dishwashing divas.....

I have been trying , really trying, not to say "no" just because it is the easy way out. You know what I mean.... "mom, can we finger paint?" - NO. "mom can we play in the mud" -NO. But really why do I say no? Is it because all I am thinking in the back of my head is.. that's just one more thing for me to clean up. Is that really a good enough reason? I have been really trying. Kids are kids, they need to do some crazy,messy stuff.

So yesterday the first request of the day came. "mom, can Olivia and I take a shower....with our clothes on?" I immediately said no. But then I remembered my new commitment. I yelled back at Madison that it was OK. I heard her yell at Olivia " HURRY, SHE SAID YESSSSS" they were all giggles and played in the shower and bath fully clothed for a good hour!

Then at supper time..."mom can we have a restaurant here tonight? We want you to be the waitress and we will be at the table... You need to carry a tray." OK. so there I stood tray in hand waiting on the little miss smiths, and there dear baby! At one point Olivia raised her hand and said "mam, we will need some ketchup". Too Funny. When the meal was done they said that they loved the food and the chicken was very good!

then today... can we do the dishes? There were no dishes. actually, I had just finished cleaning the kitchen... but being the good mom that I am trying to be, I said yes! So we got out clean dishes to wash... they played for literally hours, the washed bath toys, all of the Tupperware, they made soap mustaches..... but most of all they had fun.

Yea, so I have had a few rivers to clean up inside, some soggy clothes on the bathroom floor, some food orders and maybe a few more chores, but man has it been fun to see them be so surprised at a yes!

Today I heard Madison say to Olivia.. "I hope it rains because I think mommy would let us go outside and play in it...with our clothes on!!!"

no wonder it was so quiet....

I came up the last night after thinking that things were way to quiet.... how sweet is this. Jed was watching the game in bed and both girls found their daddy. You just have to love these moments. Can I just tell you that one of the biggest blessings in life is having a husband who loves the time he gets to spend with his kiddos. Thanks Jed for being such a great dad! The girls adore you!

yummy veggies...

here is what we are eating allot of these days! Jed and I are down more then 20 pounds combined in the first 30 days....we will continue on for another 60 days and hopefully another combined 20 pounds a month!! To see what we are doing visit www.beachbody.com and check out Power 90. Off to bed...need to be up at 6 am to exercise!!! UUGGGHHHH

Keep you posted!

a good day after yesterdays storm, thank God...

SWEET Maddie Grace

Olivia JOY

the new invention... I think the girls think it is allot better then Libby does!

the girls and I have had a great day... Lord knows that we needed it after World War III last night. Why is it that some days everyone is just NAUGHTY? In turn them being naughty makes me naughty!! Jed is gone for 3 days on business. It never fails that bedtimes are everything but pleasant when he is gone. I know that allot of it is because my patience is at a low point at 5 PM when the "witching hours", as I call them begin. You that are mothers know exactly what I am talking about. The point at which if one more person whines, begs, looks crossed eyed, talks back, or says " I am hungry" or " I need..." one more time you will burst.... And wouldn't you know that is the point that my dear husband comes home everyday.. ( love you Jed and am sorry for everything that you endure with me!) I feel like I am patient, or at least start the day out that way.... by the hour I feel the storm coming. Well last night IKE blew over the Smith home. And there was devastation! I will not go into to many details, I will just tell you that it was ugly. The most disobedient, fearless, bull headed children resided here last night. And you know the part that makes me the most annoyed? When those kiddos who want me to be at their beckon call all day all of the sudden start crying out for their dad. Forget the last 12 hours of sacrifice... It just a bunch of blubbering " I want my daddddy...." Gross. So do I ... but guess what YOU GOT ME TONIGHT!

