Letter I

We started our "I" week off with uppercase and lowercase tracing.

Then she created an island out of the uppercase I.

Then Tuesday was our insect day. She made some cute insects using stamps and her finger tips. She looked at a picture online to help her create them. 

Then we went on a walk to find some insects. We found lots of worms since we have had some rainy days. The picture on the left is her being scared since we flipped over a rock and found a little spider. My fear of spiders must have been passed on since she loves pretty much any other bug.

Wednesday was a super quick activity but was very tasty. We taste tested the different ice cream that we had. Of course she loved the chocolate ones. She did NOT like the salted caramel one that I love.

Thursday we started the day off with some letter matching on ice cream cones. She did really well and I thought it was very smart of her when she didn't know a letter she went and got her tracing book to find the letter and to see what the uppercase and lowercase letters looked like.

Then we made some homemade chocolate ice cream. We put everything in a bag and she helped squish it all together. Then we got a bigger bag with ice and salt and we shook it for about 10 minutes until we had some delicious chocolate ice cream that we enjoyed with Oreos.

Friday for our last "I" activity she painted on a block of ice with water colored paint. It didn't work the greatest but she had fun doing it.

A Whole Decade of Loving YOU

How has 10 years gone by so fast!?!?! It seems like yesterday when I first met this beautiful, perfect little girl. She has shaped me into a completely new person as I became her mom. I love being a mom and there is nothing better than having this little girl be my firstborn. She has been the best kid to raise and I love everything about her. I still don't know how a decade has flown by but I know my life is better and sweeter with you in my life. Happy 10th birthday Paige Canova Smith!!!

A look on the past 10 years

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

She is such a fun and loving kid. She has always been easy going and SO kind. She is very thoughtful and thinks of the sweetest gifts and cards to give to others. She tries so hard to be the best big sister and to be a good example. At times I feel the pressure may be a little hard on her and feelings of wanting to be perfect can be difficult but she strives each day to be her best self. She loves baby animals especially kittens and wants us to get a cat so badly. She loves to read and is often found in her room with some music playing while reading a book. She loves to learn and wanted a dictionary for her birthday. She loves to help others learn and this year has taken a few things that she has worked on at home to her teacher to use in lessons or to give to each student in her class to help them out. She has blossomed this year at school and has done more things that are a little out of her comfort zone and I love watching her grow though she still hates to be the center of attention. She has let me finally volunteer in her classroom at school and has realized that it isn't so bad having mom in class. She is and always has been a big help to me. She is very forgiving and loves to make others happy. She loves to be outside playing with cousins and friends. She loves to be active and has big dreams. She gives the sweetest family home evening lessons and loves to teach and also to be prepared for anything that is coming up in her life. I love her freckles and she just has the prettiest face and the most beautiful hair. She doesn't do well when she is tired but doesn't like to take it easy (sounds familiar...). She loves to cook and create anything her mind can imagine. She likes to explore the world and enjoys the simple things in life. She loves chocolate ice cream and other chocolate desserts though for candy she prefers fruity things. She is smart and capable and is quiet most of the time but has a very silly side to her that loves jokes and playing jokes on others. She is so brave. She is so close to heaven and already has such a sweet relationship with her Father in Heaven. I hope that she always remembers who is is and that she is so very loved by so many people. I really can't believe that I am so fortunate to be her mom and I thank Heavenly Father for this sweet girl in my life. She truly is the best and I love her so much!

She has a great 10th birthday. She has school and loved getting things from her teacher and she made little gift bags to give to each of her classmates. Some of Aaron's kids happened to be over for their spring break so she had lots of cousins here for her birthday which was so much fun. The weather was gorgeous and we walked to the lake before dinner and we even found some turtles!

She wanted an under the sea themed party. She and Baylor colored some fish the day before that they hung up. I hung up lots of blue streamer strips from the ceiling to make it feel like we were under water. We got some balloons and some mermaid decorations from the dollar store. I made her cake during the day but she wanted to decorate it which I was completely fine with since I'm not the best cake decorator. 

