The Terrible & Torturous Twos...

Naomi is two! Yup, two!!!

It's shocking to think that our little girl is turning into a toddler. And boy, is she! It's hard to explain how relentless and tiring yet completely adorable she is...

She's learning names... Mommy, Nah-Nah (for Jonah), Papa, Opy, Nana, Tita and Day (for Dave). She's also learning animal sounds. It's pretty cute to hear her sound out what a monkey or rooster says.

She has moved on from the "Wobbler" room at Daycare to the 2-3 year old room. This has been a tough transition... for the Wobbler teachers. They were VERY attached to Naomi... she was their absolute favorite! The other day, one of her old teachers went to visit her and they both ended up crying when she had to leave. She's already breaking hearts at an early age... ugh.

Her biggest challenge these days is keeping up with her brother. Luckily, Jonah is wonderful with her. Of course, there's a constant barrage of teasing, but nothing compares to his love for her. The other day we were driving home from school/daycare and Jonah wanted to finish his leftover lunch. But this of course meant sharing his sandwich and chips with his sister... or maybe he just didn't want to hear her cry and whine for whatever it was he had that she didn't!

Her birthday party was a pool party courtesy of Nana & Dave. It was a great turnout... in fact, it looked like the local community pool since there were, at times, 15 kids in the pool at once! She's our little water baby... having no problem jumping into Ethan's arms from the side of the pool!

She's an amazing little girl... and we feel so blessed.

Chicago Trip

Ethan, Jonah and I were lucky enough to spend a weekend in Chicago, IL with Alan, Heather and Erin. It was a fantastic, yet exhausting weekend. We made the most of our short time there, filling it full of baseball games and sightseeing...

Day One...

We first arrived Friday afternoon and rushed to the hotel to check in. Soon after, we high-stepped it to the nearest train station to rush over to Wrigley Field to catch the Cubs/Cardinals game. Yes, the field is as old and wonderful as imagined. Lucky me, the game went 11 innings. Right after, it was another hustle back to the train station to catch the Red Sox/White Sox game at White Sox Field. This was an evening game filled with hot dogs, lemonade and fireworks. The game finished in the evening... making our trek back to the train station and hotel an exhausting one...

Day Two...

On this day, Saturday, we had an open morning and afternoon before our evening ball game. With this in mind, our goal was to see as much of Chicago as possible. And boy, did we! We started off the day making our trek towards the Sears Tower. This consisted of standing in line for a total of 90+ minutes to enjoy a blissful 30 or so minutes up top. What a view, though! Our next stop was the famous Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse... named for the late Hall of Fame baseball announcer. Here, we were given the in-house treatment since Alan's wife, Heather, has a cousin that has worked here for 11 years. At this point, the boys wanted to head to the ball field early to catch warm-up/practice, in hopes to get autographs and pictures. Ethan's sister wanted to make a quick visit to the Art Institute of Chicago - and since I was fine with missing practice, I was more than happy to tag along. This was my first visit to an art institute, and with the reminders from security that flash photography is not allowed, it was quite obvious. It was an amazing experience...and I felt so cultured and sophisticated! But this wasn't going to last long since it was time for the trek to the ball field. Another evening game, once again filled with ball field fodder...

Day Three...

We had a small window of time in the morning to do some more sightseeing before our afternoon ball game so our last tourist stop was the famous Field Museum. We were able to meet 'Sue, the T-Rex' and many of her osteal friends. After a couple of hours, it was time to head back to the ball field for game 3 of the Red Sox/White Sox series.

Needless to say, it was an exhilirating and exhausting vacation! Jonah had a wonderful time and, as usual, was quite the trooper. We would love to go back to Chicago to see more of the city and, of course, maybe catch an Oprah taping! But if I never eat another bag of peanuts, nachos, hot dogs or cheeseburgers all in the same day it'll still be too soon! =)

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!