miss Smith said Cienna knows some shapes and colors, loves to sing “Wheels on the Bus,” and can repeat any letter or number, but can’t count on her own yet…I should assist her in lengthening her attention span and encourage more consistent attendance if I want to see improvement in math.   

I’ve heard Kirsten say that she’d like to be a teacher some day. (I think she’ll have 12 years experience before going to college.)

I’ve heard Allison proudly tell many random people, “I go to Pre-cool, and Kirssi is my teacher.”

And, yes, Pajama Day comes around quite often at this school. 

I’ve seen Cienna perched in a chair at the colorful table vigorously coloring away, only glancing up to ensure she’s still accurately mimicking her fellow classmates.

And I’ve also heard Kirsten proclaim more than once and in a very serious tone, “Even though preschool is down in the basement where we play some of our other games, it’s not a game. It’s for REAL.”

And it’s all FREE!!

It seems to be a winning educational experience for all parties involved. 

I’ve heard President Obama talk about the need for educational reform…I wonder if there are any other first-graders and preschoolers out there who would like to band together with Miss Smith and take this revolutionary preschool idea to Washington.

I would back them up.

To the EAST and To the WEST

Hello again!

Though we've had a long drought in posting updates, please be assured that besides a rare summer stomach flu (which managed to hit all 7 of us and may have been related to the salmonilla outbreak a few weeks ago) we have NOT dropped off the face of the earth, but have instead enjoyed a summer full of swimming, playing, Six Flags Great America-ing, visiting with friends and relatives, and traveling nearly coast to coast (via mini-van without DVD player).

Here are the brief stats of our summer adventures...
Total miles driven: 5546.38 miles

Number of hours in the car: 87 hours, 48 minutes

Number of states visited: 17 States + Ontario, Canada

Total $$ in parking tickets issued (all in NYC): $200 ($90 was refuted by the accused)

Approx. $$ spent on tolls (all East of the Mississippi....hmmm): $60

Number of family and friends visited: We lost track...over 100

Number of hours spent in swim suits: 40 (except for Cienna who spent more like 1000 hours in her swim suit because it was one of the obsessions that come as part of the "Nearly-2-Virus")

Favorite new rides at GA this summer: Brent: Superman; Amy: Raging Bull; Kenny: Raging Bull, front row; Diggy: Giant Drop; Kirsti: The Whizzer; Allison: Dorothy's Rosie Teacups; Cienna: Yogi's Yahoo River (aka Mini-Boats...as long as the song "Move it, Move It" was playing in the background)

And the pics...

To The EAST: In May, we explored several Eastern states en route to a fabulous LDS home-school conference in Virginia.

First Stop: Kirtland, Ohio. My little history buffs and I loved seeing and feeling the spirit of the early pioneers.

We LOVED Newel K. Whitney's store where Joseph and Emma Smith lived for a short time.

Second Stop: Niagra Falls, NY and (after walking across the connecting bridge) Canada.

Brent took the older kids on the Maid of the Mist.

Third Stop: The Sacred Grove in Palmyra, NY.

On a peaceful spring Sunday morning before church, we found beauty all around us...it filled our insides, too.

Fourth Stop: NYC, NY.

Our stroll through Central Park with Kirsten's namesake (my BYU roommate, Kirsten) was quite a contrast from the Sacred Grove...but yet another place to observe millions of God's Creations. Kenny even left his watch in Central Park overnight and it was STILL THERE the next morning! (But we would've traded the $200 in parking tickets for a stolen watch any day...except for the fact that a happy 9-year-old is priceless.)

We visited the World Trade Center site and rode the ferry past the Statue of Liberty.

I wonder what the man going up the escalator is thinking...his expression is representative of the MANY looks we received upon arriving in the Big Apple...a big place with lots of LITTLE spaces, most of which a family of 7 with a BIG double stroller barely fit (like our hotel elevator where we had to fold the stroller up in order to close the door...and half the family had to wait for another elevator).

Whose children are running through the fountain in their clothes?? So many crazy things happen in NYC!

Fifth Stop: Wilmington, DE.

We rested. We played with second cousins. We ate ice cream. The girls played with doll houses. The boys caught a skunk. We all watched Adam carefully, and oh so bravely, release the skunk.

Kirsten and Olivia.

Sixth Stop: Washington, D.C.


