Our elementary school scholar...

It's true, Jonah is finished with Kindergarten... our little boy is going to be a first grader!

It was quite the year for Jonah. First, he started off as a Grant Bulldog in the Murray school district. He had a wonderful teacher, Ms. Danelle Keith - who happened to be a very good friend of his Nana's. He loved being a bulldog and Kinderbug.

But with our lives constantly changing, we had to transfer Jonah to a school that was closer to his Daycare. We picked Howard R. Driggs Elementary. Now Jonah was a Driggs Dragon! He would spend the remainder of the school year at Driggs. It took some adjusting, but luckily, Jonah really enjoys school so it was only a matter of time.

At all of the Parent-Teacher conferences we would attend, his teacher would constantly rave about how brilliant Jonah was. Not only that, he was very polite and compliant... which was music to our ears.

At the end of the year, he would have to do an end of year assessment. This is a scheduled 30 minute test to ensure the child was prepared for first grade. Ethan decided to bring Naomi along to play on the playground to keep him company as he waited. But before Naomi could take another turn on the slide, Jonah came out with his teacher... and it had only been 10 minutes! His teacher said that he was the quickest and got a 100%. She'd also mentioned that she yearned for all of her Kindergartners to be like Jonah!

Please don't stop the music...

Naomi is quite the mover and the shaker. If it's loud, has a beat or has any sense of melody, she'll dance to it... or at least move spasmodically.
She still moves her hands to the telephone ringing and if it really has a beat, she moves her head intently.
She definitely has rhythm... something she gets from the Figuracion's.

Jonah lost his first tooth!

It took some wiggling and squirming, but Jonah finally lost his first tooth. When we asked him how much he thought the Tooth Fairy would bring him, his reply was, "Probably five dollars."

Yikes, how times have changed...

Needless to say, we gave him $2 since the Tooth Fairy always gives more for the first tooth. We told him he'd probably only get $1 for every other one from here on out... that is, if gas prices and inflation stay steady or on the decline.

Proud Tee Ball Parents...

What a fun time of year for us. Not only is Jonah back in his Soccer league (and is the star player) but he is also now enrolled in a Tee Ball league. Problem is, we're not sure if this league will actually help or hurt his game...
I should've lied about his age so he could be in an older league. Yup, he's a bit too advanced, I'm afraid, for his team. These kids seem to have never held a baseball before, let alone know how to hit one!
The Smith's (not the Figuracion's) are huge baseball fans. Ethan grew up with alot of baseball in his childhood. His team of choice... the Boston Red Sox. So inevitably, Jonah has been a Red Sox fan since the ripe age of infancy. During Jonah's first couple years of life, his Tita Erin lived in Boston. So of course she always brought home his first Red Sox cap... or his first Red Sox shirt. Because of Ethan's love of the game, Jonah was lucky (is that the correct word?) to learn the game at an early age.
Like most of his athletic endeavors, Jonah was a quick study. When Ethan got him his first tee ball set-up, it didn't take him long to learn how the bat and ball connects. When Jonah is focused, he is amazing with his skills! To be honest, I don't remember him using the tee for very long. Before we knew it, it was underhand pitching that he preferred. And that didn't last very long either. Jonah now takes fast overhand pitches from his Dad. Not only has he excelled in that, he has now moved up to practicing with a metal bat. Now we either need to be in a park or have a bigger backyard because we're losing balls over the fences!

With this being our first tee ball league, we really didn't know what to expect. The competitive side in me always worries about my children's performance when it comes to sports. But I don't know why I ever worry about Jonah. He's good at what he does!

Before the game, they ''warm-up'' by playing catch with each either. And that's when I knew he would be the star player again. Ethan has taught him how to correctly catch a ball or a grounder. And also to ''step-in'' to his throw.

In this basic league, they basically allow every child to bat in rotation once and then they switch. No real baseball rules, just the BASICS. Ethan and I thought his first question after the game would be why they don't play REAL baseball.

So Jonah's first at-bat was pretty funny. He cracked it past the kids... and I'm sure it would've been a homerun. But like I said, this league only teaches the basics. At this point, Jonah has already ran to third only to be told he has to go back to first base so the other kids can practice running bases... LAME. His next at-bat, the coach had the kids back up... it was another proud parent moment!

Since none of the other kids really seemed to know what was going on, Jonah was playing all of the positions! When the other team was batting, Jonah was the only one hustling and even knew to get the ball to first.

I could go on about how outstanding his baseball skills are, but it could get as boring as some baseball games I've had to sit and endure. At least with this league, it's quite entertaining and exciting for me! =)

Easter 2008

Easter was alot of fun for the Smith's this year...

Jonah spent the Friday previous to Easter with his Nana dying eggs. He loves that type of project... artistic and messy! Good thing we have Nana to make a mess of her house instead of ours.

My Aunt Gemma was able to come out that weekend to experience a Smith family Easter. Nana prepared a wonderful brunch for us all. And soon afterwards, Jonah and Naomi went to town hunting for Easter eggs. It was quite a riot to watch Naomi hunt for eggs. I knew she would catch on right away after we showed her once! It was pretty funny watching her try to keep up with her big brother.

After the fun morning, Zach, Ethan and I were able to escape to play 9 holes of golf. And the weather was absolutely perfect! I love this time of year... great Spring skiing weather, but also perfect golf weather.

Later in the evening, Nana prepared her famous honey ham dinner for all of us. The kids were spoiled with Easter and the adults were spoiled with good company!

Wow... Jonah is 6!!!

That's right... Jonah turned 6 this year!

Once again, we were able to have a wonderfully fun birthday party for him. Of course, it always seems to be a week-long event. One night it's dinner with the family. Another day it's a party at Daycare and School. And then, of course, the "Friend" party...

This year, we had his party at 'The Little Gym'. What a fun place to see kids get worn out! Jonah is a pretty coordinated and athletic boy, so it's always a treat to see him go wild in a place like that. Naomi was pretty cute, as well... she loves running around with her brother!

We're excited for the Spring & Summer with Jonah being six. There are alot more programs and camps that he'll be able to join at this age. So keep an eye out... he'll be doing Junior Jazz and Baseball camps when school's out!!!

Winter Olympics, here we come!

Jonah was 18mos. old when we first put him on skis. So why not put Naomi on skis at 17mos.???

It was a wonderfully beautiful day at Snowbird... sunny and lots of snow. This was a perfect opportunity to put Naomi on some skis.

She did fine, for the most part, but we could tell she didn't love it or hate it. She seemed to be wondering what we've put her into. She was fine just standing there, but as soon as we would move her, she started to sit back. We offered a ski pole for her to hang onto, but as soon as we'd pull away, it was as if she thought we were taking something else away from her and would let go.

All we really wanted to do was get her on some skis to feel what it was like to be on snow. She didn't last very long, but it was enough to take some great pictures of her and Jonah!