Oma’s Birthday

With all the craziness around us this year Oma asked
that we keep it simple for her birthday. So dinner with the kids,
a couple good friends and a belly dancer.
Oma didn’t need much prodding to give the whole dancing thing a try.

The food was good and Oma went home with a couple new earrings.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OMA!
! WE LOVE YOU !

Xmas keeps on coming!

August we decided to put our home on the market and with this decision we needed to make our home more presentable for potential buyers. Ok, in short, hiding all our “stuff” in storage to make our home look larger and not “lived” in.

I know, your asking yourself; Why are you telling us this?

The kids have lived with limited toys since August. Though they both have been troupers through this whole process it has started taking a toll, mostly on their moods. Sharing this information with Rachelle and Connie they decided to give the kids their Christmas gifts early.

The kids were very excited while tearing at the wrapping but handing Mom the ribbon stating “Keep this for me Mom”. Rachelle asked me why they wanted to keep ribbon and I explained that the kids would play with it as a toy.

Cole slept with his transformers that night and when he woke just sat up in bed to play with them some more.
Jo has had a good time playing with her Barbie and the dog that will pull Barbie around on skates.

It was good to see the kids playing and smiling.
Thanks Rachelle & Connie.

Duck Women’s Basketball

Asked Jo for a date to a Duck game and she said
“No thank you”
(She really doesn’t enjoy watching games)
Mom informed her that Ducky would be there and she could get a soft pretzel too. She then said,
“Ok, I’ll go”.

Jo, Ducky and pretzel in hand, Jo wanted to go home after this photo after all she got what she came for! (It wasn’t even halftime yet)

It was a good date!

Christmas Spirit!
Looking at the calendar we figured out that the BS family might still be living with the Lampitts at Christmas. So after a very brief conversation the household decided it was time to get the holiday spirit going in the house.

This tree looks good.
Between Cole and Jo the tree came down.
We then drank hot coco, stood around a bon fire and shared in an elephant ear before heading home with our Noble.

ST. NICK?
While we were out picking our tree St. Nick stopped by our home and showered the kids with more gifts.

As you can see by their faces they were quite happy.

Littlest Pet Shop, Hats/gloves and an indoor basketball hoop
to name just a few.

With more toys comes more noise in the house. It’s been nice to hear them playing and laughing just a bit more.
Thank You St. Nick!
(p.s. the chocolates on the adult’s beds were also awesome)

Back to the Tree!
We all had jobs to do, Martha and the kids decorating the tree and Oma lending a hand while Tracy hauled up the boxes to supply those Elves with the decorations plus!
The next morning we did yet another mini Christmas with Tracy, Martha and Lil gifting the kids. Mom and Oma also got very nice gifts too!
Here Jo is wearing the beautiful dress, shoes and socks she received. Lil gave Jo a box of dress up cloths that Jo can use to dress up Lil.
Doesn’t Lil look happy?

Cole is learning how to fly his helicopter! I don’t think any of us are going to ride with him anytime soon but he is getting much better!

Lil gave Cole a box of pull toys so Cole can play tug of war and other things with Lil.
When asked what he thought of the gift from Lil Cole said, “Kind of selfish gifts,” and Tracy informed Cole, “Lil is only three”.

Tracy and Martha took the kids to church on Sunday morning for Advent services while after the service they joined in on creating candles, cookies and grahm cracker houses.

They are saving them for Santa!
I think he will LOVE to take a bite out of them.

Decorating Contest!
That night we competed in the tree sugar cookie decorating contest.

Competition was tough!

(Oma however just wanted to get through the
contest so she could eat her cookie)

We then each voted on our top three.
While Martha tallied the votes Oma devoured her cookie and was happy.

Cookie
#3 WINNER!

Jo won by a land slide!

Second place went to Mom (#5)
and third place Martha (#6).
(second and third place only
separated by one vote)

We might have to do this
again next year.

November Ends

Wrestling
Cole’s been having a good time wrestling this year, the matches have gotten tougher as he has gotten older and the other wrestlers have gotten better as well. He has also learned more of the rules and strategies of this sport.
This week’s match he went 1 & 1 earning him a second place ribbon. Cole won his first match on points and lost his second on points. He is proud that he has not been pinned yet this year. (He has fought to get off his back often)

The following week Mom (the mat coach) noticed towards the end of his first match that Wrestler Cole was watching the score table and seeing the points difference. I asked him after this match what he was looking for and he said “I wanted to see if I was winning by points or if I needed more.” We had a lesson on wrestling from the first whistle to the last whistle and not stopping until then. I also explained to the young man that if he wanted a for sure win and not worry about points that pinning his opponent was the way to go.
The second match ended during the first round as Cole pinned his opponent quickly. (Mat Coach Mom said, lesson learned apparently.)