By the time we made it to Washington, D.C. (which was the hottest day of the May trip), even the White House wasn't as exciting as the sprinklers that happened to come on as we were resting our sore feet and deciding which monumental attractions to skip because we just couldn't walk another site-seeing step. DC will have to be the first stop next time. :)





Seventh Stop: Buena Vista, Virginia

At the end of the East Coast Trip, we met Cody and Utahna Albright (who drove up to VA from Mississippi with their 3 kids) at the LDS home-school conference on the Southern Virginia Campus. Brent and Cody (childhood BFFs) played for 2 days with the 8 kids while Utahna and I attended classes all day and swapped notes into the night.
The men and the kids visited a drive-through safari, which seemed like a great opportunity for a family of animal lovers to get up-close and personal with a variety of beasts. But when the "wild" animals, who are conditioned to charge at every vehicle window in search of buckets full of food, started licking the windows, the great adventure turned into a living nightmare for the majority of the Smith kids. No wonder Cienna was VERY scared of Bugs Bunny at Great America a few weeks later.



After a 10-day trip and saying good-bye to dear friends...we drove straight home.


And to the WEST:


I have my mother to thank for the success of this trip. She accompanied me as the driver of the mini-van trek across I-80. Due to work constraints, Brent flew in for just a few days for his brother's wedding in Salt Lake City.



My Mom and I had a great time chatting, visiting several of her siblings along the way in Iowa and Colorado (who fed us and gave us warm beds to sleep in), listening to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," feeding the kids suckers (the only reason Allison and Cienna were counting down until "The Long Car Ride"), examining liscense plates, and tolerating the kids' discovery that truck drivers enjoy honking at children who excitedly pump their arms up and down up against their windows.

A Utah trip also means we get to visit with my brother, Brian, and his wife Ashley. And the kids get to play with cousin Kylie!

Kylie has the perfect huge bean bags in her basement for playing "Belly Flops."

Brent's brother, Kevin (and new wife Brigette), got married on Aug. 3 in the Salt Lake City, UT Temple. It was a privilege to witness their true love and happiness. Congrats to the newlweds!

Kirsten admired Brigette's dress while Kenny and Diggy admired Kevin's taste in picking a beautiful bride.

Cienna and her Daddy outside the Salt Lake Temple

A Thousand Thanks to all who housed us and fed us!!

Seize the Day

One of the many simple reasons why we all LOVE home-schooling...

For the past 2 years, the weeks before and after Spring Break were sunny and in the 60s and 70s while the week OF Spring Break was primarily snowy and in the 30s and 40s...Crazy Chicago Weather!!

Recent (and not so recent) Happenings

Now that the taste of fresh wheat bread has worn off a bit...(kind of like how I can't stand bologna sandwiches even now because I had to eat them in EVERY single lunch in 2nd grade...no offense mom, I completely understand now!) (and for the record...it's not the fresh wheat bread that isn't devoured, it's the second and third day bread that sits for a week on the kitchen counter that isn't quite as tempting anymore. And since I haven't worked daily wheat bread into the schedule (and never will), we've cut back to bi-monthly wheat bread-making)...I have a few extra minutes to post some updates!

Cienna finally decided she likes Cheerios...sort of (she's in 5th place among her siblings for this milestone...but who keeps track of milestones anyways?!). After eating a few bites, and spilling of course, her cute, little 18-month-old brain tells her cute, little 18-month-old mouth to yell, "Wag! Wag!" (i.e. rag), and she spends the rest of breakfast cleaning her tray, spoon, face and lap.

Brent brought two princesses to the Ball this year. They had a great time dancing into the night.

The local second graders put on a great show about kids who love Saturday...a day off to relax. Diggy auditioned and was chosen to sing a solo about a boy who hates taking piano lessons. And for a boy who doesn't even have the word "hate" in his vocabulary...he was wonderful! He really had a great time rehearsing and is still singing and dancing to all the songs at home, especially when it's time to clean-up...

"This day was supposed to be MY day. Why, then, am I doing the chores?

Spoil it, by scrubbing the toilet, cleaning a bath tub, or mopping the floor!"

I must admit I find myself humming right along with the kids.

Kenny turned 9! We had a great time bowling...

And tap-dancing in the fancy shoes, of course.

Cienna discovered that she LOVES snow. And anytime we went outside to get in the car, her cute, little 18-month-old brain insisted on having her cute, little 18-month-old feet walk through the snow for longer than any of the older brains in the family could handle, so we had to rotate turns getting excited about having our feet sink down in the snow next to hers.