Her dinner choice was homemade chicken noodle soup and breadsticks. It was fun to have extra family over and they all had lots of fun outside playing before cake and ice cream time.

Smith tradition of dragging the candles through the frosting.

Then Paige's favorite part of the day- present time. Baylor made her quite a few presents which was sweet and Paige loved all her gifts.

It was such a fun day celebrating such a sweet girl! Then Saturday the fun continued. I asked her if she wanted a friend party and she just wanted to have a day with Addison and go to Defy Seattle. So we had the day and the girls had lots of fun jumping and playing in all the pits and the trampolines. It was fun to watch them even though it was a pretty crowded and crazy there. They also had fun at the house crafting and creating slime. It was a fun day for two friends.

Happy Birthday Paige!

Letter H

It was a busy week with a doctor's appointment on Monday and then it felt like I had somewhere to go each day but we made some time for our letter H preschool though we did skip Monday.

Tuesday she did her uppercase and lowercase letter H writing.

Then she created a horse craft out of the uppercase letter H. I cut out the H and drew the different pieces that she cut out and then she glued it all together.

On Wednesday she did a helicopter activity. I had one intact picture of a helicopter and then the different pieces cut out of another so it was like a puzzle for her to put back together. Then I had written numbers 1-6 on the back of each piece and had her roll the dice and put the helicopter back together a second time.

Then she created a helping hand. She traced her own hand and then we talked about ways that she helps. She said most of them though I helped some in asking how she helps Paige or how she helps Dad. Then she colored her hand. It turned out pretty cute and I loved pointing out to her all the ways that she helps others.

Thursday for lunch Baylor enjoyed a hot dog.

Then for her craft she created a house out of the uppercase letter H. 

Friday she put heart and happy face stickers on both the uppercase and lowercase letter H.

Then to end our week we played Hungry, Hungry Hippo.

Bowling, Septic Fun, & Teeth

For Paige's school they get a week off for a mid-winter break. It was a nice week to not have a schedule and do whatever we want. We got our yearly February snow at the beginning of the week. It was only maybe two days and only in the morning. The girls had fun in the snow for about 15 minutes one of the mornings but it was starting to melt by the time they got out there. 

Our one highlight of the week was we went bowling with Anna and her kids during the day. The younger kids were on one lane and Anna, Mikey, and Peyton were on the other. I enjoyed watching and taking pictures. Baylor lasted so much longer this time compared to the last time we went bowling and enjoyed it much more this time. Paige was a great helper to Baylor and Brett was a great helper to Eliza. They worked together and all had so much fun!

President's weekend, Mike and Christy came up with their kids and Aaron was over with his kids. We had a big family dinner on Saturday where almost everyone on the Smith side was there. Nate and I made dozens upon dozens of donuts for everyone to enjoy for dessert. It was a lot of work but they turned out so good and got devoured very quickly.

Sometimes in the afternoon Baylor will fall asleep if I am reading or working on the computer. Recently, I was sending some emails out and figuring out some stuff on the computer for young women's and Baylor was playing in the big car seat box that we recently got and after awhile of her being quiet, I looked over and she had fallen asleep in the box. :)

Baylor has really gotten into coloring even more the past few weeks and she created her own Clifford picture. It turned out so cute!

This past week we have had a "crappy" situation. Last week, during the week, I did a load of laundry and I heard the toilet bubbling and I thought it was clogged and so I tried to unclog it but it didn't work. While I was doing this, dirty water starting coming up through the tub drain. I then noticed that the other toilet was also clogged. I wasn't sure if there was a clog in pipes somewhere in between the laundry and the bathrooms but once I started the dryer and the washer was done everything went back to normal so I didn't think much of it. Then on Friday, Baylor was taking a shower and then the toilets did the same thing with acting like they were clogged and then nasty water started coming up through the shower and in the tub. It was stinky and not good! By then it was pretty late so we went and stayed with Dale and Margaret for the night since we figured it was something to do with the septic. Saturday morning we contacted our landlords to find out where the septic lid was and the girls had fun helping dig it up. It was definitely full and needed to be pumped out. Our landlord contacted someone but they wouldn't be able to come out until Monday so we stayed at Dale and Margaret's for the weekend. Thank goodness they live so close!

