I'm so proud of him...

School is out. Yup... Jonah is on his way to being a 2nd grader.

I am so very proud of my little Driggs Elementary Dragon. Let me explain...

I received a phone call last week from the school Secretary. She went on to tell me that there was going to be an awards assembly, and that Jonah would be receiving an award. With that said, she was just informing us of the time in the chance that we may be able to attend. I relayed the information to Ethan. Not really giving it much thought, I just told him to bring the video camera if he could make it. And I'm so glad he did...

As it went, every child in the class received a certificate and a personal award... ''best smile & best helper award'', ''best blue eyes & reader'' or ''best artist''... so, of course, the skeptic in Ethan thought that maybe it was just that every parent was called to let them know of the award. But as it turns out, there was a special award for one child of each class... the ''Dragon Pride'' award. Each teacher was to pick the topnotch student of her class. And Jonah has a class of 24 kids, so I am sure this was a tough decision... but, then again, it is Jonah - that decision couldn't have been that tough. Here's what was written on his certificate...

''Because of you our school is a better place to learn. You have proven to me by your actions that one person can make a difference. I applaud you for what you have accomplished and look forward to hearing even more great things about you in the future.''

Yup... we're so proud of him. His trophy even has his name engraved on it.

We must be doing something right... =)

Naomi's Day...

With E's perks at work, he was able to get the kids their own Burton set-ups... brand new boots, bindings and boards.

With Jonah away in Florida, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to give Naomi some one-on-one time on the mountain. She was a bit apprehensive to put her gear on. So E thought it would be wise to strap on his stuff in hopes that she would understand the concept. Not long after, she agreed to let us put her on her board.

As soon as she got on the conveyor belt (aka ''Magic Carpet'') she was hooked! The word of the day was ''Again!'' She didn't even fuss when she took a spill. She would giggle the whole way up and down. The pictures are adorable, but the video is absolutely amazing...

Enjoy!

Jonah's 7th Birthday

Yes, Jonah is 7!

His birthday gets funner every year as he gets older. This year it was on a Thursday, so it seemed to be a 3 day birthday weekend. He was sent home with birthday cards that were personally made for him by each of his classmates. We felt so proud as there were at least half a dozen cards that said he was the best friend they'd ever had!

The following Saturday was his birthday party. We had it at ''Bouncin' Off the Walls''. It was a great turnout... as most of his birthday parties are.

He is a lucky kid... liked by so many!

Naomi's first day on the slopes of '08-'09

I deserve a plaque, I think...

I decided to take the kids skiing on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It was Jonah's second day on the slopes this year, but Naomi's first.

She fought me from the beginning...

It took Jonah and I an hour to coax her into getting dressed in her ski gear. She wanted to run around in her diaper for half an hour until she wanted to put her thermals on. Jonah kept asking her if she wanted to see Papa at work. She would respond with a 'Yes' but continued to rebel.

After finally getting her dressed and in the car, we made our way up to Snowbird. Once we were parked, I had high hopes that she would want to walk in the snow up to the Center. Yeah, right... I think she thought I needed my exercise that day. I had to carry her all the way uphill.

When we made it to E's office, we got the kids sized up in their skis and boots. It was hard enough for me to get her snowboots on, let alone ski boots. I knew this was gonna be a tough one. Surprisingly, it took only a couple of tries to get her to put her ski boots on... only to have Ethan take them off during lunch.

I thought for sure things would go smoother once we'd all eaten and had full stomachs. Yeah, right...

Once we got out on the snow, Naomi's favorite word was NO. She wanted to take her goggles off... and then back on. She took her mittens off... and then back on. She kept wanting to take her ski pants off... and then back on. All the while Jonah just wanted to get on the ski lift. Luckily, Ethan was able to come out and help me for a bit. He took a few runs with Jonah while I continued to get Naomi on her skis. No luck for me. So I took a couple of runs with Jonah while Ethan took his turn. The most he got was putting her skis on and snapping a pic.

We tried.

Christmas 2008

Christmas was another successful holiday for the Smith's...

Naomi was quite meticulous about unwrapping her gifts. She was sure to get every piece of tape or paper that was wrapped on her gift. She seemed to enjoy all of her presents thoroughly.

Jonah only asked for three things from Santa. And, of course, he got more than that. His ''big'' present was a Nintendo DS... which we are BOTH enjoying. =)

Ethan and I must have been really good this year because Santa brought us a new dishwasher! Either that, or he was sick of our complaining...
My parents and Aunt Gemma (from NYC) were able to spend a week with us and the kids. It was a full house, but alot of fun!

We're so blessed to have our health and new toys and can't wait for 2009!!!

Of course...

I told this story to my friend, Kristi, and she thought I should blog it...

So the other day I had used E's debit card to pay for pizza. And instead of putting it back in his wallet right away, I had set it on top of it, for the moment. I had barely walked out of the room for a mere minute and when I came back in, she had the whole wallet strewn across the floor. I'd gathered it all to put it all back in and noticed the debit card was gone. Naomi is notorious for losing things... when she loses stuff, she loses it GOOD... it takes us at least a week or two to find it.

After searching and searching, we thought we'd give ourselves a day or two to find it. We didn't want to go too long - there's only so much you can do without money.

About three days later, we gave the place a good cleaning. I told Ethan if we didn't find it by now, we should call the bank and have it cancelled so they could send a new one. So that night, Ethan called the bank. They had to verify a bunch of information, of course, to make sure he was who he was. One piece of pertinent information was his driver's license number. He grabbed his wallet to read off the license number. And at the moment he pulled it out to make sure he had read the number correctly, the lady on the phone said it was cancelled... at the same moment he found the debit card BEHIND his ID.

Yeah... you have to laugh to keep from crying.

Look at me go...

I know... TWO posts in one night... Wow!

But I had to post more pics from tree-decorating after Thanksgiving. They were too cute not to share!

By the way, to see a larger version of any of the pics in this blog, just click on the picture.

Enjoy...