So the storm raged for a few hours... I prayed many times for a calm spirit.. Still not sure if i got it or not. So after all had settled down, kids where separated and in different room I came into the girls room where Madison was in bed. She was on top of her covers and asked why it was so hot in our house. "because you and Olivia had been so disobedient and disrespectful that I closed the windows so that the neighbors would not call the police if they heard you screaming." I am sure that this is NOT what I should have said, but you know what, I felt she needed the truth. I closed the windows because I was sure the authorities would arrive any minute.... if I did not muffle the awful noise. They would come to rescue the two horribly underprivileged, out of control yelling monsters that were being treated so unfair by their mother. I mean really.. what other mom in the world actually makes her kids clean their room and brush their teeth. I know.... I am MEAN! I should ask the Kindergarten teacher what she was told this morning!!

So all of that to say LORD KNEW we needed a better day today! I am so thankful that today after the first session of the new bible study I am in, I was assured that I was just like all of the other exhausted mother and wife's out there. We all have days that we want to throw in the towel and go somewhere..anywhere really..as long as there is no kids or men! Somewhere where there are no windows to be closed, unless you are cold! the study that we are doing is called Feminine Appeal and I can tell it is going to be great! So after bible study I picked up Madison from school and my patience was at a high! I was willing and ready to serve my dear children and we had a great day. I read, they played...nicely! I am so thankful that usually these rough days are not strung together. they come in small doses to remind us just what we did to our parents. After I had cleaned up all evidence of the storm last night I was heading to bed and found both girls in Maddie's bed. They do love each other. And I DO love them. I thanked God for the precious blessing of SLEEPING children and kissed them both goodnight.

God bless all mothers in the world!

though that this would help any of you that do not have insurance......

here is what I received in the mail last week..... I had to stop and catch my breathe! Just thought that I would post this so that any of you that read this that do not have insurance ( I know there are a few!) would run to your local agent and get it!! This is the hospital bill from Cincinnati Children's and does not include any doctor fees..... YIKES! Obviously we will not be paying the 70K but even with insurance we will pay plenty.

Thank God that we do have insurance... 2008 has been a year of medical chaos! 2009 is bound to be injury free!

just one more reason I love my hubby.... ( not that I need more reasons!)

Danielle and her beautiful baby girl
Teagan Janae
The happy family

So Danielle had that beautiful baby girls on Thursday. It was so sweet to have all five of us sisters on a conference call as Danielle told the details of Teagan. She had arranged to call from the recovery room so that we could all hear together. A very sweet moment... I did not say much as I was to choked up. I was really struggling with not being there. I have been able to see all of my sisters the day they had their babies so it just felt so strange to be 8 hours away. Since the Smith family has been gone from home about 50% of the last 6 months I did not think that it was going to work to go see Danielle and Teagan. I looked at the calendar several times and was just not finding a good time to escape on a quick trip...not with work, guilt of leaving the kiddos after a hard summer and all the other details that would need to be worked out. I had accepted the fact that I would see them all at Thanksgiving when they came home.

After we hung up on Thursday I cried a little...but being a big girl I continued on with my day...several times wondering how Danielle was doing or what that precious Teagan looked like...

I made lunch for Jed and I and sat with him in his office. We talked about how weird it was not being able to jump over to the hospital to see them....so we decided to do the next best thing and order flowers so they knew we were thinking of them.

A few hours later I returned to Jed's office.... (by the way it was our anniversary this day too!) He said " do you want to go out?" I though that he was referring to dinner plans.... when I asked if I should get a babysitter he said " no, to Ohio....should we go?" I made sure that he know not to joke about such an issue. So an hour and a half later the car was packed and we were on our way.... he felt like it was the right thing to do and there was no commitments that where holding us back.

We arrived at Ted and Danielle's house at 3AM. Mom and dad let us in! We surprised Ted and Danielle on Friday morning! I dressed in scrubs and went in to see the patient! She about opened her incision the way she gasp and jumped....what a fun surprise. We were able to spend Friday and Saturday with them and then left this morning. The girls adore Teagan and were so excited to see her. Jed was so great and allowed me to just spend hours on end at the hospital with my sister and Teagan. What an awesome anniversary present!

Here are some pics of the sweet mom and baby!!

just after the surprise!!

Meeting Teagan

checking out my sweet niece
Cousin Madison
Cousin Olivia

Uncle Jed

In her daddy's arms

The girls LOVE!!! her!!

crazy head of hair!!