Bounce Jo Bounce!
Jo has been in a gymnastics/trampoline class and really enjoying it. (bad Mom keeps forgetting the camera) She has gotten very good at her bridges and cartwheels. Watching her get stronger has been great and seeing her smile while she bounces on the trampoline is awesome!
Here she gets to wear the harness with the bungee attached. Not only does she bounce a little higher but also has learned how to flip!
We have asked her if she would like to do this class again and she has said “No.” Why her mom’s ask? “I just don’t want too,” Jo says. Moms quietly scream inside…"will we ever figure out our daughter?”

Turkey Weekend
We spent the holiday with the S-side of our family again this year, brining along a cousin from the B-side.

Turkey Trot
Last year the Turkey Trot was cold COLD. This year it rained RAINED! We were all soaked but the kids more than anyone else because they just trotted through the puddles rather than go around.
After the Trot. These turkeys were not happy birds but when I asked them to give me a pose before loading up in the car they obliged. Off to warm showers and dry cloths!

Dinner

Good meal, great family time and full FULL bellies.

Poor Lanna got sick so we told the kids they had to share Maggie’s room. The girls thought it would be fun to sleep in the bed together so they slept on it sideways. Cole wanted to be closer to them so he climbed up on the bench and that is how they slept.

Cole, Hannah, Jo & Maggie.

Geocaching
We had a beautiful day on Friday so Oma and I took the kids geocaching at the lake. It was more of a “Get out of the house and move our bodies” time.
The kids did a lot of running, helped Oma find a couple caches and then back to running on the trails laughing and playing.

What a Group!

Lanna, Maggie, Cole, Jo and Hannah

What’s Up?

Hiking with the Lampitts!
That would be hiking with Ms. Lampman and Ms. Pitts. I am sharing their name “Lampitts” with you because during this hike they came up with the name Smelmonts for us.

Jo & Cole Smelmont and Tracy, Lil & Martha Lampitts.

We enjoyed many stories between the two families during our hike including one from Tracy about her grandfather teaching them to eat fern roots when she was a kid. So we had to give it a try right?
Tracy said she always thought they just tasted like dirt and after giving it yet another taste as an adult it still tasted like dirt and Cole agreed. But then again, it did come from the ground and it was not very clean.

WRESTLING
Cole has been wrestling with the Churchill Club this year and he is having a very good time. The schools have it set up so the kids wrestle for seven weeks with one wrestling match each of the last five weeks.

Grandma Marie and Grandpa Norman came up for the first match.

(Jo took this photo)

Cole wrestled two boys this week with one pin and the second match winning by points.

A blue ribbon and a happy wrestler.

NEW HOME!
We finally had someone accept our offer to buy their home. We are very excited to move into this home and become the second owners (built in 1958).
The kids have picked out their rooms and Oma has already been on the roof sweeping off leaves. The leaves are not so exciting but the tree is awesome and house large enough for all our stuff and then some. (though coming from our D house it didn’t take much to get larger)

Coast with Roseburg Gals!
What can I say here… Some of the best women I know! The history is that this is part of my very first softball team and we still come together to catch up, laugh, eat, laugh and drink.

Tina, Cathy, Joyce, Annie, Arleta and Sandy

I don’t see them often but when I do it’s always memorable. Just lots of laugher and love.

WRESTLING #2
This match was quite different than the first weeks match. Cole was grouped with three boys that had quite a bit of skill and speed. He had three great matches, getting smarter and quicker each match and loosing all three matches by points.

Fourth place ribbon and one tired but happy guy.

Cole got kudos’ from a ref that said he had a great match and then a coach taught Cole another move to help him escape the half-nelson.

Through the eyes of Jo.
Jo entertained herself during the wrestling match and I had such a good time looking at her photos I thought you might as well. The video is less than a minute so take a look at what Jo sees during a wrestling match.

Keep your eyes open for:
Oma’s bald spot from the vacuum. (click on our “Summers End” post in September for further information on her bald spot)
Martha’s face.
Top of Tracy's head. Jo asked her to “Smile Tracy” and just before Jo clicked the camera Jo moved it up and only got the top part of Tracy’s head. Then Jo proceeded to smile with the smile of “I so did that on purpose”.
Jo's skin.

Love You BS Groupies!
Or rather…Smelmont Groupies!

2nd Grade Photos

Halloween

Friday evening we broke bread with

Dale and Francis and had a wonderful visit.

The kids got to show off their costumes and also play with the old neighborhood kids as well which they just loved!