While at Dale and Margaret's, the girls had fun with the extra Nona and Pops time. They played lots of games and we went over to the park to see evidence of a beaver doing some tree damage around the lake. 

Saturday night our little family went and watched our neighbor, Melanie, do square dancing. It was fun to watch.

Monday, Baylor and I stayed home in order to be present when the septic was pumped. Baylor loved watching the process and was back and forth between windows. We got the septic all emptied but there was still some issues in the water flowing and we found out that there was most likely something wrong with the drain field and the septic was just filling up but not flowing out to the drain field. So we were on limited water for a couple of days. Another guy came out to look at the drain field and since the house was built in the 60's the drain field was created with cement, over time the cement has crumbled and was pretty much not there anymore so a new drain field needed to be put in. When I got this news, it made be extremely grateful that we are renting and this is something that we don't have to pay for. 

The picture on the left is the entrance into the drain field and there is supposed to be some cement there and it was all crumbled and into pieces. The picture on the right are the new pieces for our new drain field. 

Nate got to work Tuesday evening taking care of the garden before it got destroyed. He moved the brick border so that those pieces didn't break under the weight of machine and he moved some of the rock so that it didn't get too mixed in. He also dug up our strawberries and raspberries and put them in a wheelbarrow for now so they don't get trampled and hopefully to save them all. The picture of the left is what he did and the picture on the left is our garden after it got trampled. They had to take down part of the fence and cut down the small tree that was in the corner behind the fence.

Another entertaining day for Baylor to watch all the digging. Our back yard grass area is now destroyed but we have a brand new drain field and don't have poop water coming out of our drains. They were very quick and did a great job!

Nate got our garden mostly put back together that evening and planted the berries again so hopefully they produce this year and we didn't hurt them too much.

Paige has been going to the orthodontist every nine months for the past few years. She has a tiny mouth and just not enough space for all her teeth coming in. She will have to get braces down the road. The first big step happened yesterday. She got 6 baby teeth pulled out in order to make space for big teeth coming in hoping that it allows them to come in a little more straight but we will see. Potentially down the road, she may have to get some adult teeth pulled but we will see how everything comes in. She was a champ and did amazing. We had our dentist do it and he is great and his whole team is very gentle and great to go to. She went back by herself while Nate waited in the waiting room. She said the worst part were the numbing shots and there were only a few tears in the morning and right before because of nerves. It is always crazy to see the teeth and a couple of them had pretty good roots. The weirdest part for her was her numb face and adjusting to eating with all those holes. She got quite the payday from the tooth fairy and is happy it is all over.

Letter G

This past week was pretty busy but we squeezed in quick letter G activities for preschool this week.

Monday Baylor started off with tracing uppercase and lowercase letter G.

Then we went out and picked some grass. I traced the uppercase and lowercase G on a paper and then she added the glue and grass.

Tuesday she created this very colorful giraffe.

Wednesday she made a gumball machine. I couldn't get our printer to work so I quickly traced the outline of the gumball machine and then she colored it with crayons. Then she glued on pom poms for the gumballs.

Thursday was our goldfish counting day. I had 10 different little paper fishbowls that had the numbers 1-10 on them. First she counted the correct number of goldfish to match the number on the fish bowl. The second game we played is she had some dice and rolled a number. She would count the number on the dice and then add 1 goldfish to the number that she got. She did this until there was at least 1 goldfish on each fishbowl. We then talked about which one had the most and which had the least.

Friday she made a handprint ghost.

Then to end our letter G week she played a little golf.