She was sad to see the snow melt and kept going to the window, repeating, "No?" (which when said with a pleasant connotation as opposed to screaming, means 'snow').

And then...Cienna discovered that the glorious thing about having snow melt is that MUD appears. And for a cute, little 18-month-old girl who LOVES to eat dirt, she was once again in heaven!

(This is an experimenting face...not a sad face.)

And I discovered, once again, why I LOVE our drawer-full of hand-me-down/Wal-mart sale-rack clothes.

From Our Hearts to Yours…

Here’s to a wonderful 2009!

Brent’s adventures in 2009 have included another week at Scout Camp, business trips to Singapore and China (where he tasted 100-yr.-old eggs and climbed the Great Wall), and the excitement of coming home to 5 kids who bombard him with joy every day when he walks in the door.

Amy LOVES her role as wife, mother, and chief educator of her children more every day (okay..maybe not every day, but measured over time, the average is definitely going up). In 2009, one of the only years of married life that haven’t included moving or having a baby/foster children, she’s used her spare time to add homemade wheat bread to the weekly routine.

Harry, I mean Kenny, (8 ) is progressing very rapidly in school, loves attending Cub Scouts, and is a budding musician, talented artist, and successful business partner (The Smith Brothers’ [Recycle] Bucket Service…their customers even gave Christmas tips!). He spends his spare time reading, drawing, building robots and enjoying his siblings.

Diggy (7) excels in out-of-the-box thinking, loyalty, peace-making, efficiency, money management and preparedness. He designed a 1-hr. kit as a back-up for his 72-hr. kit. His many creative, useful projects are strategically placed throughout the house (including the freezer).

Kirsti (5) is a great reader and enjoys seeing what “school” is like in her half-day kindergarten class. She loves learning to play the piano and the violin. Kirsti grinds wheat for mom, plays dolls with her sisters, and has a fabulous English accent whenever it’s time to be Hermione.

Allison (2) has mastered the transition from observer to active participant in all the Smith Family Pretending Games. Her great memory helps her name all of the alphabet letters, rattle off the day’s happenings to dad, sing lots of songs, and repeat all of her older siblings’ phrases like “I promise I will” and “But I don’t feel like cleaning” complete with proper voice inflection and body drama at all the appropriate moments.

While Cienna (15 mos.) is the only one in the family who truly would have loved coal in her stocking (she still searches the fireplace for snacks, which caused us to guard it with the baby gate, which caused a huge raucous about how Santa was going to make it safely inside the house, which caused lots of secret grins from his elves (aka Kenny) who know his tricky ways, etc., etc.), she is an angel who carefully observes and mimics her peculiar siblings (even with words like, "Why"), runs to her mother for refuge (very often), chatters with her “Dada” on the phone (with lots of jibberish and some real words already!), and still loves her beans and vegetables (more than cookies and candy).

May 2010 be full of more happy (and even some character-stretching) adventures for us all!

A Hogwarts Halloween

Halloween is the perfect time of year for REAL wizards (along with Hedwig, the Owl) to mingle with the Muggles on Eastwood Drive and remain undetected. Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Hedwig paraded the neighborhood (and the Brookfield Zoo a week earlier) casting spells and collecting memories.

Mrs. Weasley (Grandma Van Camp) hand-crafted fine robes and hats for the young Hogwarts students prior to their adventures. And because Diagon Alley's prices on this year's supply list exceeded the students' allotted Galleons, they opted to create their own ties, wands, and Nimbus 2000s using Dumbledore's secret supplies.

Mr. Weasley (Grandpa Van Camp) accompanied the group up and down endless streets on the chilly night, using his superior knowledge and keen observation of Muggles to strategically skip houses and maximize their time and energy. (Unfortunately, Harry had left the Marauder's Map in his trunk back at Gryffindor Tower.) Hermione's time-turner did help a little by adding an extra hour to the evening.

Hedwig happily fluttered around, but was grateful to shed some of her feathers as soon as possible.

While at the zoo, the wizards even had time to study up for their Magical Herbs Class.

And rescue their mascot from the Slytherin Serpent.

Professor Sprout even allowed them to carve faces into their final projects (as long as they helped clean up the Great Hall afterwards).

Happy Halloween!