Black Ninja and Sweet Heart Bat

Jo asked for this photo.

Loving shot?

We still get them once in a while.
Jo didn’t wear her teeth treating,
she said they hurt a bit and she couldn’t talk.
I laughed a bit when Cole would smile for a photo
even though you really couldn’t see his mouth.

We stuck around Lil’s house for the treating.
The kids almost ran from house to house.
Ok, that isn’t quite true, they did run from house to house.
That would be up hill and down hill!
(no flat ground unless your walking around inside a home)

They were the only two treaters in the area so they were quite spoiled as you can see. Nothing to large here! You should have seen their eyes when they got these two!

Some houses didn’t expect the knocks on the door as I heard one woman say to the kids. “Something very special for you, a healthy snack” and she handed them each a granola bar. The kids said Thank You and when they got to me they each handed me their granola bar and said “You can have this one Mom”. Gee, thanks.

Happy Halloween BS Groupies!

OMSI

Took a weekend road trip with Rachelle n Connie to OMSI and SCREAM!First stop = spiders, snakes and scorpions? Their were live ones in cages above these “stick your hand in and feel” boxes. Do You Dare?
Jo had no issues with this. In fact she giggled as she pulled out the rubber snake tale and said “Look, it’s just rubber!”

Fear of Falling?
Mom went first and actually had a shocked look on her face when she fell. Everyone who watched Mom knew what was going to happen so they didn’t have the shock like she had. But all laughed through the ride.

Guillotine!
The guillotine was hidden well to keep the young kids from watching something that could really scare them. Mom almost missed getting the photo of Oma’s head in the guillotine because she spotted the SHOCKED look on Cole and Connie’s faces.

WAY FUNNY!

The basket to catch your head had a mirror in it so when you looked down you could see the blade above coming down to lop off your head.
Mom felt it was a tad freaky to watch it happen as you may see from her facial expression.

WHAT?


WHAT?


Did you say come here Mom?


WHAT?

We spent over five hours in OMSI looking, touching and playing with everything we could.



Here we played Meteorologist against the green screen.
If you look closely you can see the kids are on the tv’s to their left.
We had some good laughs watching other people really getting into the part of talking about the weather. Some fantasies played out maybe?

Playing with Electricity
The small foil pie plates floated/shot right off their hands. And then if they touched you before stepping off the box you got quite the zap!
Why does hurting other bring laughter?

Two Way Mirror
If you look closely there is a mix of Cole’s face and body with Jo’s.
The kids thought this was neat and laughed hard when Cole looked like he had Jo’s hair.

Family Fun Center
We headed towards home after a very loooooong day but decided to keep the fun going. Stopped by the fun center right along the freeway. It was chilly outside so we only played outside long enough for Cole to try rock climbing for the first time. He made about half the wall three times. He really enjoyed this.

The rest of the time we played arcade games and won many tickets that the kids turned in for prizes.

Great weekend that put smiles on all our faces.

Family - Awards – Pumpkin Patch

Our Host Family Photo

Poor poor Lil
Jo has found that Lil will let her do about anything. After Jo put the glasses on Lil, Lil decided to go to the front door and look out. Lil just walk around with the glasses on like it was a normal thing to do. Jo liked this quite a bit.

Awards!
September Awards were given out this month and Mom was able to sneak away from work a little early to watch and snap a couple photos.

Here Jo and Cole received Perfect Attendance necklaces.

JO
Jo also received the Citizenship Award for her classroom. Only one student from each class receives this award each month. This comes with a very nice medal and a certificate which reads: “Jo is always kind and respectful to others. She follows all of Brattain’s school rules each and every day. Way to go, Jo.”

As most of you know we are living with Tracy and Martha in their wonderful home located on one of the hills in Eugene. Just about every day we are able to watch some sort of wild life right out our windows.
The fawn was the highlight this early morning,
on their way to bed we imagined.

Pumpkin Patch
Lots to do at the pumpkin patch and we did quite a lot of it. The sun even broke through and took some of the chill of the air.
Kids fed the goats and scratched the pushy ones on the head when they ran out of food.
The kids panned for gems.
They then matched up their gems to the card they were given to see what kinds they found.
We skipped the corn maze this year but they took a ride on
the Cow Train!
Cole kept watching how close the driver got to his cow and kept Jo in the know. “Jo, he came this close this time” holding up his fingers to show the distance. The driver saw Cole do this a couple times so he swung yet another loop this time bumping Cole’s cow and Cole laughed hard and was a little shocked!

Pumpkins in the Night!

Martha, Mom, Tracy, Cole, Jo and Oma

(from left to right)