Jumping, Tumbling Jo & Mom’s Birthday

Jo is taking a Tumbling and Trampoline class and is having a blast! She has the least experience in her group, which she’s stated a few times that she does not understand some of the instructions but does watch the other kids and picks it up quickly. She is getting stronger every week and is jumping higher too.

Watching her learn a front flip on the trampoline was great. I could tell she was nervous about doing it but after five or six tries she finally got it and when she did the smile was huge!
Oma and Jo came home the other day very excited, she was finally able to do her back hand springs over the roll mat. (bottom left photo) She got the nerve to trust the mat and strength to roll over the matt all on her own.

Her handstands are getting much stronger and she is able to do her wall hand stand on her own.

I love seeing her face after class.
This would be her after class, self portrait.

Mom is 44 and it’s all about Jo?

Oma asked the kids what they might want to do for my birthday and Jo said make a cherry pie and eat at Red Robin. Oma asked Jo if that is some thing Mom would like to do or Jo would like to do? I believe Jo said that Mom would like it. (As it should be.)



Home made cherry pie!
LOVED IT!

Dinner at Red Robin with friends!

Julie, Annie, Oma, Sheila, Lori, Mom, Jo and Jen.
(photo credit, Cole)

I will say that walking to the front door of RR for dinner I did not lift my foot high enough to step onto the curb. I was holding Jo’s hand as I started to fall, every thing went into slow motion as I tried to catch myself. I saw Jo’s face of horror wondering why I was pulling/pushing on her. I realized that I should let her go so she does not get hurt and continued to fall to the ground landing on my shoulder, arm and leg. I guess 44 is the year I start looking forward to my new hip!
Were is my IV? Those purple sporty wheel chairs look nice.

Thanks to everyone on my (Jo’s) birthday day!

February Wrap Up!

If I had a haaaaaammer, I’d hammer in a gooooooown, I’d hammer barfoooooot, all over this hoooouuuuuse. (SING with me Groupies)
Jo helped build little nightstand for her room. And yes, she always dresses appropriate for the job.

Tie Dye in a bottle!
Christmas gifts from Gma / Gpa that the kids finally got to try out!
The tubes have small holes in it that you squirt the colors through. The tubes are supposed to make dying a clean process but we had our hands and fingers covered any way. And it was fun!

I asked the kids to pose with their new shirts on.

Look out Super Models! You have competition!

Ruiz Visit!

Happy Pink Pancake Valentine Day!






Carol was quite upset that she had to sit in such a retro kitchen but Dan didn’t seem to mind. (I think she was just laughing at something humorous that I said, had to be)
Carol and I were ruthless during this game! Just sayin….

The kids had a chance to try out hokey at our local skating rink. They all were excited and looked like they were ready to rumble once all the gear was on.
With hockey sticks in hand they hit the ice! (most of them literally but with all the padding they laughed) All the kids had to learn how to skate while holding a stick and then when they tried to hit a puck the first time they got more practice at getting up from the ice.

1: Maggie, 2: Jo, 3: Lanna & 4: Cole

(and some poor kid who is about to hit the ice)

The kids did awesome, skating, passing pucks to one another and hitting them into a goal.
Us parents were so exhausted by the time the kids were done skating we had to take a nap! (yes, we did too)
Do we have any takers on hockey now? I heard Maggie and Cole say they would like to do this again and it would be fun to play.

Baseball Tryouts.
Cole is going to play Babe Ruth this year so he had to try out for a team. Cole was sick off and on the week before tryouts and was not feeling even 80% the first day of try outs. We took him any way (bad parent insert here) and he did the best he could.
Turned out that they didn’t have enough players for a 7/8 or 9/10 year old teams so they are combining the team and making a 9/10 year old kid pitch team. Cole is the youngest and smallest on the team but he is doing great and is having a blast so far.

On the bad parenting note: Had to take the Little Man to urgent care that evening and he had pneumonia. Hard to tell sometimes what is just a cold and what is not. He missed the second day of tryouts (good parenting insert please) along with missing recess and p.e. at school for a few days.

Sunny Days!
A few sunny days here and there have allowed us to prune some of the plants around our new home.
Up from the ground and away from the house. A little too square for me yet but we will get there and I’m having a blast being outside and working.

Glad February is over because three of the four of us were sick most of the month. Sunshine and a new moon should help us all feel better!

Cooking and Awards

A meal at the BS Family home.
You could comment on the “all” yellow meal or the food tray that the all yellow meal is served on. You could maybe say “Hey, that looks like a well balanced meal for the most part.” Or you could be wondering what kind of meat that really is on the plate? But what I would like to point out is that it’s a sad time of year when most meals include a cold medicine and or an antibiotic. Is that part of the food pyramid?

Kids are Cooking!
We are all getting older, though some of us in body only. With this said the kids have been showing more interest in cooking. So we have asked them to start picking one meal a week to cook for the family. With a small cookbook with photos the kids each picked a meal that sounded good to them. (More like the picture looked good to them.)

Cole’s Dinner
Alaska Burgers which included minced onion, Worcestershire sauce, allspice and cumin to name a few ingredients in the meat.
He has not been one to eat lettuce and tomato on his burger but because the picture and recipe called for it he ate it and loved it.

Jo’s Dinner


Creamy tomato-basil soup which included tomatoes, onion, celery and garlic to give your taste buds a little watering.





Jo’s meal was a little more involved so we planned hers on the weekend. She had a very good time creating and really enjoyed the soup.

The only issue Jo had was that the soup she created was more tomato looking than the cookbook photo. And yes, this really did bother her.