I think we are all ready for number 3 now!!

Aunt Nikki with the little peanut!

I am back....

the new injury... a blasted nose, hip and toe from a face plant on the way to the homecoming parade. there was a puddle of blood on the street for all to see!

Must be passed on from her dad... I had to laugh!

Another present arrived from the nurse Liz at CCHMC. Can you believe it?? and then another from Maggie, the director of the Cincinnati Champions Program

Working on the craft project that Lauren and Derrick gave to Madison for her birthday!

The finished project

Olivia "helping" me out!

sorry that I have been so behind on blogging. It has been a busy couple of weeks. I was able to go to Minneapolis for Arbonne last week and had a great time there with several of the girls on my team. It was a good 3 days away and helped me to really get back on target with my business after a crazy summer! I was invited by Tory Brandt, my National Vice President to a cocktail party for all of the NVPs. It was a great privilege. The highlight for me was having a great conversation with our dear president Rita Davenport...(John Cruse...be expecting a call or email soon! she has you pegged... she totally remembered you!)

Otherwise life is still the same here. We have been busy with Madison being in school 5 days a week. She is loving school and is doing really well. We have not had any accidents at school so the Lord has really been watching over her. We have had a few accidents a week so hopefully that will start to slow down as well. Dr. Levitt checked in yesterday to see how the party was and how Madison is doing. he said that he is so thrilled that she is off all the ex lax and still really believes that soon the sensation will come back to her. He is always very positive about where he thinks she will end up. So we will keep working with her and pray that Dr. Levitt is right!

Olivia is a character. She keeps me on my toes...we have a great time together in the mornings when Madison is at school. It is a great opportunity to be with her alone. She is very busy and has an imagination like no ones business.

Jed and I started Power 90 2 weeks ago and are getting up early everyday to exercises and are following a strict eating plan. Jed and I both lost 7 pounds the first week!!! WOOHOO.... We will keep you posted on our progress.... it is so much easier doing this together. Usually when I diet Jed walks around with bowls of ice cream bigger then his head... a real encouragement to the dieting wife! The last 3 years we have watched the biggest loser.... while eating ice cream. You know that show makes you feel pretty good about the measly 20 pounds you need to lose...until the finale. There we sit with bowls of ice cream and the harsh reality hits as the winners come busting through the paper looking way better then us! So this year we will be losing along with the participants...drinking water and eating bok choy!

So there is a quick update on what is happening here..... o yeah and I will post a picture of Madison latest injury!!! So sad the way she is always banged and bruised!

celebrating the big 6......

what a great day we had on Saturday celebrating Madison's 6th bday! The birthday party was a blast and she was so thrilled to show everyone about her life in the hospital. I will blog a copy of her invitations as it tells the story of her desire to have a hospital birthday party so that she could show all of her friends what it is like to be in the hospital.

We tried to recreate as many elements as possible.... we had the playroom, played hospital bingo, had wristbands and people were "checked in" as they came in! Madison was in the MD suit and Olivia was the nurse/doctor in training! Madison said that she wanted to have dolls that people could cut open to take their colons out...... I told her that it may be to much so we opted for just the basic hospital procedures!!!!! Too funny. The girls LOVED it and Madison told lots of stories about all of her experiences.

the staff at Cincinnati Hospital was so great and gave us a TON of goodies to make the hospital party as real as possible!!!! What a great group of people!

What a thrill to have her be so excited..... she is such a doll.

the id bands...even the parents had "parents bands"!the goodie bags...everyone was equipped with the fixin's to play doctor at home! The "playroom" (Madison's favorite place at the hospital)Olivia...the doctors assistant!few "sick" patients!!!!

Hospital Bingo... one of Madison's favorite activities at CCHMC

The cake... I slaved away but loved the way it turned out. Madison was so excited!!

six years old...... sign, moan, sob..... my sweet baby has been through so much in her short life. But man o man is she a trooper... and doesn't she look so good!?

Love you sweet girl and am so proud of you!