First Month of New School
We have completed the first month and we have worked out a routine for the most part. Homework, play time, dinner, spelling words and then get ready for bed.
They each received an award for the month of January.
Jo: “For Kindness for the month of January, 2010”
Cole: “For Super Star Reader for the month of January, 2010”

We also broke a record this year by staying healthy until Feb. 8. Yes, perfect attendance. It was a good run, one that we all will try and beat next year. Dang colds, but yummy new food pyramid!

Life in and around Evelyn

Our old neighbors Dale and Francis came for lunch and brought us a house-warming gift as well. Dales words “We brought you something you wont have to dig out and dust off when you know we will be by.”
I opened the box and it was packages of tp and boxes of mac n cheese. I have said it before and I will say it again. We love Dale and Francis! Perfect gift!

Oma has been enjoying her living space.

Admiral in the making if you ask me.
(Smiths will know what I’m talking about.)

The kids grabbed Oma’s reading glasses and were playing with them so I took a couple shots. I couldn’t decide on which photo to share so you get both.
They sort of look like Mini Me’s I thought on the first one.
Future Teachers with this look?

A few good days of sunshine sure make us all happy!
Jo in the front playing with a neighbor girl while Cole is teaching the neighbor boy to play baseball in the backyard.

Flat land, no sidewalks and very little traffic so family walks are back on and we love them! Ok, it was like nails on a chalkboard to get the kids to go the first few times but everyone found something they enjoyed doing on the walks so now my nails are growing back.
Jo is gaining more confidence on her bike, which is GREAT!
Cole will be in full football gear or baseball attire to run and play catch with Oma. I some times wonder what neighbors think of him. I find him quite funny and cute.

Jo is showing more interest in cooking so she is helping with meals more often than not.
She really doesn’t give us a choice as she just walks in with her step stool, stands up to the stove and then says, “What can I do?”
We love her!

Made it to one of Derian’s basketball games and the competition has gotten quite a bit tougher this year. It’s been a lot of fun watching her grow and get better each year.
Had to toss in the sideways look. I see this look OFTEN!

Rachelle and Connie have dropped by a few times. Rachelle has tackled pluming jobs for us, washer and dryer for example that took us to the urgent care and four stitches in the hand. Oh, her hand that is. She was a trooper though and toughed out the rest of the day and finished the job. (Wouldn’t have paid her other wise) Ok, I felt bad! Very bad that she got hurt.
Here Connie was battling Cole with light sabers. Hitting below the belt only. I think Connie went home with more bruises on her legs than Cole did.

Another family walk included a Geocache.
Other news?
Mom is working full time now and enjoying it. The kids are in after school day care and enjoying that. It’s been quite a transition for everyone this past year and it seems to be continuing for a while longer but the one good thing is we have Evelyn and she is taking good care of us.

I am shocked that it has taken me this long to post another blog. Life seems to be settling in a bit so I am hoping I will be able to swing two or more a month.
Love To You All!

Lots Going on – Not many photos

Xmas Holiday
All the Belmont’s gathered for Christmas dinner this year at the Lampitts. (no photo) It was a full house of family, food, laughter, love and games. (ok, there was a little of the traditional family stress too but that still falls under the family, laughter and love part)

Ruiz Visits the Lampitts Estate
About two hours after Gma Marie and Gpa Norman left the house the Ruiz family pulled in for a night. We exchanged gifts, ate, laughed and shared with more love in the house.

Cole, Lanna, Maggie and Jo
"It'd hold eight kids 'n' four hound dogs and
a piggy we stole from the shed
Didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun
on Grandma's feather bed"

Cole’s Hair Cut
After Cole had his summer hair cut he was going to grow it out long again for winter.
BUT THEN…
Mom: Cole, did you cut your hair?
Cole: Yep
Mom: Why?
Cole: Jo found the scissors and I said, “give them here,” and I cut it.
Mom: Why?
Cole: Because Jo did once and I wanted to try it too.
Mom: But you’re seven not four.
Cole: (shrug)
Mom: (rubbing his head with a smile) Well, ok then. Good job.

See his doo now?
The Little Man sure does like to pose.

Cole and Lil will miss each other.
Lil has brought her owners to our new home twice now and enjoyed the backyard with Cole.

Lil will miss Oma too.

(shhh, Mom thinks Oma will miss Lil too)

Tracy made her very first balloon animal and was very VERY proud.
Tracy and her Giraffe
(Though we all agree it looks like Odie from Garfield)

Evelyn, our new home!
(yes, we have named our new home)

Not many photos of Evelyn yet but now that moving and unpacking have slowed down I will snap more photos and catch up on BS-life.

Every home has their quirky things and Evelyn is no exception. I have found that the oven cooks a little more evenly and faster than our old home. (almost burnt the cookies)

Our pink toilet is so old that the water shoots out of a hole at the bottom of the toilet instead of the top for flushing.

The shower hits me at my breasts, so from there down I am quite clean. (was there some sort of height code back then for showers?) This fix has moved up the to-do list btw.

There is only one phone plug in for the entire home. We have the phone where the second hand-set needs only to be plug into power, but with the house being that much larger I have trouble getting to either phone before the fourth ring. Kind of sad really.

Some shots from our new home, although they don’t show much of Evelyn, they are photos in our new home none the less.

The kids have REALLY enjoyed their new rooms and getting their toys back. They were supposed to be getting into bed when they ran out to us saying loudly.
TAAAA DAAAA, The BS Super HEROOOOooooooosssssss!
They unpacked some dress up cloths.

It’s been raining again but Cole has played in the back yard a few times already.
He loves it back there.

Our living room is large enough that we can play the Wii as a family and not take turns standing up in the center to take our turn.

We played Mario cart, kids against the adults and the kids cleaned house!

We are happy to be living in Evelyn now. We have had some bumps in the road getting here, larger bumps while trying to get moved in and we are sure there will be more ahead. But all is happy at the Smelmont home!